Olivia Haas, Director of Strategic Communications & Research, traveled to the West Coast last week. Here's what she had to say from the road:
"On May 3, NCGS hosted its third Girls' School Advantage advocacy outreach program in Los Angeles. Held on the Chalon Campus of Mount Saint Mary's University (MSMU), nearly 200 prospective families and educators attended the event to learn about the unique benefits of an all-girls education. Dr. Linda Sax of UCLA and a MSMU trustee presented findings from her report, Women Graduates of Single-Sex and Coeducational High Schools: Differences in their Characteristics and the Transition to College. I had the pleasure of moderating a Q&A panel of student representatives from the following participating NCGS member schools: The Archer School for Girls, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, Girls Academic Leadership Academy, Immaculate Heart High School and Middle School, Louisville High School, Marlborough School, Marymount High School, Ramona Convent Secondary School, Vivian Webb School, and Westridge School.
The 2014-2015 sponsor for the Girls' School Advantage program is Girl Up, an innovative campaign of the United Nations Foundation.
I stayed in SoCal to visit a few member schools in the LA area.
While touring Westridge School, I had the pleasure of learning about several current and upcoming initiatives from an innovative 6th grade classroom set up with a "lounge area" complete with couches and floor pillows to replicate the way girls study at home to a 4th grade robotics class to a currently in-formation makers space. Westridge's Platinum LEED-certified Upper School Science & Mathematics Building is designed to serve as an actual teaching tool for environmental education, including The Louise and Gregory Probert Study - affectionately known as 'the fish room' - complete with saltwater and freshwater aquariums used for student research and monitoring.
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| Westridge's Louise and Gregory Probert Study |
Marymount High School is currently raising funds for its Marymount Makers Movement, an initiative to build a studio space to inspire students to pull scientific, artistic, and mathematical ideas together to create tangible things. I also learned that Marymount was the first all-girls school in Southern California to institute a 1:1 laptop program where every student receives a brand new MacBook Pro upon entering the school, which is hers to keep for all four years.
I enjoyed discussing over lunch with founding principal Liz Hicks the challenges - and successes - she's experienced while starting Girls Academic Leadership Academy (GALA), a public all-girls science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) school. Recently approved by the Los Angeles Unified school board, GALA will start with grades 6 and 9 in the 2016-2017 school year and is modeled after NCGS member The Young Women's Leadership School of East Harlem.
Louisville High School was founded in 1960 by the Sisters of St. Louis in the wooded canyons and green fields along Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles. Louisville develops every student intellectually, spiritually, artistically, socially, and personally. Toward this effort is a speaker series that features tangible examples of women and men living the mission of the Sisters 'to work toward a world healed, unified, and transformed.'
I then headed up the coast to visit some of our NorCal member schools.
During a tour of The Hamlin School, I saw fresh fruit carts set-up around campus for the students to grab 'brain food' at anytime throughout the day as part of the school's forward-thinking health and wellness program. Hamlin also 'feeds' its students' brains with an impressive fully integrated K-8 computer science program.
I loved hearing about how the practice of mindfulness, which has been the cornerstone of the health and wellness program for six years at Katherine Delmar Burke School, is now so integrated into the school's culture that students will ask teachers for 'mindful moments.' These quiet moments of reflection help students - and faculty - focus and decrease stress and anxiety.
Castilleja School was one of only five schools nationwide to receive a 2013 Edward E. Ford Foundation award, which is being used to help fund the 'Partnership for 21st Century Assessment.' The aim of this collaboration is to develop meaningful and valid assessments of the school's experiential learning programs, to apply these tools to improve the effectiveness of these programs, and to share these best practices with other educators.
The Annual Women of Courage Panel in Honor of Rosa Parks is an evening planned and hosted by 6th-8th grade students involved in the 'Girls in Government, Leadership, and Service' activity group at Julia Morgan School for Girls. Held on February 4, Parks' birthday, the girls interview guest panelists on their thoughts on what courage means to them, how they have witnessed moments of courage in their lives, and advice they have for girls on how to make brave decisions.
At Holy Names High School, I was treated to a student-led tour by sophomore Camila who, as a Julia Morgan alumna, is continuing her all-girls education. She told me that an exceptional visual and performing arts program is the tradition of the school's founders, the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. The diverse offerings include AP Music Theory and a live orchestra comprised of students and adults accompanies the school's musical productions.
