Upper School Update 3.20.24

I recently had the opportunity to attend this year’s National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) Conference in St. Louis. Attendance at the NAIS conference is important to me not only to continue to grow professionally as an educational leader but also to reconnect with friends and colleagues from schools around the country while also having the opportunity to meet new people who share similar roles and face similar challenges in their work.

One of the sessions I attended was particularly interesting titled, “Balancing Excellence: Embracing the Tension.” The session opened with the following question. 

“We should be a school that…”

Of course, this is a trick question as schools should be doing both. I am proud of the work that the Trinity Upper School does across all of these areas. As a division we work together to promote a robust student experience embedded with appropriate support where each student is called to become their authentic self. During my graduate studies, we identified this as the double helix or the DNA of the student experience; where each category relies on the other to be as strong as possible. 

My short trip to St. Louis reminded me of those classroom lessons back in Nashville. It was and is affirming to see Independent Schools embrace this model and their work through their individual missions, to share ideas, and to commit to each school’s, and thereby our students’, success.