REFLECTIONS from the Head of School

Inspiring & Inspired

This spring, we witnessed the Good Shepherd experience through a new lens.

But it all honestly began last December, when we were introduced, virtually, to a small group of dedicated educators from St. Vincent Girls’ High School in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The school, which attracts the brightest female minds in the country, is best known for their students’ top scores on national exams. Yet the country’s overall educational system is quite traditional, which has encouraged more progressive teachers to seek out alternative ways to instruct and lead.

The teachers’ disciplines were STEM-related, including a mathematics teacher, a science teacher, and an IT teacher. Having heard about maker spaces as a means to teach students about STEM topics in an interactive, exploratory, and compelling way, the teachers scoured the internet to study these spaces from across the world. Ultimately, they decided they wanted one modeled after our very own SPARQ space!

Thrilled and honored to hear this, after a few more Zoom meetings with their faculty, we decided it would be best if they came to the United States to visit our campus in person. So, for one week in March, a total of eight students (aged 11-15) and five adults made a life changing trip to Midway Road.

When the visiting group first arrived on campus the morning of Monday, March 6, several of our eighth grade students waited in front of their bus to embrace and greet them. That encounter marked the first of many for our middle school students to get familiar and form bonds with our international guests.

Even our youngest learners were able to impress the visiting group and their teachers! Our first grade students dazzled with their Main Street project, which includes the study of both community and economics.

Besides their time on our campus, the group also visited other local schools, businesses, and maker spaces around the city; all while learning from inspiring and successful adults in the STEM field.

On their last day, we held a joint assembly program inside Kincaid Pavilion while Zooming with their school. This was a treat as it provided a chance for us to get a taste of their home, school, and culture. During the program, the visiting students shared individual reflections consisting of highlights from their week at Good Shepherd. They spoke of the skills they learned, the new friendships and memories they made, and how they wanted to visit our school again in the future. These reflections served as a valuable reminder of how special, unique, and impactful our school community really is.

It was truly evident by the week’s end, the students from St. Vincent had fallen in love with Good Shepherd and we had fallen in love with them! They shared that we were their favorite experience during their time in Dallas, and they certainly had some amazing ones! Our students, teachers, community, and mission of inspiring children to learn with confidence, serve with compassion, and lead with courage were all cited as reasons for their exceptional experience.

As a valued member of our welcoming and belonging Good Shepherd community, we are beyond grateful for you! Thank you for being a part of our past, and even more importantly, thank you for remaining a part of our future. As our new international friends can now attest, the work we do here is significant.

Respectfully,

Julie McLeod, Ph.D. Head of School