Advancing Girls to Advance the World

BY JULIE GENTILE AND JULIA BREEN WALL P ’23 ’27

ILLUSTRATION BY ANDREA D’AQUINO

Claire Chou ’21 makes herself comfortable in the big green chair, visibly exhausted but quietly elated. She had just submitted her final assignment of her final year at Kent Place and can now take a deep breath. With the workload in the rearview mirror, she’s ready to reflect on her experience during her senior exit interview.

“What will you miss most?” she is asked.

IN JUNE, AS OUR Leadership Team members listened to all of our seniors, a theme quickly emerged, one that corroborated what we’ve experienced as committed educators in girls schools: The community we create is transformative for our students and for the world.

For some years now, studies conducted by the National Coalition of Girls Schools (ncgs.org) and other organizations have indicated that schools for girls create an environment in which attendees excel compared to their peers at coed schools. Research also suggests that girls schools excel at building community. Our 2021 graduates confirmed those findings when they were asked to describe a highlight of their KPS experience. What’s compelling about their responses is that they indicated a sense of belonging, and that when students felt connected to their peers and teachers, their capacity to learn, to live in a healthy, balanced way, and ultimately to reach their leadership potential increased significantly.

On the heels of a global pandemic in which typical patterns of socializing and relationships were disrupted, this student-voiced value placed on community caused us to ponder: What does community mean to our students? And how does their experience within a learning community for girls uniquely prepare them for brave leadership that will advance the world?

How girls schools across the globe have defined community merits promotion, because it bucks the trend of traditional school community models. Resonating for our recent graduates and decades of graduates who came before them is their belief that their success in our challenging academic program was directly connected to their engagement within the supportive Kent Place community. This community bolstered their capacity to grow academically, socially, and emotionally.

Connection to, and trust in, faculty. Time spent with faculty members who serve as advisors, mentors, and academic experts.

Sisterhood. Advisory, student groups that encompass various grade levels, athletics teams, performing arts groups, the art studio, and science lab partners.

Cultural competence. Ability to work with peers from various cultural backgrounds and to listen to, value, and incorporate multiple perspectives.

Tradition. Student-centered rally points within the year such as class field trips, Spirit Week, grade-level competitions, morning meetings, and homeroom habits.

Being seen and being heard. Thriving in one’s identity because others listen, include, and seek to understand.

Our students’ voices bear out what we learned in our combined three decades of working within girls schools. The opportunities our students point to as “community builders” are crafted by thoughtful educators who inherently understand that community creates a sense of belonging, and that a sense of belonging provides an environment in which to take risks, to be receptive to deep learning, and to thrive.

When we consider the power of the Kent Place community for girls today, within this environment, their future leadership will advance the world. • Connection with teachers becomes the habit of confidently participating in a professional learning community, critically assessing the context and the data, anticipating what’s around the next bend. • Sisterhood becomes the habit of mentorship, yielding leaders who seek to elevate others as they rise. • Cultural competence becomes an empathic habit of mind that invites a diversity of perspectives and experiences, thus increasing the potential for true collaboration, effectiveness, and impact for the greatest good. • Tradition becomes a commitment to celebrate the strength and joy in community itself. • Being seen and being heard instill confidence in being oneself and, in doing so, bolster mental health and activate originality of thought, agency, and advocacy for a cause.

Because our graduates benefit from the incubation of these leadership habits in all facets of their education — classes, activities, and athletics — they know how to step into a space boldly and compassionately and how to step out into the world ready to make an impact.

EMILY MILLER ’11, a fourth-grade teacher in Harlem, says she thinks about her time at Kent Place every day as she designs the classroom environment she wants for each of her students. At KPS, she says, “students, teachers, and staff were on the same page about what they wanted this place to look like.” There was an intention to the design of our community, she says, that created a strong sense of connection and engagement that inspired her to learn. She cites especially the openness of the Great Room and the lounges; the built-in time for “micro-moments” of community spirit in between classes; the time teachers took to meet and offer support; and the life-changing opportunities that broaden perspective and horizons.

For Emily, her AP English classroom felt democratic. Students did their reading for each class together, because they wanted to be part of the conversation. She remembers speaking to be heard but also listening to understand. “I always knew I belonged here,” she says. “People listened to me. All these people had my back in and out of the classroom. I don’t think that kind of consistent support could have happened in a coed school.” This community framework is the compass by which she leads in her work now.

Claire gets up from the big green chair and gathers her things. She’s heading off to meet an 11th-grader who could use her textbooks next year. She says she leaves Kent Place knowing she’s received an outstanding education. She gives her learning experience a grade of A and speaks with gratitude about her teachers and the friends who encouraged her to keep stretching and expanding, in and out of the classroom. What she walks away with, she says, extends far beyond academic content and skills for her personal benefit and fulfillment. Claire, like Emily, leaves with a greater purpose of how to use what she learned to build and lead her own community, one in which everyone can thrive.

Julie Gentile is the Assistant Head of School for Teaching and Learning, and Julia Breen Wall P ’23 ’27 is the Assistant Head of School for Enrollment and Strategy “I didn’t fully appreciate the extent of the Kent Place community’s impact on me until I ventured beyond 42 Norwood Avenue. Although it didn’t take long (nor did I have to travel too far) for that to become apparent, I’ve found that the community values instilled in me during my time at Kent Place have been particularly critical to my professional development. As a lawyer, my primary objective is to zealously advocate on behalf of my clients; however, the ability to do so successfully must start from within. I’ve been able to become my own best advocate because Kent Place cultivates a community where girls can be independent thought leaders, knowing no bounds for their potential or influence, from day one. This is possible because of the school’s uniquely dedicated educators and its endless resources and opportunities.”

—MALINA WELMAN ’11

Malina graduated from Barnard College with a degree in urban studies. She earned her JD from Columbia Law School, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and editor in chief of the Journal of Law and Social Problems. Malina is now a corporate associate in the Real Estate group at a law firm in New York City.