WIS Spring/Summer 2026_Magazine, 60th Anniversary Issue

Table of Contents | Washington International School

In This Issue Head of School Community & Leadership

A Letter From Suzanna

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Changing — and Staying the Same — in the Ways That Matter

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Q&A With Assistant Principals & Directors of Teaching and Learning 6

Hot Topics Features

Alumni & Advancement Report Announcements 1

Cultivating Digital Citizenship at WIS

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Making Sense in a Noisy World: Why Community Art and Critical Creativity Matter Now

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For Your Child, Multilingualism Is the Cure and Complement to AI

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WIS Across Time

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Unwinding Our WIStory: Two Class of ’25 Alums Revive the WIS Archives

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The Tregaron Conservancy and WIS: Celebrating Two Decades of Partnership

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Enriched by Differences Lighting the Path: The Inaugural WISIT x Empower Conference

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Informed Through Inquiry Curiosity Doesn’t End in May

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Global in Reach WIS Dedicates Centro de Idiomas Sullivan

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Student Voice Social Entrepreneurship Editor’s Cut

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Athletics Stepping Into a Culture of Excellence: My First Months as Director of Athletics at WIS

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Alumni: Deep Dives

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Alumni Events

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60 Years Forward: A Mid-Year Advancement Update

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WIS Celebrations Recap!

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Until Next Time

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WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

Welcome | Head of School Opening Letter

A Letter From Suzanna

In January and February of this year, I had

the extraordinary privilege of being able to take a sabbatical, two months to step away in the middle of a school year — like a step out of ordinary time. I started school aged four, making this my 50th year in full time education!

The first stop on my journey was Kangaroo Island, which is some 17,000 kilometres from Washington, D.C. The next stop was Perth in Western Australia, the closest antipodean landmass to D.C. Onward to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a short sojourn before heading to India, where I spent the bulk of my time — almost six weeks. Given that I was plunged into the peak of summer, it was easy to feel as if I was living a very different existence.

I embraced the adventure as a “once-in-a-lifetime” occurrence and made four intentional choices as a result: · I chose not to check school email · I suspended subscriptions to streaming platforms · The family and I agreed to minimal contact for the duration of the trip · I kept a journal During the first few days, I found myself instinctively reaching for my phone. It was as if my brain was programmed to need to know what was happening back at School at all times. I quarrelled with myself: on the one hand, my re-entry would be easier if I just kept on top of things, but I had made a promise I wanted to keep… and of course, the team back at School was more than ready to WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

operate in my absence. The phantom urge subsided after a few days.

Living without streaming platforms was decidedly simple. It was about two weeks into my time in India that I noticed I had not even missed listening to music, something I had really not expected. The family’s suggestion that we not be in contact was something that has surprised people, but it resulted in my being free of accountabilities and responsibilities in the truest sense. Keeping a journal allowed me to document this new-found existence! The act of committing my experiences to paper every evening became a highlight of the day. It helps that the journal itself is a thing of beauty!

I had heard from others that one’s sense of time changes on sabbatical, and I can attest to that. Without any meetings on a calendar, with no “tasks” in front of me, I had time to fill. I was able to travel at my own speed and change plans on a whim. Very often, I chose to explore on foot — and invariably, I took a different route from the one I had set out to take. If something interested me along the way, I could meander towards it. If I wasn’t in the mood to stop for lunch, I didn’t. If I didn’t see everything I had originally planned to see, I didn’t lose any sleep about it.

A WIS colleague had given me a book by Indian chef/actress/travel writer Madhur Jaffrey Climbing the Mango Trees to read at some point along the route. I decided it had to be read in India. Her thoughtful gift sparked an idea: what if my reading could somehow complement the places I would

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visit? And so, my first meaty novel was Peter Carey’s A Long Way From Home (ironic?), which chronicles a round-Australia car race, while also confronting the brutal treatment of Aboriginal people. Plenty of history and detail to punctuate my two-week stay.

Once the India portion of the journey started, I couldn’t read fast enough: Arundhati Roy, Kiran Desai, Salman Rushdie, Akhil Sharma, Abraham Verghese… In some instances, I was re-reading books that I had read decades ago, but this time looking out onto the very sights, breathing in the fragrances, digesting all the sounds that I had conjured up for myself from the writers’ own words. Interior imagination and exterior environment collided.

Travelling solo for an extended period of time and to far-flung places allows for a lot of reflection, some of it on planes and at airports, but mostly in conversation with oneself. I had multiple opportunities to think about the past and decide how it will impact the future. Here at WIS, we are doing the same: reflecting on WIS’s evolution across six decades of our School’s journey (take a good look at the timeline in the center pages!).

In every decade, WIS’s community — amid intense challenges — has been intentional about asking difficult questions, in reflecting on past accomplishments, in managing resources sustainably, and in pursuing a path of growth with purpose and mission.

Happy birthday, WIS! Suzanna Jemsby, Head of School

About WIS | Our Mission and Core Values

Our mission is to be an exemplary learning community — enriched by differences, informed through inquiry, global in reach.

Our Core Values

BE INQUISITIVE Pursue knowledge with creativity, joy, and rigor; be courageous in questioning and seek deep understanding.

CURIOSITÉ Pour nous, l’acquisition du savoir passe par la créativité, l’enthousiasme mais aussi la rigueur, et par le courage de poser des questions pour aller au fond de la compréhension.

SÉ INQUISITIVO Persigue el conocimiento con creatividad, entusiasmo y rigor; atrévete a cuestionar y busca una comprensión profunda. 保持好奇 创新，快乐及严谨地求知，勇于探究。 ACT WITH INTEGRITY Be honest and accountable; demonstrate empathy, kindness, and respect.

INTÉGRITÉ L’action doit être fondée sur l’honnêteté et la responsabilité, l’empathie, la bienveillance et le respect.

ACTÚA CON INTEGRIDAD Sé honesto y responsable; demuestra empatía, amabilidad y respeto. 诚信行事 诚实负责，感同身受，友善尊重。 BE INCLUSIVE Embrace diverse cultures and perspectives; foster a school community where all feel welcomed and valued.

INCLUSION Nous nous nourrissons de la diversité des cultures et des perspectives, au sein d’une communauté scolaire où chacun sait qu’il a sa place et se sent valorisé.

SÉ INCLUSIVO Acepta una diversidad de culturas y perspectivas; fomenta una comunidad escolar en la que todos se sientan bienvenidos y valorados. 兼容并蓄 接纳多元文化和观点，共同促进建设一个人人 备受欢迎和重视的学校社区。

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WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

Community & Leadership | Changing — and Staying the Same — in the Ways That Matter

Changing — and Staying the Same —in the Ways That Matter Natasha Bhalla, Associate Head of School, Class of ’91

One of the most popular sentiments I hear from alumni when I see them is something along the lines of, “I heard that the school has changed so much.” Often it is accompanied by a list of questions about how the community has changed, or how internationalism has decreased, or how students have it so much easier. I understand that these queries come from a place of nostalgia for what is remembered, loyalty for what was experienced, and a desire to know that what once was, is able to remain.

The tension point with this thinking is that an institution that remains stagnant, unable or unwilling to change, is not one that will elicit pride for those who have come before or those who are currently here.

The end of this school year marks the completion of my 26th year working at WIS. The lesser known truth is that I spent two years at WIS in Primary School when I was in first and second grade.

I have strong memories of Olive Street: the stairs leading up to the building, the small playground, Larry Vincent’s overalls, and square dancing classes. My French was so solidly anchored in me in the two years I was here that it became foundational for the language I would use decades later with my French husband and family.

My time at WIS in our Primary School is a part of my origin story. And, yes, while I remember the building vividly, the more meaningful memory is of how I felt while I was there. I remember eating dal and

rice for lunch and no one laughing at it and I remember the way my French teacher would show us a picture and make us point out minute details to practice vocabulary. I remember how I tried to cheat on a spelling test and the way my English teacher treated me with so much kindness when showing me why that was wrong. Remembering my time as a child at WIS is full of love and care.

As an adult and an educator who once again spends her days at this school, I would be incredibly disappointed if WIS had remained in amber, unchanged and untouched by the dynamic world around it.

Learning is different. Information gathering and processing are different. Demands on students have intensified. The WIS of my memory had to change in order to be the WIS of my present, if for no other reason than, if it hadn’t, I don’t think it would have lasted.

As WIS marks its 60th anniversary, I have been reflecting on what’s changed and what’s stayed constant: buildings have been updated, curriculum has been revised to mirror a changing world, teaching pedagogy has matured, mission and core values have been adapted, technology has grown, and lunch is now included.

But here is what has stayed the same: the belief that teaching and learning is about the whole person and not just a list of facts, the mindset that empathy and inclusion are central to belonging, the perspective that language and internationalism are the cornerstones of building diverse viewpoints and understanding.

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As an adult and an educator who once again spends her days at this school, I would be incredibly disappointed if WIS had remained in amber, unchanged and untouched by the dynamic world around it.

So, back to the question I get from alums, “Has WIS changed?” My response always is, “Well, I suppose you have changed in the ways that matter and also stayed the same in the ways that matter. And WIS has done the same.”

In 1980, I came to WIS as a newly emigrated young Indian girl and was able to bring my whole self to school. In 2026, the buildings and footprints may have changed, but I am so glad to say that I am still able to bring my whole self to our School.

WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

Q&A

Community & Leadership | Q&A With Assistant Principals & Directors of Teaching and Learning

Sava Vrbaski

Assistant Principal of Teaching & Learning, Primary School Q: What’s one part of your day-to-day work that most people don’t see, but that quietly keeps the school running smoothly?

A: This would have to be my ongoing check-ins with students. I like to make sure that they feel seen and heard by me, that they know that I am there for them. I suppose people see this, but they might not be aware of how many students I connect with. Cultivating an open and ongoing communication with parents is another thing which I like to think helps the whole WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

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school run smoothly. It’s important because it allows us to engage more openly and trust each other. This, in turn, is the best foundation for supporting our students and community.

Q: Can you share a moment from this year that reminded you exactly why you love doing this work or find purpose in it?

A: I have a little friend in Kindergarten who is new to WIS. He had a challenging time getting used to the routines and structure of a new school and grade level. The other day I checked on him and he asked me if I could stay and help him with his cursive letter formation, so we spent some time working together. That was the best 10–15 minutes of pure presence and connection in a while.

Q: Over your time at WIS, what changes or improvements are you most proud of helping shepherd, big or small?

A: I collaborated closely with Lisa McNeil on defining and systematizing the Primary School approach to managing student behavior. The parts were all there before us, but Lisa and I worked closely with teachers and students to clearly define and document our system and best practices. Richard Anderson was instrumental in helping us create a digital behavior report system and associated Google Data Looker Studio, which allows us to analyze student behavior data.

Working on all this will make it so much easier to transition to August Schools, the new platform for reporting and tracking student behavior.

Q: When you think about our school at 60, what qualities or values do you hope we continue to uphold for the next 60 years — and how does your work help sustain them?

A: WIS has such a big and open heart.

It takes no time to feel seen, heard, and accepted as part of this community no matter who you are, where you come from, or what your story is. I also like how WIS gets us all to buy into and uphold its rigorous standards, not only academic standards, but more importantly, community standards. The school has done this really well over the past six decades.

I have no doubt that this will remain a defining feature for the decades to come.

Q: How did you get your start in education and also at WIS? A: I took my first steps in education in a photo studio in Canada way back before digital photography. I taught black and white photo printing. People enjoyed my hands-on, exploration-focused teaching style and kept encouraging me to consider a career in education. One thing led to another and I found myself teaching Kindergarten at the International School of Belgrade, an IB World School. That was my first proper teaching position. This is my fifth international school.

My two boys and I could not enjoy being a part of the WIS community more!

Community & Leadership | Q&A With Assistant Principals & Directors of Teaching and Learning

students was deeply affirming. It reminded me that relationships matter, that students notice when they are cared for and advocated for, and that feeling seen and supported makes a lasting impact.

In leadership, appreciation isn’t something you expect, but when it comes directly from students, it reinforces the purpose of the work and why showing up for them everyday truly matters.

Lisa McNeill

Assistant Principal of Student Life, Primary School Q: What’s one part of your day-to-day work that most people don’t see, but that quietly keeps the school running smoothly?

A: One part of my day-to-day work that most people don’t see, but that quietly keeps the school running smoothly, is the ongoing work of establishing, monitoring, and refining school-wide routines and procedures. This includes ensuring that routines are clearly defined, consistently implemented, and understood by both students and staff — and revisiting them when adjustments are needed.

For example, transitions throughout the day, including how students move through hallways, line up for recess, navigate lunch lines, or follow procedures during inclement weather, may seem small, but when they are predictable and consistent, they significantly reduce disruptions, increase safety, and maximize learning time. By holding students accountable and supporting adults in maintaining these routines, the school day runs more calmly and efficiently, allowing everyone to focus on teaching and learning.

Q: Can you share a moment from this year that reminded you exactly why you love doing this work or find purpose in it?

A: A moment from this year that reminded me exactly why I love this work happened when a group of Grade 5 students came to see me and simply said, “Thank you for everything you do for us, Ms. Lisa.”

That brief interaction meant the world to me. Much of the work I do happens behind the scenes and often goes unseen, so hearing that acknowledgment from

Q: Over your time at WIS, what changes or improvements are you most proud of helping shepherd, big or small?

A: One of the changes I am most proud of helping to shepherd is the growth and expansion of the International Student Union (ISU). When I began my role as Assistant Principal, ISU was in the early stages of development. I recognized an opportunity to intentionally align this work more closely with the PYP’s emphasis on student agency, voice, and action.

Q: How did you get your start in education and also at WIS? A: My journey in education began as a middle school social studies teacher and later as an upper school history teacher, teaching students in Grades 10 and 11.

From there, I moved into a role as an academic and behavior intervention coordinator. I later supported development of the Response to Intervention framework at DC Public Schools and helped design a district-wide data tracking system to document both academic and behavioral interventions across all DCPS schools.

I have been at Washington International School for the past seven years. I began as the Director of Co-Curricular Programs (now WISEL), later served as the Internationalmindedness, Diversity, and Inclusion (IDI) Coordinator, and currently serve as the Assistant Principal of Student Life.

Through ISU, students are given meaningful opportunities to inquire into issues that matter to them, share their perspectives, and take responsible action within the Primary School community.

Seeing ISU evolve into a space where students feel empowered to lead, collaborate, and contribute to positive, sustainable change has been incredibly rewarding. It reflects my belief that when students are trusted as capable decisionmakers and supported through authentic leadership opportunities, they develop a strong sense of agency and ownership over their learning and their community.

Q: When you think about our school at 60, what qualities or values do you hope we continue to uphold for the next 60 years — and how does your work help sustain them?

A: When I think about our school at 60, I hope we continue to uphold internationalmindedness, inclusivity, and a deep respect for the diversity that defines our community. I hope we remain a school that truly lives its mission — one that is enriched by differences, informed through inquiry, and global in reach.

At its core, I hope WIS continues to be a welcoming community where individuals from diverse cultures feel seen, valued, and connected through a shared vision and purpose. These values are not static; they require intentional, daily work to sustain.

My role supports this by fostering student agency, elevating student voice, and creating structures that encourage inclusive leadership and meaningful action.

Through initiatives like ISU, assemblies, and community-building efforts, I work to ensure that students experience what it means to be internationally-minded in practice, not just in words.

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Elke Gannon

Assistant Principal of Grades 11/12 and IB DP Programme Coordinator, Upper School Q: What’s one part of your day-to-day work that most people don’t see, but that quietly keeps the school running smoothly?

A: I am part of an admin team, but the work that I put into student 11/12 schedules, classes, and the IB DP calendars keeps everyone moving in the same direction.

Q: Can you share a moment from this year that reminded you exactly why you love doing this work or find purpose in it?

A: I enjoy it when graduates return to WIS and say that the IB DP was worth it.

They are more grown-up after a semester of college and seem more relaxed. It is good to know that what I do makes a difference in their lives after WIS. I also really enjoy seeing what students accomplish and experience WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

Community & Leadership | Q&A With Assistant Principals & Directors of Teaching and Learning

Q: Can you share a moment from this year that reminded you exactly why you love doing this work or find purpose in it?

A: What energizes me most is watching students step into their power, seeing them discover they have agency to shape their own experience and lead meaningful change in our community.

outside of the classroom. So I attend a variety of extracurricular activities that give me a sense of pride in how students are representing their families and the school community.

Q: Over your time at WIS, what changes or improvements are you most proud of helping shepherd, big or small?

A: Equity is very important to me. In my admin role, I have enforced policies and added additional structure for grades 11/12 and the IB program, providing clear program guidelines and expectations that enhance clarity and equity in the student experience.

I also find deep satisfaction in those moments when seemingly competing priorities align, when we find common ground between students, teachers, parents, and administration that genuinely serves student success. Those breakthroughs remind me why collaboration matters and give me a strong sense of purpose.

Q: When you think about our school at 60, what qualities or values do you hope we continue to uphold for the next 60 years — and how does your work help sustain them?

A: At 60, I would like to see WIS keep language immersion and bilingual education at its core. I think it’s a unique student experience and impactful for any community in the long term. In the future, the idea of WIS as a provider of bilingual education for 100 years sounds like quite an accomplishment, always aligned with our core values: Be inclusive. Be inquisitive. Act with Integrity. These values are timeless.

Q: How did you get your start in education and also at WIS? A: I worked in the non-profit sector, developing programs for the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program and individual/ groups sponsored by USAID. As part of my community outreach, I would provide international programming at a partner elementary school, and I really enjoyed working with the students and saw teaching as a viable career. I then went on to get three New York State teaching certificates, PK-12, and a Master’s in Education at Canisius University, plus an additional 30 credits in School Leadership, and began working in Buffalo Public Schools. Shortly thereafter, I started working at one of the city’s Gifted and Talented Magnet Schools, also an IB MYP and DP school, where I began teaching IB Economics.

I came to WIS in 2020 after 4 years in the UAE working in IB schools as an IB Economics teacher, bringing my total teaching experience in IB Economics to 18 years. In the fall of 2022, I took on Assistant Principal responsibilities alongside my IB teaching responsibilities, and the following year transitioned to the AP and IB DP Coordinator role. For me, this is a natural progression. I have solid experience in many school roles; my daughters were both IB DP students, so I know the positive and negative impact the program can have on students, families, and teachers.

WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

But perhaps the most rewarding moments are the quietest ones: when a change we’ve worked hard to implement becomes so seamlessly integrated that people forget it was ever different. When something that once required constant explanation now just feels like “the way we do things,” that’s when I know we’ve succeeded. The best systems become invisible.

Anne Leflot

Assistant Principal for Student Life and Grades 9 & 10, Upper School Q: What’s one part of your day-to-day work that most people don’t see, but that quietly keeps the school running smoothly?

A: No two days in my role look the same. What often goes unseen is the breadth of directions my work takes me — from ensuring meaningful student life programs to supporting teachers in helping students succeed, from empowering student leaders in their initiatives to refining our systems for consistency, clarity, and fairness, or tracking student progress and ensuring each student receives the support they need.

At its core, my job is deeply collaborative.

Much of my time is spent in meetings with every stakeholder group in our school community, connecting the dots across different parts of our operations. It’s this behind-the-scenes coordination that helps everything run smoothly.

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Q: Over your time at WIS, what changes or improvements are you most proud of helping shepherd, big or small?

A: In my three and a half years in this role, I’m proud of the work we’ve done to strengthen our seminar, advisory, and club programs. These aren’t just scheduling blocks; they’re intentional systems designed to ensure every student has people and structures supporting them as they refine their skills, shape their futures, and build confidence. We’ve worked to streamline these programs, clarify expectations, and broaden the scope of support students receive, so no one falls through the cracks.

Career Day is another initiative close to my heart. It’s about closing the loop and building what I think of as a virtuous circle: when students connect with alumni and community members who’ve walked similar paths, they develop a greater sense of self and belonging. There’s something powerful about realizing you’re part of a community that can support you and that you, in turn, can support. I hope our current students will look forward to coming back to WIS for Career Day. Q: When you think about our school at 60, what qualities or values do you hope we continue to uphold for the next 60 years — and how does your work help sustain them?

A: One of WIS’s most distinctive qualities is that we actually invest in our faculty’s learning. The research and professional development opportunities I’ve had through our partnership with Project Zero at Harvard have been transformative.

They’ve shaped my understanding of global competence, empowerment, and what it means to trust the learning process, both for myself and for our students.

Community & Leadership | Q&A With Assistant Principals & Directors of Teaching and Learning

The qualities I hope we preserve are actually interconnected: • Kindness: Maintaining a place that feels safe and supportive, where students and teachers are genuine partners, where students collaborate because they want to learn with and from each other.

• Dedication: Highly qualified teachers with sharp intellects who engage in complex, meaningful conversations.

And above all, I hope WIS will maintain a commitment to being both supportive and rigorous, where we are a community of learners who feel empowered to lead positive change both within our walls and beyond them.

My work helps sustain this through daily presence and encouragement in observing classrooms, supporting the student-teacher partnership, and keeping us engaged in ongoing research. It’s important to me that we practice what we preach: that WIS remains a place where everyone, adults included, continues to grow.

Q: How did you get your start in education and also at WIS? A: My path to education began unexpectedly at 18, working at a sailing school. The lead kitchen role suddenly became vacant the day I arrived on the island, and they asked me to step in.

I didn’t know how to cook, much less lead a team, but I still remember the thrill of that challenge. I was simply excited to make it work.

Every day, I had to lead a new team of ten students to ensure meals were prepared and served on time for 120 people. I quickly learned to surround myself with people who knew more than I did, people who could help me figure things out fast. The rest came naturally.

What captivated me was watching students — some teenagers like me, others grown adults — feel genuine pride and joy in learning to cook for others, in contributing meaningfully to the community. That experience planted the seed.

I began my formal teaching career in France, teaching French literature in both public and private middle and high schools. When I moved to the United States for my husband’s job, I applied to WIS because it offered the rare opportunity to teach Francophone literature at a high level. Since then, I’ve held several positions here: French Department Coordinator, Grade Level Coordinator, CAS Coordinator, and now Assistant Principal. Each role has deepened my understanding of how all the pieces of a school fit together.

Kristin Gilliland Assistant Principal, Middle School

Q: What’s one part of your day-to-day work that most people don’t see, but that quietly keeps the school running smoothly?

A: A lot of my work happens in the in-between moments, the follow-up emails, the schedule adjustments, the student check-ins and the coordination that connects people and systems. While it’s not always visible, the steady attention to detail and care helps maintain the rhythm of the school and allows students and teachers to focus on learning and connection.

Q: Can you share a moment from this year that reminded you exactly why you love doing this work or find purpose in it?

A: The other day, as I walked down the second-floor hallway of the new-to-us Middle School building, I caught myself thinking, “This place really looks and sounds like a Middle School now.” The walls reflected student learning, not just finished work, but evidence of process, growth, and understanding. From open classroom doors, students’ mathematical discussions overflowed into the hallways as they worked through ideas together, and laughter echoed from around the corner as teachers and students connected in meaningful, human ways. In that moment, it was clear that the Middle School now has a true place to call home, and it reaffirmed my sense of purpose in continuing to help our community grow into the best version of itself.

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Q: Over your time at WIS, what changes or improvements are you most proud of helping shepherd, big or small?

A: One of the recent changes I’m most proud of shepherding is the creation of and implementation of our Middle School Student Ambassador Program, which launched last year. The program empowers students to take on meaningful leadership roles by welcoming new students and families, supporting admissions events, and sharing their WIS experiences with openness and confidence. Through a thoughtful application and training process, ambassadors reflect on what makes WIS special, connect their experiences to our mission and core values and practice modeling leadership, empathy, and integrity in real situations. Seeing students articulate what they love about WIS and authentically represent our community has been incredibly rewarding and has strengthened both student voice and our sense of belonging across the Middle School.

When you think about our school at 60, what qualities or values do you hope we continue to uphold for the next 60 years — and how does your work help sustain them?

I hope we continue to be a school that leads with our mission and core values, one that leads with empathy and curiosity and encourages students to question boldly, act with integrity, and truly value diverse voices. My work contributes to sustaining this by supporting environments where every student feels seen, respected, and empowered to grow, learn, and contribute meaningfully to our community and the world beyond.

Q: How did you get your start in education and also at WIS? A: Education has always been a part of my life, as both of my parents were high school educators. So from a very early age I was immersed in their school communities.

Teaching felt natural to me, and I entered university planning to become a high school math teacher. However, after an internship during my first year when a student, upon seeing me in the classroom, asked, “Hey, who’s the new kid?,” I quickly realized that middle school was where my heart truly belonged and still does.

I joined WIS In 2011 after teaching high school math in Pennsylvania for a year and middle school math in Virginia for six years. At the time, I thought I would stay for three or four years to gain experience in the international school world before teaching abroad, but 15 years later, I’m still here.

WIS is a special place. It’s a community that becomes a family and one that’s hard to leave! During my time at WIS, I’ve taught middle school math, coached cross country and track, and served in a variety of coordinator and leadership roles, all of which have deepened my connection to the community.

WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

Community & Leadership | Q&A With Assistant Principals & Directors of Teaching and Learning

teachers to learn and grow. This is a daily task that involves many other people. I constantly read professional publications and look for new opportunities; I track all current initiatives, trips, and trainings; I coordinate all opportunities with my counterpart at the Primary School Stephanie Sneed, with Director of WISIT Elise Stephenson, and with Director of IDI Aldaine Wynter to make sure they are equitable, relevant, and inspiring across the board. I also collaborate with the Business Office to make sure things run smoothly on the financial side. These daily tasks allow teachers to pursue opportunities that are aligned with their goals and aspirations.

Q: Can you share a moment from this year that reminded you exactly why you love doing this work or find purpose in it?

A: I loved the Alumni Gathering! I truly felt at home. The event was lovely and well organized. So many people showed up, including former WIS parents and colleagues! I had great conversations with everyone. All were happy to be there and thankful for WIS. The holiday vibe throughout the Mansion was perfect.

We all have so many things in common, from international-mindedness to intellectual curiosity. It reminded me how much I love WIS and how much I feel part of the WIS family.

Carole Geneix

Director of Teaching and Learning, Middle & Upper Schools Q: What’s one part of your day-to-day work that most people don’t see, but that quietly keeps the school running smoothly?

A: I coordinate our Professional Development programs for Tregaron.

WIS is well known for its commitment to learning and professional growth, and it takes a lot of time and effort to craft meaningful opportunities for WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

Q: Over your time at WIS, what changes or improvements are you most proud of helping shepherd, big or small?

A: I am really proud of WIS’s involvement with Project Zero, a research center from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Our partnership with the organization has grown exponentially over the years, and all our teachers have had the chance to engage in various projects, such as Making Across the Curriculum and Teaching for Understanding. I was part of the leadership team of the MAC project and have coordinated many opportunities with Ron Ritchhart, former Principal Investigator at Project Zero and renowned researcher in the field of inquiry-based learning. The Justice by Design project was even born at WIS! Right now, we are exploring ideas and frameworks from the Center for Digital Thriving, one of the latest Project Zero endeavors that inform what we do in the realm of digital citizenship and emerging technologies such as AI. I am proud of having been an early adopter of such ideas when I was a teacher. I now lead workshops, internally and externally, on such ideas. I am a learning group co-leader at WISIT, our Summer Institute for Teachers. This year, Stephanie Sneed and I led a group composed entirely of new WIS teachers, which was the perfect introduction to WIS curriculum and pedagogy! I am also a study group and mini-course leader at the yearly Project

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Zero Classroom Institute of the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Cultures of Thinking Summit.

Q: When you think about our school at 60, what qualities or values do you hope we continue to uphold for the next 60 years — and how does your work help sustain them?

A: In my opinion, international-mindedness, innovative pedagogy, and a student-centered approach are the three pillars of the WIS classroom, and I am hoping we can continue nurturing these. My work is centered around curriculum, pedagogy, and innovation and enacting these ideas in practice, whether it be during curriculum writing sessions, PD days, or meetings. Right now, I am leading a WIS cohort of “AI Innovators” that discusses best practices around AI in the classroom, teaching with AI and about AI, and shares ideas to integrate it more fully in our practices. This forward-thinking work is sometimes messy, always rewarding, and definitely looks at the future of education. I am happy to say that WIS is at the forefront of this important work, solidified by our research-based practices and collaboration with the best educational organizations in the world, like IB, CIS, MSA and Harvard to name a few!

Q: How did you get your start in education and also at WIS? A: I started in education by chance, not vocation. My first job was at the Alliance Française of Seoul, South Korea. I loved teaching right away.

I traveled for a few years and held various teaching positions that allowed me to explore age groups and school settings. I am also a certified teacher in France and hold the CAPES certification from the Ministry of National Education.

I started working at WIS in 2000.

You do the math! Over the years, I have held various positions: Middle School teacher, Upper School teacher, French department coordinator, and now Director of Teaching & Learning.

My two daughters are WIS alumni, and I am proud to have been a parent for so many years as well! Holding these various roles has helped me understand perspectives, needs, and ways we can address “the whole child.”

For several years, I also coordinated the Film Festival on Global Issues, and even though this event no longer exists, I am proud to have made it a reality and encouraged a few vocations along the way! I also collaborate yearly with Project Zero to lead workshops and study groups and the International Baccalaureate on assessment.

Community & Leadership | Q&A With Assistant Principals & Directors of Teaching and Learning

Inquiry to life for our students. Together, we work to make the curriculum more engaging, inclusive, relevant, contextual, accessible, and challenging. This collaboration promotes equity across classrooms and languages so students, regardless of teacher or language, experience high-quality learning. We work to ensure core learning experiences are authentically transdisciplinary, supporting students to go deeper in their understanding through real-life scenarios.

It’s stimulating and rewarding work.

Q: Can you share a moment from this year that reminded you exactly why you love doing this work or find purpose in it?

A: Recently, I received a call on my office phone, “Stephanie, are you free right now?” I was just wrapping up a meeting. “Come now,” the caller said, “you have to see this!” The classroom I was called to was abuzz. “Just look!” The teacher said as I walked in. “I wasn’t sure if it would work, but the conversation’s fantastic! So much better this way!”

Students were sitting in small groups actively interviewing one another to learn more about their research, what they had discovered, and the process they had gone through to get there. As I joined in and interviewed students, it was clear they were deeply engaged and learning from each other.

Stephanie Sneed

Just a few weeks before, the teacher who called me in had wondered in a team meeting about a new way for students to share their learning connected to the text type the students were learning.

Drawing on ideas from that collaborative conversation, the teacher tried something new and couldn’t wait to share. Seeing that moment come to life through student voices was a reminder of why I love this work. It perfectly captured the thoughtful, ongoing reflection that teachers at WIS engage in everyday and the impact that their innovation has on students. It was a moment to celebrate together.

Q: Over your time at WIS, what changes or improvements are you most proud of helping shepherd, big or small?

A: Some of these include:

Director of Teaching and Learning + PYP Coordinator, Primary School Middle & Upper Amplifying teacher voice in school decision-making and ensuring educators Schools have a meaningful say before processes Q: What’s one part of your day-to-day work that most people don’t see, but that quietly keeps the school running smoothly?

A: A big part of my day-to-day is meeting with faculty and staff to plan, reflect, and refine teaching and learning across the Primary School. I’m incredibly fortunate to work alongside such dedicated educators to bring our Programme of

are implemented.

Transforming the dual language program, integrating content and research-backed translanguaging strategies to help students thrive across languages.

Reimagining collaboration and creating a model that ensures cohesive, high-quality learning experiences across grades and languages.

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Launching a shared unit-planning platform, giving all teachers access to all units taught to strengthen continuity and coherence.

Fostering teacher ownership in accreditation, leading a self-study process that empowered staff to take agency over evaluation and growth.

Q: When you think about our school at 60, what qualities or values do you hope we continue to uphold for the next 60 years — and how does your work help sustain them?

A: I hope WIS continues to be defined by its commitment to high-quality professional learning and by a faculty that is kind, caring, and student-centered. A strong, inclusive learning environment that supports educators in continual growth doesn’t happen by chance. It’s built through intentional relationships, trust, and shared professional expertise.

It thrives when teachers have access to meaningful mentorship, collaborative partnerships, reflective practices, and personalized professional development invitations that align with WIS’s mission and with their individual goals. Providing time and space for collaboration, opportunities for leadership, and resources that support innovative practices further strengthen this culture.

Whether onboarding new staff, facilitating faculty learning, or extending training outside of WIS, I work to ensure our community remains thoughtful, reflective, and responsive to student needs. I hope WIS continues to be a place where educators see themselves as lifelong learners — curious, reflective, and supported in taking risks, while eager to share their passion and expertise with students and keep student growth and well-being at the heart of their work.

Q: How did you get your start in education and also at WIS? A: Growing up with two educator parents, I did everything I could not to be a teacher, but during an internship at Touro Neuro Rehabilitation Center in New Orleans, I had a pivotal realization.

While I was incredibly interested in the research I was doing, I was far more drawn to the idea of supporting the families, especially the children of the patients, as they navigated the challenges that came with a prognosis.

This realization eventually led me to Asia, where I began teaching in independent and international schools. I knew I wanted to stay in an international, PYP school when I returned to the U.S., which drew me to WIS in 2015. I joined the school as a Grade 2 teacher, later taught Grade 4, and have served in the dual role of Primary School Director of Teaching and Learning and Primary Years Programme Coordinator since 2018.

WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

Hot Topics | Cultivating Digital Citizenship at WIS

Cultivating Digital Citizenship at WIS By the WIS Academic Technology Team Director Javid Majdi, Richard Anderson, Nathan Kreps, and Dipak Mondal

Among the many challenges faced by students in the 21st century are when, how,

and why to use technology tools, both at school and in their personal lives. At WIS, students’ academic experiences and successes are inherently linked to digital platforms, from using Chromebooks in the classroom to employing AI to navigate research inquiries in the IB Diploma Program. Every click, comment, and share shapes how they learn and how they perceive the digital world. They are challenged to go beyond technical proficiency and understand the impact their use of technology has on themselves, their peers, and the broader community.

Informed by the CSE model, WIS focuses on six main curricular topics:

In response to this very modern paradigm and in support of WIS’s mission to cultivate new generations of ethical learners and leaders, the school has implemented a comprehensive and continually adapting Digital Citizenship curriculum that is embedded in the Primary, Middle, and Upper Schools.

• Privacy and Safety: Learning how to protect personal data and understanding the implications of sharing information online and in AI platforms.

What is Digital Citizenship?

WIS defines digital citizenship as the ability to think critically, behave safely, and participate responsibly across the many technological tools at our disposal. Teaching students how to use technology responsibly matters as much as instructing them about the specific technology tools they should employ to accomplish specific learning tasks, which underscores digital citizenship’s place as a cornerstone of K–12 education. It’s not only about what students are capable of learning, creating, and communicating using technology, but who they are while doing so.

Accordingly, WIS has adopted an industry-leading curriculum framework developed by the Common Sense Education (CSE) organization, based on research by Harvard University’s Project Zero initiative. This approach empowers students to harness the benefits of technology while navigating its challenges with a strong sense of ethics and social responsibility.

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• Healthy Habits: Learning about the impact students’ digital lives can have on their well-being and relationships, and balancing media in their analog lives.

• Digital Footprint and Identity: Recognizing that most digital actions are permanent and learning how to curate a positive online reputation.

• Relationships and Communication: Building positive, empathetic online connections and understanding the nuances of interactions in digital spaces.

• Cyberbullying and Online Harms: Developing strategies to deal with online cruelty and learning how to be an upstander rather than a bystander.

• Information and Media Literacy: Identifying credible sources, understanding the intent behind the media we consume, and using AI as an effective learning tool.

WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

One of our most engaging lessons in the fall term focused on personally identifiable information (PII). Grade 4 learners became digital detectives, analyzing seemingly harmless social media posts that actually revealed sensitive information such as full names, addresses, a child’s school, dates of birth and even precise locations with photos to match.

Students engaged in thoughtful discussions about why people share personal information online and how we can balance staying connected with loved ones — especially those far away — while keeping our PII safe. The conversation revealed diverse perspectives: several children advocated for restricting visibility of posts to people we know and trust, while others argued more adamantly that no PII should be shared on social media at all.

WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

A Scaffolded Approach Across Divisions

Middle and Upper School: Real-World Application

The WIS Academic Technology team collaborates closely with curriculum leadership and teams responsible for social-emotional learning to implement the digital citizenship framework across all three divisions. It is taught at each grade level in an age-appropriate and developmentally-responsive way.

Beginning in our Middle School, students expand their engagement with digital citizenship concepts in specific sessions that occur periodically during their regularly scheduled classes. This programming explores real-world scenarios involving communication, digital identity, and decision-making. For example, Grade 6 students cover topics including oversharing online, digital footprints, copyright, an introduction to generative AI, and media literacy.

Primary School: Foundational Concepts WIS Primary School students begin engaging with digital citizenship concepts as early as Grade 1. For example, during the first two weeks of the Primary School year, a campuswide approach to community-building gets underway, which includes discussions on the role of technology at school. Teachers and students establish classroom contracts and administrators visit classes to share expectations for technology use in connection to the three Bs: Be Safe, Be Kind, Be Respectful.

Primary School students also learn about media literacy and digital well-being through their STEAM and Information Communication Literacies (ICL) single-subject classes. This curriculum, rooted in CSE’s digital citizenship framework, lends itself to the PYP’s inquiry-based approaches to learning. Foundational concepts such as kindness, balance, and safety in the digital world are embedded directly into their Units of Inquiry.

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Students in the Upper School participate in specific digital citizenship workshops that take place outside their regular classes, either in dedicated seminars or in advisory meetings.

These sessions address increasingly complex topics like ethical technology use and critical thinking skills that can be applied across the complicated digital landscapes students inhabit. For instance, recent Grade 9 seminars included a cautionary review of how AI chatbots are programmed to seem humanlike, while lacking real emotion, and the students also explored practical demonstrations of how AI can produce biased results.

A Technology-Driven Foundation for Safety, Privacy, Security, and Digital Citizenship Safety, privacy, and security are essential elements of WIS’s approach to digital citizenship, both in terms of the instruction

Hot Topics | Cultivating Digital Citizenship at WIS

we provide students and the technology infrastructure the school has put in place to protect their learning environments. The Google for Education platform provides secure methods for students to create and manage school work, and every digital system they access through school networks has been vetted to ensure data integrity and privacy.

This ensures that, as students’ understanding of digital citizenship grows throughout their time at WIS, there is a consistent technological foundation for their learning.

Our emphasis on providing students with a secure and consistent learning environment fosters effective exploration of the CSE digital citizenship framework. As students rise through the grades, access to technology expands at an age-appropriate cadence, along with the monitoring capability of teachers and IT staff. In Grades 1 to 3, students enjoy supervised access to iPads that are configured to access only specifically allowed websites.

Students in Grades 4 to 8 graduate to using school-owned Chromebooks in class, and teachers are able to monitor their students’ screens in real time and can even limit the number of open web browser tabs or temporarily lock screens to ensure they remain on task. Upper School students have the

opportunity to take more personal responsibility by using their own personal devices to access WIS’s secure learning environment.

Defining Success and the Role of Caregivers At WIS, success in accomplishing the school’s digital citizenship curriculum goals is measured not by a single test, but by how our students’ behavior evolves as they progress through each grade level. We define success by how students apply their learning at school and in the real world by communicating respectfully, protecting their privacy, and making ethical digital decisions. While WIS’s Academic Technology team, teachers, and administration provide the framework and feedback to guide students on their digital citizenship journeys, true progress is ultimately measured by their readiness for life after WIS. Consistency is key to students’ development, and parents and other caregivers have a role to play in helping to reinforce the school’s digital citizenship efforts. Here are a few ideas to consider: Start Conversations: Discuss screen time, recognizing that not all of it is detrimental,

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set boundaries, and create expectations for online behavior in and outside of the home.

Engage Early: Be an active presence in your child’s digital life, which can encourage them to be more open about their online experiences, both positive and challenging.

Use Common Language: When educators and families share the same expectations, students receive clear, consistent guidance on making responsible choices.

Ultimately, our curriculum is about more than just technical skills; it is about character. We aim to shape who our students become as they build their digital identities.

Our goal is to ensure WIS graduates are not just digitally literate, but are empathetic, responsible global citizens who navigate the interconnected world with integrity and civility.

The Academic Technology team looks forward to partnering with families as we help guide all WIS students through this journey. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to our team at academictech@wis.edu with any questions, concerns, or feedback about digital citizenship or other teaching and learning technology topics.

WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

Hot Topics | Making Sense in a Noisy World: Why Community Art and Critical Creativity Matter Now

Making Sense in a Noisy World Why Community Art and Critical Creativity Matter Now

The workshop wove in the JusticexDesign (JxD) framework from Project Zero, a research group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education with which WIS has had a longstanding relationship. JxD is a powerful tool for helping learners see that all design communicates values and power. Whether through imagery, language, structure, or scale, every design decision shapes who feels seen, who feels welcome, and what stories rise to the surface. The framework also empowers learners to see themselves not just as creators, but as ethical designers whose choices carry real impact.

Participants were asked to look at a famous piece of community art, JR’s Inside Out Project, through the lens of the Messages, Choices, Impacts thinking routine to lean into deeper inquiry: Messages: What perspectives or truths are being shared? Whose voices are centered — or missing?

Choices: How do materials, colors, composition, words, or scale shape those messages?

Kristen Kullberg Making and Design Initiatives Coordinator at the Tregaron Campus

Impacts: What does this work do in the world? Who does it uplift? Who might it unintentionally overlook?

This structure helped teachers move beyond “What do you see?” toward “Why does this matter?” It’s a shift that lies at the heart of critical design literacy.

And while the workshop was designed for the Kennedy Center, this type of deep looking and intentional making lives fully and vibrantly every day at Washington International School. “This is the type of thinking and learning we nurture in the Design Lab,” Kullberg explained. Walk into the lab on any given day and you’ll see students redesigning dog toys for differently abled rescue dogs — an inclusive design challenge rooted in empathy and functionality. A few steps away, on display are graphic essays, powerful visual arguments in which students examine stereotypes through research, composition, and reflective design.

As part of the Kennedy Center’s Changing Education Through the Arts (CETA) program,

Kristen Kullberg, WIS’s Making and Design Initiatives Coordinator at the Tregaron Campus, welcomed teachers from across the country into a workshop centered on some things we could all use more of these days: slowing down, looking closely, and making meaning together. Her workshop, Exploring the Messages, Choices, and Impacts of Community Art, invited participants to experience how creative work can deepen understanding, strengthen relationships, and support a more thoughtful, connected civic life.

The session began with the Kennedy Center’s definition of arts integration: “An approach to teaching in which students construct and demonstrate understanding through an art form. Students engage in a creative process which connects an art form and another subject area and meets evolving objectives in both.”

WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

This grounding wasn’t just theoretical.

It set the tone for an exploration of how art becomes both a mirror and a catalyst.

Community art, Kullberg emphasized, isn’t simply art placed in a community; it is art created with a community. “Its power comes from shared authorship, accessibility, and the belief that public spaces can hold public voices,” she said.

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These projects are joyful, yes, but they’re also deeply ethical. They ask students not just to create, but to consider how their creations affect others. They remind students that their ideas have weight, their choices have consequences, and their voices matter.

In a time when misinformation, polarization, and noise cloud public discourse, this kind of work feels more important than ever.

“To be an informed consumer and creator,” Kullberg noted, “is to engage deeply with truth, empathy, and complexity. Through art and through frameworks like JusticexDesign, students at WIS are learning to be not only makers of beautiful things, but builders of a more just and compassionate world.”

Hot Topics | For Your Child, Multilingualism Is the Cure and Complement to AI

For Your Child, Multilingualism Is the Cure and Complement to AI

By Racquel Yerbury Director of Marketing and Communications

Racquel is a former Upper School Latin teacher of 16 years, director of international programs, director at a tech startup, and VP for tech in public relations. She wrote about AI and data on behalf of CEOs and CTOs for four years prior to joining WIS.

Parking ourselves decidedly in one camp or another, on any matter, can feel safe. Those who seek to polarize us know this and wield it to our collective peril. But, life eventually makes clear that unyielding binaries don’t really work. They don’t really describe our lived experiences: It isn’t this or that. Black or white. Us or them. Completely right or completely wrong.

Rather, there’s a multitude of contradictions, parallel events, and wondrous phenomena happening at the same time, all the time, in our exterior environments and our interior lives. Light is a particle and a wave. Learning is experiential and knowledge-based. I’m content and yearning for more. Multilingual learners tend to reach this conclusion fast, not because they’re told it’s true, but because they experience it organically and directly.

Another language presents another way of constructing meaning — of thinking. Neurons are forced to fire up and grow in every complex direction at the same time. Creative analysis and problem-solving bloom.

Enter AI and the polarizing, even paralyzing, questions around it. Is it innovation or imitation? Consumption-driven or sustainable? A hope or a threat?

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All of the above, of course. Amid profound uncertainties, educators are moving forward with AI because we know it’s here to stay, however it evolves and however quickly that happens. We’re grappling with monstrous hype and demonstrable value, facts and distortions, best practices and a sprawl of tools that claim to be all things to all learners.

Recently researchers found1 that overreliance on generative AI may cause a decline in critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

But actively crafting and using thoughtful prompts that assess the credibility of AI output2 may aid cognition.

The implications for education are startling and require us to find our footing now, even amid ongoing uncertainty, claim and counterclaim. Here, at the advent of the AI era, our task is to ensure strong, young, malleable minds are empowered by AI, not enfeebled by it, and to create flexible, future-forward frameworks that are designed to keep pace with emerging technologies and constant change.

An internationally-minded education grounded in immersive multilingualism has always offered tremendous value to youth, but in the AI era, it’s now a sine qua non: an essential and indispensable approach to our brave, WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

Hot Topics | For Your Child, Multilingualism Is the Cure and Complement to AI

new, tech-enabled world. Multilingualism, starting in earnest in the primary years, can balance the cognitive equation, serving as a cure for some of AI’s ills, like passive consumption and mechanized convergence,3 and a complement to its advantages, like exploring alternative perspectives and simulating a range of arguments to consider while examining a problem.

Immersion creates active, flexible thinking — and a counterbalance for AI Immersive language learning is an inescapably active, pliant cognitive and social process. We know multilingualism can improve cognitive function, multitasking, and academic achievement,4 that it can lead to more creative outcomes and better problem-solving skills,5 and that it even appears to contribute to brain maintenance6 later in life for those facing Alzheimer’s disease.

More recently, published in November of 2024, a study7 of 116 children between ages 7 and 12 (53 with Autism Spectrum Disorder ASD and 63 with no ASD) found that in both groups8 “[t]he multilingual children all demonstrated better executive function than their counterparts who spoke just one language, regardless of whether they were on the autism spectrum.” Of the ASD group, 21 were multilingual and, of the non-ASD group, 35 were multilingual.

It bears repeating: All of the multilingual kids demonstrated better executive function.

The Cleveland Clinic explains9 that executive function, including working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibition control, encompasses the skills we use to solve problems, reason, plan, multitask, and manage emotions. Critical thinking depends10 on these foundational functions. For more than 30 years as educators, we’ve seen these benefits and realities consistently play out in children from toddlers to graduating teenagers.

Now consider the widely reported Microsoft/ Carnegie Mellon study which found11 that “those who used AI tools a lot showed worse critical thinking abilities than those who didn’t use them often or at all.” While that study did survey adult knowledge workers, another researcher pointed out that the cognitive and creative offloading spurred by generative AI is even more concerning for novices, including students and people new to a profession.12 Her work is showing that these groups may rely more passively on AI to do thinking for them.

And yet another professor, at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, has summed up the problem with questions13 educators face daily, like: “[A]re [students] actually engaging in the learning process or are they bypassing it by getting an easy answer from the AI?” and “[C]an students still write better essays when they no longer have access to ChatGPT?” WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

Ensuring every child, your child, is an active, thinking participant in learning, work, and life in the AI era — and not a passive, cut-andpaste receptacle — requires an airtight way to keep brains engaged in cognitive heavy lifting.

Immersive language learning delivers that.

The cognitive work is baked into the mental and communication processes by which we acquire language. Not least, the social benefits are immense too, countering a reality where our kids often find themselves in digital echo chambers feeding homogenous views and a sense of isolation.

But immersion isn’t an option where some live …

It’s a fair point that it’s simply not possible for many parents and schools, perhaps especially in the U.S.A., to offer immersive world language learning experiences, at least in the near term. Resource constraints, lack of expertise, and ideological differences can create challenges that feel insurmountable, even when many in a community embrace the approach and want to grow critical thinking in the AI era.

So, widen the approach.

Other disciplines offer their own “languages” that require engaged thinking: music, mathematics, physical and biological sciences, design, engineering, and visual arts. In vital fields like history and literature that seem most vulnerable to ChatGPT abuse, it’s key to lean into developing ethical frameworks that foster AI literacy and help students evaluate AI hallucinations, bias, misinformation, limitations, and best uses. WIS has chosen to do the work through multiple lenses, including the Responsible AI in Learning (RAIL)14 endorsement process, offered by Middle States Association. We were one of the first 50 schools in the world to do so. That comprehensive and continuous implementation framework from a trusted accreditation body is a great starting point.

Multilingualism is a life-changing complement to AI programs like RAIL. It offers an undeniable and ongoing expansion of thinking and an expansive way to thrive in our world. Occasionally, we’ve heard a monolingual speaker ask something to the effect, “Doesn’t AI give us a universal digital translator?” and “Aren’t Google Translate and other applications enough?” Well, no.

Great apps can be like an EMT, resolving your momentary emergency, but you’ll still need a doctor. And nations will go through fluctuations, but technology is increasingly guaranteeing that the world’s interconnectedness is a permanent feature.

Your child’s own mind, voice, and discernment will guide the depth and vitality of their experiences in the AI era and their interactions with others everywhere. Multilingualism is an open path to live beyond superficiality, beyond passivity, beyond consumption, and beyond us or them.

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1. Hao-Ping Lee, et. al., 1–2025, The Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking, https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ research/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/lee_2025_ai_critical_thinking_survey.pdf 2. Jill Anderson, 10–2024, The Impact of AI on Children’s Development, https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/edcast/24/10/impact-ai-childrens-development 3. Lars Daniel, 2–2025, Your Brain On AI: ‘Atrophied And Unprepared,’ https://www.forbes.com/sites/larsdaniel/2025/02/14/your-brain-on-ai-atrophied-and-unprepared-warns-microsoft-study 4. J ulia Furlan, 4–2025, Want to raise bilingual kids? First, let go of a common myth, https://www.npr.org/2025/04/05/ nx-s1-5311920/want-to-raise-bilingual-kids-first-let-goof-a-common-myth 5. Chung-Fat-Yim, et. al., 5–2024, Multilingualism, creativity, and problem-solving, https://bilingualism.northwestern. edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Ch1-ChungFatYim-etal-Creativity-and-Problem-Solving.pdf 6. Kristina Coulter, et. al., 9–2024, Bilinguals show evidence of brain maintenance in Alzheimer’s disease, https:// www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bilingualism-language-and-cognition/article/bilinguals-show-evidence-of-brain-maintenance-in-alzheimers-disease/ 361106CAD89B93CCAC8463CC90C3CCE0 7. Celia Romero, et. al., 11–2024, Multilingualism impacts children’s executive function and core autism symptoms, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aur.3260 8. Erin Blakemore citing study (7), 2-2025, Multilingual children have better executive function skills, study finds, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/02/08/ autism-multilingual-language-executive-function/ 9. Cleveland Clinic, 3–2024, Executive Function, https://my. clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/executive-function 10. Frank J. Ninivaggi M.D., DLF-A.P.A., 4–2020, Using the Mind’s “Executive Functions,” https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/envy/202004/using-the-mind-s-executive-functions# 11. Alex Knapp, 1–2025, The Prototype: Study Suggests AI Tools Decrease Critical Thinking Skills, https://www.forbes. com/sites/alexknapp/2025/01/10/the-prototype-studysuggests-ai-tools-decrease-critical-thinking-skills/ 12. Sean Mowbray, 3–2025, Artificial Intelligence Tools Like ChatGPT May Weaken Our Problem-Solving Skills, https://www.discovermagazine.com/artificial-intelligence-tools-like-chatgpt-may-weaken-our-problem-solving-47323 13. See citation 2 above.

14. Middle States Association, Responsible AI in Learning (RAIL), https://www.msaevolutionlab.com/rail Also see latest research: Mary Burns, et al., 1–2026, A new direction for students in an AI world: Prosper, prepare, protect, https://www.brookings.edu/articles/a-new-direction-forstudents-in-an-ai-world-prosper-prepare-protect/; Heather Schwartz, Melissa Kay Diliberti, 3–2026, More Students Use AI for Homework, and More Believe It Harms Critical Thinking, https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA4742-1. html; and Profs. Jason Lodge, Leslie Loble, 3–2026, Experts warn unstructured AI use in schools risks ‘cognitive atrophy,’ https://www.uts.edu.au/news/2026/03/experts-warn-unstructured-ai-use-in-schools-risks-cognitive-atrophy

1966 2026 WIS ACROSS TIME Six Decades of International-Mindedness

*It’s not possible in this timeline to acknowledge the hundreds of people over six decades who made critical contributions that helped WIS thrive. But we are ever grateful for all of their work, wisdom, and love that shaped WIS into the singular international school that it is today. Our students, parents, and faculty, then and now, blaze with WIS’s unique brilliance.

Feature | WIS Across Time

In 1703, the Rock of Dumbarton, of which the Tregaron property was a part, is acquired by Ninian Beall as a land grant from the English Crown. The land remains in the Beall family for most of the 18th century, except for 50 acres sold for the founding of Georgetown in 1751. General Uriah Forrest, mayor of Georgetown, Colonel Benjamin Stoddert, first Secretary of the Navy, and Colonel William Deakins, Jr., merchant, purchase 1,000 acres from the original Beall land grant in 1793. This parcel, called Pretty Prospects, encompasses Cleveland Park and “land for a great church for national purposes.”

1800

1700

1700-1800

BEFORE 1700

WIS’s Tregaron and Primary Campuses and surrounding areas in Washington, D.C. were historically inhabited by the Nacotchtank or Anacostan people, an Algonquian-speaking tribe.

They stewarded the land, fished its waterways, and traded as part of a broader network of tribes in the Potomac watershed, some of which date back a thousand years and more. We remain curious about their lives.

1877-1888

Gardiner Greene Hubbard, a founder of the National Geographic Society, purchases 50 acres of Pretty Prospects to build a summer residence, Twin Oaks. Hubbard’s daughter Mabel, deaf after scarlet fever, marries Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone.

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Mr. and Mrs. James Parmelee take possession of 20.5 acres of Twin Oaks in 1911 from Mabel and Alexander Graham Bell, heirs to the land. Architect Charles Adams Platt designs a mansion, greenhouse, gardener’s cottage, and carriage house.

Hubbard’s guest house is torn down. In 1914, construction is completed on the mansion, one of the last country houses designed by Platt. Ellen Biddle Shipman, a pioneering female landscape architect, designs the formal garden. A roadway bridging a stream gives the estate its name, The Causeway.

1940

1900

1911–1914

1940–1945

Ambassador Joseph E. Davies and his wife, Marjorie Merriweather Post, purchase The Causeway. He changes the name to Tregaron, the town in Wales where his mother was born. In 1945, the Davies commission construction of a dacha, a Russian country house, to be the ambassador’s library, providing a view of the National Cathedral, then still under construction.

1930–1939

Cleveland Park becomes a “streetcar suburb” of Washington, DC, with the construction of the Klingle Bridge, a shopping center, the Kennedy-Warren Apartments, and the Uptown Theatre.

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WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

Feature | WIS Across Time

1967–1969

In 1967, neighborhood residents launch Friends of Tregaron, a nonprofit corporation for “the preservation and use of Tregaron in a manner that is consistent with its natural beauty and landscaping.” Nearby, our School, in its second year, takes its permanent name, Washington International School. In its third year, WIS opens with 135 children representing 40 nationalities across the same Lutheran Church at Volta Place, Epiphany Catholic Church on Dumbarton Street, and St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Foggy Bottom near the World Bank. Attorney and WIS parent Robert Zimmer who had helped incorporate the School works closely with WIS parents U.S. Representative Bradford Morse and Francesca Morse, Dorothy Goodman, Cathya Wing (Stephenson), and others to acquire the old Phillips School on Olive Street, a former DC public school serving the Georgetown African-American community.

In September of 1969, WIS begins the year at this new “Olive Street” home, made possible by a Ford Foundation Challenge Grant.

Marjorie Merriweather Post divorces Ambassador Davies and moves to her own estate, Hillwood, where she copies many of the architectural details of Tregaron. Ambassador Davies dies in 1958.

Buildings on the estate are rented to members of the Davies family and other prominent Washingtonians.

From 1963 to 1965, the Communications Satellite Corporation, COMSAT, rents the mansion.

1960

1955–1965

1966

In January, amid the Civil Rights Movement in the USA, Dorothy B. Goodman opens “The Little Language Class,” the first iteration of WIS, in the basement of her home on Macomb Street and serves as its director. Cathya Wing (Stephenson) becomes associate director.

In May, it is officially incorporated as the “International Bilingual Primary School,” a nonprofit, tax-exempt educational institution.

In September, the School moves into classrooms at historic Georgetown Lutheran Church at Volta Place, starting with 17 children and growing to 50, representing 23 countries, by the end of the first full school year. Goodman would later recall looking out her rear windows upon Tregaron and thinking that should be the School’s home.

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Dorothy Goodman was a force of nature and a true visionary, dedicated to “curing the world of monolingualism.” She saw firsthand the devastation that World War II and violent nationalism wrought and the education silos that plagued many post-war nations. The world, she thought, needed a system that would build bridges, not barriers. She founded a major consumer magazine (Which!) and was a professor at both American and Howard Universities before she was WIS’s founder. Those closest to her describe a smart, steadfast, fearless leader who built a pilot school for the planet shaped by internationalmindedness and bilingualism — a largely novel approach in the early 1960s.

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She had been a key member of a Working Committee backed by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in 1964–1965 tasked with developing a proposal for an international school in Washington, DC, then a feasibility study. Many experts, consultants, and the Boards of the three organisations were involved in proposal iterations. Those years were nothing short of volcanic in the U.S.A. — seeing the passage of The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and The Voting Rights Act of 1965.

While the joint-organisational proposal ultimately failed, the time was right. The work inspired Dorothy to model our school based on the ideas in the feasibility study. She was connected to the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO) from its inception, as it took shape in Europe at the same time through the 1960s. Dorothy articulated the following criteria for a “genuine international school”: • The teaching staff should be of several nationalities • The children should also be of many nationalities, including both the privileged and under-privileged of the host community • Each child should use at least two working languages

WIS Founder Dorothy Goodman

• Syllabi should accommodate multicultural traditions of at least French- and Spanish-speaking world regions • Textbooks and teaching materials should be drawn from several countries • The school should prepare its students for colleges and universities in more than one country All of these criteria are thriving at WIS today. Dorothy led and grew WIS in its first two decades — and remained a source of strength, wisdom, and inspiration for all of its subsequent leaders. She passed away in her home on July 23, 2023 at 97 years old, survived by her four children, Jeremy, Harriet, Matthew, and Sophia, changemakers in their own right.

The Washington Post on Dorothy’s life

Dorothy’s WIS Memorial Service

Feature | WIS Across Time

WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

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1972–1980

1970

Washington International School leases the Tregaron mansion and, later, other buildings. In its 10th anniversary year, WIS enrolls 385 students, 202 (ages 3–8) at Olive Street and 183 (ages 9–16) at Tregaron. Dorothy Goodman is selected as “Washingtonian of the Year” by Washingtonian Magazine. In 1977, WIS graduates its first senior class and holds its first International Baccalaureate examinations, with the first IB Diploma awarded to Andre Mann.

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Tregaron is named a Historic Landmark of the Nation’s Capital in 1978. The WIS Parent Association (WISPA) forms in 1979. Frank Southard, Jr., former IMF deputy managing director, also formerly at the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve Board, accepts Dorothy Goodman’s proposal that he become Board Chair after her.

In 1980, with funding from The Ford Foundation, WIS purchases the Tregaron mansion, associated buildings, and six central acres. The remaining acreage is purchased by Tregaron Development Corporation.

WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

Feature | WIS Across Time

1980

1981-1985 Grades 4 and 5 move for four years to Clara Barton School in Maryland. In 1983, the WIS Staff Association (WISSA) unionize and Cathya Stephenson becomes interim Head of School through 1985. She stabilizes WIS’s enrollment with more than 500 students on three campuses (Olive Street, Tregaron, and Clara Barton) and converts the West Wing of the mansion to classrooms. She also oversees WIS’s first parent-organized galas, with auction and dinner. In July of 1985, she passes the reins to new Head of School Dr. Günther Brandt, after a worldwide search.

Cathya serves on WIS’s Board with wisdom, insight, grace, and generosity for 49 consecutive years. Malcolm “Mike” Peabody becomes Board Chair in 1984 (continuing through 1995).

Peabody had previously worked at the Boston Redevelopment Agency, then served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Equal Opportunity at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

1985–1990

Brandt focuses on developing facilities for WIS’s growing population, renovating the Olive Street campus, restoring the Mansion and the Greenhouse for expanded use, and constructing the new Intermediate School building, which became the Middle School, and is now Centro de Idiomas Sullivan. Key WIS staff including Elaine Greenstone develop the WIS Poetry Series, featuring Senator Eugene McCarthy and exiled Cuban writers Belkis Cuza Malé and Heberto Padilla, among others. Tina Thuermer, then lower school head, introduces the concept of learning through thematic units paving the way for the PYP. In 1988, WIS is accredited by the European Council of International Schools (ECIS) and the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (MSA). Veteran leader of international schools in Malaysia, Austria, and Germany, Dexter Lewis begins his two-year term as Head of School in 1989 and guides a planning committee to articulate a 5-year plan for finances, academics, and a new site for primary classes. In 1990, Tregaron is placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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1991–2001

1990

The Board appoints Anne-Marie Pierce as Head of School. Under her leadership, $1.1 million in operational deficits in 1991 drops to less than $50K in 2001. At the same time, faculty salaries and benefits increase to levels competitive with comparable independent schools and academic restructuring emphasizes the Middle School. Pierce works to professionalize the Board, institute term limits, launch successful annual giving, launch email and a school website, and create the Associate Head of School position filled

by David Merkel. In 1992, Larry Vincent’s bilingual production of West Side Story hits the front page of the Washington Post Style section, 17 years before Broadway did the first official bilingual production.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Somalia and Romania Roger Kirk becomes Board Chair in 1995. Under Pierce and Kirk, WIS sells Olive Street in 1997 and acquires the Convent of the Good Shepherd property at Reservoir and 36th to build an expanded Primary School, which happens in record time. Trustee and parent Ulysses Auger oversees the construction schedule and the new WIS Primary Campus opens for PK to Grade 5 students in the spring of 1998. Grill solidifies into a WIS tradition, thanks to Allison Auger’s efforts.

WIS earns its second accreditation by ECIS and MSA in 1998, and, the following year, receives authorization from the IBO for its Primary Years Program and Middle Years Program. KIS International School in Bangkok formally models itself on WIS, a step to realizing Dorothy Goodman’s vision of WIS being a “pilot school for the planet.” The Farmhouse at Tregaron is razed and construction of the new Arts & Athletics Building for Grades 6 to 12, with the campus’s first gym, runs from the summer of 1999 to May of 2000.

The Consul General at the French Embassy presents Pierce with La Médaille de Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite. In her last year, the WIS population grows to 780 students representing nearly 90 countries.

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“”

I believe that WIS’s greatest strength over its six decades has been the consistency of the overall vision first articulated by Dorothy Goodman: to be a pilot school for a small planet. This implies the determination to continue to innovate in order to adapt to an ever more rapidly changing world, while keeping its intrinsic strengths: multi-faceted diversity, rigor, and creativity, a commitment to excellence and profound care for others, whether they are nearby or across the globe.

— Anne-Marie Pierce

Feature | WIS Across Time

2001–2006

Robert W. Fleishman serves as Board Chair from 2000 to 2004, bringing his legal expertise, wisdom, musical skill (violin), and humor to guide WIS. Fleishman leads an aggressive strategic plan for 2002–2007 focused on WIS’s mission, need for an endowment, developing a comprehensive technology plan, retaining excellent teachers, and improving socio-economic diversity. He and the Board appoint Richard P. Hall as Head of School in 2001.

2000

“”

I was privileged to complete my headship career at WIS, which was and is a unique and creative player in the array of the finest schools of Washington, DC. Happy Birthday, Washington International!!

— Richard Hall

Hall guides WIS through national and regional emergencies including 9/11, the area sniper attacks, and Hurricane Isabelle’s devastation to neighborhoods.

He creates and fills the new director of technology position at WIS, renovates multiple spaces in the Mansion, and oversees the addition of the Primary School’s third floor. In 2004, WIS launches The Gateway to an International World Capital Campaign to begin an endowment and raise funds for construction of the Black Box Theater, additional classroom space, and an information center. An Edward E. Ford Foundation grant funds summer sabbaticals for faculty and WIS begins its relationship with Harvard University’s Project Zero and another organization today known as LearnServe International. Hall launches the Center for International Education at WIS, holding action-oriented conferences on world citizenship and global food security. He also welcomes Jane Goodall and Senator Barbara Boxer to campus in support of the curriculum. National Geographic magazine features WIS Primary School students in its November 2002 cover story.

My six years on the WIS Board, with four as Chair, remain among the richest learning and living experiences of my life. As in any vibrant school community, for me friendships grew and lessons were taken on a daily basis. It was a demanding time of rapid transition and growth, and I am most grateful to have been a part of it — including playing fiddle in Larry Vincent’s pit orchestras year after year.

— Bob Fleishman

Already co-leading the Gateway Campaign, which surpasses its fundraising goals, Gregory Schmidt becomes Board Chair in 2004. Attorney and skilled negotiator, Schmidt navigates the regulatory processes that reconfigure the Tregaron property, playing a critical role for WIS in the creation of the historic Tregaron Conservancy and ending a 28-year long struggle to determine the fate of the property. WIS builds its first regulation soccer and athletic field while sustaining the integrity of the surrounding park area for the neighbors of WIS. The historic agreement is recognized with the Washington, DC Mayor’s Award for Excellence. In 2006, WIS celebrates its 40th anniversary.

“”

All politics are not in fact local, but no school, however international its focus, can thrive without active engagement with its local communities. The same is true for citizens of the world, and learning how to negotiate with and support your neighbors is an essential aspect of a WIS education.

— Gregory Schmidt

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“”

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“”

When we arrived at WIS in 2000 with three boys, I was determined to make a difference as a trustee. It was a labor of love, thanks to my predecessor, Greg Schmidt, a terrific finance person, Scott Gilman, and the new incoming head, Clayton Lewis, whose optimism fueled our work. We had an amazing team and tackled many challenges, not the least of which was the 2008 financial crisis in the midst of a capital campaign. Future generations will be able to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

— Elan Blutigner

2007–2017

2005

Successfully serving as a co-chair, then chair, of the Gateway Campaign, Elan Blutinger becomes Board Chair in 2007 and emphasizes the importance of strong governance, stewardship, and philanthropy. A tireless proponent of WIS’s mission to educate global citizens, Blutinger heads the search that selects Clayton Lewis as WIS’s seventh Head of School also in 2007. Ongoing construction from Hall’s tenure wraps up and WIS dedicates the AAA Building (Academic space added to the Arts & Athletics Building), as well as an outdoor basketball court and new Tregaron soccer field in 2008. By the time the entire Gateway Campaign concludes in June 2009, the $6.9 million dollar goal had been met, enabling the school to improve facilities on both of its campuses.

For eleven years, Clayton Lewis guides WIS, strengthening enrollment, finances, the academic program, and faculty professional development. During his tenure, WIS earns reaccredition, introduces IB-track Mandarin Chinese, and secures the prestigious $250K Edward E. Ford Foundation matching Educational Leadership Grant, the first in the DC area.

It launches the WIS Summer Institute for Teachers led by Jim Reese and an unprecedented partnership of public, charter, parochial, and independent schools in DC. WIS revamps Grades 6 through 10 curriculum, vigorously adopts technological innovation and the 1:1 iPad Program, renovates the Mansion, and adds geothermal wells. Under Lewis, the Primary School also sees an important expansion, adding the multipurpose room, music rooms, project room, offices, and expanded classrooms.

“”

More than anything else, I wanted to encourage a learning community for both faculty and students.

While the facilities were important, what mattered most was the culture of learning within our walls.

— Clayton Lewis

Feature | WIS Across Time

2010-2013

2010

From 2010 to 2013, longtime WIS parent Kathleen Alexander becomes Board Chair, having previously served on the Gateway Campaign leadership committee and as Board’s Vice Chair for the three previous years during the AAA’s construction. During her tenure the Board establishes a new set of strategic goals, and she and Lewis lead the development of the Tregaron Master Plan in response to those. The Plan becomes a new visualization of the entire campus, repurposing the Mansion into a student-centered IB Learning Center and planning for a new “Science+” building. The Upper School faculty move from the Mansion’s attic to renovated space in the Greenhouse and Cottage, placing them in the center of campus life.

Both Alexander and Lewis work closely with David Muenzer, Board Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee, who becomes Board Chair in 2013, focusing on fiduciary responsibility crucial to WIS’s long-term sustainability. Muenzer takes a proactive approach to financial resources and obligations, ably managing the School’s endowment, capital reserves, and debt while kicking off a new Investment Sub-Committee to oversee funds. Muenzer works with trustee Sophie Hawkins to substantially increase annual giving, leading up to WIS’s 50th anniversary celebration, where festivities include the WIS Follies, created by the inimitable Kimberly Bennett.

Hawkins and Daniel Pink co-lead the first phase of a capital campaign to fund the science-focused building on the Tregaron Campus. The community steps forward with $10 million in commitments. In 2016, Lewis promotes Natasha Bhalla to Associate Head of School. WIS crafts our current mission statement, staying true to the School’s values and identity.

“”

As Board Chair, I had the privilege of building on the strong financial foundation established by those before me — each Board Chair leaving the school stronger for the next. That legacy of stewardship made it possible to launch the first phase of what would become the Destination WIS campaign, strengthening our school and community and positioning WIS for continued success.

— David Muenzer

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“”

What we wanted to accomplish with our strategy and Master Plan was to ensure that WIS graduates will always be able to adapt, adjust, and thrive because they have been educated to be competent, compassionate world citizens, who can understand the complexities of global problems and are able to use today’s — and tomorrow’s — technology wisely.

As long as we keep teaching and learning at the core of our decision–making, we will continue to grow wisely...

— Kathleen Alexander

2015

“”

During my tenure as Chair, WIS engaged in major undertakings and faced some unprecedented challenges. Fortunately, I inherited a legacy of excellent governance, a clear mission, and a strong community. This, plus an incomparable administration, allowed WIS to thrive amid changing times.

— Marc Williamson

2018– PRESENT Marc Williamson becomes Board Chair in 2018, the same year WIS selects its current Head of School, Suzanna Jemsby. He elevates Board governance and transparency, and launches an inclusive approach to strategic planning yielding the 2020 plan. It prioritizes WIS enrollment, curricular frameworks, diversity consistent with mission, alumni engagement, facilities, and WIS as a destination school for families, faculty, and staff. When COVID hits, Jemsby and Williamson meet the challenge head on, instituting virtual and hybrid learning early in the region and a model, university-based COVID testing program.

WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

Feature | WIS Across Time

“”

The WIS headship was something I dreamt of as early as 2006. It’s rare to find a dual language programme, a commitment to Project Zero practices, and the International Baccalaureate under the same roof as such an interesting, diverse, intellectually-minded community. I am honoured to serve as WIS’s current head.”

PRESENT

— Suzanna Jemsby

They persist in reimagining the Tregaron Master Plan and kick off the second phase of capital campaign efforts dubbed Destination WIS, now in its last year, 2026, and nearing its $30 million goal. Jemsby builds strong relationships and trust with neighbors, tirelessly negotiates, and, with the Board and many others, transforms the Tregaron Campus with the construction of Le Centre Brown, our new 58,000 sq. ft. science, community, and dining space, completed in August of 2025 and overseen

by Dale Temple. WIS also renovates its sports field and reconfigures most of the Tregaron Campus, delivering a large, stateof-the-art fitness center, a permanent home for WIS Institute for Teachers (WISIT), a brick-and-mortar school store, and a large solar power array. The AAA is renovated to house the Middle School and the former Middle School becomes our new, dedicated language center Centro de Idiomas Sullivan.

Jemsby also oversees reaccreditation, establishes WIS’s International-Mindedness, Diversity, and Inclusion (IDI) program and positions, leads WIS to become one of the first 50 schools in the world to implement MSA’s Responsible AI in Learning RAIL framework, expands athletics, introduces nutritious new dining services with no separate lunch costs, and considers next phases for the Primary School.

As an MSA Commissioner, she regularly serves on accreditation teams for other schools. Jemsby occasionally shares her talents as ‘cellist and pianist too. WIS continues high enrollment during her tenure.

Sixty Years of InternationalMindedness

Williamson passes the torch to Melissa “Mel” Burnett in 2023, whom trustees choose to be WIS’s eleventh Board Chair. Burnett, integral to Destination WIS from the very start as campaign co-chair, helps ignite the campaign to reach its goals, working closely with second-phase co-chairs Rohit Kumar and Katie Huffard. Burnett shepherds a new strategic plan prioritizing holistic well-being, evolving our educational approach, and enhancing WIS’s future.

WIS celebrates its 60th anniversary!

Enjoy this video production celebrating our WIStory!

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Mel Burnett Chair, Board of Trustees 2023 – Present

learning for fifth grade. Like so many parents before us, we were captivated by the Exhibition Projects and Celebrations of Learning, not only those our son participated in, but also those of his classmates. There were subtleties we detected in the students, such as their confidence in speaking to adults and the engagement in critical reflection that surprised us from one table to the next. It was heartening to see the collective maturity and to imagine the students’ paths as adolescents.

Now at Tregaron, milestones seem to be everywhere around us. The independence middle schoolers experience from the first day of classes onward is all part of a thoughtfully crafted approach preparing them for the Grade 8 language trips. In March, our son traveled to Madrid to meet his correspondent for the first time and learn with his peers at our partner school, Colegio Estudio. I saw how ready he was to meet this meaningful milestone — full of excitement for the adventure and eager to answer lingering questions for his Keystone Project.

My journey as a WIS parent began in the fall of the School’s 50th Anniversary year, and I remember the bumper stickers and t-shirts celebrating the milestone. It made me feel relieved that we had landed in a school that had substantial history, rather than some untested upstart! But, as parents, we had not chosen WIS for its legacy or even its founding vision — we chose WIS because it promised to deliver on some of our aspirations for our son.

The combination of brain-boosting language immersion, exposure to different perspectives, and the joyful delivery of education was exactly the blend we were seeking. It never occurred to me that I was entering into a relationship with the School myself, or that I would have a responsibility to WIS beyond permission slips and nut-free sandwiches!

Looking back, I think about all of the milestones we passed through as a family and wonder just how many Dorothy Goodman designed herself. The first big milestone was specific to the Primary School building: starting first grade on the second floor. I remember that parents were kindly advised not to walk our bigger kids in on that first day and that I felt the pang of separation in sending him upstairs alone. Of course, he was ready for that big step, but as parents, we had to process the change as well.

While the pandemic punctuated our primary years experience with its own milestones — online learning, masks, and cohorts — we were fortunate that WIS returned to in-person

Looking ahead at milestones inherent to high school at WIS, I think Dorothy Goodman would be proud to see the foundational elements of an International Baccalaureate education still firmly in place. It is hard to have a conversation with a WIS Upper School student (or their parents) without hearing about the rigor of the Diploma Programme. Students are pushed to balance the demands of academics, community service, and extracurriculars, all while trying to plan the next step in their academic journey. Thankfully, it seems the rigor is well rewarded, as families of WIS graduates consistently tell stories of how well-prepared their children were for university.

When you try to imagine the future for your child, your own hopes and aspirations are temporary placeholders for theirs, and finding a school that honors that distinction and helps the whole family navigate is truly a gift.

For the past eight years, I have served as a WIS Trustee because I want to make sure that the next generation of families is able to experience the incredible WIS education laid out by Dorothy over sixty years ago. The Board of Trustees works to preserve her founding intent and secure the organization for the future. We do this by regularly discussing challenges of the present and the future, and by working to ensure the school has the resources it needs to continue to deliver on its mission: to be an exemplary learning community — enriched by differences, informed through inquiry, and global in reach. I believe that this mission will continue to be relevant for our community and, perhaps with a few adjustments and maybe some good fortune, that it will carry us to the next milestone celebration.

Features | Unwinding Our WIStory: Two Class of ’25 Alums Revive the WIS Archives

Unwinding Our WIStory Two Class of ’25 Alums Revive the WIS Archives

By Zora Brown ’25 and Maggie Moore ’25

After discovering some items in the archives, multiple administrators jokingly (or not so jokingly) said that maybe they should have had us sign an NDA…

In our sophomore year of high school,

we began our journey working with the Washington International School Archives.

We responded to a call for students interested in diving through the school’s archival history … and were presented with an overwhelming number of historical documents related to the school. Each week, we walked the now-renovated upstairs Mansion hallway and got comfortable on the floor to tackle the mountain of boxes.

It became a passion project, increasing our appreciation for and understanding of our school’s history and place in the world. As the pioneers of the project, we’ve both massively shaped the WIS Archives, undertaking an exploration of what the essence of our school is. That being said, this was far from a solo operation, and former Chief of Staff Claudia Cárdenas provided a physical home and organizational hub for the archives. We want to thank her for always stopping to chat with us, providing us with snacks, and helping us organize events.

A Typical Day Finding Buried Treasure A typical day at the Archives consisted of us coming in and working in the hallway outside of Ms. Cárdenas’ office to sort through documents. This included scanning documents with the printer (some days were a struggle), logging them in our spreadsheet, deciding the future of certain documents, and going WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

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on hunts for photos, yearbooks, or people to talk to. Throughout our time in the Archives, we put together a series of documents chronicling WIS’s history in detail. As we worked, we realized the parallels between the ways that our school had looked in the past, and the way that it looks today.

So much of the history of the school is influential in our community today, and unfortunately, not well known by students. Our own knowledge of WIS’s history grew exponentially, and one of our goals became sharing some of what we found to garner more interest in the school and an appreciation for its roots. Through our interactions with the documents, we learned about how the school functioned during various periods of its life. We gained insight into WIS’s origins, born out of a long partnership between Dorothy Goodman, Cathya Stevenson, and others, from the basements it started in, to the expansions and final acquisitions of the Primary School and Tregaron. A glimpse into the practicalities of finding a permanent home for Dorothy Goodman’s lifelong dream lives in this Frogs and Princes document.

We learned about the formation of the school’s values and the push behind a decidedly multilingual and international curriculum, as well as fascinating tidbits like the community’s opinions (disapproval) on school uniforms.

In the distinct snapshots, we could see the formation of the culture and personality that we now recognize as so distinctly WIS.

Features | Unwinding Our WIStory

Multiple binders that we scanned were full of nothing but the entirety of former Head of School Richard Hall’s email, from schoolrelated correspondence to planning logistics.

Another fascinating piece of information we discovered was the existence of a school formerly affiliated with WIS. In Thailand, a wealthy businessman decided he loved the WIS model and wanted to create a school just like it that his children could attend.

This school was, and still is, called KIS. Throughout this process, he bought curriculum from WIS, looked into replicating our entire campus, and used WIS students and other information in some KIS promotional materials. The two schools remained officially affiliated for a long time. The thing that shocked us the most was that we had never heard of KIS, and even school leaders didn’t know what we were referencing when we asked about it.

What Makes WIS?

Our findings ranged from the serious and foundational to the mundane and funny. One of the goldmines we stumbled upon was a cache of alumni surveys from 1990. While the school asked many questions, the answers to which were interesting and indicative of the WIS’s values, the open comments section made us laugh. Many respondents chose to air complaints about specific teachers or students under their own name (although the survey could be completed anonymously) and one alum ominously referred to “the graduation incident of 1979” (Scans 693-720, if you’re curious). We also discovered the WIS Whirl, an old spoof magazine run by teachers.

Challenges and the Mystery of KIS This project was not without its challenges, one of which was dealing with the sheer volume of documents and photos in the Archives. About a year in, we were already feeling a little overwhelmed by our seeming lack of progress going through all of the boxes. There were about a dozen, filled to the brim. When we walked in one day, Ms. Cárdenas told us that our amount of work had just doubled: Dorothy Goodman’s

family had donated another thirteen boxes of archive materials to the school in the wake of her death. While we ended up making this a valuable separate project for other students interested in the Archives, it was a little nerve-wracking to hear!

We decided to host an event with members of the 21 Club, teachers and administrators who have worked at the school for 21 years or more. At our “Photo Party,” which took place May 31, 2024, we showed our guests all of the photos in the Archives, which we had previously organized into a timeline. We spent countless hours sprawled in the middle of the hallway digging out photographs, compiling a list of current and former longserving teachers, meeting with administrators, and sending out invitations. We benefitted from their lengthy experience at WIS as they helped identify students and former colleagues in the images. As we watched teachers reminisce and reconnect, we were struck by the community formed by the school over decades, even as the schematics of the school evolved. Though the documents gave us so much practical knowledge, the personal experience of 21 Club members gave us a direct account of the transformation of WIS through personal experience.

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This brings us to a crucial question: What makes WIS? The idea that our physical location or appearance determines the school’s spirit seems wrong on the surface, implying that the essence of WIS could be replicated.

But, starting with Dorothy Goodman’s dream and words, the Tregaron Campus became fundamentally associated with WIS and part of WIS. There was a sense — especially as we approached the end of the Primary School acquisition — that as we waited for the Upper School, we were waiting for a certain experience of physical location that would define us as WIS students.

At its core, WIS is more than a location and certainly is determined by the people and community we have created. But, at the same time, WIS is fundamentally tied to its location. And the more time we spent in the Archives, the more that implicit fact became obvious.

At the end of the hallway where we worked, we could peer out the window and watch the new building take shape before us. At the beginning of our project, our window gave a view to the Dacha and the field. At the end, it looked directly at Le Centre Brown. As the building materialized before us, we poured over plans for the original AAA building, reviewed legal documents related to the purchase of Tregaron itself, and looked back at photographs of Olive Street. We were confronted with so much change, and yet, anchored by a past also filled with it.

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Features | The Tregaron Conservancy and WIS: Celebrating Two Decades of Partnership

The Tregaron Conservancy and WIS Celebrating Two Decades of Partnership

By Susan Lynner, Board Chair, and Lynn Parseghian, Executive Director, Tregaron Conservancy

The WIS Tregaron Campus is encircled by the beautiful Tregaron Conservancy, providing a verdant, protected, and peaceful landscape for the WIS community and the public to enjoy. Stewarding this landscape has been a true community effort with WIS as the Conservancy’s lead partner. In celebration of our successful 20year partnership, the Conservancy’s Board Chair Susan Lynner and Executive Director Lynn Parseghian offer this reflection —

Like WIS, the Tregaron Conservancy is

celebrating an important milestone this year. We are thrilled to be celebrating our 20-year anniversary and are grateful to WIS for a partnership that has proven to be vital in creating the lush, naturalistic woodland we all enjoy today. If you’ve not taken some time to wander our trails, sit by the pond, or take in an event hosted by the Conservancy, we encourage you to do so. Breathe in some fresh air. Enjoy the change of seasons you can see from the grassy meadows to the majestic tree canopy. Meet a friend for a picnic lunch on the Shipman Terrace. Listen to the frogs and birds this spring as they re-establish residence. And soak up some sunshine on our open fields. Times like ours call for connection with nature, and we are so proud — and thankful to WIS — to be able to provide that right here in our shared backyard.

When WIS first came to Tregaron in the 1970s, the land surrounding the estate’s buildings looked dramatically different than it does today. The entire landscape had fallen into severe neglect as the landowner sought approval, over many years, to build a largescale housing development. These efforts were repeatedly defeated by advocates of historic preservation, urban greenspace, and community parklands. At the time, the entire estate, including the original landscape design, had already been designated a national historic landmark.

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Finally, in 2006, an agreement was forged among the landowner, the Friends of Tregaron advocacy group, and WIS to establish the Tregaron Conservancy as the freestanding, nonprofit owner and steward of the land in perpetuity, for the benefit of the public. As part of that agreement, the School agreed to contribute to a portion of costs to steward the land, within the Conservancy’s annual budget. That support continues to this day.

We take the word “steward” very seriously.

The Conservancy is dedicated to maintaining, restoring, and enhancing our historic landscape for the benefit of the many people that come out every day to enjoy it. We host myriad events and programs for all ages throughout the year to create opportunities for learning and enjoyment. Our extensive programming and deep roots in the community, along with our steady progress in improving the landscape, have enabled us to build and expand a strong and enthusiastic community of supporters, volunteers, and partners.

In addition to supporting the Conservancy financially, the School also participates in our governance. Head of School Suzanna Jemsby and Director of Facilities and Operations Dale Temple serve on the Conservancy’s board, along with representatives from the WIS parent body. WIS’s representatives on the Conservancy’s board are valuable thought partners and dedicated supporters, regularly

Features | The Tregaron Conservancy and WIS: Celebrating Two Decades of Partnership

attending our events to serve as ambassadors of both the Conservancy and WIS. The Conservancy encourages the School community to bring projects and programs to us and make active use of the property year-round. We aim to provide a welcoming environment for the School, not only for recreation, but as an extension of the WIS classroom. Classes come out to the woodlands for photography sessions, art and design projects, scientific investigation, and other outdoor learning. Students and parents volunteer with us on invasives-removal and native planting projects, both during the school day and on weekends through WISPA. WIS families join in Conservancy events, such as our annual Easter Egg Hunt, concerts, nature-themed story time, and guided hikes.

And we love seeing the WIS Cross-Country team make loops on the trails!

Likewise, WIS provides much-appreciated indoor gathering space and logistical support

for Conservancy events — from our well-attended receptions and lectures to board meetings. Students have even helped us fill plastic Easter eggs for the annual Hunt!

In addition, the Le Centre Brown project has already proven to be a welcome addition to the estate as a whole. WIS’s willingness to balance its need for additional school space while protecting the natural and visual beauty and historic nature of the space took time and compromise, and we are so grateful for this collaboration and the spectacular outcome.

Not only is the new building elegantly knitted into the landscape, but the School’s attention to other details brought many improvements benefitting the Conservancy — including the new Macomb entrance garden, the driveway restoration and enhancements, and the new stone stairway and garden leading from the driveway to the Conservancy’s main trail.

Under the Conservancy’s close supervision, our professional crew, contractors, and volunteers maintain the woodlands, trails and pond valley, eradicate invasive plants, and plant hundreds of trees and shrubs. Whether you would like to volunteer or just want to enjoy the serenity of our parklands, you’ll find myriad ways to connect with us. We welcome your interest in our work and programs.

You can learn more at our website, www. tregaron.org. We hope you will also follow us on Instagram and Facebook @tregarondc!

Congratulations to WIS on 60 years and tremendous thanks for the past 20 years of partnership with the Conservancy. Times will change, Washington eras will come and go, but thanks to WIS’s commitment and support, we are rehabilitating and protecting these beautiful and historically significant woodlands for many generations to come.

Over 20 years, we have invested heavily in caring for and improving the landscape.

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WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

Feature | Enriched by Differences Lighting the Path: The Inaugural WISIT x Empower Conference

Enriched by Differences

Lighting the Path: The Inaugural WISIT x Empower Conference

By Elise Stephenson, Director of WISIT, and Aldaine Wynter, Director of IDI

Thirteen years ago, the Washington

International School Institute for Teachers (WISIT) launched its very first summer institute, inspired by the work the School had been doing in partnership with Harvard’s Project Zero and our desire to create classrooms rooted in critical and creative thinking. And, five years ago, spurred by strategic goals, WIS launched its International-mindedness, Diversity, and Inclusion (IDI) Office and programming to advance work that cultivates belonging and global citizenship. Both of our teams have since learned, grown, and shaped powerful experiences for educators and students each year.

This school year, we sought to share our endeavors beyond the walls of WIS with the broader educational community, so WISIT and the IDI Office joined forces to offer the first WISIT x Empower Conference.

The inaugural gathering welcomed more than 80 educators from as far north as Poughkeepsie, New York and as far south as Atlanta, Georgia. Participants spent the weekend exploring three essential throughlines that shaped the flow of the conference. They considered how museums and community partners deepen understanding of justice, identity, and belonging. They explored how schools can become more inclusive and culturally responsive in ways that affirm student identities.

WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

DAY ONE: Museums as Catalysts for Courage The conference began on Friday, December 5, with a full Day at the Museums. Participants gathered at the National Gallery of Art for an inspiring opening session featuring Kelley Robinson, the first queer Black woman to serve as President of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). Robinson spoke directly to the courage required of educators in this moment. She reminded the audience that this era will be shaped by “the quiet courage people show every single day,” and she underscored that the courage teachers demonstrate through daily choices will influence the future that children inherit.

She recounted too that WIS became the first HRC-certified Welcoming School at both the primary and secondary levels … in the world.

Her words grounded the room in a sense of moral clarity and collective purpose.

Following Robinson, Middle School Principal Randy Althaus shared his own story of growing up as a queer child in the United States and how Welcoming Schools principles guide his practice at WIS. Althaus explained that he strives to create a school environment unlike the one he experienced and to ensure that teachers design curriculum that becomes “both a mirror and a window into our lives,” a space where students see themselves as well as the lived experiences of others. His reflection reminded participants of the personal commitments that anchor institutional change.

And they examined how to turn learning into sustained action that empowers both students and educators to lead change. These themes created an arc that encouraged everyone to explore, imagine, and then act with intention.

After the keynote session, participants spent the rest of the day visiting museums across Washington. Groups explored Photography and the Black Arts Movement and The Stars We Do Not See: Contemporary Aboriginal Australian Artists at the National Gallery of Art. Others visited Lincoln’s Cottage, Ford’s

Feature | Enriched by Differences Lighting the Path: The Inaugural WISIT x Empower Conference

Theatre, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and the Capital Jewish Museum. For many attendees, the museum visits became powerful opportunities to examine how art, history, and memory can open pathways to deeper conversations about identity and justice within their own school communities.

international link,” a reminder that inclusive practices must stretch across borders as well as across classrooms.

On Saturday and Sunday, the conference shifted into a warm and engaging setting in the Gallery Space at Le Centre Brown on our Tregaron campus, supported with memorable meals that quickly became a favorite topic of conversation. Educators gathered for two full days of learning, reflection, and connection.

Throughout the weekend, educators participated in interactive sessions facilitated by WIS faculty and members of the broader WISIT community. They explored approaches to student voice, civic agency, identity-affirming pedagogy, global competence, and thinking routines that foster deep understanding. Affinity Groups created safe and intentional spaces for participants to reflect on their identities and experiences in ways that supported honesty, vulnerability, and connection. Many attendees described these groups as the highlight of their weekend and as places where personal and professional insights came together with real power.

Saturday’s keynote speaker was Binkadey Emmanuel Hié, founder of NORME. Born in Burkina Faso and raised in France, Hié shared his work to build a more inclusive French cultural landscape. His transformative creative projects are opening real dialogue on Black presence throughout France’s history, challenging old, incomplete narratives, while building bridges and a collaborative, truthful approach to our global past, present, and future. He reflected on the international dimensions of belonging and explained that his time at the conference reminded him of “the significance of this work beyond my school, state, and country.” He added that it is often easy to “reflect on the local and miss the

The conference concluded on Sunday with a panel conversation featuring DMV educators from different sectors. The panel included voices from Roosevelt High School and Sidwell Friends School, from the John Lewis High School, and from WIS itself through the perspective of Aldaine Wynter. Their dialogue centered on the shared responsibility schools hold when it comes to supporting student belonging and agency across the region. The conversation reinforced the idea that educators in Washington DC, whether in public, private, charter, or independent schools, must see themselves as part of a collective effort to ensure that every child is valued and supported.

DAYS TWO & THREE: Imagining, Building, and Acting

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A Commitment to Community and Access A defining aspect of the inaugural WISIT x Empower Conference was its commitment to access. The National Gallery of Art sponsored a significant number of scholarships that allowed more than one third of participants, many from public schools, to attend at no cost. This generosity reflected the shared belief that professional development rooted in justice, identity, and belonging should be accessible to all educators, regardless of school resources.

WIS is proud to be a private institution that is deeply committed to sharing its wealth of professional development resources with the public. We also want to thank our School for generosity across facilities teams, security, catering, educators, and others. Not least, Head of School Suzanna Jemsby and Associate Head of School Natasha Bhalla made the conference possible with their support of this work.

WIS’s mission was alive and clear this weekend.

The inaugural WISIT x Empower Conference was more than an event. It was a statement of purpose — an invitation for all of us to continue exploring, imagining, and acting in service of more inclusive, more joyful, and more just schools.

And this is only the start!

WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

Feature | Informed Through Inquiry Curiosity Doesn’t End in May

Informed Through Inquiry

Curiosity Doesn’t End in May

By Sarah Merianos, Director of WISEL, and Tara Stroup, WISEL Manager of Operations & Camps

Feature | Informed Through Inquiry

Summer camp matters. For curiosity. For

confidence. For connection.

On the first morning of camp last summer, a small boy lingered at the check-in table, holding onto his backpack like it was an anchor. He wouldn’t lift his eyes, quietly telling his mom he wasn’t sure he could stay. Camp buzzed around him — new faces, unfamiliar routines, and the low hum of excitement that comes with the first day of summer break. It was clear that everything felt too much.

By lunchtime, we barely recognized him. He was in the learning kitchen, spoon in hand, chef’s hat perched on his head, singing a French song his group just invented. He wasn’t on the sidelines anymore. He was laughing, smiling, and completely immersed. When his mom returned that afternoon, he announced, “I’m so excited to come back tomorrow! I even made a friend!”

Watching that moment unfold reminded us why camp matters. In the span of a single day, uncertainty had transformed into confidence and curiosity had replaced hesitation. Camp was magic!

More Than a Break From School This story is just one of many, and it follows a pattern researchers have documented again and again: Summer camp isn’t simply a fun break from school; it’s a powerful engine for growth. According to the American Camp Association’s National Youth Impact Study,1 high-quality camp experiences help young people build independence, confidence, social awareness, and a strong sense of belonging — skills that last well beyond the final day of camp.

Across thousands of campers surveyed nationwide, nearly all reported that camp helped them make new friends and connect with peers who were different from themselves. More than 90 percent said the people at camp made them feel good about who they are. These moments — forming friendships, tackling new challenges, and practicing empathy and teamwork — are the building blocks of social and emotional development that support success in school, relationships, and life.

In other words, a day like the one that transformed that nervous little boy isn’t just memorable. It’s measurable evidence of how camp can spark curiosity, confidence, and connection in every child who walks through the doors.

A Season of Discovery at WISummer At WISummer, stepping onto the Primary School campus feels like entering a world of possibility. Campers might be tasting cheeses

Feature | Informed Through Inquiry

One Early Years Spanish parent, Rayneisha Watson, described WISummer as “absolutely magical,” praising its joyful, play-based approach to language learning and the friendships her child formed.

“Every day when I picked up my daughter, she had the biggest smile,” she shared, noting that her child eagerly looked forward to each week.

with a local cheesemonger and learning to describe flavors and textures, while practicing new words in French. Next door, they may be meeting an alpaca named Truffle as part of a study of Peru and even chatting with him in Spanish. In the art room, they might be painting three-dimensional waterlily landscapes inspired by Claude Monet. In the dance studio, salsa music fills the air, while outside, friends race across the soccer pitch or explore nature together in the shade.

WISummer encourages campers to be inquisitive learners, to ask questions, try new things, and explore the world around them. Campers pursue interests through art, cooking, outdoor play, sports, and nature, all while engaging with language and culture through thoughtfully designed weekly themes.

Through hands-on experiences, friendships, and just-right challenges, campers build confidence, creativity, and a deeper understanding of the world beyond their everyday surroundings.

A Program for Every Kind of Camper WISummer offers something for every age or interest too. Younger campers, from rising Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 6, can embark on inquiry-filled journeys in French or Spanish through one-week beginner or immersive camps. Grounded in the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP), these camps emphasize learning through play, exploration, and meaningful, hands-on experiences. Themes range from Dance & Drama and Cooking to Nature & Ecology, Explorers of the World, Animal Kingdom, and Art & Music.

For older students, the Counselor in Training (CIT) program gives rising Grades 10-12 the opportunity to develop leadership skills, gain hands-on experience working with children,

and build confidence as emerging mentors.

The program culminates in a celebratory group day trip, recognizing their growth and accomplishments.

Beyond campus, WISummer’s Global Adventures program invites campers to explore Washington, DC — and the wider world — through immersive, educator-led experiences. Whether uncovering hidden stories in their backyard through museums, embassies, and neighborhood explorations, or traveling abroad to engage with new cultures, languages, and landscapes, these programs go far beyond sightseeing. They foster independence, deepen cultural understanding, and help young people grow into thoughtful, globally minded citizens.

The Moments, Magic, and Mentoring That Last What truly stays with campers long after the summer ends isn’t a program description or even the big outcomes we plan for. It’s the small moments in between, when something quietly clicks. One Early Years Spanish parent, Rayneisha Watson, described WISummer as “absolutely magical,” praising its joyful, play-based approach to language learning and the friendships her child formed. “Every day when I picked up my daughter, she had the biggest smile,” she shared, noting that her child eagerly looked forward to each week. Above all, WISummer stood out as a true summer camp experience, not an extension of the school year, but a summer her child “still talks about today.”

For many counselors, WISummer is a full-circle experience. Dominic Torres, WIS Class of 2022 and former WISummer camper, now returns as a counselor. After years as a camper, CIT, and staff member, he describes it as “a joy to work at the camp,” pointing to its thoughtful organization and

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supportive community. Beyond memories, Dominic credits his time as a counselor with sharpening real-world skills: learning how to communicate clearly with children and adults, adapt in the moment when plans changed, collaborate with a team, and take responsibility for the well-being of others.

He recalled one camper who struggled early in the summer but showed remarkable growth, “focusing, participating, and putting in the effort to work on himself,” an experience that, for Dominic, reinforced the impact of patience, consistency, and mentorship.

Campers, too, remember details. Elise L., a Grade 3 Spanish and French camper, loved mornings in the gym or outside with friends, cooking empanadas, building a cardboard city complete with lights, visiting museums, and making a chalet with Mme. Holden.

Milly M., a Grade 2 Spanish camper, appreciated the kindness of her counselors and how much they cared. Her favorite memories included art projects, sports, painting rocks, splash pad water days, and visits from the sno-cone truck.

An Invitation to Summer Camp is where children try, stumble, and discover who they are becoming. It’s where friendships form, confidence grows, and curiosity takes root. At WISummer, those moments happen every day, often in ways both big and small.

We invite you to explore all that WISummer has to offer. Visit our website at https:// www.wiscamps.org/ to learn more about our programs and secure a spot for a summer filled with adventure, creativity, and connection — one your child will carry with them for a lifetime.

Learn more about WISummer programs and to secure a spot for a summer filled with adventure, creativity, and connection.

1. https://www.acacamps.org/resources/national-camp-impact-study WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

Feature | Global in Reach WIS Dedicates Centro de Idiomas Sullivan

Global in Reach

WIS Dedicates Centro de Idiomas Sullivan

By Marisa Alford, Director of Advancement

On January 15 we observed a momentous Founder’s Day, not only because it marked 60 years of WIS — and Founder Dorothy Goodman’s 100th birthday — but also because it memorialized an important milestone for our School: the dedication of WIS’s first ever language center.

While Le Centre Brown, at 57,000 square feet, is the most visible part of the Tregaron campus’s recent transformation, the project included the reconfiguration and optimization of many spaces, including the former Middle School. That building is now Centro de Idiomas Sullivan (pronounced Sully-van).

In rethinking the campus, it became apparent that the space is better suited to smaller classes and the specialized study of language, rather than core classes that constitute much of the Middle School experience. The solution? Shift the Middle School to the former Arts, Athletics, and Academics (AAA) building, giving the division its own home, with room for administrators and social spaces for each grade and ample-sized classrooms. Then, transform the former building, with its smaller classrooms, into a center dedicated to bilingualism WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

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and biliteracy in the Upper School — giving WIS’s mission to be ‘global in reach’ a physical representation on campus.

Our new language center caught the attention of The Sullivan Family Charitable Foundation, which works to transform education through support for multilingual learners and bilingual educators. Dr. Maggie S. Marcus, the foundation’s Executive Director, a proud WIS parent, and a former WISPA president, saw the Destination WIS campaign as an opportunity to both support the campus transformation and make a difference to the School’s language resources.

In addition, Maggie collaborated with the WIS Advancement team to create the Sullivan Endowment for Language Teaching Innovation.

Its goal is to help ensure that the work of the WIS Institute for Teachers (WISIT) is accessible to dual language educators both at Washington International School and across the region.

So, in the early afternoon on a cold, but bright Founder’s Day, WIS officially celebrated these pivotal changes. The Marcus family, WIS language coordinators, and WIS leadership gathered in the Dacha

Centro de Idiomas Sullivan is dedicated by the Sullivan Family Charitable Foundation in honor of Vivian Marcus ’31, Frida Marcus ’33, and Ophelia Marcus ’35. Embracing the transformative power of education, the Foundation is committed to expanding opportunity for multilingual learners and strengthening the pipeline of bilingual educators.

This dedication reflects WIS founder Dorothy Goodman’s mission to cure the world of monolingualism — a vision brought to life here.

for a coffee reception and a moment to honor both the generosity of the Sullivan Family Charitable Foundation and WIS’s extraordinary language teachers. The group then moved outside, undaunted by the blustery wind and 35-degree temperature, to join Grades 11 and 12 for a ceremony outside the building.

Board Chair Mel Burnett and Associate Head of School Natasha Bhalla welcomed attendees and thanked Maggie and the Foundation, making a point to recognize the students in attendance as stakeholders old enough to understand WIS’s history and how vital it is to carry our values of international-mindedness and multilingualism beyond campus. Grade 10 student Lucas Alvarez-Minervini serenaded the chilly group with a beautiful rendition of Bésame Mucho on the keyboard. Maggie closed the program by reading aloud the inscription from the plaque now installed at the building’s entrance (full text to the left) in both English and Spanish, and French teacher Virginia Rampon offered the dedication in French.

The enrichment that Centro Sullivan will bring to the members of our WIS community and beyond has only just begun!

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WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

Student Voice | Social Entrepreneurship

Student Voice:

Social Entrepreneurship

By Patrick Kaufmann

Patrick Kaufmann, Class of ’26, started the Valentines by Kids project, https://valentinesbykids.org/, in Middle School at WIS, enlisting the help of whole grades, teachers, and administrators to drive the effort forward. His nonprofit now involves dozens of schools, clubs, Girl Scout Troops, and others to bring joy to recipients with cards “made by hands and felt by hearts.” That’s the power of a committed student voice.

Valentines by Kids: From school project to nonprofit In Primary School, I used to volunteer at a local nonprofit organization called Food & Friends which delivers meals to homebound ill people. The volunteer work that my family and I did was to package and help sort the meals. There were certain days when young children were invited to participate. One day, before we actually went into the kitchen to pack food, they asked us to draw Valentine’s Day cards to be placed in the same bag as the meal. At that moment, I thought that, since we were only about 15 total volunteers, there would not be enough cards for everyone to receive one — and that inspired me to ask my friends and students at WIS to create cards.

That year we had about a total of 300 Valentines. The next year, I decided to expand in two ways, by asking a few more schools to help out and by decided not to limit the cards to Food & Friends clients, but to include other people who might not receive a card for Valentine’s Day, like those in hospitals, nursing homes, hospices, senior living homes, and anyone who could be cheered up with a simple Valentine’s Day card.

A year or so ago, we formed a non-profit corporation called “Valentines By Kids” and, this past year, about 55,000 children participated. A big success this past year was our WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

new partnership with the Girl Scouts of the Nation’s Capital. More than 60 troops participated and the cards they created were great.

A win-win for empathy and joy I have been lucky enough to be in classrooms and at Girl Scout Troop events where the children were making the cards. It was clear to me that the children were giving serious thought to their cards. Their empathy was incredible, not to mention that almost all the children were much more artistic than me! But, you really understand how touched people are to get the cards when you get wonderful thank you notes from people and the institutions who receive the cards. It’s a win-win situation in every way. The children, their teachers and leaders, the recipients, their families and the staff in the institutions really all share the joy.

Organizational challenges and human rewards We have a pretty good database now. We can send out email blasts to the schools and to the hospitals, but getting people’s attention is sometimes hard. School systems sometimes block our emails, school principals and teachers are busy, and there is lots of competition for community service programs. The same is true for hospitals. Sometimes it’s hard to find the right people to tell me that they want Valentines for their population.

And, the next year, key people may have left an organization, so you have to start all over again. Volunteers are essential. But, as you can imagine, it takes time to train people who are only with you for a few months and some of those people are students who need community service hours for school.

Community service is such an important part of growing up. If you can take on a leadership role to help a project grow, it’s truly rewarding. Teachers and leaders are really great in helping children understand their own empathy and how taking some time to create a beautiful card can bring so much joy to someone.

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For me, organizing the program is also fun.

There are many aspects that need to fit together. Getting the schools, troops, and clubs to commit, distributing the empty envelopes to the schools, getting the Valentines picked up, delivering the cards to the hospitals quickly, keeping the website current, and answering tons of emails — all add up to a lot to do! I’m lucky that I’ve been doing this for a few years now, and our systems are pretty smooth.

This year’s snowstorm that closed schools the week before we picked up the Valentines created problems, but, for the most part, the schools and especially, the Girl Scouts, really stepped up to the plate and delivered spectacular cards.

Expansion in the cards?

I’ll be heading off to Boston College in the fall, and fortunately I’m having discussions with another nonprofit that reaches out to nursing homes in different ways. We are hoping to combine our programs to expand Valentines By Kids perhaps nationwide. We already have a system in place which can be duplicated in other geographic areas. We would need to get some more funding, but I am confident we can do that.

Student Voice | Editor’s Cut

Student Voice:

Editor’s Cut

By Tindra Jemsby

Tindra Jemsby, Class of ’26, is co-editor of the long-standing WIS student newspaper, International Dateline. She recently shared insights about the processes and principles behind this seminal publication, built on the power of student voices.

starting point for ideas. This approach allows us to cover the stories that matter most to our community while enabling writers to report on stories that they truly care about.

We are not a large enough school or newspaper to require extreme selectivity in the process of publication. We are almost always able to include every story that is written in our print publication, including stories written by younger students in their middle school years. Thus, I have never felt particularly guilty over cutting stories, as it is something that we rarely have to do. I will occasionally trim down the length of stories to make space for all of them, but we really do prioritize including all our writers’ voices.

We also like to keep our print editions relatively balanced between sections, so there are times when I or others on the editorial board will commission a writer from our team to write a story about a particular topic.

Guiding principles, tough calls, & leaning into discomfort

On editorial decision-making Though the process of choosing which stories to tell is complicated, we always prioritize the voices and opinions of our writers. As a publication, we try to offer as much creative liberty as possible, and I can’t recall a time when we have ever censored or turned down a story idea.

When brainstorming, we often encourage writers to think about conversations that they may have had with friends and family as a

With respect to guiding principles, I definitely feel a sense of responsibility to ensure that our publication tells both powerful and truthful stories, especially in a time when misinformation is rampant. For any dataheavy stories, we like to fact-check, but the vast majority of our stories require few edits, with respect to accuracy or otherwise.

I think that this comes from a place of people knowing that their stories will be online forever, and therefore they want to ensure that their name is attached to a good piece of writing.

It can be really difficult in times of political turmoil or similarly controversial events to decide what we want to release in the newspaper, especially when writers are not keen to cover content. We occasionally release a message from the editorial board instead of pinning a story on one writer, but I do think that one of the biggest struggles we have as a newspaper is deciding how to appropriately cover such emotionally charged stories.

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One of the largest debates I can remember the board having was right after President Trump was elected, when nobody could be convinced to write a story due to how distressing and polarized the topic was. We debated releasing a story with the entire editorial board as the byline, but we ended up backing away from the idea, as no one knew what to write.

Writing for Dateline has, of course, helped me in all the expected ways (i.e., honing writing, storytelling, etc.), but what I didn’t expect was to develop such a strong sense of self along the way. Reporting for a school newspaper forces you to refine your own style of writing and choose the stories that you want to be published under your name.

One of the first stories I wrote for Dateline was about anti-abortion protesters at Union Station, and I remember feeling scared to go up to them. Though it was uncomfortable for me, I did go up to several protesters and conducted mini-interviews. I was so surprised by how willing and helpful they were. That experience allowed me to feel much more comfortable in my own skin and has helped me to develop a more proactive and calm mindset about life.

A responsibility to international-mindedness International-mindedness is a topic that definitely shapes the newspaper. One of our largest sections is the global news section, which I know many other newspapers in the DC area don’t actually have. I can remember writing a story early on for Dateline about my thoughts on the importance of international schooling. That is just one example of many and varied stories with an international focus.

Though we also report on local events, the international community is so important to the WIS community that we try to stay up to date on events from around the world.

We will occasionally release stories that are bilingual or even trilingual, a reflection of just how diverse this community is.

WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

Athletics

Feature | A Game-Changer for WIS Athletics

Stepping Into a Culture of Excellence: My First Months as Director of Athletics at WIS

By Chase Bruggeman, Director of Athletics

Feature | Stepping into a Culture of Excellence: My First Months as Director of Athletics at WIS

Stepping into the role of Director of Athletics

at WIS has been both energizing and deeply rewarding. When I joined the community during the first week of September, there was little opportunity to ease into the position.

From day one, I was fully immersed in the life of WIS Athletics. It was not until winter break arrived that I finally had the chance to pause, reflect, and truly appreciate just how exceptional the fall season and the early stages of our winter seasons had been. Beyond the results, what stood out most was the level of commitment, growth, and collective achievement demonstrated across our programs.

From my first week on campus, I made it a priority to attend as many practices, games, and athletic events as possible. I wanted to gain an authentic understanding of WIS Athletics — our culture, values, strengths, and aspirations. It became clear very quickly that I had stepped into a department defined by driven student-athletes and dedicated coaches who expected more of themselves and were eager to pursue excellence together.

By the time I began settling into the role, our fall season was already well underway. The level of competition and preparation across teams was immediately evident. Almost every team was competing at or near the top of its division within our conference, and several of our Varsity programs were earning high rankings across Washington, D.C. and our region. These observations went beyond wins and losses; they reflected a culture rooted in accountability, belief, and pride in the process.

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Feature | Stepping into a Culture of Excellence

My goal was simple: to affirm my support for where they were, both individually and collectively, and to make clear that I was invested in helping move the program forward for the remainder of the season and beyond.

WIS Athletics. A thriving athletics program is built on shared pride and collective belief, and our community played a vital role in fostering that environment. Together, we celebrated successes while understanding that challenges are an inherent part of competitive athletics.

As the season progressed, confidence continued to build across our programs. The daily work ethic of our student-athletes, the leadership and preparation of our coaches, and the consistent support of our administration and families combined to create something special. That collective commitment translated directly into meaningful results.

Intentional conversations At that point, I began having intentional conversations with each coach and many of our student-athletes. My goal was simple: to affirm my support for where they were, both individually and collectively, and to make clear that I was invested in helping move the program forward for the remainder of the season and beyond. I firmly believe that the role of an athletic director is not to implement change for its own sake, but to meet people where they are, recognize what is working, and help elevate it.

The accomplishments of the fall season speak for themselves. Five of our six Varsity teams captured conference championships. Four Varsity programs advanced to the DCSAA playoffs. Three Varsity teams finished the season ranked in the top ten in Washington, D.C. Most notably, Boys Varsity Soccer earned the DCSAA Championship, only the second time in school history that the program has achieved this milestone.

That momentum carried seamlessly into the winter season. All of our winter sports programs held winning records as we entered winter break, a testament to the consistency, preparation, and culture that continues to grow across the department.

A community foundation

That philosophy guided my approach throughout the fall. Together, we focused on identifying and strengthening our existing assets while thoughtfully acknowledging areas for growth. Importantly, we approached development without allowing challenges to overshadow progress or diminish confidence.

Growth requires honesty, but it also demands perspective, trust, and belief in the work being done.

While championships and rankings are meaningful, they are ultimately a reflection of something deeper: a collaborative and supportive staff, committed and resilient student-athletes, engaged administrators, and a community that believes in what WIS Athletics represents. It has been an honor to contribute to and help lead during this period of success, and I am grateful for the trust placed in me during my first months at WIS.

Extending the mindset

Looking ahead, I am excited to continue building on this strong foundation. Sustaining excellence requires intention, humility, and ongoing commitment, and I am fully dedicated to doing the work necessary to ensure that WIS Athletics continues to thrive.

This mindset extended beyond the teams to the broader WIS community. From the outset, I wanted families, faculty, and supporters to feel connected and confident in the direction of

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ALUMNI LEADERSHIP COUNCIL

Cheers to the 2025–26 WIS Alumni Leadership Council (ALC)!

Victoria Anders ’14 President Alessandro Ago ’97 Yasmin Albazzaz ’08 Edouard Asmar ’14 Elizabeth Bowles ’08 Nicolo Cottarelli ’10 Holden Davitian ’19 Philippe De Gaiffier ’14 Olivia Domowitz ’15 Sebastien Gray ’17 Charles Guislain ’11 Lara Hakki ’11 Sonja Johansson ’04 Rohan Kocharekar ’09 Vanessa Knecht ’04 Erik Nordlander ’00 Elizabeth Rugala ’04 Kelsey Valentine ’09 Thank you — your community-building and service are paving the way for WIS alumni across generations and across the world to reconnect and build new relationships.

What a vibrant year it’s been with WIS turning 60 in 2026!

Alumni | Alumni Deep Dives

Kamryn Lute

Racing Toward the Olympic Stage When Kamryn “Kam” Lute first watched highlights from the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, she was immediately captivated. Sitting with her parents, she was asked a simple question: Which sport would you want to try? Her answer came instantly — short track speed skating.

“It looked so cool to me,” she recalls.

“I think probably because of the speed.”

That moment sparked a journey that would eventually carry her to the world’s biggest sporting stage.

’22 Now 21, Lute is a member of Team USA’s Women’s Short Track Speed Skating Team and represented the United States at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, where she finished fourth in the women’s 1500-meter quarterfinal with a time of 2:30.347. Named to the Olympic roster on December 13, 2025, she arrived in Italy as a rising talent already making her mark internationally.

The 2025–26 season proved pivotal. Lute captured her first World Tour relay medals, helping Team USA secure silver at World

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Tour 3 and bronze at World Tour 4 in the 3000m relay. At the 2026 U.S. Championships, she delivered a standout performance, earning overall bronze, along with medals in the 1500m and 1000m.

Her Olympic debut capped more than a decade of disciplined training that began shortly after that Olympic inspiration in 2010. Along the way, she competed at the World Junior Championships, earned a bronze medal at the Four Continents Championships, and spent WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

Alumni | Alumni Deep Dive

several seasons as a member of the U.S. Short Track National Team. Lute’s path has also required balancing the intense demands of elite sport with academic ambition. After taking a gap year following high school to focus on training, she enrolled at the University of Utah, where she is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Economics, projected to graduate in 2027.

When she isn’t on the ice, Lute enjoys quieter pursuits: baking, making art, and spending time with teammates and friends, often catching up on rest between demanding training sessions.

Looking back, she credits much of her success to the support system that helped her reach the Olympic stage. Her parents’ encouragement — and the teachers and mentors she encountered during her years at Washington International School — played a pivotal role.

Her favorite memory from WIS comes from her early high school years, just before the pandemic and her move to Utah to train full time. “I miss every one of my teachers,” she says. “So many of them showed nothing but support and understanding for both my academics and skating.”

For students dreaming of pursuing professional athletics, Lute offers simple but powerful advice: Use every resource available to you.

“Whether it’s faculty, parents, or coaches, the people around you are crucial to your success,” she says. “They want to see you succeed. So, appreciate that support and make the most of it.” From an inspired youth watching Olympic highlights to competing on the Olympic ice herself, Kamryn Lute’s story is one of speed, discipline, and gratitude — and one that is still accelerating.

Sophia Nehme

From IB Classroom to L’Oréal’s Creative Table Can you share a bit about your journey from WIS to now?

Throughout the IB, my favorite classes were English and Psychology HL. And truthfully, my interests remain the same! I just graduated from the University of Pennsylvania last May with degrees in Psychology and Consumer Psychology. Since high school, I’ve been interested in understanding human behavior and figuring out how to communicate effectively.

Now, as a marketer at L’Oréal, I’m always thinking about the consumer; I strive to understand what motivates them, what captures their attention, and what builds loyalty. Then, I get to think about communication subtleties: how a slight shift in color, word, or visual can alter the tone of a message.

Besides the subject matter, what energizes me the most about my work is the creative environment. I love that I basically brainstorm for a living and get to be a part of conversations about

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campaigns, spokespeople, and creative direction where no idea is too out of the box or unwelcome. The biggest challenge in my role has been adjusting to the corporate environment. In both high school and college, the rules were very explicit. It was easy to define success and how I would be evaluated.

Now I have to pick up on unspoken norms as I navigate high-intensity meetings and advocate for my ideas, all while being a good team player. It’s definitely something that takes getting used to!

What kind of specific projects or work are you pursuing now?

I work on the U.S. Garnier team — one of the many brands under L’Oréal (which owns 35+ global brands, from Maybelline to CeraVe to Lancôme and more.) While Garnier is primarily known for its signature green bottles of shampoo and conditioner, I spend most of my time focused on the Hair Color category. We recently launched

Alumni | Alumni Deep Dive

Oliver Steinglass

’16

Where do you find inspiration outside of work?

My main ritual is running. I’m currently training for my second half marathon and hope to run a full marathon one day.

Running didn’t always come easily to me.

In fact, I leaned more into the performing arts in high school and dreaded running the mile in PE. But running helps me clear my head, release energy, and start each day in the right mindset. Outside of running, I love to spend my time exploring new neighborhoods, food spots, and secondhand stores.

Design FC and a New Playbook for Youth Creativity and Opportunity

If you could send one postcard back to your younger WIS self, what would it say?

I’d tell my younger self that the friendships you make at WIS really do last.

I still love seeing my friends from WIS, some of whom I’ve known since the second grade! Now that many of us are in NYC, it’s been amazing to continue seeing everyone in this next chapter and hearing what they’re up to. Much has changed — but also SO much hasn’t!

Can you share a bit about your journey to this point?

After graduating from WIS in 2016, I went to Swarthmore, where I majored in Studio Art and played soccer. I carried what I had learned at WIS into my art practice in college. I wanted to explore, learn about different machines and processes, figure out what I could do with every resource available, and pave my own way through the Art Department.

a campaign with reality star Lisa Rinna for our root coverage product, which I had the chance to work on from start to finish. I’ve also been working on the 2026 go-to-market strategy for an innovative hair color product made specifically for curly hair types and textures. A big part of my job is also thinking about future timelines: I’m sworn to secrecy on some exciting things coming in 2027 and 2028! :)

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While in college, one of my close friends and soccer teammates received a grant to start a social impact project. He wanted to combine design thinking and soccer, using jerseys as a blank canvas for kids to express themselves. He took a year off from school to start the program and I joined him my senior year.

The two of us have spent the last six years building the organization from the ground up.

WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

Alumni | Alumni Deep Dive

Additionally, when I arrived at WIS in 8th grade, I already loved soccer, but WIS turned it into an obsession. We played at lunch every day from the first day of 8th grade to the last week of senior year.

People supported different clubs and national teams, and arguments about soccer could last for weeks. The only day I can remember not playing at lunch was during the 2014 Men’s World Cup draw.

It felt like the entire school was crammed into the cafeteria, waiting for their country’s name to be called.

My senior year, I was co-captain of the Boys Varsity team that went to the DC State Championship for the first time.

That journey brought together the entire WIS community, united around the team and the sport. At the final, it again felt like the whole school had filled the stands at Georgetown, flags from around the world flying proudly.

About Design FC I’m the Chief Operating Officer of Design FC, a youth design non-profit that brings together the worlds of sport and creativity to inspire the next generation, all through the design of sport jerseys and apparel. Through various design programs and industry-driven collaborations, we provide youth with a creative outlet, an opportunity to reflect on who they are, a global platform to tell their stories, and an introduction to creative careers in sport and design.

Over the last eight years, we’ve collaborated with professional sports teams, brands, and athletes including Kevin Durant, Eberechi Eze, Timothy Weah, Georgia Stanway, and Naomi Girma. We are currently expanding our programs across the country, giving youth from under-resourced communities a critical creative outlet, and access to design education.

Design FC started in Chester, PA, just outside of Philadelphia and a ten-minute drive from Swarthmore. Chester is one of two cities in the United States to have declared bankruptcy, and its school district is under receivership. As is the story in many cities across the country, when districts lose funding, arts programming is one of the first things to go. Design FC has filled that gap for many students in our program, giving them an outlet to express themselves creatively.

What I love most about my work I love that my work combines so many different things that I am passionate about: soccer, art, and education. As someone who benefited so much from my own incredible arts education, I care deeply about providing creative opportunities to youth with limited access. I also love creative problem-solving, and as the organization continues to grow, it takes a lot of creativity they’re telling.

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What kind of specific projects or work are you pursuing now?

AFTER SCHOOL EXPANSION

In 2025, we started expanding our after-school programs to public schools across the U.S., partnering with professional soccer teams to sponsor new school sites. The program is a 12-week curriculum where every student reflects deeply on who they are and what matters most to them, then designs a personal jersey to express those ideas. We train teachers to run the program and provide the technical support needed for each student to produce and take home their own jersey at the end of the program.

WORLD CUP PROJECT

We’ve also launched a major project tied to the World Cup this summer.

Through partnerships with community organizations in World Cup-qualified nations, we’re selecting young people to design jerseys representing their country.

During the tournament, we’ll be running a media campaign spotlighting each young person, their organization, and their story.

At a time when soccer and the World Cup itself are being co-opted for political purposes, we want to showcase the true power of the game and lift up stories from around the world that are too often sidelined.

WIS DESIGN PROJECT

Finally but not least, last year I worked on a design project at WIS, collaborating with students from all grade levels to design a jersey representing the entire WIS community. The jersey was worn by both varsity teams to celebrate the reopening of the field last August. It was an incredibly meaningful project, and I loved returning to WIS to help tell the story of a community that has shaped me so deeply.

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Alumni | Alumni Deep Dive

Victoria Anders

Leading Alumni Engagement While Shaping Health Policy What’s a skill, mindset, or habit you picked up at WIS that you still use?

One of my favorite habits that I picked up at WIS was the use of our agendas to keep track of classes, homework assignments, and club activities. I’ve kept a journal ever since WIS, even color-coding it similarly in college and grad school as I did in high school. But, while I’ve acquired all kinds of cute, decorative journals over the years, I still miss the ring-bound blue agendas from WIS!

As President of the WIS Alumni Leadership Council for 2025–2026, Victoria Anders ’14 helps keep the global WIS alumni community connected and engaged. In her professional life, she brings that same spirit of organization, creativity, and service to her work in health policy consulting.

In 2025, as a Clark-Fox Graduate Policy Scholar, she earned her Master of Public Health (MPH) and Master of Social Policy (MSP) degrees from Washington University in St. Louis.

What kind of work are you pursuing?

Can you share some details?

I work in health policy consulting, at a firm that primarily works with state Medicaid agencies as clients. The Medicaid space is changing rapidly due to recent legislation, and we are working to help various states strategize and prepare for all of those changes. Right now, I’m most directly working with the State of Alaska on its implementation of the Rural Health Transformation Program — a significant federal funding investment in improving rural health outcomes and access across the country. I’ve visited beautiful Anchorage, AK for this work.

Where do you find inspiration outside of work?

I’ve recently been meeting up with several WIS friends and other new friends to do crafting projects on a regular basis, including collaging, candle-making, and crocheting. In part, it was a way to get through winter with fun, new indoor activities, but it’s also really been scratching an itch for creativity in my life these days.

Memories of WIS that still make you smile?

Some of my favorite WIS memories come from being a part of the musicals, both as an actor/cast member on several shows and also as a costume designer/crew member over the years. I still reminisce about the countless hours I spent with my dear friend Julia Boldrick (also ’14) in the attic of the Carriage House where we kept the School’s costume collection. It mostly consisted of donations from parents and staff over the years. I recall many times we tried to pull together costumes from what we had — for a given aesthetic, like dark jazz clubs in Chicago, for a time period, like the 1960s in Hairspray, or for a magical world, one with dancing furniture in Beauty & the Beast. It was the best kind of puzzle!

Manager of Alumni Relations Nico Ferrari crafts the highly informative and entertaining Window on WIS (WoW) newsletter bimonthly. Never miss an invitation again — keep in touch with us here.

Alumni | Alumni Deep Dive

Camilla Eigen-Zucchi

’13

Returning to WIS to Champion Inclusive Learning Can you share a bit about your career as a WIS teacher and life journey to this point?

After high school, I went to Smith College, where studied early childhood education and became deeply interested in child development — especially neurodiverse learning — and how nature, nurture, and culture shape how children learn about and make sense of the world around them. Graduate school led me further into special education, where I felt empowered to advocate for children with diverse learning needs and to work toward greater equity and access in education. I believe strongly that all children deserve high-quality learning experiences that honor their strengths and help them reach their full potential.

When a position opened at WIS, returning to a place that shaped my own childhood felt like the right choice, especially given my belief in student agency, curiosity, community, and empathy, which are all fundamental aspects of the IB PYP. At WIS I have experienced both being a classroom teacher and now working as a learning specialist, which allows me to fully apply my knowledge and passion for special education. One thing I love about my work is being surrounded by the refreshed energy the children bring each day and the opportunity to build relationships based on trust and empathy.

What’s a skill, mindset, or habit you picked up at WIS that you still use?

The biggest skill I picked up at WIS, which I still use all the time, is my Spanish. Since graduating from WIS, I still look for opportunities to engage in Spanish, whether chatting with friends, reading books, watching movies, or enjoying performances at the GALA Theater here in D.C. As someone who was adopted from Colombia, being able to speak Spanish has also been valuable in communicating and connecting on WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

a deeper level with other Colombians.

It has helped me on a professional level too — including landing a job as a Grade 1 Spanish teacher at WIS! What’s a challenge you’ve tackled recently that changed the way you think or operate?

Toward the end of the COVID pandemic, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and try something I never thought I would have the courage or perseverance to do. I went on three separate remote backpacking trips with no access to electricity, running water, or other modern amenities, carrying all of my food and belongings in a backpack that weighed up to 50 pounds. On each trip I spent roughly 3 weeks in a group of 15 people either hiking through the canyons of Utah, sea kayaking in Baja, Mexico, or rock climbing in the City of Rocks in Idaho.

The physical fatigue was unlike anything I had ever experienced, and there were many moments when I questioned my decision to go. Yet, I had so much fun and, after each trip, I felt an incredible sense of accomplishment that made me want to do it all over again.

Those experiences taught me a great deal about my mental and physical resilience, practical survival skills, collaborating and working through challenges with others, and how to truly appreciate and connect with the natural world.

Where do you find inspiration outside of work?

I think of myself as an “extroverted introvert,” so to keep myself grounded, I make sure to find a good balance between relaxing at home on my own (either reading cozy mysteries or binging crime tv shows) and spending time with my friends (trying out different restaurants and cafes, traveling, or, more recently, going to bachata socials). I love animals and the outdoors, so I frequently visit my parents at their country house in Marshall, VA where I can spend time outside with their many cats and dogs.

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Alumni | Alumni Deep Dive

Zachary Moore

How an Inquisitive Mindset Led to a Career in Sports Marketing Can you share a bit about your work and life journey since WIS? After graduating from Georgetown University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, I set aside the traditional accounting, consulting, and finance pipelines to pursue a career in sports. At the time, it was a leap of faith, exploring whether a passion for soccer could be translated into a profession but, a decade later, I’ve been fortunate to carve out a career supporting sports organizations in consumer products development, product marketing, and retail operations.

What I love most about my work in sports is providing people with a sense of belonging and community. Sports have the special ability to connect people of diverse backgrounds, and consumer products are arguably a foundational piece of that connection. By putting on a particular jersey, having a particular logo on an item, or simply wearing certain colors, you can instantly send a message that you belong to something bigger than yourself and you can be accepted by a community as one of their own.

What’s a skill, mindset, or habit you picked up at WIS that you still use?

Above all, I’m most thankful to WIS for the inquisitive mindset and international-mindedness that the school instilled in me at a young age. So much of how I navigate life can be attributed to this, yet it wasn’t until I was older that I fully appreciated the unique educational environment that WIS provides. The inquisitive mindset has defined how I challenge ideas, ask questions, solve problems, and it has fostered a joy in learning new things and skills. Internationalmindedness has blessed me with the ability to navigate and embrace different cultures, which has been an invaluable asset in both my professional and personal life.

genuine storytelling. As the organization evolves, my goal is to leverage that credibility and develop an ecommerce system that authentically enables fans to showcase support for their favorite club or national team in the unique tone and perspective that only Men in Blazers provides.

Starting from scratch, building this infrastructure and workflows includes tasks such as building and maintaining our ecommerce platform, sourcing vendors to produce our merchandise, conceptualizing new collections, exploring licensing opportunities, managing graphic designers, refining product designs, and coordinating product shoots and the distribution of assets for marketing campaigns.

Where do you find inspiration outside of work?

Whenever possible, I enjoy What kind of specific projects traveling as a source of inspiare you pursuing now?

At the moment, my biggest project ration. Whether it’s to a new country or just a new city, I love is building the infrastructure and walking the streets, examining workflows to establish a go-to architecture, observing how retail destination for men’s and people dress, trying new food, women’s soccer merchandise. and exploring local museums and Over the last 15 years, Men in shops. Most recently, I enjoyed Blazers has been a leading voice a wonderful trip to Cartagena, in North American soccer by Colombia where I was blown uniting the community through away by the use of fresh fish meaningful, uplifting, and in local cuisine and the vibrant presentation of dishes.

While at home in Brooklyn, I’m fortunate to have an incredible pickup soccer community (Secret Futebol Club) that serves as a major source of inspiration outside of work. The group comprises artists, designers, makers, and creatives who come

together over a common love for the beautiful game. It’s as much about spending time together on the field, as it is spending time together off the field, and we all support each other in personal and professional projects.

Which big idea or issue in the wider world is capturing your imagination right now?

One of the big ideas that’s captured my imagination right now is the relationship between the physical and digital worlds and how our habits in communication, media, and marketing will change over the next 10 to 20 years. At a time when many are increasingly feeling overwhelmed by digital content, where it’s becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate real news from fake news, or what humans have created from what AI has created, how will humans communicate and interact with each other moving forward? How will brands interact with humans moving forward? How will social media adapt? Will there be a growing emphasis on in-person interactions, experiences, and community?

If you could send one postcard back to your younger WIS self, what would it say?

A postcard to my younger WIS self would tell him: Don’t be afraid of getting pushed outside your comfort zone and don’t be afraid of failure. Your ability to persevere through uncomfortable moments will reward you with some of your most exciting and fulfilling experiences. Failure is one of life’s greatest teachers and can only set you back if you don’t learn from the experience or if you decide to quit.

Zachary Moore is a seasoned sports marketing professional with over a decade of experience specialized in retail and consumer products. Following an education at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, Zach has held roles at leading organizations in the sports industry such as SOCCER.COM, Major League Soccer, and most recently, Men in Blazers Media Network.

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Alumni | Alumni Deep Dive

Alex Snider

’04

Rethinking Time in an Age of Urgency

When Alex Snider reflects on the ideas behind his new book, Sometimes You Should Be Late, he often returns to a simple but provocative question: What if the real measure of our lives isn’t how fast we move, but how well we pay attention to what matters most?

A writer and meditation teacher, Snider recently shared thoughts on the themes behind his book, which explores the cultural and psychological assumptions that shape how Americans think about time, urgency, and productivity. Drawing on stories from government service, psychology, and everyday life, Sometimes You Should Be Late challenges the idea that speed and punctuality are always signs of success. Instead, it invites readers to slow down and examine the “urgency culture” that often governs modern life.

For Snider, some of the seeds of these ideas were planted years earlier during his time at Washington International School.

He recalls the IB program’s intensity and high expectations as both formative and demanding. Like many students, he experienced the pressures that come with rigorous academics and a culture of high achievement. Those experiences, he says, shaped his early understanding of success and productivity — but they also sparked deeper questions about balance, community, and self-worth.

“WIS pushed us to achieve,” he reflected, “but it also gave us a global perspective and a sense of community that stayed with me.”

His questions about achievement and meaning resurfaced years later during Snider’s career in the federal government at the State Department and GSA, where the stakes and pace of decision-making were often extraordinarily high. Working in environments where urgency was constant sharpened his awareness of how deeply modern institutions and individuals are shaped by the pressure to move quickly and produce results.

A serious bike accident eventually forced him to pause and reevaluate his own relationship with time. During his recovery,

Snider deepened his meditation practice and began reflecting more intentionally on acceptance, mindfulness, and presence — ideas that would eventually become the foundation of his book.

Sometimes You Should Be Late argues that modern life often trains us to move through the world with “blinders on,” focused narrowly on deadlines, meetings, and endless to-do lists. Yet slowing down, even briefly, can allow us to notice what might otherwise pass us by: a struggling colleague, a meaningful conversation, or a quiet moment with family and friends.

The book is not, Snider emphasizes, a guide to productivity hacks or better scheduling. Instead, it is a reflection on attention, awareness, and the courage to question inherited assumptions about time. At the same time, Snider is careful to note that punctuality itself can be meaningful. In many situations, being on time is an expression of respect and care for others. The deeper challenge, he says, is learning when urgency truly matters and when it might obscure what is most important.

Snider explained the importance of “showing up,” both literally and figuratively.

Whether in professional environments, friendships, or communities, the act of being present and engaged often shapes culture more than titles or authority. That belief has informed not only his writing but also his broader interest in helping organizations cultivate healthier approaches to time, attention, and collaboration.

For today’s students navigating the same pressures he once felt, his advice is simple: pause occasionally and step back from the rush. Because sometimes, he suggests, being a little late to the next thing may be exactly how we arrive on time for what truly matters.

Alumni | Alumni Deep Dive

What kind of specific projects or work are you pursuing now?

I’m in a working group at Princeton that’s considering how we can help develop AI literacy in our students, and I’m also participating in a project run by the NJ AI Hub to develop modules for teaching AI skills at the college level. I find myself both worried about the threat of AI to education, that it may short-circuit skill development and interfere with the necessarily slow work of learning, and also excited to be working in education during a moment that, because of AI, is really reckoning with what we think the foundational goals, values, and practices of education are and how best to achieve them.

’01 Cecily Swanson

At the Intersection of Engineering, Literature, and AI Can you share a bit about your career and/or life journey to this point?

In my career, I serve as the associate dean for undergraduate affairs in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Princeton University. In this role, I support the undergraduate experience of Princeton’s engineering students: their academic progress and advising, as well as the programs and opportunities that help our students forge successful academic and professional pathways.

Princeton is an incredible place to work. My colleagues are wonderful and our students are amazing. There is always an interesting talk to attend or discussion to participate in. A big challenge right now — shared by anyone involved in the work of education (and that includes students) — is figuring out how to successfully rise to the

challenges and opportunities posed by artificial intelligence.

A memory from your time at WIS that still makes you smile today?

Where to start! I have so many.

Here’s a story that I think captures how special and wide-ranging a WIS education is: In a modernist literature class in graduate school, our professor brought in a vinyl recording of Al Carmines’ musical production of Gertrude Stein’s avant garde play, In Circles. I spoke up, “I was in that musical in high school.” His jaw dropped. There are a handful of people in the world who have performed this obscure, zany musical, and among them are WIS students under Mr. Vincent’s marvelous direction. Musical theater at WIS was awe-inspiring.

Like so many WIS teachers, Mr. Vincent cared deeply about his subject and believed that students thrive when given interesting challenges.

Has there been any unexpected path or twist your life taken since graduation that you want to describe?

I have a Ph.D. in English literature, and I arrived at Princeton as a lecturer in its writing program, where I taught expository writing to first-year college students. My career wended its way into administration, and now I’m in Princeton’s Engineering School, a place I never thought my background in literary criticism would take me. I think my WIS education emboldened me to take intellectual risks: choosing to pursue IB higher level math, for example, even though I found it difficult, helped me productively question a tendency that I think we all have to pigeonhole ourselves as certain types of learners (i.e., a “math person” or a “humanities person,” and so on).

Students and scholars from across the curriculum can and should learn from each other.

So, it’s been exciting to immerse myself in the fascinating work of engineering students, in the context of an engineering curriculum that is emphatically

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also a liberal arts education, where subject matter depth and curricular breadth both matter.

Where do you find inspiration outside of work?

Throughout middle school, I biked to WIS from Arlington on the back of dad’s tandem bicycle.

I’m still an avid cyclist, biking to work in almost all weather.

(This winter in NJ did test me a bit!) My kids, ages 7 and 9, are enthusiastic cyclists now, too.

I also love to read, and though my kids can read to themselves, we still read aloud as a family most nights. Even if it’s just for 10 or 15 minutes, it’s so nice to share in a novel. Right now, we’re reading Laura Ingalls Wilder’s The Long Winter, a book that makes you smile on your own winter weather … it’s not as bad as seven months of blizzards in South Dakota in the 1880s.

Which big idea or issue in the wider world is capturing your imagination right now?

This past fall, a colleague and I co-taught a seminar for first-year students called Gaslight! Control, Coercion, or Just Conflict? The Cultural History of a TikTok Term. We chose to explore the concept of gaslighting, which was MerriamWebster’s word of the year in 2022, because we were interested in the term’s popularity in an era that is contending with large-scale disinformation and the rise of AI technologies that make it easy to bend the truth.

Our students did a great job wrestling with important questions about the formation of power, trust, and expertise, gaining a lens onto their own civic participation in an increasingly polarized political landscape. We’re excited to keep thinking about the term in a new iteration of the class next year, where we plan to focus more on AI bias and the effects of AI sycophancy on interpersonal disagreement.

If you could send one postcard back to your younger WIS self, what would it say?

Keep exploring, and stay curious!

You don’t have to know where your interests may lead you.

(Though you’ll never find a pizza you like as well as Vace’s — your quest for the perfect slice has already been achieved.)

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Alumni | Alumni Deep Dive

Erik Norlander

’00

The Conviction and Humility of Betting on Innovation technology companies, often in areas like AI, infrastructure, and software that reshape how industries operate.

Can you share a bit about your journey? What do you love most about your work? Biggest challenges?

My journey has been nonlinear in the best way. After WIS and college, I was drawn to the intersection of technology, innovation, and impact. I had stints working for the government, AOL and even starting my own company before finding my way to the early days of Google, working as an engineer. Over time, that evolved into a career in venture capital, where I partner with founders building ambitious

What I love most about the work is proximity to people at the technological frontier, spending time with individuals who are trying to build something that doesn’t exist yet, at times, against long odds. There’s something deeply energizing about helping someone refine a vision and turn it into a successful business that employs people and shapes our future. It’s incredible when the companies solve problems with far reaching consequences — like being able to charge an electrical vehicle in less time than it takes to fill up a gas tank.

The biggest challenge is that the job requires navigating ambiguity. You’re constantly making decisions with imperfect or limited information. You’re betting on people, markets,

and technologies that may take years to fully reveal themselves but can shift in days. It requires conviction and humility at the same time, which is harder than it sounds.

What’s a moment from your time at WIS that still makes you smile?

I still smile thinking about the global, intellectually curious environment at WIS. It was normal to sit at lunch with classmates who had lived on multiple continents, spoke three languages, and had wildly different perspectives on politics, current events, or culture. At the time, it just felt like school. In retrospect, it was an extraordinary preparation for the real world.

The mindset I still use is comfort with difference. WIS normalized the idea that there isn’t one “right” lens for viewing a problem. The school also instilled independence and

curiosity early. The IB curriculum forces you to manage your own workload, as with the extended essay, and think critically. That muscle, owning your time and thinking rigorously, compounds over decades.

Where do you find inspiration outside of work?

It usually comes down to two things: my family and my city.

Having young kids is grounding in the best possible way. Because they are so relentlessly present, they force you to be present too.

Watching them discover the world reminds me to stay curious.

I try to take that same curiosity out into New York City, where I’ve lived for the past twenty years. NYC has a never-ending slew of cultural, culinary, and creative experiences at your doorstep. Whether it’s trying a new restaurant, seeing an exhibit, or just absorbing the sheer hustle of the people here, the city is an endless source of inspiration. My only real challenge isn’t finding something new and exciting, but rather finding enough hours in the day to take it all in.

Which big idea or issue in the wider world is capturing your imagination right now? I’m captivated by the long-term implications of artificial intelligence.

We often fixate on the immediate productivity gains, but the real story is how AI will reshape creativity, education, and our very definition of expertise.

We’re entering an era where raw intelligence is abundant and on-demand.

The question that fascinates me most is: what becomes more valuable when intelligence is cheap? This creates a fascinating paradox where uniquely human traits: judgment, taste, ethics, and empathy become the differentiators. Take the legal field, for example: if an AI can synthesize decades of case law in seconds, a lawyer’s value shifts from research to nuanced negotiation, ethical counsel, and understanding a client’s personal risk tolerance. Or consider education: in a world where answers are instantaneous, the premium shifts to the art of asking the right questions, something the IB curriculum at WIS prepared us for. Ultimately, when technical execution is commoditized, human discernment becomes our greatest asset.

Alumni | Alumni Deep Dive

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Gejaa Gobena

Listening Closely Where the Stakes are Highest

scientific and medical discoveries. My cases involve pharmaceutical products or medical devices. I love learning about the science behind their life-saving products; understanding that can be helpful in navigating a situation where the government is looking into a company’s practices.

Can you share a bit about your journey becoming a lawyer and firm partner navigating high stakes fraud investigations?

I graduated from law school in 1998. After four and a half years at a firm, inspired in part by the public service values instilled during my time at WIS, I pursued a career at the Department of Justice starting in early 2003. I spent the next 14 years prosecuting fraud cases involving billions of dollars in losses against individuals and companies.

My time in government gave me a deep appreciation for the nuance and complexity of fraud against government programs.

Today, I help companies and individuals navigate government investigations, which involve complex regulatory questions and real existential risks.

I represent many life sciences companies, which are on the leading edge of major

What’s a skill, mindset, or habit you picked up at WIS that you still use?

I have extremely fond memories of how curious we were about the world around us. Regardless of whether it was history or economics or theory of knowledge or physics, everyone took joy in the process of learning and asking questions. From those experiences, I really honed my ability to actively “listen.” Whenever I am meeting with a client or just with my kids hearing about their day and challenges, I strive to listen and think about what they are saying before problem-solving.

What’s a challenge you’ve tackled recently that changed the way you think or operate?

A lot of times in my work, I am helping a client deal with an issue or problem with asymmetric information. The government or an opposing party is looking into an issue, but I only know what I know, not what information the government or that opposing party may have. So, more and more these days, I have to identify and engage people’s implicit biases (in terms of what they think they know about an issue) and get them to trust sharing information in a way that will make both sides understand the issue or make them more comfortable questioning

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their assumptions. It will be interesting to see how the law, like business, adapts to neutralize that challenge using AI and other evolving technological tools.

Which big idea or issue in the wider world is capturing your imagination right now?

The curiosity that drove my academic experiences still features in my life some 35 years later. Recently, I have gone back and started reading more about astronomy and astrophysics. It was fueled in part by my youngest son’s fascination with shows about time travel and parallel universes.

The fact that we know so little about how physics works and the larger universe(s?) is something that has grabbed my imagination and that I spend a good amount of time reading about these days in my spare time.

I find that when people engage in varied interests beyond their profession — which gets them to think in different ways — it makes them more dynamic when at work in their chosen profession.

If you could send one postcard back to your younger WIS self, what would it say?

The academic environment is rigorous and highly engaging, but you are learning in a place where students get along and are treated more equitably than in the world outside of WIS. Once you leave, the way it was at WIS will seem utopian, but perhaps distant after a while. No matter. Take the values that are being installed in you now as you go forth in that outside world. Live them. Spread them. Be proud of them.

They are a gift.

WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

Alumni | Alumni Deep Dive

Moimusa Ahmadu

’86

A Life Dedicated to Movement, Healing, and Care

makes him smile involved the power of learning languages young — in particular, singing French nursery songs in class.

Those songs have taken on new meaning today: he now sings the same melodies to his young son at bedtime.

recovery proved transformative, helping him regain strength and confidence. That experience not only inspired his professional path but also prepared him to accomplish an extraordinary athletic milestone: competing in the Ironman Triathlon World Championships in Kona, Hawaii.

For Moimusa Ahmadu, sports medicine is more than a profession — it is a lifelong calling rooted in personal experience, global learning, and a deep commitment to helping others move, heal, and thrive.

Ahmadu works closely with athletes to support their health and performance.

Licensed in Maryland, he brings more than three decades of experience in sports medicine, movement education, and rehabilitation to his work. His career has taken him across disciplines and continents, collaborating with chiropractors, orthopedic surgeons, physical therapists, and other health professionals to support recovery and physical well-being.

Ahmadu’s journey into the field began with an injury in the early 1990s. The sports medicine care he received during his

Outside of work, golf and swimming remain two passions that help keep him grounded and connected to the joy of movement that first inspired his career. He also continues to look ahead to new personal projects. One idea currently capturing his imagination is designing a home in a remote village in Sierra Leone, a meaningful way of staying connected to his roots and family heritage.

In 1992, Ahmadu began training in the Pilates Method at the Pilates Center in Boulder, Colorado, discovering the powerful connection between movement, rehabilitation, and long-term physical health. Over the years, he became an instructor, teacher trainer, guest speaker, and presenter, sharing the principles of Pilates and functional movement around the world — from Hong Kong and Brisbane to Durban and his native Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Family remains central to Ahmadu’s life and outlook. Sustained by the love of his children and his extended Sierra Leonean family, he carries forward a simple but powerful family motto: “Let’s take care of each other.”

Alongside his clinical and teaching work, Ahmadu founded Guts Pilates and Sports Medicine, where he continues to integrate Pilates-based training with sports medicine practices. He earned his BS in Exercise Science and Athletic Training from the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health in 2014, further strengthening the clinical foundation of his career.

Looking back at his younger self at WIS, Ahmadu would offer a simple piece of advice: Relax and be patient.

It’s a perspective shaped by decades of experience, one that reflects a life spent helping others heal, strengthening communities through care, and staying grounded in the belief that movement, health, and compassion are deeply connected.

Ahmadu still reflects fondly on the formative experiences he had at WIS. One memory that

With that in mind, we’re delighted to introduce WIS Compass — WIS’s new alumni directory and networking platform. WIS Compass makes connecting easier. You can:

As Washington International School celebrates its 60th Anniversary, we’re reflecting on what has always made our alumni community so extraordinary: the lifelong connections that span generations and continents.

· · · ·

review a résumé offer a 20-minute Zoom informational interview share a job or internship opportunity host a regional gathering or other event

Your involvement directly supports fellow WIS alumni and current students. Joining is free and takes just a few minutes. Just scan the QR code!

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Alumni | Alumni Deep Dive

complex marine research into compelling global storytelling.

and the Eastern Tropical Pacific.

Through MarAlliance, she has championed a model of conservation rooted in long-term scientific research, fishercentered partnerships, capacity building, and youth engagement.

This approach—both collaborative and deeply local—has informed fisheries management, protected-area planning, and international conservation initiatives.

Rachel Graham

Safeguarding Sharks and the Sea With Science are widely published, and her doctoral research produced the first dissertation ever written on the world’s largest fish: the whale shark.

From the coasts of Tunisia to the coral reefs of Central America, Rachel Graham ’84 has built a career devoted to understanding— and protecting—the ocean’s most remarkable creatures.

A lifelong lover of wildlife and the sea, Graham trained as a zoologist specializing in sharks and rays.

Today she is internationally recognized for her groundbreaking work on threatened marine migratory species and tropical marine ecosystems.

Her scientific contributions

Over the past three decades, Graham has worked across Latin America, Africa, and Micronesia with organizations including the United Nations, the University of York, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Wildlife Conservation Society. Her work sits at the intersection of science, community, and policy— bringing rigorous research together with the knowledge and needs of coastal communities.

In 2014, Graham founded MarAlliance, an international nonprofit advancing the recovery of marine species across the Caribbean, Central America,

Graham has also helped pioneer more inclusive approaches to marine and shark science, democratizing research by working closely with traditional fishers and local partners. Her work has led to scientific discoveries, catalyzed the creation and expansion of protected areas, and contributed to policy and regulatory change for vulnerable marine species. She has advised national governments and international bodies and remains an active member of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group, the World Commission on Protected Areas, and the Species Specialist Group on Monitoring. She also helped establish several National Shark Advisory Committees to advance policy reform and information sharing around elasmobranch conservation.

Beyond the scientific community, Graham has played an important role in bringing ocean science to wider audiences. She has guided the scientific narratives behind several award-winning documentaries, helping translate

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Alongside her scientific and conservation work, Graham is an avid underwater photographer, educator, builder, and hotel owner in Belize, where she has lived for much of the past 30 years while working across Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama. There, she collaborates with coastal communities to develop solutions that balance livelihoods, sustainable fisheries, and the conservation of threatened marine wildlife and critical habitats.

Her achievements have earned international recognition, including the Whitley Fund for Nature Gold Award (2011) for her work with sharks and communities, a Pew Marine Fellowship (2021), and Oceana’s Belize Ocean Hero Award (2022).

Graham holds a BSc in Zoology from Oxford and an MSc from the University of Edinburgh and the University of York, where she completed her pioneering PhD on whale sharks.

Despite her global reach, Graham traces much of her outlook back to Washington International School.

She credits WIS’s international perspective—and the deeply multinational spirit of the Class of 1984, which still gathers regularly—as formative influences on her worldview and collaborative approach to conservation.

Today, that global mindset continues to guide her work protecting the oceans.

Of all her accomplishments, however, Graham says she is most proud of her two sons— young ocean lovers who balance their passion for fishing with an even stronger commitment to protecting the sea and its wildlife.

WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

Alumni | Events

Alumni Events Career Day 2026 On Friday, March 6, WIS welcomed parents and alumni back to the Tregaron Campus to share their professional journeys with current Upper School students. From engineering to interior design and everything in between, presenters shared compelling insights, advice, and real-world perspectives.

Save the Date

WIS’s 60th Anniversary: Road to Alumni Reunion Weekend 2026 WIS invites all alumni to our annual Alumni Reunion Weekend on June 5 and 6, 2026. We’ll also host satellite events for classes ending in 1’s and 6’s!

Make sure to mark your calendars now for what’s sure to be a memorable weekend.

Alumni | Events

WIS Alumni Regional Gatherings In November and December, WIS New York City and WIS Winter Gathering in DC saw a huge turnout of alumni from across the decades gather to celebrate friendship and memories, amid food and good fun!

WIS London Regional Gatherings It’s happened again this year! While this magazine was in its final print production and hitting mailboxes, the WIS team flew across the pond to gather with our European alumni for an evening of art, drinks, bites, and connection!

Sixty Years of Brilliance.

Thank You. On April 11, our community came together at the Gala to celebrate WIS’s 60th Anniversary — and each other. To everyone who attended, sponsored, bid, gave, and volunteered: thank you for making Brilliance Since ’66 a night to remember.

Want to support WIS financial aid in honor of our diamond anniversary? It’s not too late!

Visit www.wis.edu/support to make a gift or learn more about giving at WIS. WIS Chicago Alumni Regional Gatherings You asked and we answered!

On May 8, we’re excited to see all of our Midwest alumni come out for a super fun evening.

Double check your inbox for all things Chicago!

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60

Years Forward: A Mid-Year Advancment Update

It’s been a busy time this anniversary year, with the Advancement Office hard at work (no hardly working here!) raising important funds for various school priorities. Philanthropy has been unified this year under the banner of 60th Anniversary Giving, focusing support where it matters most.

Our priorities have been: · Financial stewardship of Le Centre Brown · Strengthening teaching and learning · Expanding access through financial aid So far, we are excited to report considerable progress.

Through December 31, our community raised more than $1 million as we approached WIS’s milestone year. This outpouring has been driven in large part by supporters who have stretched their giving into the Founders Circle tier ($1,966–$4,999), a nod to the year WIS began. We extend our deepest gratitude to our supporters and look forward to sharing a full-year recap in the fall.

Advancement Report

Destination WIS: On Final Approach The opening of Le Centre Brown last August was a defining moment in WIS’s history; one made possible by the generosity and commitment of generations of community members through the Destination WIS campaign. The new building is open, and, across Tregaron, spaces from the relocated Dacha and transformed Carriage House to the newly situated Middle School and refreshed soccer pitch are humming with activity. As the campaign nears the end of its fifth and final year, we wanted to share some information about the status of this historic effort.

A tip of the cap to our early (Phase I, 20132018) donors, who were instrumental in this fundraising effort. We are grateful for their steadfast support in bringing this vision to life.

Destination WIS Progress to Date (Approximate Totals as of Feb. 28, 2026):

What does your generosity mean in practical terms for the teacher and student experience at WIS? Every dollar we raise goes directly to supporting the school’s mission of creating an exemplary learning community — enriched by differences, informed through inquiry, and global in reach. This year, some highlights made possible in part by philanthropy include:

Expanded food service Teachers and staff now receive meals as part of their employment, freeing up time and resources to focus on their practice. [~$1.6M]

Tregaron solar panel installation.

Turning sunlight into environmental stewardship, WIS recently installed 185 panels on the Middle School roof. The panels will generate about 74K kW annually, enough electricity to power seven homes. [~$200K]

Technology rollout.

Middle School Chromebooks and Smartboards, robots for STEAM curriculum, and AI tools for responsible use are in student hands. [~$150K]

Professional development for teachers.

Faculty and staff are benefitting from IFSEL and EMPOWER conferences, as well as various mentoring and adult learning programs and workshops. [~$120K]

Science instructional supplies.

The new labs in Le Centre Brown are kitted with cutting-edge essential equipment and materials. [~$170K]

Fitness equipment for WISFIT. In the immortal words of Hans and Franz, we want to pump. you. up … with a sizable investment in faculty and student physical wellness. [~$25K]

Endowments: How to Make a Dollar Out of 15 Cents Although many people can tell you generally what an endowment is, fewer may be familiar with how they work in practice and the critical role they play in the financial health of independent schools.

Unlike annual giving, which supports a school’s operating needs each year, endowment gifts are permanent; that is, they are invested and grow over time. Bottom line: Both forms of giving are impactful for completely different but complementary reasons, and both are equally important.

are a few examples. As funds grow over time, annual distributions increase in turn, creating sustained investment across the school’s programs and subject areas.

Let’s say you’re part of a family that cares deeply about sports AND WIS, and want to leave a lasting legacy in support of the school’s athletics programs. Here’s how that might work in practice:

A Lasting Legacy in Le Centre Brown Donors at the Founder’s Circle ($1,966+) level and above are recognized on a special donor installation in Le Centre Brown’s Huffard Hall, a permanent tribute honoring the generosity that made WIS’s 60th Anniversary celebration possible. Become part of this special installation before June 30!

Looking Ahead: Why This Moment Matters Once the school’s total endowment grows large enough, it becomes an indispensable part of a school’s financial apparatus. WIS’s endowment is relatively new — first established around 2003 with $30,000 in donations; it has since grown to more than $13M today. While that may seem like a lot, it’s modest in comparison to many of our peer schools.

Among all independent schools, endowment draws comprise around 5 percent of revenue.

That means we would need to increase our endowment by more than 280 percent, to a total value of around 50 million, to start generating distributions commensurate with the industry average. A tall task, indeed, but a critical one, as it would afford WIS flexibility in managing tuition growth, strengthen longterm financial sustainability, and bolster resilience in tough economic times.

Consider a household. Think of annual giving as paying for routine expenses, like a utility bill, mortgage payment, or car note. If you’re responsible with your budget and spending habits, you might accumulate modest reserves to cover unexpected costs, which will come in handy the next time you have unplanned expenses, like repairing your boiler or evicting raccoons from your attic.

Looking to the future, building WIS’s endowment will be a top priority as we continue to position the school for long-term stability and growth. We look forward to sharing more information, including some deep dives on individual funds, in the next edition.

Endowment gifts, by contrast, are akin to longer-term investments of the sort a household might make: a 401K, investment portfolio, or perhaps a crypto wallet for those who like to live dangerously.

At WIS, endowed funds function like sponsors for the program areas they support.

Over the years, generous supporters have established funds in one of two areas: financial aid and programmatic support. Many of WIS’s existing funds provide financial support for WIS’s roughly $4.5 million aid budget each year. Others are tied to specific curricular areas: climate science, service learning, community enrichment, and IDI

If you’re interested in helping us close Destination WIS strong by supporting the financial aid endowment priorities, please visit www.wis.edu/endowments or email Marisa Alford at marisa.alford @wis.edu.

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WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

Announcements | WIS Celebrations Recap

WIS Celebrations Recap!

This special 2025–2026 60th anniversary school year has been full of memorable community-wide events and powerful learning opportunities.

Joy in Teaching & Learning Internationally-minded and driven by inquiry, everyday WIS actively creates an exemplary learning community. Students grow toward self-awareness, self-reliance, and responsible, informed participation in a diverse world, where they can pursue innovation and live with integrity.

WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

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Announcements | WIS Celebrations Recap

From kicking off with FORZA, Welcome WIS!, Field Day, and Fall Fest to this semester’s excitement with Founders’ Day, Kindness Week, Celebrations of Learning, student performances, curricular field trips, integral global programs, our Brilliance Since ’66 Gala, and much more, WIS is living its mission and strengthening our connections with each other — and with our past and future. Enjoy some snapshots of the year so far!

Reach out to us to stay in touch, get involved, or learn more about WIS: alum@wis.edu advancement@wis.edu admissions@wis.edu

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WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

Announcements | WIS Celebrations Recap

Student Life!

Across student life on both campuses, curiosity, creativity, and friendship unfold each day. WIS students shape their community with their energy and collaboration — and our school spirit comes alive through them. #FORZAWIS

WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

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Announcements | WIS Celebrations Recap

Parents & Community We celebrated with our parents, students, and full community, as we continue our ongoing conversations and action to responsibly steward WIS — ensuring a remarkable and vibrant future for all now and in the decades to come.

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WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

Announcements | Until Next Time

Until Next Time WISUMMER!

W ISIT SUMMER

Weekly, June 22–July 31, 2026

S TRATEGIC PLAN 2025–2028

W IS ATHLETICS SUMMER CLINICS

August 3-7, 2026

In May, the WIS Board of Trustees adopted the new 2025 Strategic Plan for a 3-year period that began July 1, 2025. The Board encourages everyone to read the Plan, which prioritizes holistic well-being, evolves our educational approach, and enhances WIS’s future.

BASKETBALL Weekly, June 29–July 31

WIS offers world-class Summer Language Camps & Cultural Exploration for children age 4 – Grade 12.

Explore French, Spanish, Chinese, Travel & Leadership Camps!

Bilingual adventures await any level learner!

Located in Washington, DC, our camps offer a vibrant backdrop for an unforgettable summer experience where children learn new languages, try new things, and create lasting memories with friends.

INSTITUTE

Designed by educators, for educators.

Since 2014, our annual summer institute has offered a week of intense, inspiring, and joyful professional learning with outstanding educators from across the region. Our goal is to connect educators with Project Zero ideas and current research on critical and creative thinking strategies.

Plenaries begin each morning with breakfast and learning focused on cultures of thinking, AI, agency, and more lead PZ researchers and local experts.

The day continues with interactive courses, offering small workshops built for deep engagement with ideas. The ever-popular Museum Day means learning inside the Smithsonian, National Gallery of Art, NMWA, NMAAHC, and beyond.

SOCCER Weekly, June 29–July 31 TRACK Weekly, June 15–July 31 We’re excited to announce the launch of WIS Athletics Summer Clinics in 2026 for basketball, soccer, and track, led by our outstanding WIS professional coaching staff. Through high-quality instruction, fun competitions, and focused training sessions, participants will have the opportunity to learn directly from the experienced coaches who lead our successful WIS athletics programs.

The Clinics welcome WIS students and are also open to the broader community, all genders and multiple age levels. We encourage WIS families to share this opportunity with friends, neighbors, and local athletes who may be interested in joining us this summer.

Registration is open — see details at https://wisinstitute. org/wisitsummer/ !

For more information, including specific dates and costs, please scan the QR codes below: BASKETBALL Weekly, June 29–July 31

A Word From Admissions

WIS welcomes applications from families seeking an internationally-minded education.

Our students graduate with an IB or bilingual diploma and a high level of proficiency or fluency in their chosen language, as well as a strong, inquiry-based skill set in STEAM. We offer financial aid to qualified families.

WIS | Spring/Summer 2026

Reach out to us to learn more!

Mary Hastings Moore, Director of Admissions & Financial Aid

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SOCCER Weekly, June 29–July 31

TRACK Weekly, June 15–July 31