The Agnes Irwin School Parents’ Association
Upper School Parent Coffee
Thursday, January 19th, 2023 • 8:30 a.m.
The purpose of the Agnes Irwin Parents’ Association is to foster a positive spirit within the Agnes Irwin community, and to provide financial support for education facilities, opportunities, and enrichment. The Agnes Irwin Parents’ Association communicates with the school’s administration to ensure that all activities and financial contributions support the school’s mission and create the best possible environment for all Agnes Irwin students to grow and thrive.
Greeting: Sally Keidel – Head of School
· Strategic Plan – came out in December. Sets the course for the school in the next 5 years.
o 4 pillars of our strategic commitments.
§ Personal Well Being
§ Intellectual Curiosity
§ Authentic Inclusivity
§ Courageous Leadership
Welcome, AIS Highlights and Outlook for Spring – Joy Prince – Upper School Director
· Academic Excellent: Engaging students in learning. Nov/Dec college students came back and talk about college experiences. They talk about how prepared they were with their AIS education. They talked about how they still had connections with teachers at AIS. The relational opportunity we build with our students helps us to build on our curriculum to keep them prepared for their next step.
o Ethical Scholarship: teaching girls how to do citations.
§ “ChatGPT and AI”, looking at as a team how we are going to integrate this new technology into the classroom. How do we direct our students in the proper use of this technology
o With Honors Program: 3 Seniors did a presentation on their course. Holocaust and the Third Reich.
§ With Honors courses are available to Juniors and Seniors in the Fall and Spring that they can opt into. It’s independent work but they have faculty leadership along side them.
· Leadership in Action: Visible everyday in assembly as girls presenting what is happening in their clubs or what they have accomplished in their service opportunities.
o We build on the girls leadership skills starting with public speaking in our youngest girls
· Engagement in Upper School: 35 students participated in Legally Blonde the musical.
· Planning for course selection: Will be discussed with students in advisory regarding their graduation requirements. Partnership between advisor, parents and students. We don’t want our students to be overwhelmed, we want to make sure there is a balance with their studies and their extracurriculars. We want to build a schedule that explores what your daughters wants.
o If they aren’t already in an honors class they will have the opportunity to apply for an honors class
o Teachers will make recommendations for what course your daughter is ready for
Upper School updates and Events
Student Life Update: Sarah Leonard – Dean of Students
· The Social Institute: partnership with this organization that creates curricula, programming around productive social media use. Occurs through our wellness program. Topic examples.
o Finding common ground and resolving conflicts
o Breaking down the privacy and ethics of permission to share
· Flex well programming: Balance in schedule between classes, downtime, clubs, etc. 1 time a cycle, 3 times a month.
o Mixture of workshops, activities under the umbrella of wellness.
o Ex. Nature walks, strength class, how to knit or play chess, astrology card reading. Faculty, staff or student offers the workshop.
o 1/31 during Flexwell - Joel Feldman - Talk about distracted driving.
· Student/advisor led conferences: 3/16 & 3/17. Parents ,daughter and advisor. course selection for next year (9th-11th),
· Student programming: Flag football tournament in anticipation of the Super Bowl. Hallway competition- they decorate their hallway in a theme with their class colors, dodgeball tournament.
o Anything but a backpack Day: next Thursday 1/26
o Sophomore Ring Day 4/14
o Junior Coating Ceremony – May
o DC Trips for grades 10 & 11th Friday March 3: 7am-10pm
§ Planning a service day with 9th & 12th that day
Student Health/Well Being: Kim Polonsky – Upper School Counselor and 9th Grade Class Dean
· Wellness Trends: Anxiety and Depression are on the rise nationally.
o Overuse of devices
o More students are relying on behavioral health tools online when they are struggling with mental health concerns instead of reaching out to an adult
§ Being misdirected by google symptom searches online
§ They are relating their symptoms to quotes and lyrics on instagram
o AIS girls are asking for mental health programming but aren’t showing up.
o Launching mental health series to help utilize support at school and adults but not with just peers
· Authentic Connections: partnering with this organization in grades 7-12 to take an extensive survey about their mental health and wellbeing across all categories. 1/24 during advisory period.
o Analysis and report will show the trends specifically in our community and where the gaps are so we can provide support for the struggles our girls are experiencing. Data will be shared with parents and community
· BookClub Series: Disconnected by Thomas Kersting.
o March 7th – there will be a student panel. Discuss highlights from the book and then show the ins and outs of the big social media apps. Zoom option available.
· Mental Health Awareness Month – May
o Trying to negate mental health stigma
SSP and Global Travel: Vanessa Pope – AIS Director of Strategic Partnerships and Experiential Learning
· Three days of experiential learning, led by faculty and staff – March 21-23
o Part of curriculum. Girls are required to do a SSP each year but one year needs to have a global, outward focus. None require them to travel, there are on campus opportunities
· Catalog and letter goes out next week and course selection starts 1/31. Priority is given to Seniors first.
· Students choose among 18 different classes
o Examples include outreach at Rosebridge Farm, Food Insecurity
o 10 SSPs will be off campus those days
· 6 traveling programs.
o If program doesn’t travel until after 3/21 they will meet on campus to do pre-travel prep with their travel group
· Summer – working on a marine conservation program
Parents’ Council News, Nominations and Events
Fall Event Recap, Events and Nominations: - Nissa O’Mara – Parents’ Council President
Upper/Middle School Faculty staff appreciation 2/8
3/7 movie, theater to ourselves
Class Breakouts: Maura Daniels – Upper School Coordinator
Upper School Class Parents
9th Grade – Nimrit Kang and Brenda Howard
10th Grade – Carrie Grau and Kristin Vollmer
11th Grade – Eda Bilir Messner
12th Grade – Leelee Kirkpatrick, Kitty McQuaid and Vanessa Halpert
