NAIS Conference
National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS)
Last week, several of us from RDS had the opportunity to attend the annual NAIS Conference, which was held in San Francisco this year, with over 4,000 independent school leaders and teachers from around the country. The conference had its share of big-name speakers and educators: Arianna Huffington, Carol Dweck, Kip Fulbeck, and Tony Wagner - to name just a few.
Of the presentations I attended, there were two that really stood out. The first was by Reveta Bowers, Head of School at The Center for Early Education, a school in LA that offers a pre-school - 6th grade program. Reveta was riveting in her speech, which, among other things, included a family history of when her parents lived in Greenwood, Oklahoma, and through the Tulsa riots of 1921, all the way to their move to Los Angeles and the adoption of three Korean orphans into her immediate family. Reveta-her own roots including African American, White, and Native Amercan heritages-has always been the pillar of integrity and sees opportunity where others see crisis, left us all inspired. That day Reveta was being honored with the only award given out by NAIS-The Diversity Award. Her professional life as an educator since 1972 and her leadership in education and diversity throughout NAIS schools is a testament to a professional life built on commitment and integrity.
Juan Enríquez, the founding director of Harvard Business School's Life Sciences Project and an entrepreneurial geneticist, walked us through the various codes of genetics and technology, and how they are changing our future, and the future of education, right beneath our feet. He talked about cows in Brazil and goats in Massachusetts that have been bred to produce milk that fights certain types of cancer. No ordinary goats and cows: each sells for just over $1,000,000. He had the full audience of 4,000 intellectually engaged for the entire 60 minutes, which seemed to fly by. At the end, however, he warmly embraced his audience of educators. Speaking personally, he took a minute to thank all of us who represent NAIS, and in particular his alma mater, which he described as "an independent school that took a chance on a teenaged kid from Mexico that could speak but not write in English." After a pause he then added, and I paraphrase here: I am here before you today, in large part because of that experience in an independent school. Thank you for what you did for me, and for what you continue to do for others.
Over the three days, I was struck by how distinct all the NAIS schools are from one another. The word "independent" does indeed resound loudly through the whole of NAIS. But in the end, it was Juan's closing remarks that reminded us all in attendance that at heart we share the same goal, I daresay a humanistic goal, that is, through the hard work of learning and studying - from history, to math, to ethics, to arts, to athletics: our students transform themselves. And as their teachers, we too transform ourselves. This is one of the shared tenets between humanistic psychology and educational institutions.
On Wednesday, as I greeted some of the second graders upon their return from a fieldtrip, via ferry, to the Aquarium of the Bay in San Francisco for hands-on science that included the petting of actual sharks, I was flooded with images of the day before, when I accompanied the entire middle school to the Lawrence Hall of Science to explore the "What is Race?" exhibit. At that moment I couldn't help but think back to Reveta and Juan's presentations. As I watched the second graders tumbling through the Gallery I wondered: Which of these students is the next Reveta or Juan? And deeper, I wondered, are we preparing them to discover their own authenticity and sufficiently inspire them to trust themselves as they mature into adults? That is, when it's all said and done, that is what Reveta and Juan represent: adults who act with passion and belief beyond themselves because they trust their authenticity.
With the NAIS Conference in the rearview mirror and the second graders scrambling about, my response in that moment, was, and still is, a resounding "Yes!"
I hope to see you all on Saturday evening at the annual RDS Auction, where we celebrate together the wonderful school and community that we have built: Redwood Day School.
Mike