Dear Elisabeth Morrow Families,

With summer drawing to a close, our campus is buzzing with excitement! Our entire faculty and staff have returned this week to reconnect and make final preparations to welcome your children for the start of the new school year. We've had a chance to rekindle our community spirit and are engaging in meaningful discussions focused on the practices, strategies, and tools that will allow us to best serve our students and their families.

Inspiring Professional Development

To prepare for the year ahead, our faculty and staff engaged in two inspiring sessions with experts focused on cultivating a supportive and forward-thinking learning environment.

Jason Craige Harris of Pollyana, Inc. led a dynamic session that ensured our team is equipped with the essential tools for building and maintaining healthy relationships with students, colleagues, and families. His work emphasizes building meaningful connections, navigating differences, and repairing trust — all vital elements for a thriving and inclusive school community.

We also had the pleasure of welcoming Holly Clark, a leading global strategist for AI in education. Her sessions on the AI-Infused Classroom explored how we can use artificial intelligence to provide personalized feedback and act as a powerful thought partner for both teachers and students. Her insights will help us integrate AI best practices that deepen engagement and understanding in the classroom.

These sessions have provided our team with invaluable tools and fresh perspectives, ensuring we are prepared to create a vibrant and innovative learning environment for your children this year.

Guiding Our Growth

We're thrilled to officially welcome many of our new families to campus for a coffee and connection event tomorrow morning. Our community has grown tremendously over the summer with the addition of new families, faculty, and staff. While each was drawn to EMS for different reasons, they all share a deep commitment to our school's values. This powerful growth, reflected especially in our increased enrollment, is a testament to the strength of our school and the excellence of our work.

This growth also marks the beginning of a particularly special year as we take our first steps with our new strategic plan, which will guide us as we chart our path toward our upcoming centennial. Over the summer, our leadership team outlined this important work, and we've formed working groups around each of the plan’s four pillars: Academic Programming, Signature Programs, Community Engagement, and Sustainable Growth. We're excited to begin this work and will share more details with you in the coming months.

Diving Deep Into Resilience-Building

On Saturday, Sept. 20, we will hold our first all-community event of the year to discuss our summer read: "Building Resilience in Children and Teens, 4th Edition" by Dr. Kenneth R. Ginsburg. The book offers invaluable insights into boosting confidence and fostering lifelong grit in children by exploring the 7 Crucial C’s: competence, confidence, connection, character, contribution, coping, and control. It also provides practical strategies for parents and caregivers for navigating academic pressures, media influences, and family dynamics. If you haven’t read it yet, there’s still time! We’ll share event details early next month.

Containing Our Excitement

We've got some fantastic news coming your way! We can hardly contain our excitement, but you'll have to remain in suspense for just a few more days. Keep an eye on your inbox next month for a special announcement we can't wait to share with you.

With that, I hope you enjoy the holiday weekend, and I look forward to greeting you and your children on campus next week!

In partnership,

Marek Beck, Ph.D.

Head of School