Leadership interview with Katrina Samson, Havergal College

I think the one unifying factor is the really strong sense of community that students have, both as they are here at the school and after when they leave. And we see that through the connections that they maintain as alumni, and as they transition through the school. Those threads and those connections are that unifying factor. 

The great joy of a school like ours, and the breadth of the program our students are encouraged to engage in, is that they can personalize their journey. So it looks different for every student. What it means, too, is that you can have students from the same family who have very different interests and personalities and learning styles who can come here and find their place. 

We want to make sure our students experience a whole host of academic and co-curricular experiences before they specialize. We emphasize both the breadth and the depth in our program, but the breadth is an important piece. It's not to say that you can't have a passion in a particular area, but if the decision for somebody looking at schools was that they're really focused on one particular pursuit, then I don't think they would get as much out of the Havergal experience, because we really do focus on the breadth of experience that we want students to have. 

One of the great benefits of being a larger school, with over 1,000 students from kindergarten all the way to Grade 12, is that we do have the opportunity to personalize student experience. You can have two students who certainly share an approach to learning that they're excited about, and are driven, but have very different interests, very different ways and approaches to learning. Their experience through the school will be very different, unified but personalized.

There's just a real commitment to excellence in our teaching faculty, our administrative support team, and the other leaders here at the school. Nobody is ever satisfied with what they did yesterday, how they performed yesterday. It's just this sense of constant improvement, constant inquiry into how we might do things better to improve the experience for the kids. 

As women and as a girl-centered institution, we've been working diligently, and for a long time, on issues of equity and inclusion. What I've really focused on, and have come to enjoy, is the ever important role of a school that centers, in our case, on girls as learners. That role that we can play in both the advancement of girls and women across the globe, but also broader equity and inclusion initiatives. And, in our case, particularly through the lens of girls and women, it gives us an incredible opportunity to draw the circle wide and include, learn from, but also share our own experiences of that work with other equity-deserving groups. 

Our mission as a school is really a call to action. Havergal's mission is to prepare young women to make a difference and to take on an ever changing world with confidence, resilience, and a global mindset. Our focus as a single-gendered school allows us to expand, to share our learning and our understanding, with other groups. It's been a really powerful experience for me as a female leader to come to a school that focuses on that girl-centered learning experience.

Havergal is 128 years old, and we think about how our history translates to the experience of the students today. We try to really get a good understanding of how our history informs what we do today, how that sense of connection throughout many, many generations is still felt in the school and how that's helped shape both the ethos as well as our sense of community and our culture. 

We've been part of this community for 128 years, stewarding a beautiful 22-acre area right in the heart of the city. We're very proud to have this long history here in the community and we take that history very seriously. We have a full community partnership program that's rooted in learning service, looking at ways we can contribute to the community that has given so much to us. We're neighbors and we try very hard to be good, respectful neighbors, and we certainly demand the same thing.

Our School Captain, who is the head student leader at the school, really exhibits and lives our school values: inquiry, integrity, courage, and compassion. She approaches her work as a student leader and her role as a student leader with a genuine curiosity. I watched her host large gatherings, and large speaking events, in which she talks about her own experience and challenges the community to think more critically about the way we do things. I have been really blessed to be able to work with her. 

We've got alumni all over the globe, willing to connect and offer mentorship to our current students. What we're also doing is working really hard to make sure those relationships, and the ability to create formal and informal mentorships, continue on. They will connect, they will offer support, they will ask great questions, and they're genuinely interested in the students’ paths and their journeys.

With the interruptions and isolations of COVID-19, we really saw the huge benefit of having the relationships, the mentoring and the caring, between our graduates and our current students. In addition to what happens here at the schools, we're looking for continuing ways to foster that sense of support and connection. 

We always look for ways here at the school to start developing that sense of connection between the upper school and the junior school. From Grades 9 to 12, our students form mixed advisor groups. That's where you see a ton of mentorship happening in between students. Grade 9 students are keen to ask a Grade 12 about course selection, what their experience is like, and how they balance their workload. And Grade 12 students, in turn, are really interested in sharing their knowledge. 

Our graduates, when they head out into the world, know that they have this enormous network of supporting, caring friends who are really going to reach out and to help them in the future. It is a remarkable connection that exists, and it's one that's really deeply rooted. I was just in Boston and saw alumni who were 40 years out from their experience and many who were just a year out of Havergal coming together. Seeing that connection, that offering of mutual support was really heartwarming. 

We really do view parents as partners. In that partnership, we both bring our areas of expertise. Parents know their kids. They are experts in their kids. Teachers are experts in teaching, learning, and pedagogy. It's actually in the combination of those two things that we work really, really well together. And of course, at the center of that expertise is the child and their experience here at the school. So when we partner, when we bring the best of each area of expertise, for the benefit of the child, and that's where we see the most powerful outcomes. 

A good school is made up of really fantastic people, who are known, valued, and loved. At the heart of a good school is the people, and that's students, that's faculty and staff, and that certainly also includes our parent community, as well. We offer an exceptional academic program, great facilities, wonderful opportunities, but it is the connection between people that really makes this place special. 

Our accessibility, and the diversity within our community, makes sure that everyone is valued.