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Where the Learning Happens

At St. Margaret’s Episcopal School, one strategic initiative for us is to enhance curriculum and teaching methods while upholding excellence in academic programs, teaching, and faculty expertise. This commitment is vital in providing outstanding education for our students and aligns with our Episcopal identity, emphasizing the honor and respect for the dignity of every individual, which speaks to both hearts and minds. Achieving this goal is possible through ongoing professional development. An illustrative example of such professional development was when, earlier this school year, our Visual Arts Director took three preschool teachers and three high school teachers on a curated professional development opportunity to see the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence. It is not just a college but also a museum, and it opened our eyes to innovative educational spaces. Read More »

Lively Life in School Ministry

When people ask me about school ministry, they usually bring a set of assumptions.  They say things like “Oh, it must be so fun to just do Chapel with kids every day,” or “It must be so nice to be on a school schedule and not have to work as much as you do in a parish,” or “It must so great to have an easy schedule where you just do Chapel for a few minutes each day and teach a class or two.”  Like the work that everyone does, school ministry involves a lot more than most people see at any one glance. Read More »

Run the Race with Well-Being

The world of athletics is rapidly changing. The establishment and growth of “pay to play” club sports opportunities at a young age promotes performance-based development and success. Many club sports programs are transactional in nature, focusing on winning results, college recruiting, and NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) deals. It seems that professional sports have bled into college sports and high school sports are now replicating the level of professionalism of Division I college athletics. Now, more than ever, it is critical to maintain focus on education-based athletics and developing student-athletes holistically. Read More »

Unreasonable Hospitality

For many of our schools, we are growing if not by numbers by innovation, technology, and new research. As educators, most of this is aimed at helping us better understand each student and reach them where they are, so we can grow them to where they need to be for the next step in their academic chapter. Read More »

Thank God It’s Today!

Each year, TMI Episcopal chooses a theme to represent how we are committed to serving our students and their families. They are not simply words on a banner, but a creed, a motto, by which we will easily live into on the “lighter days” and a belief that we will serve as a buoy on those days that are more challenging. This year’s theme is “Thank God It’s Today.” As the familiar saying goes, “Yesterday is in the past, tomorrow is in the future, but TODAY is a gift.” And that is how I have decided to lean into this school year—knowing that after almost three decades of working with children, I am still blessed with the opportunity to start anew and to receive the gift of a new day and a new year. Read More »

A Library Fit for Our K.I.N.G.S.

The library at the Bishop Walker School is at the heart of our campus. It is a light-filled space with floor-to-ceiling windows that span almost the entire width of the building. Looking... Read More »

Eat. Sleep. Repeat.

“Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I... Read More »

Spiritual Answers for Hard Questions

Wow! An email I did not expect during COVID. This communication began an exchange between this student and me over the next four years. Understanding that spirituality is not separate from life but part of being human is an essential conversation for our schools. Often we try to create boxes of learning, not realizing that everything is connected, our minds, bodies, and spirit. Read More »

The Power of Perseverance

“Mr. Finley, will you please step out of the room so we can go into executive session for your review?” I had known this young man since he was nine years old, and now he was chairing my evaluation committee. After college he had been the first Epiphany graduate to join our teaching fellows program which helps train the next generation of urban educators and provides fellows with room, board, health insurance, educational debt relief, and often a free master’s degree. Now he was a successful entrepreneur, happily married with a baby on the way, and serving on our Board of Trustees. I, meanwhile, was no longer the twenty-six-year-old founding head of a tuition-free Episcopal school surviving by the skin of its teeth. Of the many lessons I’ve learned over the years, the importance of perseverance and trust in the work of social justice has been one of the most critical. Read More »