Letter from the Head of School

By Helen L. Marlette

Itis my pleasure to share with you SEM Today. Although it is challenging to summarize the multiple facets of school life in one magazine, I hope you enjoy the articles and feel connected to the school. At this time last year, the faculty and administration wanted to provide consistency for our students. We focused on the health and the well-being of everyone at SEM and committed to our everyday routine with as little disruption as possible.

During the 2023/24 school year, we continue to focus on the health and well-being of all, work hard to maintain day-to-day consistency at school, and we re-energize our thinking about the future of SEM and our students. How can we best prepare our students for a rapidly changing world and ensure SEM’s strength in the future? Guided by our Strategic Plan (SP) passed in 2021, we turned our attention to the three strategic choices articulated in the plan:

1. Flexible Learning by Design

2. Challenging and Relevant Curriculum

3. Thriving Community

We are committed to helping our students achieve their best personal outcomes. Our students come to us from over 25 feeder schools and 13 countries; they are artists, athletes, poets, and scholars. We embrace the diversity of the individuals in our community and teach them what it means to be a community member.

SEM is a small school by choice, distinguished by the personal attention each student receives, and we are flexible enough to create individualized pathways within our core curriculum. As stated in the SP, “…this is the best way to fulfill our mission and ensure that SEM continues to lead as an inclusive, joyful, pioneering community for young women of intellect and character.” We are not encouraging specialization at this age, but we are designing personal, transformational experiences. Their paths to graduation may differ, but each graduate is well-prepared for the world beyond 205 Bidwell.

As different as each student is, there is one thing that they all have in common – they are teenagers, and teenagers are wonderfully complex people. The high school years are years of growth, exploration, learning how to be a community member, and building independence and confidence. Our faculty and staff understand and embrace this. The adults at SEM accept teenagers for who they are and nurture who they can become.

Our teachers are accomplished scholars in their field of study, and they are so much more. They commit countless hours to help our students develop their interests beyond what is taught in the classroom. They actively participate in activities and clubs on weekends, lunchtime, and evenings. They model what it means to be a member of the community.

Each person in the building accepts the responsibility to engage with others and works to build a sense of place unique to SEM.

This sense of community at SEM is not new. It stems from the generations of students and adults that came before us and is possible because of the support of so many. Building and maintaining a thriving community includes each of us who has been fortunate enough to be associated with SEM. Please stay connected with the school. Follow us on social media, join our alumnae speaker Zoom gatherings, and visit the campus to experience all that is SEM today.

Sincerely,

Helen L. Marlette, Head of School

Oneof the core values that shape and guide our community is global perspective, instilling the understanding that we must engage with the world as empathetic and informed citizens. Prior to it being formally named, such emphasis on informing global citizens has always been part of SEM’s mission. Our residential program, schoolwide celebrations of international holidays, exchange programs abroad and informative class structures are each examples of this value being ingrained in the very fabric of our school.

Pamela Pozarny ’78 has been based in Rome, Italy since 2006, working for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, completing research projects on food security and rural sociology. Previously, she worked with several organizations in Africa, helping to rebuild after the Rwandan genocide and teaching agricultural education in West Africa. Living over 40 years abroad, Pamela has changed