Rachel Wright Leading the Academic Office

Earlier this year, Rachel Wright—a 10-year employee with Cheshire Academy—was appointed the new assistant head of school for academic affairs. In her new role, Wright is leading the Academic Office and moving Cheshire Academy’s vision forward, serving as an integral part in the life of CA by working closely with faculty and promising both a rigorous and appropriately challenging academic experience for the student body.

Wright’s husband, Nathan Wright, is a boarding school and IB Diploma Programme alumnus and works as CA’s director of institutional research and strategic initiatives. Together, they have three children between the ages of 1 and 7.

Outside of CA, Wright is pursuing a Doctorate of Education degree in leadership and learning in organizations through Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College. Wright is an avid reader and enjoys home renovation projects. During the pandemic, the Wright family refinished an addition on their home, transforming the space into a library. They also planted several new gardens. Wright is also a longtime choral singer and a fan of musical theater. Growing up, she participated in summer music camp and AP Music Theory in high school and, while at Cornell University, she was a member of the women’s chorus group. More recently, she’s performed with the West Hartford Women’s Chorale and was lead singer of the faculty band, CABoom.

We recently spoke with Wright to have her introduce herself to the greater CA community, and to hear about her experiences and plans in her new capacity.

Provide a brief background on your professional career and involvement at Cheshire Academy.

After graduating from Cornell University, I started my career as a math teacher in Philadelphia with the organization Teach for America and went on to earn a master’s degree in secondary education from the University of Pennsylvania. Even then I was a student of leadership and committed to exploring how teachers, as leaders, can improve the enterprise of education in this country.

From there I went on to South Florida, where I taught math at a grade 6–12 independent school and ran three math tutoring centers outside of those hours, serving students and families from public and private schools across three counties. I learned firsthand through those experiences the value of investing families in the process of education, and of starting the learning process with listening to a student’s needs and expectations.

Most recently, I have been at Cheshire Academy for 10 years, having started as a house head in Motter Hall and a math teacher. I served as the Math Department chair for five years, during which my colleagues and I successfully renewed the computer science curriculum and designed an integrated math curriculum to replace the traditional sequence taught at most U.S. high schools. Over the past two years, it has been a privilege to serve in the academic administration first as a dean of teaching and learning and now as the assistant head of school for academic affairs.

What excites you most about being named the assistant head of school for academic affairs?

I am equally excited about two things. The first is to support my colleagues. It has been a privilege to work over these past 10 years with so many dedicated teachers who care so deeply about helping students make the most of their high school experience at Cheshire Academy. The teachers here are like no other. In my new role, I aim to smooth the path and build the ladder for my colleagues so that they are enabled to make a unique Cheshire Academy experience—a personalized, supportive, rigorous educational experience—come alive for students every day, and grow in their work each year.

The second is to advance the academic program so that Cheshire Academy students can continue to be uniquely prepared for the needs of their generation. I believe that we have an obligation as educators to prepare our students to thrive in a future we cannot even imagine. I look forward to continuing to advance a curriculum that engages, inspires, and energizes our students to shape the future.

You’re now leading the Academic Office. What is your vision for the 2020-2021 academic year?

For 2020-2021, my singular goal is to help students maximize their potential by creating and sustaining the opportunities that they need to learn and to thrive. Even as we work to maintain the health and wellness standards that keep our community safe, I remain equally committed to supporting each individual student’s growth and progress. No two students’ paths to college or future career choices should look quite the same.

My vision for this year is that each student is supported. Each student is understood. Each student continues to build the internal drive to make the most of the opportunities that surround them and has an awareness of their own interests, passions, and strengths. Each student finds their voice and their footing to move forward.

Students are living in a historic time and maturing and developing into young adults even as they respond to the new parameters that define their lives. My hope is that Cheshire Academy will play a key role in shaping our students’ abilities to both reflect on and grow from these experiences and to stay committed to their personal goals.

My vision for this year is that each student is supported. Each student is understood. Each student continues to build the internal drive to make the most of the opportunities that surround them and has an awareness of their own interests, passions, and strengths. Each student finds their voice and their footing to move forward.

What do you think sets Cheshire Academy apart from other independent schools?

What sets Cheshire Academy apart is our holistic definition of achievement and our relentless, even obsessive, care for our students that sets them up on individualized paths to success. Cheshire Academy is not a sink-or-swim environment. A lot of schools offer rigor without support or prioritize support without offering rigor. As an IB World School, Cheshire Academy offers internationally recognized academic rigor and unparalleled personal attention and support that affords all students the ability to be successful. The faculty at Cheshire Academy look for ways to make the experience here better, more successful, and more impactful for each student in their care.

Students graduate from Cheshire Academy with a singular ability to make the most of the opportunities that college presents. They visit their professors during office hours. They find summer internships after freshman year. They aim for double majors, shine as studentathletes, TA with professors as undergraduates, learn how to speak with a voice, and follow their internal drive. Cheshire Academy students learn to rise to their own potential, because that is enabled and expected in all their years at CA.

In a similar vein, what do you hope to improve upon in your new position? What challenges do you, or the school, face?

In the long term, I hope to help students break down the walls and silos that exist in their minds between subjects in school, and between school and real life. There are skills— iteration, experimentation, collaboration, communication, entrepreneurialism—that we teach in every subject, and which will serve students well as they enter college and careers in an innovation economy. I hope to play a part in helping students see that what we teach them in high school is preparing them to make connections that we have not yet imagined through project-based learning, interdisciplinary thinking, and authentic, embedded problem solving. For students who are so often focused on getting into college, it can be a challenge to think about what is truly needed to be prepared for college, and their lives beyond college, when they graduate. My hope is to help students see the long-term, lasting implications and importance of the confidence, character, and critical thinking skills that they are developing at Cheshire Academy.