CREATING THE MOSAIC

EHS Announces Director of Community and Inclusion

In May, Head of School Ned Smith announced that history teacher, junior grade level dean, and head boys varsity boys basketball coach Wayne Jones joins the senior leadership as the Director of Community and Inclusion. A lifelong educator, Jones offers a breadth of experience in schools and diverse communities, having taught and coached at The Kinkaid School, Strake Jesuit College Preparatory, and for the past eight years at Episcopal High School.

What excites you about your new role as the first Director of Community and Inclusion at Episcopal High School?

EHS is a strong and diverse community that I am proud to be a part of. I look forward to getting to better know the faculty, students, parents, and alumni. We will celebrate the community and identify the challenges. I am excited to be an innovator in this effort.

How did this effort get started?

The effort started with a group of faculty who began a conversation on inclusion a few years ago. Participating in that effort, I heard about the National SEED Project. SEED is a peer-led professional program that creates conversational communities to drive change toward greater equity and diversity. An immersive and intense 10 days of workshops, the experience transformed me. I was able to examine my hidden biases and learn how to handle difficult conversations through thoughtful self-examination, story-telling, and outwardly looking at the world. When I returned to EHS, I facilitated our first SEED group conversations among faculty.

Is EHS ready for the hard conversations?

The students are ready. They live in the information age, and they are compassionate. I feel that our faculty and staff are willing to work for the betterment of all EHS students. I am excited to start conversations with our alumni and parents.

EHS has always been a very diverse community—a great attribute. The School was founded on the principles of celebrating students with a variety of gifts and abilities. EHS shows healthy diversity in faculty in terms of male and female members and ethnicity. The School offers an incredible financial aid program to keep educational opportunities available to a wide swath of students in the Houston area.

What are your goals for the first year, and what will be some of the initiatives?

My top three responsibilities will be to establish relationships, honor the things we have done well, and then advocate for all, laying a foundation of openness. A few of our goals for the first year include starting a faculty book club that touches on inclusiveness. Our first book is Blind Spots: Hidden Biases of Good People. We will continue our Black History Month program, but also celebrate Hispanic Heritage and Women’s Month. We hope to take a strong group to the NAIS People of Color Conference in Seattle this year. Finally, we are going to move the annual Culture Fest to the spring semester and amp it up.

What do you want to see five years down the road?

Five years down the road, I want to be the guy who has helped change the narrative and conversations at EHS. I’d like everyone to feel comfortable to speak up, speak out, and respect others’ opinions throughout all our constituencies.

What can we learn from fellow independent schools with successful programs in community and inclusion?

As a coach, I have always looked at other schools and observed how they create strong teams and win championships. In the community and inclusion arena, there are schools in Washington, D.C., such as St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes, who have fantastic programs. In Texas, I think St. Stephen’s in Austin and Greenhill in Dallas have set the bar high. All these veteran program directors have been helpful to me in answering questions and sharing resources or ideas that succeeded at their schools. Unlike coaching a basketball team, a community and inclusion program is not about winning—this is about understanding. It’s an ongoing process. I want to take people from different backgrounds and perspectives together and create a school that is purposeful and authentic in the ways that we respect all individuals on campus.

—Claire C. Fletcher

expansion to 800 students. This fall, the school completed the new Underwood Student Center, which features a new cafeteria with seating for 500 as well as two innovation labs. This spring, the school completed renovations of the theatre, with seating for more than 940, and three backstage dressing rooms; student musical and dance performances returned to campus. The next phase planned for EHS’s transformation is a state-ofthe-art visual and performing arts complex near the convent and baseball fields. EHS has always been committed to the Four Pillars, and the new developments on campus – together with the many other facilities developed over the past decade – reflect a continuation of the School’s commitment to provide excellent academic, spiritual, artistic, and athletic programs to help each student fulfill his or her potential.

This year has also seen many exciting alumni events, many of which were hosted in the wonderful Alumni Center of the Hildebrand Athletic Center. The Alumni Center has been, and will continue to be, the home base for a number of our alumni gatherings such as the annual Homecoming Watch Party, Alumni Leadership Day, the Holiday Alumni & Faculty Luncheon, and our annual Alumni Weekend Party. The facility also serves as a commitment by EHS to its ever-growing alumni community.

Thank you to all the alumni who gave their time and efforts to EHS this year and special thanks to those who joined the Silver Dollar Society and helped make our #AlwaysEHS giving day a success. The ongoing financial support from our alumni continues to impact the annual budget and helps to provide crucial dollars to support the EHS mission, its faculty, and its students.

My last request as president of the Directors Council is to ask the alumni to please stay connected with your EHS family! I encourage each of you to find one event in 2019-2020 to attend on campus. Whether you want to bring your family to Homecoming, meet with other professionals at Alumni Leadership Day, see a great teacher at the Holiday Luncheon, or spend time at a reunion with your fellow alumni, there is a great event on campus that you will enjoy. If you live away and are not coming to Houston, consider reconnecting with old classmates and teachers or simply log on to www.EHSHouston.org. You will be impressed by the developments at EHS and proud that it is still strongly rooted in the Four Pillars!

Again, thank you to all our alumni who contributed their time, talent, and treasure this past year. EHS would not be the amazing place it is without your support. I hope to see you around campus soon!

Go Knights!

Richard A. Howell ’01

PS: Please also check out the website for all the dates for this year’s alumni events! www.ehshouston.org/Alumni