Modeling Lifelong Learning

Four years into her tenure at Emma Willard School as director of Practicum, Bridget McGivern is helping students find their interest and stride while modeling lifelong learning and how to embrace the possibility of failure.

Bridget McGivern reflects on her time so far as the director of Practicum by considering what brought her to the campus: “I was very impressed that Emma invests in independent study and experiential learning. That long-standing commitment that says we will help you do what you want to do. I thought, wow that’s a really cool job! And now it’s my job!”

The previous director, Anne Mossop, helped mentor Bridget as she stepped into the role. Some key moments during their initial conversation about the job (Anne happily retired in 2019 after over 21 years of service at Emma Willard) gave Bridget a crucial look into what it would take to be successful in such a unique position. Sitting in the cozy rectangular office outside Kiggins Auditorium that day, students popped in and out looking for help with a broken computer, for guidance with a project, or just to say hi. “I got the sense that this is a grand central station!” Bridget says. An invaluable source of institutional memory, Anne helped Bridget transition into her new role the summer before the school year started. What is now Bridget’s office is still a hub of activity—it’s certainly become known as a place to go with a question, though a selection of curated snacks that invite students and employees in for guidance helps!

What exactly is Practicum at Emma Willard School? Existing since the 1970s in various iterations, the program helps students find success with hands-on experience in a variety of fields. “It’s a very wide umbrella,” Bridget says, describing Practicum in how it intersects with the other experiential learning opportunities at the school. “It holds everything from students who play softball at a high level on a travel team and don’t need to take after-school PE, to kids who have topped out our offerings in a niche subject, to those pursuing science research at a higher or different level off-campus.”

Overwhelmingly, the key component of the program is a sense of flexibility to accommodate whatever a student is interested in. A Practicum experience might grow into a Signature project, where a student might dive into more struc- tured research surrounding their area of interest. “That pathway— when a Practicum becomes part of Signature—is really interesting to me,” she adds, with a nod to her role as a Signature Project Manager. As a part of that program, she guides students through a one- or two-year-long academic exploration of their interest, often resulting in some kind of tangible culmination of their work.

The activities don’t end there. With a hand in many aspects of campus life, this past year Bridget added crew coach to her list of titles and skills. “I am the Ted Lasso of crew! I didn’t row as a teenager, but I’m an EMT and I used to run canoeing trips for the Girl Scouts, so I’m not afraid to take kids on the water.” As a confident beginner herself, it seemed important that she get familiar with the ins and outs of the boat. Coach Bob Tarrant took her out on the water and helped her drive the launch, and also brought Bridget to ride along while he coached adult crew teams.

Bridget’s love of learning a new skill, especially in the service of community, is apparent; her interest in everything is coupled with an infectious curiosity and willingness to try, something Emma Willard School encourages in students as well. “Kids are so afraid to make a mistake, especially a public mistake,” says Bridget. “I think it’s really important to model not only a bend towards lifelong learning [for the students], but that we’re in this together.”

Dedicating the time to crew also meant she has been able to see and participate in the Emma Willard Community in a new way: the after-school hours mean you’ll often find her at dinner in Kellas Dining Hall—something that doesn’t happen often for community members who don’t live on campus, but helps to build strong ties with the community.

Recently, Bridget completed a master of education at the Klingenstein Center for Independent School Leadership. Part of a lifelong career goal, it was on her second application that she got into the cohort (a detail she noted gives her a uniquely common experience with current students in the throes of college application stress, and a reminder that you can always try again). Bridget is now using the work she embarked on in the program to further cultivate her role at Emma.

“It really has helped me to recognize that I’m a natural firefighter: if you roll through my door I will 100% drop everything and help you, but being able to look at the situation and figure out why that fire started is helpful.” Coupling that skill with the ability to develop good relationships has given her confidence in her own leadership acumen.

That leadership doesn’t end, or begin, at the grey walls of Emma Willard School. Throughout the Capital Region, Bridget has been a leading proponent for change and transformation. Bridget is a cofounder of the Tech Valley Center of Gravity, an area nonprofit that just celebrated its ten-year anniversary. They provide low-cost access to equipment, tools, technology, and space, as well as business expertise, education, and resources. Stemming from a belief that collaboration breeds creative solutions, the center is about being and creating with other people to try things out.

Bridget also served as the president of the Board of Directors for the YWCA of the Greater Capital Region (though currently not the president, she is still on the board) after Emma Willard alum Beth Walsh ’81 recommended she get involved. Bridget was teaching at a co-ed school, and was missing the aspect of empowering women and girls that all-girls institutions cultivate. The encouragement from a figure in the community she admired was affirming. “I mean, empowering women and eliminating racism? That’s perfect,” she says.

“There is a feeling in places that serve women and girls, and other folks of marginalized gender identities,” she says, attempting to encapsulate in words the impression one feels being in a community that centers on women’s empowerment. She wanted to get back to that feeling through several paths, one leading to Emma Willard School.