Laurel School Endowment Report

Embracing Tradition.

Leading with Innovation.

Laurel School Endowment Report -June 30, 2018

Founded in 1896, Laurel is a nationally recognized, college preparatory, independent day school for girls, Kindergarten through Grade 12, with a coeducational Pre-Primary program. With access to two campuses–Lyman Campus in Shaker Heights and Butler Campus in Russell Township–Laurel girls are courageous, creative, ethical and compassionate.

Embracing a century of tradition but leading with innovation, Laurel faculty and staff are dedicated to empowering Laurel girls to lead in their colleges, industries and communities.

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2017-2018 Academic Year Highlights

Students

Student Investment Committee. As a result of the 2017-2018 Head’s Council on Financial Literacy, an Upper School student-led Investment Committee was funded by former trustee, Lauren Rich Fine. Maggie Hilkert ’19, a Junior in the Entrepreneurship cohort of the Capstone Experience, proposed the idea of this committee and began recruiting student participants in February of 2018. Kristine Bryan ’80, an alumna and current trustee, will advise the group.

Laurel’s Center for Research on Girls Speaker Series. On May 14, 2018, we presented “Speaking Truth to Power: A Conversation with Jodi Kantor.” In 2017, she and Megan Twohey broke the story of Harvey Weinstein’s decades of alleged abuse towards women. Their reporting set off a worldwide reckoning that encouraged victims to speak, brought to account men who wielded power in a wide range of fields, and shifted attitudes and policies around the globe. This reporting earned Ms. Kantor and Ms. Twohey, along with Ronan Farrow of The New Yorker, a Pulitzer Prize and George Polk Award. Ms. Kantor spent time with Laurel’s Upper School girls and then with Laurel parents, alumnae, trustees, faculty and staff during an evening presentation.

Curricular Braid, K-8. Curriculum review for Grades K-8 is ongoing. Beginning with the 2018-2019 school year, each grade will incorporate specific strands of the braid: civic engagement, global studies, entrepreneurship and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics) into their studies.

Dream. Dare. Do. (D3) Periods Deployed. D3 periods are dedicated blocks of time that allow students to explore interests and to pursue emerging passions. Upper School girls use this time to complete Protégé Internships, lead service initiatives with local partner organizations, design projects for the Northeast Ohio Science and Engineering Fair, and work on research projects as a part of their Capstone Experience. In Middle School, girls worked on a t-shirt project where they explored pricing, distribution, sales and marketing; enjoyed immersion experiences like The Amazing Race and the Greek Olympics; and visited the Lake Metroparks for an ecology-based team-building experience.

Gator Athletics. Laurel girls who participate in athletics have higher levels of confidence and self-esteem; developing the time-management and leadership skills, discipline and resilience that will serve them well in their academic work and throughout their lives. During the 2017-2018 academic year, the Laurel Gators Varsity basketball team was invited to play in the Classic in the Country, one of the nation’s most highly acclaimed girls hoops showcases. Determined to not disappoint, the Gators took the win against Youngstown Ursuline with a score of 55-36. The Swimming and Diving Varsity team also made a splash by placing second out of 10 teams and winning a total of five events during the Perry Invitational.

Scholarships and Financial Aid. Laurel’s generous financial assistance program supports our commitment to a socio-economically diverse student body. Thanks to the long-standing generosity of our donors and alumnae, we offered $4.4 million in financial assistance (need-based financial aid and scholarships) to approximately 35% of the student population during the 2017-2018 academic year.

2017-2018 Academic Year Highlights

Faculty & Staff

Laurel Faculty Conference Presentations. During the 2017-2018 school year, faculty across all divisions presented at 12 local and regional conferences.

Titles included “Planning an Effective Outdoor Immersion Week”, “Approaches to Building a Skills-Based Equity and Inclusion Curriculum”, and “Speaking Like a Girl: The Role of Gender in Argumentation and Analytical Speech.”

Faculty/Staff Professional Development. Laurel faculty and staff received nine professional development opportunities during the 2017-2018 academic year. Topics included “Teachable Moments or Missed Opportunities: Shaping Ordinary Classroom Interactions to Build Growth Mindsets”, “Real-World Learning in Independent Schools”, and “American Promise: Identity and Diversity in the 21st Century.”

Laurel’s Center for Research on Girls (LCRG) On-Demand Courses Launched via One Schoolhouse. Laurel launched a new iteration of its LCRG biennial symposium. Teaming up with One Schoolhouse (a partner in innovation to independent schools that creates online courses for students and adult learners), Laurel’s LCRG symposium is now available to educators globally and on demand. There are six LCRG courses available via One Schoolhouse: Girls in STEM: Tinkering; Self-Care: Body Image: Purpose & Resilience; Girls’ Relationships; Self-Advocacy & Consent; and Stereotype Threat.

Faculty Summer Grants. Ten Hazel P. Hostetler 1911 grants were awarded, empowering 15 Laurel faculty members to complete new and innovative curricular work over the summer in an array of diverse topics. Projects include the development of curricular programming for Physics First, curricular work focused on social justice, and investigating how literature reflects cultural transitions.

Last Chapel Faculty Awards. At the end of the 2017-2018 school year, four annual awards were given to seven faculty across all divisions. Thanks to the ongoing generosity of our donors, these awards recognized excellence in teaching, school commitment, and creativity in enhancing student engagement in the classroom.

Recruitment and Staffing. Laurel engaged in national searches to fill 23 open positions for the 2018-2019 school year. These new faculty and staff come to us from across the United States as well as from Northeast Ohio.

Dream. Dare. Do.

2017-2018 Academic Year Highlights

Facilities & Sustainability

Preparing for a Capital Campaign. In preparation for Laurel’s upcoming Capital Campaign, we held a series of meetings with key stakeholders across the U.S. and in Cleveland over a period of several months. Laurel’s Board of Trustees and Development Team then gathered for a retreat to prepare for the campaign which included a presentation by a faculty member from The Fund Raising School at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy on best practices for preparing for a campaign.

After a thorough RFP process, Gonser Gerber LLP (a national consulting firm based in the Chicago area) was selected as counsel for a feasibility study to evaluate the priorities, funding sources and timing for a capital campaign.

Plain Dealer 2018 Top Workplaces. In June, Laurel was once again named to the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Top Workplaces (150-499 employees category).

Summer Work on Lyman Campus. The summer is full of opportunity to make important maintenance updates to campus facilities. Some of the projects completed include: new hallway carpeting, furnishings and equipment, plus the installation of a large whiteboard wall in the Collaboratory for Design Thinking; the Crile Commons was refreshed with paint, new carpeting, and the rearrangement of bookshelves and furnishings to open up and highlight the two-story space optimizing it for student collaboration; and the expansion and installation of a new hard-piped dust collection system has been situated in the Wood Shop (used for the STEAM Guitar Class) on the lower level of the Main Building to improve shop safety.

Online Student Directory. Aligned with our commitment to environmental sustainability, Laurel families now have access to a dynamic, always up-to-date resource for staying in touch with each other. The 20182019 school year was the first year a family directory was not printed; instead families access Laurel student contact information via their computer or mobile device.

Laurel Named a Fair Trade School. As part of a national initiative by Fair Trade Campaigns to engage K-12 students in issues of global poverty, Laurel received its official designation as a Fair Trade School.

Fair Trade is an economic system that ensures consumers the products they buy were grown, harvested, crafted and traded in ways that improve lives and protect the environment. Laurel is the 31st Fair Trade School in the U.S., and the 7th in the state of Ohio to earn this designation.

Development Office One Lyman Circle Shaker Heights, Ohio 44122 LaurelSchool.org/LaurelFund 216.455.3031

SHAK ER HEIGHTS , OH I est. 1896