New Head of Highland is a Global Force

New Head of Highland is a Global Force

By Jodi Nash

“When I visited the campus, I fell in love with the family feel and local community.”

Highland Head of School Adam Seldis, his wife, Maggie, and their three sons, Sam, 10, Nate 4, and Gabe, 8.

New Highland Head of School Adam Seldis, with his crisp British accent and energetic delivery, impressive teaching credentials and passion for education, is a presence.

Born in Great Britain, he received a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Northumbria and a Masters from the University of Reading, later earning his doctorate in curriculum, learning and leadership from Northeastern University in Boston.

Before charting his course in education, Seldis worked as a senior management consultant for a large London investment firm, while studying for the British equivalent of a CPA, an arduous three year process.

“I passed the exam,” he said, “but I’d spent enough time in the industry to realize in my mid-20s I wanted something different.”

Recalling how he loved teaching music to younger students while in school, he felt a calling to teach, though not music.

Seldis began at Wellington College, a boarding and day school in Crowthorne, England (35 miles from London), eventually serving as department chair, head of careers and assistant housemaster. As an added bonus, on his very first day there, he met Maggie, a University of Virginia graduate student who was assisting there.

Following a year in New Zealand teaching grammar school, and by then married to Maggie, he attended a weekend job fair in London for teachers seeking international placements. After a whirlwind series of interviews, he met the head of the Yokohama International School near Tokyo, Japan, and was blown away.

“He was Canadian, and the interview went extremely well,” he said. “I remember sitting in a pub on Saturday night with Maggie, strategizing about where to go if I got multiple offers.”

They relocated to Yokohama, where he taught business, government, history and economics.

As Department of Social Sciences chairman, he witnessed firsthand how a headmaster handles impactive events, like a 9.1 magnitude earthquake, a 20-foot high tsunami, and a nuclear meltdown. It was an internship in how to lead a school through unexpected challenge and crisis.

“I had the chance to ask the headmaster why handle it this way?” he recalled. “Why didn’t you do this?”

After three years there, the couple headed back to the U.S. with thoughts of starting a family. Seldis served as head of upper school at the Out-of-Door Academy in Sarasota, Florida for five years, followed by a move in 2018 to The Steward School in Richmond, where he was director of the Upper School. With Maggie’s family in Alexandria, and three young boys to raise, it was a welcome change. After negotiating the pandemic at Steward and relying on his combined headship experience, he went looking for other head of school positions.

“I knew about Highland since we played them in sports,” he said. “When I visited the campus, I fell in love with the family feel and local community. Their mission to help students thrive, lead and serve, resonated with me as an educator and a father. All the stars aligned.”

Seldis started at the Warrenton school on July 1, with students on summer vacation.

“It doesn’t feel like a school without the excitement and energy of students in the building,” he said. “Now, it’s everything I thought it would be.”

Highland’s focus encompasses the arts, athletics, and academics, but Seldis also knows in the digital age, the challenges in teaching are unique.

“They’re digital natives, growing up with Siri and Alexa, YouTube, Tik Tok,” he said. “Their level of connectivity and access to information is unparalleled. We can’t teach like we did ten years ago.”

With the “touchscreen generation,” he believes all schools need to develop and promote mental wellness and emotional support services to help students traverse tough transitions and cope with social isolation.

“Covid exacerbated this problem,” he said. “Highland, like other independent schools, is blessed in its resources. We’re small and nimble, able to adapt quickly in response to this task.”

Also affecting education is the seismic impact of artificial intelligence (AI). “We have a genuine obligation to be at the forefront of utilizing AI to improve education and teacher productivity,” he said. “We can’t bury our heads in the sand. We need to partner with AI, monitor it, but understand it’s a game changer.”