Strength to Strength Plan 2015-16
Dear Community Members,
I am excited to share with you our Strength to Strength Plan for 2015-16. As many of you will remember from last Spring, Strength to Strength is designed to document our roadmap for continually improving learning experiences at Wooster and to communicate personnel transitions from year to year. By focusing on the goals we outlined a year ago, we’ve generated excellent momentum over the past twelve months, extending the strong foundation of learning at Wooster. As you will see in pages accompanying this letter, we have every intention of continuing this momentum through the Summer and into the Fall.
As we all know, and as I often emphasize, Wooster’s traditions are a great source of strength, and are integral to our future as a vibrant community of learners. Much of our work this year, and into the next, is focused on designing ways to build on the strength of our legacy -- self-help, the jobs program, service to the community, experiential learning, and sustainability -- by becoming more intentional about the experiences that we create for our students. The backbone of learning at Wooster is of course our curriculum, which we continue to strengthen, refine, and connect across our three divisions. Based upon our focus group work with community members this year, we will also continue to improve the physical spaces in which learning occurs and community is fostered; as always, our eye will be on efficiency, effectiveness, comfort, and appropriate technology while maintaining the essential elements of our beautiful surroundings. As we improve our programs and environments, it is also imperative that we support our accomplished faculty in their efforts to improve; to that end, you will see that we are taking steps to ensure that all of our teachers can become the model learners that we want to have working side-by-side with our students.
None of this would be possible without your support, and that of Wooster families past and present. Your continued contributions of time, resources, hard work and good will are essential to the success of our partnership to grow smart, humane, purposeful and self-aware young people. When I think about how our support has expanded in terms of community participation, it really has been a banner year—capped by the paddle raise at the Parents’ Association Gala, which ensured funds for the three Summer projects described below.
All of our institutional decision-making revolves around the question “What is best for our students?” That’s at the core of our commitment to make the experience at Wooster personal, meaningful and visible every day. I think that you will see that focus and that commitment reflected throughout our plans for next year, and into the future.
Go Generals,
Matt Byrnes
Head of School
P '17, '19, '22, '24
Strength to Strength for 2015-16
Headed into the 2015-16 school year, we are excited that we will once again be improving our programs and expanding opportunities for learning through doing at Wooster. The following is a brief synopsis of what is coming. More detail will be provided where appropriate in the weeks ahead.