3 min read December 2022 — Sewickley Academy is a private, independent, college preparatory Pre-K through Grade 12 school northwest of Pittsburgh that prepares exceptional children for extraordinary lives with a culture and programs that stand on four legacy values of character, educational vigor, community and diversity. Invest: spoke with Head of School Ashley Birtwell about the role of education in diversity, the unique challenges of current times and their outlook moving forward.
What have been some of the recent highlights and major milestones for the academy over the past academic year?
We have 184 years of history here at Sewickley Academy, but even with that legacy, we are constantly striving to advance and grow in order to remain at the forefront of education. One of my major initiatives, when I was appointed as the ongoing Head of School in February 2022, was restructuring our leadership team, which now represents a combination of backgrounds from prestigious independent schools and universities. Collectively, we are bringing fresh perspectives to Sewickley Academy across a variety of areas, including STEM and Global Studies. We’ve established a school-wide computer science academic department, where our youngest students, as early as four years old, are experimenting with robots and our high school students have the opportunity to take advanced courses on topics such as cybersecurity. Thanks to the single-largest gift in the school’s history from the Tull Family Foundation, we now have two new computer science labs and two new robotics labs. Another billion-dollar industry that is taking off is E-gaming, and for the first time this year, we are competing in E-sports. It is not just about the video gaming aspect, but what you’re seeing at schools across the country is that students are getting behind the marketing initiatives and other aspects that go along with having a successful team.
However, we’re not becoming overly focused on computer science. Another area that we have focused on is restructuring our Global Studies Certificate Program, which is a unique program that includes specific coursework designed to broaden students’ awareness and understanding of world cultures throughout their four years in the Senior School. Our Global Studies Program permits students to graduate with a certificate of completion in addition to their diploma. This year, we have students traveling to Belize, Puerto Rico and several other destinations. During our last faculty and staff in-service day, we invited four global leaders from the Pittsburgh area to campus, and they spoke on the importance of global competency, which is essential as we prepare leaders for an ever-increasingly interconnected world.
What is the role of education in advancing equity, inclusion, and diversity?
It starts with making sure that we have a diverse student body, with 34% of our students identifying as students of color. And we must take into account diversity across all areas, including race, ethnicity, sexual identity, socioeconomic status, neurodiversity and so on. At SA, we strive to ensure that our students feel noticed and heard in a variety of ways. It is our responsibility to make sure that we are accessible to our students. The other piece of that is recruiting faculty and staff who are diverse. We do national searches for many of our positions. We have an interim Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion who happens to be an alumnus of Sewickley Academy and identifies as Black. He is able to connect with students of all backgrounds in a unique way since he is an Academy graduate. He works closely with the various student affinity groups to make sure that they’re feeling a sense of belonging. For example, we had members of our Black Student Union give a presentation to all faculty and staff on what it’s like to identify as a Black student at a predominantly white institution. I was so proud of how our students were vulnerable and shared their own experiences so that we can continue to provide the best possible learning environment. Lastly, of course, is our role to provide appropriate programming for faculty, staff, students, and their families to advance our DEI initiatives.
How do you see the future of education and how are you preparing to meet those needs?
COVID raised a lot of questions for the education sector, in terms of the purpose of education and whether we are preparing kids as well as we can for the future. As a premier independent school in the state, it should be a given that we are providing an excellent education in the classroom across subjects. We are preparing kids to be independent and critical thinkers and providing the best college counseling support as the admissions process continues to evolve. We help our students find their joy and tap into that natural curiosity so they can discover what their interests are by the time they are applying to college and begin their professional careers. As I mentioned earlier, we have grown our computer science offerings and are exploring the way of the future in terms of artificial intelligence and other key areas. The other critical component, however, is how we help to develop soft skills, such as leadership, emotional intelligence, and character, which are arguably equally as important as we educate tomorrow’s leaders.
How are you dealing with mental health in your school?
We are fortunate that, with small class sizes and individualized attention, our faculty form strong partnerships with our families to support the whole child, which includes mental health concerns and emotional well-being. In the Middle School, we launched a new advisory curriculum this year that focuses on the impact of social media and how to use it responsibly. We reevaluated our advisory curriculum in our Senior School to make sure that we’re supporting our students from a variety of angles. We also encourage overall wellness for all students and are proud of our new Panthers Performance and Wellness Center run by a full-time employee who helps to develop custom workouts for our student teams and enables students – and employees – to be physically active, including during the school day.
With that said, well-being is at the forefront of most educators’ minds right now following COVID disruptions. We have a very strong team of internal experts and rely on community partnerships as appropriate. We are committed to providing an individualized experience for students to support all needs that arise.
What are some of the unique challenges and opportunities that you see in education today?
One of the greatest opportunities that I see is partnering with parents to make Sewickley Academy a resource for the entire family. This takes a variety of shapes and forms. For example, I see that our families desire a sense of community – and as a parent of young children, I can certainly relate. Therefore, we’ve expanded our afterschool activities to include athletics, knitting, chess, and a whole variety of topics. We’re expanding our summer offerings so that families can rely on us throughout the year and are even offering some weekend opportunities that are open to all families in our community. We also have an exciting speaker line-up for students and their families this year, including a national expert on the college admissions process as well as a leading expert on diversity training.
Of course, we are only as strong as our faculty, so another challenge, or opportunity, depending on how you approach it, is continuing to attract and retain the most qualified faculty. We invest tremendously in professional development. In fact, 100% of our faculty engage in ongoing professional development. To highlight an example, all of our Early Childhood teachers have traveled to Italy to learn firsthand about the Reggio Emilia approach, which is what we emphasize on our campus.
What is your outlook for the academy for the next two to three years?
To educate tomorrow’s leaders, we must be leaders today, and therefore we are always focused on staying abreast of the latest advancements in education and industry. With many new faces on our leadership team, we have been thoughtful about new opportunities and also have celebrated our strengths. As I mentioned, we are committed to delivering premier leadership development along with other soft skills from Pre-K through Grade 12 as we know that they are essential to our students’ success in college and beyond. We are fortunate to have a wonderful parent and alumni network who are eager to give back to current students as they explore their next steps in education, as well as professionally.
One of our greatest assets that allows us to foster those soft skills is having Pre-K through Grade 12 all on one campus. It is not unusual to see older students mentoring younger students on the field, on the stage, or in the classroom. This simultaneously gives our older students responsibility and maturity as they serve as role models and leaders in their own right.
An additional strength is our people, and, of course, the relationships formed at Sewickley Academy. We continue to invest in our people – adults and students alike – along with our spaces, in order to remain attractive to the region’s most talented employees and students. On the student side, we are pleased to be removing some of the financial barriers to accessing a private school education via various scholarship programs. Overall, we are on a path for continued growth across all facets of education, enrollment, facilities, and advancement.
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