Breakout Session C — 2025 ICGS Conference

Breakout Session C
June 23, 2025
4:40-5:30 p.m.

Strategic Planning: Ignite Your Girls’ School’s Future
Is your school prepared for the future of girls’ education? This session will help you answer that question. In today’s complex educational landscape, girls’ schools need a focused, bold and achievable strategic plan to thrive. This interactive session will guide you through the process of creating a measurable plan that addresses your school’s unique challenges and opportunities. Explore how to: execute a data-driven process; engage your community in meaningful planning; develop an operational plan for effective execution; and build a metrics dashboard to track progress and ensure accountability. Participants will leave with practical tools and strategies to lead their school with confidence.

Presenters: Felicia Wilks, Head of School | The Spence School; Alanna McKee, Founder & CEO | Scarlet Oak Consulting (United States)

A Recipe for Inquisitive, Healthy and Reflective Learners
The Ninth-Grade Experience at Miss Porter’s School is designed to foster inquiry, wellness, and reflection, providing a strong foundation for academic and personal growth. This session will explore our unique programming, where all ninth-grade students engage concurrently in Introduction to Inquiry, Health & Wellness, and Academic Seminar courses during their first trimester, and where their days are bookended by Breakfast Club, hosted by student leaders, and proctored Study Hall. Participants will gain strategies and tools to create similar foundational programs, empowering young women to approach learning and well-being with confidence, curiosity, and purpose.

Presenters: Elizabeth Simison, Academic Dean; Liz Schmitt, Chief Enrollment and Student Affairs Officer | Miss Porter’s School (United States)

All-Girls High Schools that Work
This session will explore the powerful impact and potential of experiential learning, specifically high school work-study and internship opportunities for girls in grades 9-12. Leveraging our knowledge and experience at the only girls’ high school in the U.S. with a four-year work-study program —where every student works one day a week throughout high school— the discussion will examine the possibilities, challenges, advantages, and pitfalls of high school work-study programs. The session will also explore the benefits and challenges of offering these opportunities to underserved and economically disadvantaged student populations.

Presenter: Karen Kenkel, President | ICA Cristo Rey Academy (United States)

Purpose Meets Sustainability: Designing Digital Experiences That Reflect and Sustain Your School’s Mission
In today’s competitive and values-conscious landscape, a school’s website serves as more than a source of information—it is a reflection of identity, purpose, and promise. This session explores how girls’ schools can thoughtfully design digital experiences that center mission, foster meaningful connections, and support long-term sustainability. Through the lens of strategic storytelling and intentional design, we’ll consider how the digital front door can welcome like-minded families, reinforce community, and serve as a lasting extension of a school’s commitment to empowering young women.

Presenter: Rob DiMartino, Chief Evangelist Officer, Co-Founder | Finalsite

Creating Inclusive Spaces: Embracing Gender Diversity in a Traditionally All-Girls School
According to recent studies by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the National Institute of Health, approximately 3.3% of high school students identify as transgender and nearly 10% identify as gender-diverse. The approach to supporting gender-diverse students in traditionally single-gender schools varies, but the trend is towards greater inclusion, with schools adapting policies to ensure a respectful school environment where all students feel supported. This session will explore ways to create a gender-inclusive environment within a traditionally all-girls school, including policies around inclusiveness, pronouns, gender-neutral facilities, athletics, counseling, and training for teachers and staff on gender identity.

Presenter: Kristen Myshrall, Director of Counseling and Wellness | The Ethel Walker School (United States)

High Expectations, High Support. ND Cares: A Data Driven Approach to Well-Being
The mental health crisis among young girls is more urgent than ever—and it’s time to take action. Academy of Notre Dame de Namur believes that combining high expectations with high support is the key to nurturing resilient, empowered students. The ND Cares program is a holistic approach to well-being, blending data-driven insights, proactive school-based initiatives, and access to vital community resources. In this workshop, discover how Academy of Notre Dame de Namur is breaking down the stigma around mental health care, using data to shape meaningful programming, and building a collaborative, team-wide approach to support every student’s growth and resilience.

Presenters: Laura Schmidt, Director of Student Support and Well-Being; Erin Pratt, Director of the Upper School | The Academy of Notre Dame de Namur (United States)

Promoting Responsible and Ethical Integration of Artificial Intelligence
This presentation emphasizes integrating AI into academic environments responsibly and ethically, specifically focusing on its impact on schools. We’ll explore how AI fosters personalized learning, creativity, and innovation while empowering young women to thrive in STEM fields. Strategies include workshops on AI literacy and ethical codes of conduct and introducing tools like ChatGPT and Copilot to promote fair use. The initiative highlights case studies, such as space food design and STEM challenges, showcasing how schools can cultivate leadership and technological skills, ensuring students are prepared to excel in AI-driven futures.

Presenters: Dr. Molix Nieves, Ed Tech Coordinator | Academia Maria Reina (Puerto Rico/United States)

Cultural Competency: Theory into Action
Cultural competency is a buzzword that has been floating around in education for a few years. But what does this look like in our classrooms? In this workshop, we’ll share best practices for creating an anti-bias classroom and work through case studies that will help put theory into practice. These case studies will present instances of microaggressions in the classroom so participants can learn and practice different strategies and language to address them.

Presenter: Gabmara Álvarez-Spychalski, Middle School Dean of Students & Spanish Teacher | The Baldwin School (United States)

Girls in STEM: Empowering Innovators, Inspiring Change!
This session will showcase an innovative model for teaching science and technology, emphasizing the early integration of programming and tech skills. Through hands-on, project-based learning, students are empowered to tackle real-world problems creatively. Presenters will share successful examples of student projects, such as the use of coding for understand environmental sustainability and building simple robots to solve everyday challenges. Participants will leave with practical tips on how to seamlessly integrate technology into their own classrooms, fostering engagement and inspiring the next generation of female innovators.

Presenters: Miriam Lagacé, Science and Technology Teacher; Louis-Philippe Lechasseur, Technology Teacher | The Study (Canada)

Agency in Action: Empowering Girls Through Leadership and Peer Mentorship—Global Action Research Collaborative on Girls’ Education Research Presentation
Student agency is an essential element of education, playing a pivotal role in cultivating girls whose voices are empowered and valued. This session explores the ways in which leadership development and peer mentorship enable students to take ownership of their learning and decision-making. We will illustrate how teacher and student-led initiatives foster leadership skills and promote the development of student agency. By enhancing leadership capacity and confidence, girls acquire the competencies necessary to drive meaningful change within their schools, communities, and their broader world.

Presenters: Anna McLaren, Year 7 Dean | Saint Kentigern Girls’ School (New Zealand); Laurie Garland, Mental Health Lead | Wycombe High School (United Kingdom)

Making Space for Inquiry: Enhancing Agency Through Student Voice and Choice—Global Action Research Collaborative on Girls’ Education Research Presentation
The secondary school curriculum can often feel heavily prescribed with the teacher as the main focus and with little space for girls to pursue their own curiosities and direct their own learning. Fear of failure and the desire to please can equally reinforce this transactional student-teacher relationship. This session will explore two action research projects designed to empower students—one through student choice and the other through student voice. Both were implemented in the modern languages classroom, though their processes and findings are applicable across disciplines. The interventions led to increased growth in students’ inquiry skills, independence and resilience, highlighting the transformative impact of agency driven learning.

Presenters: Tara Fennell, Teacher of French and Spanish, Head of Year 8 | Putney High School GDST (United Kingdom); Christine Facer, Spanish Teacher | Trinity Hall (United States)

Empowering Young Mathematicians: Fostering Student Agency to Build Confidence, Courage and Independence in Learning—Global Action Research Collaborative on Girls’ Education Research Presentation
Effective learning happens when students take ownership of their learning, develop self-awareness and confidence in their abilities, and understand how they learn best. When they feel empowered to embrace challenges and view mistakes as opportunities for growth, their learning becomes more meaningful and impactful. This session will explore two action research projects that examine strategies for increasing student engagement and ownership of learning in the Mathematics classroom within a Junior School setting. Both projects aimed to empower students by fostering confidence, communication, and creativity in their mathematical thinking. Through these projects, students gained a stronger voice in their learning, demonstrating increased courage in both expressing their mathematical reasoning and engaging in creative problem-solving.

Presenters: Melissa Apthorpe, Coordinator of Years 3 and 4 | Seymour College (Australia); Ky-Lee Murphy, Director of Curriculum | Kambala (Australia)