Ridge Report for February 2015

Report

The Ridge

February 2015

What’s the girls’ school

advantage?

We’re nearing midwinter, yet as I write this letter one would

herself and leave us not only well-educated by any academic

think that summer is around the corner: comfortable

standard but well-prepared for the challenges of the world and

temperatures and blue skies on the Ridge! The buzz of activity

how to navigate the many options she will have in life.

on campus reminds me that we are still months away from our formal ending of the year. That means that new semesters are

Our Foundress Madeleine Sophie Barat knew all of this in the

beginning, sport practices are going full force, Women As

early 1800s when she started the Schools of the Sacred Heart in

Global Leaders is planning new ventures to Australia and the

France, the United States, and throughout the world. She didn’t

Dominican Republic as well as Alaska and the Arctic Circle,

have the benefit of research literature to make her case; she had

and the applications and re-enrollments tell us that the desire

the conviction that girls deserved the same opportunities as the

for a single sex, all girls education is still strong in the Seattle/

boys of her time and that included a first class education. She

Bellevue area as well as with our international families.

also had faith that her work was rooted intrinsically in the Sacred Heart of Jesus which for her was not only the best

What’s the girls’ school advantage? Well, the research tells us

endorsement but also a source of great consolation.

that girls in a single sex educational environment are six times as likely to consider majoring in science, math, or technology

We are on a special journey together, one grounded in the

and three times more likely to consider engineering careers

Goals and Criteria, one infused with time-tested results, and

compared to their peers in a coed environment. A single sex

one that today continues to educate and graduate young

environment allows a girl to better explore the avenues

women that are not intimidated by the challenges of today’s

available to her—personally, educationally, and profession-

world and of whom we are enormously proud.

ally—in an atmosphere that encourages risk-taking and achieving one’s personal best. And all of this is done with

Thanks for making the choice of Forest Ridge School of

peer role models and an expert and dedicated faculty there to

the Sacred Heart and with that the benefits of an all-girls’

provide encouragement and support along the way. We like to

education.

say at Forest Ridge that our work allows a girl to “find her voice.” In reality, the result is richer: we encourage a girl to find

Mark Pierotti Head of School