The Kinkaid School Magazine - Fall 2012
-
Upload
the-kinkaid-school -
Category
Documents
-
view
223 -
download
2
description
Transcript of The Kinkaid School Magazine - Fall 2012
1
Fall 2012
The New Wave
Exploring technology in the classroom
21ST CENTURY LEARNING
Alumni Survey ResultsMeet Dr. Andy MartireThe next Head of School
SPECIAL EDITION
2 3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
4 A Message from the Headmaster Kinkaid’s Headmaster addresses technology
in the world of education.
6 The New Wave Contributed by Charlie Scott, Upper School English Teacher
How technology is used in the classroom.
15 Technology in Action
10 Alumni Survey Results Kinkaid’s alumni have a powerful voice and a
valuable perspective about the School, its importance
to them, and its continuing role in their lives.
11 Key Findings
12 Infograph of Alumni Surveyed
13 Opportunities to Strengthen
13 Ideas into Action
14 Meet Dr. Andy Martire Photos from Dr. Martire’s visit to Kinkaid
Tom MooreDirector of Advancement
Emily Wynne Bolin ‘82
Annual Find Manager
Jennifer GouldParent Liaison & Volunteer
Coordinator
Andrea IbarraGift Records Manager
Leslie Roemer Labanowski ‘02
Alumni Activities Manager
Jennifer PardeeMajor Gifts Manager
Georgia PiazzaSpecial Event and Electronic
Communications Manager
Cindy Van KeppelAdvancement Assistant
Photography contributed by
David Shutts
The Kinkaid Magazine is a publication of the Advancement Office of The Kinkaid School.
4 5
Headmastera message from the
In my comments to Upper School students at the beginning of this
school year I spoke about the three forces that are driving change in
teaching and learning: the increasing globally connected world we
live in, breakthrough discoveries in brain research, and exponential
growth in information technology. Educators and parents must
understand that none of these drivers should be autonomous in
its impact on teaching and learning. Some schools, for example,
moved quickly in recent years to embrace the latest in information
technology not because they were certain of its educational value to
their students, but because they believed it might serve to distinguish
them from their competitors. Great schools think first about
education and recognize that each of these drivers is a resource
that can help prepare students to be productive, resilient, and
responsible adults and citizens in the world they will enter as adults.
The lead article in this edition of the Kinkaid
magazine takes a look at the growing and
exciting use of information technology in our
classrooms. Written by Upper School English
Teacher and Kinkaid parent Dr. Charlie Scott,
this article reveals that our faculty are bringing
information technology into their classrooms
thoughtfully and impactfully.
Some background. In the 1996-1997 school
year, my first as headmaster at Kinkaid,
the School had a significant number of
computers, thanks largely to the special
generosity of Bill and Jeanie Kilroy, but
access to the Internet was limited to several
dialup lines. Faculty who were eager to
grow information technology (then Science
Department Chair Deborah Veselka was
among the leaders in this) rightly clamored
for more lines and better access. In the
spring of 1997 I convened a task force,
under the leadership of trustee Chip Cureton, to look closely
at the school’s current use of information and opportunities in
the future. The task force met regularly for a year, reviewed what
our peer schools were doing, and generated several strategic
recommendations, which were approved by the Board of Trustees.
Perhaps the most significant recommendations were the creation of
an intranet, the establishment of a school website, and a connection
to the Internet that would provide school wide access. The 1998
Auction generously supplied most of the funds for this project,
and during that spring and summer the School purchased the
necessary equipment. Kinkaid hired a project manager to oversee
the installation, who began well but resigned part way through the
work. There were two especially able Kinkaid students who were
working with the project manager on this (one on his way to Stanford
and one a rising senior at Kinkaid), and soon after the project
manager resigned, they asked for a meeting, told me told me they
could complete the project themselves, and presented a proposal. I
accepted the proposal, they did a fantastic job, and they completed
the work before school started.
When you read Dr. Scott’s article, you will get a sense of how much
has changed since that humble beginning. Not long ago I sat in on
a session a consultant was having with kindergarten teachers about
how to use iPads to help students gain greater comprehension of
class material. One comment: “Never underestimate the power of
having just one iPad in a class.” Our kindergarten teachers (and
the headmaster) were excited and fully engaged with the ideas and
practical suggestions she generated, and several of these ideas will
work their way into our kindergarten classes this year. By the way,
the consultant met with our other Lower
School grade level teachers during her visit
as well.
In thinking about information technology (as with everything else), Kinkaid will continue to place teaching and learning first, and our faculty will continue to think, not about what is the latest and greatest device, but about how the latest and great-est (or any other device) can enrich and strengthen teaching and learning.
The magazine also features stories on the recent visit of Andy Martire, Kinkaid’s next head of school, and the valuable results
from the recent survey of Kinkaid alumni that generated a high
level of participation and some extremely positive and constructive
responses to assist in developing future programs to meet the needs
of our alumni. It is an exciting time for education indeed, and I hope
you will enjoy reading this edition of the Kinkaid magazine.
Sincerely,
Don North
It is an exciting time in the world of education.
“Our faculty are bringing information technology into their classr
ooms tho
ughtf
ully a
nd im
pact
fully
.” -D
on N
orth
6 7
Though there is, no doubt, a good old overhead projector or
box of chalk still to be found in some dusty back closet of one of
Kinkaid’s storage areas, the day to day work of the School has
largely been supplanted by instruments and activities with odd and
perhaps even intimidating names. Moodle, iPads, QuadBlogging,
Flipped Classrooms, Robotics, Skype, iMovie, the above-
mentioned Promethean Board, textbook Mash-ups, and the MOOC
(pronounced “mook”).
Peter Pickett, the “Mr. Pickett” of Lower School room 128, came to
Kinkaid 33 years ago, ostensibly to teach 1st grade. This was before
the “Computer Revolution.” In fact, before computers at all, at least at
The Kinkaid School. At some point, by the time Pickett had moved
to teaching
Kindergarten,
about 15 or
so computers
were brought
into the Lower
School. They
were tucked into
a small music
room behind
the library. “If I remember correctly they were Apple 2Es,“ he says.
“And we didn’t really have computers in classrooms, we just had this
one room, and I would take my class in to use it once a week with a
group of volunteer parents I called ‘the computer moms.’” Basically
the moms and Pickett would help each student run a small-scale,
floppy-disk program that had him or her guiding a little electronic
turtle through a maze. According to Pickett, the idea, at the time, was
simply to begin familiarizing students with the keyboard, the screen,
the mouse, and the idea of fusing the three together to achieve some
type of end product or goal.
What a difference a mere three decades can make. For example,
lower school teachers Christine Papadakes and CeCelia O’Connell have both discovered the power of on-line blogging,
especially with regard to teaching writing and literature to their third
graders. O’Connell utilizes a program called “QuadBlogging” that
allows her students to correspond with students from all over the
world on topics ranging from books they are studying to their personal
thoughts and feelings. This past year, her class blog-site had more
than 2900 visitors,
representing all the
major continents of
the world (excluding
Antarctica, where
we will assume
lower school
classrooms and
students are
rather scarce).
Meanwhile, Papadakes’ class was using its “Hideaway” blog-site
to share commentary about the latest book that they were reading,
Barbara O’Connor’s best-selling “How To Steal A Dog.” “We were
in the computer lab, and we were looking at Barbara O’Connor’s
author blog. It’s called ‘Greetings from Nowhere.’ And one of the
students realized that Ms. O’Connor was actually on her blog live
The New WaveExploring technology in the classroomContributed by Charlie Scott, Upper School English Teacher
Let’s say you are a Kinkaid parent and you’re walking around the
hallways of the Friedkin Family Lower School Building, perhaps for
the very first time. You see and hear lots of familiar, heart-warming
sounds and sights. Seedlings sprouting in paper cups in the
science room, a choir of young voices practicing for the upcoming
holiday concert, a glorious mélange of brightly colored art work
adorning the walls, replete with tiny handprints as signatures. But
then you stand at the threshold of Room One-Two-Eight. The sign
over the door says “Mr. Pickett.” And you walk in to a sight that
defies the familiar. Second graders bent over their flashing monitor-
screens preparing Power-Point presentations (Power-Point!?
Second graders?!). Pre-K’ers punching at keyboards in answer
to mathematical problems. A teacher leading a writing workshop
using something called a “Promethean” Board, which magically
responds to the merest touch of her hand like a piece of paper
typically responds to a pen. It’s at this moment that an unavoidable
truth slaps you sharply in the face. This is not your father’s Kinkaid.
Nor is it your mother’s. It’s not even yours. This is The Kinkaid
School of the 21st century.
8 9
matter is accomplished via homework, and the review of that material
transpires directly with the teacher in class. For Kahn this shift is not
only ideal in terms of learning, but it is remarkably enriched through
technology. He says, “The pedagogy in this learning situation,
especially with the aid of technology, allows students the ability to
re-visit subject area content, rewind it, reflect on it, and understand it
at a much deeper, more long-lasting level.”
Moving over to the Upper School, both the science and history
departments are experimenting more and more with on-line research
tools and models. In another new area of educational technology,
History Department Head Ed Harris and Spanish teacher
Vanessa Zamudio are using on-line texts, called Mash-ups, that
allow them and their students to purchase particular chapters or
sections of a given textbook and eschew other sections that are
less helpful or germane to
their courses. Moreover,
the text highlighting and
note-taking that individual
students implement can be
“shared” on-line amongst
all the other students, as
well as the teacher, making
a given night’s reading
assignment a class-wide
interactive enterprise. The
English Department’s Christa Forster and Casey Fleming
both use blogs extensively,
and two years ago, Forster
was able to enhance her
teaching of Shakespeare’s
“Othello,” by Skyping with her
actress/friend Charlesanne
Rabensburg, who was playing
the role of Othello’s wife
Desdemona in a production at
Ohio State University.
Furthermore, the faculty at Kinkaid are not merely using all these
technological resources for classroom activities with their students.
Nowadays, the Internet and technology-based training are starting
to influence and enhance their continued zeal for professional
development. According to Kinkaid Dean of Faculty Jim Dunaway,
about 32% of the School’s professional development funds
go towards helping teachers and staff learn more about using
technology in an educational setting.
One of the most popular “professional development” offerings to date
is what’s called the MOOC (Massive Open On-Line Course) – which
offers teachers cutting-edge, graduate-level coursework in their
particular field. For example, Upper School Principal Patrick Loach,
who came to Kinkaid in 2011 from Richmond, Virginia’s Collegiate
School, has a strong background in technology and its impact on
education. He is currently enrolled in a MOOC World History course
taught by the University of Virginia’s Philip Zelikow, the Executive
Director of the 9/11 Commission.
Forster enrolled in two MOOCs this past summer as part of her
training in literature and writing. One was offered through Princeton
University and taught by Princeton professor Mitchell Duneier. Both
were totally free of charge. For her, this type of opportunity inspires
and fuels her passion for a lifetime of learning and helps her to instill
such a passion in her students each and every year.
But whether they are hard at work bettering themselves as
professionals or inspiring their students in the classroom, the Kinkaid
faculty is immersed in the rich and varied opportunities that the
School provides them via technology. Loach says that back in 2005,
Kinkaid, like most independent prep schools around the country,
was a lonely shoreline holding a scant one or two “lighthouse”
projects that used technology. Nowadays, that shoreline is getting
more and more crowded and the “Lux per Scientiam” (Light through
Knowledge) of Kinkaid’s motto is being provided by a finely-tuned
network of such techno-lighthouses.
Back in Lower School room 128, on the wall of Peter Pickett’s
classroom, is one last replica of the 1980s: a poster of his hero –
#33 of his beloved Boston Celtics, Larry Bird. In the poster, Bird is
lining up one of his patented three-pointers, and the caption says
in large white lettering, ”When I played, I played as hard as I could.”
Some things never change, never should, never will. “No one here
is trying to throw the baby out with the bath water,” echoes Kahn.
Loach, Dunaway, Lower School Prinicipal Krista Babine and Middle
School Principal Barry Spiers adamantly avow that the qualities
they look for in potential faculty are the same that Kinkaid has always
sought after. Educators with that rare combination of subject-area
mastery and knowledge, energy, curiosity, compassion, adaptability,
a razor-sharp thirst for intellectual challenge, and, of course, an
abiding love for young people and helping them to learn and grow.
What is new is placing that rare professional who combines all those
qualities into an environment richly endowed with technological
possibilities and wonder.
As a result, Kinkaid students are not only reading a given book,
but Skyping with the book’s author from her home in Sri Lanka. Or
they might be learning Chinese in partnership with a classroom of
students in Hong Kong who are learning English. Margaret Kinkaid
memorably extolled the importance of educating the “whole child.”
In 2012, the “whole child” now includes a connecting wire to the
Internet, complete with all its accompanying instrumentation. This
may not be your Kinkaid or your mother’s and father’s. But this is a
Kinkaid School that is resolved and working hard towards advancing
into the 21st century ahead of the curve. And just like the old Kinkaid,
it’s a school that can and will enrich the whole family, mom and pop
included, and make them proud.
Kinkaid 3rd graders connect to other students and educators around the world via Ms. O’Connell’s quad-blogging site, totalling over 2,900 visits.
Visits1,000 +100 - 99910 - 991 - 9
commenting right back to us as we typed.” What happened next is
a great example of the kind of learning experience and synchronicity
that can only come from a classroom fully linked into the realm of
technology and the World Wide Web. The students then asked the
author if she would be willing to “Skype” with them (i.e. do a “live”
on-camera interview over the Internet). The author replied “absolutely”
(provided the children had their teacher’s approval), and so
Padadakes and her students got down to work – writing questions,
re-reading the book, preparing notes. The next thing they all knew,
the entire class was speaking literally face-to-face with the author of
their book. Not only was this incredibly exciting to the students, but
they also received valuable affirmation from O’Connor with regard to
much of the focus of their own writing efforts in class: the importance
of revision and imaginative free play, as well as the difficult task of
character development in creating good stories.
“We are in the midst of
a unique, “Gutenburg”-
like revolution in terms
of communication,
education, and learning,”
says Larry Kahn,
who arrived in 2005 to
serve as Kinkaid’s Chief
Technology Officer. “We
are no longer looking at an
assembly-line approach
to the classroom, but
are veering more into
individualized learning that
emphasizes a vast array
of skills, like creativity,
connections, analysis
and direct applications.”
The old “take-meticulous-
notes-and-then-memorize-
them” model of learning
is quickly becoming
passé. Now students and teachers find themselves immersed in a
more direct and “hands-on” learning experience. For example, Alan
November, a national leader in educational technology and a recent
guest speaker at Kinkaid, likes to tell the story of students in a U.S.
classroom studying the American Revolution in tandem, via the
Internet, with a class in Great Britain. In order to broaden everyone’s
understanding, the U.S. students debated the pros and cons of
the struggle from the British Empire’s point-of-view and the British
students took that of the American Colonies. According to Kahn, this
is the kind of dynamic, engrossing, and mind-broadening intellectual
experience that The Kinkaid School is starting to offer again and
again to its students.
Moreover, these kinds of opportunities extend from the Blue, Green,
and Red Doors of the Lower School’s Pre-K all the way through to
the Upper School’s senior year. Middle school science instructors
Jeff Gessell, Shari Hiltbrand, Laura Sinclair and Jessica Zenker are experimenting with the technique of the “flipped”
classroom, which reverses the usual classwork vs. homework
relationship. In a “flipped” classroom, the introduction of the subject
10 11
Hannah Jamail Herrick is a 2nd grader.
“I like to work with a program called Mavis which teaches you how to
type better. It trains my fingers how to move when I’m thinking and
trying to type my thoughts with both hands. Also, there’s another
game we use to educate our fingers. And then there is also the
KidPix program. I really had fun using it to create the slide show that I
made for science that showed the earth’s water cycle!”
Reed Sellers is a Senior and served as the Varsity Tennis Team’s Manager in the Spring of 2012.
“Last year, while serving as Team Manager, I used an iPhone
application that I just happened across called Tennis Trakker. It
allowed me to track everything from a player’s first serve percentage,
to points won, to unforced errors. I would monitor our top players
matches and email the stats afterwards to the players or share them
with our coach, Josh Rodriguez. For example, at one point during
the season, I pointed out to then junior Blake Wilde that he had won
the majority of the points where he got his first serve in and lost the
majority of his second serve points. Blake really started focusing in
his matches on getting his first serve in as consistently as possible.
The Boys’ Team went on last year to capture the SPC Championship
Trophy, and Blake (with his double’s partner, Greg Labanowski) won the deciding match.”
Sam Sands is a Senior and the President of the Honor Council.
“Technology around campus and in the classroom is a great tool.
Kinkaid has always been at the forefront, through class blogs,
Promethean Boards, and now we even have a paperless debate
team through iPads. Technology helps students in a variety of ways,
from being able to look at class notes at our own pace, to taking
advantage of the extra practice time provided by textbook websites,
to just simply making day-to-day lessons more entertaining. Last
year one of my teachers actually worked out homework problems
step-by-step online, so that we could spend class time covering new
material. It was a great tool because I could go back through the
problems as slowly and as many times as I needed.”
TX Harris is a 7th Grader.
“Last year was the first year of the Middle School Robotics Club.
Basically, when we get together we learn (with our science teachers)
about robots and different computer programs. This year there are
about three times as many kids in the club, and we are actually
building and programming robots. The flipped classroom in my
science class is awesome! I like watching the videos in the evening
and then having more time to work in the lab during class time. I
especially liked the video about mitosis. I was able to watch it at
home a couple of times. Then we did a lab in class with onion tips
under a microscope, and we looked at the cells that were dividing
and we identified what stages of division each cell was undergoing.
In every class my teachers use Promethean Boards. It really helps
because it is so easy to see clearly what the teacher is doing on
them, and all my teachers use them in so many different ways.”
in ActionTechnology
The term ‘21st-century skills’ is generally used to refer to certain core competencies such as collaboration, digital literacy, critical thinking, and problem-solving that advocates believe schools need to teach to help students thrive in today’s world. In a broader sense, however, the idea of what learning in the 21st-century should look like is open to interpretation – and controversy.” edweek.org
At Kinkaid, technology and 21st-century skills are part of the every day curriculum. Below is a sampling of technology
in action from the perspective of our students.
“
12 13
The responses showed great consistency in regard to the School’s
core characteristics and unique attributes, as well as alumni’s valued
experiences. What made the responses more impressive was the
consistency of the response regardless of the year of graduation. The
very things on which Kinkaid prides itself -- educating the whole child,
providing a quality education, having superior faculty and creating a
strong community – were also cited by alumni as being central to the
School’s identity and how it operates. According to the survey results,
these areas are what make the School unique.
The School performed very well on questions rating the alumni
experience and alumni services. Eighty-eight percent of respondents
rated their overall experience as a member of the Kinkaid alumni
community as positive (see Graph 1). This represents extraordinarily
satisfactory attitudes toward performance and positively reflects the
meaningful connection that the School maintains with its alumni.
Respondents were also asked to rate the importance of various
areas and programs at the School, as well as how the School has
performed in relation to each. The majority of respondents rated
Kinkaid’s performance positively. The one area that received a lower
rating, both in importance and in performance, was the “opportunity
to interact with alumni” (Graphs 2 & 3).
Kinkaid’s alumni have a powerful voice and a useful perspective about the School, its
importance to them, and its continuing role in their lives. In the recent alumni survey,
launched in June 2012, The Kinkaid School hoped to learn about alumni attitudes relating
to a number of key areas that impact both the School and its alumni.
“The survey was designed to get an in-depth understanding of the attitudes and
perceptions of our alumni,” explained Tom Moore, Director of Advancement, the office
that oversees alumni activities. “Our alumni not only are our past, but represent so much
of our future. We have a duty and deep desire to listen and understand where they are
today and how we as a school community can not only serve, but support them.”
Although the responses to surveys from alumni of peer institutions are typically modest,
the School received an extraordinary volume of responses from its alumni. The overall
response rate of 22% was almost double what the School expected to receive and
is a great indication of alumni interest in their alma mater. Over 3,000 email-based
surveys were sent to alumni in the classes of 1963-2011, of which 715 surveys were fully
completed online. In addition, for alumni in the classes of 1929-1962, the School mailed
over 500 paper surveys, with 54 surveys completed and returned.
Alumni Survey Results
Key Findings
Graph 1: Experience As Alumni
Excellent
Very Good
Good
Fair
Poor
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%Percentage of Alumni Surveyed
Poor Fair Neutral Good Excellent
Not at all important Unimportant Neutral Important Extremely important
Graph 2: Areas of Importance to Alumni
Graph 3: Performance in Areas of Importance
Before creating the survey, the Office of Advancement, working
closely with the Kinkaid Alumni Board, studied best practices and
results from other peer institutions. This process helped to refine
the parameters of the survey and set the expectation for survey
participation rates as well as the potential for negativity that a number
of leading schools have experienced.
“As our research partner described the results, it became clear that not only are our results ‘much more positive than that of our peer institutions,’ but we also have an interested, informed, and highly engaged base of alums that we can serve and continue to support.”
The survey asked a variety of open-ended questions as well as
questions answerable on a numerical rating scale. From a historical
perspective, the survey helped to establish how alumni feel about
their own Kinkaid experience and the continuing value of the School
in their lives. Additionally, the survey helped to identify opportunities for
improving alumni support and communication. Both the participation
rate and the quality of input from the alumni far exceeded the School’s
planning expectations.
“We are extremely pleased with the level of participation, but more
so with the incredibly positive, highly constructive responses we
received,” shared Stephen Dyer ‘85, chair of the Alumni Association
Board. “As our research partner described the results, it became
clear that not only are our results ‘much more positive than that of our
peer institutions,’ but we also have an interested, informed, and highly
engaged base of alums that we can serve and continue to support.”
Academics
Relationship with the faculty
Participation in athletics
Participation in the arts
College preparations
Traditions or values
Opportunity to interact with alumni
Percentage of Alumni Surveyed0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Academics
Relationship with the faculty
Participation in athletics
Participation in the arts
College preparations
Traditions or values
Opportunity to interact with alumni
Percentage of Alumni Surveyed0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
14 15
The survey gave alumni the opportunity to voice their perspectives
on the School and the Alumni Association through several
open-ended questions. In more than 1,000 pages of written
responses (our alums know how to write!), alumni identified issues,
opportunities and programmatic ideas for the School to consider.
Each response has been reviewed and considered carefully by the
alumni office.
The majority of respondents rated Kinkaid’s performance positively.
Four key themes surfaced from the responses
1 Social and business networking assistance2 Creation of a formalized mentoring program3 More meetings and activities for all alumni, especially for those who live outside of Houston4 Improved events
The Alumni Board already has begun to act on the results of the
survey. The board will focus its efforts first on social and business
networking, and formalized mentoring programs for Kinkaid alums.
Additionally, the Alumni Activities staff has started to explore
additional meeting opportunities and gatherings in other alumni-
dense communities. In the coming months, the School will share
progress on these issues.
“The goal of the School and its Alumni Association has always
been to provide our alumni with the services, connections and
communications that they want and need,” said Dyer. “We could not
be more grateful for the feedback and direction that so many of our
alumni provided. We continue to learn about and improve upon our
alumni interaction. Doing it right requires changing with the times
and listening to the needs of our alums. We are excited for all that is
ahead of us.”
The alumni office and alumni board, along with the headmaster,
administrative team and board of trustees, have seen the
extraordinary input and results of the survey. Each group will use
the survey results to further Kinkaid’s commitment to improving
its performance so that the School not only continues to serve its
alumni, but remains a model for other leading educational institutions.
While there remains much to do to support the School’s storied alumni
community, the respect that Kinkaid has for its alumni is reciprocated
by the respect that its alumni show towards the School. When asked
how likely alumni are to recommend Kinkaid to a friend or colleague,
more than 75% of the respondents gave the School a response of
‘8’ or higher (on a 10 point scale). As the research firm validated, the
affinity and regard for the School are extraordinarily high.
Moore concluded, “There are few relationships more important
or more lasting for a school than its alumni. We are honored by
the support of our alumni and humbled by the responsibility that
comes with it.”
Where Kinkaid Alumni Live
Because Kinkaid’s alumni are spread across the United States
and the world, the School’s communications function becomes
increasingly more important to inform, engage and remain
connected with its alumni base. The survey provided opportunity for
meaningful feedback and direction on how the School can better
communicate and engage with alumni.
As expected, most alumni said they value the Kinkaid Magazine and
read it at least once a year, with the majority reading it multiple times
per year. And, with the continued evolution of e-mail, online tools
and social media, most alumni indicated that they read e-mails sent
from the alumni office multiple times per year. These two methods of
communication are among the most widely utilized and are where the
School continues to focus resources.
Additionally, the survey provided perspective on the perceived quantity
and quality of information that alumni receive from the School. Alumni
overall feel that they receive the right amount of information and the
information they receive is of high quality.
“While the information validates much of what we believed, it has
provided great perspective around a number of issues,” continued
Moore. “It also has challenged our thinking and how we need to better
communicate, better serve, and better connect alumni with each
other and with the School. The insight we have gained will only help to
strengthen the bond between our alumni and Kinkaid.”
The Alumni Board already has begun to act
on the results of the survey. The board will focus
its efforts first on social and business networking, and
formalized mentoring programs for Kinkaid alums.
3,301 (83% of TX alumni) live in the Houston area (60 mile radius)
286 (7% of TX alumni) live in the Austin area (40 mile radius)
217 (5% of TX alumni) live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area (100 mile radius)
96 (2% of TX alumni) live in the San Antonio area (60 mile radius)
3,985 (77% of all alumni) live in Texas
5,901 living alumni from the classes of 1928-2012 (including 336 non-graduates)
5,141 with confirmed mailing addresses**Statistics taken from all alumni with confirmed mailing addresses.
38 Around the World
All Kinkaid Alumni
64%
13%
22%
1%
Houston
Houston
Dallas/Fort Worth
Austin
San Antonio 38 (1% of all alumni) live outside of the USA in 13 different countries
1,118 (22% of all alumni) live outside of TX in 49 States
(South Dakota is the only state without a Kinkaid alumnus)
478 alumni are concentrated in 4 urban areas:162 alumni live in the New York City area (includes part of NJ & CT) 111 alumni live in the Los Angeles area106 alumni live in the Washington, DC area (includes part of VA & MD) 99 alumni live in the Northern California/San Francisco area
Other alumni cities:30 in Atlanta 13 in Nashville 45 in Boston 15 in Philadelphia 14 in Chicago 11 in San Diego 14 in Denver 12 in Seattle
Current countries include:
• Australia• Bahrain• Canada• Ecuador• France• Hong Kong• India
• Ireland• Italy• The Netherlands• Sweden• Switzerland• The United Kingdom
Atlanta
Nashville
Chicago
DenverSan Francisco
Los Angeles
San Diego
Seattle
Washington, D.C.Philadelphia
New York City
Boston
Ideas Into Action
Opportunities to Strengthen
16 17
Dr. Andy MartireThe Next Head of School
Making his first visit to Kinkaid since being named its next head of school,
Dr. Andy Martire had the opportunity to visit with faculty and staff, the
administration, parents as well as the board of trustees. Upon arriving at the
School on October 3, Dr. Martire met first with faculty and staff, who attended
a welcome reception in his honor. The following morning, Dr. Martire was
introduced to a wide array of parents, who attended an early morning presentation
and reception, where he engaged the audience with stories of his family, his
current school and his excitement for the future. However, at Dr. Martire’s request,
most of his schedule while at the School was devoted to spending time in the
classrooms - observing the learning and teaching while having the opportunity to
interact with students in the lower, middle and upper schools.
Faculty, staff, students, and parents alike were energized by his visit and genuinely
excited for Dr. Martire to join the Kinkaid family next summer.
18 19
Meeting Faculty, Staff and Parents
20
GET READY TO BE
TRANSPORTED BACK TO THE
HEYDAY OF LAS VEGAS!
THE KINKAID SCHOOL
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2013
6:30 PM TO MIDNIGHT
Be part of Kinkaid’s first
for Alumni, Parents of Alumni, Grandparents and Friends!
Both trips will be hosted by Retired Faculty John and Caro Ann Germann
Join fellow adventurers on these fantastic travel opportunities
the clash of the blue and the gray a civil war history tour
April 6 - 13, 2013
from the walls of troy to the canals of venice landmarks of mediterranean civilizations
September 13 - 24, 2013
To download travel brochures, www.kinkaid.org/travel
JOIN US AS AN AUCTION UNDERWRITER
TO HELP RAISE VALUABLE FUNDING FOR KINKAID
SCHOLARSHIPS, FACULTY DEVELOPMENT,
COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND THE LATEST IN
EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY
For more information, contact Georgia Piazza at
713-243-5078 or [email protected].
201 K inka id School Dr ive Houston, T X 77024
Parents or Alumni: If this publication
is addressed to your child who no longer maintains
a permanent address at your home, please
notify the Alumni Office of the new permanent
mailing address.
t h e k i n k a i d s c h o o l
NON PROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE
PAIDPERMIT NO. 3375HOUSTON, TEXAS