I want to paint you a picture. It is a cold, damp and drear January night in the suburbs of Marietta OTP (Outside The Perimeter) of Atlanta, Georgia. The wind blows fiercely through the loblolly pines, lending it’s strength to the rhapsody of raindrops pitter-pattering off the roof of a cookie-cutter house. Two solitary figures crouch in a dimly lit basement, huddled around the flame of a gas fire for warmth and the dim glow of two laptop screens…
I paint an almost Dickensian scene until I mentioned the technology part, right?
This was life for the Stephensons (which, might I add, was actually far from Dickensian hardship. It was lovely - great neighborhood and friends, jobs that we both enjoyed in busy, intrinsic and challenging environments).
Taking a break from a paper that I was completing for my Master’s degree, I delved into my email to find the following missive from a Head of school in Florida. “ I am reaching out to you individually to see if Florida is truly on your radar screen as a real possibility for your next move”. I turned to my husband lounging next to me on the sofa and asked, “Have you ever heard of a place called Vero Beach?”
Google was summoned and soon our screens were filled with images of palm trees, blue waters and an aerial photograph of a school perched between what seemed to be the ocean and another waterway. Finding the website associated with Saint Edward’s School and trawling through the pages, it was not long before the following reply wended it’s way toward an inbox in an Headmasters office in Florida, “I confess I know little Vero Beach as a community but have read about your school and love the mission that you set forth, and am definitely very interested in the role described.”
Some will say it was the allure of those tropical images on that frigid, winter night that inspired exploration of a move, others will say perhaps the attraction of a vastly reduced work commute (in Atlanta that was often well over an hour each way!) that included a bridge, exotic birdlife and sunrises over the ocean that might have swayed our decision. For me, it will always be the conversation that started from that point that allowed me to find a school with clear student focus, amazingly talented faculty, a clear sense of mission and a common vision of who they are as a school community. That is hard to find - and that is what got myself, my husband of fifteen years and our furkid, Arnie, packing boxes and heading south.
And so begins the next chapter - and this blog is a testimony to the adventures to be had in academic technology for teaching and learning. I hope to use this blog to share insights, information, wisdom, and the creativity of this amazing faculty so that as a collective online community, we share knowledge to better our lifelong learning journey.
I paint an almost Dickensian scene until I mentioned the technology part, right?
This was life for the Stephensons (which, might I add, was actually far from Dickensian hardship. It was lovely - great neighborhood and friends, jobs that we both enjoyed in busy, intrinsic and challenging environments).
Taking a break from a paper that I was completing for my Master’s degree, I delved into my email to find the following missive from a Head of school in Florida. “ I am reaching out to you individually to see if Florida is truly on your radar screen as a real possibility for your next move”. I turned to my husband lounging next to me on the sofa and asked, “Have you ever heard of a place called Vero Beach?”
Google was summoned and soon our screens were filled with images of palm trees, blue waters and an aerial photograph of a school perched between what seemed to be the ocean and another waterway. Finding the website associated with Saint Edward’s School and trawling through the pages, it was not long before the following reply wended it’s way toward an inbox in an Headmasters office in Florida, “I confess I know little Vero Beach as a community but have read about your school and love the mission that you set forth, and am definitely very interested in the role described.”
Some will say it was the allure of those tropical images on that frigid, winter night that inspired exploration of a move, others will say perhaps the attraction of a vastly reduced work commute (in Atlanta that was often well over an hour each way!) that included a bridge, exotic birdlife and sunrises over the ocean that might have swayed our decision. For me, it will always be the conversation that started from that point that allowed me to find a school with clear student focus, amazingly talented faculty, a clear sense of mission and a common vision of who they are as a school community. That is hard to find - and that is what got myself, my husband of fifteen years and our furkid, Arnie, packing boxes and heading south.
And so begins the next chapter - and this blog is a testimony to the adventures to be had in academic technology for teaching and learning. I hope to use this blog to share insights, information, wisdom, and the creativity of this amazing faculty so that as a collective online community, we share knowledge to better our lifelong learning journey.