BLOG
EARCOS Leadership Conference 2026
I am proud to return to the East Asia Regional Council of Schools Leadership Conference for the fourth consecutive year.
This year, I will facilitate three sessions:
Interrupting the Single Story of Leadership: Inclusive Hiring in International Schools
Intercultural Competency: Moving Beyond Food, Flags, Festivals, and Passports to Cultivate Authentic Belonging
The Belonging Gap: Why Conventional Frameworks Fall Short and What International School Leaders Need Instead (Case Study)
Session three is an instructive case study. I have been fortunate to partner with Saigon South International School for the past three years. During our session, Dr. Catriona Moran, Head of School, and Dan Kerr, Deputy Head of South Saigon International School, will share the process and outcomes of our work: critical decisions, lessons learned, and what belonging work actually looks like inside a complex international school community.
I am looking forward to seeing everyone in Bangkok in October.
Korea Council of Overseas Schools
I am honored to keynote the 2026 KORCOS - Korea Council of Overseas Schools International Educators Conference at Chadwick International School.
My address will explore the intersection of belonging and intercultural competency, offering evidence-based and practitioner- tested strategies for fostering safe and inclusive schools rooted in dignity and respect. Looking forward!
ICBI is Returning for Year Two
The Intercultural Competency and Belonging Institute (ICBI) is returning for Year Two!
After an energizing first year in Hong Kong and Bangkok, I’m excited to expand the institute to five global locations this year:
📍 Barcelona (Barcelona High School (BHS))
📍 Hong Kong (Hong Kong International School)
📍 Panama City (International School of Panama)
📍 Seoul (Chadwick International School)
📍 Vienna (American International School Vienna)
The focus remains practical: equipping international school professionals with the skills, language, and strategies to foster inclusive and safe schools grounded in dignity and respect.
Penn Graduate School of Education
I was delighted to return to my alma mater for a second year to teach Intercultural Competency: Preparing International Students for Success in University.
The course draws on research and my practitioner experience in K–12 international schools fostering inclusive and safe communities grounded in dignity and respect. Research is clear that international students often report feeling underprepared socially for the transition to university abroad, so I am humbled to connect student experience with international counselor preparation.
AISH Reunion in Shanghai
It was wonderful to reconnect with Academy of International School Heads (AISH) colleagues in Shanghai over a lovely French dinner at the iconic Polux restaurant. Great company, great conversation, and steak frites for the win.
I’m thrilled to join Sheena Nabholz and Jeff Paulson in Toronto in a few months at AISH’s Summer Seminar 2026, where I will facilitate a workshop on Intercultural Competency in International Schools. Having facilitated in Austria last year, I’m grateful to return to this inspiring community of fellowship, learning, and professional growth for international heads of school.
American International School of Vienna
I am grateful for the thoughtful engagement and for the shared commitment to belonging grounded in dignity and respect.
A few moments I’m still smiling about:
Chef Sabine’s daily vegan magic (zucchini, couscous, vegan feta, and tzatziki… unreal);
The 6th grade boys approached me after the MS assembly to speak with me in French, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, and German;
The 8th grade girls and high schoolers who shared that they appreciated the talk because it reflected real student insights and that they felt included in the presentation;
The lower school classroom where a student wore a Micheal Jordan jersey. When I mentioned I’m from the same town, he made a point to come tell me the very next day.
The acknowledgement in the faculty meeting of the intercultural clashes that occur daily in an international school-- and the power of building personal and institutional intercultural competency to drive belonging.
I am looking forward to continuing the partnership in 2026–27 and I can’t wait to return!
Ruamrudee International School
I am grateful to return to Ruamrudee International School (RIS) for year two of evidence-based intercultural learning and belonging work.
During this consultation, we convened all employees, faculty and staff, because the research is clear that every adult on campus shapes students’ sense of belonging. In the morning, participants examined our individual and collective cultural lenses and how they intersect with Thai norms, which is especially important given RIS’s geographic context in Bangkok, Thailand. In the afternoon, participants worked on particular problems of practice and designed solutions.
I was also delighted to meet with parents and students across elementary, middle, and high school for a second time to reinforce an intercultural competency lens and what that looks like in an international school.
Thanks to Dr. James O'Malley for his leadership and partnership.
Merit School of Music
I am grateful for lunch today with Charles Grode and Meredith Barber and for the chance to hear what’s ahead at Merit School of Music.
Merit’s mission is clear and urgently important: to transform the lives of Chicago-area youth by removing barriers to high-quality music education.
As a Merit alum and current board member, I’m proud to support and spotlight the school’s expanding reach and excellence across Chicagoland.
A few highlights worth celebrating and sharing:
Gala 2026 at the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago, Merit’s largest annual fundraiser, honoring Caroline and Charlie Huebner and D-Composed. The Huebners will receive the Alice S. Pfaelzer Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts, and D-Composed will receive the Merit School of Music Award for Citizen Artistry.
Congratulations to Merit students in the Phoenix String Quartet and Bone Rangers Trombone Quartet for major wins last weekend at both the MYA and Rembrandt chamber competitions.
An upcoming cello masterclass led by Klaus Mäkelä, CSO Zell Music Director Designate.
An open rehearsal with the Merit Philharmonic led by Enrique Mazzola, Music Director of Lyric Opera of Chicago, an extraordinary learning opportunity for young musicians.
I am proud of this work and of the students, faculty, families, and supporters who make it possible.
A Circle of Care
I’m grateful for the continued opportunity to collaborate with Sesame Workshop’s Rosemarie Truglio, PhD , most recently at the Hong Kong International School's Early Childhood Conference and again in Shanghai with Shanghai American School.
Across both engagements, we returned to a core idea we’ve built over years of shared work: belonging begins with dignity, and dignity is what allows play, curiosity, awe, inquiry, and collaboration to flourish. In our “Circle of Care” framing, the everyday moments across home, school, and community answer a child’s most important question: Do I matter here?
In Shanghai, we had the chance to work alongside parents as well as early childhood and lower school educators, exploring how belonging and well-being shape the way young children play, connect, and learn. Grounded in Sesame Street: Ready for School! and Sesame Workshop’s decades of research and learning design, our conversation translated evidence into practical, playful approaches that strengthen school readiness through ordinary routines: social-emotional skills, self-regulation, language, and early math.
Dr. Truglio and I first met nearly a decade ago when I delivered a keynote at the Wonderplay Conference at the 92nd Street Y. Since then, we’ve partnered through my work as Senior Content Advisor, helping shape content aligned to Sesame Workshop’s mission to help children everywhere grow smarter, stronger, and kinder.
We look forward to continuing this work with international school communities around the world. If this resonates with the questions your community is holding, please feel free to reach out.
Inclusive Leadership Cohorts 2025-2026
We’ve concluded our final session for Cohorts 1 and 2 of the Inclusive Leadership Cohort, an applied, multi-year professional learning experience with educators and school leaders across Latin America.
Over three years (Cohort 1) and two years (Cohort 2), participants engaged in a structured sequence designed to strengthen inclusive leadership capacity and cultivate inclusive school communities grounded in dignity and respect.
At the core of the program were five interlocking components:
Intercultural introspection, including benchmarking and reflection using the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI)
Anchor texts to establish shared conceptual frameworks and a common language for practice
PLC case study application to examine dilemmas of practice, surface assumptions, and test inclusive responses in context
Policy design and review to align values with institutional structures and decision-making
School-based action plans to translate learning into implementation through design, enactment, and iteration
Each year, our 2.5-day on-site sessions were hosted at International School of Panama, with deep appreciation to our gracious host, Dr. Audrey Menard, for her partnership and leadership. Throughout the year, participants convened their PLCs to review case studies in addition to attending virtual sessions.
To all participants: thank you for the graduate-course-level investment of time, intellectual engagement, and applied work, advancing from intention to the practices and policies that enable all students to thrive and flourish.