by Camille Summers
At the start of May, I sat down with head of school Mrs. Cole to download her thoughts about year one, and what she envisions for the future.
Q: What aspects of Lovett have you appreciated?
A: There is a long list. I would start with the community. The warmth, the enthusiasm, the kindness, and just the general welcome that I received. I could feel that community on day 1. It’s all encompassing. One of the first days that I was here, the people that came into my office to say hello ranged from a teacher who worked here for 30 years to someone in the housekeeping department to someone who started last year, and I just got this sense here that everybody felt like a valued member in the community, which I loved. Today, we had an Upper School Sports Signing for guys who are going off to play lacrosse, and some of them had invited members of the facility staff who have driven the buses to the games and been part of the team’s experience, and that was unusual and really cool. I love that. We have fantastic teachers. Really neat things going on in classrooms, and that has been really fun to see.
Q: How’s Loridans House?
A: It’s great! They did a lot of work to it; it needed a little work. It definitely feels like home. All of our furniture and all of our stuff has found a place. It feels really comfortable. At the end of the day, I can walk home, change, have dinner, and then take my dogs for a walk, catch some games, come down and see a performing arts event. I feel like I live in a small town. The town of Lovett. It’s really neat.
Q: What is your favorite part about your office?
A: Being just off a main hallway. I can hear folks coming and going. My advisees will come in and spread out on the table and do homework. I love that there is a bowl of peppermints there, and people come in and grab some candy, and I can see everybody. Even when I’m stuck in here (the office), which this first year I feel like I’ve had to spend a lot of time in my office studying Lovett, I still can see what is going on around me.
Q: What’s it like to be an advisor?
A: It’s great. It’s challenging with my schedule, which is why I co-advise with Ms. Lathan, but it’s really fun to have this close relationship with a small group of kids. They can sort of see me more as a person and less as this authority figure, and it gives me some insight into what it’s like to be a student at Lovett with the highs and the lows, and the challenges, and what the flow of life and the day is like for a student.
Q: What have you identified as one of Lovett’s greatest strengths?
A: I think the sense of community, but really the mutual support that people give one another here. The way they celebrate one another. That is big. There are so many examples here of students that are incredible athletes and artists and students, and they didn’t have to pick one of those. They can do all of them. Lovett makes that possible, and that’s pretty unique.
Q: What are some of the things you want to work on to improve in the community?
A: I think we have opportunity for more alignment between the 3 divisions, so it doesn’t feel as much like 3 separate schools on campus. It’s more of thinking about threads of continuity that can run through each of the 3 divisions, and how can I connect teachers and give faculty members the opportunity to come together through the different divisions. They’re great minds and doing great things for kids, and I think that if there was more of a connection between the divisions, it would be really great for our students and our teachers.
Q: What have you been doing on a day to day basis?
A: Love going to weekly Chapel. It’s fun to be with everybody, and our chaplains are awesome! It’s such good energy there. I really enjoy Lower School carpool in the morning, when I can squeeze it in. It’s fun to start your day with all those little people running up and giving high fives and hugs. The café is just a neat meeting place to see people and say hello. Just walking to and from and around and seeing people. In this job, no day is like another day. It’s so different all the time. There are different patterns of people on schedules. I love getting up really early and walking around campus when it’s really peaceful and quiet here, because this place starts hopping around by 5:30-6:00.
Q: What have been some differences between your school in Texas in comparison to Lovett?
A: Lovett is bigger. I think because of its size, there is just a lot going on. The schedule feels a little bit harder for me to manage like how to be at all of these places at one time. Atlanta is bigger than Dallas. I feel like I’ve gotten to know the kids here, and I don’t want to speak poorly of my old school, but I feel like I just got to know the kids better and more quickly. A lot of similarities too, which is interesting.
Q: What’s been your favorite cafeteria lunch?
A: The Turkey Club sandwich.
Q: What’s been your favorite cafe treat?
A: I love Peanut M&M’s. Hands down. It’s my favorite. I had them today.
Q: What other things have you enjoyed doing?
A: I’ve really enjoyed doing Public Speaking with 6th graders. I have a small handful of girls who wanted to keep doing it outside of class, so we meet weekly. In Lovett Life Lessons in 6th grade, one of the rotations is Public Speaking, so I’ve been doing that with Mr. Ekholm. The girls come to my office everyday Tuesday, and sometimes, I’ll give them assignments. The other day, we watched Kid Ted Talks, and we evaluated them. It’s fun.
Q: Speaking in regards to Atlanta, what are some restaurants that you have enjoyed?
A: We’ve been to a lot of them. For breakfast, I love Upbeet. It’s good. I always feel virtuous when I go there. Sotto Sotto has been my favorite Italian restaurant. I eat a lot of pizza from Crispina, which is right around the corner.
Q: Are there any activities that you have enjoyed doing or seeing?
A: I love walking the dogs on the polo fields, which are so close to here and so pretty. That’s been really fun. Piedmont park is awesome, and that was really fun to explore. The Beltline is so neat. Loved seeing the High Museum. Atlanta is such an easy city to explore, and there is no place prettier in the Spring!
Q: Now that you’ve been here for a year, what would you like to implement in the coming years?
A: We are going to undertake, starting next year, a strategic design process, which is really exciting, and begin to help us define where we are headed as a school. I think my vision for Lovett is for us to be the best versions of ourselves that we can be. I think it’s looking at Mrs. Lovett’s idea of what progressive education was, which was so relevant 100 years ago and still is today, and it’s looking at our mission and making sure that we are doing what we say we do. That’s not fancy, but the strategic design process is going to be really exciting.
Q: Anything else you want to add?
A: It’s just that this year has gone by so fast. I’m excited to have a year of the rhythms under my belt, and to have a sense of what to expect.
