Dear Ursuline families,  

I hope you enjoyed the holidays, including Christmas Break 2.0! In our house, the abundance of Texas snow was literally an answered prayer (you can thank my kids for their fervent petitioning) and a welcome surprise until our dog shamefully ate the carrot nose off my daughter’s snowgal. Though the two days of balancing working from home and playing in the snow were a gift, I have been eager to return, especially with the fresh start of a new semester. Second semester always promises an adventurous beginning, with or without a winter weather advisory! Currently, we are interviewing prospective students, prepping for advisory conferences, finalizing plans for Global Week and Catholic Schools Week, and each class is trying to keep up with priming, painting, cutting, sketching, directing, casting, and editing in hopes of gaining an edge for intramurals.  

In November I decided I wanted to spend less time in my office, so I committed to getting into more classrooms to see the Ursuline experience through the lens of students. I called it my “Tour of UA.” When I sent out the request to visit classes, I was moved by the quick response from my colleagues, eagerly inviting me to participate in their lessons.  

Every day felt like a personal field trip. At one point, I was at a lab table with students cutting an aorta off a pig heart, feeling different types of tissue, and identifying how the organ works together, how the parts are connected, and for what purpose. The next day, I was in a World History escape room, decoding clues from previous units. In Forensics, students were given case studies and then tested synthetic urine for alcohol and drugs, discussing why good protocol is important, what it looks like in the field, and the technology that helped improve tests. Then, in Stress Management – a smaller, more intimate-sized class with a tangible positive and supportive atmosphere – we worked together to create dopamine menus to help us remember things that do and don’t fill us up the way we need to be filled up. Mine is still on my desk!  

I sat in awe humble awe in Calculus class, first amazed at how little I remember from my high school Math classes, and second at how brilliant our students are as I watched them use equations to solve for the space between two lines with ease while I internally attempted to translate the mathematical terms. Equally inspiring was watching the refined skills of Photography students as they worked on photo layers, drop shadows, and masking images to make vibrant art.  

The discussions were powerful and engaging. I sat in on a student-led Socrative Seminar in a sophomore English class discussing “The Yellow Wallpaper,” exploring gender roles and mental health. One of my favorite memories from the tour was the frequency of these sophomores affirming each other with, “Yesssss, that was so good!” when a classmate made a new connection or asked a deep question. Seeing them lifting each other up in their learning and growing is a joy. In another English class, students compared the literary devices, tone, and style of two writing samples as they discussed whether college athletes should be paid. In AP U.S. History, students offered a litany of questions, each of which dug deeper into Lincoln’s position, secession, border states, and Fort Sumter, and ended with a deep examination of a primary source to determine the author’s position and why. Economics students considered how a recession in one country could impact its trade partner, discussing the impact on supply, demand, and why keeping peace matters. Further discussions of peace ensued in the Service Learning class as students unpacked a New York Times article on how rising heat has affected different cities in the world by using real testimonials from individuals living in the cities. Needless to say, I can’t wait for the Tour of UA to continue in semester 2! 

My “Tour of UA” was top of mind on Saturday as I interviewed applicants and one girl spoke of the challenges she has experienced in middle school as she described, “Often boys dominate the conversation… Sometimes girls are afraid to show how smart they really are.” I remember similar experiences from my own middle school years, and I contrasted that with Ursuline. One thing I know with certainty – and that my tour affirmed – is that we offer a space where girls can flourish and where each young woman can explore, find her voice, lead, ask questions (so many questions!), make inferences, be curious, be silly, be creative, be smart, and be free to learn and be herself in a place where she can reflect and pray on how God wants to use her unique gifts to bless the world.  

Thank you for the privilege of working with and learning alongside your daughters! 

Mandy Briones