Dear Ursuline Family,

With joy in my heart, I welcome your daughters and you back to Ursuline Academy of Dallas for our 152^nd year! The campus is looking fresh and ready for our faculty and students to return, and I am eager to see our halls filled with their lively presence. It has been too quiet around here!

This summer, we completed the build-out of our new Learning Lab, hired wonderful new faculty and staff, welcomed our new Principal, Kayla Brown, and grieved with many in our community following the terrible flood in July. Through it all, I have found myself pondering the balances and counterbalances articulated so beautifully in Ecclesiastes 3. The opening verse, “there is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens,” encompasses the complexity of our lives and presents a timeless reminder of the dualities of life. The greatest gift of being in Catholic education is how free we are to pause when we need to weep or grieve and, in due time, to celebrate and laugh. St. Angela, in her Fifth Council, was reminding us of these moments in life back in the 1500s! She shared this with the leaders of her company as advice for supporting the members, “Although at times they will have troubles and anxieties, nevertheless this will soon pass away and be turned into gladness and joy.” I know that all of us at Ursuline are ready to meet our girls where they are and walk, sit, pray, or dance with them!

The values and traditions established by the Ursuline Sisters and St. Angela guide how Ursuline Academy approaches the education and care of its students. The Ursuline ministry, our Apostolic care, emphasizes the importance of aligning our educational responsibilities with the broader mission of Christ. Observing the student community reinforces the purpose and priorities that guide the Academy’s efforts on behalf of its learners.

Yours in Serviam,

Andrea Shurley

President