The Campaign for Ursuline supports programs and operations that impact every aspect of an Ursuline education. To date (as of December 6, 2022), it has raised 93.1% of its $85,000,000 goal.

One aspect of The Campaign for Ursuline, innovative teaching and professional development programs, helps teachers explore different assessment approaches and strategies for empowering students to succeed.

The Computer Science Department was awarded a robotics grant from the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation, which supports efforts in encouraging women to engage and participate in STEM fields. In their application, the Computer Science Department wrote:

We are an all-women high school determined to develop our students into strong leaders in the global world... We understand the importance of ensuring that women and historically marginalized populations have a seat at the table in all areas, especially in STEM fields. Robotics is often an area our students are reluctant to venture into, but we have set in place a plan to create robotics courses where our students can feel comfortable taking risks, developing their confidence, and mastering robotic concepts. Once our students achieve the basic foundations, we hope to take our students to the next level where they can apply their robotic skills to real-world situations and competitions. We hope these experiences will encourage these young women to pursue degrees and careers in STEM.

Ursuline was announced as a 2022-2023 Showcase School for the 6^th year in a row and now has 13 Microsoft Certified Educators (MCE’s) on campus. The Microsoft Certified Educator exam assesses whether educators understand how to apply the technology tools in the six different content domains within the 21C Learning Design. 

In their announcement, Microsoft describes Showcase Schools as "an elite group of schools that exemplify the best of teaching and learning in the world today...pioneers in education...and part of an exclusive global community recognized and celebrated for educational transformation that includes vision and innovation in teaching, learning, and preparing students for the future."

Employees recently led Educator Showcases, which enable teachers to teach each other on various topics. Showcases covered topics such as “Student Engagement in the AP Spanish Language Classroom,” by World Language teacher Amanda York, which discussed how curriculum design, relationship building, formative assessments, and student reflection all contribute to positive engagement in the classroom and success on the AP Exam; and “Making Competencies Visible: Telling the Story of Our Classes,” by English teacher Megan Griffin, which offered time, space, and the camaraderie necessary to help teachers reflect on their classes see how they can help their students see that their time at Ursuline is a four-year, deliberate, and scaffolded journey.

Other topics included:

• “Mastering OneNote: Making Your Master Class Notebook a Valuable Asset” by Science teacher Kirsten Lindsay-Hudak
• “Active Learning and Skill Development in an AP (and non-AP) Classroom” by English teacher Corby Baxter and Science teacher Harriet Furton
• “Best Professional Learning ever! Shadow a student” by Principal Dr. Andrea Shurley and World Language teacher Therese Naddaf
• “Creating/Revisiting Assessments to Build 21^st Century Learning” by Theology teacher Angie Jakubik

Read expanded descriptions.

Social Studies teacher Dorothy Cassetta was accepted as a member of the Global Action Research Collaborative on Girls' Education's 2023-2024 cohort, which will be researching, Engaging the Power of Many Voices: Leveraging girls’ collaborative spirit toward courageous and joyful learning.

"I am so excited to work with people from all over the world. The focus of the research is on my students and how I can improve their educational experience," she said. "The theme of this year's research is collaboration and I look forward to helping my students become better collaborators."

Learn more about The Campaign for Ursuline.

Make a gift or pledge.