5 Questions for… Kim Wargo

I’ve spent over 20 years working in independent schools. When I first began my career, I was simply looking for a place where I could use my skills and knowledge to teach students the subjects about which I felt passionately. However, once I began working in independent schools, I realized that my work was about so much more than content. I have enjoyed being a part of mission-driven organizations. The schools I’ve worked in have taken seriously the goal of supporting students in their development as human beings broadly. This focus on the whole child has made the work inspiring. It’s what keeps me in independent schools.

I’ve spent the last three months seeking to get to know our community and the people within our School. My focus has been on meeting with faculty individually, getting to know my senior advisees, making connections with students at all levels, and beginning to know our parent community. Through all of these connection points, I am learning about the strengths of our School. The Core Values are at the center of what we do, and I am intrigued by the ways in which we might continue to make honesty, kindness, respect, and responsibility the hallmarks of a Newman education. I am also inspired by the motto, “We learn to do by doing,” because this gets to the heart of what I believe about education. I don’t want our students to just learn “about” things; I want them to be actively engaged in using what they know to make a difference in the world. This means giving them room to experiment and to make mistakes, because it is in the “doing” that we have the opportunity to learn. I have often said to students that I hope they embrace the moments of “I don’t know” because it’s only at those moments that we actually have the opportunity to learn.

 

Because I’ve been a Head of School in several different institutions, I have had the opportunity to understand the complexity of running a school like Newman. It’s a big job that involves understanding the needs of multiple constituencies, and balancing those needs against the ever-present question about what serves the well-being of the students in our care today. My job as Associate Head really entails oversight of all the connection points with students. I am kind of like a Chief Operating Officer in that I’m focused on the day-to-day experience of our students through my work with fellow administrators, faculty, and parents.

 

We have several initiatives underway as a faculty – the work of academic alignment (a deep dive examination of our curriculum from PK-12 ) and the work of underscoring our Core Values. Both of these initiatives present incredible opportunities to define what makes Newman “Newman.” This is the kind of work that excites me. Next year, we will engage in the process of self-study in preparation for our re-accreditation. While this process can sometimes feel like a “check-the-box” exercise, I see it as an opportunity to ask ourselves the big, hard questions about who we are and who we want to be as a school. My philosophy of school leadership is to appreciate what we do exceptionally well, while always asking the question of “how can we be a little bit better?”

 

I’m a huge Saints fan. I have lots of superstitions and routines that I follow in my effort to help them win. I am also a huge Harry Potter fan. I’ve said many times that I believe all of life’s lessons are contained within the Harry Potter series. I’ve also seen “The West Wing” in its entirety more times than I care to admit. I love the writing and acting, and I find the show still relevant even though it’s been almost 20 years since it first aired.