Woodlands Academy Inspires Girls To Achieve Challenging Goals

This Patch article is sponsored by Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart.

Woodlands is a Catholic day and boarding school for girls in grades 9-12. Woodlands is a member of the Sacred Heart Network, with 25 schools across Canada and the United States. Additionally, we are one of dozens of Sacred Heart schools internationally.

Patch had a chance to talk with Jessica Campbell, director of the Center for Global Studies at Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart.

Patch: How long have you been an educator?

Campbell: I am entering my 15th year as an educator.

Patch: What attracted you to education, and how did you get started?

Campbell: In high school, I was always actively involved with children. I coached our town’s t-ball team, was a junior leader for Girl Guides, and volunteered in a local kindergarten classroom. I enjoyed working with children and knew early on that I wanted to be a teacher. Eventually, I realized that I wanted to work with high school-aged children and began to pursue a degree in education. My first teaching job was teaching high school English in my home country, Canada. I began to experiment with project-based learning and enjoyed using my creativity to develop my curriculum. After only a year of teaching in Canada, I relocated to Singapore, where I taught at an international school for several years. I moved again, to the United States, in 2013, and have worked in Sacred Heart schools ever since.

Patch: What is your teaching style or philosophy?

Campbell: I would say that I am not a teacher who leads, but a teacher who supports. I am still a proponent of project-based learning and I prefer to adopt a facilitator role with my students. When students have agency over their learning and opportunities to choose the direction their studies will take, they are far more motivated to put forth their best effort. In addition to this, I do my best to engage my students in the real world. When I used to teach social studies, my students’ year-end project was to research the social and environmental impacts (both positive and negative) of a global corporation of their choice. Students learned about current events and the ethical decisions that companies make that impact our world. I believe that this project also helped students determine what kind of impact their choices will make in the future.

Patch: What’s the biggest challenge or more difficult moment you’ve faced working in the education system?

Campbell: Shortly after I became the Director of the Center for Global Studies at Woodlands, the world entered the COVID-19 pandemic. I was in shock and I did not know how I was going to maintain a global program, in my first year, without being able to travel. Woodlands’ students have been going on exchange across the world for many years and global programs are incredibly important to our students and their families. I felt quite lost until I began to make connections with some of my colleagues at other Sacred Heart schools across the country. We were all facing the same challenges, and we worked together to reinvent our global programs. I am so grateful for this partnership and I feel that we have been able to make the global studies programs across the Network even better than they were before.

Patch: What is your favorite thing about Woodlands Academy?

Campbell: Sacred Heart education seeks to educate the whole child. While Woodlands certainly has a rigorous academic program, our students learn and grow in a variety of ways. A graduate of Woodlands has likely been an active participant in at least one prayer service or ceremony, traveled abroad, engaged in respectful dialogue to share beliefs and values, participated in meaningful and active service, and taken a variety of exciting risks. I have taught in schools around the world and I have never seen such capable and confident graduates. I am excited that they will lead the world one day!

Patch: What does a typical day as Director of the Center for Global Studies look like?

Campbell: A typical day for me begins with advisory. My advisees are now entering their senior year and I have begun every morning with them since their first day on campus as ninth graders. We greet each other, share our thoughts and feelings, and prepare ourselves for the day. It sounds simple, but it sets us all up for success!

After this time, I begin working on one of our many global studies programs, such as one of our virtual exchange programs. You can often find me on a Zoom call with my colleagues from Washington, D.C., Seattle, Canada, or Australia, preparing an upcoming virtual exchange experience. About half of Woodlands students participated in a virtual exchange this past year. On a regular basis I was facilitating virtual exchanges for Woodlands’ students with schools in Nairobi, Guadalajara, China, India, Canada, and across the United States. The interesting thing about my “day” is that I am working in multiple time zones, so I may be waking up at 6 a.m. to connect my students virtually with Europe or working at 7 p.m. to connect with other students in east Asia.

This past year I also had the opportunity to teach virtually for our new Sacred Heart Global Academy program, which was designed to support our international students abroad. We met synchronously every Thursday evening (Friday morning for some) and I felt so much joy at having the opportunity to see our international students. It was comforting to know that they were ok and to know that they could connect with me in this space should they need support while learning virtually.

Patch: What kind of extracurricular activities does Woodlands Academy provide?

Campbell: Our school has almost every extracurricular activity you can think of. We have an accomplished choir, an annual school play and musical, robotics, athletics, literary magazine — you name it! My job is to focus on our global activities including Sacred Heart Global Academy, Global Exchange and Global Odyssey. I am also in charge of our Heritage Celebration Committee, our annual Flag Ceremony and our Global Scholars program.

Patch: Why should parents send their children to Woodlands Academy?

Campbell: It is hard to convince a seventh or eighth grader that an all-girls environment is the right place for them, but it absolutely is! When I began teaching at my first all-girls school, I was astonished at how deeply the students cared for one another and how invested the teachers were both inside and outside of the classroom. I do not think that these connections could ever be as strong at a co-ed school. Additionally, Woodlands’ students have an incredible amount of choice available to them that can only be found at a smaller school. Students participate in multiple sports, clubs and events on campus. They meet exchange student visitors from around the world. They can take online classes with other Sacred Heart students from our network. I hope that one day my own daughter will attend Woodlands.

Patch: How can Patch readers learn more about Woodlands Academy?

Campbell: Our website is a good place to start, but I really encourage interested families to experience our vibrant and welcoming school community firsthand by scheduling a campus tour or fall shadow day. Simply visit woodlandsacademy.org/shadowdays to view a list of upcoming dates and reserve a spot for your daughter!