In recent years, directors of 28 Mexican Regnum Christi schools in the international Semper Altius network have taken a leadership course from Harvard University.
The course offered by Harvard is called “Leadership, an Evolving Vision.” It is described as “provid[ing] experienced school leaders with an opportunity to reflect on, stretch, and strengthen their leadership skills. Participants examine challenges to raising student achievement, and work with experts in school leadership to master effective strategies for building successful schools.”
Participation in this course is part of the effort the Semper Altius Network of Schools is undertaking to develop and train people working in schools, always in search of continuous improvement and educational innovation in fostering the learning and integral formation of each of the students.
The directors who took the course at Harvard this summer are:
- Paul Martínez, director of the Cumbres Institute of Veracruz
- Mónica Núñez, director of the Oakhill Preschool in Mexico City
- Patricia Rodríguez, director of Anahuac Mexico City High School, Oxford Campus
- Ana Dolores González, director of the Irish Institute of Hermosillo
- Víctor Martínez, director of the Cumbres Institute of Durango
- Victoria Giorgana, director of the Highlands International School in Mexico City
- Gabriela Flores, principal of the Highlands International School in Monterrey
- P. Luis Felipe Rivero, LC, director of the Cumbres-Alpes Institute in Torreón
The course offered the opportunity to build their leadership competencies through various challenging activities. Some were hand on, like an adventure camp, team building strategies, etc. Others were meetings focused on the training and continuous improvement of the directors of the 21st century, the organizational culture and the essence of a school. The course included presentations by experts in educational leadership such as: Jon Mundorf and Elizabeth Hartmann of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), who spoke on how to strengthen and master effective strategies to build successful schools.
The course at Harvard seeks:
- To connect theory with practice, examining leadership practices that enhance organizational performance and enable sustainable change.
- To discover new methods to improve individual, group and school performance.
- To learn specific strategies to foster a positive culture in school, valuing diversity and communicating effectively.
- To study proven techniques to increase personal growth and improve relationships with colleagues and staff.
- To explore organizational processes that improve the learning and opportunities of the children in charge.
They produced a video on their experience (in Spanish) and an image gallery of their time at the course.
You can read the original on the Spanish Language Regnum Christi site.
