Our school’s efforts with the Portrait began with the Latin Leads Strategic Plan, encouraging our community to think about the skills, traits, and behaviors associated with leadership development, a Core Value of our school since its founding.

Under the guidance of Dr. Sonja L. Taylor, Associate Head of School, and in partnership with members of the Leadership + Design consulting firm, we brought together various members of our community - faculty, staff, students, parents, and alumni - to share their insights about Latin, their experiences on our campus, and the importance of leadership in our daily practices.

Leveraging the information shared during the listening sessions, we devised, tested, modified, and tested again, to ensure that the voices of our various stakeholders were represented and integrated appropriately. 

The five questions we asked before finalizing our Portrait: Is it observable and measurable? Is it teachable and learnable? Is it relevant for all ages/grade levels? Is it transdisciplinary? And most importantly: Is it aspirational? To espouse these beliefs is one important factor, but to be able to see them and to know they are happening is another altogether.

Moving forward, Latin’s Student Leadership Development team, led by Dr. David-Aaron Roth, Director of Student Leadership Development, will steward our school’s efforts to integrate this Portrait into our various spaces, finding division-specific ways to support our ongoing aim to build a community of leaders at each step of a student’s experience at Latin.