Meet Cate Gilbert
Vice President for Schools and Culture, Saint Constantine College and School
MSA: Tell us a little about yourself. How did you land in the world of education and what has your journey entailed?
Cate: I started working in higher ed when I was in grad school, so I sort of just never left education. In 2012 I was invited to found a dual-enrollment program at Houston Christian University, which changed the trajectory of my life. I had total creative freedom as to how the program was designed and what courses we were going to offer, and was able to create courses specifically for high schoolers that would get them college credit. I built a robust, 4 year Great Texts program that earned students their English and History credits in high school and college, but, more importantly, also introduced them to the biggest ideas of civilization. After doing a lot of research on teenage development, and based on my own school experience, we made the classes entirely Socratic, so the students spent the entire time in discussion, honing their thoughts, thinking in community, and really exploring their own beliefs and ideas about the world. Within a year we had a couple hundred kids enrolled, and watching the incredible transformation that would happen in teenagers when they were respected enough to be given real, hard things to read and allowed to really think through them for themselves caused me to never look back. If this was the good education could do, I knew I was in education to stay. A few years later I was part of a team that started The Saint Constantine College and School, where we were able to design an entire curriculum from the ground up rooted in the pursuit of wisdom, a life of virtue, and the experience of real joy. I've been the Head of School for our K-12 school and then the Vice President for Schools for the last ten years.
MSA: Thanks for sharing that with us. What were important early influences that shaped who you are as a teacher / leader ?
Cate: I was privileged to be home-schooled and then in school programs that gave me immense freedom as a person and academic. I was always encouraged to read widely, write creatively, and think for myself. In high school and college I was in Great Texts programs with incredible teachers and professors who treated their students with all the respect young minds deserve, encouraging us to take on the examined life for ourselves. From my parents to my college professors, I think I was uniquely surrounded with people who had a really big picture of what education should be: it's not merely the formation of skill sets, it's the cultivation of a whole human person. A child's education is where we can best train them to see themselves as a united whole; a body, soul, and mind that can do great good, can know deep truths, can accomplish great things, can serve their community, and can love deeply. These are the only goals worth spending their one precious childhood on, and yet we often act as if they just really need to learn math facts to get a job someday. They need to learn math facts, but that's just a little slice of the big picture. I was always told to think bigger, and now know I'm supposed to help kids and parents think bigger too.
MSA: Describe a specific change project you have been a part of. What were the main obstacles? How did you overcome them?
Cate: Founding a school changes a whole lot of lives. When we started The Saint Constantine School, we wanted to build a place where children could live days that were undeniably good, days that they recognized and knew to be good and were happy in. Our families come to us from all backgrounds, both educationally and socioeconomically, but they share a common desire to see their kids flourish at school. And we're designed to help kids flourish by working with both their natural development and the great patterns of education that have shaped humans for thousands of years. Our students learn Greek and Latin starting in the 2nd grade, but they also spend nearly two hours a day outside in free, creative, and uninhibited play. They read hard books and they play in the mud. They all take choir and art, but they also all garden and take care of our chickens and goats. High schoolers can take free periods to do their homework (because there's a lot of it), but they can also spend that time playing basketball with their friends or meeting with professors. Often, when a student gets to our school from a more conventional environment, they don't know what to do with the free, outdoor play time offered them. It takes them a few days, sometimes a few weeks, to rebuild the ability for self-directed, creative play. Our school is oriented toward taking a child from childhood to adulthood, and helping them grow in autonomy, understanding, self-knoweldge, and knowledge of God and the world. This means that they have to also be given the chance to grow in agency and moral formation. And students at the Saint Constantine school do that through play, discussion, and school work.
MSA: What does "learning in community" mean to you? How do you stay connected and in-the-know about all things education?
Cate: Learning can only really be done in community. We learn from people and with people. Children in particular can only really thrive and grow when they feel safe, connected, and loved. And it's only people that can do that. A robust, united community does that. I don't pretend to be in the know about all things education, but I do think it's all educators' jobs to think much more seriously about the communities we provide for our kids. Schools have the ability to rebuild communities of people that have grown more lonely than any people before them. Schools could be hubs where children and families know one another, are cared for, and are connected to their neighborhoods and their neighbors. I often wonder what would happen if schools began to think of community building as one of their top priorities. I think they'd see a massive transformation in their students ability to succeed in school. Learning in community is everything!
MSA: What is one thing about the current state of education that worries you or excites you?
Cate: We live in an exciting time because we live in an unprecedented one. More people have more access to technology and leisure and freedom than ever before, which means education is more important than it has ever been. Education is going to be upended one way or the other as technology advances, and my suspicion is it's going to push us towards changes that could be disastrously bad or wonderfully good. Those changes could result in further alienation, disparity, and loneliness (which is what will happen if we continue to tie children to computers), or it could give us an unprecedented opportunity to give more children an education that is focused on human flourishing, not just getting by. We could create schools that emphasize the formation of the whole child into the glorious and beautiful thing that is the human being. We are not what we will do for work someday. We are so much more than that, and we need to design school programs that see every child as deeply valuable, uniquely created, and beautifully ready to do great good if they're given the tools and time to do it.
MSA: Thank you for sharing your change story with us Cate!
Contact: scott@innovationfellowship.org | Linked In
