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On January 10, more than 75 members of the North Shore Country Day community spent most of their Saturday on campus for the first-ever Community Design Day, an important milestone in the school’s ongoing strategic planning process. Parents, alumni, faculty, staff, trustees and even a few middle and upper school students came together to inform, influence and inspire the shape of the school’s next strategic plan. 

Board Chair Susanna Ver Eecke opened the day by underscoring the significance of the community’s turnout and engagement.

“The fact that we have so many people spending the better part of a Saturday here at school is a real testament to our community and how much we care about this place,” Susanna said. “We believe in North Shore. We believe in its people. We believe in its values. And we believe in its students.”

Susanna emphasized that community participation is central to the board’s responsibility as stewards of the school’s mission and long-term direction. “Your voice matters,” she said. “What comes out today will help shape where we’re going as a school.”

Vice Chair Jessica Shinn echoed that message, noting that the Community Design Day built on months of listening, interviews and research conducted by the strategic planning design team.

“Over the past year, this work has been thoughtful and steady,” Jessica said. “We’ve listened, gathered input and asked hard questions. Many of you have been interviewed or participated in our parent think tanks. Many of you have shared candid feedback.”

The day marked a shift from research to hands-on collaboration, bringing community members directly into the process. The session was facilitated by Ryan Burke, an education strategist from the nonprofit Leadership and Design, which is partnering with NSCD throughout the strategic planning process. 

Ryan explained that the day’s work was designed to center community voices and encourage idea generation across four key areas of inquiry identified by the design team.

“One of the beauties of the design process is we’re not done,” he said. “If there’s anything that you see that you think we haven’t gotten right, now is the time to tell us.”

Throughout the day, participants worked in mixed groups to review findings, brainstorm initiatives and prototype ideas for consideration in the final strategic plan. Ryan also challenged participants to push beyond familiar frameworks and generate “wild ideas” — even those that initially felt impractical — as a way to surface new possibilities and test underlying assumptions about school.

Ryan continued, “Sometimes when I work with a group of adults, I ask them, ‘What’s your wildest idea?’ And they say something like, ‘An extra session of school on Friday.’ And I say, ‘No, even wilder.’” He urged groups to push past ideas that felt comfortable or immediately workable and think bigger.

At the conclusion of the day, Head of School Tom Flemma expressed his gratitude and reflected on the role community engagement has played in the school’s history.

“Thank you for taking a full day and for being so invested in this place,” Tom said. “We are here and strong 107 years into our history because of that tradition of involvement, engagement and investment by parents and teachers and students.”

Ideas and feedback generated during Community Design Day will be reviewed by the strategic planning team and utilized by the board of trustees and school administration as NSCD continues to imagine and plan for its next chapter.

“This was an important next step in the process because it brought the entire school community into our work in a very hands-on way,” Jessica said. “It was an affirming, energetic experience. Attendees got to meet new people and have a really positive exchange of ideas.”

If you have questions or comments for the strategic plan design team, please reach out to Kristen Kaczynski or Jessica Shinn.