领军校长专访 | 上海市民办中芯学校国际部资深校长Dr. Kelley Ridings：以成长心态不断进取，帮助学生、家庭与社会

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本文为上海市民办中芯学校国际部资深校长Dr. Kelley Ridings的领军校长专访。

Following is an exclusive interview with Dr. Kelley Ridings, Shanghai SMIC Private School International Division Superintendent.  

上海市民办中芯学校是中芯国际集成电路制造有限公司2001年9月投资兴办的一所十五年一贯制的民办学校。学校校园占地120亩（约8万平方米），其中绿地和花园近50亩。学校最初的办学是为中芯国际公司的中外员工子女提供优质教育，所以注册学生仅限于公司员工的子女。2004年，学校向非中芯公司员工子女敞开大门，将优质的教育资源向社会大众开放，受到了社会各界的热烈欢迎和积极评价。

学校坚持两翼齐飞，中文部和国际部两部同步发展提升，在中文部、国际部及课程融合中心三部老师的共同努力下，走优质、特色、多样的办学之路。其中，国际部与家庭和社区相结合，为外籍学生提供积极的、以学生为中心的教育。在融合中外教育的同时，以美式课程为主，平衡学术卓越与身体、社会和情感健康，培养学生成为尊重自己和他人的全球公民以及身心健康的自主学习者。

上海市民办中芯学校国际部资深校长Dr. Kelley Ridings：一个国际化的体系就是一个十分多元的地方。这里有来自世界各地的学生和教职员工。我们的学生来自38个国家和地区，教职工人员来自23个国家和地区。这和在只有本国国家学生与教职工的学校工作有很大的不同。

在国际教育领域，各种需求都是独特的，来自世界各地的学生和教师有各自的教育风格。国际学校的多元文化是非常复杂的。这和公立学校很不一样。我们学校的教育风格可能类似于美国本土学校或世界各地许多国际学校。我们在体育社团、学术课程等方面提供类似的支持。但我们通常对语言、各种文化和领导力的关注要更加强烈。相比国内本土学校，这在其他国际学校更常见。

我发现在国际学校的家庭普遍更加支持他们的孩子。他们希望自己的孩子有更好的生活。这有助于他们的孩子取得成功，获得在其他地方得不到的机会。当然，也有很多不错的公立学校。

每个家庭都可以选择想让孩子去的学校。例如，上海有100多个国际化的项目，所以家庭有很多选择。公立学校不一定有那么多的选择，但在国际教育体系中就不一样了。当然，公立学校和国际学校都有很多优秀的毕业生。

上海市民办中芯学校国际部资深校长Dr. Kelley Ridings：国际教育是一个非常有活力的体系，这一领域的发展十分迅猛。我认为这一发展为我们服务的学生和家庭进行了赋能。这一领域中大多数家庭都是中国背景。有的在国外学习和工作过。他们在国外生了孩子，但他们决定回到这里养家。我们通过提供国际教育来帮助他们。

现在这里的市场竞争很激烈，因为很明显，上海是一个非常国际化的城市。同时也有许多其他国际化城市，像北京和广州，有非常大的国际社区。我认为能够用我们的国际教育方式帮助家庭，是一件很重要的事情。在过去的10年里，国际教育发生了很大的变化。同时，我认为对这类学校如何运作提供的指导和监管也越来越多了，这样就会有更多高质量的课程项目。他们提供的东西不仅对国际家庭很重要，对中国的整体发展也很重要。

因此，我们看到现在的教育体系发生了一些变化，但国际教育不会消失，因为那些希望自己的孩子接受国际教育的家庭的需求不会改变。我们所提供的教育将一直在中国发挥它的重要作用，所以我对未来很有信心。

上海市民办中芯学校国际部资深校长Dr. Kelley Ridings：我刚才说过，仅上海就有100多所国际学校。这确实很多，但每个学校都不一样。每个学校都有自己独特的侧重点，就像我们学校有自己独特的侧重点一样。如果我们看看每个学校的侧重，竞争就不是那么激烈了。没有多少学校能够像我们这样为学生提供服务。地理位置也是我们需要考虑的一方面。即便这所学校在上海，如果它在城市的另一边，那么对于住在我们这边社区的家庭来说，它也不太方便的。

竞争永远存在，但没关系。我们能够提供其他学校无法提供的东西。相应地，他们也能提供我们做不到的东西。所以，我们每所学校都有自己的市场。还有一件很好的事情，就是我们还有很多发展空间。一定的竞争可以帮助我们更好地发展成长。它帮助我们改进我们正在做的事情。对一所学校而言，去了解市场和周围的其他学校，并随着竞争对手的成长和创新而不断发展，是它的正确选择。

我们学校已经拥有20年的经验。如果一所学校是全新的，它就没有这样的历史。开办一所学校很难。尤其作为一所新学校，它将会面临很多挑战。我们能够做好一些事情是因为我们所拥有的丰富的经验和成熟度。

上海市民办中芯学校国际部资深校长Dr. Kelley Ridings：我认为他们必须时刻关注学校社区的动态，把握不断变化的需求。一所好的学校必须跟上这一点，他们必须考虑自己的角色是什么，以及他们如何更好地服务于社区。任何新学校都要考虑到这一点，而不是照搬现有的一些学校的做法。他们还必须让自己的学校适应中国目前的环境。环境是不断变化的。因此他们必须注意到这一点——思考如何满足不断变化的需求，同时在正确的体系中，做所有学校必须做的事情。这很重要，而且这并不容易，因为有时竞争相当激烈。

这也会给父母和家庭带来压力，因为他们在为孩子寻求最好的教育，他们在为孩子做重大的选择。我们必须尽我们所能帮助父母，为他们的孩子提供他们需要的东西，但我们也必须坚持自己的道路。换句话说，我们必须尽量做到最好，坚持做我们最擅长的事情。如果偏离了我们的定位或焦点，它可能不是我们应该做的。对于这样的家庭我经常会建议说：“好的，还有很多其他学校可供选择，其中一些可以更好地满足你的需求。如果这是您所需要的，我会建议多看看，但这不是我们能做的。”我们能精益求精，但我们不能面面俱到。我认为这是新学校必须考虑的问题。我总是说我们可以做任何我们想做的事，但我们不能做所有我们想做的事。对于任何一所成功的学校来说，记住这一点都很重要。

我们必须问问自己，我们为谁服务？我们做什么？是什么让我们独一无二？我们应该对这些问题有很好的认知，有时还可以扩展一点思路。我们可以做一些新的和不同的事情。我们可以创新，但仍然要专注于我们的身份核心所要求我们必须做的主要道路上。走主路和看趋势是有区别的。与我们学校的长期目标相比，趋势只是一种短期的事情。

上海市民办中芯学校国际部资深校长Dr. Kelley Ridings：我希望我生活中大部分的时间都能做一名老师。当我还是个小男孩的时候，我喜欢和我的朋友们玩学校扮演游戏，我一直扮演的是老师的角色。而且，我们家里的很多人都是老师，所以我认为这是我们家的传统。我一直很喜欢学校。

所以，这就是为什么我想成为一名教师，并直到后来走向教学管理岗位。领导学校这一想法一直令我感到激动，因为我对帮助学生、家庭和工作人员发展学校很感兴趣。这对我来说意义重大。

后来，我开始考虑从事国际教育。我住在美国，在美国和墨西哥的交界处。我当时在德克萨斯州教书，晚上我会穿过边境进入墨西哥，去那里的一所大学教书，这就是我第一次在另一个国家开始的工作。我在墨西哥也有朋友，所以我对国际学校有了更多的了解，意识到国外还有其他学校。那时他们也需要英语老师，我觉得我可以做到。在美国经济衰退期间，我没有任何好的工作机会，所以我想我可以去墨西哥，把英语作为第二语言来教。这是我最初的计划，但结果却在一所美国学校工作。这就是我参与国际教学的原因。

10年前，当我第一次访问上海市民办中芯学校时，他们的成长型思维给我留下了深刻的印象。在我看来，很明显，他们想要发展，他们意识到有挑战，但他们想要变得更好。这就是我思考问题的方式，所以我知道这是一个我可以帮助这里发展的地方。这也是我可以成长的地方。这就是我来这里的原因。

上海市民办中芯学校国际部资深校长Dr. Kelley Ridings：我认为所有学生都应该得到很多机会，而教育是一个学习的机会。这就是学校的意义所在。孩子们应该获得这样的机会。作为教育工作者和家庭，我们必须支持孩子们在他们的生活中学习。他们不会与生俱来获得知识。因此，我们必须把这些东西教给他们。

教育不仅仅关乎学生的学术，而且关乎学生作为一个完整的人的全部。关乎他们的个性和品格——关于他们努力工作的能力，以及对他们正在做的和关心的事情付出大量努力的能力。这是他们的功课，关心别人，关心自己的身心健康。这些都是重要的，因为学生的全部都很重要。这个过程从他们幼儿园的最低年级开始，一直到他们高三的时候。我们必须给他们机会。有时我们可能不喜欢他们自己做的选择，但我们必须支持他们，帮助他们学习和成长，即使他们犯了错误。这就是我用来指导他们的理念。幸运的是，这与我所在的学校非常匹配。我认为这对学生来说非常重要。我也相信，作为一个领导者，我的工作不只是为了学生，我的工作也是为了支持教师，支持家庭。我必须平衡所有人的需求。

有时候这并不容易，因为每个学生可能都有两位家长，所以每个家庭总共有三个人的意见需要考虑。还有我们学校的所有教职工。因此，它的规模就像是一个小镇。我们整个学校有3000名学生，但当你考虑到所有这些，包括家庭成员和教职工，我们的社区就有超过8000人。这甚至比我家乡的人口还要多。因此，我的工作是想听到他们所有人的诉求，支持和帮助学校满足这些需求，并试图平衡，这样我们就可以打造一个平稳运作的项目，让学生获得他们应得的机会。

我和很多有相同理念的同事一起工作。作为一所学校，我们可能还没有做到十全十美，我们总是有进步的空间。但我们可以改进并努力创造。

这正是我们所拥有的——成长型思维。这给这所学校带来了巨大的变化。我留在这所学校是因为我珍视它所做的一切，我珍视与我们一起工作的学生、家庭和教职员工。我认识到，在过去的许多年里，这所学校做了一些非凡的事情，并取得了巨大的发展。当你在一个地方呆了10年，你可以看到很多变化，我能够参与其中，看到我所做的事情在帮助他人方面产生了影响，是非常值得的。

教育者是关于人的职业。我喜欢帮助别人，不管他们是学生、家人还是教职员。我喜欢能够帮助他们实现梦想，完成个人成长。我觉得我在其中发挥了作用。这就是让我留在这里，让我积极参与到这个学校社区的原因。

上海市民办中芯学校国际部资深校长Dr. Kelley Ridings：我们取得了很多种成绩。每一年的毕业季都是激动人心的。看到孩子们和家人开心，对自己取得的成绩满意，并为进入下一个阶段感到兴奋，这是令人激动的。孩子们对他们所做的事情很满意，并开始了他们人生的下一个阶段，所以毕业总是一个令人兴奋的里程碑。这似乎是常事，但我们每年都一如既往地欢喜。

对于中芯学校来说，我认为获得WASC认证是一个巨大的进步。这是我在学校直接领导的事情。我们早在2013年就开始了这个过程，然后获得了认证。我们刚刚完成了第一个完整的认证周期，接下来开始第二个周期。

WASC是美国西部学校与学院教育联盟，获得认证是一个巨大的项目。在第一轮认证时，我们提供了一篇200页的自研报告。在去年秋天的第二轮WASC认证访问中，我们也准备了长达200多页的报告。这是一个复杂艰辛的过程。我们看到了这所学校惊人的发展。领导这个过程这么长时间——现在已经9年了——这是我们学校一直参与的一件伟大的事情。

作为一名教育工作者，这也是我迈出的一大步，因为我也学到了很多。除了我们学校，我还访问了很多其他学校。几个星期前我刚在一所学校完成了访问。目前，我已经访问了9个不同的学校。这也是一件很重要的事情，因为我了解到其他学校的内部运作，以及他们做得很好的事情。这样，我也可以帮助其他学校成长，所以我很享受。我认为WASC是一个非常可靠和值得尊敬的项目。

如果我没有在这里工作10年，就没有机会看到长期以来发生了什么，能够让学校更好地为学生、教职员工和家庭服务。我很幸运看到孩子们变得很好，做了一些很棒的事情。很高兴看到在这里开始职业生涯的教职员工提高了自己的能力，并付出了巨大的努力。我在帮助引导他们，指导他们，从而让他们也可以继续从事令人兴奋的职业。这些都是日常发生的事情，但每一件对我们而言都非常重要。

上海市民办中芯学校国际部资深校长Dr. Kelley Ridings：离开墨西哥后，我回到美国生活和工作。我在一所非常非常小的学校教书。在那所学校，我们在当老师之外还做很多其他的事情。我发现我十分享受领导这些教师来做由我们参与的事情。有一天，学校的主管走过来问我：“你什么时候完成你的管理学位？”我震惊地看着她，因为我没有攻读管理学位。然而，听了她的说法后，我想，这就是我应该做的。

这件事让我开始认真思考成为一名管理人员。我的导师非常可贵。她是一位强有力的榜样。她当了40年的教育家，职业生涯的大部分时间都是管理人员。她对很多学生和像我这样的成年人产生了巨大的影响。我们今天仍然是非常好的朋友，这事让我开始思考领导力。最终，我成为了那所学校的校长，并继续在同一学区担任其他管理职务。

领导是我的使命，这就是为什么我认为作为一名领导者，我有特别强大的影响力，因为我仍然重视教育。我仍然是一名教育家，但使我特别感兴趣并且我有所专长的领域是管理和领导。此外，我认为作为领导者，我们必须善于倾听。听取别人的意见是很重要的，并且要对学校社区的所有不同方面都有想法。

“有没有关于我正在探索的主题的书？有没有我可以参加的研讨会？”等等。我昨天刚刚报名参加了一个国际学校校长的小组研讨会。几周前，我刚和同一个小组完成了一门关于其他主题的课程。我总是在探索新的话题和事物，这样不仅可以更好地理解我们现在工作的时机，而且可以理解和提高我的能力，这样我就可以在未来更有效地做我所做的事情。

我也通过其他方式学习。我在实践中不断研究不同的想法和做事的新方法。我希望除了阅读以外，还能通过其他办法帮助我成为一个更有效的领导者，让学校发展得更好。例如，可以通过与他人交谈。可以通过接触，扩充我与其他教育工作者和领导者的关系网络，这个网络不仅有我们学校，还有其他地方的人。在我职业生涯的这个阶段，我也想帮助其他人，不仅仅是在我们学校。

正如我所提到的，例如，我所做的WASC认证访问，无论我是亲自去，还是带着团队去其他学校进行远程访问，都有助于他们的成长。我提到了我给其他人提供的指导。我不仅指导校内的人，也指导校外的人。这有助于他们的职业发展。他们是我的朋友，但他们也是需要帮助和指导的人。我想帮助他们就像我职业生涯早期有人帮助我一样。

我也喜欢分享我的想法。例如，我刚刚写了一本书，《出国教书：在国际学校找到你梦想的工作》，去年出版。这是一个我经常被问到的话题。我想我可以写一本关于这个的书，所以我开始研究。我花了很多时间在这上面，尤其是在2020年我们在家工作的时候，我利用在家的时间卓有成效地完成了这本书的大部分，并在去年出版了它。这是我回馈社区帮助他人的一种方式。我不会直接与我的大多数读者见面，但他们可以通过这本书了解如何进入国际教育领域。这份工作改变了我的生活。这是一件好事。

教育是一个利他、助人的职业，这是我告诉人们的。前几天我刚对别人说过：“这是一个帮助他人的职业。这就是我们的宗旨。”

这是一个学习的过程。对于每个新管理者来说，他们必须处理的第一件事可能是在两件事情之间取得平衡：做他们想做的事情和做社区成员希望他们做的事情。有时他们会同时听到所有这些不同的声音。这些声音是压倒性的，导致他们没有太多的时间采取行动。这不是一个简单的过程。

多年来，我学会了几种不同的方法来实现这一点，从某种程度上讲，要分清轻重缓急，即试图平衡事物。有些事情是必须要做的，但有些事情很重要。我们的时间有限，然而总有一些事情挤满了我们的工作时间。我们还必须能够意识到，那些必须要做的紧急事情有时并不像它们看起来那么紧急，它们并不总是令人满意。我们也可以有其他方法来帮助人们找到解决这些问题的方法。一般来说，这是试图找出如何去做的一种平衡。有时我们不得不说“不”或“现在不行”，这并不总是容易做到的，但我们必须要做到，因为有很多重要的事情。有时人们没有意识到这一点，但很明显，许多事情在领导者的手上，是紧急的，特别是在这些时候。人们并不总是知道优先处理哪些最紧急的事情。这并不总是容易的，但有时你必须平衡这两者，你必须在解决那些紧急的大问题上取得进展。只要我在这方面取得进展，就会让我感觉更好。只要我在那些我想做的重要项目上取得进展，那就会更有成就感。我也得在其他事情上取得进展。如果这两件事我都能做到，那就好了，但鱼和熊掌不可兼得，这就是问题所在。这很难做到，这是一件需要时间才能弄清楚的事情。我不知道自己是否保持了完美的平衡，但我比从前的自己更上一层楼。

English Version

Dr. Kelley Ridings, SMIC-ID Superintendent：An international system is a diverse place. There are students from all over the world, not just students but also the staff. We've got students from 38 countries and regions, and staff from 23 countries and regions. That's quite different from just working in a school where it's usually people from one's own country.

In the international education field, various needs are unique for students and teachers who are trained from around the world. The multicultural aspect of an international school is very complex. That's something quite different from public schools. Our type of school may be similar to a school in the U.S. or many international schools around the world. We offer similar things in terms of sports clubs, academic programs, and so on. But there's usually a much stronger focus on language, various cultures, and leadership. That's a lot more common with other international schools than with schools. 

I find that families are very supportive of students in international schools. They want to see great things for their kids. That helps their kids to succeed and have opportunities that they may not get elsewhere. Certainly, there are many fine public schools too.

Families have choices about the schools where they want their kids to go. For example, there are over 100 international-style programs in Shanghai, so there are a lot of choices that are available to families. Public schools don't necessarily have those varieties of choices and options as much, but there are differences in the international system. Of course, many fine students graduate from public school, and there are fine students who graduate from international schools also. 

Dr. Kelley Ridings, SMIC-ID Superintendent： It's a very dynamic system for sure — a lot of growth. I think that has been very powerful for the students and families that we serve. The majority of them are from families with a Chinese background. They studied and worked abroad. They had kids abroad, but they decided to come back here to raise their families. We help them by providing an international education.

The market is competitive here because obviously, Shanghai is a very international city. There are many international cities like Beijing and Guangzhou which have very large international communities. I think that's an important thing that we're able to help families with our international-style education. It has changed a lot in the last 10 years. Now, I think there's a lot more interest in trying to have more guidance and regulation about how those types of schools run so that there are more quality programs. They offer things that are important for not just international families, but for the overall growth in China.

Thus, we're seeing some changes in the way that system looks now, but international education isn't going to go away since the needs of families who want to see their kids get an international education isn't going to change. What we offer is going to have ongoing importance here in China, so I'm very confident about the future.

Dr. Kelley Ridings, SMIC-ID Superintendent：As I said earlier, there are over 100 international-style schools in Shanghai alone. That’s a lot, but every school is different. Every school has its unique focus just like our school has our own unique focus. But if we look at every place’s focus, the competition isn't quite as heavy. There aren't so many schools that serve students exactly as we're do it. We also have to think about location. Even if a school is in Shanghai, if its in the other half of the city, then it's not exactly easily accessible to a family who is living in our own neighborhood.

There is competition, but it's okay. We're able to offer things that other schools cannot. Correspondingly, they can offer things that we can't do. So, each of us has our market. It’s also good that there's lots of room. Competition helps us grow. It helps us improve what we're doing. If a school is doing the right things, it's going to be aware of the market and other schools around them, and it will evolve as competitors grow and do new things too.

We've got 20 years of experience in our school. If another school is brand new, they don't have that history. It's hard to start a school. Even as a new school, there will still be lots of challenges for them. We're able to do some things well because of our experience and maturity.

Dr. Kelley Ridings, SMIC-ID Superintendent： I think they have to keep up with the trends of what the school community wants. A good school has to keep track of that, and they have to think about what their part is and how they can serve. Any new school is going to have to think about that a little bit, not just copying existing schools. They also have to put their school into the current environment in China. It's very fluid. So they have to be mindful of that — thinking about how to meet the needs and still keep within the system while doing all the things that have to be done in a school. That's important. It's not easy to do because competition is quite intensive sometimes.

It can also put pressure on parents and families because they seek the best and they're making big choices for their kids. We have to help parents do what we can to try to offer things that they need for their kids, but we also have to keep within our lane. In other words, we have to keep within doing what we can do best. If it goes away from our main focus, it may not be what we should do. What I tell a family is like this, “Okay, there are lots of other school choices. Some of them can better meet your needs, so if that's the specific thing that you want, it’s ok to look at them more instead, but that's not what we can do.” We do what we do very well, but we can't do everything. I think that's what new schools have to think about. I always say we can do anything we want but we cannot do everything we want. That is important to keep in mind for any successful school.

We have to ask ourselves who do we serve？What do we do？What makes us unique？We should have that well-identified, and sometimes we can expand a little bit. We can do something new and different. We can innovate but still focus on that main path of what we must do as the core of who were are. There's a difference between the main path and looking at trends. Trends are just sort of a short-term thing compared to looking at what are the long-term goals for our school.

Dr. Kelley Ridings, SMIC-ID Superintendent: I wanted to be a teacher pretty much most of my life. When I was a little boy, I liked to play school with my friends. I always wanted to be the teacher. Also, there were many teachers in my family, so I think it’s in my family’s heritage. I've always liked and enjoyed school.

So, that's why I wanted to be a teacher and kept moving from there into administration. I had the idea about school leadership because it interested me to help students, families, and staff to grow a school. That means a lot to me. 

Then, I began to think about getting involved with international education. I lived in the U.S. right on the border of the U.S. and Mexico. I was teaching in Texas and then at night I would cross the border and go into Mexico. I was teaching at a university there and that was how I first started working in another country. I had friends as well in Mexico, so I just learned more about international schools and realized there are all these other schools abroad. They also needed English teachers at that time, and I thought I could do that. During a recession in the U.S., I didn't have any good job opportunities, so I thought I could just go there to Mexico and teach English as a second language. That was my original plan, and then instead, I ended up working in an American school. That's how I got involved in international teaching.

When I first interviewed with the Shanghai SMIC Private School 10 years ago, I was impressed with their growth mindset. It was very obvious to me that they wanted to grow, and that they recognized there were challenges, but they wanted to be better. That's just the way I think about things, so I knew that this was a place I could help to grow. It was a place where I could grow, too. That was why I came here.

Dr. Kelley Ridings, SMIC-ID Superintendent：I believe that all students deserve their opportunities and education is a learning opportunity. That's what schools are all about. Kids deserve to have chances. As educators and families, we have to support kids as they learn in their lives. They don't just automatically come to us knowing everything. Therefore, we have to teach those things to them.

It's not just about the academics but the whole student. It's about their personality and character — about their ability to work hard and to put a lot of effort into the things that they're doing and care about. It’s their academics, to care about other people, and to care about themselves and their health. Those are important, because the whole student matters. It's a process that starts when they're in the youngest grades in kindergarten moving up to when they’re seniors in high school. We have to give them opportunities. Sometimes we may not like the choices that they make individually, but we have to support them and help them learn and grow even when they make mistakes. That's the philosophy that I use as a guide to help them. Fortunately, that matches very well with the school where I am. I think that’s something really important for the students. I also believe that as a leader my job is not just for students, but my job is also to support staff, and it's to support families. I have to balance the needs of all of them.

Sometimes that's not easy because for each student there are also perhaps two parents who go with that student, so that’s three people.  Then you have all the staff within our school. Hence, it's a small town. We’ve got 3,000 students in our entire school, but when you consider all this, the families and the staff, that's like over 8,000 people in our community. That’s even a bigger number of people than in my hometown. Thus, my job is to try to hear all of them and to try to support and to help our school meet those needs where we can, and to try to balance that so that we can have a smooth-running program where those students have access to the chances that they deserve to have.

I work with so many colleagues that have the same philosophy. As a school, we may not have certain things perfect yet, and we can always be better. But we can improve and put forth the effort to make that happen.

That's exactly what we have — that growth mindset. It has made a huge difference in this school. I stayed with this school because I value what it does, and I value the students, the families, and the staff that we work with. I recognize that the school has done some phenomenal things and has grown in tremendous ways over the last many years. You can see a lot of changes in a place when you stay 10 years. I've been able to be part of that. It is very rewarding to see the impact that what we're doing has in helping other people.

Being an educator is a people profession. I enjoy helping other people no matter if they are students, families, or staff. I like being able to help them realize their dreams and grow as individuals. I think I have a role in that. That's what has kept me here and has kept me actively involved in this school community.

Dr. Kelley Ridings, SMIC-ID Superintendent: There are lots of different things. Every graduation is exciting. It's exciting to see kids and families happy and feeling good about their accomplishments and excited about moving on to their next steps. The kids are happy with what they've done and moving on to their next point of life, so that's always an exciting milestone. That seems like a regular thing, but we get to enjoy it every year.

For SMIC I think getting WASC accreditation was a huge step. That was something that I led directly within the school. We started that process back in 2013 and then got our accreditation. We now just finished our first full accreditation cycle and have started our second one.

WASC is the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, and accreditation is a massive project. We wrote a 200-page self-study for the first cycle. Then we did another one for our second cycle for our school’s WASC visit this past fall. That was also over 200 pages long. It's a huge process. We've seen amazing growth with the school. So leading that process for so long — it's now been 9 years — that has been a giant thing that this school has been part of.

It has also been a big step for me as an educator because I've learned so much also.  Not only our school, but I’ve also done many visits to other schools. I just finished one a couple of weeks ago at a school here in China. At present, I've been on nine different visits now to other schools. That's been a huge thing as well because I've learned about the inner-workings of other schools and what they're doing that works well. In this way, I can help other schools to grow as well, so I enjoy it. I think WASC is a program that is very solid and well-respected. 

If I hadn't been here for 10 years, I wouldn’t have had the chance to see what can happen over the long-term to make school better for students, staff, and families. I’m lucky to see the kids turn out great and do some fantastic things. It's wonderful to see staff who start their careers here increase their abilities and put in strong efforts. I'm helping guide them a little bit and mentor them so that they can go on and have exciting careers, too. Those are all everyday things, but they all have power.

Dr. Kelley Ridings, SMIC-ID Superintendent：After leaving Mexico, I came back to the US to live and work there. I was teaching in a very, very small school. In that school, we did a lot of things rather than only being teachers. I found that I enjoyed those teacher leadership possibilities of doing things that I was involved with. One day the supervisor for the school came over to me and said, “When are you finishing your administration degree？” I looked at her in shock because I wasn't working on an administration degree. However, after hearing her way of saying it, I thought, that's what I ought to do.

That experience got me seriously thinking along the path of being an administrator. My mentor was invaluable. She was a strong role model. She was an educator for 40 years and an administrator for most of her career. She had a huge impact on a lot of students and adults — people like me. We're still very good friends today even though that was almost 25 years ago. That's what started me to think about leadership. Eventually, I became the principal for that school and went on to do other administrative roles in that same school district.

Leadership is my calling, and that is why I think I have an extra-strong impact as a leader as I still value education. I'm still an educator as well, but my particular area of interest and specialty is leadership. Also, I think we as leaders must be good listeners. It's important to hear what other people are saying, keeping an idea about all those different sides of the school community. 

Are there some books on topics that I’m exploring？Do I have workshops that I can attend？I just signed up for a workshop yesterday for a group that I belong to of international school heads. I just completed a course a few weeks ago with the same group, but for other topics. Thus, I’m always exploring new topics and things so that I can do to not only better understand the time that we're working in now, but to understand and grow my abilities so that I can be more effective in what I’m doing for the future.

I also learn through other ways. I constantly research different ideas and new ways of doing things within my practice. I hope that helps the school grow, and it helps me be a more effective leader than I could be just through reading. It's through talking to other people. It's through reaching out, and expanding my network with other educators and leaders, not just in our school, but elsewhere too. Also at this point in my career, I want to help others, not just within our school.

As I mentioned, for example, the WASC accreditation visits that I do, whether I go in person or do a virtual visit to other schools with a team, helps them to grow. I mentioned the mentorship which I provide to other people. I mentor people not only within our school, but I also mentor some people who are outside of our school as well. It helps them grow their careers. They're my friends, but they're also people who want some help and guidance. I’m trying to help them just like somebody helped me early on in my career.

I also like to share my ideas. For example, I just wrote a book, Teach or Lead Abroad: Easily Find Your Dream Job in International Schools, which I published last year. That's a topic that I get asked a lot about. I thought I could write a book on that, so I worked on that. That's what I spent a lot of my time, especially during 2020 when we were working online from home. I used my off-time at home productively them and was able to finish most of that book and publish it last year. That's just a way that I can share back to the community to help others. I won’t meet most of my readers directly, but they can look at that book and learn about how they can get into international education. This career has changed my life. It has been a good thing.

This is a helping profession, and that's what I tell people. I just said that to somebody the other day, “This is a helping profession. That's what we're about.”

It's a learning process. For every new administrator probably the number one thing that they have to deal is trying to a balance between two things：doing what they want to do and doing what community members expect them to do. Sometimes they hear all of these different voices coming at them, usually at one time. It's overwhelming and they don't have much time to act. It's not an easy process.

There have been several different ways over the years that I've learned how to do this. Partially, it's about prioritizing. It's about trying to balance out things. You have some things that must be done, but some things are important to do. We don't have a lot of time. However, there are the things that fill us up and make us feel fulfilled in the work that we're doing. We've got to also be able to realize that those urgent things that have to be done sometimes are not as urgent as they might appear and they're not always fulfilling. We can get other ways to help people figure out how to solve some of those issues, too. Generally, it's a balance of trying to figure out how to do that. Sometimes we have to say “no” or “not right now” which is not always easy to do, but we must be able to do that because there are lots of things that are important. Sometimes people don't realize it, but obviously, many things are urgent that are on the leaders' plates, especially these times. People don't always prioritize what those most urgent things are. It's not always easy, but sometimes you have to just balance that, and you have to make progress in solving those big problems that are urgent. As long as I’m making progress toward that, it helps me to feel better about it. As long as I’m making progress on those important projects that I want to work on, that is more fulfilling. I have to make progress on the other things, too. If I’m able to do both of those things, then there's that, but we can't be doing all one or all the other. We have to do both. And so that's the thing. That's difficult to do. It's just something it takes time to figure out. I don't know if I have the right balance totally, but I’m much better at it than I was in my early career.