Dive into The READ's spring issue! Check it out here.
Denise Pope
“There is a real disconnect between what the girls are hearing and what their parents think about success. We are trying to get people all on the same page.”
November 2019—Dr. Denise Pope helped our community examine preconceptions about success and stress during a two-day visit with faculty and staff, parents and students. A Senior Lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and a co-founder of Challenge Success, she was the inaugural visiting scholar of our Chandaria Research Centre (CRC).
Pope is an expert on students’ experiences of workload, stress and well-being. She shared insights on how to help students adapt to and cope with stress, including the importance of sleep and allowing for unstructured time in their busy schedules.
She also spoke at the annual Branksome Hall Parents’ Association Luncheon, co-sponsored by the CRC.
“When we talk to students, the definition of success is very narrow,” she said. “You have got to get the grades to get into university, to get the high-paying job, to get to happiness,” Dr. Pope noted. “However, when [you ask] parents to define success for their kids, they say happiness, health, balance and well-being.”
Pope emphasized the importance of what she calls PDF (playtime, downtime and family time). Incorporating these into weekly routine are vital to creating healthier, happier students—and adults!
View an interview with Dr. Pope following the luncheon.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We wish to acknowledge this land on which Branksome operates. For thousands of years, it has been the traditional land of the Wendat, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous peoples from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work and go to school on this land.*
*The Land Acknowledgement may evolve as we honour our commitment to Truth and Reconciliation in partnership with Indigenous communities.
*The Land Acknowledgement may evolve as we honour our commitment to Truth and Reconciliation in partnership with Indigenous communities.
Setting the new standard for girls' education everywhere takes collective action. From all of us.
