June Global Mindset Moments

This year, French International updated its mission statement and released a new strategic plan. Both reflect who we are as a school and where we want to go. We also updated our guiding principles and core values - now called “Who We Are” and “How We Create Belonging.” The new strategic plan, mission statement, who we are, and how we create belonging were crafted after soliciting feedback from faculty, staff, parents, students, alumni, and alumni families.

The strategic plan is available here.

Throughout the year, we are sharing weekly Global Mindset moments on social media to demonstrate how the mission is playing out in our school and how we are fulfilling our strategic plan. Here are the June Global Mindset Moments:

Global Mindset Moment: Fifth graders wrapped up their French trip this week. They stayed in Strasbourg and were hosted by local families over the weekend. They visited museums, took a train to Colmar, made baguettes, took a boat ride, and much more in a packed itinerary. The group stayed with host families over the weekend and went to school for a few days at Le Gymnase. Le Gymnase is an IB School like us. Our students helped their students work on PYP presentations, and our teachers made connections with Le Gymnase faculty to lay the groundwork for future trips. This trip aligns with both our program and presence pillar. Our Maternelle and Lower School program prepared these students for their experience in France. And our goal as a school is to connect with French and IB schools worldwide.

Global Mindset Moment: The seventh-grade trip focuses on theater and performing arts and this year the students went to a new destination. 🎭 Last week, seventh graders went to Ashland for the Shakespeare festival. They saw a few different shows, toured the theater, and learned about how the festival comes together each year. Our mission is to develop curious and critical thinkers and our program is designed so that students can explore different interests and passions. 

Global Mindset Moment: Last week, Christine and Clifton Bruno visited with the first graders to talk about organisms and interconnections within the French International forest. Students learned about salmon and salmon migration in our area. They also made toys and games and brewed tea using materials from our forest. First graders are diving into the unit of inquiry "Organisms are interconnected in nature." Through our programs pillar, we want students to understand and make an impact within their own community, and what better resource to learn from than our own forest.

Global Mindset Moment: French International Alum, Catherine McCandless is working with sixth graders on a service project. She spoke to them about the effect of service and how important it is to make an impact on your community. The sixth graders are collecting single-serve snacks to donate to Project Lead the Way at McDaniel High School.

Service as action is a fundamental part of the IB program, and we want students to develop into caring and empathetic leaders. Our mission is to create an environment where our students can effect change in Portland and beyond.