Marymount School of Santa Barbara‘s Head of School, Andrew Wooden, has joined the California Association of Independent Schools board of directors.
CAIS, a non-profit organization made up of elementary, middle and secondary schools in California, has the mission to “serve and strengthen its schools by setting standards of academic quality and ethical conduct; by providing for the professional growth of faculty, administrators and trustees; and by promoting ethnic and socio-economic diversity.”
The organization also offers accreditation and resources and guidance for best practices for independent schools.
Wooden will bring expertise gained by over 30 years of work in independent schools to help further CAIS’ mission.
His career with independent schools began at Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H., where he taught and later transformed the school’s admissions and development departments.
In his 12 years at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Conn., he taught and led the admissions and financial aid departments and initiated several scholar and scholarship programs. He also worked as a senior dean and oversaw other major school wide initiatives.
After earning his master’s in religion from Yale Divinity School in 1996, he accepted a position in New Mexico to help build a new independent school in Albuquerque.
Under Wooden’s leadership, Bosque School grew to 540 students and is respected as a top independent day school known for academic excellence, community service and environmental education.
Wooden was a research fellow at Yale Divinity School Library in 2001–12 and spent the year studying leadership and the moral purpose of education. In 2009 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale.
Wooden is also vice president of the board of ASSIST, a non-profit organization that creates life-changing opportunities for outstanding international scholars to learn from and contribute to the finest American secondary schools.
Since becoming Head of School at Marymount, Wooden is engaged in the life of the school on every level from leading morning meetings and cheering Marymount’s sports teams to victory from the sidelines to implementing 21st Century learning and high academic standards and fostering a lifelong commitment of service and involved citizenship in students.
His experience as a scholar, a teacher, a coach and administrator both give Wooden an understanding for the needs of students and families and fuel his passion for making schools better.
— Molly Seguel represents Marymount School of Santa Barbara.