The Work Behind What Comes Next

Before students returned to campus, Antilles faculty and staff spent August Professional Week looking beyond the start of a new school year to the community they are helping shape for generations to come.

Head of School Shannon Harris challenged colleagues to consider what those celebrating Antilles’ 100th anniversary will say about the work being done today—and how the relationships, expectations and experiences created now will prepare students to lead in the Virgin Islands and wherever their lives take them.

That work included time devoted to the people at the heart of an Antilles education. Faculty explored research on resilience, belonging, creativity and independent thinking; Middle and Upper School colleagues stepped beyond campus for a retreat centered on trust, reflection and shared purpose; and teachers translated those ideas into goals they could carry directly into their classrooms. It was an investment not simply in professional growth, but in the quality of every student’s daily experience.

Antilles also began putting its new Responsible AI in Learning endorsement into practice, establishing a developmentally appropriate framework that protects the productive struggle essential to learning while preparing older students to use emerging technology thoughtfully.

At the same time, the School introduced a locally built emergency alert system designed to deliver critical information to families more reliably. Together, these efforts reflect the kind of progress donor support makes possible: strengthening the people, practices and systems that allow Antilles students—and the community around them—to thrive.