Michelle White, Principal of Western High School, has been honored with a $5,000 grant from the Heart of the School Fund. The Heart of the School Fund provides grants to Baltimore City Public School principals to support projects that enhance their schools, their students’ learning and their staff’s growth. The Heart of the Schools is a community-wide initiative to recognize the role principals play in the success of schools.
The Heart of the Schools is funded and supported by more than 50 sponsors and supporters from the business and philanthropic communities, and is administered by the Fund for Educational Excellence, a non-profit organization that supports innovation that increases student achievement in city schools.
In collaboration with Western High School Foundation, Inc., Principal White will use the grant to support the new Western High School Front Campus Project. The Front Campus Project will upgrade Western’s front greenspace with sustainable plantings, outdoor hands-on classes focused on environmental studies and welcoming, healthful spaces for student gatherings.
The Foundation is beginning to seek funding for an environmental initiative to develop and implement an upgrading of Western’s distinctive front campus along Falls Road to be implemented in stages. Initial concepts were donated by landscape architects of Ayers Saint Gross and will be expanded to include detail on sustainable plants, student study and gathering spaces, and gracious entryway landscaping to reflect the caliber of Western High School to Falls Road commuters and the community. Principal White has already planned environmental science courses, many of which will take place outdoors in the upgraded space.
The Heart of the School Fund Grant will fund a gateway project for the larger landscaping theme, focusing on greenspace facing Falls Road with sustainable flowering trees and watering/maintenance for the first two years as the trees mature and can thrive heartily within our climate. The plantings will take place in Fall 2021 with student participation. According to Carolyn O’Keefe, president of Western High School Foundation, “Rome wasn’t built in a day, but Western leaders know how to persist for the good of her students and legacy. Each improvement that is visible to the community is a positive reflection of the school’s trajectory.”
In addition, Western and Baltimore Polytechnic are now undergoing feasibility studies as designated schools for the 21st Century Schools Program. Western High School Foundation is joining in the community input. A key interest is a new greenhouse to replace the former rooftop greenhouse removed a year ago.
A Western graduate herself, WHS Class of 1993, Michelle White was appointed to lead Western High School in September 2014. Her remarkable tenure has resulted in increased student enrollment, superb faculty recruitment, enhanced administrative professionalism and re-engagement of the school’s diverse, often notable, alumnae. Principal White initiated outreach for the formation of a Western Boosters Club to re-engage alums and more recently helped establish Western High School Foundation which was incorporated in March 2020.
Principal White collaborated with the Foundation for the robust celebration of the school’s 175th Anniversary as the oldest all-girls public school in America. Principal White’s staff and event leaders from WHS Foundation worked diligently, even during the severe restrictions and extra responsibilities the school endured during Covid 19. The yearlong celebration included bold exterior banners, the creation of famous alumnae portraits in the school lobby and expansion of the alumnae database. In April 2021, the Anniversary was capped off with the Shine the Light Virtual Gala featuring the renowned Anna
Deavere Smith, garnering over 2,000 virtual views and refreshed alumnae support.
About Western High School
Western High School, founded in 1844, is a college-preparatory high school serving young women in the Baltimore area. Western is the oldest all-girls public school in the nation. Its strategically designed rigorous curriculum encourages advanced-level course work. As students in a high-energy, wholesomely competitive academic atmosphere, Western students learn to take charge of their own lives, solve problems, initiate personal and societal advancements and assume leadership roles in school, career and community settings. www.westernhighschool.org.
About The Heart of the Schools
The Heart of the Schools is a year-round program that celebrates and supports Baltimore City Public School principals for their exemplary innovation, execution, and leadership, building strong school cultures. Coordinated by the Fund for Educational Excellence, the program is a collaborative of dozens of businesses, foundations, individuals and nonprofits.
