Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Lin.
Hi Jennifer, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Saint Louis Sudbury School was founded in 2019 by parent Alexis Franklin and a group of compassionate and insightful parents who were looking for a unique learning community where their children and families could thrive outside of conventional school norms. Inspired by the original Sudbury model school, Sudbury Valley School, in Massachusetts which was founded in 1968, the founding Saint Louis Sudbury School group was dedicated to creating a learning environment for young people where they have the time and space to explore their interests with support from those around them. At Saint Louis Sudbury School, we have no tests, grades, or homework!
Leadership of the school transitioned over the years and the school community continued to grow and shift. My child began at Saint Louis Sudbury School in 2021. In 2022, I joined the school’s small board of directors and eventually ended up leading the school during the 2023-2024 School Year in collaboration with many wonderful humans. I am a parent of a Saint Louis Sudbury School graduate and a nonprofit creative and administrator with over 25 years of nonprofit experience. The Sudbury experience built on trust, respect, autonomy, and community was life changing for my child and my family and that experience drives my ongoing dedication to ensure this important educational opportunity is available for young people.
Of all the jobs I’ve had over the years, being a part of Saint Louis Sudbury School has been the most challenging in that it requires me to be fully present in the moment with young people, seeing their ups and downs through a lens of reverence (e.g. seeing the hardest of situations as gifts), being honest with myself, listening fully to families with both mind and heart, making tough decisions and seeing them through, asking for help, and staying grounded while still nurturing an environment of curiosity and change.
I’ve lived on both coasts and in the Midwest and have been in St. Louis since 2010. I have a MA in Nonprofit Management from American University in DC and a BA in English Literature and Piano Performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Also, I am an advocate for neurodivergent youth and a PDA (Pervasive Drive for Autonomy, autistic profile) parent resource. A lifelong learner, I am a self-taught professional photographer and forever ballet student! I photograph for nonprofits throughout the St. Louis region, specializing in production photography for theatre companies and events.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Sudbury model schools around the country and world have always had enormous challenges for financial, human resources, and cultural reasons (e.g. rethinking milestones and what “grade level” means), and Saint Louis Sudbury School has definitely had its share of challenges in those areas as well. We are a nonprofit microschool and because we do not test or assess or offer grades, we do not fulfill some of the parameters required to be accredited (plus we can’t afford the expensive accreditation process). So being an unaccredited school makes it harder to qualify for public and private funding. The majority of our families do not have deep financial resources (about 60% of our students receive tuition assistance), so we rely on donations from individuals to make up the difference. Saint Louis Sudbury School is run largely on volunteer efforts, generous community partners such as Intersect Arts Center, and parents.
In terms of human resource challenges, it’s hard to find people who are excellent facilitators and guides for our students, who can work for a low salary, who have administrative experience, and who are prepared emotionally to be in a learning environment where you are expected to be fully present and authentic to yourself everyday! The role of a staff member is unique in that they play a vital role in supporting and nurturing an environment conducive for learning and community building, but they do not play the traditional role of teacher all the time.
Lastly, the greatest challenge is the one of shifting people’s belief that the path of life has to be: “make it through” conventional school K-12 where your goal is to get into college, graduate from college, perhaps complete graduate school, get a job, get married, have kids, work hard, and retire. As people who have lived a while, we know that life isn’t always a linear journey and that different paths (u-turns and dead ends included!) can lead to worthwhile and meaningful experiences.
Saint Louis Sudbury School and other Sudbury schools around the world see that learning can happen anywhere at any time (and not just in classrooms with predetermined curriculum) and that being able to pursue interests from a young age, being trusted to be responsible for oneself and those around you (yes, as a child!), being able to learn from others older and younger, to navigate being in a compassionate community, and to practice self-awareness, can still lead to a personally satisfying life.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
At Saint Louis Sudbury School, we try to change up the default idea that as an adult, you are automatically an authority figure and are better, smarter, and more important than a young person, just because you are older. Adults are of course, not necessarily better, smarter, and more important than young people (but have more lived experiences)–something we see confirmed over and over at our school every day. Technically, my title is staff member and Board President at Saint Louis Sudbury School. Much of what I do could be considered “head of school” in more conventional school settings–but the difference is that I am regularly asking students for their input and recommendations about the running of the school, looking to student led committees for information and ideas, and collaborating extensively with my fellow staff member and volunteers on a regular basis. As a staff member and Board President, I trust our students to trust themselves, which serves as a regenerative process that helps keep our school community thriving.
In terms of the day to day, I serve the school in the following roles: staff management and board leadership, admissions, community development, student activities facilitator, marketing, fundraising, operations, finances, and family liaison.
You asked what I’m most proud of and what sets me apart from others. Challenging question! I think putting my entire life and energy into getting to understand and lead Saint Louis Sudbury School over the last few years has shown me that I can take risks and that I am much more courageous than I ever thought I could be. Being a part of Saint Louis Sudbury School requires an enormous amount of self-awareness and fearlessness to ask the hard questions, to be ready for hard answers, and to do so with an open heart all at the same time.
What sets me apart from others? I have been told that people feel they can trust me and that when I’m at work, things are going to be okay. Also, from a personal perspective, I can do all the “grown-up” things of running a business, a household, researching strategy plans, going to conferences, being there for friends and family… and inside my heart, I am still very much a curious kid who likes to touch soft grasses when on a walk, leap through a sunny hallway, kick acorns down the road, laugh until I’m crying at something that isn’t really funny, and play hide and seek with my dog. Keeping that playfulness alive as an adult makes all the difference as we navigate what life throws at us.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Mentors are all around you and of all ages. For me, I seek out different kinds of mentors to help me navigate running Saint Louis Sudbury School. Some of the wonderful and kind people I have leaned on are helpful with idea generation, offering wise and experienced advice, and big picture guidance.
I find them while reading, listening to podcasts (show notes!), attending conferences, talking with families and Sudbury’s many community partners, and contacting other staff at Sudbury model schools and Self-Directed Education learning communities. In general, I don’t assume that someone is too busy or too well-known to field my questions, and I am respectful of people’s time and bandwidth when reaching out. I also ask mentors if there’s anything that I can do for them or their cause.
There are a lot of online forums on Discord and Facebook as well for my field, so I’ve gotten to know some great people from around the world that way.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://stlsudbury.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stlsudbury/
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/stlsudbury
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/saint-louis-sudbury-school/
