Newtown Yardley, PA Announcement

Stuart Country Day School Celebrates the Opening of The Cor Cordis Center for Exceptional Leadership: A New Vision for Stuart’s Enduring Mission

Pictured, from left to right: Julia Wall, Head of School at Stuart; Paul Meyer, W.S. Cumby Construction; Bill Cumby, CEO of W.S. Cumby Construction; Pictured, from left to right: Julia Wall, Head of School at Stuart; Paul Meyer, W.S. Cumby Construction; Bill Cumby, CEO of W.S. Cumby Construction;Darren Malone, Director of Facilities and Sustainability at Stuart; Paul Teti, Co-chair of the Stuart Board of Trustees; Woodney Wachter, Co-chair of the Stuart Board of Trustees; Beth Marks, Director of Development at Stuart. Not pictured: Keith Hone, Hone +Associates Architects

Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, an all-girls, independent, Catholic school in Princeton, New Jersey, is proud to introduce a game-changing initiative that will transform the way students access essential services – The Cor Cordis Center for Exceptional Leadership. With a name derived from Latin and Sacred Heart values as its foundation, the Cor Cordis (“The heart of hearts”) Center is an interconnected student services hub located at the heart of the school that will integrate learning services, wellness services, and student success support, creating a holistic approach to education that prioritizes the well-being of every student.

Girls today face new challenges in a rapidly changing and often isolating world. According to a 2021 youth risk behavior survey by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 60 percenter of teenage girls in the U.S. reported feeling persistently sad or hopeless. Additional research from The Journal of Adolescent Health highlights similar findings, noting that rates of depression among teens have significantly increased in the past decade, with a more pronounced rise among girls compared to boys. As a school dedicated to empowering girls, Stuart see this as a crucial call to action.    

“The Cor Cordis Center boldly represents our mission in action, with the well-being of our girls front and center,” says Julia Wall, Head of the School at Stuart. “It has been part of Stuart’s mission and vision for 60 years to pay close attention to the interconnectedness of a child’s mind, body, and heart. One cannot move forward without the other. This self-awareness fuels their development as curious, influential, and empathic leaders and sustains them for life-long ambitious pursuit,” she says. “When girls figure out that a powerful leadership skill they can learn at Stuart is the ability to adapt eagerly and with resilience, the sky is their limit.”

Stuart’s holistic approach is grounded in over 200 years of Sacred Heart education. It leverages the unique benefits of a girls’ school environment, fostering an atmosphere where students can develop into well-rounded leaders. The interconnectedness of leadership and wellness, along with the link between spirituality and mental health, is emphasized in the design of the Cor Cordis Center. This model of leadership and wellness center is common on college and university campuses, but it is uniquely implemented at Stuart for middle and high school students, providing early access to these critical resources.  “We have made a real investment in the spirituality and well-being of our students; the Cor Cordis Center will not only help students delve deeper in their learning, but it will give them the foundational elements that they need to thrive,” remarks Woodney Wachter, Co-Chair of the Board.

The Cor Cordis Center will utilize the existing footprint of the two floors surrounding the school’s famed Stairway of Intellectuality to re-imagine and modernize the space into a centralized hub for essential student services, including learning support, counseling services and the health office, math and writing labs, college counseling, the office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging, a spirituality and student life space, and the National Center for Girls’ Leadership at Stuart.  In conjunction with the launch of the Cor Cordis Center is an interdisciplinary Wellness curriculum for Middle and Upper School students designed to foster social, emotional, physical, spiritual, and intellectual development by combining key courses such as Health, Physical Education, and Study Skills, and Leadership into one program. Wellness courses will include a collaborative approach to teaching with topic-specific lessons taught by school counselors, the director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging, Learning Center staff, and other faculty and staff members within the Cor Cordis Center. This will help students see how these individuals are part of their support system, enhancing educational outcomes and leadership qualities.

“The Cor Cordis Center for Exceptional Leadership is putting health and wellness, and academic excellence in the context of community,” states Paul Teti, Co-Chair of the Board. “It’s at the core of our school, and it’s exciting to imagine students of all ages learning from each other and from our exceptional faculty and staff. The programming being developed for the Center will allow students to seek the pathway that best suits them to get to the finish line of anything they pursue.” 
 

Keith Hone (Hone +Associates Architects) says, “It’s an honor to be selected as the architect for Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart Cor Cordis Center for Exceptional Leadership. Working with the thoughtful and imaginative people at Stuart has been a truly rewarding experience. This project presented numerous exciting opportunities to meet the evolving needs of this community while respecting architect Jean Labatut’s original vision for the school.”

By investing in the Cor Cordis Center, Stuart is demonstrating its commitment to fostering a lifetime of leadership success through academic excellence, student support, and health and wellness. This dedication ensures that all students have the support and resources needed to take the lead in their own leadership development and success.

“Stuart girls are strong and resilient, compassionate and mission-driven, curious and ambitious,” reflects Wall. “They are also human, wonderfully imperfect evolving works in progress, doing their best to navigate a complex world. We can help shape their futures by keeping their holistic development at the center of our purpose.” 

The Cor Cordis Center for Exceptional Leadership at Stuart Country Day School is scheduled to be completed for the opening day of school on September 4, 2024.

About Stuart: 

Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart is a leading preschool to Grade 12 independent, Catholic school in Princeton, NJ designed just for girls. Stuart's mission is to educate young women to a life of leadership and service within the framework of the Goals and Criteria of the Schools of Sacred Heart. With a highly personalized and rigorous curriculum, exceptional faculty who know girls well, and the space given to grow in their faith, Stuart girls graduate as compassionate and empowered global citizens who are driven to be forces of change in our world. Visit www.stuartschool.org for more information.