Wingra School has welcomed several graduate students from the UW-Madison Board Leadership course to the Board of Trustees in recent years. These students have been pivotal in supporting the Board’s work: They have developed the Board portal, which enables quick access to important background documents, as well as tools to improve Wingra School’s partnership with the larger Madison community. This year’s Sherry Wagner-Henry Graduate Student Chairs are Steven Tollios and Manman Ding; you may have met them at the cider table at the Unity Day Family Picnic in October. Steven and Manman will be continuing the work of last year’s graduate students, Adalia Hernandez Abrego and Hannah Leduc. Adalia and Hannah developed a Partnership Growth Matrix, which assists strategic partnership development between Wingra School and local organizations. The tool evaluates potential partner organizations along with several criteria, such as their alignment with Wingra School’s mission, their capacity to partner, as well as their commitment to justice, diversity, equity, inclusion, and environmental advocacy. Based on a survey of staff and trustees, as well as a discussion with Debbie, Manman and Steve have identified several organizations that will be run through the matrix. This exercise will then be used to initiate, grow, and nurture partnerships that will advance Wingra School in the next chapter. We look forward to seeing what the next 50 years have in store!
