![]() This will bring many of our support systems closer to our campuses and increase our team presence in Chicago. Third, as part of the plan, Whittle and Varkey Schools will be merging the headquarters team and distributing that team to certain campuses including Chicago. From GEMS' beginning we had planned that China and other exciting US cities would be part of our system, but this combination with Chris advances by years the ability of our students to study on 4 continents-and for students from more countries and cities to join us in Chicago. Almost all of these campuses have existing boarding facilities which, along with our GEMS campuses will be available to our students immediately for summers, semesters, and full years abroad. The campuses in China are some of the finest in the world, with Shenzhen being chosen as one of the top 20 architectural designs in the world in 2019. Whittle Washington is a magnificent campus and Whittle New York, when construction is complete, will be as well. Second, via this combination, we will add China and two great American cities to our community, increasing, as Covid comes to an end, study-abroad opportunities for all our students. I know you all have waited patiently for this incredible facility, and we are so happy that our students and faculty will finally have a building that will support the fantastic teaching and learning that occurs at our school. ![]() This will enable us to quickly resume construction on our Upper School building, a project we hope to complete by early next fall. All of this capital will be dedicated to the 7 existing schools - not future development. This merger when completed will bring many benefits to our Chicago campus.įirst, upon completion of this planned combination, significant new capital will flow into our system. Following the 2008 financial crisis, we each pursued the idea on our own and it is poetic that we are now coming together, 15 years later. Back then, we saw what we see now: that families want their children ready for global life and able to help solve the many global challenges we face. The new group will be called The Varkey-Whittle Education Group and the campuses will all fly under the Whittle School & Studios brand.Ĭhris and I actually began working together on the idea of a very high quality, global school system in 2006, but our initial, joint effort was interrupted by the world financial crisis. Working long hours last week, a joint Varkey-Whittle team have made great strides on preliminary discussions and we are now moving to documentation stage that will be presented to our Boards for approval. Together, these campuses will accommodate nearly 15,000 students. Whittle School & Studios and The Varkey Group (my family office) are planning to merge portions of our two schooling organizations to create a global system of seven top-tier independent schools in the United States, Africa, and another continent to be soon named - with the 2 Whittle campuses in China having a close affiliation with our new group. I say the above to give you a sense that what you are about to hear, while specifically conceived during these awful pandemic times, is something rooted in long-shared common cause.Ĭhris and I want to join forces. Over the years, Chris also funded over a hundred 5-year, full-ride university scholarships for students at the University of Tennessee. With God’s help I have also founded the Varkey Foundation which sponsors a globally recognized “Teacher Prize.” While I was hard at work in Dubai, Chris was pioneering the charter school movement in the US and then went on to found Avenues: The World School, in New York, one of the most successful schools within that great city, and then Whittle School & Studios, in Washington and Shenzhen. Beginning with a single school in Dubai for the children of Indian families, I have been lucky to have built the world’s largest, independent school organization, GEMS, which now educates over 100,000 students around the world. But our most important commonality has been our lifetime commitment to the modernization of education. Chris moved from Knoxville to New York (which felt like changing countries!) and my family and I moved from Kerala to Dubai, in the early days of that city’s dream to become the Middle East’s most vibrant metropolis. We were both born and raised “in the South,” in Chris’s life a small town along the mountains in Tennessee and in my case in the Kerala region of India. There is exciting news in development for the GEMS World Academy Chicago community and today I’d like to bring you “under the tent” regarding these developments.Ĭhris Whittle and I have known one another and been good friends for almost 30 years. Anonymous wrote:^^that is even more frighteningĭear GEMS World Academy Chicago Parents, Students, and Staff: ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |