Dave Samson, head of Germantown Academy’s Upper School, was featured by The Philadelphia Business Journal for returning to Fort Washington after a nine-year hiatus.

According to the story, Samson served GA as a counselor and teacher (among other roles) from 2004 to 2015, during which time he helped incorporate the House System and developed a new curriculum for the Freshmen Seminar Program.

An excerpt from The Journal’s interview with Samson:

How has Germantown Academy changed since your departure in 2015?

It’s evolved in all the right ways in terms of how we can be inclusive as a school and how we can work with students and faculty with a variety of different identities. We set more intentional time and programming for identity development and social emotional wellness. Our schedule has changed a little bit, which allows more time for kids to connect with teachers and for clubs to meet, so that also enhances student leadership. When I was here before, the schedule didn’t really have the time for the advisers to meet with their students to do some of this important identity work or some of this work outside of the curriculum. Social-emotional learning work that happens in our advisory spaces are in this new block of time called community time. … We also have a more robust computer science and robotics and engineering program than when I was here. Some of the new additions of courses are electives for seniors. We have organic chemistry – it’s become a popular class. We have astronomy, anatomy and physiology, and a variety of really exciting English and history seminars.

His biography is here.

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Photo: Germantown Academy