Resilience and grit are words we use frequently at King’s. These qualities are ones we try to impart to our students, and ones we try to model for them. If our community has proven anything this past year, it’s that we are resilient and gritty. And that we never give up. Our Middle School may have had to teach and learn online for the entire year, but they gave new meaning to the word innovation and turned online learning into an art (see pages 34-36). Our Upper Schoolers, along with faculty, staff and alumni, put up with tough hotel and cohort quarantines to savor the joys of in-person learning that came with the one-of-a-kind Green Zone that King’s created (see pages 6-9, 51-53, 62-65).

Innovation at King’s was not limited to the Green Zone this year. From the J-term courses (see pages 60-61, 66-69) to the new course on Palestine (see pages 28-30), King’s continues to develop its curriculum to offer the best learning experiences for our students. And in this issue of Beyond King’s, Head of School Peter Nilsson considers learning beyond the pandemic (see pages 10-13).

This issue of Beyond King’s also looks at two growing segments in our student body – Arabic Year students, mostly from the United States, and Chinese students (see pages 56-59, 3-5). We also share with you a growing number of great alumni stories – alumni starring in films, alumni launching magazines, alumni developing brain computer interfaces, and even alumni working in aerospace programs.               

Happy reading.

Vera Azar