Metro Parent for Southeast Michigan recently reported that the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Bloomfield Hills is working hard to maintain a sense of community despite the threat of a global pandemic that requires social distancing and, in many cases, isolation.

As COVID-19 increased in severity, the staff at the academy was aware that students needed opportunities to come together for community, even if it was being done in unconventional ways. Dr. Korin Visocchi, associate head of school and chief learning officer, said that the middle-school teachers would host Zoom meetings so that the students could enjoy some semblance of normal classroom interactions. 

After chatting with their classmates, Vissochi said, students felt more centered and were better able to carry on with their academic responsibilities. The academy prides itself on valuing each student’s gifts and optimizing conditions to help them flourish as individuals, which is why the institution keeps classroom sizes small. 

| https://www.ashmi.org/

“Every child has the capacity to learn and be the best version of themselves, and it is our great responsibility to do that in a way that honors each student, each family and builds a sense of community so that there can be hope for the future,” Vissochi told Metro Parent. “And now more than ever, we need to create students who have a social awareness, which impels to action.”

In order to ensure that students are loved and valued no matter what they are going through, Sacred Heart utilizes a tool known as RULER (recognizing, understanding, labeling, expressing and regulating) to help students gain better emotional intelligence. Adapted from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, RULER's goal is to give students power over their emotions.

“In each classroom, our students are used to using the Mood Meter to give a name for their feelings,” Vissochi said. “The Mood Meter allows students to be aware of their emotions and gives them the vocabulary to identify how they feel.”

Parents are encouraged to carry on this classification process for emotional intelligence in the home, too.

The Academy of the Sacred Heart is the oldest independent school in Michigan.