A message for the IWA community: Strategic Plan Update

Dear Friends,

IWA executes our strategic plan on a five-year cycle and are in the beginning stages of preparing our next 5-year strategic plan. As we look ahead, we are happy to share a brief update on what we have accomplished since our last strategic plan.  While the last five years have been atypical, primarily due to COVID-19, substantial progress has been made in executing the goals that we set for the school in 2019.   

Specifically, areas of focus were academic excellence, faculty excellence, and facility improvements.  In the area of academic excellence, we launched a new Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) program and opened our STEM lab.  We have seen great results so far in this area as our Robotics and eSports teams have experienced success and placed in state-wide competitions.  There has been intentionality around attracting and retaining veteran educators who bring a wealth of experience in differentiating curriculum and instruction.  81% of our recent faculty hires have a master’s degree and six of those hires have a doctoral degree in their field.  These advanced degree faculty members provide us the opportunity to expand our dual credit program with UMSL and SLU, in addition to expanding AP classes.  The campus has undergone a significant revitalization with renovations to our chapel, cafeteria, theater, and gymnasium, and we installed a new multi-sport turf field to improve the overall experiences for our students and athletes. 

As we embark on updating our Strategic Plan, we want to ensure that our plans are rooted in data and valued input from all our constituents.  Regularly reviewing and analyzing all areas of school life is a standard part of our process and helps us to think strategically about resources, facilities, programs, staffing, services, budgets, and long-term plans to best serve our evolving student population. This data will provide the foundation for assessing the models and academic programs, and the sustainability of these options in the future. 

Our goal is to put stakeholders at the center of the planning process and our intention is to gather feedback from as many people as possible.  In order to do this, Incarnate Word Academy has partnered with the national Catholic school planning firm, Meitler, to support the research element of our planning efforts.  Meitler will engage with internal and external constituents through several research mechanisms including demographic analysis, surveys, interviews, and focus groups.  They will take time to listen to you all and to hear your hopes and dreams for Incarnate Word Academy before we begin to map any plan for our future.

All constituents will have an opportunity to offer insights that will ensure a full-dimensional and cohesive plan is created.  In August, we will begin outreach with parents, students, alumnae and friends, so that we can move quickly toward getting a complete picture from all of our constituents.   

We humbly ask that you keep Incarnate Word Academy in your prayers as we move forward in this process.

Praised be the Incarnate Word!  Forever Amen.

Sharon L. Gerken ‘78 Herb Ehrhard
President Chairman
Board of Trustees