Woodlands Academy Celebrates its Diversity with Annual Flag Ceremony

The richness of Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart's cultural diversity was celebrated with its annual Flag Ceremony Friday, Sept. 8, at the all-girls college-preparatory high school in Lake Forest.

"It's one of the blessings that we have here at Woodlands," Global Education Director Amy Perlick said. "This is one of the many forms of diversity which Sacred Heart Schools seek and cherish, for as our knowledge and experience of new cultures and peoples expand and deepen, we come to more fully understand ourselves, our world and our global interconnectedness."

The flags of 16 nations, which will remain in the Chapel of the Sacred Heart during the entire school year, are a proud visualization of the breadth of Woodlands Academy's cultural diversity. They represent nations where either a student or staff member was born or where they hold dual citizenship.

For the 2017-18 school year, those nations are: Austria, Belize, Canada, People's Republic of China, Colombia, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, United Kingdom and the United States of America.

"It is not by chance that we are all here at Woodlands surrounded by such rich cultural diversity and giftedness in this special place," senior Mary Pinn, of Lake Forest, said. "We pray that the Spirit gives us the open mindedness and willingness to embrace and benefit from this extraordinary opportunity."

The ceremony also featured students and staff from 12 countries offering a brief prayer in their native language.

"This is very much the educational vision of Sacred Heart Schools, as articulated by the foundress of the Society of the Sacred Heart, St. Madeleine Sophie Barat, who said 'To influence our world we must understand it,'" Perlick added.

Founded in 1858, Woodlands Academy is an independent Catholic college preparatory day and boarding high school for young women, and part of a worldwide network of Sacred Heart Schools that spans the United States and 40 other countries. A nonprofit, Woodlands Academy's identity is rooted in Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat's desire to inspire young hearts and minds to excel, to lead lives of integrity and to serve. For more information about Woodlands Academy, please visit www.woodlandsacademy.org