By Kristen Zosche, Head of Upper School and Cindy Michalak, Director of College Counseling and Academic Advising of Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart

At Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, we have long held that leadership is not simply an acquired skill but a way of being. It is cultivated through a profound understanding of self, a sense of purpose, and a commitment to the well-being of others. This belief is the cornerstone of our Sacred Heart mission and the impetus behind Cor Cordis, a leadership philosophy that acknowledges what traditional educational paradigms often overlook: that the intellectual, emotional, physical, and spiritual dimensions of a student’s life are not separate pursuits but deeply interconnected ones.

Cor Cordis (“heart of hearts”) grew out of a critical observation. Student-centered services at Stuart, including health, counseling, learning support, the National Center for Girls’ Leadership (NCGLS), college counseling, DEIB, and faith formation had long operated in silos. We recognized a disparity between the mission we espouse and the structures we had in place to fulfill it. The response was twofold: we unified these offices in a single location to foster collaboration, and, more consequentially, we built a holistic curricular framework anchored in the integration of mind, body, and spirit. This framework now guides the work of NCGLS, where the Cor Cordis philosophy shapes how students discover their strengths, define their purpose, and develop as leaders. 

Cor Cordis 9: Purpose and Clifton Strengths

In 2025, Stuart became the first K-12 school to collaborate with West Virginia University's Purpose Center, bringing strengths-based education to our entire Upper School community, students and faculty alike. The partnership is anchored in CliftonStrengths, a well-known assessment tool commonly used in the business and leadership space that identifies 34 strengths across four primary domains: Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, and Strategic Thinking. Cate Schlobohm, Director of the Purpose Center at WVU, has been a formidable partner, recognizing our spirit of innovation and unwavering commitment to placing a premium on student development, and helping to pave the way for purpose-driven conversations and activities that inspire growth, connection, and belonging.

The partnership grew out of a visit that changed everything. In January 2025, several of our Leadership Endorsement students through the NCGLS visited WVU for a two-day immersion in the assessment tool, and the experience proved transformative. What struck us most was how naturally CliftonStrengths aligned with the Cor Cordis philosophy. The understanding of self is foundational to our definition of leadership, and it is rooted in individual strength and passion. For junior Micah, it reframed how she understood her own potential:

"I learned through my CliftonStrengths that I'm made up of so many different traits that allow me to be the person I am today. I walked away knowing that my strengths are tools I should be using with confidence, and, from the workshop, I finally knew how."

This philosophy demanded a curriculum to match. A comprehensive audit of skills and core competencies across Cor Cordis areas revealed the need for a team-taught course centered on the ways mind, body, and spirit intersect. The result was Purpose, one of two courses that comprise Stuart's freshman seminar, which launched in Fall 2025. We also adapted the course as our advisory curriculum for Grades 10 through 12 this year. Test results pinpoint students' top natural talents and where they lead from, promoting a positive mindset and helping students learn how leaning into their authentic selves can produce a more fulfilling upper school experience.

CliftonStrengths also resonates deeply with the Sacred Heart mission. One of the most substantive ways we practice Goal 4, the building of community as a Christian value, is in the classroom, where we celebrate and share strengths. Students are now able to articulate what they bring to class and what they need from their classmates to be successful.

A Big Leap

The final project for the Purpose class is formulating a big, personal “leap,” something students want to achieve within the year. Through a series of guided exercises, we ask them to consider how their newly identified strengths can help them achieve their leaps, what obstacles could impede them, and what they can do to overcome them. Examining Don Miguel Ruiz’s book The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom during this goal formation exercise proved especially helpful.

Students begin by creating inspiration lists, sparked by questions like:

• What are some of the things you lose track of time while doing
• Whom do you admire?
• What stories do you share with others?
• What do you care about?
• When do you feel most proud of yourself?

We talk through their answers and help them draft their “leaps.” Then, students create an action plan for accountability and strategize how to move forward. We return to CliftonStrengths and values to determine how to build the community of support they will need as they take their leap.

Ninth grader Julia reflected on this process:

“Finding and learning about our strengths through the CliftonStrengths assessment made me think about my learning and leadership style in a different way. Relating our strengths to the leap activity we completed in class allowed me to learn how to incorporate my strengths into achieving my goals.”

During sophomore year, students will revisit this project when they begin learning the fundamentals of research; they start from a place of authentic interest, then proceed in new ways.

Takeaways for Girls

There are so many pressures today, especially on social media, for girls to perform a version of themselves. We live in a world that pushes constant comparison on young people, and it is often rooted in a deficit mindset. CliftonStrengths is a total reframing of that. It starts from the positive, celebrating students’ authenticity and unique strengths. 

Research shows that when girls have a higher sense of purpose, they have a higher sense of well-being. The transition to high school can be arduous, but through this course, we are giving students the language to say, "This is what I'm good at, and I can leverage it to become a better student and a more well-rounded person." When students understand their own strengths and values, leadership becomes their natural self-expression, rooted in wholeness and purpose rather than performance.

And as difficult as the transition to high school can be, the transition to college can be that much more challenging. The whole-student wellness that Cor Cordis offers Stuart students, and the lessons CliftonStrengths teaches as early as ninth grade, provide a solid foundation as girls prepare for the next chapter of their education. They will arrive knowing who they are, what they value, and how they lead.

Head of Upper School Kristen Zosche and Director of College Counseling and Academic Advising Cindy Michalak are the architects of Stuart's Cor Cordis curriculum, which they co-developed and co-teach as a cornerstone of the Upper School experience. For the past five years, first as Dean of Student Life and now as Head of Upper School, Kristen has been instrumental in strengthening student culture, advancing wellness through Cor Cordis initiatives, and supporting leadership development with warmth, clarity, and a deep belief in the mission of Sacred Heart education. She holds a B.A. in English from Rutgers University and an M.A. from Montclair State University, with a background in journalism, communications, and curriculum design. Cindy brings an equally vital dimension to this partnership. Since arriving at Stuart in 2021 with deep expertise in college admissions and counseling from Princeton University's Admission Office and Princeton Day School, she has served as the conduit between a student's present curiosity and future purpose. As academic advisor, Cindy guides students toward finding their purpose and their joy, a journey that begins at the very start of their high school experience. She holds an A.B. from Princeton University and an M.S.Ed. from the University of Pennsylvania. Together, they have alchemized their complementary expertise into a formidable philosophy that imbues every student's journey with self-discovery and substantive preparation for life beyond Stuart.