One More Adventure

So what did Susan Droke do? 

She upped and moved to Richmond.

“A lot of people wouldn’t do that,” said Collegiate’s chief academic officer, who is retiring at the end of the 2020-2021 term after six productive and exciting yet challenging years on North Mooreland Road.  “I loved where I was. We had accomplished so much, but I felt like I wanted to take what I’d learned and see if I could go someplace else and use it there.
    
“(My husband) Stan and I had always talked about having one more adventure. He was ready to retire (from his job as a technology executive). I was not. He said, ‘Now’s the time. Let’s do it.’”

During her tenure at Collegiate, Susan has skillfully and collaboratively overseen numerous initiatives, among them the development of Portrait of a Graduate and Portrait of a Teacher as well as the integration of the eight Pillars of Responsible Citizenship into the JK-through-12 curriculum.

She’s been deeply involved with developing a consistent curriculum across all grade levels and has assisted with providing meaningful professional development opportunities for faculty.

And in the most challenging era in the institution’s 106-year history, she led the Vision and Planning Teams that guided the reopening process and ensured that the safe return to campus was carefully coordinated. 

“You come in and have an outline,” she said. “My role expanded every year when we kept looking at a very intentional JK-through-12 vision. How does this play out? How do we integrate this program with that program from the youngest Cougar to the oldest Cougar? Every year you’re in a new place, you get to know the people more. With that, the role becomes wider and deeper.”

Susan began her teaching career in 1977 in the Memphis public school system, then moved to Briarcrest Christian School, also in Memphis, and finally to PDS where she held forth for 14 years.

At each stop, she immersed herself in the culture of the institution, made an impact on the community with her caring nature, professionalism, and steady, unflappable style, and cultivated enduring relationships with students, colleagues, and families.

Then, she began anew.

“It was about my second year (at Collegiate) when I came back after vacation and was giving a campus tour,” she said.  “All of a sudden, I realized that I was as attached to this school as any that I’d worked at. I thought, This is home.

“That was the moment I realized that when I reflect on this experience, Collegiate will hold the same place in my heart that the others did.  It’s kind of like when you have your first child. You wonder how you can ever love another child as much as you love this one. And you have the second child and you go, ‘Wow, I absolutely love this one the same.’”

With her retirement on the horizon, the pandemic brought an unexpected array of challenges and as well as growth opportunities.   

“Nothing prepares you for this,” she said. “People have said, ‘Don’t you wish you’d made the decision to retire before?’ I don’t. Navigating through this has been a great learning experience. That’s the thing. You can’t just stop learning. Whatever I do next, I guarantee you I’ll be learning something. I want to model being a learner. How fortunate am I that in my final year – and I wouldn’t have chosen this for anybody – that I’d have the opportunity to grow right up until the last minute?”
  
After Susan cleans out her office and turns in her keys, she and Stan will move to Nashville where their son Andy, his wife Jamie, and their children Henry (5) and Emma Grace (2) live. It’s four hours from Atlanta, the home of their other son Brad, his wife Caroline, and their children Mina (3) and Charlie (five months).

“These are some big life changes,” she said. “We’re really excited. We’ll get settled. Then I’ll figure out what comes next. I’m not closing any doors, but I’m not actively seeking anything either. I just want to be a grandmother. That’s not a bad gig.

“One thing I guarantee you is that I’ll be watching to see what Collegiate’s doing. I can’t wait to see what happens next. There’s so much opportunity. There’s nothing but great things ahead for Collegiate.”
    ~ Weldon Bradshaw