Welcome to Setting the PAIS! In this inaugural episode, we thought it would make sense to take a peek behind the PAIS curtain and meet the staff that makes this whole thing go.

Liz Hofreuter, the new executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools, steps out with the staff to learn more about them in real time. They talk about professional histories, family life, and even a favorite president or two. It's about the most essential non-essesntial conversation you'll hear today, but it offers a glimpse of the real people behind the emails and the character that drives this whole organization forward.

So lace em up and tag along, because today, the PAIS staff is Setting the PAIS.

#SettingthePAIS #PAIS #PennsylvaniaAssociationofIndependentSchools #IndependentEducation #Storytelling #School #WalkWithMe #LearningDifferences #Leadership #Parenting #Education #Inspiration

Well, it didn't take long for Liz to find her next series. We have a new season, a new gig, and a whole new set of Walkers that we're calling Pace Setters...that'll make sense later. Check it out at Setting the PAIS on Spotify, Apple, and everywhere you get your podcasts.

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It's a new day at the Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools, and we're here to tell the stories!

Join Liz Hofreuter, director of PAIS, in Setting the PAIS, a new series highlighting the leaders of independent education, from school heads to school kids and everyone in between, as they navigate the many peaks and valleys of school.

Setting the PAIS drops twice monthly, anywhere you get your podcasts. For more information on the Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools, their offerings, and how they are taking a larger leadership role in the region, visit PAIS.org.

What, did you think that was IT?! Cmon, you know us better than that.
Today, Liz delivers an epilogue from the finish line. Not in the build-up or even beyond it, but at the line itself. Stopping and living in a mission well accomplished instead of just sprinting to the next big thing...though to be fair, that next thing is already underway.
See you again soon. Keep walking.
#WalkwithMe #WalkwithLiz #GENed #Parenting #Leadership #LearningDifferences #Inspiring #KeepWalking #MomandDad #Grief #Success #Celebration #ThankYou #TellThem #Epilogue #55Walks

As summer waned and we began looking at how (and when) we would wrap these walks, we kicked around a bunch of ideas to finish this project the 'right' way. Would we do something super meta or reverse roles or document the journey or try a crazy idea like...sitting instead of walking? Not to spoil anything, of course...some ideas are still good enough to try. But instead, we started concentrating on the remaining Walkers themselves. Then more were added. Then a couple more. Suddenly, we were steaming past 50 with no end in sight. And then Liz scheduled a walk with Jeff Greenfield, and with his perfect mix of fun, energy, disruption, sincerity, earnestness, and friendship (not to mention he's an experienced former educational leader carrying the occasionally good demons of a past life too often defined by the position...sound familiar?), it suddenly wasn't a question at all.

Liz and Jeff walk along what sounds at first like a quiet country road, only for it to turn into a highway so Liz could tell her 'hit by a bus' joke one more time. As each explain their experiences during and after their headships, you hear what it's like not to succeed a highly influential leader, but to be succeeded. Personal identities and thought patterns and internal clocks and even dreams. It's a glimpse into the minds of people with plenty of answers behind them and plenty more still to learn...plenty more to do, to laugh at, to live well. Lessons we could all keep in mind as we push forward in this life.

Finally, before we go, one more thank you to all who have had a hand in this project. Whether it's season one or chapter one or the first and final draft, this year has been a real, true, altering experience. Something deliberate. Something special. Something that gave us not just a liferaft at sea, but a purpose amidst the waves. Something that thank you doesn't satisfy, but only a thank you will do. Cheers to this and all that is next.

And thanks for the walk, Jeff. What a way to close it.

#WalkwithMe #MeetMeonthePlayground #Leadership #Parenting #LearningDifferences #Education #Inspiration #GENed #Harvard #HGSE #Friendship #Fun #MiddleSchool #WendyMogel #55 #Retirement #GapYear #Stories

#Fearless

There was a thought at the start of this project that maybe the setting would mean as much as the title. That the physical space would reflect the walker as much as the content. So walks took place in city centers, at sports arenas, in shopping malls for those who knew the ‘secret’ mall walker entrances. Our subseries, Meet Me on the Playground, was originally meant to meet school leaders on...you guessed it...the playgrounds of their schools. It was a fun idea to find another bit of connection or comfort within the piece, if also not a little extra and unnecessary. And while we didn’t abandon it completely, many times, we just met when and where we could, which also meant Liz took special trips on occasion, flying around the country even when it didn’t exactly match the travel schedule at hand. And then today, she walked with an old friend along Lake Tahoe, with sounds of the unending waves slapping against the shore in the distance, droplets separating briefly before reentering as one, and it feels like we’re ending this whole thing in about the most on-the-nose place yet.
Today, Liz walked with William Peters, the author of At Heaven’s Door and founder of the @sharedcrossingproject, and someone who has dedicated much of his life to compassionate care for others at the end of theirs. He talks about some of his early experiences with death, from his own injury to working in a hospice ward, and Liz speaks to his invaluable guidance during her own parents’ passing, particularly when it came to closing unfinished business and accepting the peace that came with it. They also talk about the general mindset around ‘fighting’ death and how a medical model based around framing the most predetermined thing in existence as a failure may need some adjustments.
Thank you. I love you. Goodbye.
What a remarkable conversation. Thanks for walking, William.
#WalkwithMe #WalkwithLiz #GENed #Parenting #Leadership #LearningDifferences #Inspiring #SharedCrossingProject #AtHeavensDoor #SharedDeathExperience #Healing #Hope #Love #Harvard #Friendship #Compassion

The home stretch continues to...stretch...the official Walk count for this project. Again, maybe it's the first season, maybe the first iteration, we're not completely sure. But considering this project seemed to begin with a bit of a blank slate, it's fitting to end with something similarly murky. It sure has worked for us so far! And, to be fair, it's not for lack of planning or outlining and certainly not for lack of steps, but instead it's changed our outlook. Much like a comedian struggling to experience mundanity without finding the funny, we've begun struggling to find impactful people or have impactful conversations without sharing the story. As Liz says, sometimes, 'I don't really know why some of them were involved...yet we're standing in the midst of a conversation and I knew it had to be part of the series.'

Today is one of those stories. Inspiring, connected experiences shared among friends Monica Williams and Carolyn Greenfield, worthy of being shared with others. They walk and talk about aging and how it fits in with modern culture, from social media to medical IEPs, and how the 'Crone Stage' is one of the most beautifully overlooked phases of life.

Thanks for Walking, Monica and Carolyn.

#WalkwithMe #WalkwithLiz #GENed #Parenting #Leadership #LearningDifferences #Inspiring #CroneStage #Crone #Aging #Wisdom #Healthcare #COVID #Jewelry #Passion #HumanDoing

*BONUS WALK WEEK!*

That's right. Fifty schfifty. We're powering right through, though we do have an endpoint in mind. We're coming up on a calendar year since the very first release and we're closing things out with a similar cadence as we began. So, for the next couple of weeks, you'll have a couple of walks to enjoy. Then, in the weeks after that, we'll talk about what's next.

Speaking of mirroring the beginning, today we have a close friend and confidant and someone who Liz has asked for advice on more than one occasion, Jon (JD) Grandstaff. Someone who prides himself on gift giving, personally and professionally, in a unique kind of way...by seeing something in plain sight that others may not see in themselves, or...their companies. Sound familiar? Talk about another theme for these Walks.

But JD's gift is not just meant for clients, but also for those the clients then serve. It's the byproduct of a life spent finding heart hidden in the data, speaking with steady, sometimes brutal honesty, and believing we're all part of the team if we all know the goal.

Thanks for walking, JD. And thanks for being that (tall) lighthouse in the storm.

#WalkwithMe #WalkwithLiz #GENed #Parenting #Leadership #LearningDifferences #Inspiring #Friendship #WritersBlock #Storytelling #Insurance #Lighthouse #Gift

It’s not every day you find someone that you’re able to joke, rant, and just be with, wholly, no matter how much time goes by between visits. Long, philosophical monologues followed by long silences and somehow longer laughs. A single word, ‘Yeah’, providing everything from ‘I agree’ to ‘I’m here’. It’s even rarer to find them in a highly professional setting. And rarer still to find that person across from you in an accreditation review. That last one is pretty specific, to be fair, but the point stands. These relationships come around a handful of times in life. And somehow, as we’ve found throughout this project, finding an hour to talk deliberately, to be interviewed, to tour around the suburbs, well, those times may not happen more than once. So it’s fitting to extend our 50 walks with one of those people, Luke Felker.

Luke is the head of school at The Bay School in San Francisco. He’s someone that believes in the power of that position and in the potential of his school, while simultaneously demanding joy and holding onto enough self awareness and humility to find perspectives beyond his ‘bubble’…and at times in a snow cone maker.

Thanks for meeting on the playground, Luke. Thanks for playing tour guide. And thanks for walking.

#WalkwithMe #MeetMeonthePlayground #Leadership #Parenting #LearningDifferences #Education #Inspiration #GENed #BaySchool #SanFrancisco #Generations #MaryTylerMoore #Moonshot #Joy #BlueSkies #SnowCones