A Conversation with New Upper School Director Ingrid Gustavson

On the morning of August 12th, I sit down with newly-appointed Upper School Director Ingrid Gustavson—it’s been about six weeks since her arrival in Seattle. I’m in her first-floor Gracemont office, with the view of the seasonally abandoned Wissner courtyard behind her. I’m here to dispel the mystique that accompanies a new faculty member: what really lies behind the tall administration doors? What is the future of the Upper School under new leadership? Are the rumors true—will we actually have another birdwatching faculty member besides Peter?

Starting strong with the classic Bush student-to-faculty interview question: If Ingrid could run a Cascade or teach an elective here, what would it be? Luckily, she’s very familiar with experiential education. Her last job at Rowland Hall—an independent school in Salt Lake City—had a similar program to Cascades, albeit only week-long. She describes traveling around Northwestern France and a remote backpacking trip in Utah: “We were out in the wilderness scaling cliffs with students, and in some ways that was one of the most meaningful things I've ever done. I feel like we were truly in it together, even though there were adults leading the trip,” she says. “There were kids who had never hiked before. There were kids who had never cooked before. Definitely kids who'd never set up a tent. [...] It was meaningful to me that when one of the students gave a speech at the end of the year, he said it was one of the most meaningful things that he did in all of high school because it was such an intense learning experience. [...] So I'm always game for an adventure.”

Rowland Hall in Salt Lake City, Ingrid’s last position

For electives, however, she has a very different answer. “I do love teaching art history,” she says. “That's the one thing that even when I became an administrator, I kept doing every once in a while. [...] We gave students a range of choices, and picked five movements or parts of the world together, and then built the curriculum around what they wanted to learn. That was really fun because we were all invested in what we were learning about.”

 Ingrid holds a master’s degree in Art History, so of course, I have to ask what her favorite art period is. “I have a lot,” she admits. “When I was studying art, my area of concentration was Northern European Renaissance works on paper. I love prints and drawings, especially from that period. When I became an art history teacher, I most loved teaching about contemporary art that I could actually send my students to go see, or they could discover things that I didn’t even know about.” 

In books, Ingrid has slightly more contemporary taste: she names Louise Erdrich as a favorite author, also spotlighting Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose. I, of course, recommend the best bookstore in Seattle, Ophelia’s Books in Fremont—they always gift me piles of books topical to whichever classes I’m taking at the moment. It turns out, she had a similar situation when she was in school: “My dad was an English teacher, so he used to do that. I would tell him the class I was taking, and he’d be like, ‘Here’s some books, read that.’ I rarely had to buy books, especially for English classes.”

Next, I inquire about Seattle. What brought her here, and what are her thoughts so far? “I have been coming to the Pacific Northwest for many, many years,” she says. “I was 14 the first time I came, and I loved how green everything was, the mix of water and mountains; it felt like you had the best of all worlds in terms of nature.” Her sons both go to college in Washington now, following a memorable family trip. And the hiking is, of course, a plus for her. “I tried to start with the basic, more famous ones to get those out of the way, so I did Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park, and Snow Lake,” she lists. “We went too late in the day, but it was beautiful. We did Mount Si.” 

Snow Lake

This is a very exciting development—I also just did a couple of these hikes. “We’re just following each other around,” she jokes, before listing yet another lake in Snoqualmie. And this is just in the past month and a half! I bring up the Methow, to which she says, “I can’t wait to go out there. Cross-country skiing is one of the things I want to learn while I’m here.” 

She’s also into birding. “I’ve loved it since I was in high school,” she says, “It’s really fun.” I have to ask if she’s talked to our most prominent campus birder, Upper School math teacher Peter Pasterczyk. “I have,” she confirms. “It’s cool because when I was younger I felt like only retirees did it, but now there are a lot more people, including younger people like my son. He took an ornithology class and got hooked. Our texts back-and-forth have gone from ‘what’s for dinner’ to ‘I saw this cool thing today,’ or ‘Mom, what do you think this bird is?’ So that’s been fun.”

And now for the administration topics. To be honest, I was worried about asking these types of questions—often they’re met with a stream of classic Bush buzzwords, which is not really my taste. But you’ll be glad to hear I had nothing to worry about; I actually quite enjoyed Ingrid’s responses.

First off—why Bush? “I've actually had my eye on Bush for a long time,” she reveals. Apart from the location, she was drawn to the experiential learning, as it’s what she values most in education. “It seems like you all have great relationships with your teachers,” she adds. She admires the diversity as well: “I do think that learning happens best when you have a variety of opinions, backgrounds, and ways of seeing the world.”

For her first year as division head, she’s most excited about getting to know everyone. “I’m not the best at remembering names,” she admits. “People will just have to be patient with me, but that’s what I’m most looking forward to.”

So what about changes? As witnessed in my last three years at Bush, most significant administrative changes are accompanied by student debate and uproar. So what will be the scandals this year? Don’t fear: Ingrid is practical about this. “I know that Matt Lai did a great job building a lot of new systems and getting the Upper School to feel really good. So I don’t want to come in swinging without knowing how things work first. But I’m sure as I talk to people and get to know the school better, I’ll have some ideas, but ask me in six months.”

She tells me that when she first started her last job, a math teacher told her that if she thought she was going to “come in swinging,” she’d have a thing or two to learn and that he’d “wait her out.” 

“He wasn’t saying it in a mean way,” she clarifies. “But saying ‘don’t change stuff, because we don’t like it.’ He retired, and we made lots of good changes that everybody got behind. So it was funny.”

Regarding administrative changes, she applauds Bush’s focus on student input and feedback. “That probably gets tricky and can get contentious,” she acknowledges. “But the flip side is you get to be a part of helping make change and making things better.”

I have to ask her if she’s heard about Open Forum: the quintessential Bush contention-fest. “I was here,” she tells me. “I interviewed here when you had that one in the spring. It was really interesting.”

Interesting indeed. I admit to her that I wrote a satire piece right in this paper about that specific Open Forum, which made fun of the privilege that is often revealed in that setting.

 “That’s part of the learning too—having some awareness about the privilege that we have in a place like this and being mindful of how to use it,” Ingrid adds. “I always try to think about, what are the opportunities? Don’t think of things as challenges or bad; just think of those opportunities to build on, grow on, be better. High school is the most formative time, right?”

I agree. Despite the sometimes draining atmosphere of Open Forum, its existence alone is pretty valuable. “I think dialogue is important,” she continues. “Not talking past each other or judging, but listening and trying to talk to each other and hear whatever people are saying.”

Following our conversation, I’m genuinely excited for this new administration. More birders are never a problem for me. Also, send her your favorite restaurants—she mentioned she’s always happy for recommendations. Happy new school year, everyone!