Recognizing and celebrating the uniqueness of every child is part of the mission of Hillbrook School. This intentional effort by teachers and administrators to foster inclusivity, empathy, and understanding helps ensure students at Hillbrook can feel comfortable with being their authentic selves and enjoy an environment that helps them thrive. Giving students the tools to reflect about themselves and others, supporting them as they challenge intolerances, and investigating how we all interconnect, is part of the Hillbrook educational experience in part thanks to Jules Greene. Greene is a former Hillbrook history teacher who became the school’s first Director of Diversity. She helped to create programs and connect Hillbrook with resources that broaden students’ awareness of the world, helping our students understand some of the real-world issues and conversations surrounding differences. During her tenure, Greene worked to equip students with tools for navigating our world that they can use both at Hillbrook and in their lives.
Greene left Hillbrook in June of 2017 to become the Director of Equity and Social Impact at Drew High School in San Francisco. There, she is continuing the work she started at Hillbrook, this time working with teenagers and helping them learn about themselves and others as they develop cultural competency, draw connections from different perspectives, and learn to work together.
Greene was a favorite of students and parents at Hillbrook because of her tremendous energy, the easy way she related to people, her love of history, and her gift for sharing that love with others. We recently caught up with Greene to find out about life after Hillbrook and why she believes in the importance of the concepts of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the lives of young people.
First, tell us about your life since leaving Hillbrook?
Jules Greene: Life is good! I am now the Director of Equity and Social Impact at Drew and loving getting used to a new community in San Francisco. I am still living in Oakland with my husband Cord and we just added a dog to our family, a black pomeranian named Xzibit.
How did your time at Hillbrook help prepare you for your work today?
Jules Greene: Hillbrook helped me immensely. The ability to truly figure out your passions and then practice them within the HIllbrook community truly set me on the path of equity work that has defined my career. Mark Silver (Hillbrook’s Head of School) was always my biggest supporter and if anything interested me, I was able to explore it within the classroom or through professional development.
You didn’t start out teaching at Hillbrook. Tell us about your journey:
Jules Greene: When I first came to Hillbrook, I actually applied for a position at the front desk. I was working my way through the interview process and got to my meeting with Mark Silver. He started with asking the usual questions, but about a third of the way into the interview he stopped and said, “wait, what do you actually want to do in your career?” So I told him that I wanted to be an educator working with students in the field of history and eventually equity to be able to create an experience for students that I didn’t have going to independent schools myself. After that, I was no longer sure what I was interviewing for but I was able to talk to Tesha Poe, who was the Director of Institutional Advancement at the time (and is now a Hillbrook Board member), and suddenly I was the interim Director of Communications.
Towards the end of that first year at Hillbrook, I applied for the Resident Teacher Program and was selected as a middle school history Resident. I started that second year at Hillbrook as a Resident and initially worked with 5th and 6th graders, and knew I needed to be with the older students. So I worked my way into 5th and 8th grade history. That year, I also went to the People of Color Conference for the first time and finally was able to put the pieces together to speak to Mark about a Diversity Coordinator position. My third year, I was hired as the Director of Diversity and a middle school history teacher and I maintained this joint position for my final 3 years at Hillbrook.
What is diversity education?
Jules Greene: Diversity education means providing space and education for students to be able to learn about their own identities, identities of others, and how those relationships interconnect. The goal of diversity education is to allow students to be able to empathize with each other and to be able to develop the confidence to share their authentic voices with each other and the world. This work is important because so much of the tension within our world is perpetuated because people do not talk to each other and do not spend the time to really get to know the other’s experiences. Allowing students the space to be aware of themselves and the issues facing the world will truly allow them to take risks to deeply be their best and reach beyond themselves and make a difference in the world.
What are the benefits for students at schools like Hillbrook?
Jules Greene: Independent schools by default are exclusive and are comprised of students who have access to resources and privileges that will provide a springboard for them and their lives. Educating these students to truly develop empathy for all and not only want to make a positive difference, but also to have enough pause to be able to collaborate with others and ask them what they need is deeply important. These students will learn and be able to make a difference with people instead of for people.
What do you hope your students take away from your classes?
Jules Greene: I hope students learned the deep importance of history but also learned how to effectively question in all aspects of their lives. I also hope students were able to develop a sense of humor with their education; I always wanted them to have a good time.
What do you like best about your job?
Jules Greene: The best part of my job is seeing people have the “aha” moment with themselves as well as the individuals and colleagues they may have worked with for years. Seeing people make connections, deep connections, and transform upon their equity journey is awesome. I also love working with students. I love how open minded they are and willing to share their perspectives. Students are what keep me working every day.
Fast forward five years. What will you be up to?
Jules Greene: 5 years from now, I will still be in the Bay area, and most likely a dean or head of middle school somewhere. I definitely want to be on my way to Head of School.
The students you taught at Hillbrook will be out of high school and into college in five years. How do you hope you impacted their lives?
Jules Greene: I hope they remember me as someone they could talk to, who challenged them, and who took their needs into deep consideration. I also hope they remember me for the awesomeness that is a history nerd.
We are thrilled to catch up with Jules and learn more about how the work she started here at Hillbrook continues to transform the student experience.