Maggie Daley Speaker Series


In addition to providing an outstanding education for our students, The Frances Xavier Warde School is also committed to offering learning opportunities for parents, education professionals, and the community at large.

We seek to be the model for a 21st century, faith-based, independent school. Our Speaker Series provides an ideal forum for us to discuss and explore issues that are vital to our school community and to our city and our world. The focus of these conversations is not on academic achievement per se, but rather on the many factors that helps us to shape confident servant leaders, lifelong learners, and conscientious citizens.

In particular, we have focused and will continue to focus on fostering:

  • Social-Emotional Learning, including persistence and responsibility, executive functioning, and self- and social-awareness
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, including best practices for creating a truly pluralistic community
  • A Healthy Family Life, including strategies for navigating technology and social media
2020-2021
2019-2020
  • Rosalind Wiseman, thought leader and bestselling author of Queen Bees & WannabeesMasterminds & Wingmen, as well as Owning Up: Empowering Adolescents to Confront Social Cruelty, Bullying, and Injustice, discussed young people’s friendships, social media use, gossip, drama, bullying, and the constant pressure to “keep up.”
  • Eugenia Cheng, Scientist in Residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Author of The Art of Logic: How to Make Sense in a World that Doesn’t, discussed how abstract mathematics can help us understand privilege and develop empathy.
2018-2019
  • Julie Lythcott-Haims, noted author of How to Raise An Adult and Real American, offered our community practical advice for raising independent, well-adjusted, self-reliant children,
  • Dr. Jean Twenge, author of iGen, discussed trends with today’s super-connected children⁠—the iGeneration⁠—and insights into what parents and educators need to know.
  • FXW alumnus John Franklin discussed how his FXW education prepared him academically, socially, and personally for high school, college, and the workforce, particularly his current job at Google in New York City.
2017-2018
  • Eboo Patel spoke about our Catholic identity and techniques for building community through religious pluralism.
  • Catherine Steiner-Adair discussed the importance of protecting family relationships in the digital age.
  • Amanda Lewis addressed the ways in which race is negotiated in schools and in everyday life.