Bush Trailblazers: Women Educating and Inspiring Generations

Almost 100 years later, Helen’s words have inspired generations of educators who continue her mission to provide accessible experiential education for all students. Her core values were grounded in John Dewey's theories about education, which challenge the more rigid, traditional system. Mrs. Bush was a progressive pioneer who believed in travel experiences, math and science opportunities for women, and the importance of the arts.
 

Mrs. Bush held the first Kindergarten class in 1924 in the playroom of her home on Dorffel Drive, Seattle. During her tenure, Mrs. Bush blazed several trails; she formalized the school in 1929 with non-profit status and an elected board, calling it the Helen Bush School for Girls, she expanded the school by relocating to its present-day location and implemented Lower School and Upper School campuses, helped organize the Pacific Northwest Association of Independent Schools (NWAIS), and purchased Gracemont, a historic mansion now part of the Bush Upper School campus. Mrs. Bush served as the Academic Head of School until 1948 and passed the torch to beloved faculty member and administrator Marjorie Livengood.

Mrs. Livengood’s time as headmistress at the Helen Bush-Parkside School, which was renamed in the early thirties to incorporate the names of the co-ed Lower School and the girls-only Upper School, reflected the more conservative times in education during the 1950s. The Upper School curriculum became a traditional college preparatory program; uniforms had to be neat and orderly, and students attended chapel every Wednesday morning. By 1953, the school had an eight-acre campus, two Upper School dormitories, and about 330 students in attendance.
 

“Headmistress Marjorie Livengood was an outstanding administrator,” said Virginia Wyman ’67. “She offered enough transparency so that we all felt as though we knew what was going on and that we were a part of it. Upper School Assembly on Fridays before lunch offered the opportunity for any random administrative communication from her, although presentations at weekly Assembly were usually extracurricular in subject and interest.”

Mrs. Livengood was the Head of School until 1967 and was succeeded by John B. Grant (1967-1972), Les Larson (1972-1987), and Fred Dust (1987-1996). Elsa "Midge" Bowman '51 was the sixth (Interim) Head of School from 1996-1997 and the next female head after Marjorie Livengood. Although her term was as head was brief, she had served for decades at Bush in various roles, including as a student, teacher, parent, Board member, head of the Lower School, and Assistant Head of School. She returned to Bush to take on the role as interim head, and although her one-year term did not lend itself to major undertakings, she made an impact by bridging the gap between Bush’s extensive past and present. When her students eagerly inquired about Bush’s humble beginnings, Mrs. Bowman was excited to reminisce about the school’s incredible journey.

“Returning to Bush as Head of School, I found the students—much like me as a child—wanting to know about the “olden days”—what the school was like years ago,” said Mrs. Bowman in the 1997 edition of Alumni Magazine. “They wondered why the lower school was called Parkside, what Mrs. Bush was like, the history of Gracemont and when it was acquired, the story behind the named buildings and memorial plaques they found around campus, and what Bush was like as a girls’ school.”

A few years before Bush’s seventy-fifth anniversary, Mrs. Bowman and faculty organized an oral history project in which students could interview alumni who attended Bush in its early years.

“The Upper School students started having lunch with Anne Gould Hauberg '35 in the sunroom of Gracemont, where she told them about her memories of the school and Mrs. Bush. It was a precious time for us all,” Mrs. Bowman shared.

Following Midge Bowman as Head of The Bush School were Tim Burns (1997-2000), Frank Magusin (2000-2014), and the current Head of School, Percy Abram (2014), who is in his final year at Bush. He has carried on Mrs. Bush’s innovative philosophies throughout his tenure and blazed new trails for students to experience education. After conducting a national search, the community has entrusted the Assistant Head of School for Academics, Sarah Smith, to oversee Bush as the tenth Head of School.

“I was drawn to Bush because I loved being part of a team that takes an extraordinary place and opportunity and is trying to create greater access to it,” Sarah said.

Like Mrs. Bush, Sarah is passionate about providing access to top-notch education for all students. She believes that a thriving learning environment is an essential pathway to many opportunities in life.

“I resonated with Mrs. Bush’s vision. There weren’t many women moving into educational leadership roles during that time. I loved her ethos, and I want to continue to grow her mission statement that ‘children learn best by doing’ and highlight how we can show up for our community. Part of the learning is thinking: how might we grow our knowledge, skills, and talents in a way that can be of service to others?”

Several community outreach programs and projects have been instilled into the Bush curriculum, allowing students to cultivate community in several impactful ways.

“I want Bush’s Community Engagement Center to continue to be an extension of our real-world services and purposes,” Sarah said. “The Middle School Science classes conducted a STEM Case Science Fair, where they created a product that solves a current societal or environmental problem.”

Sarah holds many of Mrs. Bush’s core beliefs in high regard and feels humbled and honored to follow in the footsteps of the previous school heads. She wants to continue emphasizing the importance of the ideology: “not teaching kids what to think, but teaching them how to think.”

“I want to ensure the school thrives in the second century in a way that reflects its incredible history and stays true to the focus on experiential education and community,” Sarah said. “Not just our own, but the ones beyond the school's walls.”