How do international schools get their start- in particular the original ones from so many years ago? Many of them had very humble beginnings, with a handful of students, a few parents (usually spouses of diplomats or business people who had moved overseas) and a large house or a few rooms where lessons could be held.

At 71 years of age, The Lincoln School in Kathmandu, Nepal is one such school. In this “case study-style” interview, we were lucky enough to be able to speak with Barbara Butterworth, who was head of the school from 1998 - 2005.

Barbara is an educator whose career originally took her to Nepal as a Peace Corps Volunteer, where she taught math and science. She also taught science education at two different colleges and served as a principal/director at four different schools: a private elementary school, a public elementary school, an international school, and a noted Nepali high school. From 1998 to 2005, she was the director of the Lincoln School, the American international school in Nepal. A graduate of Wellesley College, Cornell University, and Stanford University, Barbara’s career in education has also included leading a major USAID teacher training project in Cambodia.

Our Guiding Questions were, “At 71 years of age, Lincoln School is one of the “OG” international schools. How did the Lincoln School get its start and what makes the Lincoln School community a special place to be?”

Here are a few of the topics covered in this episode:

• Lived values and characteristics of Lincoln School and its community
• Origin story of the school comparing to similar early international schools
• How the Lincoln School and community deal with struggles and difficult times
• How some international schools celebrate their milestone anniversaries
• Recruiting during pre-internet times

Resources mentioned in the episode:

Lincoln School

The show was recorded on February 10, 2025.

Categories: School Life | Crisis Management | School Missions | Recruiting

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Music: YouTube. (2022). Acoustic Guitar | Folk | No copyright | 2022❤️. YouTube. Retrieved October 11, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOEmg_6i7jA.