A Message from Wendy Hoke
President, Beaumont School
Act, believe, strive, hope and without a doubt, you will see marvelous things. – St. Angela Merici, Introduction to Counsels
Those words from St. Angela Merici inspire me daily and were instrumental in my saying, yes, to our Ursuline mission more than six years ago. We are here to serve our students and to prepare them to go out and change the world.
That is a lofty statement. But you need only look around our world today to know that women’s voices help to broker peace in places of conflict, prioritize equity and inclusiveness in all sectors of business, government, and nonprofits, and ensure that justice is at the forefront of decision-making. All this while women globally continue to lag in efforts to achieve gender equality.*
Beaumont School has been educating young women for nearly two centuries. In the year 2025, we will be celebrating our 175th anniversary, making us the oldest school in the diocese. Age alone does not equal success. Our core mission to educate young women in the Ursuline tradition for life, leadership, and service, however, does.
As the only all-girls’, Catholic, International Baccalaureate school in Northeast Ohio, we have a unique value proposition: to provide deep learning, rooted in a Catholic foundation, to develop students’ capacity to thrive in a complex, evolving, and interconnected world. How we do that is through our IB for All pedagogy, our diverse community of learners, and our focus on social justice, belonging and service.
As members of the International Coalition of Girls’ Schools, we share the belief that girls’ education is a social good. Our world needs the full human potential to solve complex problems such as inequality, racism, and climate change.
What makes Beaumont unique in that space is that everything we do here is through our Catholic faith – our belief in the common good, care for our common home, and that everyone is made in the image and likeness of a loving God. The young women of Beaumont leave here with the tools (intellectually, spiritually, and relationally) to help build the kingdom of God.
We achieve this in three ways:
- We believe that the IB for All pedagogy requires the very best from students and teachers. You will be encouraged and supported to try new things, to find the learning that occurs at the intersection of subjects, and to model collaborative leadership.
- We are called to act. It’s what Christ asks of us. Matthew says, “What you do to the least of my brothers and sisters you do unto me.” That is our Ursuline charism – to be a loving community where everyone – regardless of their religious background, race, socioeconomic status, neurodiversity, and gender identity – finds a community of belonging that recognizes and celebrates their humanity in those ways that Christ modeled in the Gospels and St. Angela Merici illuminates through her great heart of compassion. Our service programs focus on the ministry of presence, of walking the journey alongside our sisters and brothers. And our focus on empathy through the IB traits of being caring inquirers develops our capacity not only to walk in another’s shoes but to believe them when they tell their stories.
- Our focus on all-girls’ education is counter-cultural. It’s not about the absence of boys in the classroom, it’s about our focus on young women and how they learn best. They answer every question, hold every leadership position, dive deeply into every subject, and are empowered to find their voice and develop their confidence. That empowerment of voice extends to giving them the space to share their voice even when it’s something we don’t want to hear. In short, we are preparing them for the world that awaits and teaching them to stand in spaces that no one else will stand.
If this mission excites you, then YOU belong at Beaumont. And when you commit to our community, you join a sisterhood for life.
Visit our Admissions tab, schedule a visit, check us out on X, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, and find out how you can learn to change the world through a Beaumont education.
In St. Angela,
Mrs. Wendy Hoke
President
*UN Women 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Gender Snapshot 2023
- Add your name and email to our admissions department.
- Schedule a time to shadow a student.
- Give us a call to learn more. (216) 321-2954
Wendy Hoke, President
The Board of Directors and Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland named Wendy as Beaumont School’s fifth president and first lay president in May 2017. Over the past six years, she has led Beaumont through enrollment growth, strategic planning, and master campus planning. After securing the largest gift in Beaumont’s history, she is currently leading The Heart of Beaumont capital campaign to renovate Beaumont’s student experience areas, including the recently completed St. Angela Merici Field, Sister Margaret Ann Kelley Kitchen and Dining Hall, Merici Center for Academic Success, and Sister Ann Wojnar Innovation Lab. Prior to joining Beaumont, Wendy served as Vice President of Marketing and Communications at St. Vincent Charity Medical Center. Her experience in hospital administration came in handy as Wendy successfully led Beaumont through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Wendy spent nearly 20 years as a journalist, including two stints covering the city and schools in Cleveland Heights. She wrote for local and national publications on a variety of topics, including faith, education reform and personality profiles. She was a frequent speaker as a journalist and a local and national leader of the Society of Professional Journalists. She was a Peter Jennings Fellow for Journalists and the Constitution in 2008 and a member of the U.S. delegation to the East Asia Journalists Forum in Seoul, South Korea in 2004. Wendy has served in board leadership roles for the Society of Professional Journalists, Campus District, Inc., and currently serves on the Saint Ignatius High School Board of Regents. She is a member of the Leadership Cleveland Class of 2019. A graduate of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University, Wendy and her husband, Dan, are members of St. Raphael Parish. They live in Fairview Park and have three grown sons, a grandson and a granddaughter.
