The inaugural Greater Perimeter Chamber Annual Meeting celebrated the launch of a new era in business leadership across Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, and the broader Perimeter region. This pivotal event unveiled their bold vision for the future and clarified what the Chamber stands FOR: business growth, innovation, and collaboration.
Committed to creating globally-minded students poised to shape the 21st century, Kevin Glass’s vocation and calling is international education. His career in education includes leadership and teaching positions in South and West Africa, Central and North America, and Central Asia. Prior to joining Atlanta International School, Kevin was Director of Tashkent International School in Uzbekistan for five years.
Kevin serves on various local, national and international Boards, including the Association for the Advancement of International Education (AAIE), the Academy for International School Heads (AISH), the Center for the Advancement and Study of International Education (CASIE), Horizons Atlanta, the Atlanta Area Association in Independent Schools (AAAIS) and the Buckhead Coalition.
Kevin has a Master of Arts in Educational Leadership from Framingham State College (USA), a Post Graduate Certificate of Education in Biology and Chemistry from Cambridge University (UK), and a Bachelor of Science (Hons.) Degree in Bacteriology and Virology from Manchester University (UK). 
Kevin is married to Stefani, a career diplomat currently on family leave from the German Foreign Service. They have three children all of whom attend AIS, in the German language program.
Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn.
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: Broadcasting live from the greater perimeter. It’s time for Greater Perimeter Chamber Spotlight. Now, here’s your host.
Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Broadcasting live from the Greater Perimeter Chamber inaugural annual meeting. So excited to be talking to my next guest, Kevin Glass with Atlanta International School. Welcome. Thank you.
Kevin Glass: Lee. Great to be here.
Lee Kantor: Well, I’m asking everybody and I’m going to ask you, why are you for the Greater Perimeter Chamber?
Kevin Glass: I think organizations like the Greater Perimeter Chamber, they bring businesses and organizations together to build community, to build interest, to build networks, and ultimately enrich the lives for everybody who lives, works and plays in this part of town.
Lee Kantor: Now, tell us about Atlanta International School. How are you serving folks?
Kevin Glass: So Atlanta International School has been going for about 40 years now here in Atlanta. We have at our Buckhead campus, 1400 students, more or less from approximately 90 to 100 countries, 60 to 70 languages. And we work in partnership with organizations across the city to make Atlanta a wonderful place to come to locate your family, to locate your business, because we have a world class school there, and it’s super exciting that we’re about to open our new campus in the city of Sandy Springs this summer.
Lee Kantor: So can you tell us a little bit about the genesis of the idea? How did the school come about?
Kevin Glass: So the school came about with some local families, some local businesses, some international families, some international businesses who realized that there wasn’t yet a school here in Greater Atlanta that catered to folks who wanted to learn other languages, who wanted to learn about other cultures, who had a global mindset.
Lee Kantor: And then from there, it just slowly expanded over time.
Kevin Glass: We started in 1985, almost 40 years ago, with 51 students in a shed behind Sardis Methodist church. And as Atlanta and the area has become a global hub for doing business. So Atlanta International School has also grown now into Sandy Springs.
Lee Kantor: So now, who is the typical student that attends? Somebody that is from a consulate that they’re sending their kids? Or are you getting just local people who grew up here in Atlanta and say, hey, I want my kid. Did that have that type of education?
Kevin Glass: That’s what’s wonderful about Atlanta International School. There is not a typical Atlanta international School student. We have students who are local from many generations here in the southeast. We have students whose families come from all over the world, and we have students who are what we would call sort of third culture kid, blended with families from multiple countries and multiple cultures.
Lee Kantor: So what’s the experience like for a student that’s different than from maybe a public school or private school?
Kevin Glass: So it’s all about centering the life and the journey of the young person. And because we do have so many different ways of looking at the world, because we’ve got such an incredible rich community, the lenses and the perspectives that you consider challenges and issues and subjects. As you grow through that community, it completely broadens your outlook.
Lee Kantor: Now, why was it important for you to have your school become part of the chamber and get involved with the chamber at the level you have?
Kevin Glass: So our school, yes, it’s an international school, but we are absolutely rooted into the local community. There’s a really old phrase it talks about, it takes a village to raise each and every young person. So by engaging with our local community, with our local neighborhoods and the Sandy Springs campus, we’re working with our Rivergate neighborhood by engaging with, for example, the city of Sandy Springs and all of the different businesses and companies and organizations that are that are located there. Together, we create this incredible village and network that supports not just our own students who are attending our campus, but supports the entire community as well.
Lee Kantor: So what do you need more of? How can we help you?
Kevin Glass: We would like to meet and connect with any company, any business, any organization who would like to get involved with the work that we’re doing at Atlanta International School, at our new campus that’s opening this summer in the city of Sandy Springs. There are so many ways that we can partner and that we can collaborate. And again, it’s one of those things that they said it today in the in the meeting there that a rising tide floats all boats. And we really want to be part of the rising tide. That is the greater perimeter chamber.
Lee Kantor: So what is the best way to connect with you or somebody on your team website? Best way to connect.
Kevin Glass: So you can reach out directly to me via email. Kevin Glass K glass@ischool.org. You can connect via our website. And that’s why school.org.
Lee Kantor: Well Kevin, thank you so much for sharing your story today.
Kevin Glass: Thank you Lee, it’s a pleasure to be here. Thank you.
