Ask the Experts: Katherine Hatcher

Q: What makes social and emotional development crucial to academic success?

A: “Emotion and cognition are inter-related processes in the brain,” says Katherine Hatcher, director of the lower school at Lake Ridge Academy. “Much of what we do is inquiry-based. From the very first day, kids are expected and taught to ask questions and learn how to trust themselves as a learner. These positive emotional connections allow [them] to be courageous, to have the desire to move on, to go deeper, to test themselves a little. When they know themselves well enough to be confident to take risks, that’s when the intellectual pieces of life really open up to them.”