Building The Compass School of Texas From Scratch With Shelly Sender

Published on September 16, 2026

This week's SMU Stories episode is live, featuring Shelly Sender, founding Head of School at The Compass School of Texas and an SMU psychology grad. Before Compass, she spent sixteen years running early childhood education at Temple Emanu-El here in Dallas, where she led the school through NAEYC accreditation, helped bring in the International Baccalaureate program, and reinstated its kindergarten.

Shelly believes education should do more than prepare kids for the future. It should help them figure out who they are, understand what they have to offer, and build the character to actually do something with it.

Tune in on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

🎵 Spotify 
🎥 YouTube 
🎙️ Apple Podcasts