The head of the Dwight Family of Schools came here Monday to oversee the opening of its new Seoul branch later this year.

Stephen Spahn, Dwight’s chancellor and headmaster for over the past 40 years, is hoping to create a mlange between Korea’s education system and Dwight’s own international system.

According to Spahn, he chose Korea because of its reputation in the international community for its academic fervor and hopes to merge that with his basic philosophy that every child has a “spark of genius.”

“People understand that the Korean education system is great, and we are looking to expand that to a global system and incorporate our International Baccalaureate system by marrying the two systems together,” he said at a news conference in a Seoul hotel Monday.

The IB program is an internationally recognized program that not only emphasizes the intellectual, but also the personal, emotional and social skills needed to succeed.

And a point of pride for the school is that it will be one of the few international schools in Korea to offer all three IB programs which encompass all ranges of students.

“It is the gold standard of university admissions across the world,” said Kirk Spahn, who is head of the Dwight Global Leaders Academy.

But what both Spahns and Kevin Skeoch, executive director of the Dwight Family of Schools and the head of DIS Seoul, emphasize in their education system is individualization.

According to Spahn, Dwight’s education is “individualized based upon the dreams and passion of the students.”

The Dwight International School Seoul is slated to open this August and is currently enrolling students.

In Seoul, there are currently 21 international schools where about 6,700 students are enrolled. Of them, 12 are for English-speaking students and nine are for others from countries such as Germany, Italy, France, Japan, China and Mongolia.

By Robert Lee (robert@heraldcorp.com)