Jade McCully

Gail MacPherson | Academic Advisor

Being born to a West Indian father and a Scotch-Irish mother in apartheid-era South Africa meant growing up without many of the civil rights we take for granted.

“For me it was normal, it was all I knew,” shrugs Gail, who recalls having to stand outside a “whites only” shop while her mother showed her dresses through the window. The end of apartheid came during her college years, and the mother of two worked with Nelson Mandela during the historic 1994 election registering rural voters.

She came to the U.S. in 1997 to attend CornellUniversity and has served as the director of diversity at SavannahCountryDay School for the past seven years.

“I try to make my students aware that there’s a whole world out there, and in order to succeed in it, you must embrace the differences in other human beings.”