Explore! Team
Stephanie Jarrett-Thorpe
Executive Principal
Explore!'s Executive Principal, Ms. Jarrett-Thorpe is a veteran educator with expertise in coaching, professional development, community engagement, and change management. She has been on the leadership team at several schools and knows that an engaged, empowered community is the key driver in ensuring sustainable change.
Middle School Resident Principal
Deirdra is a native New Yorker born and raised in Brooklyn. She is a proud graduate of North Carolina A&T State University, an HBCU and became the first in her family to earn a college degree. An educational veteran. Deirdra has worked in schools K-12, in a variety of roles. Her passion for young people and her unyielding belief in their promise and potential has been the fuel for her 25+ year career. In addition to this unwavering belief her goals have always remained the same: "to provide the support and structures students need, to learn in an environment where they feel safe, loved and supported, while also being pushed, to do their best work and be their best selves” Deirdra is the proud parent of an amazing young adult son with special needs. In addition to her BSW from NC A&T, she holds an MSW from Hunter College and a Masters in School Building Leadership from Mercy College.
