Inspiring Women Summer 2018

France: A Textbook Example of a Curriculum Writer
SHEILA GRIFFITH
American Women’s Group Languedoc-
Roussillon, France
From: Waco, Texas
Lives: Montpellier, France
After graduating from high school, I went to
Rice University (Houston, TX) for my
undergraduate degree in Anthropology,
Psychology, and Behavioral Sciences.
Immediately after graduation, I married Kevin
Griffith (also from Texas), and we attended
Southwestern Seminary together. There, I
completed a Masters of Divinity with Biblical
Languages degree. After that, I completed a
year of post-graduate studies in Tubingen
(Germany), then advanced to earn a PhD in
Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity at the
University of Virginia. During this time, I also
studied Latin at Baylor, UVA, and even in
Rome, with the Pope’s senior scribe (= the guy
who translates all official documents into Latin). I then decided that clearly wasn’t enough
education (!), so I headed back to Rice to earn a Master of Business Administration, where I
focused on finance and strategic consulting. In business school, my husband and I started our
own company (Knowsys Educational Services LLC), which continues to thrive today. Since
moving to France, I have continued running my business and writing additional textbooks, but I
have been very intentional about adding more “fun” into the mix – exploring the south of
France, traveling the world, and even taking up watercolor painting.
I have always loved words and language. I got my first
taste of a truly foreign language when my youth
minister started teaching me biblical Greek – I was 13,
and I absolutely loved it! Since then, I’ve studied Greek
in undergraduate and graduate programs, and I
currently teach Greek in online courses and for the
Kenya campus of Wayland Baptist University. My mom
and my English teachers also encouraged my love of
reading and words – and those interests eventually led
me to create a vocabulary-builder program (for
middle school and high school students) and even to
write an English grammar text book.
Today, I continue to write curriculum for my company,
Knowsys. There are 3 main areas: math, English
vocabulary and grammar, and exam prep for the SAT,
ACT, PSAT, GRE, GMAT, and LSAT. In our test prep
50