Contributed by Mark Silver, Head of School
As Flag ended a few weeks ago, I paused momentarily and thought to myself, “Yep, another Hillbrook moment.”
Over the past few years, I’ve found myself increasingly reflective about the abundance of quintessential moments that capture the spirit of our school. These moments – usually serendipitous – bring to life our core values, reflecting in important ways how we are truly living our vision and mission as a school.
At this particular Flag, we saw students speaking about the importance of reaching beyond themselves to make a difference in the world, including two children, inspired by their own family’s lived experience, who chose to spearhead a drive to support the International Rescue Committee. We saw an 8th grade student share a personal reflection about her Hillbrook experience and how she valued this community and the opportunity to be part of it. We heard a brief account of the recent Middle School trip to Ecuador, a trip that included a service component where students dug a 50 meter portion of a trench to lay pipe for a new water system that will deliver filtered/treated river water to 82 families living nearby. We heard students young and old share jokes, including one kindergartner who bravely joined his grandfather to share his first joke in front of the school.
In just a 15-minute time span, we saw strong evidence of the values that define our school – a belief in creating spaces for students to take risks, be themselves, and publicly share ideas and passions, a commitment to reaching beyond ourselves to make a difference in the world, and an appreciation for the importance of humor.
Earlier this week, faculty and staff received an invitation from Camilla W. (‘17). The event? A bookbinding class she is leading for students and teachers that will focus on “Coptic bookbinding, tools or makeshift and easily accessible substitutions to use and materials used to make hardcover books.” Camilla’s class is a part of her 8th grade capstone project, in which she has taken her passion and self-taught expertise in bookbinding and extended herself by learning how to teach the skill to others of all ages. It was yet another Hillbrook moment, as I marveled at the many things that Camilla’s project, and the 8th grade capstone more generally, reflect about our program – the ability to pursue an independent passion project, the value of making, artistic expression, design, and production, and the confidence to share your knowledge with learners of all ages. How inspiring that one of our students is inviting us to participate in a multi-day workshop imagined, created, and run by herself. This is just one of the myriad projects our students are pursuing. I encourage you to join us at NUMU, the New Museum of Los Gatos, on Thursday, June 1 from 5 – 7 pm to learn more about Camilla’s work and that of her many talented peers.
And lest we think that Hillbrook moments are limited to current Hillbrook students, I have recently been inspired by several of our recent alums.
Maya Wilcox (‘13) and Natasha Brown (‘13), seniors at Thacher School, organized the first-ever diversity conference for the school as part of their Senior Project. What’s more? They invited our own Diversity and Inclusivity Coordinator Jules Greene to be the keynote speaker. Inspired by their participation in the NAIS Student Diversity Leadership Conference two years ago, these two dynamic seniors created an experience for high school students from several different schools. And then there’s recent alum Alex Nickel (‘16). While at Hillbrook, Alex started creating educational videos and then quickly turned it into his own YouTube channel, Technicality. Recently, Technicality was trending on Reddit’s YouTube page and also was recently highlighted on Mashable. With over 20,000 subscribers, Alex’s playful and educational explorations into subjects including science, math, pop culture, and music are drawing national, or probably international, attention.
Seeing these stories on Facebook, I was so proud of the efforts these young people are making to reach beyond themselves to make a difference in their community and in the world. I was inspired by their willingness to take risks, and the confidence they had to share their stories and teach peers and people of all ages. And, thinking back to the recent Flag, I’m confident that at least some of their ability to do this has its roots in their Hillbrook experience.
Hillbrook moments. Once you start looking for them, you will find them everywhere. I hope you’ll share some of your favorites with me.