Click here to listen to this week’s JAM: Hopes For the Future
A couple of weeks ago, we held our opening gathering for the founding Class of 2027. It was another, in a developing series, of historic moments, as we expand from a JK-8 into a JK-12. This one felt particularly poignant to me, as it was the first opportunity to address the students and families as a group.
I asked them to imagine themselves four years from now, May 2027, 12th graders, walking across the stage at their Upper School graduation. What will you be proud of? I noted that the moment likely feels a long way away… and it is. And, at the same time, I added, we will be there before we know it. I asked them to take a moment, just a few weeks before they finish 8th grade and a few months before they start their first day of high school, to dream.
And then, I briefly shared my hopes for each of them when I congratulate them as they walk across that stage.
- First, I told them, I hope you have challenged yourself inside and outside the classroom and done all you can to live up to our core values – be kind, be curious, take risks, be your best. I hope that you have had moments where you struggle and face frustration and even feelings of failure, and you have found the resilience and resourcefulness to get through that. I hope as you finish high school, you can look yourself in the eye and know, “I can do hard things.”
- Second, I hope you have made meaningful relationships with classmates and teachers. I hope that you have leaned on our community when you needed it, and provided support to others in our community when they needed it. Remember, I reminded them, you are never alone here.
- Third, I hope you have found moments of joy and laughter, and that you leave here with the knowledge, skills and confidence to do whatever you set your mind to, and a commitment to doing something bigger than yourself.
While I didn’t say it, I could have added that I hope for them that high school is an experience that provides tremendous value to them as a student and a person, and not simply a blur of experiences that provide you entry into the college of your choice. Put another way, I hope that high school is not a waiting area before you enter the real world….. But a real-world experience that helps you reach your highest potential in school and in life.
It’s an extraordinary group of young people, surrounded by an exceptional group of educators. I am so excited for the adventure to begin!