A Letter to Upper School Families

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope you have all been able to carve out time this summer to enjoy moments with family, and even, perhaps, to step back from some of the normal routines of daily life. I know that I have been particularly grateful for the opportunity to reconnect with family and friends from whom I’ve been physically distant for almost two years; I have appreciated the quieter moments spent together that I might have taken for granted in the past.

As we reach the beginning of August, thoughts are turning to fall and all that lies ahead in the 2021-2022 school year. One of the joys of being on a school calendar is that every September presents the opportunity for a fresh start. For students, that can mean discovering a new favorite class or drawing on the experiences of the year before to make academic adjustments; it can also mean reaching out to new friend groups, trying out a new sport, or joining a new club. For teachers, it often means developing new projects, exploring new texts, or investigating new technologies. With a new group of students in front of us, nothing is ever exactly the same as it was the year before, which is part of what ensures that our practice is always evolving. Every year is full of potential and promise.

As last year came to a close, we allowed ourselves to think about what our return in September might look like. Vaccines were on the rise, case numbers were down, and things were starting to feel almost “normal” again. In my final assembly remarks to the kids in June, I asked them to consider this return to normal and to remember that what constitutes normal is different for each of us. Part of the magic of the Upper School is the rich variety of experiences our many kids and families bring to us. One of the opportunities we have is to take advantage of our varied perspectives and collectively create our own definition of normal.

As I approach the beginning of this school year I am thinking about the extent to which every school year is an act of creation. What will our normal look like? What should it look like? Our normal must include fully engaging in the life of the classroom; it must include thinking critically, learning deeply, and asking big questions. It will include being open to new experiences, and it will include bumping up against frustration. It’s a certainty that academic successes are borne of a few false starts and missteps along the way, so tolerating setbacks will be important. We continue to exist within a pandemic that definitely has had, and will continue to have, a huge impact on all of us, and so we will need to make sure that our normal includes looking out for each other and ensuring that the Upper School is a place where we treat each other with kindness and in which we appreciate and come to understand a variety of perspectives. Let’s be certain that our normal also includes a healthy dose of joy. While Covid may not have gone away to the extent that we all would have liked, we still have the opportunity to redefine and reestablish our normal. This act of creation is an exciting one, and I look forward to engaging in this challenge with all of you.

And so, it is with real pleasure and enthusiasm that I welcome you to the 2021-2022 school year. There’s always a lot to look forward to; there’s an exciting energy found in our vibrant community of students and teachers which is impossible to find anywhere else, and I very much look forward to rejoining our work together. To the class of 2025 and to the new members of the class of 2024 and 2023: we are so delighted to welcome you to our community. We know that we will benefit from your interests and questions, and we are excited to get to know you.