Last week, the Upper School gathered for our last division-wide Town Hall before Thanksgiving Break. Our gathering dovetailed with the end of the Trimester 1, meaning our Town Hall marked a period of transition and an opportunity for collective gratitude.

There is much to be grateful for.

Earlier this fall, we all arrived on campus with our fingers crossed, hoping that this chapter of the pandemic would look different than the first. That we’ve spent this entire trimester on-campus and in-person is a gift that none of us should take for granted. This accomplishment was made possible thanks to the diligence and care of everyone at the Upper School. Our health protocols only work if every teacher, student, and staff member takes them seriously. So, thank you!

Before we head into our break, I wanted to offer two reminders:

Grades for the first trimester will be published online to parents and guardians later today (November 19) at 4 p.m. To view comments for your student, please do the following:

Please note: each report will have a broad comment about the class content and goals, but student-specific comments will only be written if a student is earning a grade of C or below, or if there is a specific context or follow-up that the teacher feels would be helpful for the student to have.

And lastly, CA will be closed from Monday, November 22 through Friday, November 26, with classes resuming on Monday, November 29. Students (and teachers!) will not have any homework over the break.

We closed our last Town Hall with a poem by Alberto Ríos, which (we hope) captures the spirit of the break, and the sense of gratitude we feel at the end of this first trimester.

By Alberto Ríos 

We give because someone gave to us.

We give because nobody gave to us.

We give because giving has changed us.

We give because giving could have changed us.

We have been better for it,

We have been wounded by it—

Giving has many faces: It is loud and quiet,

Big, though small, diamond in wood-nails.

Its story is old, the plot worn and the pages too,

But we read this book, anyway, over and again:

Giving is, first and every time, hand to hand,

Mine to yours, yours to mine.

You gave me blue and I gave you yellow.

Together we are simple green. 

You gave me

What you did not have, and I gave you

What I had to give—together, we made

Something greater from the difference.