This coming week, Colorado Academy hosts its annual Parent Preview during which hundreds of parents will tour our campus, watch our students and teachers in action, have an opportunity to ask questions and peer into the life of a day at CA. It is a time I value because the reaction of our guests and visitors reminds me of the first time I visited campus; I was enthralled, impressed, but most importantly, I was welcomed.

 

“Welcome” is a very old word, and according to Grammarphobia, it dates back to Anglo-Saxon days with the first published references in Beowulf.  In its original Old English usage, the word was wilcuma or in the verb form, wilcumian, meaning to receive someone with pleasure. We are delighted when visitors come to campus. We are proud to share the school and community that define CA; we are excited for them to see what we do and how we do it; and it challenges us to do better. I am also excited to share the CA that you don’t readily see.

 

It is a place where, yes, you can be surprised by a student who says hello, or rushes to get the door for you, or how older students will so quickly cheer on a younger student on campus. You can also be surprised by the parents who call and thank you because your older son read a story book to their younger child every day on the bus – even without your knowing.  You can be surprised by how our students easily slide into the role of helping others  -- whether traveling to rural Haiti to work with students at our sister school, tending to the elderly through a class project, or serving a meal to someone less fortunate. 

 

We welcome those who are coming to visit, and we thank the many parent and student volunteers who are helping to put CA on display – both the visible and the just discernable parts of who we are.