At Continuation this year, I had the chance to congratulate and celebrate the Eighth Grade class. This group has been exemplary leaders of the Middle School and will make a positive impact on our Upper School in the coming years. Individually, these students are budding artists, athletes, and learners, and collectively they practice many of the values we hold dearly as a school: they are hard workers, empathetic friends, active participants, community-minded, and kind.

 

My message to the class was not to allow who they are today to close them off to who they can be TOMORROW, next year, or thirty years from now. Without question, the person that one becomes during Middle School matters. This new person that emerges when students are eighth graders is hard-won and deserving of respect. It is also only a way station on the road to adulthood. Staying open to new experiences, allowing oneself to grow, and being willing to not hold on too tightly to who we are today allows us — even us old folks — to be surprised and amazed by who we can become.

 

I hope our students remember these three lessons from Middle School:

1. What you practice with conviction — those things you are truly passionate about — will drive your success. It doesn’t matter how hard it is for you; it doesn’t matter that it is not what your friends think is cool. What matters is that it is what fuels your soul and makes you happy.

2. When possible, try to “pull a Robert Frost” by taking the road less traveled. This includes being unafraid to go down the road, at least for a little way, that you never expected to try. This willingness to have an adventure, develop new skills, and explore new perspectives will almost always end well.

3. Continue to practice courage and kindness now and throughout your life. Courage is the great enabler. Without it, we are frozen: too frightened to extend ourselves to new people, too frightened to risk looking foolish, or too frightened to express who we truly are. With courage, we allow ourselves to welcome new friends, to share of oneself fully and to evolve and grow into kind, intelligent, resilient and skilled adults. Unquestionably, there will be other lessons to learn down the road. My hope, however, is that these three lessons give our Eighth Graders something to lean on next fall as they take on the new challenges of high school.

 

What a year it has been! The Middle School faculty and I can’t say often enough how much we have enjoyed the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth grade students. We appreciated having the chance to be a part of their growth experience and believe that each has grown immensely because of the many and varied experiences that we shared together this year.

 

Over the summer, our team will be busy building and tweaking curriculum in anticipation of school start. In addition, next fall we will be rolling out a new and improved version of our Eighth Grade Leadership Retreat, as well as new coding/innovation experiences for Sixth and Seventh graders, a new Robotics Club and an expanded set of arts offerings.

 

Come August, I will share more about these program enhancements and how they will play a part in opening new doors for our students. I hope everyone enjoys a well-earned break filled with family, friends, a bit of extra down time, and experiences that make us grow. If you have any questions or if I can be helpful in any way, please do not hesitate to be in touch.