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Curtis WestbayThe 2021-2022 School Year is just about over. And we aren’t perfect.
It’s a time for reflection. Every year, our teachers and students work alongside one another for 10 months. Before we know it, classes will be starting again in late August. On this, I’m sure our teachers and students would agree: the summer always feels too short. This year has been a long year, but I am left feeling like it has flown by. The nice thing about being busy is that time passes faster. Try as we might to be “in the moment,” it can be hard.
But now, with a moment for contemplation, it’s nice to look back on our school’s fourth year since opening to appreciate milestones and growth. We aren’t perfect, and we never will be. I’m not sure such a thing as a “perfect” school exists, and if it does, we aren’t close enough to become complacent. Still, I look around and realize that growth has happened, even if I didn’t notice it in real time.
In the hallways and classrooms, our students have a conversational ease in English that they didn’t have four years ago— or even one year ago. They have embraced vulnerability to improve their language skill. It’s a great challenge, taking a rigorous college-level high school curriculum. It’s an even greater challenge to do so while learning a language. Like so many wonderful things, language mastery cannot simply be attained. It’s a lifelong endeavor. We aren’t perfect speakers or writers, even as native speakers. But with every essay we write, every word we struggle to find, every clarifying question we ask, and every time we confront criticism, we are getting better.
Our students have grown. They ask incisive questions and think critically. Two weeks ago, I asked the Grade 11 students what could be done to make this school a better place, and let me tell you— they had a lot to say. As our students grow older, they approach new stages in their life where they will also have to endure criticism and plan for improvement. It is a delight to see them process big challenges and to see them process the complexity that underlies big solutions. I am proud of these students because they are brave, and they have put their faith into themselves to build a school that is a special place. As our students progress into a new academic year, I am proud to see that they are willing to be a part of the solution, even when it’s complex and vast.
At our school, students are challenged daily to never rest on their laurels. Our students have rejected complacency this year. We could grow satisfied with how far we’ve come, make things easy on ourselves, and settle for whatever comes from that. But our students aren’t the settling type. They eye improvement day after day. As teachers, we are proud to see our students becoming great— the process is more important than the outcome. For our oldest students, the rejection of complacency sets the tone for our school, in the nascent stages of its operation. For our younger students, the challenge is to improve on the habits of those who have come before them.
Our teachers have taken the time to reflect on their practices. I hear them discussing their craft, obsessing over how it is that they can be the architect of a transformative learning experience for our students. And again, we are not perfect. It’s tiring to put your heart into lessons and activities, put your energy into a great day of instruction and student development, just to have to go back to the drawing board again for the next day. Time marches forward, and our teachers have been tough and hardworking this year. I see the way they crave improvement. Together, our teachers and our students have made strides this school year that they will build on in the next.
We have seen the graduation of our first students. Their example will live on in this school even after they depart for college. Our younger students will see them in the various legacy monuments that are scattered around campus, a testament to their time here— the Wall of Alumni, the massive “Passion, Leadership, Honor” book that every student will pass on their daily walk to and from the dorm. We will see their legacy in other places, too. Wherever students put energy into the relationships they have with their friends and teachers, into their academic work, into making this place a community, not just a school— there, we will see the Class of 2022. They know that getting into college is just the beginning and that more challenges are on the horizon. Their rejection of complacency has been important for us all, and now it will be the key to their future successes. The Class of 2022 is not perfect, and their recognition of that fact will lead them ever onward into improvement.
We have not been perfect as a school this year. But we have never been better as a school— as students, as teachers, as leaders— than we are at this moment. As we take a moment to share in the joy of another year of progress, we look forward to continued growth and all that it entails. For now, we can be proud of how far we’ve come. There will be plenty of time to examine how it is that we can go even further.