“Learning to work together, learning to work as one; learning to work together, that’s how life’s work gets done. ... We are building more than a home, we are building a living school. We are building a brand new world, and our lives are the tools. We are living more than our life, we are living a life for all. We are living the world to come. We are living the ageless call.”
ONE OF THE QUESTIONS we can ask ourselves at the end of a challenging year is how we lived our own values individually, as families, as community members, trying to create a new world for our children. The lyrics quoted in the above school song, “Learning to Work Together,” offer the vision that what we do every day in our school environment ripples into the larger world and can help to change it for the better.
This has been a challenging year, and there have been countless examples of parents, teachers, and administrative staff demonstrating for children what flexibility, creativity, and compassion for all look like. The challenges aren’t over, but this is the time to reflect and appreciate.
Our alumni have told us repeatedly how referring to the lyrics of our school songs has provided inspiration for them as they ride the waves of worldly activity.
Here are a few examples of members of the school community living the universal values at the core of our school mission:
Teachers and parents constantly responding to changing guidelines with full loving presence and engagement
Teachers’ love and resilience in the face of threats to their own health
Teachers remaining calm and finding countless ways to help children learn to calm themselves
The Parents Steering Committee organizing Outdoor Movie Night and our Spring Dance
Parents, teachers, and administrative staff working with the Equity & Inclusion Committee to create beautiful hallway exhibits highlighting the rich cultural diversity of our community
Teachers and parents creating the beautiful, interactive display on mental health, and people of all ages recording acts of kindness they observe on campus, with children offering comments like “When my friend is sad, I try to help.”
Administrators and parents turning the admin parking lot into a COVID testing site week after week and tracking symptoms and cases daily
Mark and Guilia Lukach giving a talk expanding our view of mental health – and leaving on time for their son Jonas’s playoff game
Elementary children creating fundraisers for Ukraine, with everyone participating
Parents providing months of food trains for ill and injured staff
Parents working as substitutes in preschool classrooms
Warren Wallace’s social media postings and “Parenting From the Heart” illustrations, reflecting the beauty, vibrancy, and feeling of unity in all that we do
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