Parent socials are in full swing, and it was wonderful spending time with kindergarten, third, fourth, and fifth grade parents this week. I find myself being asked the same question with each encounter: How’s the start of the school year? My answer—we are off to a wonderful start—seems to resonate with everyone who has asked. The energy in the Schoolhouse, on the sidelines, on Big Blue, and in the carlines is joyful and palpable. “It’s just so nice to be back on campus” is a common refrain.
This year’s themes of community and excellence have something to do with that energy, and being back on campus contributes to our community’s feeling of happiness. I believe being together again also brings families closer to the excellence we promise for each student’s experience.
At this morning’s Sharing Assembly, excellence was on display as each grade recounted the highlights and learning from their summer reading books, and the smiles of both the presenters and their videographer parents were a mile wide. Excellence is also present in the less visible places and moments: Coolidge Hall when it is abuzz with conversation over great food at lunchtime; when Capstone mentors and mentees engage in their weekly 1:1 meetings; at recess when kindergarteners and second graders are sharing Big Blue; and during a field hockey dribbling competition that I was invited to—which I lost, but the results are being greatly contested, and a rematch has been promised!
Simply put, now that we are back in one another’s orbit, the joy we experience is collective and part of a greater whole, and born of community and the celebration of the excellence that is part of every day at Belmont Day School.
So, as pre-kindergarten, first, second, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade parents ready themselves for their upcoming socials, consider this message a headstart on the conversations I hope we get to have about why we are off to such a wonderful start this year, and all that we can continue to look forward to in the year ahead.
Have a great weekend, everyone. Hope to see you at tomorrow’s Fall Festival!
