Skip to main content

Standing for Something

            One of our Board President’s favorite mantras is that Berwick stands for something.  Often he is in the foxhole with me sorting through particularly challenging ethical dilemmas associated with school leadership. My hope is that our community takes pride in knowing that our children, in this way, will always be a part of something bigger than themselves. To some degree, our core values articulate what we stand for, and I would draw our attention most specifically to our commitment to integrity today. Having engaged our student community in a conversation about values when I first arrived here, this was their greatest source of institutional pride: there were lots of great schools, but our students knew that Berwick tried to do things the right way.

            Standing for something is often quite painful as a Head of School when dealing with unhappy students, parents, faculty, alumni, or even trustees. One case study I present in eighth grade Ethics is to ask the kids to become me for a day and consider whether or not they would accept a $10 million gift if it compromised the integrity of their leadership in some way. They struggle with the decision, which I appreciate deeply. Standing for something requires courage, empathy, and strength. At our recent admissions open house, I was pleased to be approached by four or five families whose sense was that they were most impressed with our transparency and collective ability to speak directly to where we stand. Much of this was in the context of Curriculum 2020, but my sense was that it was an acknowledgement that our leadership team was on the same page.

            As we enter an election year with the particular excitement in New Hampshire, we will witness again both the triumph and the cost associated with standing for something. We will watch candidates waffle, appease, and struggle to put metaphorical lines in the sand. As an independent school, it is tempting to adjust one’s message and direction to accommodate everyone. In an environment where there are only so many families willing to make an investment in a Berwick education in the Seacoast, I find myself working hard to avoid alienating people at times. But when we do ultimately acknowledge that a student, family, or teacher is not a match for this place, it comes back to our sense of institutional integrity.


            My hope is that our students absorb this type of integrity by the experience of being here for their education day after day. Through the partnership of school leaders and parents who agree that standing for something matters, we model the kind of courage and resiliency we seek for all Berwick graduates.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Piercing the Bubble

This week we were so fortunate to have former NH Senator Kelly Ayotte address grades 7 – 11 in our theater about Civil Discourse in a time of Political Polarization. Senator Ayotte spoke to the need to take the high road in tough conversations and put an incredible primacy on building relationships with people who hold different opinions. She was able to speak to some of her own successes in working across the aisle to develop legislation to address the opioid crisis in New Hampshire as one powerful example of how this can be possible. Additionally, Senator Ayotte offered a strong reminder to our students of the need for more women in positions of leadership within our government, citing that she had only been the 53rd woman to serve in the US senate during her tenure. With a down-to-earth style and but an appropriately impassioned call to action, she challenged our students to become the leaders that they could be. Her call to action and example of service were powerful reminder...
Post a Comment
Read more

Arts Underground

One of Berwick’s great strengths is its arts culture, and I have always felt that there is both a public and private face of this culture. The public face includes our amazing concerts, our ambitious productions, and the various art shows we produce throughout the year. The private face tends to include things like private lessons, coffeehouses, assembly performances, murals painted on walls, and unexpected artistic expressions that emerge on campus throughout the year. One of the great traditions I will miss at Berwick will be the annual recital week in April. So many of our students hone their craft on private music lessons throughout the year in the hopes of having a public performance at this time. Simultaneously, we have a week of performances in the theater and in Chip Harding’s coffeehouse lair – the space he likes to refer to as his “smoldering ruins,” referring to the carnage left there after every Middle School electric guitar class. This year, for my second and final time, I...
Post a Comment
Read more

Senior Arts Night

We often say in the Admissions office that it is hard to truly bottle the Berwick experience for prospective families to understand. Senior Arts Night is one of those magical Berwick moments that is difficult to fully explain. One certainly feels the power of a PK-12 community when kids announce they will be playing the song they last played in the fourth grade talent show. When I spend time with these young adults, I feel such optimism for the future. Last night I was able to sit with some senior parents, some of whom I have known for over a decade. Whether it was hearing their own child sing or a peer sing, it did not take long for the tears to roll. What I have always loved about Senior Arts night is that it never fails to offer surprises – a voice I didn’t know about or an artist that had been working in the shadows. It is a night when I often most appreciate the value of the “whole child” education that we preach on this Hilltop. Beyond the reality that being able to play guitar ...
Post a Comment
Read more