In our first morning chapel of the semester, welcoming our students back for the Spring Term in Fuller Hall, three things gave me particular joy.

The first joyful thing was getting to read the list of Career and Technical Education “Students of the Quarter” from last term; this is an honor roll of students across the CTE courses we offer, from Electricity to Entrepreneurship to Culinary Arts. The students singled out for accolades by teachers have contributed in myriad ways–not just in skill and mastery but in leadership and attitude, and I am always thrilled to be able to recognize them in front of a full assembly of their peers.  

The second joyful thing was a trio of students promoting–in the form of a trivia contest– a 10th grade class fundraiser: selling cookies during the month of January. The trivia was creative. While I was not surprised that Oreos are the best-selling cookies of all time; I was quite surprised to learn that for all these years Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster has not been smash-eating real cookies, but rice cakes painted to look like cookies. Most notable to me was the statistic that Chef Paula Bystricki contributed: during her 24-year tenure as our Master of Baking, she and her classes have made at least 250,000 cookies. Now we just need the data on Maple Donuts.

Finally, as I reminded Seniors (to some possibly over-enthusiastic applause) that this was the first day of their last semester of high school––I felt joy at the thought of the 183 years of Academy Seniors who have felt that same level of excitement and trepidation as they imagined their time here coming to a close.

There is no shortage of strife in the world right now, and we are bombarded with news of it all day every day–we are heartsick for those in places experiencing war and natural disaster like Los Angeles, Tibet, Ukraine, Syria, Sudan, and too many other places. We try hard to maintain perspective and avoid becoming overwhelmed by the sheer volume and scope of what comes at us. In such a maelstrom, I am grateful for the human pace of our school days and the kind of orderly space we are able to offer our students in which to learn and connect.

To send them off into their last semester, I asked seniors to stay grounded and present for the rest of the year, to enjoy the days getting longer and lighter, and to lead the way in helping us to “make connections…to stay connected to what’s happening in the world without disconnecting from our present or from each other. Help us make the spaces we spend time in as connective as possible–so, not safe from disagreement or debate, but safe FOR disagreement and debate. Help us find connections where we may not have seen them. Help us make SJA a brave and surprising place, where we see our differences as opportunities to connect and expand our understanding.” 

To start the day together in such a place, with such people–with the prospect of cookies? What a privilege, and what a joy!