Since we last saw many of you at Fall Family Weekend, a lot has happened. The students had two free days (the second one was a surprise that resulted in a three-day school-week), Halloween, Haunted Trail, a national election for which we programmed many discussions and gatherings, and now this weekend we have the UNITED program, the last football game of the year, both cross-country teams at the state meet, and soccer in a quarterfinal match of the state tournament. (GO SAINTS! I am one super-proud head of school!) Sunday, we will host Model United Nations, in which many students are involved, hold Chapel, and offer a variety of activities and trips. Among other opportunities, this weekend features theater and museum visits, hayrides around the farm, food trucks, movie trips including Harry Potter, disc golf, and a “Sunday reset.”*

I am looking forward to all of it, including wrapping up on Sunday night with a gathering of all the students on K, L, M, and Pell dorms at our house! On Sunday after Chapel, and before the dorm gathering, I am taking a van-load of students to see the permanent collection as well as the Mickalene Thomas show at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. I try to take students to museums as much as I can. I am a museum-obsessive and find that the observation and appreciation of art is a wonderful way to get perspective on the daily business (and busy-ness) of life. As you know, our students are wonderful artists themselves, and I see many features of Thomas’ work that persist into their artistic endeavors—whether they’re conscious of it or not.

Above all, whether it’s at the museum, on the Front Lawn, in an audience, or in a common room chat session, I hope all of us will be able to take a breath this weekend. As I shared with the students on Wednesday night, I am truly in awe of them as they take in all that school offers alongside the layers of a contentious election in a divided country. When I was a St. Andrew’s student, I was politically aware and engaged. Here is how that looked back then: Every day we would go to the library to see if Mrs. Trabaudo had clipped the papers onto their wooden rods for us. (Some of you remember those.) We would read the papers. And then that was it. No more news to process until the next day when Mrs. Trabaudo replaced them the next morning!

Tsunami isn’t the right word to describe the cascade of information buffeting our kids all the time. I would love to turn back time, so they could take it all in reasonable doses, but there is no point in imagining that. Some schools, I know, have opted to provide no election programming at all. What we decided is to do what we always do: allow students to learn, engage, build their own ideas, test them against each other, discuss, and debate, all in an environment purpose-built so that we all encounter folks whose experiences and ideas differ from our own. Your children are learning how to do this together, here in this special community built on critical thinking, grace, and empathy. And that is the best we can do for them, the best you can do for them, as they find their voices and add them to the discourse that will build our country’s and the world’s future. It’s never going to be perfect, but they have done a beautiful job and I am so proud of them.

I hope you’ll have a chance to connect with your children at some point during the weekend, and I hope this message gives you some fodder for those talks! I know you keep all of us at St. Andrew’s close to your hearts, and your support is felt and appreciated. We are so fortunate to be by your side in bringing up these strong, funny, decent, joyful young people.

*Here is the “Sunday reset” description, facilitated by alumna Lucinda Caldwell ’10, which sounds like something we all could use! “In this 45-minute session, you will use writing and creative reflection as a tool to go into your week feeling organized, grounded and giddy. These sessions are broken up into three parts: reflection, setting priorities for the week, and then mindset work.”