Our Wildwood, Summer 2016, Volume 39

l e t t e r f r o m l a n d i s

Dear Friends,

I could go on. I could talk about the young drummer who oh-so-bravely stepped out from behind her drum set a few years back and soloed with her band. I was in the audience the first time she did it, when she wasn’t entirely pleased. And I was there the second time she did it, when she brought the house down. It was exhilarating. We were all proud with and of her. Each moment of bravery—on the elementary stage, on our fields and courts, during presentations of academic work at competitions on the state and national

OF THE MANY CELEBRATIONS AND RITES OF PASSAGE that mark the end of any academic year at Wildwood School, Gateways and Senior Exhibitions are among those most often discussed by members of the school community. Any of us who’ve been present for these remarkable demonstrations of learning understand why. One of my favorite funny stories? A father remarking during the question-and-answer period, “Thanks, son. That’s the most I’ve heard you speak in two years.” How do students get there, standing in front of family, friends, faculty, and administrators, talking openly and with humility about both their strengths and their stretches, and the things they expect to be working on in the coming two years? Certainly, they’ve been guided by their advisors, friends, and others as they think about what to share—growth and “opportunities for growth” identified in recent years. They’ve kept portfolios of their work so they’ll have evidence to back up their reflections. They also live with the friendly threat of that question- and-answer period, when they know that if their teachers don’t keep them honest about what it is they need to work on, their parents—or some supportive, yet constructively critical, extended family member—will. I have the good fortune of a prime spot at elementary All School Meetings on Fridays, where the entire elementary student body, faculty, and many parents come together to mark the end of another week with music, presentations, games, birthday songs, and myriad other traditions unique to Wildwood. One of my favorite things to do is watch carefully as students walk past me, heading up to the stage to deliver a presentation, read aloud in front of 300-plus people for the first time, or simply stand and say their name and their age-to-be before becoming the recipient of a happy birthday song. Invariably, the look on a child’s face heading TO the stage is markedly different from the look heading back FROM the stage. They are relieved. The risk involved in heading up there to expose oneself, even in the safety of their school community, is the essence—and the start—of bravery, the theme of this issue of Our Wildwood.

levels—marks an individual student’s growth and comfort in operating with less and less of the safety net of direct instruction, without a specific to-do list provided by a teacher who’s teaching how to conform and align to the standard. Conformity and alignment aren’t where bravery lives. Bravery lives in the space where students are guided and cajoled and expected to be on the journey to becoming the very best version of themselves, different from their peers, and celebrating, every step of the way, the strength those differences reflect when we join together to create something new. Bravery is, and always has been, what Wildwood School is about. I hope you enjoy this issue of Our Wildwood as much as my colleagues and others have enjoyed the process and collaboration involved in preparing it for you.

Warm regards,

Landis Green Head of School