This is a personal reflection I want to share with our CH community and not a general board note. Since our last board meeting I've been reflecting upon why my family chose to be part of CH and why I feel so comfortable on the board.
To come to CH every family had to make an active chose to leave the default system of public education, get on a waiting list and having to drive their children to school. This was at least a little bit inconvenient. Yet all of us did it. Why? I am sure there are many reasons our families could list. But one commonality I believe for all of us is that we wanted something BETTER for our children. This I believe is our glue and bond. We CARED about our children's education enough to take an active role in changing the default option.
In our situation when considering CH as a place for our boys, we were looking for a place that had at least the potential for exploration of and tolerance for diverse perspectives. And I feel we've gotten that. There are many ideologies, beliefs and practices among our families that in many cases might be cause for a strained atmosphere or even rejection of certain members not following the norm. but yet I feel that there is an acceptance of this "diversity" at our school. The reason for this, I believe is that "glue" that we have in common- that we actively "care" about our children. We are able through this focus to accept each other for who we are and work together to achieve our goal- the best for our children.
And that is what is reflected on our board. Personally, as is glaringly evident by my appearance, I am obviously not a member of the norm in this community, So I was initially surprised and heartened that I would be asked to serve. But as I have learned about the members of the board, it has been evident that we are diverse. We have a rich mixture of varied beliefs, histories and experiences, some following the norm and others not. But yet we all have a common belief: And that is, that we want the best for our children at Channing Hall. Furthermore, our bond has been greatly cemented by the countless hours spent together on that single mission. And that, I believe is our hope for the CH community as a whole.
We hope that our family bonds can grow stronger through everyone's desire to help our children and our students. That is a large reason that there has been such a large emphasis on the level of participation- even over that of the amount of money raised- in our Annual Giving campaign. We hope that the CH community can demonstrate unity and support by participating in giving to our school. The amount of the giving is left up to the families, since that ability is as diverse as our beliefs. Give what you are able as a sign of our cohesion for our children.
To come to CH every family had to make an active chose to leave the default system of public education, get on a waiting list and having to drive their children to school. This was at least a little bit inconvenient. Yet all of us did it. Why? I am sure there are many reasons our families could list. But one commonality I believe for all of us is that we wanted something BETTER for our children. This I believe is our glue and bond. We CARED about our children's education enough to take an active role in changing the default option.
In our situation when considering CH as a place for our boys, we were looking for a place that had at least the potential for exploration of and tolerance for diverse perspectives. And I feel we've gotten that. There are many ideologies, beliefs and practices among our families that in many cases might be cause for a strained atmosphere or even rejection of certain members not following the norm. but yet I feel that there is an acceptance of this "diversity" at our school. The reason for this, I believe is that "glue" that we have in common- that we actively "care" about our children. We are able through this focus to accept each other for who we are and work together to achieve our goal- the best for our children.
And that is what is reflected on our board. Personally, as is glaringly evident by my appearance, I am obviously not a member of the norm in this community, So I was initially surprised and heartened that I would be asked to serve. But as I have learned about the members of the board, it has been evident that we are diverse. We have a rich mixture of varied beliefs, histories and experiences, some following the norm and others not. But yet we all have a common belief: And that is, that we want the best for our children at Channing Hall. Furthermore, our bond has been greatly cemented by the countless hours spent together on that single mission. And that, I believe is our hope for the CH community as a whole.
We hope that our family bonds can grow stronger through everyone's desire to help our children and our students. That is a large reason that there has been such a large emphasis on the level of participation- even over that of the amount of money raised- in our Annual Giving campaign. We hope that the CH community can demonstrate unity and support by participating in giving to our school. The amount of the giving is left up to the families, since that ability is as diverse as our beliefs. Give what you are able as a sign of our cohesion for our children.
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