January 21, 2021
Dear LREI Community,
Hello, all. I hope this letter finds you well.
I was so happy to be with our students yesterday during the inauguration. Classrooms are the exact right place to be for such an event as there is so much to learn, so much to think about, so much hope, as I shared on Monday, to be found in a presidential inauguration. Yesterday, at LREI, was no exception.
I started the day with the high school at their morning meeting. The students who make up The Democracy Project and who have done so much work around the electoral process planned a full day of events, beginning the day with a preview of conversations to come. Later, I was thrilled to watch the inauguration with the eighth graders and their advisors. As we watched the students shared thoughts and responses to questions and comments others posted in the Chat.
President Biden spoke of unity. He said, “Without unity, there is no peace, only bitterness and fury. No progress, only exhausting outrage. No nation, only a state of chaos. This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge. And unity is the path forward.” I asked about having unity and differences of opinion at the same time and was heartened by the students’ replies. One student responded to my question asking if we had to agree to be unified. He said, “I think not, democracy is not a thing where we all agree, people disagree. We make compromises.” Again, not something I am always good at, that we are not always good at. We should follow this eighth grader’s lead. He was quite right. I also want to note President Biden’s naming “systemic racism” as an issue. It is important that he said these words.
We were all captivated by Amanda Gorman and her poem, The Hill We Climb. Please check it out. The students pointed to the passage, “There is always a light, if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.” Another challenge to us all.
And then, of course, there was the amazing moment demonstrating true growth. As President Biden said, “Today, we mark the swearing-in of the first woman in American history elected to national office, Vice President Kamala Harris. Don’t tell me things can’t change.” A female Vice President. A woman of color sworn in by a Supreme Court Justice herself a woman of color. Wow!.
I wandered through the lower school. There was a lot going on, much of it inauguration related, from inauguration Bingo in one classroom to a conversation about what a long and tiring day it must be for the newly sworn-in President and Vice President in another.
I finished the day with the high school students, gathered in an assembly. As I said to them, their optimism, their hopefulness, their excitement about Vice President Harris’ inauguration, and how moved they were by Ms. Gorman’s poem seemed to melt their jadedness and to crystalize their dreams and youthful vigor. I was moved by their energy and their hopes for our collective future and am eager to go along on this ride. Check out the hopes and wishes that many high school students shared on LREI’s latest Instagram post.
Wherever you fall on the political spectrum, it is hard not to be moved by an engaged group of students, eager to be hopeful, emboldened by the promise of unity, and powered by their youth.
All best,
Community Gathering Update:
The Lower School Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Plan Update has been rescheduled to Thursday, January 28 from 6:00p.m.-7:00p.m. The link to this event can be found on the Community Events Calendar on LREI Connect.
The High School Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Plan Update has been rescheduled to Thursday, January 28 from 6:30p.m.-7:30p.m. The link to this event can be found on the Community Events Calendar on LREI Connect.