January 20, 2022
Dear LREI Community,
“I value seeing the boys stand taller when they first arrive, particularly the younger ones, because they sense the expectations and the privilege that lies in being a part of this community.” This is a quote from a welcome video from another school’s website. Not a school I knew of before the link to their site came across my screen. A very different type of school – all boys, in a different part of the country, seemingly quite traditional. I tend to follow these links when I can, out of curiosity and to learn something. As I watched this video, the pride the head of school had for his community was evident. Clearly, there is something that one sees and feels when one walks onto this campus, some set of cultural signifiers that convey the community’s points of pride. The younger boys, seeing these symbols, feel proud to have been allowed to join the community, to have been allowed to join, and welcomed into this community.
Watching this video made me think about the components of LREI’s heritage and the parts of LREI’s current program and community of which I am proud (and there are many) and what signals the community’s expectations and pride to our students? When one walks on LREI’s campus what do we see that makes us stand a little taller?
If you look in a classroom, maybe in the middle school, you are likely to see a teacher and a student sitting next to each other, reviewing a piece of writing, sharing thoughts, debating revisions, or working on a painting, or a challenging math problem. That connection, the mutual respect, their comfort with one another, that is something of which we can be proud, something to which all students should aspire. If families could see how the divisional teams meet to speak about the children, all of them and each of them, you would be comforted and proud to be part of a community that cares so very deeply about each student. In each division there are moments when you witness real collegiality between students – they listen to each other, agree with each other, disagree with each other, and move together towards deeper understanding. This may happen around the rug in the second grade, around the lab table in middle school science, or during a discussion in the high school Constitutional Law elective. I have to think that on some level, students witness this and feel proud to be part of this group of learners and that they feel the pressure of the expectation that they follow suit.
LREI has its fair share of trophies, championships (Right, varsity girls soccer players?) standing ovations, displays of art and writing, robotics tournaments, all sorts of moments when we can applaud, admire, and strive to join our schoolmates in their excellence. I want to make sure that we also acknowledge all of the ways that LREI’s students are inspired by the work of their schoolmates, and by the expertise and care, they feel from the teachers, which are camouflaged components of our daily work and habits. We see them as everyday schooling when in reality they are the school’s mission made tangible, the true reasons to be proud and to aspire to academic, intellectual, and personal growth.
One more example, last night at the inspiring gathering dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his legacy organized by Kalil Oldham, we shared examples of thoughtful classroom programs created by teachers in all three divisions and by the words and thoughts of the students who joined the presentation. Their dedication to justice will make us all proud to be members of this community and should inspire every other member of the community to follow in their footsteps. Truly moving.
So stand tall, LREIers! As my fellow head of school suggested, stand a little taller due to the expectations and privilege that come with being a member of the LREI community. You are members of a community that expects a lot of you, that will support you, and whose heritage and future should and will make you proud.
Speaking of being proud of our heritage, the school’s long-time commitment to activism is a recognizable outgrowth of our mission and one of which we hope you are proud. Yukie Ohta, LREI mom, trustee, and archivist, has put together a timeline of LREI’s work on behalf of others. You can find this terrific display here.
You can also hear more from Yukie about LREI’s history next Wednesday. A HISTORY OF LREI IN TEN OBJECTS with LREI ARCHIVIST YUKIE OHTA – On January 26th at 6:30pm, as part of our Centennial celebration, please join LREI Archivist, Yukie Ohta, P’26, founder of the SoHo Memory Project, for a presentation on Elisabeth Irwin and 100 years of LREI through 10 objects from the school’s archives and through the lens of our mission. Zoom information on the LREI Community Calendar.
Peace and health,
