It is an interesting time to be an educator. So many significant events and activities in our local communities and around the world. More and more, we have need for bright, talented, ethical young people who have the passion to bring about change and grapple with the issues of the day: War, disease, climate change, and economic uncertainty.
Thornton Friends School stands in the forefront of schools working with students who are seeking a different sort of school experience and a different sort of world. We offer students a chance to begin making a difference in their own lives, within a small community then expanding out more broadly. We offer them and their families a community that cares about its members and has a curriculum that generates academic skills for action and success; is steeped in the Quaker values of peace, justice, integrity, community, and simplicity; and prepares students for success in college and beyond.
We help young people become world changers. Our alumni include social workers, musicians, writers, and educators. All go out into the world with powerful connections with their inner lives. Meeting for Worship, regular self assessments, and community meetings designed to explore community successes and tensions all become part of the fabric of student’s lives. They seek out, and create, similar processes in their lives as adults, bringing Thornton and its values to the world.
Graduation 2008. Our 13 seniors and 9 8th graders were magnificent as they received their diplomas and certificates. Our intimate graduation ceremonies, in which parents, friends and loved ones are able to speak to the graduates during of periods of silence (while they squirmed from the wonderful attention), were testament to the growth each student has enjoyed. Overcoming difficulties, embracing unrealized skills, unlocking blocks to friendships and being “out there” in the community, coming to have an answer to the admissions question “what do you want?” All these things, and more, were evident and celebrated during the ceremonies and at the receptions as parents and students expressed their appreciations for one another, for their teachers, for their friends and family.
We are proud of all our graduates. We love you and wish you well as you move into college, internships and, for our 8th graders, into high school.
As always, I welcome your comments and questions.
Michael DeHart
Head of School