The Setting for Scholarship

Last night I was out walking my dog after a long day at home with my sick eighteen month old son. Our walk takes us down our dirt road and out through hayfields. The outgoing path is due west and since we were walking at dusk the sun was beautiful as it melted into golden fall leaves. We passed, and ultimately chased off, six grazing deer. As I walked into fall and passed through the warm and cool pockets of air I felt the stress and mental fuzziness from a day spent inside, watching the cartoons I swore my son would never watch, melt away. My mind cleared and solutions to problems I had been thinking about all day flooded to mind, it all seemed so obvious out in the fresh air and golden leaves.

You may be wondering what any of this has to with a blog about Wakefield by the director of admissions. Space and natural beauty have long been connected to thinking. Thoreau often sought the refuge of the country to write and reflect (Walden or The Maine Woods, anyone?). I think it is because literal space away from the chaos of everyday life, be it nineteenth century or twenty first century chaos, gives the mind the freedom to roam to the places that spark creativity. The fresh air seems to spark neurons to fire more rapidly and productively. Wakefield students are fortunate to spend their days learning and thinking nestled among the hills and meadows that make up the Virginia piedmont. Upper school students can find a quiet place to study under the tree, teachers can hold their classes on the hill overlooking the many surrounding horse pastures. Lower and middle school students can study tree and plant identification right out the school’s front doors. Our cross country teams even run through a meadow, true cross country. The Wakefield Parents Association has started a morning walking group to take advantage of the views, and the challenging hills, for some morning camaraderie and exercise.

Why do I think that the setting is significant enough to spend time writing about in this blog? Because almost no one comes to the campus without remarking about the breathtaking views and sweeping vistas but it is only after students have been here for some time that they begin to appreciate the real impact the setting has on their scholarship. As I sit at my desk I wonder how anyone could go to school in a setting as beautiful as this and not be inspired to think great thoughts and wondered “why”, which is one of the hallmarks of a Wakefield education.

I hope you will come out and visit our beautiful campus one day soon, if you have not already. Our next open house is Nov. 16 at 9 am.

Happy Halloween!

Sarah

Fun for the Fun of It

Homecoming week at Wakefield is something not to be missed. While we may be small in numbers we are big in spirit. An already confident and comfortable student body they put their inhibitions aside and fully embrace the theme dress days (this year character day, tacky day, color day, and red & white day). Virtually no one is too cool to participate which makes it all the more fun for everyone. In addition to “wild” dress each day there are lunch competitions at which kids eat and dance their way to victory by holding the most marshmallows in their mouths, walking the most funky, or retrieving the most Swedish fish from a whipped cream pie. As fun as these contests are they are far from the highlight of homecoming week on our little campus. The culminating event for the week is Friday’s pep rally, attended by all students in grades 1-12, during which each fall athletic team prepares a skit for the rest of the student body – at stake, bragging rights for an entire year, or 5 years if you are the cross country team which has won the competition every year for the last five years. [In the spirit of full disclosure I must admit that I am the cross country coach so I am more than a little biased. However, since my only involvement in the skit is providing some time for practice and my approval of the final product my bias is really only the result of an association with greatness rather than a contributor to greatness.] Over the last several years the skits, and the competition, have been elevated to a new level that now involves substantial plotting, secrecy, and practice in the days and weeks leading up to the competition thereby turning the pep rally into a frenetic dance competition.

You may wonder why the Director of Admission is spending time writing about a homecoming pep rally, other than to make clear her connection with the victorious cross country team. The reason is simple; one week of fun and games reminds me of many of the characteristics that make Wakefield such a special place. When I walk through the hallways and see the enthusiasm with which the students have embraced the dress up days I am reminded that they are not too worried about peer judgment, that it is “cool” to participate, in fact the fun is in participating. When I witness the students literally diving face first into a whipped cream pie I am reminded that the culture here pushes kids the give of themselves freely and enjoy the moments of pure fun. Finally, as I watch the teams perform their skits I remember that here the students feel safe to be themselves, they freely put their dance abilities (or significant lack thereof) on full display in front of the entire student body for nothing more than bragging rights. The students here can embrace homecoming week so fully because it is a safe and supportive place in which the students encourage each other to enjoy the moment and to be fully engaged; to be engaged is to be cool at Wakefield. The community is generally free of judgmental cliques of students, rather they revel in each others’ accomplishments and appreciate the risks students take in throwing themselves fully into an event or experience, like a homecoming skit.

This past weekend I had the chance to watch my one and half year old son experience pure joy as he went up and down a moonbounce slide for hours on end. He slid and bounced until he was delirious, not worrying at all if anyone thought he was having too much fun (is there such a thing) or if anyone thought a moonbounce was cool, he clearly did and that was all that mattered. As I watched him I thought about how magical such unchecked enthusiasm is and how unfortunate it is that so often kids worry more about what others will think if it looks like they are having fun than whether or not they are actually having fun. As I struggled to squeeze the moonbounce back into its impossibly small bag I lamented the fact that he will not always give himself over so fully to fun. But, then I was comforted in part by knowing that at least until he is a senior in high school he will be in school at a place where students do give themselves freely to fun and at least for a little while forget about being cool and just laugh.

So, thanks Owls for not being too cool for school!

Words from the Director - October 2010

It is early fall and time for me to start my blog again! For anyone who has been following the blog (if there are any of you out there), I pledge to write every other week this year. It is a promise I hope to keep for myself because I find writing cathartic, and, since I hold a job that is often hectic, I hope to create the habit of writing quietly about my school every other week (who knows, maybe it will even become once a week, but let’s not get too excited!). I also want to set a good example for my students in making thoughtful creative writing a part of my everyday life. Working at a school that emphasizes written communication, I appreciate the opportunity and challenge to live up to that expectation in my daily life. So here we go!

I recently read a column in the Washington Post Magazine titled “Goodbye, cruel words” by Gene Weingarten. As I read the column I could hardly contain my excitement about the opportunity to let everyone know that the English language is currently receiving CPR in a haven called Wakefield School in The Plains, VA (where the International Gold Cup is held). At this small, sophisticated school that delivers a challenging classic liberal arts curriculum, the teachers and students are waging a valiant effort day in and day out to revive the English language from its current arrest. You may be wondering what the protocol is for reviving a language that is clearly on its last legs as a result of many years of abuse inflicted by excessive texting, emailing, and IMing, coupled with an equally damaging lack of attention to detail and appreciation for intricacies of language.

The initial shock is delivered through a class at each grade level, aptly named Composition, dedicated to writing (rather than a class in which literature and language intermingle as if in an affair between second cousins). In these daily sessions students learn to appreciate the rules of writing and language the same way that math students learn the rules of algebra and geometry. In the fourth and fifth grade students eagerly attend a lunch time session called “Diagram Alley” during which they do even more sentence diagramming than they do in class, and they do it by choice!

Once language’s heart is beating again a long term regimen of language instruction is prescribed. The dose is delivered through courses on essay composition, mastery of vocabulary (the students throughout the school study WODs, “Words of the Day”), and continued drilling in grammar fundamentals. It is the aim of the faculty to teach so thoroughly that the elements of written communication become second nature and the prescription level of grammatical instruction can be gradually withdrawn as students enter Upper School.

In the Upper School the revival strategy centers on lifestyle changes, like diet and exercise for communication. Students spend their composition class honing their skills at writing for a variety of purposes and on many different topics. Throughout each term they compile a portfolio of work that is both peer and teacher reviewed to ensure that the writing and message are both crisp and effective. The climax of language’s revival occurs in the senior year when each senior writes a thesis on the topic of his or her choosing. Students spend an entire year examining, studying, and writing their theses, which are ultimately defended in front of a faculty examining board. Topics in recent years have ranged from a study of symbolism in Polish poetry to the relationship between reggae and folk music.

So, Mr. Weingarten, if you happen to read this I hope that you feel some relief that there is at least one school whose teachers and students are dedicated to ensuring that the English language is fully revived so that it can lead a long and healthy life for many years to come.

Please make plans to attend our admission open house on October 24, 2010 from 2-4 pm. RSVP at www.wakefieldschool.org/openhouse.