Transitions

I always like the weeks that follow spring break and stretch to the end of the school year. For close to 35 years at three different schools, I have enjoyed the mad downhill rush to graduation and promotion ceremonies, which unfold with a similar cadence. Hurried, often celebratory, always memorable, these celebrations rock back and forth between familiar traditions and new ones shaped by the current generation of players on the scene. Things are no different at Poly, where junior speeches and the spring musical capture the attention of our Upper School campus, while the eighth-grade speech competition and project week are rites of passage for our Middle Schoolers as they wrap up their year. Science projects and the old-school festival spirit of the 102-year-old Poly Pet and Hobby Show infuse daily life around the Lower School with a spirit matched only by the remarkable practice routines of the 44 — that is correct, 44 — Backyard Revue acts that performed just before the break. I do not think I have witnessed so many courageous and bold souls performing with such unadulterated joy as I did this past year. The speeches, the musical, and the multitude of projects across all of our divisions will similarly tap into the confidence and courage of our students.

Of course, there are also other kinds of important learning going on, and the transitions that mark good schooling begin to whisper their impending arrival in April. Sixth grade, ninth grade, college, no longer the youngest, no longer the oldest begin to work their way into our students’ and their parents’ psyches. I am not sure for whom this foreshadowing is more noticeable. For our students, the changes can be thrilling and daunting. They are ready for what’s next, but they also yearn — although they will rarely tell us — for the support that growing up peels away gracefully and predictably. As a parent, I always found these shifts bittersweet. Admittedly there were times when I couldn’t wait for the change to unfold. Other times, as when I noticed my daughter’s hand letting go as we got closer to her group of friends, I wanted time to stop.

They do come back to you, I promise.

So, here’s to spring and old and new traditions! Enjoy them.

JWB