Grandparents and Special Friends Day Assembly Speech

October 2, 2009

Welcome to our Grandparents and Special Friends. I am Craig Sellers, Head of School, and I want to tell you that we look forward to your presence each year, even if the kids do have to put on ties or special dresses.

Your schedule calls this our Assembly Program, and I am pleased to have a few minutes to speak with you about our school. Last year at this time I was a few days away from hip surgery, and while I did not ask for a show of hands at the time, I got the clear sense that I would be joining a few of you who have had, shall we say, some kind of bionic surgery. So coming up on my one year anniversary – that many of you asked about today – everything is great, and I have joined the ranks of people who have a brand new body part in a not quite new body.

So we are so pleased that you are here, that you spent the morning with us, but even better than our pleasure is that you are getting a sense of where your Grandchildren and special friends spend their school days. My hope is that when you spend time at Derryfield you get a sense of the values that guide our school, and this year we began the practice of lifting up two of our six core values per year (you can read them in our Program), and considering them together as a school community.

We are putting a special focus on the values “Aim High” and “Balance” this year. Beginning on July 20th this summer I began asking all kinds of Derryfield-age kids what it meant to “Aim High” – do you know why I chose that date? Its the anniversary of the moonwalk – and mostly I got blank stares around that 40th anniversary, and what it meant to them. Or I got a Michael Jackson reference. And from that experience – a really astounding experience to me, because I believe in the transforming power at the intersection of technology and human accomplishment – I begin to think about what we do here in a different light.

You see what matters in the lives of your Grandchildren and special friends is not the iPods, the cellphones, the digital-what-have-you’s, or even one of the most amazing accomplishments of all times - going to another planet! – it is relationships. If the moonwalk, a quick 40 years later, is not on their minds – well friends, what is on their minds, by and large, is you. History shows us that as powerful as the internet and the digital world is, it is very likely to be next year’s moonwalk.

What is on their minds is friends and family and relationships and, yes, school. How many of you remember a teacher from some time in your 6th through 12 grade life? Or, sadly, a slight from a friend or an adult in that time? I bet most of you can call that up in an instant. Again, it is the relationships that are timeless, not the technology.

And so we begin the practice of exploring our value of Aiming High with simple acts of kindness, person to person. What our graduation speaker, Mr. Anthony, called “the dignity of civility” at our graduation talk a few months ago. My hope is that you saw this kindness everywhere in your time here today – I can tell you that you will see this in our commitment to excellence in athletics, in the arts, and in our
academics.

My view is that by beginning with simple acts, and by moving that circle of kindness and civility outwards, our school culture gathers momentum and starts to speak for itself . . . But I can’t help but try to describe what I see. In a phrase, I think Derryfield is very good at putting old heads, on young bodies. That image works, perhaps especially on this day. But in the year of considering the value of balance, I have to tell you – the Grandparents and Special Friends here – that this day makes it very clear to me that our school is fantastic at something else. Your participation, your smiles, your energy, eagerness & enthusiasm confirms to me that we are also very good at putting new heads on older bodies.

If we can have new hips, new hearts, new knees, why can’t a school be a place where we practice developing new minds? It can, and spending time with you today, and our presence here today, proves that idea is very much alive at DS.

And with this idea – the idea that a school can be a place where we practice having new minds – I want to say two things, and connect them both to the value of Balance.
When your grandchildren and friends see you here – see you embracing the value and the relationships inherent in a great school - it makes our jobs not just easier but more exciting, more vital, more effective. You have seen families where the dynamic coming from the home simply values learning – where education is a spoken part of the family value system. The values matter – the kids pick this up, and it enriches everything they do, including when they run into that impostor called failure – you see, you never promised them it would be easy, but rather you said that education matters, learning matters, and that people of any age can learn just as much from mistakes as from success.

The second point I want to make needs help from our school librarian, Betty Jipson. The point is that an essential characteristic of a Derryfield education – and an essential part of Aiming High at Derryfield – is to engage, to create, to struggle, to use the material. So we thought we would let you in on a discussion we are having . . .. We will be a bit provocative, a bit dramatic, to make a point, to get your learning juices flowing, to give you a conversation topic that will resonate beyond today, and to have you come back next year!

What I am talking about is including you on a brief discussion about Derryfield creating an All-Digital, All Electronic, All-the-Time Learning Center . . .. (The following Link projected on the Big Screen behind me):

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/0904/a_library_without_the_books/

Here is my dilemma – Principals around the country are considering getting rid of their libraries because of everything going digital. They are talking about a “bookless campus.” My problem is, I love libraries, and I think Ms. Jipson is extraordinary, and my favorite school memory in my early years goes back to a Librarian . . .. Still, I thought it only fair for us to have some fun with you, and let her present the case for a “digital, bookless learning center” . . ..

So, Mrs. Jipson, in brave new digital world, would you like to make the argument for your own demise?

(We look at each other in faux argument tone)

Betty – think of the time saved by not having to walk through the library stacks! No more browsing the shelves! Think of the space saved!

We could put any of 300,000 books on kindles -- electronic book readers -- and if someone wants to read one of the other millions of books that have been published, they'll just have to be flexible. We could have Starbucks in what used to be the library instead!

Craig – Yes – but what about the actual, physical, lovely books? What about the value of books? What about holding them, looking at them, browsing them, being with them? The whole approach seems out of balance in the year of exploring our Core value of Balance!

Betty – We know the future is digital. Why are you dragging your feet? Many of your Principal colleagues have seen the light, and the light is the glow of a computer screen!

Craig – But to announce this on Grandparents Day? Everyone in here loves books! Books changed our lives, expanded our minds, gave us hope . . ..

Betty – Yes, but that was before the computer, before the internet, before the iPhone!

Craig – (turning back to the audience) So what would you do? Have a conversation with your Grandchild/Special Friend about this – what does it mean in 2009 to “Aim High” with respect to Libraries? How can we uphold the value of Balance as we approach our beloved books, and our beloved librarians, in the digital age?

And come back next year to find out what we have decided!


Now I would like to Introduce Avis Mello, grandmother of Jared Hammer, Austin Hammer & Allen Mello . . ..