Dear TCS Community,
On the last day before our winter break, I visited each class to read Shel Silverstein’s wise and wiseacre poem, “The Bear, The Fire, and The River.†It’s about the ironies of cycles of fear (the bear fears the snow, the snow fears the fire, the fire fears the river, and the river fears…the bear). That day, members of the Older Student Program (OSP) were engaged in multiple community service projects, and I had a few other commitments as well, so I was not able to figure out a time to read the poem to them. I started this new year by reading it to the OSP first thing Monday morning—affirming the cycle of relationships in the poem.
The OSP sent faculty and staff off on the winter break with its own creative work, with all the students offering pieces in the winter literary magazine, Writer’s Block. I enjoyed the wit, wisdom, and wiseacreness that played throughout that publication and hope you get a chance to read it yourself. Writing, speaking, singing, and acting for an audience of peers and adults are skills and affinities that Touchstone nurtures throughout the school year—in classes, in community meeting, and in whole-school performances. The culmination of that work comes at the OSP graduation, where each year we witness a stunning array of heartfelt presentations from graduating students about their experience and from their younger OSP classmates in tribute to them. That graduation is at 6:00 p.m. on June 16 and should be on your top five TCS events list for this year.
As effective as we are at helping individual students and whole classes find their voices, Touchstone itself has not been as successful finding a strong, common, and persuasive voice about the value and impact of what we do. And that has contributed to our decreasing enrollment over the last two years, especially given the challenges of the regional economy. I am struck by the parallels between Touchstone’s struggles to tell our story and the speech challenges facing the Duke of York (portrayed so powerfully by Colin Firth in the movie The King’s Speech). With the help of an unorthodox speech coach, the Duke overcame a lifetime of stammering just as he was ascending unexpectedly to the British throne as King George VI and just as his country was entering World War II. The new king, along with Winston Churchill and the country, found their voices at a crucial time. Touchstone needs to find its voice at a crucial time, as well. With the help of an innovative creative firm, TCS will soon tell our story in new ways through a new viewbook, a revised website, and fresh language/graphics. With the whole community spreading the good word, we will emerge from these challenges stronger than ever.
On Thursday, January 20, we will witness the latest opportunity to help TCS students find their voices—at the Martin Luther King, Jr. assembly, which will take place at the 8:40 a.m. time slot for community meeting. Parents are invited to see our classes describe their work on “Standing Up for Others and Ourselves.†Please join us!
Warm New Year wishes,
Don Grace, Head of School