Dear Crossroads College Preparatory School Community: What counts as leadership or learning? What counts as diversity or justice? These questions have been on my mind since Monday when I left a Schools That Can meeting at UMSL. Together, public, charter, and independent school leaders and university leaders spent two hours in activities and conversation around this question: How can we …
What Counts
Dear Crossroads College Preparatory School Community: What counts as leadership or learning? What counts as diversity or justice? These questions have been on my mind since Monday when I left a Schools That Can meeting at UMSL. Together, public, charter, and independent school leaders and university leaders spent two hours in activities and conversation around this question: How can we …
The Network of Mutuality that Sustains Us
We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Letter from Birmingham Jail Dear Crossroads College Preparatory School Community: The city is our campus. I think about this often and what it means to live and learn and work in …
Everyone Has a Voice
The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. – Neil Gaiman Last night, seven Crossroads students, Maggie, Mark, and I participated in the ISSL Secondary Schools Night at Villa Duchesne. This event is part of our admission program. Maggie prepares the students and designs the presentation so that …
Flexibility Provides Balance
“Increasingly, we are learning about how we must not view any particular part of life in isolation but, rather, as part of an interdependent system of roles with the potential for mutual enrichment.” – Stewart D. Friedman Total Leadership Admission season has begun, and I’ve met with several prospective families so far this month. One of the joys of these …
Smart AND Good
“[E]mpathy is a stunning act of derring-do, the ultimate virtual reality–climbing into another’s mind to experience the world from that person’s perspective.” – Daniel Pink A Whole New Mind The first time I stood before the Crossroads student body and said, “I believe that Crossroads students are smart and good,” I noticed a change in the collective body language of …
Size is an Asset
At Crossroads College Prep, our size is one of our strengths. Because of our size, students are able to develop authentic relationships with one another. They discover common interests, and they learn about the value of having friends whose interests are different from theirs. Today while visiting The Wilson School, Adam shared with the sixth graders there that our size …
The City Is Our Campus
I began the week at the office of the Independent Schools Association for the Central States (ISACS). I am participating this year in their New Heads Network, led by Tom Hoerr, the head of New City School, and Claudia Daggett, the president of ISACS. Networking with other new heads, with various backgrounds and experiences, will be a great resource for …
Middle School Commons
Andrew: What’s a soffit? Me: (Pointing to the new soffit) Well, it’s this. Andrew: Oh, okay. Thanks. This week I have been visiting the Middle School Commons as soon as I arrive at Crossroads. The changes and improvements to that space are happening quickly, and the middle schoolers I meet down there are very excited about it. Already, the lockers …
By Design
The pursuit of design is not about the way things appear, but rather about the way things have meaning, and how these things add or detract from the human experience. – Rob Forbes Preface to How To See Since arriving at Crossroads, I have given a lot of thought to its design. I think about the design of the building and …