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 me. I left that meeting impressed with the talent that independent schools attract. I also left with a renewed sense of wonder about Crossroads. Stepping away for two days and then stepping back in refreshed my view and my curiosity.

For instance, I’m not sure if I’m supposed to love this radio tower or not. It’s not ours, and I often wonder how it is that we became neighbors: a school and a radio tower. It certainly makes our campus unique (and easy to find, I’m learning). I stop and look at it before walking into Crossroads each morning. Today I noticed that there are five satellite dishes attached to it. I’ve tried to count the triangles, but this makes me dizzy.

As I begin visiting schools with Maggie and student ambassadors and as I begin to think about Open House at the end of October, I have been thinking about what makes Crossroads unique and what makes us attractive to students and their families. I see this radio tower as one reason we are unique. I think this is because I see it as a symbol of our urban location. I am proud that we are an independent school in the City of St. Louis serving students from over 60 zip codes. I also think it serves as a reminder that the city is our campus. I might be making a stretch here, but it seems that we might use this tower for all kinds of learning situations. And this reminds me of all the learning opportunities just down the street in Forest Park.

Learning is social and is distributed across time and place and relationship. Modeling this to our students is important. We can learn together in the walls of our Crossroads building and in the city that is Crossroads’ campus.