Opportunities

Wednesday morning I have the first Breakfast with David event of the year. This one was held at New Garden Friends Meeting near our early school--A Child's Garden. Last night we had a dinner for our middle school families to learn what comes next at NGFS, in other words a time to find out about 9th grade. What I realize from these two events, hosted on two of our three campuses is that both were about opportunities.

A good school should provide its students with worthwhile learning and life opportunities and prepare its students to take advantage of opportunities that arise for her/him outside of school and certainly as she/he moves into adulthood. Of course I believe NGFS is a good school and that we do offer many opportunities to our students.

In talking with parents of our younger students, we talked about what is available to those students now and looking forward. We talked about collaborative events such as when ACG students come up to do PE with middle schoolers and Charles. We shared the importance of our ACG students getting to visit with their friends at Friends Homes and make that intergenerational connection. Throughout the morning we discussed many of the opportunities that exist for these students, and that exist for the adults in the community. Such that, our parents can be involved in the life of not only their children but the life of the school.

At our "Find out about 9th grade" program, once again we talked a lot about the opportunities that exist for our 9th grade and older students. Although I live these opportunities everyday with our students I am still amazed what exists for these students. Our students have the chance to do honors work in all core subject areas and international language. This allows our students to take on the next challenge of learning when appropriate. Students have the opportunity to take quarterly electives on Fridays from 10-12. These electives cover a wide range of subjects from core subjects to the arts to outdoor activity. Many of our 8th graders are now taking some of these electives also. Our 8th and 9th graders are participating in a Toastmaster's Club where they are learning public speaking skills and can also learn about forensics, as in debate. At the upper division we even begin each morning with a brief community time to hear announcements and have the chance to further build community. I could go on and on, but will save other opportunities for later blogs.

These two events just brought to focus all the opportunities our children have across all of our levels. At our youngest levels opportunities from the teddy bear picnic, moving to incredible units on castles or the Anasazi to the first overnight trips to wonderful places within North Carolina and the chance to be in dramatic performances exist. In our middle division, students have their first chance to play organized sports for the school, they get to go on multiple night trips out of the state as part of the curriculum, along with the opportunity to learn guitar just to name a few.

This is an exciting place for our students to grow, to learn and to take advantage of many, many opportunities that are provided.