All of us at the Mastery School of Hawken approached January with cautious optimism if not genuine hope. And while we still fervently believe in the promise of this new year, yesterday’s unprecedented attack on the Capitol deeply challenged our values as well as our hopes for unity and peace.

Julia Griffin, the Director of the Mastery School, shares her reflections and determination in this new blog post, which we hope you take a moment to read. 

This afternoon during Community Time, Mr. Faturoti, our dean of students, led students through a variety of reflective exercises, which gave them more opportunities to voice their thoughts and feelings, which were often raw, poignant, and bent towards justice.

We thought it was well worth the time and space to share some of his comments:

“I can’t help but think that some of the differences and how law enforcement in the National Guard responded to the protests sponsored by the movement for black lives and what happened yesterday at the Capitol had something to do with what the different sets of people United to express their voices look like and who they were there to fight for in each instance.

Speaking as a person who is black and male identifying, it’s hard not to think about the fear I recall seeing in the faces of those gathered for black lives matter protests on social media and on the television…

Last night I was exchanging text messages with one of my buddies at the Upper School who was like me trying to prepare to figure out what the heck to say to a group of young people that I love so much in that whom and in whom I have such great hopes for the future. I remember him lamenting that this is the only world politically that you all have known…

[But] as I look forward, I must confess that I have many reasons to hope. I have as many reasons to hope all there are students here gathered in this call. You are a great reason to hope. We’ve gotten to know you. Your questions, your dreams, your joy give me great reason to hope. 

And if we’re our most honest, most authentic selves, perhaps especially when the stakes are the highest, we have the great opportunity to help build the world that we need.” 

A huge thanks to Ms. Griffin and Mr. Faturoti for sharing their thoughts. While the new year opened on a terrible note, we see reasons to hope in the faces of the students who remind us daily of why we’re in this line of work.

In this edition of the Thursday Note:

1. Support for Students
2. Intensives Schedule
3. Covid Reminders
4. Activities Shuttle Sign Up
5. Spread the Word about the #blackboyjoy Event
6. Highlight of the Week

While we continue to process yesterday’s events that occurred in Washington, Hawken School Psychologist Ashley Poklar, Ph.D. and the student support services team compiled useful tips and strategies for talking with and supporting your child in these moments. Access this resource here.

 

We hope students are enjoying their first week of Intensives! As a reminder, after our first week in remote, we will move to a hybrid model.

Jan. 5 – 8: Intensives Taught Remotely 
Jan 11- 15: intensives On Campus and Remote (see daily schedule below)
Jan. 18: No School – Observe MLK, Jr. Day
Jan 19 – 26: intensives On Campus and Remote (see daily schedule below)
Jan. 27 — 29: No classes — Faculty Work Days/Admissions Committee Retreat
Feb 1: Spring Macros & Micros begin 

During the second and third weeks, this is the schedule we envision:
 

 

As always, we hope everyone stays safe and healthy, and we need to re-familiarize ourselves with and recommit to the protocols:

We are so excited to return in person, which means we’ll be ramping up our attention to detail. Will your child take the Activities Shuttle from University to Gates Mills after school? We need to know! Please complete this survey as soon as possible.