I am living today as someone
I had not yet become yesterday,
and tonight I will borrow
only pieces of who I am today
to carry with me to tomorrow.
Andrea Gibson
This week we wrapped up our fifth year as a school community. Per TVS tradition, we marked the calendar with end-of-session studio celebrations in which families, guides, and learners gather to reflect on our year together.
By this point of the year, there is an intimacy that wasn’t there in the Fall. Traveling down the road of a school year together, we’ve developed new friendships, connections, and understandings made possible by the many experiences we’ve shared this year. That blank slate of a school year before us has been filled. What was once unknown is known- each of us familiar with the design, systems, and people that make up our very special “village”.
In a micro-school like ours, every person is intimately known and valued. In addition to our small size, our learning design honors the individual as the center of all learning. Our systems and processes ensure that our guide team knows each learner on a personal level and invites our families to join us in seeing and celebrating the special traits of each young person as they grow and learn.
At our end-of-session celebrations this week, each learner was presented with a special character “rock”, displaying a single word that represents a character trait that the learner has exemplified this school year. Words like “Authentic, Curious, Perceptive, and Brave” are imprinted on individual rocks and presented to each learner by their guides in the company of their peers and family members.
In addition to the presentation of the character rocks, many learners give speeches, reflecting on their own personal growth in character and beyond. Not surprising, the unique anecdotes, stories, and advice in their speeches often illustrate the very character trait they find written on their own personal rocks.
A learner who is recognized for being innovative, states:
“I learned how to use other people’s advice and import it into my doing.”
A learner given the trait “courage”, gives advice to new learners and says:
“Be yourself and everything will work out!”
From a learner described as “perceptive”, we hear:
“There are still times when I will let my desire to do things perfectly slow me down. But since I know this about myself, I ask for help, move forward, and create something I’m proud of- not something that’s perfect.”
A learner who is celebrated for their confidence exclaims:
“One of my favorite quotes is If you can dream it, you can do it. This quote by Walt Disney reminds me that I can do anything I put my mind to and so can you!”
Yes, in a school such as ours, we have the great honor of seeing, knowing, and celebrating each and every learner on their journey of becoming. And yet, as we celebrate their unique character traits at this particular moment in time, we acknowledge that it is in fact a journey. This moment, while worthy of celebrating is also fleeting- tomorrow our learners will surprise us in new and unexpected ways by transforming into something yet unknown. Grow, learn, change, repeat, repeat, repeat. It’s what childhood and adolescence were designed for.
Perhaps our great task as guides and parents is to embrace a practice of “unknowing”, seeing them each day with curious, fresh eyes- knowing that they will carry only pieces of these traits with them into tomorrow.
As we end our fifth year as a school community, I am celebrating our own unique journey of becoming at TVS with gratitude, awe, and openness to all that awaits- knowing that we carry so many beautiful pieces of who we are today into the next great adventure of tomorrow.
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