| Year Started at WPGA: 2005
| First Position Title: Teacher

| Current Position Title: Teacher

 

 

The every day little things, fragments really, that pile up and make the composite whole. Computer lab with big monitors,15 min advisories in the morning, weekly Senior School assemblies in the cafeteria with Mr. Anthony reading from the Book of Awesome, school plays and concerts, wacky Halloween costumes including the headmaster dressed as a bear, watching games in the gym, Math 8 in the 2-room portable, the arts week upside down painting performance, outdoor ed hiking stories, grad banquets with everyone dressed all fancy, crazy covid rules, term end presentations that went from PowerPoint slides to a school breaking in half, alumni events when you see and hear where everyone has been and has become, and all the connecting and conversation with students and staff talking about nothing and everything. There’s an old saying, “The days are long, but the years are short.” So true here at WPGA.

 

There’s a board outside my room where students and staff answer a question of the week. The answers run the gamut from silly and fun to meaningful and thoughtful. Those patchwork of answers often reveal a little bit of who we are, a bit of mischief and rebellion against the staid and the uptight, and a lot of heartfelt sincerity, and hopeful and optimistic energy. That’s our community on that board.

 

WPGA is a place for learning, that’s never going to change, but how we do it changes all the time. The emotional highs and lows of growing up as a teenager will never change, and the support of those who love and care for them will never waver, but how we interact with each other and the ways we support each other can be new as the years pass. Mission statements and whatnot will come and go, but our values carry on.

 

Relationships are really important. Sometimes, when we have work to do and someone wants some of your time to talk, it’s OK to put the work aside and just talk. Work will always be there, and we won’t remember it a year from now, but the people and the relationships will just lodge in your heart. I don’t remember what I ate a year ago, but I know I ate and I’m healthy. I may not remember every conversation, but I know I’m healthier because of them. As much as I love uninterrupted time, interrupted time can be more real.

 

I hope we can continue to think different and be different and celebrate that all. To be OK with being quirky and unusual even if everyone wears the same uniform. To be OK with trying really hard things and failing as long as we have fun doing it. And to be OK with a teacher that blasts music really loud in the morning.