Last Monday, Middle School math teacher Sam Poland spoke to the entire student body about the regret he still feels about giving up his dream of playing basketball in college, even though that decision led him to another activity he found fulfilling: singing. His point was that we need to think carefully about the choices we make, and his speech captured the attention of the entire student body at All-School Meeting that day. It was another shared moment.
The concept of community can be an enigma. Americans, in particular, extol the virtues of individualism and sometimes chafe against the straight jacket of community pressure. Some American writers have criticized community for creating a culture that stifles the individual. I've seen this happen; I get it.
But I'm not ready to toss community building aside and label it irrelevant at best or detrimental at worst. I have seen too many instances when community has lifted our students and promoted their growth as individuals: the star athlete who learns the value of teamwork, the senior who shares the poignant death of her father in her senior speech, an upper classman reaching out to freshmen. Community at its best encourages each of us to use our individual leadership strengths and to sublimate our individual wants in order to satisfy our intensely human need for connection. When those connections reflect and support our core values of respect, honesty, compassion, and responsibility, and enhance the quality of experience here at Rivers, how can we not be enriched as individuals?
