Ready for the Real World

One of the key goals of our mission here at Rivers is to “prepare our students for leadership in a world that needs their talents, imagination, intellect, and compassion.” For the past seven years, Rivers has gone a step farther to prepare students for the future by arranging summer internships in local business and research institutions. These internships are specifically designed to enable Rivers students to be productive members at their respective workplaces, rather than observers as summer interns often are.

Rivers’ interns share their experiences with the rest of the community during the summer through Facebook posts and at symposia on campus throughout the fall. It is so impressive to hear what these students have accomplished at such a high level. How many high school students have been invited to present papers at national conferences? Last year, Rebecca Iafrati ’12 spoke to the American Heart Association about her research at Boston University Medical Center on the relationship between obesity and blood clots. The previous year, three interns -- Alex Post ’10, Aaron Behr ’11, and Charlie Harrison ’11 -- presented their summer research at Bruker Daltonics during a national chemistry and spectroscopy conference.

The summer internship program is just one of a number of initiatives at Rivers to make learning relevant to the 21st century – a time that requires students to think creatively and independently, and be an effective team player. Our interdisciplinary courses, leadership lab, and flipped classrooms all help give our students the skills and experiences they need to face their future with confidence.

Please click here to watch a video story about three of this summer’s science interns and what they gained from their experiences at Reactive Innovations and Bruker Daltonics.

Rivers' "Innovation Engine"

When I step back and look at the innovative environment we have developed and continue to cultivate here at Rivers, I think of our 21st Century Education focus group. Many of our recent innovations can be traced back to this group of faculty members. I affectionately call this group our “innovation engine;” it comprises faculty members who participate on a volunteer basis. They meet several times during the school year to discuss topics that are on the forefront of education. As they explore these topics, they come away with ways in which we can better live our mission at Rivers – ways in which we can innovate. One major addition to the curriculum that was originated by a member of this focus group is our Interdisciplinary Studies Department. Please take a moment to watch the following excerpt from a speech I recently delivered to a group of parents, which describes how this department started and how our Annual Fund helps support innovation at Rivers: 

If you are having trouble viewing this video, please click here.

Expressing Our "Life Force"

This summer, I had the opportunity to read Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs. The story prompted me to think about Jobs and Apple, and the question "What makes an organization great?"

I've spent a lot of time throughout my career thinking about this question and reading books and articles about the essential ingredients that make up great organizations – leadership, technical expertise, collaboration, management techniques, marketing, strategic planning, and execution.

But the biography of Jobs gave me a new slant. I came to the conclusion that perhaps the most significant reason for an organization's greatness is the passion to bring an idea to life and the ability to find a means of expressing that idea.

Apple's greatness stemmed from Jobs' obsession with bringing the marriage of technology and humanity to life – the functionality and practical work of computers married to a belief in creativity, elegance, art, design, and experience – the human dimension so antithetical to technology before Jobs. He was committed to finding ways to express this idea.

In this regard, he had so much integrity that he demanded even the inside of the Mac be elegantly designed. This demand was the truest reflection of his passion for making incarnate his idea of the need to combine functionality and elegance in technology.

Yes, Jobs wanted to beat Microsoft and other competitors, but the genius of Apple did not arise from that desire. Rather, it came from this passion to birth an idea. It was Jobs the artist, not Jobs the businessman or computer expert, who was the essential element in Apple's greatness.

The great dancer and choreographer Martha Graham wrote a poem that captures this concept so perfectly, and I quote in part:

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy
A quickening
That is translated through you into action
And because there is only one of you
In all of time
This expression is unique.

And if you block it, it will never exist
Through any other medium,
And be lost.
The world will not have it.

During the past year at Rivers, we have spent a great deal of time reflecting on what Excellence with Humanity means to us. What are we most passionate about at Rivers? We’ve distilled our thoughts down to five attributes that we use to define Excellence with Humanity - five areas that illustrate the "life force" of this idea:

• Excellence: We’re committed to maintaining high standards in and out of the classroom. 
• Quality of Experience: It matters to us that our students are happy - that they gain a sense of self-efficacy and autonomy by facing the challenges we give them.
• Relationships: When we know and care about our students as multi-dimensional human beings, they will stretch for excellence and be willing to take risks. 
• Innovation: We’re continually looking for better ways to live our mission. 
• Character: We want to graduate great academicians, artists and athletes, but we also want to graduate great human beings.

At Rivers, Excellence with Humanity is OUR collective art - it is our creation and it demands that we seek its expression in the work we do.

This is the mission and the promise we are committed to at Rivers.

The Journey Matters

At our recent commencement exercises, graduating senior Duncan Orlander '12 delivered a thoughtful, mature speech about the value of hard work above and beyond the outcomes hard work may produce. This relationship between the perceived value of hard work and the results it can generate is a curious one. On one hand, we are often motivated by the rewards of our labor. On the other hand, in the final analysis the reward is often not what matters; the hard work matters – the grit and determination, the lessons learned, and the friendships cemented. It's a strange paradox: Be motivated by the trophy, but don't let the trophy determine the value of the journey. Some may say the latter is just salve on the wound – a way to make ourselves feel better after we fail to meet the goal.

I don't think that’s true. 

I don't think the journey and the outcome are irreconcilable. You can be motivated by the goal and still love the process of getting there. When this happens, you find meaning in your endeavors regardless of the results. When the outcome is the only thing that matters, it's easy to end up like the Ivy League freshman profiled in a recent New York Times article about using stimulants to enhance performance:

“‘People would have never looked at me and thought I used drugs like that – I wasn’t that kid,” said Madeleine, who has just completed her freshman year at an Ivy League college and continues to use stimulants occasionally. “It wasn’t that hard of a decision. Do I want only four hours of sleep and be a mess, and then underperform on the test and then in field hockey? Or make the teachers happy and the coach happy and get good grades, get into a good college and make my parents happy?’” 

I suspect this young lady lived to fulfill the expectations of others, and thus, no meaning could be found in the journey. How sad! 

In a recent television appearance, a Columbia University professor lamented the diminished role of college as a means for young people to discover who they are. The professor freely acknowledged that college needs to prepare students for the working world. But the balance of power at many selective colleges has gradually shifted significantly toward credentialing, and thus college has often become simply a means to an end. The journey has lost its luster and discovering who you are plays second fiddle to a big job, regardless of the compromises to your essential being. 

So, thank you, Duncan, for understanding and highlighting the importance of the journey. The journey matters because it has the potential to shape your character and feed your most authentic self. And sometimes, for good measure, you get the trophy too.

Competition vs. Uber-competition

I can’t leave this topic of the pitfalls of an uber-competitive environment. Earlier this week, I pulled out my Duke Magazine (the November/December 2011 issue) and read the article “Dreams, Fears, Pressures: Beneath the Surface.” It details the intense pursuit of perfection and the deep-seated fears the highly successful Duke undergraduates are feeling. In the library at Duke, students are able to write down their greatest hopes and fears. Here is a sample of those thoughts: 

• “loneliness” 
• “to not fulfill my own goals” 
• “accidentally hurting people, especially ones I care about” 
• “that I am damaged goods” 
• “having people realize that I am not as perfect as I try to be…” 
• “being alone” 
• “to give it all back to my parents” 
• “making my parents proud” 
• “to stop caring about the fact that I won’t be in med school” 

These are Duke students. Has the drive to compete, to be perfect, to meet parental expectations drained the humanity out of them? 

Do the quotes help you understand why Rivers subscribes to “Excellence with Humanity?” On one level, “Excellence with Humanity” signifies a balance between developing a competitive spirit, and discovering and developing talents and passions (being true to oneself). I know for some people, this balance is hard to comprehend. For some, getting ahead is the only thing that matters and they believe teaching kids how to do that is the job of independent schools. Indeed, competition is important and teaching students how to compete to improve their performance can be growth-inducing. But competition should be balanced with the legitimate pursuit of self-knowledge, the awakening of passions, the stuff that makes us human and ultimately will make us happy. This is the balance that Rivers strives for.

When schools create a super-competitive culture in which students are only striving for the gold ring of an Ivy League admit, they run the risk of graduating young people whose humanity has been stifled. Competition is a good thing; uber-competition is not.

Setting High Standards and Pursuing Passions

As I read David Brooks' brilliant editorial, "The Creative Monopoly," I could not help but think of Rivers and its mission. For some people, I suspect, The Rivers School “motto,” "Excellence with Humanity," presents a bit of a dilemma. The initial thought may be that excellence requires constant struggle, a super-competitive mindset, and a focus on defeating those around you in order to win the prize. Brooks acknowledges the importance of a competitive spirit but, he argues, that spirit taken to the nth degree can also stifle creativity and squash the discovery of individual passion. He writes:

“…students have to jump through ever-more demanding, preassigned academic hoops. Instead of developing a passion for one subject, they're rewarded for becoming professional students, getting great grades across all subjects, regardless of their intrinsic interests… they move into a ranking system in which the most competitive college, program, and employment opportunity is deemed the best. There is a status funnel pointing to the most competitive colleges and banks and companies, regardless of their appropriateness… Competition has trumped value-creation. In this and other ways, the competitive arena undermines innovation.”

This certainly describes the prep school I attended. As students, we were taught to compete; school was a form of academic boot camp. Learning was not intended to be fun or social; the only satisfaction we might glean from the experience was the bond of having all survived each learning experience. We counted ourselves as tougher than others; creativity, imagination, and passion all took a back seat to learning how to compete.

Rivers is different. It's true that we teach our students how to compete. We challenge them with high standards and a rigorous program. But learning how to compete at Rivers shares the spotlight with discovering talents and igniting passions. We demand students use their imaginations in order to cultivate their creative spirit. This calibration – this balance between teaching students how to compete while also fostering their creative spirit, their humanity – is the Rivers Way. It is sometimes difficult to understand this balance because we often spend a great deal of time in the "competitive myopia" as Brooks calls it. That myopia undermines innovation; it also undermines true happiness – people using their talents and passions to make the world a better place.

Expressing Gratitude

Last week I had the privilege of listening to one of our seniors, Alejandra Gil, talk about her experience as an immigrant from Colombia. Alejandra's senior speech focused on the sacrifices of her parents, especially her father, in order to give her the opportunity for a better life. Overwhelmed by her feelings of gratitude, she broke down in tears a few times but courageously finished delivering the speech. The Rivers community responded with a rare standing ovation.

Alejandra's speech poignantly reminded me of the importance of gratitude in our lives. When I first became a head of school in Hawaii, I thought little about gratitude. I took for granted that teachers and administrators would do their jobs. I saw the value of their work as a means to an end – getting our students to the finish line of graduation. I was often so focused, I didn't adequately express my gratitude.

How shortsighted!

Ultimately, the expression of gratitude is our path to connecting with others and an affirmation that it's easier to get through this thing called life together than alone. In the school business, gratitude is critical because it nourishes the spirit of teachers, reminding them of why they got into this business in the first place – to make a positive difference in the lives of others. To express appreciation for their extraordinary efforts is to acknowledge the value of their calling and the purpose of their lives.

But a wonderful byproduct of expressing gratitude is entirely selfish. At the end of the day I am happier being a grateful person than an ungrateful person. I sometimes need to be reminded of this. Thank you to Alejandra for doing so!