Columbus Academy Spring 2012 : Page 2

2 Connections This edition of Academy magazine focuses on and this is a fitting topic indeed. When we think about life in schools, much of it is about connections, and these connections come across a wide range. It is worth taking some time to reflect on these and how they are so essential to the experiences of the people who make up the Columbus Academy community, both during the time students are here and well after they leave. We certainly hope that our students will make all kinds of connections – emotional, social and intellectual. Every school is both an academic institution and a social one. Students spend most days trying to establish connections in each sub-ject they are studying as well as between subjects. As students mature, they should become better able to recognize that skills and habits connect across disciplines: for example, that using a disciplined approach to figure out a math problem is not that very different from the discipline of writing a good paragraph. Teachers often refer to the notion that some stu-dents “get it” more easily than do others, and so often that getting-it part is a matter of connecting with the subject mat-ter and seeing the connections and patterns of what is being taught. It is, of course, the case that schools are places where people connect with one another in all kinds of ways. When we ask students what they most like about Columbus Academy, they will commonly reply “my friends” because they can usually find like-minded boys and girls who share similar interests and similar values about learning. But it should not be lost in this theme that some of the most important connections made in schools are between people of widely divergent inter-ests and ages. If “my friends” is the first thing that students like about the school, “my teachers” is often a close second. Those connections made between a young or adolescent child and an adult old enough to be a parent or even a grandparent can be the best sources of reassurance, self-confidence and self-identity. As we grow older, we may lose touch with the friends we had in school but we never forget the impact made on us by those teachers with whom we had a special connection. There is a unique aspect to connections at Columbus Academy because of its history. Those alumni in the classes of 1968 and earlier never attended school on our Cherry Bottom Road campus. Those who graduated before 1991 never had girls in their classes here. A few of those alumni have distanced themselves from the school, citing that it is not the same place. Most of our older alumni, however, have remained loyal to the school because they rec-ognize that change will always occur and that their connections – emotional, social and intellectual – endure through time and change. And just as the alumni of the ’40s and ’50s will fire off the names of faculty legends who influenced them, our graduates of later decades will have their own lists, albeit with different names. The name of English teacher George Bown is one I often hear from older alumni, just as more re-cent grads might cite their English teacher Kevin Morrin. Let us think not only of those con-nections but also of the one I discovered when Kevin Morrin told me how as a young teacher he was so positively influenced by George Bown. Names and faces may change at Colum-bus Academy, but that “relay” from one generation of teachers and students to another may be our most important connection of all. At Columbus Academy we believe we teach lessons that will last a lifetime. Some of those lessons will be at the forefront of what our students and alumni do every day, while oth-ers will serve as less visible – but equally important – foundational structures. In this edi-tion of Academy magazine, please enjoy reading about some of the many connections made by our students and our alumni. John M. Mackenzie , Headmaster &

Connections

John M. Mackenzie

This edition of Academy magazine focuses on Connections And this is a fitting topic indeed. When we think about life in schools, much of it is about connections, and these connections come across a wide range. It is worth taking some time to reflect on these and how they are so essential to the experiences of the people who make up the Columbus Academy community, both during the time students are here and well after they leave. We certainly hope that our students will make all kinds of connections – emotional, social and intellectual. Every school is both an academic institution and a social one. Students spend most days trying to establish connections in each subject they are studying as well as between subjects. As students mature, they should become better able to recognize that skills and habits connect across disciplines: for example, that using a disciplined approach to figure out a math problem is not that very different from the discipline of writing a good paragraph. Teachers often refer to the notion that some students “get it” more easily than do others, and so often that getting-it part is a matter of connecting with the subject matter and seeing the connections and patterns of what is being taught. It is, of course, the case that schools are places where people connect with one another in all kinds of ways. When we ask students what they most like about Columbus Academy, they will commonly reply “my friends” because they can usually find like-minded boys and girls who share similar interests and similar values about learning. But it should not be lost in this theme that some of the most important connections made in schools are between people of widely divergent interests and ages. If “my friends” is the first thing that students like about the school, “my teachers” is often a close second. Those connections made between a young or adolescent child and an adult old enough to be a parent or even a grandparent can be the best sources of reassurance, self-confidence and self-identity. As we grow older, we may lose touch with the friends we had in school but we never forget the impact made on us by those teachers with whom we had a special connection. There is a unique aspect to connections at Columbus Academy because of its history. Those alumni in the classes of 1968 and earlier never attended school on our Cherry Bottom Road campus. Those who graduated before 1991 never had girls in their classes here. A few of those alumni have distanced themselves from the school, citing that it is not the same place. Most of our older alumni, however, have remained loyal to the school because they recognize that change will always occur and that their connections – emotional, social and intellectual – endure through time and change. And just as the alumni of the ’40s and ’50s will fire off the names of faculty legends who influenced them, our graduates of later decades will have their own lists, albeit with different names. The name of English teacher George Bown is one I often hear from older alumni, just as more recent grads might cite their English teacher Kevin Morrin. Let us think not only of those connections but also of the one I discovered when Kevin Morrin told me how as a young teacher he was so positively influenced by George Bown. Names and faces may change at Columbus Academy, but that “relay” from one generation of teachers and students to another may be our most important connection of all. At Columbus Academy we believe we teach lessons that will last a lifetime. Some of those lessons will be at the forefront of what our students and alumni do every day, while others will serve as less visible – but equally important – foundational structures. In this edition of Academy magazine, please enjoy reading about some of the many connections made by our students and our alumni. John M. Mackenzie, Headmaster

Previous Page Next Page

Publication List