Head of School Message
As you read
in last month’s Parents Newsletter, this year we are celebrating the Centennial of Pembroke
Hill. It is going to be an exciting, memory-filled and thought-provoking year.
Two early highlights will be the re-enactment of the move from our original
home at the Wornall House on Sept. 3, and the 100th Birthday Homecoming on Oct.
14-16 that will feature the debut of a film made by award-winning filmmaker John
Altman, a member of
the class of 1964 and former teacher at Sunset Hill.
In addition
to athletic contests in most of the fall sports, Centennial Hall will be the
venue for an art show with works from more than 50 alumni and former art
teachers and a performing arts show. We will also host a dinner for former
board members and heads of school that will include several Trustees who
oversaw the successful merger of Pem-Day and Sunset Hill 25 years ago, as well
as the former headmasters and headmistresses of each school.
During the
preparations for this year, I have spent time this summer revisiting our
history and roots. It is a remarkable history. In many ways the school has
always been ahead of its time, including experience-based learning, early
childhood education and the Sunset Hill women who made their mark in the
academic and professional worlds at least a generation before such achievement
became more widespread.
At the
heart of this remarkable record are a few very simple ideas. The first of these
is that education is deeply important for an individual and a society. While
this idea seems self-evident today (in fact, you would not be reading Parents
Newsletter if you
did not subscribe to it), the absolute commitment to it by our Trustees,
faculty, students and parents has played a significant part in the growth of
the school over these 100 years.
The second
set of ideas is that children learn best by doing, and an education encompasses
the whole mind and the whole body. Long before brain research underscored the
importance of physical activity (Horizons, Summer 2010), or the essential nature of the arts
in an education (Horizons, January 2009) Vassie James Ward Hill wove them deeply into the fabric of
her two schools.
The third
idea is that relationships are the foundation for development. Teachers who
really know students and who care deeply about them are an essential element
for the trust that must exist for young people to go forward with determination into the
risk taking and trial and error that are the engines of personal growth. I
often hear from alumni about that particular teacher who believed in them even
when they did not fully believe in themselves.
The
final idea is that individuals truly matter. It has always been a core belief
that when teachers and administrators and students are fully invested in their
work and are given the responsibility of doing it at a very high level, they do
it at a very high level. High expectations of students and even higher
expectations for adults are at the heart of the Pembroke Hill success story.
The school’s history is filled with the names and memories of hundreds of
individuals who gave themselves fully to their work here and who are still
treasured, some of them 50 or more years after their death.
I
think Vassie would be proud of our first century. I am sure that she would have
high expectations for us as we begin our second.
The
cover of September Parents Newsletter announces the pending retirement of upper school principal Sue
Bloemer.
Some of my thoughts and feelings about Sue are found within that article. I am
sure that you will hear more of them as this year unfolds. Sue will leave us
with my complete respect as a professional, an administrator and a person. I
feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with her for 10 years.
The
upper school principal position is one of the most important at our school.
Selecting the individual with the right talents and strengths to lead the
division forward is an extremely important job. With that in mind, I have spent
the summer talking with many people throughout the independent school world
about upper schools and principals. At the same time, I have asked all members
of the upper school faculty for their input. I would also like your ideas. If
you have any thoughts regarding our upper school and its next principal, please
share them with me. I look forward to hearing from many of you.
Warm regards,
Steve Bellis, Ed.D.
Head of School
