Welcome, welcome! Welcome back to our returning families. And a hearty welcome to our new families. Welcome back, teachers—Ms. Brigitte, Ms. Meghan, Ms. Diane, Ms. Becky, and Ms. Rebecca. And a big welcome to our new teachers, Ms. Laura and Ms. Erin and Ms. Karla.

As many of you know, ISW spent the 2011-12 school year talking about who we want to be as a school and as individuals. Students talked, teachers talked, the Board talked, parents talked. We formed a committee that met for hours. And in the end, we decided that ISW would embrace five Core Values going forward, five qualities that we expect from one another at all times:

RESPECT

RESPONSIBILITY

INTEGRITY

EMPATHY

COMMITMENT TO EDUCATION

That’s a mouthful, but it reduces to this: when you, adult or student, become a member of the ISW community you agree to do your best to hold yourself to the highest standards at all times.

Today, I want to focus on the last value: commitment to education. What does this mean in real life? For adults in our community, commitment to education means you don’t see school as a consumer good (like, say, clothes) that you buy for your child, hand to them and walk away. Education is more like health—yes, you certainly spend money on it, but in the end, it’s something you cultivate, not something you buy. This summer, the adults in our community cultivated the school and demonstrated their commitment to education by volunteering. We thank many people who spent part of their summer building and improving our program:

Ms. Meghan, who spent the summer obsessing about reading curriculum.

Ms. Laura and Ms. Erin, who were so excited about having  classrooms that they each had the whole room painted and furnished within 48 hours of getting keys.

Ms. Diane, who has been working on developing our new Latin curriculum.

Ms. Brigitte, who had a new classroom, the math lab, to prepare for her students.

Math Committee, who spent hours choosing a new Algebra curriculum for our 7th grade advanced math students.

Mr. John (Butler), who dismantled, transported and reconstructed our new play set.

Ms. Kay and Mr. Bob, who transformed the Purple Palace into something a little more school-like.

Ms. Susan, who painted interior spaces.

Mr. John (Britto), who worked on technology in almost every room.

And Mr. Gerry, who put in new doors and installed all manner of items.

Thank you! Students, this year I challenge you to consider what commitment to education means to you. In preparation for this talk, I Googled “students demonstrate commitment to education” and found nothing about students. It was all about the adults. It was all about how teachers can somehow force their students to be committed. Apparently, Google doesn’t understand what the ISW community has always known—that this is your education.

And committing to your own education starts with the way that you talk about it. One of my daughters, who shall remain nameless, often sighs with relief announcing, “I have finished Ms. X’s homework.” And then she has to tolerate me saying, “Ms. X’s homework was completed years ago. She has her degrees. It is your homework you finished.” I also observed over many years working in several very high powered high schools that students had a penchant for saying, “I got an A!” when the test went well but, “He gave me a D” when it didn’t go so well.

Again, dear students, the work is yours, whether you earn a high score or a low one. So what does it look like when a student is truly committed to his or her education? First, the obvious—you own your work, good or bad. You show up to class on time, ready to learn. You do your homework–and not just to say it’s done but with a serious effort to understand your subject.

There are also other elements to commitment to education that are not so obvious. Perhaps the most important one is to ask questions. For those of you in upper elementary and middle school, you are undoubtedly beginning to think about what kind of careers you might want to pursue. Ask yourself if you are doing everything you can today to be prepared for that career you dream of and the career you haven’t even thought of. Ask your teachers and other students questions—and not just the easy ones like “Can you work that sample problem again for me?”  Ask us, “Why are we studying this?” if it isn’t obvious. Ask us, “Can we study this more?” if you find something you really like. Feel free to say, “I don’t get this. Is there another way we can approach this?” If you have an idea for a field trip or a speaker or an activity, share it. We adults promise to take you seriously even if we can’t always make it happen. And finally, students, remember this: you are here to get an education for yourself—not for your parents, not for your teachers, not for me. For yourself.

You owe yourself the very best.

Kindergartners, Lowers, Uppers, Middles, thank you for your excitement, your inspiration and your trust. This school is, as always, our gift to one another. Welcome to the new school year.