A Community Bound Together

A truly succesful school community must be more than a beautiful campus, rigorous course syllabi, myriad athletic schedules, fantastically committed faculty and staff, and engaged parents. A great and vital school community must have a realistic sense of itself and the ability and willingness to constantly and consistently express and reinforce that sense of mission and vision. 

It is so important that each member of this community we call Darlington School continues to strive for and commit to excellence in all that we do on a daily basis. This commitment begins with personal excellence. I believe that those things each of us is willing and able to do in support of Darlington is an outward expression of our own standard of excellence, and that the expectations of the school by its students, parents, alumni must be as high as the bar may be placed. 

At the heart of our mission is our commitment to empowering others to learn with passion, act with integrity and serve with respect, which will, in turn, produce well-educated, prepared students who have the strength of character, purpose and direction to contribute to the larger society and its future and not just take from it. But what are the specific values that we are working to develop?

Honesty, respect, trust, justice, fair play, role modeling, hard work, service, collaboration, teamwork and accountability emerge as critical to preparation for the future. Each of these is easily folded into a class in history or science or English, or the opportunity to enjoy recess on the playground, or work with the Honor Council and on the basketball court. These personal virtues of excellence are alive and well in all that we endeavor to accomplish as a learning community. We also work to reinforce courage and self-respect, wisdom and perseverance - values that can be easily forgotten or taken for granted in our daily work, but which are constantly present in a community like Darlington. 

It is important that we all help each other appreciate these values. We must all "lead by example" - students, faculty, staff and parents - as we are all role models in the business of building a school's sense of community ... a school's desire to seek excellence. What an exciting challenge! The result of our efforts will be a school of young people with a high level of self-esteem who feel empowered to share and lead in the next step of their life's journey.

In order to prepare each other for the very uncertain future, we must teach the power of collaboration and the willingness for individuals to come together to accomplish a common goal. Thankfully, our goal is difficult and demanding, but so worth the effort in building a mission-driven community that places Honor Above Everything. At times, the calling to such high ideals may feel unrealistic and unattainable. However, if we all strive for the same goal then the process by which we work together to live our mission, philosopy, vision and motto will bind us together and build a sense of commitment to each other, Darlington School and our futures.

Thank you for reading and Happy Thanksgiving!