Opportunity: What Does it Mean in Terms of Your Darlington Experience?

As I venture into my second decade at Darlington, there is a concept that I simply cannot shake out of my head. I’ve been wrestling with it for months now and writing sometimes helps me find my way to an answer that no amount of discussion or reflection provides.

When I look up the word "opportunity" in the thesaurus, I find the first five words to be disappointing in that they simply do not ring true to me of the perfect definition of opportunity that I’m chasing. I suppose I should explain the quest.

I have the distinct pleasure of sitting with families in the admission process and hearing of their dreams of Darlington. I am also fortunate to have longtime relationships with current students and families and memories of lives I have lived alongside inside our gates. This flurry of stories, dreams, emotions and history constantly push me back to one idea – opportunity.

So, back to the five options the thesauras gave me to describe a Darlington opportunity. Let’s take them one at a time and see where it gets us…

1. Chance – I find this a little disingenuous because one reason that we choose Darlington for our children is to avoid the element of chance. We choose Darlington because we believe that the most powerful connection in learning is the one between the teacher and student and Darlington provides that. So, to me, chance does not fit the bill. However, families do have to take a leap of faith, which I suppose is technically a chance, that their child will be known and loved at Darlington. So there may be something here.

2. Occasion – This to me suggests singularity and lack of breadth. If there is one singular event that we all hope for and students dream of it is crossing the stage on that day in May of their senior year. When all the sacrifice and hard work come together of a moment in time that bonds all alums together in the brotherhood and sisterhood of Darlington family, Commencement. That is truly a worthy and important event – but not enough to satisfy my search.

3. Opening – This, one would think, would seem to be right of the admission guy’s alley. The opening of a new chapter in a child’s life. The opening of our gates to a new family into the Darlington Community that fosters mutually beneficial, lifelong partnerships. The opening of a child’s mind to the possibilities that they never thought were there for them. The opening of a child’s heart to see that there are those close and far away that suffer daily and dream for items we take for granted. This one has promise; I’ll table this one for further development.

4. Break - Hmm, this one is a tough one for me to think about. This is a word that most students would love to see more of and would have no trouble appending the words winter, spring or summer to it for immediate recognition and positive thoughts.  However, that is not the path I am on. So I did some digging on some other meanings of the word and the eleventh one I came to made sense to me. It expressed it as, “to interrupt something temporarily.” Fascinating. I think that is exactly what we trying to do. We are trying to interrupt the thought pattern and structure of thinking in our students (and ourselves) so that we can see an issue from other perspectives – but not just see it ... understand it. Now, I’m not talking about just a history facts, or a math equation, but life, happiness, care, love, service and honor. This one makes more sense to me now than at first glance.

5. Prospect – When you say the word prospect to an admission professional, it is usually in reference to a visiting student. This is fitting since "prospect" roughly means vision, outlook or to see if something could happen. 

As I think of prospects and what we try to do for them I see clearly what our goal should be: 

• To see if together we want to take a step together toward a better education and existence – a chance.
• To see if this is the right time to set in motion a series of small choices, singular events that add up and culminate in exponential possibilities – occasions.
• To show that if a student is willing to experience challenges at Darlington, one will only find more within oneself then we could ever put in – opening (verb).
• To invite those who are ready to be interrupted, so that true reflection, teaching and growth can take place – a break.

As is my normal way, I’m still not satisfied with the final and perfect answer of what opportunity truly means for a Darlington student or family. I do, however, feel closer to it. I suppose it could be different for each one of Darlington’s sons or daughters at any particular point in their Darlington experience. What I do know is that Darlington provides an unparalleled experience that has touched thousands of lives and continues to do so each day with each connection inside and outside our community.

I know what Darlington has meant and continues to mean in terms of opportunity for me and my family; what does it mean to you?