I was recently emailing with a mom of a Pre-K student at our school. When I asked her what went into her decision for choosing Whitefield, she responded:

When you pick a school for you kids, don’t look at the kindergarten class…look at the senior class. They are the results of the education you are choosing.

I don’t think there’s a better way to put it. In the same way that we look at our neighbor’s food while we sit and wait for our own at a restaurant, a really good way of knowing how our own kids are going to turn out is by looking at the kids who have come before them. Kids who have walked the same halls, had the same teachers, and completed the same projects. So when I think about this particular senior class and whether they are how I want my own kids to turn out, I can’t help but think on my favorite moment with some of them.

I was walking out of our building with my camera in my hand. I had been photographing one of our kindergarten classes because they had received a popsicle party for bringing in the most Box Tops. Congrats again, Mrs. Dodd’s class. So as I walked through the parking lot, I heard the loud and unmistakable noise of a circular saw. Not something you normally hear at school.

I looked down the hill and three of our seniors, safely clad in protective eyewear, were cutting wood from off the back of one of their trucks.

“Hi…what are you guys doing?”

“Oh hi Mrs. Hutson! We’re cutting wood for a physics experiment!”

“Okie dokie.”

And I carried on my merry way, not without taking a picture of course.

Now I don’t know about you, but this kind of stuff did not happen at my high school.

So much of this did not happen at my high school.

First of all, they were ENJOYING working on a physics experiment. Now as far as I know, only one of these kids plans to pursue a career in the sciences. But because Whitefield students are trained to be critical thinkers, everything, even things in classes that aren’t your favorite, can become a problem that is enjoyable to solve.

Second, they smiled, called me by name, and looked me in the eye when they spoke to me. Whitefield students are trained from an early age to be clear communicators, taught to be respectful to everyone, no matter their opinions or viewpoints.

Third, you might be thinking to yourself, where did these kids get power tools? Why did they have them at school? Well, it might interest you to know that one of these students was actually teaching a mechanics elective to other students. He had gathered up a variety of motorcycles and dirt bikes and was training 12 of his peers in bike maintenance and repair. Whitefield students are trained to be compassionate leaders, kind and loving but also sure of themselves and their skill-sets.

When I look at my kindergartner and think, “That could be her one day; standing in the parking lot with her friends, working on a physics project.” I can’t help but also think, “Yes, please, Lord. Let that be my daughter. Let her be joyful, compassionate, hard-working, and doing a physics experiment with a smile on her face. Let her be respectful and a leader. Let her do hard things with grace and build up those around her.”

That is what I see when I look at this year’s senior class, and I couldn’t be happier if that’s how my kindergartner turned out.

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