That was the framework that informed the assembly of a faculty work group this past summer. The makeup of that group was crucial, as it was important to bring long-, medium-, and shorttenured faculty to the conversation to ensure we were resistant to the kind of nostalgia that might make forward movement challenging. When we came together, we identified a handful of fundamental questions for our work: •How would we describe the culture & community of our Upper School today? •What stories do we tell ourselves about our culture & community in Upper School? •Which of those are true? Which are false? What’s worth preserving, and what isn’t? •Ideally, what do we want our culture & community to look like, and how can we be intentional about establishing and maintaining those ideals? What we found contained some surprises: while we realized that there was significant overlap between our current culture and community and our ideals, we did identify a need to more clearly emphasize our outstanding academic program and our students’ emerging scholarship. We also dug into recent climate survey data from Upper School students and discovered the need to better support Park’s LGBTQ+ students and our students of color. Also clear was the need to create systems and structures by which the community could assemble more often around our school’s mission and shared values. Once we identified those needs, the next step was to determine how to implement the changes we sought to make. We had to move from what to how. For starters, we knew our work needed consistent reinforcement and a structure for accountability. We decided to extend the work of the summer group into the school year and establish the Upper School Culture Team. This group would meet regularly during the year to attend to our goals and track progress, but it was optional, even for us. Every faculty member who took part in the summer work group signed on to be part of the Culture Team, and I am deeply thankful to all of them– Sra. Fritz, Mx. Melin, Mrs. Okoniewski, and Dr. Thompson–for their commitment to our shared work. At the beginning of the school year, we added members of the Upper School student body–at least one in each graduating class–to better ascertain the needs of our students and to involve them as key collaborators and decision makers. Together, we tackled the question of how to address the needs of our school culture and community with greater specificity and identified a number of changes for the 2023-24 school year, which have included: •Ensuring our Upper School morning meetings have more structure so they operate as a venue for key announcements, celebrations, and student engagement throughout the year. •Reinstating seasonal pep rallies for Park athletics and seasonal social gatherings for Upper School students to provide more opportunities for meaningful connection. •Extending the celebration of Pioneers of the Month from our Lower and Middle Schools into the Upper School in order to highlight students, faculty, and staff who exemplify what it means to be a member of the Park community. •Creating a once-per-cycle Upper School Community Gathering for intentional communication about the mission, vision, and shared values of the school; regular opportunities for student involvement, voice, and leadership; and consistent celebration of our core values, our academic successes, and our diverse and inclusive community. In doing so, we have tried to keep in mind what Dewey and Grant champion: the authentic, scientific inquiry that leads to rethinking and remaking as needed. Early feedback suggests that the Upper School and its student body are more energized, more engaged, and more committed to our shared work in part because of increased opportunities to connect with one another. Our hope is that we remain on the right track and continue to work toward our ideals. But if anything changes, we will be ready to ask more questions, collect more information, and continue to rethink, reimagine, and remake Park’s culture and community. “When people reflect on what it takes to be mentally fit, the first idea that comes to mind is usually intelligence. The smarter you are, the more complex the problems you can solve–and the faster you can solve them. Intelligence is traditionally viewed as the ability to think and learn. Yet in a turbulent world, there’s another set of cognitive skills that might matter more: the ability to rethink and unlearn.” - Adam Grant, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know All student-athletes were recognized at the Fall 2023 Pep Rally. 16
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