Click here to listen to this week’s JAM – Investing in Our Children’s Future
I was talking with a parent of two high-school age alums this weekend, catching up on how they are doing a bit removed from their Hillbrook experience. She shared that both of her children are thriving at one of the top independent schools on the Peninsula, noting that the skills and knowledge they had learned at Hillbrook from Kindergarten through 8th grade had beautifully prepared them for their rigorous, academic high school program.
She described her family’s decision to choose Hillbrook more than 10 years ago – and then to rechoose it each subsequent year – as an investment in her children’s future. What did her children gain from that investment? She talked about the teachers who cared deeply for each child, and about the excellent foundational academic skills that helped them get into top high schools and then thrive once at those schools.
There were two things that she mentioned that I found particularly striking. First, she talked about how her children graduated as energized about learning as they were when they started as wide-eyed Kindergarteners. She noted that all too many schools extinguish curiosity and joy in learning, and yet at Hillbrook her children in 8th grade were as curious and engaged as ever. She mentioned in particular their Social Impact & Leadership projects which gave both of her children the opportunity to dive deeply into a passion and to do things that went well beyond the typical Middle School program.
Second, she described the advocacy skills that they had both gained, the confidence to approach teachers and the ability to know how to ask for and receive help. She mentioned that she had just attended a college talk where they noted that the most successful college students are the ones who don’t wait to be invited in by professors, but reach out and engage with professors from the beginning of a course, going to office hours and actively building connections. Her children learned that skill from their earliest years. She reminded me of the time when her children were in 4th and 5th grade and they met with me to ask if they could make a presentation at Flag about refugees, a topic important to them and their family. How empowering for them to know from the youngest ages that they could have an audience with the Head of School – or anyone else in the community – and be listened to with respect and allowed to work with the school to do meaningful and important things.
Those two things – curiosity and agency – are investments in her children’s future that cannot be quantified.
I was reminded of a conversation I had six or seven years ago with a long-time parent at the school, who’s youngest was about to head off to high school. He told me about walking his father – his children’s grandfather – around campus, showing them the various places his children had spent their formative years. The grandfather stopped him and asked – “How much does it cost to go here?” The father shared the tuition they paid – even as a family participating in the Flexible Tuition program it was a significant cost – and waited to see the reaction. The grandfather paused for an extended moment. Then he said simply, “I cannot think of a better investment in my grandchildren’s future.”