From Our High School Assistant Principal

Ilove reading this magazine. In fact, I get fi red up reading it! How wonderful is it to regularly hear about the amazing things that happen here at EC, within the alumni community and witness evidence of this community’s positive impact on the world? To me, it serves as a reminder of what I came to know right away about this place—EC is special. It is the people, the friendships formed and the long-lasting relationships that move beyond these walls.

When asked to share some of my experience with relationships at EC, I foolishly thought that would be an easy task. I thought back to craning my neck with sixth graders while our jaws dropped in awe of the old-growth forests in the Olympic National Park; I went to memories of standing on the marble steps of the Lincoln Memorial with our promoted eighth graders with the words “I HAVE A

DREAM” etched beneath our feet. Then my nose remembered the abrupt shift from smelling the crisp ocean air to wet feet as I moved past the empty shoe pile that welcomed me into the recreation hall at Fort Flagler for our Destiny retreat. Time and again, I have been privileged to walk with our students along their EC journey. These moments, for me, are everything.

One moment always stands out from my fi rst year at EC. I vividly remember taking my eighth grade mentor students to the “Moving Up” assembly. This assembly marks the moment when the senior class says goodbye and every other class gets to “move up” to their new section of bleachers in the gym. This rite of passage plays out in many gyms across the country in the spring. Based on my experience in other schools, I prepared to console my students after they were called up. But what happened amazed me and let me know what I had been feeling all year—that this place is special. Without being prompted, our rising senior class stood up in unison to give our incoming ninth graders a standing ovation. All the other grade levels followed suit and I walked with my soon to be ninth graders to their new seats accompanied by the soundtrack of applause and affi rmation from the upperclassmen.

Though we are not without challenges as we navigate this changing moment in time, I want to give thanks for the resiliency that our community has shown and challenge us to be like those rising seniors. To defy complacency and stand up to support one another. To “as always, remember to take care of each other” because we are truly stronger together. Or, in simple terms, let’s help one another to not just talk about it, but to be about it.