J U NE 2013
The Park Parent In this issue: GRADUATION SPEAKER // 2 NEXT SCHOOLS FOR GRADE IX // 2 JERRY KATZ’S HEADLINES THROUGH THE YEARS // 4
Letting Go B Y JERROLD I. KATZ, Head of School
W
hen I think about “letting go,” as my twenty year tenure at Park draws
to a close, I can’t avoid making a con-
NEXT SCHOOLS FOR GRADE VIII // 7
nection to my experience every year
CHINESE VISITORS // 8
conducting our Grade IX graduation
P.A. RECAP // 10 – 16
ceremony. There are so many raw emotions in the air that day for students, for faculty and staff, for parents, and for me. There is tremendous pride both in our school and in the accomplishments of the ninth graders on the risers facing our entire community. There is a sense of relief that we’ve reached this milestone and the close of another school year. There is uplifting hopefulness about what lies ahead for our graduates. Yet, when it’s all over, as graduates and their families finish moving through the receiving line of faculty and staff, for many of our students, in particular, it all dissolves into tears and an overwhelming sense of loss. Ultimately, graduation is all about letting go. For those of us who are parents, I believe that life offers a series of moments of letting go with our own children. This certainly has been the case for Marti and me – holding each other down in bed, while our first child cried to be picked-up from his crib; dropping each of our 5-year-olds off on their first days of Kindergarten; leaving each of our kids with new bunkmates during those first summers of overnight camp; leaving first one and then another at his dorm to begin college; walking our oldest child down the aisle.
vo l u m e 45 number 6 A PUB LICATION OF THE PARK SC HOOL PARE NTS ’ ASSOC IATION
While not as intense as the necessary losses that are associated with being parents, all of us who are privileged to be educators learn to accept the annual cycle of investing deeply in relationships each September that we know we will need to let go of in June. As head of school, my time frame has been wider. I have seen two complete cycles of children and families move from Pre-Kindergarten through Grades VIII or IX at Park. I have had the opportunity to hire almost 90 percent of Park’s current faculty and staff. My life has intersected with the lives of several thousand children and adults over the course of my years here. continued on page 3