HEAD OF SCHOOL MESSAGE THE ARCHON FALL / WINTER 2016
We have discovered something at Governor’s that is both powerful and
special—it is what happens when you combine our Seven Essential Skills with what we have identified as our Four Enduring Qualities. As I have written in this space before, the Seven Essential Skills are a list of competencies that our faculty know every student should have mastered before they graduate. They are 21st Century skills and they are the lens through which we evaluate our programs and our curriculum. It is by focusing on these skills that we assure ourselves that Governor’s students will be prepared to succeed at the most rigorous colleges and universities in the world, and that they will be prepared to work in an economy that is changing faster than at any time in history. It also gives us confidence that we are preparing our graduates to live lives of consequence as engaged citizens of the world. In today’s world, however, simply mastering a set of skills is not enough to guarantee success. We need to give students the courage to try new things and the confidence to take risks, knowing that they will learn at least as much through failure as they will success. We also must provide our students with the support and mentoring they need to develop into the very best versions of themselves that they can imagine. We do this at Governor’s by focusing on the Four Enduring Qualities that we identified in our strategic plan. These qualities have been the hallmark of a Governor’s education for decades, and include a commitment to academic excellence and to providing students with faculty members dedicated to developing students in all areas of their lives, not just the classroom. They also include creating balance in the lives of our students so that they can be excellent students, talented artists, accomplished musicians, and skillful athletes all at the same time, and we commit to doing all of this within the context of a family-like atmosphere. Quite simply, the combination of our Seven Essential Skills and Four Enduring Qualities allows Governor’s to offer the finest possible education for our students and their families. I know that many of you love the Academy precisely because you experienced these qualities. You were able to learn and grow in a community where adults were dedicated to identifying and meeting your individual needs. You received a worldclass education within a supportive community that stretched and inspired you. Although much has changed since our earliest days, and really, even since my time in Byfield as a student, we are fundamentally the same school that prizes and values relationships as we help our students become healthy and productive members of our global community. I hope you are proud of the school we are today, and perhaps more importantly, are excited about our great future.
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The Archon | Fall/Winter 2016