2023-2024
Volume 27, Issue 1
About U.S.
A Publishing Tradition of the Unquowa School
A Message From the Head of School
T
he hard work of hope. I first read this expression three years ago in an essay by Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation. It appeared in an article he wrote about the launch of his new book, From Generosity to Justice, a reimagining of the American philanthropic model originally crafted over a century ago. In his work, Walker reminds us that while “in ordinary times hope is rare… in these extraordinary times, hope is radical.” Walker, The Ford Foundation, and the multitude of foundations that support our globe’s noble nonprofit work realize all too well that they require not only money but radical hope to continue their efforts and to be successful in these challenging times. We here at Unquowa meet our children at the very beginning of their lives. Most of what we do together day in and day out in our classrooms, on our playing fields, in our woods and gardens, and during our field experiences does not seem like radical work. But if you look carefully, you will see that what our teachers do each day is very quietly, very steadily and very thoroughly designed to gradually instill in our young people a sense of confidence and purpose, deep responsibility and, yes, hope, that is essential for them to believe in their ability to become the adults who can see what needs to be done in the world they will face and to be the ones to do it. The arc of their academic learning is gradual as they move from just learning to read and write and developing number sense, but on their way from just learning numbers to understanding geometry, they will also participate in small kindnesses and planned service learning that will weave in the necessary messages telling them that hope is justified because, as Darren Walker reminds us, “the work of hope is hard.” Because the work that requires hope is challenging, the companion to that work that we as parents and teachers must expose our children to is joy. Joy is the ingredient that keeps hope alive when the reality of the world’s condition threatens to
practice in expressing hope through actions of generosity that have concrete results and then recognizing small companion moments of joy so that as they grow older and become aware of the reality of a world that paralyzes their ability to act against the impossible, they will remain armed with hope and prepared to recognize joy which, as poet Donna Ashworth reminds us, cannot be stored or summoned and does not arrive with a fanfare. “Joy slithers through the cracks of our imperfect lives” and if we can recognize and absorb it when it appears, it will sustain us through the “radical work of hope.” Our PreK students practice by making hearts and tucking them into cars as surprise acts of kindness, our Kindergarteners practice by rescuing caterpillars and protecting them through their chrysalis stage. Our second graders raise “Change for Change” to make donations to Save the Children. By eighth grade our students begin to see the reality of the challenges of service and the need for hope it requires as they move beyond the general community service of food and clothing drives to doing weekly service learning with partner students at Feroleto Children’s Development Center and environmental work with Park City Composting Initiative. Our school is at an exciting inflection point in its history and I am energized to be part of the next step in its journey as we complete the last phases of our recent five-year strategic initiatives. I continue to be committed to that work because I have had a longstanding core of dedicated and talented board members behind me and they continue to be joined by new board members with equal commitment and energy. They make it possible for our school to attract and retain the very talented and committed faculty who spend each and every day with our children, teaching them solid academic knowledge and habits of mind, providing them with opportunities to practice the hard work of hope, and helping them to savor joy when it “slithers
dowse it like a sputtering fire. We must give our younger children
Wishing you all a New Year filled with hope and joy…
through the cracks of their lives” to serve as fuel for the hard work ahead.
Sharon Lauer, Head of School