Pioneering Spirit

As The Wooden Floor enters our 40th Anniversary year - we want to first pause and say thank you! We are grateful for your continued support and encouragement over the past 40 years which has led to our tremendous outcomes for the nearly 100,000 children we have served since our founding.

At our recent Annual Board of Directors Retreat this January, we focused on our Why: Our Students, and how they are navigating their lives during the waning 3-year pandemic. You would be so proud of the four high school students who shared with us their poignant reflections. Some of what we heard:

■ The Wooden Floor was their stability in the midst of enormous change and uncertainty.

■ They became even more agile during remote learning, and learned to adapt to new and changing circumstances.

■ Several students noted that they moved ahead technologically, and one student remarked about learning to communicate via email to her teachers, at only 11 years old.

■ Sadly, they have seen their peers outside of The Wooden Floor suffer due to isolation and disconnection, and they are thankful for the deep connections within our organization with friends and staff members.

■ They spoke about how proud they are of their generation’s resilience and perseverance.

As one of The Wooden Floor’s guiding principles states, “We are pioneers: past, present and future.” We shared with our students that they are the true pioneers as they have navigated the pandemic and ventured into new terrains of remotely learning, digital access, and overcoming immense challenges at such a young age. When they look back on this time their lives, while difficult, they will appreciate their own internal strength to move forward.

As we look ahead to celebrating our 40th Anniversary during this entire year, let’s reflect upon the inspiration and hope we provide to our students, our legacy of impact, and how we can ready ourselves to uplift future generations of students so they know: from here you can step anywhere.

That future is bright for our students, with you walking by their sides.

With gratitude,

The Wooden Floor’s Mission is to inspire and transform the lives of young people through the power of dance and access to higher education.