To all who are returning, welcome back. Our warmest welcome to our new students and families. I hope your summer was rejuvenating, and preferably inspiring. We've been busy getting ready in your absence, taking IB courses, planning, and preparing our classrooms for your children's arrival. We're all excited to start our new year and get back to the business of learning. We look forward to our authorization visits for both the Middle Years and Diploma Programs, and to getting better at everything we do. We've got a few upgrades and surprises in store.
I am so very blessed to lead a cadre of students into the outdoors each summer. This year we took on Iceland or, more precisely, Iceland instructed us in the ways of humility. In our seventy or so hard miles trekking overland we experienced massive glaciers and frigid glacial river crossings, tenuous snow bridges, steep climbs, descents approximating long coordinated falls, and sheer cliff faces managed by rope and harness. Our students know what it means to journey in rain for days and sleep among the clouds; to overcome equipment failure, fatigue, and illness; to have their shoulders savaged by the weight of packs, and their feet blistered by wet boots. They also know how to overcome adversity, to rally around each other, to laugh off hard days and bad weather, to truly become a team. They know even more who they are, and precisely that of which they are capable when they put their mind, spirit, and backs to it.
There is no way to really capture the splendor that is upcountry Iceland, especially tens of miles beyond where the trail ends. For all its magnificence, its primeval beauty, scenes words cannot effectively convey, it was our students that most inspired me. Some struggled with sudden onset illness, the kind that usually keeps one in bed for a few days. We didn't have that option, and they overcame. Others dealt with nagging pains. Their only choice was to walk out just as we had all walked in, one step at a time. When adversity struck, every able body pitched in, and nobody had to be coaxed or reminded to do it. One for all, all for one. Best of all, these amazing young people laughed off the wet, the tired, the blisters, and encouraged each other every step of the way. These are precisely the kind of young people we want leading our world, and I can't wait to see what they decide to do with their lives. I want to publicly thank each of our Iceland gang for sharing their summer with me.
The ability to adapt in the face of adversity is the single greatest indicator of success in the lives of children and adults. Life will throw us curves, at the worst moments, when we are least prepared and most tired. We have to learn to hit the curve. There really isn't any other option. While seemingly at odds with some contemporary parenting, I believe we are too quick to save our children from small inconveniences, minor disruptions, and trivial disappointments. I believe we are too quick to intercede in their frustrations with friends, classmates, and teachers. I believe we over-privilege the concepts of like and dislike, happy and sad. I believe we often underestimate children's ability to solve their own problems. We mean well, but our help can actually hurt at times.
Our children will not like everyone they meet, adore every teacher, love every lesson, click with every coach, appreciate your every decision. They'll have some bad days, make some bad decisions, suffer disappointment. All are survivable. More importantly, as adults they will largely be defined by their ability to marshal courage in their down moments, and by how they overcome and adapt to challenge. My thoughts are certainly colored by what I experienced this summer, by our amazing young men and women. They are also informed by the experience of working with thousands of dynamic young people.
Listen and counsel, but don't be too quick to throw out the life preserver and call in the helicopters. Your children are capable and adaptable. We all need practice in the art of learning to save ourselves. Now is a pretty ideal time in their lives to do just that.
I wish you all a wonderful school year 2016-2017. See you around campus.