Our graduating class last year attracted over $6 million in scholarship offers from colleges and universities across the country. These institutes of higher learning are sending a message that they want our sons and daughters to join their campuses and they are keen to help them, and you, make it happen.

At this time of year, when you are once again investing in the very best education possible for your son or daughter, it's not just the financial commitment, and in many cases, sacrifice, that is in your mind . . . but it is undoubtedly high on the list.

The value added by a top-notch private school education is immense. First, of course, is academic preparation for success and fulfillment in college. When we talk about the combination of Rigor and Soul we provide on this campus, the academic preparation is the rigor part. It's not just the list of AP classes or the three specialized diplomas (Global Studies, Arts, and Math/Science) we offer to challenge and inspire the top students. It's not just that small classes allow each teacher to spend so much more time with each student, providing high-quality intellectual challenge and real interaction. Much more than that, we are preparing our students in how to study expertly, how to manage their time, how to carefully plan an essay or research project. These are the aspects, our alumni have reported back to us, that give them a leg up immediately they begin college. Our graduates are better academic students from the moment they step on to their college campus, not just because of their deep content knowledge but because of the skill set we have provided them and they have practiced over and over here at RHP and Renaissance.

And you are unarguably investing in the Soul part of what we do too. The part that distinguishes us, not just from good public schools but also from other good private schools. Skills of cooperation and collaboration within an intentionally diverse student body; skills of interacting closely with teachers and learning how to advocate for oneself (so important in college to ensure success); working within a trimester and weekly block schedule that allows for deep and focused teaching and learning; less fragmentation; high-level challenge and learning without stealing a child's life away. Our students are ready for more learning by the time they graduate and are not burned out and jaded.

It may take a while for our sons and daughters to fully appreciate and thank us for the investment we are making in their education now. It may be during their senior speech, with you sitting in the front row to hear them thanking you publicly. Or it may be later in life, in college or beyond, when they say, "Thank you for sacrificing for me to get the very best education and opening so many doors that would otherwise have been harder for me to open." Or, at least, that sentiment expressed in the vernacular of a 22- year old! 

And, yes, it may be when they get a huge scholarship offer to attend college simply because that college really wants to enroll another talented, highly-prepared Husky!

We look forward to working in partnership with you.

Sincerely,