I hope this finds you and your families safe and healthy and adapting to the experience of staying home and social distancing.
We have been busy preparing for students' "return" to (virtual) school next week. Faculty members have been fully engaged preparing for the
launch of distance learning on Monday, March 30
. I am proud of the thoughtful hard work that the members of the faculty have done individually and in departments in a relatively short period of time to plan to teach online. We are learning a great deal about online learning, and I expect some of what we learn and discover during this time will find its way into our in-person teaching once that resumes.
In a separate letter you will receive today, Dean of Academic Life Jared Hall will share with students and parents the following important academic information:
Students are encouraged and expected to review this information prior to their first classes on Monday.
My colleagues and I have also been busy imagining and developing ways in which we can build community virtually during this period. The weekly schedule includes four periods of "community time." These blocks will provide students the familiar regular gathering moments that we experience on campus: advisory meetings, class meetings, Chapel talks, and All-School meetings. As we adapt to the current reality of staying home all day and working from home, we think it is important for all of us to hold on to some of the familiar elements of the routine on campus at Hotchkiss.
We aim to continue to offer as many social activities and club meetings as possible in a virtual setting. I participated in Bingo night Wednesday evening from 9 - 10 p.m. which was organized by Mrs. Wistar. Congratulations to all who won! It was great to see those who gathered, and I look forward to more virtual interaction to come.
In an effort to minimize the number of School emails students will receive on any given day, a new student intranet is being created and will serve as the comprehensive resource on all community events.
None of us has lived through a global pandemic before, and few of us have had the experience of social isolation that is necessary for us to "flatten the curve." New experiences, even unwelcome new experiences, teach us. Among other things, I hope this experience will teach us that we create and can therefore sustain the positives that are emerging: the good will, the friendliness of strangers, the renewed contact with old friends and neighbors, and the heightened awareness of our interdependence. As one who strives to approach life with an attitude of gratitude, I am ever more grateful in this time for the strength and goodness of the Hotchkiss family, near and far (and near yet appropriately distant).
Please stay well and keep in touch.
Sincerely,
Craig W. Bradley
Head of School
