Arlington Community,
The Year of Adventure is officially upon us!
Last week we opened the doors to our bright eyed scholars, and our teachers welcomed them into the sacred spaces of their classrooms. Through socratic discussions and seminars, through burgeoning relationships between new classmates and teachers, our scholars have begun to settle into their intentional classroom routines and have experienced a foretaste of the rigor of a classical school curriculum. Even during these inaugural days of their Great Hearts education, their hearts and minds have been gently pried open to visions of a flourishing life by the loving hands of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.
In John O’Donohue’s poem, “For a New Beginning,” he closes his benediction with this:
“Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.”
The spirit of our scholars are being awakened to the journey that lies ahead of them. A new world awaits them with each step they take along this path they now trod, and we will be right there with them -- creating spaces for them to risk, so they hold nothing back as they grow in wisdom and truth.
And let me tell you.
I can’t wait to see who they become.
With joy,
Justin McGee
Middle School Dean