DEEP ROOTS MATTER
Kane Kashouty, MSA alumnus and Director of Admissions, often reminisces about the years he spent living in Haden-Hart, the school house currently occupied by Seven Rivers. He talks about staying up late, doing homework, laughing with friends, meals shared on the porch and the growth he experienced as a junior boarder in the 2000’s. Eventually Miller retired its junior boarding program and focused its energies on being a great 8-12 college preparatory school, and Haden Hart became a home for a number of faculty over the years.
Every day I come to the schoolhouse I sense something different, something palpable that I've never experienced in other schools I've worked out. The faculty and students feel more comfortable. More relaxed. More human.
“Every day I come to the schoolhouse I sense something different, something palpable that I’ve never experienced in other schools I’ve worked out. The faculty and students feel more comfortable. More relaxed. More human. ”
I remember when my sons were young. They would often come and unload a barrage of emotions and feelings that had been pent up all day. One day, while talking with a friend, he mentioned that his own kids do this as well. I've come to find out that this is a real thing. Students staying guarded. Performing. Putting on a show during the day to make teachers and adults happy and then unloading all of their feelings in the safest place they know. Home. This doesn't seem to happen at Seven Rivers and I think it, at least in part, has something to do with the place we occupy. When you walk into the school house it truly feels like a home. Students respectfully take off their shoes and jackets in the foyer. They go to their homerooms and fill their bottles in the kitchen. The place is a buzz of life and activity. Often when working from my office I will hear a student having a tough time and they will come sit on my couch and just relax for a while.
Last year, during an end of the year faculty meeting I vividly remember the Faculty, when asked why they chose to work at 7R, rather than another school, told me that they love how authentic and real the learning experience feels. They loved the ability to pivot lessons when a student has lost a dog or loved one and that they feel untethered to arbitrary deadlines or standardized testing. But instead, can meet the academic and emotional needs of all of their students in the same way they would if they were teaching their own kids in their own home.
In modern society it can feel as though we are untethered getting violently tossed about in the surf. At Seven Rivers we are grounded in the deep history and love that has inhabited our space for generations. These deep roots matter.
Written by Nolan LaVoie, Director of Seven Rivers