Why Mission Matters

 -Will Durant, paraphrase of Aristotle

 

Welcome to a new year at ESA! I’ve written to you before about my job as the "school mascot" (according to one of our kindergarteners), but really, the headmaster is the school’s chief executive and the head cheerleader for the school’s mission, values, and vision. So I wanted to start this year off with a view from the top of our mission, and the powerful vision it inspires. Whether you’re new to ESA or have been here for many years, I hope there will be something here for you to learn.

When the "new" mission statement was written (over 15 years ago), it replaced this: "ESA is a community of scholars, united by their common pursuit of excellence." Currently, "Our mission is to instill in every student the habits of scholarship and honor. ESA challenges students to develop intellectually, spiritually, and physically." Both of these have the real power of being short, memorable, and full of powerful words and references. Literally every single word was scrutinized to ensure it had the meaning that the crafters intended.

One of the things I love most about our mission statement is that it is based on ideas that can be traced back to Aristotle’s writing about the Virtues (paraphrased in the quote above). Aristotle believed that virtues are formed in man when he does the right things. They are not innate, but learned habits of excellence. Habits of scholarship and honor are developed in community, instilled into every student. This is a process. Students don’t come to this fully formed; they must be steeped in this culture to develop those habits. The second part of our mission is to challenge students to develop. We challenge them in the classroom to become the best scholars they can be, to live lives filled with love and service to God and neighbor, and to become the very best athletes or actors or artists as they develop the physical abilities that will help them succeed.

What all of this does is define a community of people who are striving for their personal best, and their community best. The Greeks had a word for this, Areté. That word is really complex, but at its root is the essence of goodness, greatness, excellence—the full realization of the potential inside all of us. I close each of my letters with that word, because it has been our motto from the beginning of the school. Excellence from within – Areté!

You will be hearing more about our mission, values, and vision this year from lots of different sources. Our teachers serve as role models for life-long learning as they work to better themselves each year. A new upper school faculty committee, the Group for Research and Intentional Teaching (GRIT), is exploring Mind, Brain, and Education Science and discussing how the latest research in cognitive learning is reflected in ESA classrooms. The group is led by Director of Upper School Academic Support Lahna Roche, who has added a new title this year: Learning Strategist & Research Lead. In her previous work as an administrator in the LSU Center for Academic Success, a nationally recognized Learning Center of Excellence, Lahna's research focused on how students learn and how teachers can facilitate learning through different strategies. She is excited to apply her expertise to initiatives to enhance ESA's student learning experience. The members of GRIT plan to engage faculty in discussions throughout the year about how adolescents' brains work and about the newest age-appropriate, brain-based learning strategies that give students tools to succeed.  
 

You’ll hear from our chaplain about our Episcopal Identity and what that means as we pursue excellence. You’ll hear about work that our board of trustees is doing related to mission, values, and vision as we look at data from the past few years and prepare to move into a capital campaign to renew the Cade campus. And you’ll hear from your friendly, neighborhood mascot, yours truly, sharing stories of the amazing excellence that happens here every day. God bless, and Areté!