Thank You

From the Dr. Terry Macaluso, Head of School

To the EPS Community:

I like to express gratitude to the people in our community every year at this time. This year, my message went out to faculty and staff who worked so hard to complete the building project and to prepare for our re-accreditation visit. I was referencing the fact that they had all stepped up with generous support throughout a fairly complex fall; at the same time, I wanted to remind everyone of our humble, and not all that distant, beginnings.  The message is, essentially, that we need to remember who we are and where we came from—which is not bad advice for most of us. The excerpt below tells the story:

…all of this by way of saying that this entire team continues to amaze everyone who visits.  Our current families are no less impressed than those hoping to gain admission. There is mounting anxiety about whether to apply in 5th or 6th grade, and we have a record number of sibling and employee children applying.

All of this is good—as one thinks about the importance of maintaining a competitive position in the market place.  But we need to keep our eyes focused on what’s really at work here.  This is all a result of effective professionals who give whatever it takes.  The goodness of the school lies in the experience students have.  You’re all responsible for creating and contributing to that experience.

The facilities are (mostly) lovely, and we’re popular right now—but I remember when we were not popular, and facilities were not lovely.  Even then—the same energy and the same joy permeated our classrooms and offices.  We’re still who we were—only bigger and better dressed.  The antidote to complacency is memory.

Thank you for your contributions to EPS.  Thank you for supporting one another.  Thank you for caring—sometimes more than you should. Thank you for making every day count—and for evenings and weekends spent in the service of our mission.

Enjoy the coming week with family, friends, or just a good book.  Eat too much.  Take naps.  Reflect on what we’ve all built on this little piece of land in Kirkland and come back refreshed.

Happy Thanksgiving!