Last Sunday evening, I had the joyful experience of leading a sing-along with a packed house of rowdy Lower School kids at the end of the Fall Food Drive. The group sang, danced and played percussion instruments with gusto, capping a very meaningful afternoon of sorting and packing food for the folks at Whosoever Gospel Mission, followed by a community-wide dinner together.
The event was beautifully planned, with families collecting food in the weeks prior and fully engaged in thinking about their participation in a service-learning project that will directly affect lives in nearby Germantown. This was just one more wonderful community-building event on campus this fall created by our parents and Home and School leadership, which have included the Book Fair, Field Day, last week’s evening with Rodney Glasgow, support at our record-breaking Open House and the recent Creekside Planting and Environmental Fair.
As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, I am deeply appreciative of the parent community at AFS, an extraordinary group of people engaged in a wide range of professional fields who are living lives of great intention. Making the choice to join a community like AFS distinguishes our parents; we are focused on clear and shared values and devoted to joining together to create an environment based on a full vision of who we all are as human beings and what is possible in a community of profound respect and joyful, continual learning. The bond that we share as AFS parents is this clear sense of intention, values and willingness to invest in a deeply valuable common purpose.
As parents in an Early Childhood through 12th grade setting, we also share many years of watching our children grow up, navigating the unfolding chapters of family life together and growing into parent friendships that often transcend our children’s graduation years. Sharing the fullness of parenting with people we have respected, admired and been inspired by over the years has been a great gift of Robin’s and my time as parents at AFS.
And so we have much to be thankful for in this community of parents and caregivers. Collectively, AFS parents add spirit, creativity, warmth and connection through myriad events and care for the School and our faculty. Individually, parents and caregivers are part of an ongoing and inspiring conversation with me about education, the world our kids are growing up in and how we might best help them meet their full potential. Among the many gifts of an AFS education, the families with whom we share this journey are among the greatest.