Greetings From Head of School - May 2008

Dear Members of the MacDuffie Community,

We are in the final stretch of the 2008 school year, as hard as that is to believe.  May will see a wonderful showcase of the arts at MacDuffie with the musical “Oklahoma!” on May 2-4, followed by the Music Concert on May 9 and the Dance Concert on May 16. Many of our performers are also on athletics teams, taking AP exams, and of course everyone is preparing for the cumulative exams at the end of the year. In May, there are also student elections, the one-act plays, a touring theater production, the 8th grade Rite of Passage, and many events for our graduating seniors. As the students say, May is “no joke!”

What impresses me each year is the ability that most students have to pull everything together so that their final effort is equal to more than the sum of the cumulative skills and knowledge they have acquired. On the playing field, they gain skills of the game and learn how to work as a team all season, making the final weeks of the season a demonstration of far more accomplished play than their earlier games and practices. Two weeks before the opening night of “Oklahoma!,” Director Ted Lyman told the cast and crew that the show was ready to open, but that the MacDuffie Theater strives for high polish, not just an adequate show. Even after opening night, the performers and crew will continue to adjust the fine points of the musical, so that the show will get better and better with each performance.

Similarly, in academics, our teachers strive for students to build on prior knowledge with each new topic they introduce. By the end of the year, students have a clear blueprint in each class of what they have learned and of what they need to review for the final exams. In classes without finals, students have completed a final paper or project through which they demonstrated their mastery of research and other skills and their ability to analyze and think critically about their chosen or assigned topic. These final assessments are difficult for all students, requiring painstaking and time-consuming review of a great deal of material. In the end, however, their reward is in the skills and knowledge they have acquired that they will put to good use in their classes next year, whether it is at the next grade level or in college.

The persistence and perseverance our students show in their studies, in their arts performances, and in their athletic contests this month are a testimony to their commitment to achieving their full potential. To those of you who have achieved excellent work and grades, I encourage you to make a final push to maintain this record, despite the many demands on your time and brain (so much to learn, so little time). And to those who have not yet hit your stride, I encourage you not to give up now on making a final attempt to show your teachers a higher quality of work than you may have done earlier in the year. You will feel so much better about the end of the year and about the possibilities for next year if you take the time now to begin reviewing for your exams, asking questions in Extra Help, and generally doubling or tripling your efforts. You wouldn’t be at MacDuffie if we didn’t believe you could do the work! Happy May (and just think ahead to how good it will feel on Magnolia Day to have accomplished so much)!