Dr. Palmer’s Update: January 2013
The clean slate provided by a new year is always invigorating. With both the School and College on the semester system as of this academic year, January now brings a new term and a fresh start for all.
Following a three-week break, School students streamed back into the classrooms on Monday. Upper School seniors are preparing to share their words of wisdom by delivering senior speeches during the next two weeks. And auditions for roles in the spring production of Singin’ in the Rain are just around the corner. The basketball and wrestling seasons are at the midway point and going strong.
College classes won’t resume until Monday, January 21. Yet there’s an amazing amount of student activity taking place both near and far.
On Saturday, we are welcoming a dozen incoming students to a weeklong new student orientation. Shifting to the semester system has made it easier for students to transfer into the College, and we are delighted to have eight international students and four domestic students joining the College community at the midway point this year.
The College men’s and women’s basketball teams are already back in action and traveling to games. The swimming and diving and indoor track and field teams are returning early as well.
The entire cast of the fall production of Rumors by Neil Simon just traveled to Saginaw, Michigan, to perform in the 2013 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Another group of College students is participating in an intensive theatre-dance workshop on campus, exploring acting technique and choreography in tandem. And six students who participated at this year’s National Intercollegiate Mediation Tournament are traveling all the way to Dubai to represent Principia in the Inaugural Dubai Invitational Mediation Tournament. That’s an impressive geographical spread of Principians letting their lights shine!
And it’s not just our students who are making terrific contributions around the globe. Dr. Scott Eckert, chair of the Biology and Natural Resources Department, was featured in a recent PBS program Saving the Ocean, highlighting his world-renowned conservation work with leatherback turtles in Trinidad.
The educational opportunities at Principia are truly astounding. We start 2013 with great gratitude for your support of the exceptional learning experiences available to our students. If you know of families with young Christian Scientists—from preschool to college—who would benefit from this kind of environment, please encourage them to come for a visit and experience the Principia difference.
We have several visiting weekends coming up at the School and at the College. And we’ll even help cover nearly all of the transportation and other costs of the visit. Please pass the word along and help us share Principia as widely as possible.
If you’re interested in doing a bit of global exploring yourself, consider signing up for one of our Principia Lifelong Learning trips. Perhaps you’d like to take in the tulips while cruising through Holland and Belgium with Principia alumni in April. Or you might choose to spend part of your summer traveling in France while learning French or hiking through England’s Lake District and studying William Wordsworth.
Principia founder Mary Kimball Morgan once commented, “Each year should mean sturdier growth . . . ” (Education at The Principia, p. 193). This compelling image causes me to consider our youngest Principians as willowy saplings swaying a bit in the breeze of life. College students—and, indeed, Principia’s lifelong learners—are more of the maturing oak variety, strong and ready to tackle whatever challenges come along.
Here’s wishing you a year of sturdy growth and upward progress!