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Missing an occasional class for a short period of time allowed this skater to concen- trate on her sport.
Several times a year, faculty advisors ask their advisees for personal reflections when they plan and discuss course choices and student activities.
Club activities offer a different focus. They are experiential and largely run by students for stu- dent-set goals. Faculty members advise. We pro- vide time for club meetings during the school day as well as after school because we think this experi- ence is so important for individual growth. Club activities range from community service to chess to drama to astronomy. In clubs, students can learn the organizing and social skills to get a job done and the personal rewards that make a job worth- while. Students can change clubs, start a new club, or re-direct their club’s activity. The only choice not offered is non-participation.
Hopefully, these activities lead students to see that we believe in them. Hopefully, their growing self-knowledge will lead them to believe in and trust themselves as they grow up and move into adult life. This “other side” of St. Benedict’s philosophy is, for us, a never-ending and fascinating challenge.
Team sports can develop an appreciation of both group and individual strengths.
A balance between rigorous academics and opportunities for drama and journal- ism was important to 1996 Co-Valedictorian Jeanine Yost. Here, she played Violet in the Priory Players’ mod- ern-dress version of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.
In class retreats, students work on becoming distinctive individuals and also on becoming a supportive community for each other. The class candle, in the center, accompanies each group through the years and stays on in the Chapel after they graduate.
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