Page 68 - 2001 Wardlaw Hartridge

48 HEADOFSCHOOl
The
8f1S! Wardlaw-Hartri
'LH-vJ/f ....... . ............T chool"^ i y An Independent, coeducational, college preparatory
community for students in prekindergarten through twelfth grade
Dear Members of the Class of 2001:
We began this year with the idea that we and our school are in some ways like islands entities needing to build community while still being ourselves.
separate
Your class has been special in the ways you have built community. One of you talked eloquently about your family in El Salvador and how privileged we are in comparison to the poverty you saw when you visited - and we listened. Then we responded when an earthquake destroyed a city in that country. You had helped bring us close enough to care. Sadly, on the same Friday that your classmates organized the dress-down day, another earthquake devastated much of Gujarat in India. Again you listened, and you responded.
I will also remember you as the last seventh grade to graduate from the Oakwood campus - and the first class to graduate from our Middle School. You were not pleased to be in Middle School Dress Code in eighth grade instead o f the more individual Upper School dress code, but you were effective as our first Middle School leaders.
And what individuals and leaders you have been: superb artists, musicians, dancers, actors and actresses - 18 of you continued in band and/or chorus, 14 were involved in The Mousetrap - you have also been intellects, athletes, models, photographers, writers, singers. Your swimmers were part of four winning New Jersey Prep Conference Championships. Your provocative discussions have energized debates about a wide range of subjects. You have managed adversity with style and grace and have grown in important ways.
When I asked some of you what I should say about you, you told me you have been a close knit class, an involved class. We talk about being a caring community, about valuing diversity, about service, about being “connected islands” - and you have acted upon those beliefs. I will remember your class for its care and concern for others - and for the number who have such direct roots in another country: China, Korea, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Italy, Guyana, India, Nigeria, Peru, the Philippines, Australia, England. I hope that because of your experience here you never think of the “global community” as a cliche, and that you continue to be actively engaged in making a difference in that large island that is the earth as it passes through space.
“Islands will teach us if we let them. They inform by example; they pass along collective experience . . . To know islands is to appreciate their wondrous ability to enhance our own lives. Islands can teach us, as nothing else can, about our own lives and values. Allowed to flower. .. they will change our own lives and transform the lives of others we touch.”
As you leave Wardlaw-Hartndge, I hope you will cherish the image of this island of a school and how it helped you grow and fulfill your promise. I hope that you will continue to “do your best,” strengthening your personal island and remembering the importance of building strong bridges to others - and that you will return often to tell us where your bridges are taking you.
Warm regards.
1295 Inman Avenue ♦ Edison, New Jersey 08820 908.754.1882 ♦ Fax 908.754.4922 ♦ www.whschool.org