Construct and steward a community and culture that reflect our values and meet the needs of adolescents today
THE OPPORTUNITY:
Our culture is our most important and most ephemeral asset. Adults and students alike make an active, intentional choice to live in a community organized around our four aspirational and unwavering values of Honor, Fairness, Kindness, and Truth. By developing leadership skills and pathways in the younger grades, we lay the foundation for authentic shared responsibility. Then, by empowering older students to partner with adults as stewards and caretakers of the Honor Code and our shared culture, we build the community of trust that all members deserve.
Building a strong sense of belonging is imperative in a community that is distinctive both in its diversity and its intimacy. Our mission calls us to construct an environment in which talented students from a wide range of backgrounds can all thrive. Further, when students perceive that their presence and contributions genuinely matter to their peers and adult mentors, they are inspired to bring their best to their many shared endeavors, from campsite to classroom to team huddle to barns. A more expansive description of our goals and ideals for community and culture can be found on page 16.
Students thrive when presented with healthy and appropriate challenges and supported by expert trusted adults. The strength of those relationships lies in the many points of contact between adults and students in a small residential community. The culture we seek to construct requires that skilled, committed educators have the capacity and commitment to selflessly invest in relationships that foster growth and leadership development for their students.
THE CALL TO ACTION:
Building the culture our students deserve is laborintensive. We must equip and empower adults who recognize and value the power of extending their role as educators well beyond classroom walls. For students to bring their best selves to the community, we recognize that they must have the tools and support to ensure that their health, safety, and wellbeing are secure. They must have many avenues and venues to seek and find belonging. Finally, we embrace the crucial responsibility to attract and retain a wide range of mission-aligned students and families from across the geographic and socioeconomic spectrums.
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The Path Ahead:
A. Integrate efforts to proactively support student physical health and safety and emotional well-being.
1. Create an integrated Health and Wellness Center.
2. Expanded athletic training, rehabilitation, and conditioning resources.
B. Clarify and affirm our moral duty to foster student belonging and mattering in a diverse, multicultural community.
1. Coordinate and orient programming across the entirety of the student experience—academic, horse and outdoors, athletic, health and wellness, cocurricular, residential. —to foster student belonging and mattering.
2. Equip students with the skills and tools to thrive in an environment that celebrates viewpoint diversity, intellectual freedom and respectful civil discourse.
C. Expand access by making a bold, category-leading investment in support of our financial aid program, providing access to families of all socioeconomic levels.
D. Support the School’s faculty and staff in committing fully to the mission and model.
1. Support families in accessing PK-8 educational options.
2. Ensure robust compensation and quality of life considerations, allowing Thacher to recruit and retain excellence.
3. Consider formal recognition/compensation for those who make disproportionate contributions.
4. Explore avenues for greater staff involvement in student life.
