From the Pilot Archives: May 4, 2012As a reminder of the cyclical nature of life, here's some Pilot TGIF history written by Chris seven years ago, almost to the day. “And, in a fitting analogy to the experience of school in this last mad rush to the end, it is already May as I write those words. Here we are, arriving back from break, saying hello, getting organized, and it’s already Friday. So it goes, the annual challenge to make the last six weeks of school as relevant and rigorous as the first six. And in a side note, George pointed out yesterday how great it is to work in a field that has such clear starts and stops: our work comes to an end for the year, has a clear beginning in the fall, etc. This aspect of schooling is not only great for those of us who work in it of course, its importance is magnified a million times in the experiences of the adolescents that we work with. The chance to remake one’s life every summer, to grow and integrate the previous year’s lessons over a differently paced summer… and yes of course having a summer like our kids do in Vermont (featuring nature, slower pace, relative safety, the relative chance at decent employment) is a bourgeois luxury compared to the reality of way too many kids in our country who don’t have good summer options, but I will always fight for the existence of summer against the year-round school people (‘what we are doing isn’t working! Let’s do more of it!’). There need to be stops, changes, restarts. Not that I wouldn’t mind getting paid to work at summer theater camp for a couple of months in some sort of inbetween summer term kind of school… side note ends.” I am better because of every. Single. Thing. That has happened to me because of this program. That’s my story. - Gräe Q3 Narrative What's blooming soon?
Why update weekly? I realize that it’s been hard for me to get to these, what should be weekly, updates. And that after I’ve missed a few it feels overwhelming to even begin. Truly so much happens in a week, and I’ve missed a lot. Why do just one thing? Here we are, doing just one thing at a time, and when we don’t carve out time to report on those things they become a big pile. It’s hard to document and reflect on a whole pile at once. This is why part of spring cleaning is to remember to: do one thing. Don’t stop yourself… give yourself a chance to start. In the last two weeks, we have done some spring cleaning, ordered Pilot T-Shirts, Jed started working with a new mentor (Kristin, and environmental writer and graduate from Vermont Law School). CONGRATULATIONS to Izzy Poulson who won the people’s choice award at the Congressional Art Show for her painting, "Laughing Woman". Izzy will be showing a retrospective of her high school work at Local 64 in June. Two important questions to ask (we reflected on these in Seminar this week). Who expects you to do well? Who holds high expectations for you?
We’re going into the final weeks of the school year, and aim to make it to the finish line strong, proud, and empowered in our learning. Consider the ways in which you are supported in your project work and answer these questions: How can you take it to the next level? Make more ambitious deadlines? Show up to all your meetings prepared and eager for feedback? Finish things? Do just one thing? If you haven’t been able to hold yourself accountable… can you lean in and ask someone to help you? In the next weeks we will be pushing to the finish line, welcoming back Dane, Ana, and Madison, planning exhibitions, and remembering to pause and appreciate the life that is growing all around us. Be well, amyK
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