How Do We Know?

As we enter second semester, preparation has officially begun for Commencement, the annual event that represents the culmination of the entire SSCA experience.  And a critical question emerges:

How prepared are our students to exercise Micah 6:8 leadership after they graduate – to undertake important work that advances justice, cultivates mercy, and exemplifies a humble walk with God in a fallen and rapidly-changing world?

And how can we really know?

Our answer: look at how they are exercising those skills of leadership now, before they graduate.

I know that our high school students are ready to apply the problem-solving and technological skills necessary to build and program a robot that can lift and move objects, because they are doing it in the Maker Space with Mr. Bielawa.  Right now.  I know that students are able to approach complex ideas from multiple viewpoints, to hear and acknowledge others’ ideas, to assert their own, and to arrive at shared solutions, because they are doing that around the Harkness table with Mr. Vazquez and Mrs. Atwater.  Right now.  I know that students are ready to make discoveries in cutting-edge realms like biotech, within an ethical/Biblical framework, because they are already doing it, cutting DNA with restriction enzymes in an all-day, in-house lab experience with Mrs. Stiles for their Genetic Engineering unit.  I know that students are ready for high-level research and analysis, because they are doing it now in our Senior Capstone program.  I know that they are ready to deepen their walk with God and to invite others into that journey, because our seniors in the student-run Fellowship of Christian Athletes club are doing that, right now, on their own initiative, planning and organizing a series of gym fellowship events for their peers.

You see, if we want students to exercise those Micah 6:8 leadership capacities after they graduate, we must invite them to develop and practice those capacities now, in as many ways and contexts as possible, starting as early as possible.

And that is what we do.

I know that our middle school students are emerging as innovators because they recently designed devices to protect eggs from a nasty fall; I know that they are emerging as collaborative initiative-takers because they recently launched their small businesses at the Middle School Entrepreneurship Club business expo.  I know that our lower school students are becoming problem-solvers because our fourth-graders just made their own flashlights using tin foil and batteries!  I know that they are emerging as effective communicators because they are preparing poetry, stories, and essays to share in a literary festival.

At SSCA, we understand that God’s call to Micah 6:8 leadership doesn’t start at graduation.  It starts now.

Recognition for our work is growing, from our top rankings on Niche to our recent full accreditation with the most prestigious and respected accrediting body in the country, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.  And, of course, there are many ways to assess student learning.  But when it comes to Micah 6:8 leadership, the proof is in the students.  The most important indicator of our success as a school will be walking across that stage in June.  And, yes.  They are ready.