Does your family enjoy talking about memories? Psychologists note that children construct their sense of self, or autobiography, in part from family stories told around the dinner table. “Remember the time you dressed up as a dog for Halloween?” Recounting events provides cognitive and emotional meaning in children’s lives.
Why do we recount some stories and not others? Our narratives often highlight a child’s growth. Creating a shared history makes family members feel more connected. The process also teaches children how to share stories about their own lives with others.
An unusual historic event Last weekend the school celebrated its 50th anniversary, bringing hundreds of people—alumni, parents of past students, as well as former and current staff—to share memories. It’s highly unusual for students to return to a reunion of an elementary and preschool program, and indeed some celebrants had only attended the White Pony. People flew in from around the country. Alumni spanned an enormous age range, from recent graduates who are now in sixth grade to those who attended in 1975, when the school began.
A “container” to be who they are This wasn’t the kind of reunion where adults asked each other what college they went to or what accolades they have achieved. Over and over, alumni shared that the school had been a “container” for them to become who they were really meant to be. You could see it in their eyes. The universal factor tying them all to one another, in spite of age differences, was that most precious of all human experiences: love. Years later we adopted the phrase “Love Nurtures Learning” to describe what had been happening at the school all along.
What was your child’s experience? Now is an opportune time to ask your children what they liked about school’s 50th birthday. For young children, the memory is often sensory—there was music and food and friends running around. Whatever their age, talking to them about it so soon after it occurred can give them the sense that they are an integral part of the school.
At the Saturday event, former student Samantha Hopper, now a beloved high school teacher at Mt. Diablo High School in Concord, talked about the role of the arts and music in the students’ lives at our school. She described the never-to-be-forgotten lyrics and music of the school songs and how they allowed the students to experience a rare gift when they sang together: a sense of unity.
Samantha said that, honestly, they couldn’t always achieve that sense of oneness in their interactions with others. Yet having had the chance to sing those songs about friendship and building a new world together allowed them to always hold unity and inclusion as the highest goals in life.
Thank you all for helping us to celebrate the school’s birthday!
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