昨天下午我们举行了大会. This time-honored tradition of bringing everyone together—教师, 学生, 工作人员, even facilities and dining hall as schedules allow—goes back to the founding of our school 95 years ago. 多年来，它被称为不同的东西, but it has always had the same goal: bring together the community to share information, 庆祝的成就, 笑一笑, 看到彼此的脸.
Of course, 是的terday’s assembly looked a little different. 我们“聚集”在Zoom上. 150 floating heads spilling across seven screens on my computer, each personality coming through loud and clear: some with virtual hats and jokey backgrounds, others sitting in bed or walking through their houses, 还有几朵娇小可爱的紫罗兰静静地坐着, 希望不要引起注意.
我得承认，我有点紧张. Every time we have a group Zoom call I worry about people talking over each other, 忘记让自己闭嘴, 或者更糟的是，没人说话. But as soon as those faces filled the screen the connection was palatable. Smiling faces and friendly jokes gave way to respectful attention as 教师 and 学生 took turns making announcements, 问问题, 创建社区. 我简直松了一口气. 能回到学生们中间，我感到骄傲和高兴.
At Solebury, we pride ourselves on our remarkable community as much as our world-class academics. 当危机袭来时, we needed to quickly focus on the school work—the remote learning that would allow our 学生 to not just tread water, 但要继续学习并茁壮成长. 我们的老师干得很出色, 为学生整理课程, 在很多情况下, 在世界各地. But what about community in this time of pandemics and social distancing? 我们如何确保这种联系保持牢固?
I have found this answer in the many gatherings we have created in the short time we have been in the remote learning mode. 就是我刚才提到的大会. 是我主持过的年级会议—two with the juniors, two with the seniors, one each so far with the 9th and 10th graders. One of our 学生 now hosts an every Wednesday House Party, 接收放大用户的音乐请求. The ideas for virtual gatherings continue to hatch and we continue to find ways to bring our community together. Twelve years ago when I arrived at Solebury to be the Head, I decided I would stand in our front circle every morning and greet the 学生, 教师, 老师们在去上课的路上从我身边经过. 这一传统在虚拟世界中得以延续. 我知道我可能看起来有点傻, 但每天早上8点，我都在圈子里, 拿着我的iPad和一杯咖啡, catching up with any student who ‘drops by’ for a quick ‘Zoom with Tom’ to start the day.
从我在索伯里的经历开始, I understood that Solebury was much more than a school. So, 是的, we have focused on continuing to deliver a world-class education to our 学生, but we have also focused on all the other experiences that make us who we are. So, whether it’s a Tik Tok house competition or cooking with Kim and Safwa, 我们的社区就在那里, 一如既往地坚强. This effort will continue to create time and space to bring 学生, 教师, and 工作人员 together and they will create the community.
那是索莱伯里学校.