What If?
Dear SJK Community,
The pandemic has challenged us to think differently about almost every aspect of our lives. At SJK, this has meant reimagining our approach to teaching and learning resulting in our very successful remote learning program. One tradition we were keen to reimagine was our end-of-year Chapel service in honour of our graduating class.
Today we live streamed this Chapel service, broadcasting it to our community. We have received many positive comments about it, so we thought we would share a link to the service here in case you didn’t have a chance to watch it earlier today.
I also received many requests to share my message in written form so it could be shared with others. I believe that although we don’t have much control about this situation we currently find ourselves in, we can control how we react. I endeavour to keep a positive mindset as much as possible and to look for silver linings within the dark clouds of the pandemic. This was the inspiration for my message to our Class of 2020 and all our SJK students.
As we began today’s service, I mentioned that the world has changed a lot since we were last together as a school community.
For our Grade 12 students in particular, and for all of our students generally, you’ve missed out on many of the end-of-year rituals and traditions that we look forward to. You have missed your friends, your classmates and your teachers. And of course, you’ve missed your final weeks of traditional classroom education. People might be worried that you have fallen behind because you have missed out on these things.
But what I have been thinking about is what if, instead of falling behind, you are ahead because of this?
Let me share my thoughts with you:
What if your generation has more empathy, enjoys family connection, has stronger relationships with your grandparents, your parents and your siblings?
What if you are more creative and able to entertain yourself? What if you learn that you love to read? What if you learn new ways to express yourselves in writing? What if you discover creative talents you never knew you had?
What if you enjoy the simple things like your own backyard, sitting near a window in the quiet? What if you notice the sounds of the birds and the dates the different flowers emerge and the calming renewal of a gentle rain shower?
What if your generation are the ones who learn to cook, to organize your space, do your laundry and keep a well-run home? What if you learn to plan ahead? What if you learn that you already have enough and only buy what you truly need?
What if you learn the value of eating together as a family and finding the good to share in the small delights of the everyday?
What if you are the generation who places great value on our teachers and educational professionals, our librarians, public servants and the previously invisible essential support workers like truck drivers, grocers, cashiers, custodians, and logistics. What if you truly appreciate our health care workers and all that they do to keep us safe and healthy? What if your generation is truly grateful for the millions of people who are taking care of us right now while we are at home?
What if among you, and I am thinking of our Class of 2020 in particular, great leaders emerge who had the benefit of a slower pace and a simpler life to truly learn what really matters in this world?
What if you learn to lead with kindness and empathy and bring others along with you?
What if you become a force for good?
What if you are able to change the world for the better?
What if you are a part of a defining moment in our history?
And what if all of this happened because, instead of being behind you are in fact AHEAD of us all?
What if all of this is possible? That is what I believe to be true and is my sincere hope for your generation.
Thank you to everyone who helped us put this service together, especially Mrs. Andrea de Boer-Jones and Mr. Brian Karkut. Thank you to the members of our SJK community who reached out with words of praise for our Chapel service this morning. Your positivity and kindness mean so much to us.
This too shall pass, but in the meantime: Be kind. Stay well.
The pandemic has challenged us to think differently about almost every aspect of our lives. At SJK, this has meant reimagining our approach to teaching and learning resulting in our very successful remote learning program. One tradition we were keen to reimagine was our end-of-year Chapel service in honour of our graduating class.
Today we live streamed this Chapel service, broadcasting it to our community. We have received many positive comments about it, so we thought we would share a link to the service here in case you didn’t have a chance to watch it earlier today.
I also received many requests to share my message in written form so it could be shared with others. I believe that although we don’t have much control about this situation we currently find ourselves in, we can control how we react. I endeavour to keep a positive mindset as much as possible and to look for silver linings within the dark clouds of the pandemic. This was the inspiration for my message to our Class of 2020 and all our SJK students.
As we began today’s service, I mentioned that the world has changed a lot since we were last together as a school community.
For our Grade 12 students in particular, and for all of our students generally, you’ve missed out on many of the end-of-year rituals and traditions that we look forward to. You have missed your friends, your classmates and your teachers. And of course, you’ve missed your final weeks of traditional classroom education. People might be worried that you have fallen behind because you have missed out on these things.
But what I have been thinking about is what if, instead of falling behind, you are ahead because of this?
Let me share my thoughts with you:
What if your generation has more empathy, enjoys family connection, has stronger relationships with your grandparents, your parents and your siblings?
What if you are more creative and able to entertain yourself? What if you learn that you love to read? What if you learn new ways to express yourselves in writing? What if you discover creative talents you never knew you had?
What if you enjoy the simple things like your own backyard, sitting near a window in the quiet? What if you notice the sounds of the birds and the dates the different flowers emerge and the calming renewal of a gentle rain shower?
What if your generation are the ones who learn to cook, to organize your space, do your laundry and keep a well-run home? What if you learn to plan ahead? What if you learn that you already have enough and only buy what you truly need?
What if you learn the value of eating together as a family and finding the good to share in the small delights of the everyday?
What if you are the generation who places great value on our teachers and educational professionals, our librarians, public servants and the previously invisible essential support workers like truck drivers, grocers, cashiers, custodians, and logistics. What if you truly appreciate our health care workers and all that they do to keep us safe and healthy? What if your generation is truly grateful for the millions of people who are taking care of us right now while we are at home?
What if among you, and I am thinking of our Class of 2020 in particular, great leaders emerge who had the benefit of a slower pace and a simpler life to truly learn what really matters in this world?
What if you learn to lead with kindness and empathy and bring others along with you?
What if you become a force for good?
What if you are able to change the world for the better?
What if you are a part of a defining moment in our history?
And what if all of this happened because, instead of being behind you are in fact AHEAD of us all?
What if all of this is possible? That is what I believe to be true and is my sincere hope for your generation.
Thank you to everyone who helped us put this service together, especially Mrs. Andrea de Boer-Jones and Mr. Brian Karkut. Thank you to the members of our SJK community who reached out with words of praise for our Chapel service this morning. Your positivity and kindness mean so much to us.
This too shall pass, but in the meantime: Be kind. Stay well.
Ms. Cheryl Boughton
Head of School
EDIT: I was inspired to write this after reading a social media post. What I read encouraged me to share it widely, which I did. While the post did not have a source, I should have attributed it to an unknown author. I have recently learned that it was written by Jaime Ragsdale, Founder/Owner, AltogetherMostly.com. Her site has a lot of helpful information about parenting, wonderful recipes and other kind thoughts to get us through this difficult time. Thank you, Jaime for your powerful words which resonated with so many people that the post became viral.
St. John's Kilmarnock School
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