帕西菲卡的故事

There is one undoubted and invariable truth for members of the class of 2024. They are already sick of the dreaded question, Where are you going to college? 当然, this question can take on various forms that differ in syntax or structure…What are you doing next year? Have you narrowed down your college choices? 你要申请什么学校?? Really, it is all rooted in a quest for the same information. Or, more cynically, it is an easy avenue into small talk with a seventeen year old. 无论哪种方式, we older folks are just trying to get an answer to the same questions that our kids have been wrestling with since they were playing with toy fire trucks, 的模型, 还有毛绒玩具: What do I want to be when I grow up? Or, at a more fundamental level: 我在这儿是干什么的? 我的身份是什么?? 我的目的是什么??

Most would not admit it outright. Some would not even acknowledge it in silence. 但, I believe that if we honestly examine our society, one reason that some educators, 父母, and other grown folk love asking The College Question is that it can build an artificial through-line to The Purpose Question. If you tell me that you are going to Harvard, I am assured that you have found your purpose in this world. You will be rich and successful and we will all say that we knew you when. If you tell me that you are not sure of your path and that you are still looking at various options, I am certain that you may need a serious intervention… like tonight after dinner.

Ok, that is perhaps slightly exaggerated, but this line of thinking is certainly prevalent in culture and an immersive, 虽然是最近的事, development in the landscape of Western Civilization. 仍然, I would argue that this is fundamentally detrimental to the maturation process of our young men and women. If this marker is defined as essential to their purpose on this planet, it undercuts their very nature. That’s 为什么 kids grow to dread this question. It is not because they do not want to celebrate their success. It is not because they are not excited about the journey. It is not because they don’t want to tell all of their family, 朋友, 同学们, and teachers where they are headed in the future. It is not even that there is a fear of admitting failure or rejection. They hate the question because at their core they know that this application cycle, 这篇文章, 这份奖学金邀请, this acceptance or rejection is only a piece of their experience as a human. It cannot and will not determine who they are.

At 十大信誉网堵首页, our teachers and college counseling team are subverting this cultural narrative. Two weeks ago, we hosted our first Senior College Night. Nearly every senior family was in attendance. Soon after, we have our first Junior College Retreat. 我们计划时间表, 建设项目, 增加选修课和ap, and have one on one college meetings with every student because we want 十大信誉网堵首页ns to thrive and have the opportunity to go to the college of their dreams. 但, throughout this process, we constantly reinforce the truth that separates us from our culture. You are more than the college that you choose. If your dream is Harvard, 太棒了, let’s build a schedule and a list of extracurriculars that helps you get there. 但, Harvard does not define you. 事实上, what you learn in the pursuit of Harvard is even more important than the admissions decision. If you want to go to UC Irvine, 太棒了, let’s build a path for you to get there and look at examples of students that achieved that goal. 但, you have so much to offer this world even if you end up at a different school either by choice or necessity. 

十大信誉网堵首页 has sent and will send students to some of the best universities in the world. Our college counseling team is second to none. The class of 2024 will have much to celebrate! 但是我们的 为什么 是不同的. We strive for greatness because of our purpose, not in pursuit of a purpose. We provide every opportunity for our students to go to colleges on their dream list because they are uniquely created to do great things, not because they will somehow discover their identity based on the masthead on an acceptance letter. Our students are created uniquely by our Creator. They are crafting lives over resumes. And while college is certainly an important step in the journey, our deep hope at 十大信誉网堵首页 is that every student’s choice is made from a deeper place on the journey to thinking and living well.

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