Welcome Back!

April 3rd 2025

April 3, 2025

Dear LREI Families,

Welcome back! We all hope that you enjoyed your break as much as we did. For me, the change of routine, somewhat warmer weather, and some really impactful NYC experiences made for a relaxing and nourishing break.

When the students returned on Monday something was different. It took some time over the course of a few days for me to figure out what had happened. It is your children – they got older, more mature, more confident. This is the time of the year when the fours are really closer to being Kindergarteners than they are still being fours and the K’s and the first grade and so on, through 14 years. While this should not be a surprise, I find myself stopping and watching as our young learners show so many moments of real growth, and it is always so very heartening to see and to experience.

The little ones walk through the halls with a sense of ownership they did not have even a few short weeks ago. The trip from the fours room to the reception desk to deliver the day’s attendance is no longer an adventure; it is routine and “easy.” There is something about returning to school after a long period away for the second time this year. And the third graders, well, when they leave for the farm in two weeks they will enter into a series of nine years of overnight trips. This is a big step and one they will repeat each year, going slightly farther each time, both in terms of distance and experience.

Middle schoolers are always ready to be older. The fifth graders for sure seemed older as they returned on Monday. Any hesitancy, trepidation, or shyness as they moved around the building is all gone. They fully own the middle school and seem quite ready to move from the role of newbies to being old hands in the sixth grade.The eighth graders, many freshly returned from their spring World Language trips with their eyes still set on a wider world, are eagerly looking ahead to high school, and they are ready!

And in the high school, well, there is plenty of room to grow as the seniors are only together in the building one day per week as they are participating in a variety of experiences as part of the senior projects, and as they are increasingly able to see themselves heading off to college in the fall. (More info on college choices in the next few weeks. Stay tuned.) This leaves space for the ninth-eleventh graders to get even bigger! Juniors are making final preparations for embarking on the fieldwork they have been organizing since the first day of school – off to seven different experiences around the country – carrying the skills and wisdom they have gained over the past seven months.

Thank you, LREI teachers, for creating the environment and opportunities in which students are supported as they spread their wings and fully inhabit their older selves, even if only for a moment before the next challenge requires and encourages more growth and change.

The coming months are a time for challenging school work and experiences that will meet our students’ maturity, confidence, and skills. There is so much to do between now and the end of the year, and I am looking forward to all of it. I hope you are, too!