Feeling on edge? A little strung out? Wondering daily—as my family, colleagues, students and friends are -- “When is this going to end? How long will it be? I just want to know!”

This week, we watched thousands of teachers around the country reinvent school, moving it online in record time -- these agile, creative dedicated educators are heroes!

Now, how do we help the students who are also being tested by these changes? 

This week, the world lost a mathematical pathbreaker.  Katherine Johnson was one of NASA’s “Hidden Figures” – a brilliant mathematician who calculated the trajectory for the Apollo 11 flight.  It was her precise calculations that got Neil Armstrong to the moon and back. 

Ms. Johnson passed away on February 25 at age 101, and her extraordinary legacy as a female, African-American scientist will long outlive her.

Recently high school junior Neha Sunkara ‘21 spent weeks studying Katherine Johnson for a research paper. Neha is a student in Montrose School in Medfield, MA.

“She transformed the space race for America, but she wasn’t as well known until the movie Hidden Figures came out,” said Neha. “I want to be an astrophysicist, and sometimes I feel alone in my passion. Knowing someone else like Katherine Johnson is in the math world made such a big impact on me.” 

When I was fifteen years old, I worked as a waitress behind the soda fountain at a Norman Rockwell-esque ice cream parlor and homemade candy shop: Conrad’s Confectionery in Westwood, New Jersey. 

Conrad’s was a delightful place. The regulars from town met at the counter each Saturday morning: the owners of the jewelry shop and the shoe store, the undertakers from the local funeral home, and the boy I had a crush on from the record shop. I grew confident in my skills and familiar with all the regulars’ names.  I could make an excellent ice-cream soda, pour the perfect egg cream and keep the dishes washed and put away -- even when it was busy.  

When high school senior Emily Nelson was assigned Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics in her Capstone Class, she didn't exactly expect a riveting read. So she was surprised to find compelling nuggets of wisdom for the modern teenager. Here is her reflection.

The best thing a teenager can do according to today’s society is not care. Whether it is school, relationships, conversations, work, or otherwise, we try to keep it commitment-free and not too deep.  We throw emphasis on an event or a person being “chill” as some sort of qualifier, an assurance of no emotional or mental exercise one way or the other. It’s not cool to be passionate about something, to be too driven or excited, or even to be visibly happy with the way life is. 

But the truth is we do care. 

A few weeks ago, I found myself locked in a power struggle with a five-year-old. I think it involved a Lego explosion in his room. I know it involved angry voices. 

In the bustle of the holiday season, here are a few good reads to help remind us of what matters most in raising kids and teens.

When parents look at Montrose School’s reading lists in the humanities, they immediately notice that our students encounter truly challenging texts. At the moment, students in 9th grade are finishing Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations in English and nearing the end of Homer’s Odyssey in history. 

Those are hefty books for 14-year-olds beginning high school. I wish I could put a lens on our discussions to help you see these students’ journeys through these epics. The energy is high, the emotions are passionate, and they are developing deep reading and critical thinking skills as they analyze these texts. 

When I was a sophomore in high school, my father drove me to school every morning. And every day, I was silent. My poor dad worked so hard to engage me. He would ask me what I was looking forward to, what I was worried about. I might offer a quick response about an upcoming test or a paper, but no more than a few words. 

Middle school started on a rough note for me. I moved from the comfort of a neighborhood school to the city’s junior high which housed over 1000 students. I felt lost and scared most of the time.