The Power of Education

When I met with the faculty a week before school started and spoke about this upcoming year, I didn’t ask them to reflect on the lessons learned last year. Instead, I asked them to focus on who we are. And I began with a vision statement that I wrote in 2015 to guide our strategic work to ensure the strongest future for ESA.

What I pointed out to the faculty is something that I hope everyone realizes. Everything we do here begins in a classroom filled with curious, engaged students and talented faculty. That is who we are, and that is why we have the best scores and numbers and college outcomes and 89 state championships and scores of students being recognized around the state, country, and world for their artistic endeavors. There are so many forces that can seek to divide us, but that single idea, the power of education, is paramount to who we are and what our students can achieve. And that happens in every classroom at ESA, whether it’s a Pre-K3 classroom, an 8^th grade Earth Science class, or an advanced senior elective.

Along with academic excellence, part of what happens in those classrooms, through those relationships, and within our community of trust grounded in the Honor Code, is the development of people of integrity and character. ESA was founded in the Episcopal tradition of respect for and empowerment of all individuals, and we actively support the creation of an inclusive environment in which each individual feels valued as a member of our community. Students and teachers in our Behavioral Awareness Group have posted signs in classrooms encouraging us to live by the words of our school prayer: to strive to be gentle, generous, truthful, kind, and brave in our words and actions.

To wrap up, I wanted to update the community on the vaccination rates on our campuses. We are definitely ahead of the curve both in Louisiana and nationally. Of our eligible student body, we are at a vaccination rate of 71% (75% in the upper school). With a rate approaching 100% in the faculty, we have a lot to celebrate, and I am very proud of our school. Finally, please join me in a prayer for all those who are on the front lines of this crisis, our doctors, nurses, medical personnel, and all the support staff in our hospitals. The heroic work that they are doing every day to keep us safe deserves more thanks than we can ever give. Areté!