We recently had on campus Dr. Bill Easterling, alumni and Dean of a college at Penn State. He confirmed that what we are building is exactly what colleges are looking for and indeed what they are trying to do with less flexibility.
How do we do that?
So what do we mean when we say Great Journeys ? Is it just a sign on a building? No. It is a phrase from our mission statement, something that we hope captures the essence of our mission, but it is also an initiative for change at Christchurch School.
The journey to self-confidence, purpose, and identity
Here is the goal of this change: Define, develop, and implement an experiential education program that capitalizes on the resource of the river, and make appropriate and supporting changes to CCS culture, to establish CCS as a fully enrolled school that leads peer institutions.
Great Journeys is about using our unique location on the Rappahannock river to deliver a cutting edge, rigorous 21st century college prep education in all of its facets.
So its about change and improvement, in our programs and in our culture
A year ago, our board of governors charged us to pursue this change, and the faculty has been working on it ever since. And they started by going back to our mission statement.
Look at the words in bold. That’s what we’re here for. It’s all about the journey
From the mission, we wrote aspirations. These are about what we aspire to in various areas of our school life, given our mission. To be college prep , to help you succeed in your journey, we need a curriculum that readies you for college and life in a rapidly changing world To be an Episcopal school, we need to be devoted to transforming lives, ours as well as others To exercise stewardship , we have to become a sustainable place, and show you how to live sustainably To grow self-confidence, purpose, and identity , we have to give you choice from a large and varied range of co-curricular options, and let you pursue your strengths in depth To be an Episcopal school , and a community, we have to be thoughtful about our culture and common life, and not just our programs To help you succeed in your journey , we have to connect you with the broader world
Over the past year, we’ve been working on lots of areas. Just to name a few
So they can do this when confronted by new contexts, problems and ideas
These are the skills that colleges and employers are telling us they are looking for
![Let’s begin with a question: ,[object Object]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)