What is Lakefield College School really like?

After two long years of safety protocols and zoom meetings, I took advantage of a warm Friday afternoon and wandered out of my office. Our Leadership Team agreed that this would be a year of consolidation and connectivity, and we all made a promise to get off of our laptops and be more present. 

So here is what happens at Lakefield College School on a Friday evening. I wasn’t sure if I would watch some pick up soccer or basketball, or if I would head down to the waterfront to catch a game of volleyball or a rambunctious game of spike ball, or if I would just see who is hanging out in the lake or on the dock.  There are usually multiple speakers around campus with different kinds of music playing here and there.  Seeing – and hearing! – our teens outside enjoying time together before dinner always makes me smile.

But last Friday, I experienced a first – Addy Ross called me over to where her family was gathered on Muskoka chairs by the soccer field. If you ever need a pick-me-up, get to know Addy Ross.  At just three years old, she has her finger on the pulse of our campus, notices everything, and calls out everyone by name.   Seeing her screaming my name while waving her arms for me to come over filled me with joy.  She made my whole being smile.  Turns out, Addy was particularly excited because her Dad, Adam Ross, our Athletics Director, bought Moose Tracks ice cream – plus sugar cones! – to celebrate the first week of school and she invited me to join them.

As I sat eating ice cream with the Ross family children playing all around us, Heather Ross, one of our Outdoor Education Teachers, commented on the students on the soccer field. These were mostly our new students who had arrived the day before, and yet she was calling them out by name, and I was totally impressed.  How, after only one day, did she already know our students’ names?  Her eyes lit up as she explained her secret – the best way to learn new student names was to be in charge of the swim test.  She had spent the day at the lake and met every one of them as they were tested.  So, over the course of the hour, as we sat watching the sun set and the little ones getting out their evening energy, Heather and Adam pointed out various students playing soccer, noting where they were from, which House they were in, and who had siblings that I might know.  Their passion for knowing our students was genuine and quite inspirational.

Then Adam stood up, scooped Addy under his arm, and announced that he had to run to town for a few minutes so he could go to a meeting at the Curling Club in Lakefield.  He was hoping they would welcome our students to play. Remember – this is Friday night, and he was squeezing in time to create this opportunity for our students.  Again, I was moved by his generous spirit, his focus on partnerships with our local community and his initiative to ensure our students would have more options to be active this winter.

So that’s a glimpse into life at Lakefield College School. Families live on campus. Teens are outdoors in the evenings, playing with each other with no phones in sight.  Teachers go above and beyond to know students and create opportunities so they can experience more.  And a 53 year old Head of School gets to hang out with a three year old girl, marvel in her joyful approach to life, and see her ability to create a feeling of belonging.

Hello World

I have not done a lot of blog writing lately.  Over the March break, I was pretty intentional about not doing much of anything, but tonight, before we get back to classes this week, I find myself dwelling on a quotation from Richard Wagamese:  “Choose moments, then—and let the days take care of themselves”.  

There have been so many moments this winter when I realized something special was going on.  Off the top of my head, I think about Friday Night Lights, Ted Pope Days, an OFSAA track meet, kRod, sports games, a Dance Showcase, Winter Concert, Winter Carnival, and Lunar New Year.  At each of these events – and I bet there are more! – there was a point when I felt this overwhelming sense that the energy of others was lifting my soul.  Frankly, I am in awe of the staff and students at our school.  Their relentless commitment to safety protocols and creative logistics is matched only by their passion to make the student experience one that includes joy and connection. When I think back on those moments, I am inspired and full of gratitude. 

Looking ahead, I am excited for some of the potential future moments this term:

– Gathering in our Chapel, Theatre and Dining Hall. I want to feel the energy of the crowd, squished together, standing room only. And then we will sing, and the building will shake with Sweet Caroline.

– Participating in Gladiator Day and Regatta Day. These are Grove traditions that we have not had for two years, and we need to teach our students what it means to be at LCS!  They need to feel this energy.

– Jumping out of my seat at the end of Anything Goes, our spring musical. By golly, these kids deserve it.

– Cheering for our sports teams. I bet some students will lose their voices, and frankly, I hope I lose mine too.

– Designing our Northcote property and farm program. I can’t wait to brainstorm with you what it means to be a leading sustainable school.

– Launching our Access Initiative, and finding amazing students who will be transformed by our school experience.

– Fundraising – yes fundraising! – for our new facilities and programs. I love meeting with parents and alumni about our vision, mission, and values.

– Supporting our students in developing our new All-Gender Housing Model, the second such initiative in Canada.

– Welcoming our alumni for Home to the Grove weekend. After two years of not allowing visitors on campus, I am convinced this will be our largest gathering, ever!

– Speaking under the white tent at our graduation ceremony.  We will celebrate this year’s grade 12s and also bring back grads from the past two years.  I hope to hug every single one of them!

Of all the moments, what I get most excited about, and I mean I could literally cry tears of joy, is the moment that I hope will come at some point between now and June, when we will finally get to see the full faces of our students and staff. I have seen their eyes, and believe me, I can see smiles behind those masks, but the day that I can walk around the school and see full faces motivates me to get back to another round of debates about safety.

The first time I see those full faces, those full smiling faces, I promise I will pause and hold on to that moment.  We have been through two years of a pandemic, and we deserve more moments of joy…of open-mouth, big tooth and gums, ear to ear, squinty eyes, smiling faces.  Years from now, I bet we will still be talking about what we felt in that moment. 

More relevant than ever

In a moment of social media weakness, I clicked on an article called “25 Brands That Are Dying Out” and I started to worry.  As I scrolled through brands of my childhood, like Jello, Campbell’s Soup, and Chef Boyardee, and then those of my young adult life like Gap, Crocs and Kodak, I felt a range of emotions.  I suppose none of the struggling brands really surprised me and it is probably a good thing that society has become more health and environmentally conscious.  And yet, I found myself wondering about the simple fact that people lose interest in things and consumer trends change.  Naturally, my mind wandered to the organization where I work and live  – could my school ever become a story of the past?

I wish the answer was a simple no.  The fact is, we all need to continually ask ourselves this question and never rest on our laurels.  The strongest schools are the ones that work hard to stay relevant, holding on to the best of the past while striving to meet the changing needs of families.  

For over 140 years, parents have been choosing to send their children to Lakefield College School, and eight years ago, I also chose this school for my son (who is now in his final year at McGill) and daughter (who is in her third year at IE in Madrid).  I chose Lakefield because of the strength of its programs – its mission is to “challenge and enable students to reach their individual potential in mind, body and spirit” and I wanted that kind of well-rounded, enriching environment for my kids.  There are a lot of opportunities, including a wide-range of courses and an unbelievable list of co-curricular programs.  I also knew from my research and work as the Executive Director of CAIS for over 11 years, that the teachers were world-class with a genuine passion for learning through relationships.  Now that I am Head of School here, I believe that our school is more relevant than ever for another important reason:  we have the courage and humility to acknowledge and address areas to improve.  Let me point out three areas in particular: 

We are committed to being even more affordable

Lakefield College School strives to be accessible to a wide variety of families. We are grateful that our alumni and parents continue to choose to donate back to our school so that approximately one third of our student body receives financial support annually.  I believe that parents should ask about the size of a school’s endowment, as this is a real indicator of the values as well as the strength and permanence of a school.  Find out more about how to afford our school here.

We are working hard to be even more inclusive

With 270 teenagers living in our 12 houses on campus, and another 130 teens joining us each day, we prioritize safety.  We invest in staff development, a high student to staff ratio, and small advisor groups.  What I hear from our families is that our students are known and supported.  And we have made a commitment to be even more inclusive.  As one example, we acknowledged in our strategic planning process that we have a facilities gap, so we are upgrading our residences to be more inclusive.  When our two new houses open this fall, we will have one of Canada’s first inclusive housing models, including stalled washrooms.

We are building on our strength to become an environmental leader

LCS has always been an outdoors school, now situated on 300+ acres, with two campuses.  100% of our students are required to take a course in outdoor education, ensuring that they experience both the beauty and challenge of nature. For over a century, our students have been learning skills such as how to paddle a canoe, build a campfire in the rain, and collaborate on an Algonquin expedition. Last spring, we introduced a farm program at our Northcote Campus, and students are learning how to grow food that is produced for our campus and local charitable partners: 40-45% is intentionally grown to be donated to Nourish Project, Kawartha Food Share, and the Lakefield Community Food Bank. We are excited to see how we can continue to inspire teens to be leaders with a deep connection with and responsibility to the environment and their communities. Obviously, I love this school.  I see engaged teenagers; I see our staff striving 24/7 to make the student experience the best it can be.  Our community gives me a deep sense of gratitude, and we share a passion to get even better.  One of my alumni mentors recently told me that if you aren’t at least slightly paranoid, you should ask more questions.  I agree!  In my monthly parent meetings, we ask for feedback.  It’s also my practice to engage every student at least twice per year in two questions:  what is working well and what can we do to improve?  The fact is, we are all passionate about improvement around here (See articles from this week alone!  on learning, on running, and on community.)  As a community we strive to ask good questions, be kind, and try our best.  For these reasons, I agree with Rory Gilfillan whose words inspired this video:  the world needs Lakefield now, more than ever.

How do you stay motivated?

Last week, I met with my colleagues from 40+ independent school associations. We focused on the big challenges facing our schools – governance, student safety, insurance, globalism, and diversity to name a few – as well as challenges facing our associations – duplication of services, disruption, and strategies to enhance member value. Other than one session when we were inspired by Jason Dorland (who spoke at our NLC last year) it was pretty heavy stuff.

But the learning was powerful, and it got me thinking about a few of our recent CAIS projects – we are:

• Launching our new Governance Guide and a series of strategies to support good governance in our schools
• Engaging the Business Professionals in our annual Benchmarking that is now online; we are also considering a Captive Insurance program
• Preparing a Culture of Philanthropy Webinar series
• Developing a CAIS Orientation package to provide new leaders who join one of our CAIS schools with an overview of our mission, applicable resources, and how to connect with their national network
• Continuing the 2051 Project conversations to ensure our schools are moving beyond talking about innovation (there’s no shortage of good ideas!) so they are actually engaging in the messiness of change.
• Enhancing our CAIS accreditation so we have an even more efficient and meaningful process for whole school improvement
• Touring international agents in our boarding schools as part of this year’s CAIS Fam Tour.

This weekend, when I took some time to stop and think about what motivates me, I realized that I am motivated by four things:

1. School improvement work – I find it compelling to think deeply about what we can do better together as a group of independent schools.
2. My team – I am really motivated by my team and their unrelenting focus on strategies that can support our passionate school leaders. I have to work hard to keep up with them, and I love that feeling!
3. My colleagues – When I stop and reflect, I realized I am motivated by my time with colleagues. Last week in San Diego, when I was not in meetings and presentations, I had some time to connect with other association leaders. I was reminded of the value of time to connect with people who walk your walk. It is important to me to have time to talk through challenges and opportunities in non-structured ways. I appreciate my ISAnet colleagues who woke up early to run and bike.
4. Taking time to reflect – When life gets busy, as it inevitably does in our world, especially in September, I find it helpful to remind myself of what makes me tick. I need to make time to reflect on how I spend my time. That’s good motivation for me.

And you?

Welcome to our new CAIS Heads

We are very excited to introduce you to the newest members of CAIS:

• Robert Anthony Lake, Collingwood School
• Steven Laffoley, Halifax Grammar School
• Ken Scott, Hebrew Foundation School
• Marnie Stein and Avi Satov, JPPS/Bialik (Interim)
• Lynn L’Esperance Claude, Miss Edgar’s & Miss Cramp’s School
• Paul McLellan, Rothesay Netherwood School
• Carlos Symonds, Somersfield Academy
• Nancy Richards, St. Mildred’s-Lightbourn School
• Samuel McKinney, Upper Canada College

And welcome back to our colleagues:

• Guy McLean, Lakefield College School (Interim)
• Katherine Nikidis, Trafalgar School for Girls

We are thrilled to have such incredible leaders in our independent schools, and we wish them a warm welcome to our learning community.

Happy September everyone!

Advice to Teachers (from an Awesome Teacher)

The month of June can be tough on teachers – everyone is tired, cranky, and ready for a holiday. I was so inspired by the story of one of Jacob’s favourite teachers, Rory Gilfillan, that I asked him to share it:

Last week I was talking an Advisee down from great heights.  She is shy.  She also LOVES history and has a 97 in it.  She desperately wanted to win the History Award.  I don’t teach this course so I have no influence. I wasn’t sure she would get it so I ordered a book on Amazon called Inventing Freedom and then I got a card.  I texted her and told her to meet me under the tent they have put up for grad.  Turns out her Mom was with her. I set out two chairs at the back and made a small speech at the front outlining the short but distinguished pedigree of the Gilfillan History Award for Awesomeness.  I then called her up receive her award.

It’s seriously the best thing I have done in a very long time.

The interesting part of it was how long it took me to figure it out.  Katherine had a 97 in history but a lower mark in Math.  I kept saying, “Why on earth are you stressing about History?  You don’t even need to write the exam and you would still do well.   You really need to be stressed about Math.” And then, after a long back and forth conversation, I worked it out.  She wanted the award.

Quite frankly, I don’t always listen closely enough or hang in long enough to get to the truth.  In this instant I slowed down my usually high frequency operation and hung in two minutes longer.  There I found the truth, and I wanted to celebrate her.  This was a great moment for Katherine but, seriously, an even better moment for me.  I achieved, for about three minutes, what I came in to this profession to do:  I made a difference.

We, as teachers, spend so much time worrying about technology and assessment and making our classes good.  All fine and well but that’s not why I got in to this and it certainly won’t be what I remember when I reach the end of my career. I want to remember this lesson: I need to hang in on conversations in order to be able to hear what matters and then act on it.

I will remember that moment.

The best part is that the student in this story ended up winning the actual award at Saturday’s Closing Ceremony at Lakefield College School.

I wonder about this question – when she thinks back on her graduating year, which moment will be more cherished and memorable?

My guess is the audience of two, and my hope is that more teachers follow the lead of Rory Gilfillan.

 

p.s. I had permission from both Rory and Katherine Petrasek to publish this story.

 

What defines our CAIS culture?

Our CAIS team members talk a lot about culture in our schools. One of our most popular modules at our Leadership Institute is Faculty Culture, lead by Hal Hannaford; we introduced School Culture Focus Groups on this year’s accreditation reviews; and we always include the latest research on culture in our Top 12s.

I like what Angela Duckworth recently had to say about creating culture:

As [Seattle Seahawks head coach] Pete Carroll said to me, ‘it’s not one thing, it’s a million things.’ But there are some themes. One is language. It’s important to have a vocabulary that’s used within that organization, and not to use synonyms. The second is rituals: you can ritualize things like working on your weaknesses — at the Seahawks, they call it ‘Tell the Truth Monday,’ so it becomes a routine. On Mondays, we look at the things we’re doing wrong. Tuesdays we do something different. I think that’s helpful. The third is that in group psychology, you basically create an identity. When people who work in a very strong culture identify themselves, they often use a noun form, such as a West Pointer. Or at KIPP, the charter school, you call yourself a KIPPster — they will actually say out loud — ‘I’m not just a student, I’m a KIPPster.’ When you break down what a culture is, it’s reinforcing an identity of ‘this is who we are. It’s different from the way other people are, but you’re in this group — not their group.’

So at our staff retreat last month, knowing that we would be hiring a new Executive Assistant, (we are so sad to lose Lynne Turnbull but wish her all the best with her move to Europe!), we tried to capture our culture at CAIS. We wanted to be able to say: “This is who we are”.  Here it is:

• We believe in better. We challenge our schools to be better through PD, accreditation and research; but we also challenge ourselves to be better in everything we do.
• We are direct with each other. There is high integrity, kindness, and trust, but that only comes from feedback: we praise publicly and criticize privately. There are no surprises on our team. When you work in a virtual office, and even when you don’t, you have to speak up with confidence.
• We deliver client service beyond expectations. We are a nimble team and everyone works hard to respond to member needs. We love to hear that members are surprised by what we accomplished for them.
• We listen to our members. Although we also work hard to understand their needs by researching and observing schools, we are at our best when we can say that we heard you say this, so we did that.
• We believe that everyone supports everyone on our team. We are results-oriented, which means that we prioritize our time according to the needs of the organization at the time. We are a small team, so we all have to pitch in on projects when needed.
• We are background people. We understand that when you work for a membership association, your job is to make others look good, especially volunteers.
• We presume good intentions. That’s just a simple rule for us.
• We play to our strengths. We know each other well and strive for a model that leverages our capacity.
• We don’t take ourselves too seriously. We work hard but we also laugh and pursue interests beyond our jobs. We know we are a bit quirky, and we like it that way.
• We are comfortable with the unpredictable. Okay, we try hard to be comfortable with the unpredictable and may have to remind each other of this one! Working as a virtual team can be messy, which is why the previous belief is so important.

Full disclosure: Our strategic advisor suggested we model our approach on Google’s Ten things we know to be true. But at least we didn’t review Google’s until after we worked on our own. I hope your team might do the same!

One last point: The cover of this month’s Harvard Business Review is Managing the 24/7 Workplace, which explores the problems with today’s work environment like ours. We read this with great interest… here’s the conclusion:

What defines our CAIS culture?By valuing all aspects of people’s identities, rewarding work output instead of work time, and taking steps to protect employees’ personal lives, leaders can begin to unravel the ideal-worker myth that has become woven into
the fabric of their organizations. And that will enhance employees’ resilience, their creativity, and their satisfaction on the job.

At a time when people seem to be criticizing the high intensity workplace, our team seems to have it figured out. Always good to have Harvard on your side…

 

Ten Lessons from CAIS Students on LGBTQ+

What can we learn from this week’s first ever CAIS Student Panel?

For starters, technology is changing the way we connect. As I sat in my kitchen, chatting with three amazing students about the highly personal topic of gender orientation, gender identification, and sexual orientation, I felt moved by their courage and inspired by their passion and ideas. I felt as if they were in my kitchen with me. But the fact is the students were only images on my laptop. Frank, Sid, and Miles were actually each by themselves, sitting in classrooms in St George’s, St Michaels University School and Shawnigan Lake School. Meanwhile, over 100 people – staff and students alike – sat in their separate CAIS schools across the country. Some joined in alone, but others sat in groups, at least one class of students joined the panel; and two schools broadcast the panel in their community spaces.

The impressive part? Frank, Sid and Miles not only spoke articulately but also managed to jump in and interact with the participants on the chat. This was truly a national conversation!

So I have a few big take-aways: we should connect more often as a national network; we should include students in the conversations – Maureen Steltman, Head of Fraser Academy suggested we should have invited parents! – and we should have the courage to continue the conversation and maybe even take on other big topics.

But the most important lessons came directly from the students. I encourage you to watch the full discussion, but here are the ten lessons from my notes:

1. Safety is a big issue, and everyone has a right to feel safe, both emotionally and physically. We need to raise awareness and talk more about tolerance.
2. Include age appropriate curriculum on gender orientation and identification. Our CAIS schools have the liberty to do more than just the provincial curriculum, so we should be leaders in the classroom.
3. Support a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA; sometimes called Gender Sexuality Awareness) club in your school; and if you don’t have one, start one. Clubs can promote visibility and demonstrate acceptance.
4. Challenge the subtle homophobia and passive bullying that continues to exist in society. Schools can teach the significance of words and the harm that can be done.
5. Share resources – check out our CAIS LGBTQ+ resource page here
6. Understand that change can take time and remember that even small things can really help.
7. Market our CAIS schools as safe and open places; Sid and Miles told me that they chose their universities based on what they researched on the university websites (Good for Carleton and UBC!)
8. The media has made the conversation about bathrooms, but that’s not the issue! Students want to understand and be understood.
9. We need schools to update their policies. If the government can pass Bill C-16 to ensure Canadians are free to identify themselves and express their gender as they wish while being protected against discrimination and hate, then schools need to figure out how to best support all students and staff. Schools can start by including students in the development of policies.
10. Leaders have to understand the issues, hold people accountable for their actions, and do more to raise awareness.

It was a privilege to be part of Monday’s powerful conversation, and I am so grateful to Frank, Sid and Miles for their openness, courage, and candor. I love thinking about the conversations that will continue across the country because of their leadership. Maybe some of the conversations will even happen in your kitchen!

CAIS is in the business of asking good questions

This is the season for graduation speeches, and here is another one that I love, by James Ryan, Dean of the Harvard School of Education.  He tells the story of his past speeches – he spoke two years ago on time and last year about sin, so when people asked him what he would speak about at this year’s graduation ceremony, he would reply: That’s a good question. And this became his topic. He lists what he believes are the most important questions, and of the six, my favourite question is this – “Wait. What?”

I have other favourite questions; in fact, I often say CAIS is in the business of asking questions. Now before you ask, “Wait. What?” let me explain.

1. Accreditation

At CAIS, we spent a lot of time determining the best questions to ask in the Internal Evaluation process, and I am proud that our 2015 Accreditation Guidelines include the most relevant questions that the best schools should be discussing, if they want to remain the best schools in Canada. This spring, we spent considerable time talking about the questions to ask during a CAIS Accreditation visit. We have always said that the role of the Visiting Committee is primarily to validate what was written in the school’s Internal Evaluation Report. But what could be even better? (One of my favourite questions…) Two initiatives:

1. a) We believe that great schools have great Boards, so we are now including a Board member on the Sunday of every Accreditation visit to make the governance review a true peer-to-peer process.
2. b) We also believe that great schools focus on culture, so we have introduced a new School Culture Focus Group, led by the CAIS On-site Coordinator, to our review process.

2. Research

You will not believe the quality of this year’s Research Reports.   We have 15 CAIS leaders conducting research on some of the biggest questions facing our industry. These will be shared this fall, but I want to thank Tammy, Glenn, Chad, Denise, Sarah, Helen, Shailau, Danielle, Mary Anne, Jim, Justin, Garth, Glen, William, and Adrian now for their hard work this year. Honestly? We couldn’t be happier with their progress.

3. Learning Community

CAIS is a national learning community. Different national groups come together face-to-face only three times per year (Heads and Chairs in October; National Leaders in April; and Aspiring Leaders in July). This means that we are “Online all the time” exploring – again! – the big questions in education. Over 200 people participated in our Spring Governance webinar series and today we are announcing a new one: CAIS Students will lead a panel on how to support LGBTQ+ students. How can schools be better at supporting students’ questions around gender and sexuality? Now that’s a good question.

When we are best at our jobs, we are focused on the best questions. No “Wait. What?” about that.

p.s. Watch Dean James Ryan’s speech called Good Questions here.

Four Images that Reveal the Future of Education

When I finished high school, I worked at Flaherty Manufacturing Company. Most days, I stood all day at a rivet machine, attaching latches to bright red toolboxes. Some days, I was called downstairs and given gloves, and then my job was to pull these bright green garden hose holders off the paint line. In the beginning, no one spoke to me. What’s worse, the woman on the next machine would growl at me a couple of times a day. I couldn’t figure it out! And then I caught on. There were scheduled breaks and a lunch, but there was also a steady stream of washroom breaks in between. When I eventually discovered that the nod was my queue to go to the bathroom, the growling stopped. I fit in, and thus ended the only challenge to six weeks of pure monotony.

That scenario is not the future, and fortunately, very few Canadian students will ever experience such regimented and dull days. But can we predict anything else with such certainty? When you consider that Google changes its search algorithm around 500–600 times per year, I would say there is very little that we can predict.

But in the past few months, I have been in Boston, New York, Toronto, and San Francisco, and I have four images that may reveal the future:

1.  At Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco, I saw my first all-gender washroom, and last month, Toronto District School board announced that every school will install one in the coming years. We have gathered the latest in transgender resources for CAIS schools, and I believe that all schools have work to do to better support today’s students.

How are we ensuring our schools are affirming, safe and inclusive for all students?

 

2.  At the Minerva headquarters, I joined a team from SAC and GOA (Global Online Academy) for a presentation on this new university. Their platform ensures that students engage in deep learning with the most intentional feedback system I have ever seen. The program is a combination of online and experiential learning in 7 countries over 4 years, with a tuition of $10,000 per year. In this screenshot, you see how professors can track students’ participation with the colour coding at the top of the screen. This, my friends, is the future of learning.

What blended opportunities can CAIS schools provide to all students?

3.  At Ryerson University’s DMZ, the largest community of innovation startups exists in Google’s original office space (check out these cool office photos). DMZ stands for Digital Media Zone and students and entrepreneurs collaborate on projects of their choosing and pitch their ideas to investors.  The future of work is not in a factory where you punch in and out; the future of work does not even guarantee you a weekly income.

How are we developing passion-projects and preparing students for the new reality of unpredictable work?

 

4.  From my home, I work with a team of colleagues and volunteers, and we all meet by video conferencing. This last image is a screen shot of our recent Research Committee meeting by zoom. (I love zoom’s recent ad.) When you work from home, you really need to rethink work, time and work-life balance. When I heard Arianna Huffington in New York, I bought our whole CAIS team a copy of Thrive, her book about redefining success and creating a life of well-being, wisdom and wonder.

How are we challenging students to define success as more than money and power so they passionately pursue healthy and meaningful lives, beyond their work?

Now I recognize that it is pretentious to predict the future, and, like a good Canadian, I want to apologize. But it is so exciting to see what’s happening, and I believe our schools have a responsibility to really think deeply about the future of the professional and personal lives of our students.

My hope is that these images – and questions – contribute to the ongoing conversations.