by Mel Leggett, Director of Enrollment Management

One of my challenges as the Director of Enrollment Management is to try to succinctly explain what social emotional learning looks like at Friends to families who are visiting the school. The challenge lies in that S.E.L. is just a part of us at this point. It’s been integrated into our curriculum for so long that it permeates everything we do. So I can talk about concrete examples like Circle of Friends time in the weekly elementary schedule, the language we use in the preschool, Lindsey’s wellness classes at the middle school…but it’s so much more than that. It’s how every kid is seen and known for who they are – as a person and a learner. It’s in morning and closing circles every day, in our rituals and traditions, our conflict resolution, our parent connections on the playground, our staff training…how do you distill something that is really our curriculum and our culture? We are a human-centered school, and S.E.L. is everywhere and in almost everything we do. It’s part of the Friends School magic.

This week, I got some Friends School magic firsthand. Unbeknownst to me, it was some magic that started way back in the summer, at our staff retreat and camping trip. I was sitting around the campfire with Ivan, Brandi, and Olivia, and the subject of Crocs came up (I think because our children were wearing them on their knees and walking around the campsite like little camping gnomes). I mentioned that I had recently gifted both my mom and dad Crocs as presents, but that nobody has ever returned the favor, and that someday I hope somebody gives me a pair.

Fast forward a month to last week, when I noticed a lot of 3rd and 4th graders wishing me happy birthday. As the Admissions Director, I don’t spend a lot of time with kids once they are here, and so many of them knowing my birthday was coming up piqued my interest. To make things even more suspicious, Olivia asked me to avoid her room, and kept texting me to ask when I’d be at the South Campus. Finally, Tuesday arrived, and I was beckoned into the 3-4 classroom – where I was handed my first clue by Fiona and Margot, and told that they created a birthday scavenger hunt for me. The hunt clues also tied into their class motto “We Can Do Hard Things” – because what’s a birthday scavenger hunt at Friends School without a little lesson on resiliency and grit thrown in.

I followed clues around the school, and at each stop came across smiling 3rd and 4th graders waiting to present me with the next clue and keep me on track. When I got to my last stop, under the Cottonwoods on the playground, I was presented with a whole box full of cards and paper sculptures of red crocodiles – one made by each student. “Why red crocodiles?” you might ask. Well, because when I went back into the 3-4 classroom, the whole class was there to yell happy birthday and present me with my very own red Crocs! Speaking to Olivia afterwards (while still glowing from my journey), I learned that she told them about the Crocs, and thought they would just make cards, but they insisted on also creating the hunt for me.

What a gift to work at a school where the kids care to celebrate not just their teachers and classmates, but even the administrators. I felt what I’m sure our kids feel almost every day here – seen, known, and loved!