Head of School INNSider: August 2024

Dear SCH Families,

Perhaps you remember my summer-as-weekend analogy: June is like Friday, July like Saturday, and August like Sunday. Predictably, the pace of summer’s “Saturday” seemed to quicken after July 4, to the chagrin of many holding fast to “Friday.” When we touch down on Saturday, the weekend feels half over. Well, folks, consider it Sunday…afternoon. That said, having bumped into so many of you around the way, I hope you relish these final “hours” of summer recess.  

I’ll admit it: I have been glued to the Olympics. While my hands-down favorite is track & field, I have a healthy appreciation for the entire spate. From the pageantry and pundits, to the rivalries and redemptions, to the heartaches and heartbreaks, there is something magical about the Games. The sojourn to the city. The sportsmanship and indomitable human spirit. The promise of a better world and furtherance of the international community. Could it also be the challenges and rewards of people choosing to do the impossibly hard and pursuing their dreams with all their might, no matter the stakes?  

In thinking about the Olympics, I couldn’t help but recall my two expeditions at the North Carolina Outward Bound School a decade ago. The wilderness of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina would serve as the classroom. Backpacking and rock climbing with a group rewired my relationship with fear and challenge. Climbing Table Rock Mountain, which stretches high on the edge of Linville Gorge, scared me but didn’t scar me. Rather, it changed me, strengthened me. Reminiscent of the Grand Canyon, Table Rock, and my experiences at Outward Bound, was wholly spiritual and existential. More than a kind of athletic endurance, my treks in the hinterlands demanded both an ability to remain composed during uncertain moments and an appreciation of the insights drawn from the outdoors. Annually, several 12th graders participate in Philadelphia Outward Bound’s Senior Leadership Program in late July, and the entire 9th grade class kicks off the school year with an offsite, five-day expedition that includes the Delaware Water Gap. 

When my wife, Davirah, and I took a long weekend in Colorado this summer, I was reminded of the restorative powers of nature. Nature stirring our senses and generating awe and wonder is a profoundly generous gift.

Jonathan Haidt, in The Anxious Generation, has much to say about nature, that is, the changing nature of the American childhood and adolescence. Youth should be a natural time for discovery, challenges, and risks, essentials for healthy growth and maturity. With compelling data, Haidt makes a blistering case that the steady decline in “play-based childhood,” stoked in part by fear of violence against children, followed by the steady increase in smartphones and unfettered access to addictive social media, has fed a “phone-based childhood.” Add to this disembodied existence unresolved loneliness, fragile relationships, vapid societal expectations, unrelenting academic pressure, overprotective parenting, and you have Haidt’s clarion call: “The great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness.” Battling our stubborn phone-based culture will require versatility, endurance, and skill characteristic of the Olympic athlete. 

With broad shoulders, we will continue a hard yet exceptionally satisfying aim: inspire within students unbounded curiosity and independent thought, nurture their knowledge of themselves and the world, expand their full academic and personal potential, and prepare them to lead lives characterized by a quest to effect positive change. Our new strategic framework drives this mission through five priorities: Vigorous Academics, Teaching, and Learning; Intentionally Embedded Innovation; Engaging a Community Committed to Belonging; Sharing the SCH Experience; and Investing in Our Future. 

With warm regards and a special shoutout to our new families, I welcome you to the 2024-2025 school year, my last at SCH. Please keep an eye open for my INNsider updates and musings throughout the year and the letters from each division. I look forward to connecting with you at the All-Parent Welcome Reception in the Cour

Warmly,

Delvin Dinkins
Head of School