Dear Parents,

Perhaps you recall my opening comments at the Back to School nights, during which I suggested that the world of today is dominated by rapid change. I said that change, especially change in technology, is proceeding at an exponential rate. This was certainly not news to anyone. Yet, concrete examples of what is possible enliven my generic statement. The following are sample prognostications from a website of which I recently became aware—techcast.org:

• By 2022, cancer will be cured.
• By 2028, we will have artificially controlled body parts.
• By 2040, the average lifespan will be 100 years.

What does this kind of information have to do with education? Everything!

As the world changes, the nature of work for our children will be changing, which in turn is changing how we need to prepare them. In such a world, two aspects of our Sacred Heart education become absolutely essential:

1.      We need to educate our children to become agile learners.

We are not able to teach our students everything they need to know! Consequently, we need to teach them how to learn, how to adapt what they learn to different contexts, how to take initiatives and risks (in their learning and in life) and how to figure out how to answer questions – especially questions which can’t be Googled. An aspect of agility in learning requires that we inculcate in our children the understanding that mistakes are NOT the enemy, rather they are the key to success.

2.      We need to provide our children with meaning and a sense of purpose in life.

It is increasingly imperative that our children need to experience an authentic connection with Love’s Very Self. It is our belief that this interior connection, this relationship with the Creator of All, will provide our children the capacity to live a life from the inside-out with courage, confidence and clarity about the importance of Life and Love (whom we call God). This will develop in our children a reverence for others in all our relationships (especially reverence for those who are different or marginalized), a reason to engage in ethical decision making and a compass for living a life of integrity.

May we support and encourage each other in empowering our children in both of these characteristics, thus preparing them well for their future,

Maureen Glavin, rscj

Dear Academy Parents,

The halfway mark in the first quarter of the school year has just been crossed. Perhaps this is the time when we begin to think of evaluations, grades and report cards. Perhaps this is also a good time to begin to think about what we need to do (or not do) to help our children become successful.

In sync with these timely questions, it so happens that I am in the middle of reading How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough.  The author, a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine, calls into question what he refers to as the “cognitive hypotheses,” which, as he puts it, is…

… the belief, rarely expressed aloud but commonly held nonetheless, that success today depends primarily on cognitive skills—the kind of intelligence that gets measured on IQ tests, including the abilities to recognize letters and words, to calculate, to detect patterns—and that the best way to develop these skills is to practice them as much as possible, beginning as early as possible. (introduction, page xiii)

What matters instead, Tough claims, “is whether we are able to help [our children] develop a very different set of qualities, a list that includes persistence, self-control, curiosity, conscientiousness, grit and self-confidence. (introduction, page xv)

The book not only affirms, but provides evidence for, an idea which Sacred Heart educators have believed for 200 years—that some traits, such as the inclination to persist at a boring and often unrewarding task, the ability to delay gratification and the tendency to follow through on a plan, are valuable, not only in school but in the workplace and in life!

I suspect this information is not at all surprising to a group of parents who value education. It is certainly not an earth-shattering concept for us as Sacred Heart educators. Dare I say, the book’s claims are satisfyingly affirming.

So, as your children fall into the current cultural trap of claiming boredom while waiting for you as you run errands, or as they struggle with (or even experience a small consequence from not) completing a task, or as they complain when we ask them to try to accomplish something they don’t think they can do, let us smile patiently. Let us not allow ourselves to be drawn into our children’s angst. Rather, let us relish the knowledge that they are gaining skills and developing interior strengths which will, in fact, allow them to push through or carry on and, in the end, be successful adults!

United in our joint task of helping children to grow,

Maureen Glavin, rscj

Dear Parents,

This is the third of three Thursday Mail letters regarding this year’s theme. It is the culmination and the essence of what I hope you remember about Saint Madeleine Sophie’s educational vision: that it was indeed Forward Thinking Then and remains Forward Thinking Now!

We often articulate our more than 200-year-old educational tradition as a value. We proclaim it, we preserve it and we perpetuate it! Our history is part of our heritage and that history includes a successful philosophy of understanding children, understanding God, understanding human nature and successfully applying those understandings to our formative efforts for the sake of developing the hearts and minds of children.

Yet, I always like to point out―moreover, it is imperative that we point out―that an aspect of our more than 200-year-old heritage is our openness to change. In fact, I would say it more strongly:

We have a heritage of being on the forefront of change!

This aspect of who we are was adopted very early in the life of the Society of the Sacred Heart when Madeleine Sophie helped to develop a program of study for educating the nuns to be educators. The goal of this program was described this way by one who went through it:

“…to make sure that our teaching would preserve its progressiveness, its cultured breadth, its lofty scope, while
losing nothing of its orthodoxy or its beautiful uniformity and, concurrently, being perfectly suited to the times.”

Madeleine Sophie was always attentive to the constant need of adaption to new needs, new methods, and fresh approaches. The Plan of Studies of the Society of the Sacred Heart, first formulated in 1806, was rigorously modified at regular intervals to meet changing times and conditions. SMS wrote:

“It shows weakness of mind to hold too much to the
beaten track, through fear of innovations.”

And again:

“Times change, and to keep up with them
we must change and modify our methods.”

Modifying our methods and adapting our educational approaches as needed is an aspect of our heritage that must never be lost. The organizational ability to keep that which is of value because it is of value while moving forward when we need to adopt changes is the process of discernment and wisdom, which, in and of itself, IS part of our spiritual heritage.

So yes, let us celebrate, live, proclaim, preserve and perpetuate our precious heritage―both the timely and the timeless aspect of it. Only by doing so will this form of education STILL have meaning for the NEXT 200 years.

United with joy in our joint efforts to live this mission,

Maureen Glavin, rscj

Dear Parents,

As I mentioned last week, I have been using the life of St. Madeleine Sophie Barat, foundress of the Society of the Sacred Heart, as my inspiration for this year’s school theme. Her life has been, is and will always be foundational in deepening our understanding of the essence of Sacred Heart education. This week, I want to expand a bit on her educational vision.

What we treasure as the Goals and Criteria of Sacred Heart education are a current articulation of Sophie’s vision. It is an education that inculcates a deep and abiding faith in God, a rigorous intellectual formation, a concern for others (especially the disadvantaged), a strong instinct for community and a personal growth in freedom.

Her way of educating was designed to be broad, deep and demanding. How could it not be, especially given her own extraordinary education! In order to accomplish this kind of education, she insisted that those who formed the students would have themselves, both excellent professional preparation and also strong personal formation. On a regular basis she noted the impossibility of communicating attitudes and values that one has not personally appropriated.

So, Sophie looked for both learning and virtue in those who were assigned to the schools. She looked for a combination of qualities which she would capture with the words “sainte savant” – she wanted holy scholars or, if you will, learned saints. In other words, while she was, on the one hand, rigorous about the intellectual formation of the teachers in her Sacred Heart schools, she was, on the other hand, equally concerned with the personal and spiritual formation of her teachers.

We continue to try to fill our schools with “sainte savants” and surround your children with holy scholars and learned saints. We continue to try to attend to our ongoing intellectual, professional, personal and spiritual formation. We do all this in the spirit of Saint Madeleine Sophie, so that, through our own personal virtue, our own deep faith, our own intellectual rigor, our own work ethic, our own skill at building community, and our own free choices, actions, words and behaviors, we aspire to inspire and form your children so that they too become learned saints and holy scholars!

Tonight (for Lower School parents) and next Thursday (for Middle School parents) you will have an opportunity to meet the learned saints we’ve invited to inspire, educate and form your children this year.

Looking forward to seeing you at those meetings,

Mauren Glavin, rscj

Over the course of the next few letters, I intend to write about Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat. My desire to do so is rooted in the conviction that we all have something to learn about life, love, God and the education of children from this beloved Mother Foundress of the Society of the Sacred Heart. She was the focus of my opening address with our employees a few weeks ago and she is the inspiration for this year’s theme:

Saint Madeleine Sophie’s Educational Philosophy:
Forward Thinking Then,
Forward Thinking Now

Using an overview of the story of St. Madeleine Sophie’s life as a foundation, I will be writing about her passion for God, her vision of education, and perhaps most interestingly, how that vision informs our manner of educating today.

Let’s begin with some basic facts about Mother Barat’s accomplishments:

• She founded the Society of the Sacred Heart in 1800
• She governed the Society for 63 years.
• By the time of her death in 1865 the order she founded numbered nearly 3,400 women with over 100 foundations in Europe, North America, North Africa and South America.
• She was beatified in 1908 and canonized a saint of the Roman Catholic Church in 1925.

Among the forces that formed her are the tumultuous and violent times in which she lived ( i.e. the French Revolution), the extraordinary education she received from her brother and the religious environment of her Burgundian family. Key to her interior formation was her own experience of prayer. As she grew in her personal knowledge of God’s deep and abiding love, she concurrently grew as a woman of wisdom whose own life and loves were reflective of her Beloved.

How Sophie approached prayer is helpful for us to think about as educators in the Family of God’s Heart. (Note the following excerpts are from a presentation by Kathleen Hughes, rscj.)

1. Prayer for Sophie was simple:  It was about friendship, longing and love!
2. Prayer for Sophie was free:  “What difference does it make how you pray, provided that your heart is seeking the one whom you love.” (SMS)

Her union with God and her love for God was the focus of everything for Sophie! This is true even as she was busy managing a multinational corporation, opening scores of foundations, handling enormous finances with facility and skill and negotiating agreements with both church and state.

From this union flowed her vision for her Society whose mission was to reveal the Love of God through coming to know the dispositions of the Heart of Jesus! Her educational institutions were places where that mission could be lived both for the sake of the children and for the sake of the world!

My hope and prayer is that we root everything we do at this school in what we think St. Madeleine Sophie would do if she were here today!

Maureen Glavin, rscj

Dear Parents,

It has been a great beginning! Yesterday’s glorious opening day with our First through Eighth Class students was followed with this morning’s precious arrival of our Primary friends. While exteriorly the weather has been close to perfect, interiorly the climate has been balanced with nothing less than extraordinary exuberance!

Having spent the summer getting ready, waxing floors, manicuring the grounds, cleaning the classrooms, creating new bulletin boards and planning engaging lessons (just to name a few preparatory activities), we were poised on every level to receive your children with open hearts! Preparations from your end were obvious as well; the children arrived with bright white shirts, shiny new shoes, crisp slacks and socks, freshly labeled notebooks and, most importantly, glowing, shining faces (reflective of eager, open hearts and minds)!

During these first days, I know that each teacher is taking time to set a particular tone and lay a strong foundation of routines and procedures. Equally importantly, each teacher is also laying the foundation of trust and reverence while relationships are being renewed and others are being made anew. Attending to the process that’s necessary to build the foundation of a strong relationship is not only good, current educational practice, it is an integral aspect of our educational legacy!

Rooted in that legacy, on Wednesday we gathered as a community of the whole – to connect, to welcome, to honor the presence of each one, to introduce new members and, MOST IMPORTANTLY, to remind ourselves that our educational philosophy is grounded in God’s Love. Our goal is to provide an environment in which each one comes to know the Heart of Jesus (source and symbol of God’s Love). Flowing from that goal, our hope is that each one learns to live a life reflective of that Heart, developing and then using his or her particular gift in the service of others and for the sake of our world.

Through the intercession of St. Philippine Duchesne, the grace of God and the collective efforts of Academy parents and Academy faculty and staff alike, may it be so!

Maureen Glavin, rscj

Dear Parents,

It is often said that if a Sacred Heart school is anything, it ought to be relational. Consequently, communication pathways are not only essential components in our collaborative aspirations, they are vital in a Sacred Heart school.

With that in mind, then, I wholeheartedly welcome you to this first in our new format for disseminating information from the Academy! Though we all loved the look of our “old” Thursday Mail, this new vehicle will help us as we work toward achieving our goal of making information more available and accessible for you, our parents.

Inspired by the adage that “Information is always good,” our hope is to provide you, Academy parents, not only with information, but a variety of ways of obtaining that information. Thus, between the weekly Thursday Mail, our website, the parent portal and faculty newsletters, we hope to strike a balance which is accessible, sufficient and helpful.

Besides dissemination of information, another form of communication is inspiration. My weekly letter, which will soon become available as a blog, as one part of our parent communication repertoire, is meant to weigh more heavily on that – inspiration! You will discover that I will try to focus more on the “forest” and less on the “trees.”  What I hope to do is periodically invite us to see something from a broader or higher or deeper perspective, all with the end goal of articulating, clarifying and explaining the mission of this school.

In the spirit of collaboration and communication, please know that communication, if it is to be authentic, is always intended to be two-way. Thus, I invite parents to always be in dialogue and conversation with the school. I invite questions and input. And, as we on this end share our educational vision, our hopes for our children in light of the Society of the Sacred Heart’s mission and our world’s realities, it is essential that we hear about your joys and your concerns as well, so that the living of our vision is solidified in that which is real.

Hope you enjoy this new format, and I’ll see you in a few weeks,

Maureen Glavin, rscj