As I watch new students in their first days at Lake Ridge, I am often reminded of the scene in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy and Toto emerge from the drab black and white of Kansas into the sparkling Technicolor world of Oz. A magical new place comes to life before their eyes – more vibrant than they could have imagined.

The world of Lake Ridge Academy can seem a bit Oz-like to students and parents who have never experienced independent education. Imagine it: a school where fifth graders run their own television station, where middle schoolers use the latest digital imaging technology to create their own multi-media presentations, and where high schoolers journey to the rain forests of Costa Rica and Ecuador to perform scientific experiments and cultural studies. Even better, picture a place where students love to learn and don’t mind showing it, where teachers care deeply about the welfare of each child, and where every student is an important part of a community based on mutual respect. Lake Ridge has all this and much more.

Unless you are already familiar with Lake Ridge – or one of the other 1,000 independent schools in the nation – all this may sound a little too good to be true. If it does, you’ve taken the first step toward understanding why parents across the country gladly spend thousands to give their children an independent education. Schools like ours are relatively new on Cleveland’s west side – Lake Ridge only recently celebrated its 30th birthday – but people in our area are beginning to find out what people in Boston, New York, and Shaker Heights have known for a long time.

Once a family enters the world of independent education, it seldom leaves. The only skeptics are those who don’t know us – and I count myself as one of the converts. Like most of the Lake Ridge faculty, I went to public school.

When I was growing up, I thought that everyone in “private” school was descended from British royalty and had middle names like Rathbone or Winthrop.

I never knew any better until I went off to Yale University and suddenly found myself rubbing shoulders with 5,000 of the brightest and most interesting people I had ever met. It slowly dawned on me that most of the ones I really admired had attended independent schools. Not only could they run rings around me in the classroom, but they also seemed to have a special sense of openness about them – to new people, new ideas, and new experiences. Where I came from, everyone was a “jock,” a “nerd,” or some other self-limiting stereotype. No one, least of all me, wanted to risk popularity by appearing too interested in school work or by hanging out with the wrong crowd. My prep school friends had thrown away such blinders long before, and I chuckle today to think how much I learned about the getting and keeping of an open mind from the very people I had imagined to be so narrow.

Many prospective families wonder how they can possibly afford a Lake Ridge education. The investment is a substantial one, but the price of choosing second-best is far higher in the long run. The world is very different now than when today’s parents entered college. The jobs that our generation took for granted have fallen victim to down-sizing and mergers by the tens of thousands. As a college counselor, I fear for the young people of today and tomorrow who may never know the opportunities we enjoyed. In the face of today’s unprecedented competition for jobs and college admission, I take heart in the fact that we give our students every imaginable advantage throughout the formative years of their lives.

It is always tempting to make the case for Lake Ridge by citing our various badges of success – the Ivy League acceptances, the National Merit Scholarships, or the SAT scores that average better than 1200. We take pride in those accomplishments and many more, but the essence of Lake Ridge is a community of shared learning that comes to life each day. What greater gift could there be for a child than a special place to experience the joy of discovery – and just enough over-the-rainbow magic to fill each day with wonder and excitement.

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