Free to Learn
John Foster, Ph.D.

I first came to the Lake Ridge Academy campus for a job interview; with the completion of my dissertation in sight, I was eager to return to high school teaching full-time. My interview was deliberately scheduled so that I could attend Town Meeting. “More than anything else you’ll see when you visit," the Upper School head told me, “Town Meeting gives you a sense of what the school is all about.”

Midmorning the students and faculty gathered under the wooden beams of the Bettcher Convocation Center ceiling; Bettcher may be physically one of the grander spaces on campus, but its warm colors and perpetual use make it an inviting one as well.

And what did I see that day? Well, the usual adolescent high spirits one would expect. The morning clouds had broken, and a puckish freshman sat in a shaft of sunlight from one of the clerestory windows high in the peak of the ceiling and bounced the light off the face of his watch and into the eyes of a teacher. The teacher came over but – instead of the grumpy reprimand I anticipated – joked around with the student and complimented him on his pitching at the baseball game the other day. I saw students of different races and faiths mixing unselfconsciously. I saw students dressed neatly but casually – a refreshing change from the students reluctantly wearing coat and tie in obeisance to the rigid dress code of the boarding school where my teaching career began.

Then the meeting began, amiably presided over by a senior, who invited anyone and everyone with announcements to come up to the microphone. One teacher had news about staff members and students currently overseas; they had traveled to a developing nation to study its science and culture first-hand as part of Operation New World, one of the school’s special programs. A shy junior came up to say a classmate had just turned fifteen; amid the applause emerged a ragged chorus of “Happy Birthday” from the front row. Others announced – on behalf of their friends, I was impressed to see – college acceptances and athletic accomplishments. It was easy for a visitor to sense who the leaders were, but it was also apparent that the student body was indeed a community.

The informality of the meeting – its tolerance for playfulness, and the easy friendliness between students and faculty – was, I knew, evidence of not only the warmth of the students but also the open-mindedness of the faculty and administration. As I visited classes that day, I saw that the freedom of exchange and appetite for excellence on display in Town Meeting were cultivated actively in the classroom as well. The palpable energy in evidence there came from students actively involved in the learning process. I could tell even then that – however difficult making the transition to a new school always is – I would be happy working with the students at Lake Ridge Academy, and so I have been.

It is wonderful to work at a school that does not confuse academic achievement with competitiveness; that cultivates student-driven exchange rather than lecture in its classrooms; and that quietly embraces diversity in its community. “Community” is indeed the best word to characterize so vital, engaged, and intimate a place.

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