Message From Head of School - Jean Waller Brune 

Summertime with my family, and especially with my granddaughters Idabelle and Emma, continue to bring moments that I treasure and which sustain me during the times that we are apart.  Time spent with RPCS students – individually or in groups – is also precious to me, and I always look forward to the first days of school when the students return.  I never fail to be inspired by them.

Being with and listening to young people in our families and at RPCS is, indeed, an important way for us to ensure a sustainable future for our world.  This summer I have spent a lot of time thinking about sustainability – in large part because it has been an exciting time on campus watching our Athletic Complex reach completion.   There is much in the new building that is environmentally sustainable and visible to help educate our students and ourselves about responsible ways to build: the wood flooring from the old gym has been recycled in the new Athletic Multipurpose room, Physical Education and Athletic offices and the Athletic Hall of Fame area of the new lobby; countertops in many spaces are made of compressed recycled paper; the vegetative roof is growing and visible from the walking/jogging track; there is even more in the building that is not as immediately noticeable, but which will bring us LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification and which, more importantly, supports what our 2006 Crane Lecturer and noted architect William McDonough sets as the vision for sustainable design: “to love all the children of all the species for all time.”

You can read the details of the “green” elements of the Reds dome in the upcoming Sep/Oct 2008 Laurel Leaf. Our Upper School athletes have been practicing and scrimmaging on the synthetic turf fields since August 19 and we will “cut the ribbon” for the building at the All School Opening Convocation at 10:30 am on September 4^th as we both officially open the gym and begin our 2008-2009 academic year, singing joyously together as a community of teachers and learners: “We’re all together again! We’re here, we’re here.”

“Sustainable” is a word that has many concrete applications, but true sustainability comes only when we step back and consider the big picture – if we want to “love the children of all species for all time,” then we need to have dreams, hopes and visions to think beyond ourselves, beyond the immediate and beyond the tangible. Albert Einstein noted, “the world will not evolve past its current state of crisis by using the same thinking that created the situation.”  The dreams of my younger granddaughter still focus on whether the tooth fairy will come; actually this summer, what she really wanted was for the tooth fairy to return the tooth.  For many nights she left a note under her pillow asking for the tooth to be returned.  It was not until she did something to make the dream a reality that she succeeded: when she put the $2 dollars the tooth fairy had left under the pillow along with the note, she woke up to find the tooth had magically returned!  To succeed, dreams take work.  I have always been inspired by Don Quixote and in college and graduate school wrote about him; now with more and more grey in my own hair, I have a deeper appreciation for him.  Traveling home from Vermont, I listened to the music from The Man from La Mancha and was moved again by the song “The Impossible Dream”: to dream the impossible dream,… to run where the brave dare not go…to right the unrightable wrong… to try when your arms are too weary, to reach the unreachable star.”

The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) has defined five areas of sustainability for independent schools to consider: environmental, financial, demographic, programmatic and global.  This year RPCS Trustees and Administration will be focusing on these broad areas of sustainability for RPCS as we approach the 2^nd decade of our 2^nd century of teaching girls and young women.

As you know, every year a key word or phrase is added to the wooden plaque outside my office. Each has been a theme for an academic year.  In total, they represent fundamental, enduring qualities of an RPCS education, characteristics that transcend decades and trends of the teaching and learning we provide.  For the past several years, the phrase has come directly from our School Philosophy.  This year, not surprisingly, the word is sustainability: it does not come directly from the philosophy, but it is critical in maintaining and enhancing the RPCS experience for generations to come.

Our students, especially our Upper School student leaders, have moved beyond dreams of the tooth fairy, but they are equally passionate and tenacious about what they hold dear.  Last year SGA president Chris Gummerson, 2008 worked tirelessly to have the School community raise $20,000 to build two schools: one in Sierra Leone to provide a school building for children, especially girls, where little education has been available and the other here at RPCS, as part of our A Place in Our Hearts campaign, so that we can continue to produce graduates who, as our philosophy states, “become responsible, contributing members and leaders of their communities.” It was a much harder task than she had envisioned, but the student body supported her and sustained their efforts throughout the whole year and reached their goal.  There will be a plaque in the RPCS Athletic Complex noting the success of the project.

This year’s SGA President Julia Osterman, 2009 has chosen boundless as a theme and posted it outside the Senior Room. The image this word brings to my mind’s eye is of our students expanding their understanding of the world in which we live in the classrooms and “dancing our hallways,” as our Centennial Song notes, with boundless energy, spirit and hope for a brighter world, made better by bringing their own dreams to fruition.  I wish for each of your daughters a year full of boundless opportunities and boundless dreams.

~ J.W.B.

Important Information from the Head of School When you drive on campus, you will notice that we have resurfaced and redesigned the Visitor parking lot with wider parking spaces.  There are the same number (25) of visitor parking spaces as before, but we have relocated and renumbered some of the spots in that area.  Please remember to park ONLY in those spots marked VISITOR.  The numbered spaces are reserved for employees.  In addition, we have added one walkway from the RPCS entrance to the pedestrian bridge along the front hedges and an additional sidewalk by our exit. We are confident that these will be important safeguards for walkers during morning and afternoon carpool. Through a generous gift to our Capital Campaign, we are offering two “eco-friendly” parking spots in our Visitor lot for hybrid or other environmentally friendly vehicles. These prominent parking spots will offer a constant visible reminder of the RPCS commitment to environmental sustainability. In addition, the asphalt that was removed has been recycled, and the new surface is composed of 97% recycled materials!