Read Bassel Khaled‘s answer to Why do we feel tired after we sleep for a really long time, instead of waking up fresh? on Quora

And, on the weekend, we faced the latest challenge to our belief in what we think the world should become when senselessly, fellow human beings were slaughtered because of hate and intolerance.  My heart is broken and I’m left numbed by the long string of atrocities that span the globe.  Fear and reproach have no borders of boundaries, it seems, crossing all ethnic and cultural lines and founded in the wrongheaded belief that diversity somehow cripples us.

Somewhere along the way in our development as a species, we have lost track of the common goal of humankind.  Like many of you, I’m sick of moments of silence and empty rhetoric.  I was always brought up believing that our commonly held goal was not to write laws that carefully restricted access to guns, but that our true aim was to craft a world where weapons of any kind would no longer be necessary nor allowed.  I teach children so that they will aspire to craft a planet that values people over property and were “peace and prosperity for all” is the commonly held goal.

In my heart, I’m standing with the families and friends of those who lost their lives in Orlando.  I’m also thoughtful of those who have died in similar circumstances around the world, that do not make the mainstream press, but who have succumbed to a similar mix of anger and ill will.  Terrorism in all its forms and locations is just wrong.

I believe, as many have stated, that one thing is true.  If we seek to fight the crazy person wielding the gun and make him our enemy, we are missing the point.  It is not about the gun or the man wielding it.  It is about the beliefs that inspired his actions and about how we, as teachers of each successive generation, inspire something far better in the minds of the children we serve.  We need a world of peace and understanding, now more than ever.  It makes our tenet at AAS of “Respect Self AND Others” particularly poignant.

I wish you well as we leave school in the shadow of these events.  I hope you find and inspire peace and tranquility throughout the summer.  I wish you safe travels and an equally safe return here or arrival to your new destination.  To a school of 65 nationalities that is also diverse in all other ways possible, I can say only one thing:  I love each and every one of you!!

I’m looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible at Closing Ceremony next week as we bid farewell to another school year.  It’s hard to believe that, for me, it has been 5 years already — an anniversary of sorts.  It is quite amazing to look back on all the many things accomplished in one year, let alone what this school has achieved in five.  The many faces that have been involved in our growth and development over the years will forever be etched in our memories.  Schools are a transitory place, faced with understanding the nature of growth and transition.  This may be why we often use words like “journey” and “pathway” to describe the experience of education.  Education, after all, is a means to an end, a bridge more than a destination.

To that end, we wish everyone well on their upcoming journeys.  Whether a summer sojourn and a quick return back for the next school year, a trek of greater distance to your next adventure, or the journey returning to home country, we wish all well for a restful and renewing summer vacation filled with fond memories.

My thanks to all for your partnership and counsel.  Whenever the opportunity emerges, the community has always been ready to respond.  This makes me anxious for August already and the onset of a new year!!

For those who are departing to other places far and away, I remind you as I always do:  Once a Penguin, Always a Penguin!!

The 2015-2016 Closing Ceremony will be held Wednesday, June 15 at 11.00 in the North Gym.  Parents are welcome!  The event will live streamed at the following link:   http://www.ustream.tv/channel/aaspenguinlive 

May has almost ended and the final activities of the year are before us. Please pay close attention to the calendar as there are concerts, drama productions, moving-up ceremonies, and other end-of-year events scheduled in the next month.  For those in attendance at graduation last Saturday, we hope you enjoyed the pomp and circumstance of this auspicious event.  Thank you to our guest speaker AAS parent and BBC’s Moscow Correspondent Steve Rosenberg and our student speaker Niels Boender.  Both provided us with messages of significance and cohesion to a student-centric event.  Our seniors enjoyed this bittersweet moment as one journey ends and another begins.  They now move on to colleges and other programs around the globe and we wish them all the very best.

Faculty Departing

We also say goodbye to some valued faculty members this year, as we do each year.  It’s important to note their collective contributions to the school during their time here.  Without exception, they have brought tremendous talent, experience, and energy to the organization.  Their legacy of helping us continue to build and develop as a school is now woven into the fabric of who we have become.  We will forever be in their debt for the gifts they have bestowed on all of us.  Best of luck to our departing faculty:

Claire Ansell, John Bishop, Mark Blatnik, Natasha Cowdy, Emily Deutschman, Mary Dolesch, Nicole Doyle, Michael Emerson, Ruth Fawcett, Madeleine Heller, Christina Johnson, Amey Law, Patricia MacMillan, Elizabeth Miller, Dan Miller, Colleen Nelson, Bruce Nelson, Jill Norris, Glenda Semple, Charles Semple, Sheila Singh, James Stratton, Eleanor Weber, and and Martha Medendorp-Allan from our St. Pete campus.

School Year Calendars

A reminder:  to assist our community with planning,  we publish school year calendars several years in advance.  The 2016-2017, 2017-2018, and the recently approved 2018-2019 calendars are found on the website under the About Us tab and in the Quick Links menu.   Please note, a small adjustment was made in the 2017-2018 calendar. The  Autumn Break was moved one week earlier for better alignment with the CEESA athletic calendar.