by Susan Rankin
Having been to Middle School at Nueva under your
leadership, how can one possibly settle for an average
educational environment for one's child (or, for that
matter, a simply above-average one)?
A question: one of several catchy ways to open an
essay.
Hey - this is Susan Rankin (now Susan Rienow), class
of 1993 - how are you? I check in online once a year
or so to see how the Odyssey School is going - at
least based on the website it seems like you're in
full swing. Congratulations and well-deserved.
I'm living in New York and working as a marketer at
Pfizer, which I enjoy tremendously. My husband and I
have just begun the admissions process to get our
two-year-old into preschool; the plethora of schools
in Manhattan are both a wealth of riches and also an
enormous responsibility: I've had to me think
carefully about educational philosophies and their
more esoteric extensions - what do I want for my
child? How do I want them to view learning? Others?
The world?
And yet again, I've found that my experience at Nueva
defines the ideal for me. I still remember jumping
around the multipurpose room, dressed in red, learning
how blood moves through the body. I cherish our Model
UN exercise and our time in Japan, and I still love
Shakespeare and hold my introduction to it (via
Ashland) dear. It's only as an adult that I've
realized how unusual and precious the experience was.
Perhaps most important, I did in fact learn how to
figure out what to do when I don't know what to do,
which has served me well ever since.
This is the second letter I've written to thank you -
the first when I entered high school and realized how
well prepared I was, and the second on the eve of my
son's launch into formal education. I wanted to check
in and again let you know how much that experience has
mattered to my life, and wish you the best of luck
with the Odyssey School. I hope that I can find as
special a place for him.
Sincerely,
Susan
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