Seven Years Seven Words

By Nancy Mugele

Seven Years, Seven Words

This academic year marks my seventh at Kent School and I have recently received a few emails pointing out “the seven year itch.” You know, that popular belief, sometimes quoted as being psychological, that happiness in a marriage or long-term romantic relationship declines after seven years. The phrase has since expanded to indicate a decrease in happiness and satisfaction in any long term situation such as working a full-time job or owning a house. None of this applies to me and Kent School.

In fact, I am feeling incredibly renewed after a wonderful summer break, the first truly relaxing summer in several years. I feel rested and ready to steadfastly enter this new year with courage and confidence, as well as seven words which have guided my seven years hung neatly on a wall next to my office door. With gratitude to my daughter, Jenna, who created the beautiful script for the words, I love it!

I began my journey at Kent School with my favorite word in the English language, JOY. You can’t help but smile when you utter it. I felt it to my core when I visited Kent School during the interview process, and I still feel it every day when I greet students in Morning Carpool  or visit classrooms. JOY is ever present in the Kent School experience and is always the theme of the year!

I selected BELIEVE in my second year. One of its definitions is having faith – faith in yourself as learners and teachers, faith in the School and faith in our shared future. There are no limits to what we can achieve together if we BELIEVE, and no limits to what students can do with their innate talents if they BELIEVE. 

Personally, year two was harder for me than year one. There, I said it. Year one was most definitely like a honeymoon. In a year that was primarily marked by listening and learning, showing up with a smile, anywhere and everywhere, was highly valued. Community members wanted to meet me and share their unique story of what the School meant to them. It was joyful and incredibly informative. I could say “I don’t know about that yet” and feel confident that no one would judge my inexperience. I began to build trust just by being open and fully present. Year two, however, began with a noticeably different tone, and I was surprised. Expectations were high that I now knew everything there was to know about the school and when I didn’t it was met with annoyance. I did not know at the time I selected BELIEVE that it would also apply to me. I learned to BELIEVE in myself in year two.

In my third year, IMAGINE was the theme as we celebrated our 50th anniversary and began to dream about the School’s bright future. We launched Together We Soar, the 50th Anniversary Campaign for Kent School to raise significant funds for the Endowment and for capital projects including the Front Entrance and a renovation to the Deborah C. Williams Middle School to create a STEAM Innovation Center. While the Front Entrance is complete, we are still moving forward with the plans for the Middle School, curtailed slightly by COVID.

The year of GRATEFUL, which ended in a quick pivot to distance learning in the face of school closures due to COVID, was a time to be thankful for our School’s founders and the early donors to Together We Soar. We also learned together the things that we were grateful for with the help of Gratitude journals. My fourth year ended with gratitude for our faculty, who with little training took their classes online to finish the year in a strong way, despite the fact that we could not be together on campus. We were also GRATEFUL to our students and families for their support and flexibility.

We opened for in-person instruction in the fall of 2020, my fifth year,  with CONNECT at the forefront of our thinking. We knew that having classes in person was the best thing for our students’ learning. With 50 new students, many who had relocated to Chestertown from major cities and many from local schools which were closed, it was important to CONNECT with them, and their families. Parents could not be on campus due to our COVID protocols and thus felt disconnected. It was an important time to remember that humans are social creatures who thrive on relationships and daily interaction. 

In the second academic year marked by COVID, the second full year we were open in the face of local closings, and my sixth, I chose BELONG as the theme. To be seen, heard, valued, and loved, whether in a family, among friends or co-workers, or in a school community, we all have an inherent desire to belong, and to be an important part of something greater than ourselves. We also know from our work in mind, brain and education science that students who feel a deep sense of belonging perform better academically. With much of the world still disconnected, we focussed on knowing our students. 

All of this leads to my seventh word in my seventh year. I see it as a culmination of the journey we have been on for the past few years. COMMUNITY. Building a collective caring community begins with fostering belonging classrooms and what we started last year will be continued this year. The term COMMUNITY is used in many places, but this year we will dive deeply into what it means to be part of the Kent School COMMUNITY, as we work together to restore and strengthen it. COMMUNITY is the heartbeat of our school, and must be at the forefront of all that we do.

Students at Kent School know I keep Caramel Creams and Jolly Ranchers in my office. In order to get a treat, students must use the word of the year in a sentence. I am GRATEFUL for…I BELONG because.. I learn so much about students this way, and I am “itching” to welcome everyone back to school!