Each year, the Junior School community embraces a theme that helps guide learning, relationships, and growth. For 2025–26, that theme is Roots and Wings — a simple phrase that captures the balance between grounding and growth, belonging and independence.
To bring this concept to life in a tangible way, Visual Arts teacher Brittany Cutler invited every Junior Kindergarten to Grade 5 student to design a feather that expressed who they are and what matters most to them. Older students helped guide the younger ones through the creative process, underscoring one of the Junior School’s most enduring lessons: that we rise by lifting others.
“The goal,” said Cutler, “was to help students see that they are each part of something bigger — that their unique qualities contribute to the strength and beauty of our community.”
When assembled, the feathers formed a radiant pair of wings, deliberately arranged so that anyone could stand in front of them and appear to take flight. The installation became a visual celebration of individuality and unity, a joyful reflection of the Roots and Wings theme, and a reminder that growth happens when we feel both supported and free to soar.
Learning and Growing Together
Becky Anderson, Director of the Junior School, shared with families on Curriculum Night how the Roots and Wings theme will serve as a guiding thread for the year—shaping how students learn, how teachers teach and how the community continues to grow together.
“Our roots are what ground us,” Anderson said. “They are the strong foundations that allow children to grow and flourish, but roots alone aren’t enough. We also want our students to have wings: the freedom to imagine, to explore, to create, and to prepare for a world that none of us can fully predict.”
With this theme in mind, all of the Junior School faculty and staff participated in a day and a half professional development retreat expanding this theme. Learning together and from one another, the focus was to define what matters most in their work and to be open to new ways of thinking and being. With the chance to step away from the school, the Junior School faculty were able to dive into topics that require time and reflection, discussion and consideration.
“As we look forward to the year ahead, we will think about the feathers that represent each of our students, as well as the shared experiences that shape daily life at the Junior School — from academic and social–emotional learning to the arts, athletics, and leadership opportunities that help each child find their voice," added Anderson.
Just as every feather contributes to the beauty of the wings, every student, staff and faculty member brings something essential to the whole. Together, they embody the message that "when we are grounded in belonging and lifted by confidence, there is no limit to how high we can fly."
