Headmaster's Weekly Newsletter -- Week 33

It was with delight that I saw our exuberant Class of 2020 twins yesterday! Tae Woo and Parker Kim came to campus to pack up their rooms. With them was their cute little cousin Oscar. Their excited voices reached out to me as I walked by their dorm window (see photo below). It is impossible not to love these boys. They radiate happiness and good humour everywhere they go. Hardworking, creative (brilliant dancers and musicians), athletic (martial arts masters!), and funny, they have the unique ability to make friends with everyone. My heart aches to think that they, like so many grads, will leave without a farewell hug. Their flight home to Korea is next weekend.

 

The “Forget Me Not” flower is a delicate blue celebration of spring. It is in full bloom right now, lining the trails of the woods in our back campus by Turtle Pond. In places they make a thick and lovely carpet (see photos below). Years ago I spent an adventuresome but lonely four months working in Alaska. The “Forget Me Not” is their state flower. Living in my tent without any amenities for that period of time was both wonderful but tough (no mail, no electricity, no phones, no running water except for rivers and creeks). I was completely cut off from my world. Not the world, world as I was working and having the experience of a lifetime, but my world of family and friends and familiar environment. Every time I saw Forget Me Nots I had a melancholic pang for home.

 

I am feeling the same way for our students and staff now. No doubt they have similar emotions – instead of being here and gathering for the Athletic Banquet, or dressing up for the Cadet Ball or Arts Gala or Prom, or heading out for the annual trip to Quebec or PEI, our students and staff are finishing the school year away from their KES world.

 

There are virtual celebrations lined up for the week ahead. We are also trying to see if we can have a drive-thru graduation ceremony of some kind (in addition a future homecoming celebration when we are allowed to gather in person) on June 12^th or 13^th. This information is all available elsewhere but what I really want to say in this newsletter is that no one is forgotten. You all matter to us. We miss you.