Food For Thought
Recently, I had a transformative moment at a restaurant specializing in vegan cuisine. What made my experience memorable was not simply the quality of my plant-based meal but that I was truly inspired by how the café embodied its mission. In fact, everything about my experience reflected the café’s mission: the environment, service, communication and expression of gratitude. I learned how the café supports local farmers, sustainable agriculture and environmentally friendly products. I spoke with the server about his life’s work and he asked me about my own – he even posed a question to guide my lunch conversation. Often, dining experiences can be transactional in nature, with very little understanding of the food, how it is sourced, who prepares it and why it matters in the world. Interestingly, the difference between transaction and transformation is inherent in our school mission and why a Crescent School education matters for the world today.
Organizations that strive to live and serve their mission, especially schools for boys, can be a powerful force of change in the world – a world that today needs good men more than ever.
Over the past two years, our School has been intentionally building our Portrait of the Graduate and Strategic Academic Plan. In part, we have been motivated to celebrate and showcase how our mission lives in the day-to-day experience of students and staff – in classrooms, on stage, in robotics and business case competitions, on Innes Field and in service to the larger community. Our Portrait of the Graduate requires our boys to confront three critical questions: Who am I? How do I lead? What is my legacy? By the very nature of this exploration, our boys’ experience of Crescent School will be a fully transformational one.
What does this mean? If education is provided only at the most basic level, students receive a standard curriculum of study, a one-size-fits all approach to learning, while accumulating credits in pursuit of acquiring a diploma for entrance into university. Sadly, this transactional experience is common for many students in our city, province and country.
However, Crescent School’s mission to build Men of Character from Boys of Promise expects students to be transformed as people and especially as men in the development of their moral, performance and civic character. By participating in the full curricular and co-curricular program, which is deeply personal and customized for each student, Crescent boys experience school in a way that transforms their lived experience of the world – giving them a deeper appreciation of self and others.
At the café, I so much enjoyed my lunch and what that food experience caused me to appreciate, that I went back for dinner the very next day. So too, do we want our students and staff to be inspired at Crescent School, so that they return each day and ponder anew how their life has purpose, significance and meaning.
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Over the past two years, our School has been intentionally building our Portrait of the Graduate and Strategic Academic Plan. In part, we have been motivated to celebrate and showcase how our mission lives in the day-to-day experience of students and staff – in classrooms, on stage, in robotics and business case competitions, on Innes Field and in service to the larger community. Our Portrait of the Graduate requires our boys to confront three critical questions: Who am I? How do I lead? What is my legacy? By the very nature of this exploration, our boys’ experience of Crescent School will be a fully transformational one.
What does this mean? If education is provided only at the most basic level, students receive a standard curriculum of study, a one-size-fits all approach to learning, while accumulating credits in pursuit of acquiring a diploma for entrance into university. Sadly, this transactional experience is common for many students in our city, province and country.
However, Crescent School’s mission to build Men of Character from Boys of Promise expects students to be transformed as people and especially as men in the development of their moral, performance and civic character. By participating in the full curricular and co-curricular program, which is deeply personal and customized for each student, Crescent boys experience school in a way that transforms their lived experience of the world – giving them a deeper appreciation of self and others.
At the café, I so much enjoyed my lunch and what that food experience caused me to appreciate, that I went back for dinner the very next day. So too, do we want our students and staff to be inspired at Crescent School, so that they return each day and ponder anew how their life has purpose, significance and meaning.
See all of Headmaster Fellin's Open Mike Blogs
