May/June 2008
A MESSAGE FROM THE HEADMASTER
Senior Spring
For so many years, I have watched “Senior Spring” unfold around Brunswick School.
In many ways, the “start date” of Senior Spring is believed to be the return from Spring Break. I think, however, its beginnings can be traced back to the start of the Second Semester in late January/early February.
“Senior Spring” is, in essence, an evolution of separation from one community in preparation for entrance into another. As a result, to some degree or another, there are even elements of this phenomenon present in our 4th graders (as they wind down their Lower School days and look longingly up the lawn to the Middle School) and in our 8th graders (as they work through their various orientation exercises in advance of becoming Freshmen in the Upper School next year).
For our Seniors, however, “Senior Spring” takes on an even greater significance. Unlike our 4th or 8th graders who are in large part only shifting venue but remaining intact in terms of their friendships and family, our Seniors are going to a new school, in a different place; a place that will be away from family and friends and a place that is entirely different both in terms of environment and experience than anything they have ever encountered before.
As daunting as that might seem, a largely forgotten aspect of this transition is the feeling of separation that each boy’s parents feel as their son prepares to head off to college.
As the date of graduation approaches, so many things that were for so long taken for granted, strike different and often deep emotional chords. Some examples might include:
· Family dinners with the growing awareness that a place will sit empty before too long.
· A bedroom that will sit idle (and remain neat!) as compared to all the years when it seemed to be so busy (and such a mess).
· Trips to the supermarket that involve the purchase of less milk and fewer Oreos and a less-crowded shopping cart.
· One less person to wake up each morning and get ready for school.
For so long, our children are our greatest day-to-day responsibility and yet, as they graduate from Brunswick and head off to college, we are implicitly entrusting that day-to-day responsibility to others (and to our sons themselves). It is a leap of faith to be sure but one which, if we have done our jobs correctly, will feel instinctively right later this month as their names are called and they come to the stage to receive a Brunswick School diploma.
As we work our way through the emotional rollercoaster that is Senior Spring, our greatest hope is that we are ready for this next, exciting phase of our sons’ lives (and of ours).
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