We're All Different

This week, my husband and I are in the process of moving from the absolutely wonderful guest home of great friends and supporters of the school; this home has provided beautiful scenery, the bucolic sounds of the ranch, amazing sunsets, the opportunity to experience the dynamic storms of Colorado’s mountains, and much more. We are moving into town, just five blocks from school, and are about to experience what it is like to be able to walk or bike to nearly everything. As I was driving the 20 minutes to school through the beautiful landscape, perhaps for the last time during a morning commute, I found myself reflecting upon the vastly different lifestyle we had been living compared to that which we will now be living, and how those differences could serve as a metaphor for the diversity of Whiteman Primary.

Among us in the school community, we have so many different people. We are all united in the love and care we have for children and in wanting the best for all of the children in our care. But we are all different in how we experience and express our love, and we are different from one another in the sort of lives we live outside of school. However, we each call upon our life experiences, what we know about children and child development, our basic values, and perhaps most importantly, our hearts as we work together to make a world in which our many children, individuals all, can thrive.

Diversity is an interesting concept, one that is frequently operationalized as differences in ethnic background. However, in many places like Steamboat, diversity often refers to differences in socio-economic status and learning styles, rather than ethnicity. At LWPS, we have striven every year to keep tuition low, so that families are not priced out of Whiteman Primary. Our tuition assistance program, which is funded by the annual scholarship auction (the 19th of which is coming up soon on October 15), is a key to making the Whiteman Primary learning experience one that is open to all students, regardless of their families’ abilities to pay tuition. The auction is a time for all of us to come together to show our support for the multi-dimensional nature of LWPS.

The way that all of our students, from all backgrounds, are able to blend so well into a wonderfully inclusive community is noticeable from the moment one enters the door. Some of our students and parents come from ranches at the far outskirts of Steamboat and beyond, while others come from just around the corner, and still others hail from areas between these two. But geographical and socio-economic differences only make each student more interesting to his or her peers and provide the classroom discussions with a depth and breadth that couldn’t exist if all students were from similar backgrounds.

I am honored to be a part of the diverse community that is Whiteman Primary, and I am fortunate to be on a journey that allows me to experience some of the different backgrounds from which our families head off to school each morning.