October 3, 2012
She’s wearing a white Oxford button-down dress shirt, collar flipped up, and she’s strutting down the hall towards me, this wisp of a fifth grade girl. All style, all attitude, she stops in front of me, takes a beat, and announces,”I’m bringin’ back the look.” She’s half my height and maybe a quarter my weight, but she’s in charge. I’m just along for the ride.
That’s character of an MPA sort. You can be a fifth grade girl and still rule the hallway. You can be gloriously eccentric and be at home here. And if you arrive on our shores with your special light hidden, we’ll tease it out of you. We’ll invite you to let it shine. Not that this one has ever needed any teasing out for her light to shine. But here, we celebrate her and the hundreds of other ones, large and small, who bring it every day.
I can see her 20 years from now, sure of herself, making her way in the world, bringing people along with her, ruling the hallways of her future with style. It’s what I love about MPA. In my 11th year, beginning to think about MPA more in the rear view mirror than up ahead, it’s one of the things I’ll miss most.
We’ve talked and written a lot about character education the last few years, though we’ve been doing character education since 1982. This hallway encounter puts me in mind of a different view of character – that special essence that is particular to each child. MPA is an incubator for character. It’s a slow cook process with the occasional hallway flourish.
Sometimes, we’re lucky enough to be present for the flourish. Third, fourth, fifth, and sixth grade teachers wrestle with the soul of one boy, and the seventh grade teacher is there for the payoff – Eureka! He’s a thinker! A middle school volleyball coach encourages, cajoles, and guides her team through a season of losses, and three years later, cheers those same kids from the sidelines in their winning varsity season. The shy introvert who hugged the hallway walls all through middle school, ninth and tenth grade, goes on to medal in state speech competition in his junior year. After her senior year at college, the former MPA fourth grade conflict manager travels to distant lands and helps resolve tribal conflicts, saving lives and spreading the beacon of democracy.
The day-in and day-out of teacher-student contact adds up to something incredible here. Eventually. Patience is key. You can’t rush these things. Character isn’t revealed on demand. It takes time, dedication and a willingness to wait for the light to brighten.
A thousand points of MPA light brighten the world. Thousands more will be turned on in coming decades. Believe in it. I do.
Mike Downs, Head
