Counting Our Westchester Blessings

We have arrived at our Thanksgiving Break, and while our campus is closed over the next week, I hope each of you will enjoy spending time with family and friends.

I read a wonderful article this morning about the onset of the holiday season. Each year, we are bombarded by commerce and the lure of “the great deal.” Black Friday rolls into Cyber Monday, and the frenzy of it all threatens to consume us. The challenge of this time of year is, in my estimation, finding quiet time to reflect.

Despite the beginning of the holiday shopping season, the Thanksgiving break offers all of us the opportunity to pause from our normally busy lives and consider the countless reasons to be thankful. By any measure, we live in a rich abundance here in Wildcat Nation, and I look forward to the Thanksgiving holiday and the opportunity that it offers to count my Westchester blessings. As we wind our way through Thanksgiving and eventually toward the Winter Break, I would like to share some of these blessings with you.

I am thankful for our faculty and staff.

I began my 31st year as an educator this past August, and in that time I have worked with wonderful teachers and school leaders in three different independent schools. Our teachers here at WCDS are among the finest I have known, and their deep love for their students is unmatched. When I walk the campus, visit classes, watch rehearsals and practices, and observe the many chance encounters that occur between students and teachers each day, I see this love in action. I take great comfort in knowing that our children spend their school days with talented, dynamic and caring teachers such as ours.

I am thankful for our students.

For the past several years, I have returned to the classroom to teach two separate Advanced Placement English classes: AP English Language and Composition and AP English Literature and Composition. During this time, my students have, on a daily basis, reminded me about the importance of gratitude. At the end of almost every class, a handful of students stop to offer their thanks to me. It is usually a quick, “Thank you, Mr. Atkinson,” as they gather their books and head off to the next class, but I can’t tell you how much it means to me to hear them share their gratitude. Just today, I watched our students as they met in C.A.R.E.S. Crews to wrap books for elementary students and count the canned goods collected for a local food pantry. Service is another way of showing gratitude by being thankful for what we have and willing to share it with others.

I am thankful for our parents.

Wildcat Nation is richly blessed by the dedication of its parent body. Parent volunteers are regularly here at work on our campus. Our three parent organizations meet year-round in support of our school and its arts and athletic programs. Many parents give time by helping in classrooms, building sets, coordinating support for our teams, filling the teacher lounges with snacks, and the like. Today, we received an announcement of the totals in support received for this year’s Blue & White Gala auction. I can’t thank all of you enough for the gifts of time, talent and resources you share. We couldn’t do it without you.

I could certainly go on and on, for WCDS is an extraordinary place for children to learn and grow. I hope that all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you find quiet time in the midst of all of the distractions to count your own reasons to be thankful.

By Mr. Cobb Atkinson
Head of School