{"id":38,"date":"2011-02-07T14:15:54","date_gmt":"2011-02-07T14:15:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.smes.org\/headmaster\/?p=35"},"modified":"2013-09-06T17:21:26","modified_gmt":"2013-09-06T17:21:26","slug":"january-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.smesnews.org\/headmaster\/2011\/02\/january-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"January 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Looking Forward: Happy New Year Tartans<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The arrival of a new calendar year gives us all a chance to step back, reflect on the year just passed and chart the course for the future. On November 16, St. Margaret\u2019s took a huge step toward the future when we gathered as a school community to break ground for a new Performing Arts Center and subsequent Middle School. This was truly a joyous moment for all of us there that morning. I have always believed that schools are places of optimism and hope for the future, and St. Margaret\u2019s Day 2010 was clearly an emphatic statement of both of these.<\/p>\n<p>As we embark on a new year and a long-awaited and much needed project, I have been reminded repeatedly this fall of what this is all about. This is not building for building\u2019s sake but rather an affirmation of what we stand for as a school and a tribute to the extraordinary talents of our students and faculty. By all measure, we have had an extraordinary fall. Led by an outstanding group of seniors in the Class of 2011, our students have brought distinction to themselves and our school in so many ways, in and out of the classroom. At a time when many schools in our area and across the country are cutting back on the arts, our programs are flourishing as evidenced by exceptional theater, musical and dance productions involving students from Preschool through grade 12. I am continually amazed at how far we\u2019ve come in these essential (yes, to us they are!) programs. It would be tempting and convincing to assess the progress of the performing arts at St. Margaret\u2019s by the sheer growth in the numbers of students participating, but for me the value is the pure joy these programs bring to our entire school community. As our Director of the Arts, Darcy Rice reminds us that life is better with art. I couldn\u2019t agree more!<\/p>\n<p>Our athletic teams have been superb this fall bringing three CIF championships and one state championship to the school, the most successful season in the history of St. Margaret\u2019s Episcopal School. Congratulations to all our teams and especially to the girls\u2019 varsity tennis team which won its third consecutive CIF championship (and 72 consecutive matches) and to the boys\u2019 cross-country team which won a first-ever state championship. As we begin a new calendar year and witness a new building coming up out of the ground, we will be reminded regularly of our many blessings as a school community. This new chapter in the history of St. Margaret\u2019s is a profound and powerful tribute to the dedication and commitment of several generations of Tartans who have created the school we are today. Much has been accomplished these past 32 years and we are now poised for another exciting time in the history of St. Margaret\u2019s Episcopal School.<\/p>\n<p>Happy New Year and congratulations to us all!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Looking Forward: Happy New Year Tartans The arrival of a new calendar year gives us all a chance to step back, reflect on the year just passed and chart the course for the future. On November 16, St. Margaret\u2019s took a huge step toward the future when we gathered as a school community to break [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reflections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.smesnews.org\/headmaster\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.smesnews.org\/headmaster\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.smesnews.org\/headmaster\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.smesnews.org\/headmaster\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.smesnews.org\/headmaster\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.smesnews.org\/headmaster\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142,"href":"http:\/\/www.smesnews.org\/headmaster\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions\/142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.smesnews.org\/headmaster\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.smesnews.org\/headmaster\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.smesnews.org\/headmaster\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}