Every six years, we come together as one school to tell our story: Who are we? Where have we come from? What matters to us? Where are we going?
As befits our name – Ka Punahou, the living water – this story is one of reflection and renewal.
This year, our Self-Study year, we have the opportunity to look honestly at ourselves and answer some hard questions:
How well do we live up to our mission?
What is the experience we are creating for our students?
And can we agree on the map that will take us beyond what we know now about ourselves and into a confident future?
We see this Self-Study as a truly shared enterprise: we – all of us – are the storytellers, each of our voices a valued part of the process of defining who we are.
As Carol Dweck, who spoke in this chapel at the recent Brain Symposium, has written about the power of the "growth mindset":
"Why waste time proving over and over how great you are, when you could be getting better? Why hide deficiencies instead of overcoming them? Why look for friends or partners who will just shore up your self-esteem instead of ones who will also challenge you to grow? And why seek out the tried and true, instead of experiences that will stretch you? The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it […] is the hallmark of the growth mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to thrive."
With such a mindset, we hope to discover what matters to us, where we are going and how we're going to get there together. As the 175th anniversary of our school approaches in 2016, we invite you to help us tell the story of ku’u home -- our home.
As befits our name – Ka Punahou, the living water – this story is one of reflection and renewal.
This year, our Self-Study year, we have the opportunity to look honestly at ourselves and answer some hard questions:
How well do we live up to our mission?
What is the experience we are creating for our students?
And can we agree on the map that will take us beyond what we know now about ourselves and into a confident future?
We see this Self-Study as a truly shared enterprise: we – all of us – are the storytellers, each of our voices a valued part of the process of defining who we are.
As Carol Dweck, who spoke in this chapel at the recent Brain Symposium, has written about the power of the "growth mindset":
"Why waste time proving over and over how great you are, when you could be getting better? Why hide deficiencies instead of overcoming them? Why look for friends or partners who will just shore up your self-esteem instead of ones who will also challenge you to grow? And why seek out the tried and true, instead of experiences that will stretch you? The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it […] is the hallmark of the growth mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to thrive."
With such a mindset, we hope to discover what matters to us, where we are going and how we're going to get there together. As the 175th anniversary of our school approaches in 2016, we invite you to help us tell the story of ku’u home -- our home.