Strength: Our New School-Wide Theme

The school-wide theme for the 2023/24 year is Strength. Throughout the school year, we will consider Strength in curriculum and community, investigating how each of us can adopt healthy mental, emotional, and physical ideas of strength.

As we encounter, accept, and complete challenges, we strengthen our patience and fortitude, allowing us to develop unique individual skills. Knowing how and when to utilize these personal abilities requires deep mental and emotional awareness. However, it often takes even more understanding to recognize when to step away or simply say “no”. Our choices help define our strength. At The Willows, we emphasize and encourage our community to resolve to make the difficult decisions when there are quicker and easier alternatives available.

“How do you choose to make hard decisions and exhibit strength?” From my experience, it would all lead back to one concept: being comfortable with vulnerability. More often than not, when we try something we’ve never done before, it doesn’t go the way we want, and that’s okay! Whether it takes much longer than expected or is far more difficult than it appears, the traits that allow someone to become stronger in a particular discipline are not inherent; strength develops through perseverance and diligence. Failing at first is a normal and expected outcome, but how we respond to that adversity is what matters most.

         For example, in my lifetime, I have a goal to run a full marathon. While I know how to run and am in relatively healthy shape, I do not have the strength to be able to run 26.2 miles in a single race. To do so, I would have to make and keep to a strict physical and mental training regiment, diet, and sleep schedule, for at least 6 months. Each choice to forgo relaxation in favor of training is not representative of strength; rather, each instance is an individual choice to develop strength to achieve the greater goal. The same can be said for any achievement, whether it be physical, mental, or emotional. Strength is not a static characteristic; it is consistently built through the choices one makes when faced with adversity.

         During this school year, The Willows will continue to motivate students, faculty, and staff to dive into vulnerability and find comfort in making the hard, yet right decisions, paving the path for achievement at the highest level. As we steadily build strength through our choices, we will additionally explore the many facets of strength through scientific, social, and historical examination.