Through Christmas and Beyond

It has been as busy as Santa’s Workshop around here.  In preparation for the cold of winter, we’ve collected food, books, and coats for those less fortunate. Fifth grade student have put hours into earning first place in Georgia on the online math competition Sumdog, and our Academic Team has risen to tenth in the state. Preschoolers practiced and prepared a public presentation of the Nativity.  Lower schoolers engaged in the Posada, in which the Holy Family visits room to room on their way to Bethlehem. Four basketball teams, our cheerleaders, and our inaugural swim team have been working hard to be prepared for successful competition. More than forty members of our two choirs and praise band have been preparing for various performances.  Middle schoolers have been studying and preparing for exams, an exciting new growth experience for the 6^th graders.

That’s just what I can think of at the moment; I’m sure there’s more. The place is as busy and full of anticipation as the North Pole. But on December 24, Santa sets off to spread gifts and good will wherever he goes, and then, unlike here, the North Pole goes quiet and still for months.  Long after we have forgotten about Santa and tucked our decorations safely back in the attic, EDS will still be a hive of purposeful activity with every day dedicated to preparation and anticipation. Our students and faculty will remain fully engaged in laying the foundations for lives of meaning and purpose.

Already we are preparing for next year’s progress; in this Panther Prints is next year’s calendar; and when you return in January we will have a number of announcements about the future.  You will soon receive save-the-date information about this year’s State of the School presentation, which will be very different from last year’s and at which we will engage attendees in some brief but important work that will lay the foundation for our next stage of strategic planning. 

As with most of the rest of the world, EDS has certainly felt some of the impact of this economy.  But our hard-working, dedicated Board and administration have remained steadfastly focused on ensuring quality, maintaining our class size commitment, sustaining important programs, and protecting services to families.  We continue to find creative ways to be flexible and responsive to ever-changing conditions without sacrificing the student experience.  So although the waters are choppy at times and difficult decisions are necessary, we have a great crew, a steady grasp on the wheel, and a course charted for an even brighter future with exciting things on the horizon.

The Santa story is lovely, but it is temporal and temporary -- not enduring in the way the real Christmas story is.  That’s more like the work that we are doing -- ongoing preparation, working to build lives of purpose and service to God’s amazing world. We are hard at work laying the foundations for meaningful lives, with the sense that something momentous is about to occur, and our students will be ready. 

All of us at EDS wish you a wonderful, magical, fun Christmas break. We hope Santa visits your home. But more importantly, we hope you and your family find time to reflect upon and celebrate Emmanuel, God With Us.

“ ‘To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.  You will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’ And all at once there was with the angel a great company of the heavenly host, singing the praises of God, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.’ ”

Have a very Happy Christmas!  Turn off the bad news and celebrate the good news.