It is my pleasure to give the remarks for the closing of our inaugural year. This is a momentous occasion – worth the celebration and time reflecting on what we have done here together this year. As I look around the room, I am deeply grateful for you, parents. I remember meeting each of you at various Information Sessions we held throughout the winter and spring of 2023. You listened to Mr. Gibson and me give presentations where you learned about educational philosophies including progressive, critical, and classical. We talked about a different kind of school – a school that teaches the best content in the best way – a tried and true way. A school that has order and joy. A school that endeavors to help its scholars understand the difference between opinion and knowledge by giving them access to the best ideas of the best thinkers. We introduced you to Hillsdale’s Program Guide and promised to implement it well. We talked about rigor and challenge – co-curriculars that are integrated with core content areas – You had to imagine all this and take the step of faith, hoping Mr. Gibson and I weren’t selling you a bag of false dreams.
You caught the vision.
Not only am I grateful, but I am proud of you. It is no small thing you have signed up for and you are doing well.
Scholars, ultimately, it is because of you that we are here today – to commemorate our time together – and what a year it has been. For our youngest scholars, this is the only school you have known and for our oldest scholars, there is much to be compared, but here you are at a different kind of school.
There is a character in one of the books we read at CCA, Fahrenheit 451, called Faber. He says that he “doesn’t talk things – he talks the meaning of things” – he says this is how he knows he “is alive.”
Scholars, are you alive? Oh yes, I know you are breathing, your heart is pumping, you have a pulse, but is that the ‘alive’ Faber means?
Talking about the meaning of things requires knowing some things – reading some things– remembering some things – putting some things in context of other some things – then standing back to look, think deeply, evaluate, and reject without remorse the bad ideas (we all have them). All this takes time and effort – you will make mistakes, fail, have light-bulb moments. And all this takes attending to the best things and cultivating your heart and mind toward Truth – and not the truth that says whatever I think is true – but Truth that withstands the crucible of thought, experiment, and discussion. This is how meaning is found.
Scholars, are you alive?
In a world of AI, Tick-Tok, and endless streaming content that declares to you what to think, CCA stands as an institution that intentionally uses the classical model so that you can have a complete education and learn to think for yourself. Here you habituate objective goodness as a matter of living and not superficial performance. CCA is a place where the content of a book may be confusing, where a science lab may not turn out the way you expect it to, and where you may not get the right answer to a math problem on the first try. Here you get to learn – you get to try – you get to understand – you get to discover what is Good, Beautiful, and True without the synthetic distractions of endless hours on a device, shaping a reality based on feelings and the shifting sands of cultural revolutions.
What a wonderful year it has been!
It is bitter-sweet saying goodbye – we have all been through so much and grown to love each other well. Scholars, think back to the first Morning Assembly. Our community lunches- what a joy it was to watch our Kindergarteners sit with Upper School scholars. How about the talents that were exhibited at our Thanksgiving lunch (you are a talented group of people!), the stockings at Christmas and the Greek Games. Think about the friendships you have forged – even through adversity and change – think about the bonds that hold us together.
What was your favorite day? Class? Event? Moment? Take time to reflect. What was your least favorite day? Class? Event? Moment? Take time to reflect- it is the good times and the hard times that will fortify you.
I am so proud of you – you are the reason Mr. Gibson along with the Board of Directors started this school and called me to get in on the adventure. You are the reason I come to school each day. You are the reason our faculty and staff come to school each day. You the reason your parents chose to send you to Columbus Classical Academy. It’s a paradox, isn’t it? It is all for you and yet we spend a lot of time trying to get you to not think about yourselves so much – to look outside of yourself to see there are others in your atmosphere and to care for them, to love and order your affections rightly. Even Mr. Gibson spoke about it yesterday at Morning Assembly when he told us that the “the world today will tell you that loving yourself is the first and highest love. Don’t believe it for a second.” It would be easy to sit back and think that because all of this is for you it is all about you and to get rather smug – but happiness after all is found in the outpouring of love for others. So, maybe that’s why we all come every day to be with you.
Do not waste this gift of classical education– do not wallow in self-pity or get into the comparison trap – “desiring this man’s art or that man’s scope” as Shakespeare put it in a sonnet long ago. Do take the time to wonder at the world around you, ask great questions, soak in the knowledge your teachers offer, and seek to know that for which you are made – it can be found. We are closing the first chapter of our story together, but there are so many more adventures to come, so I have one last encouragement for you before we get into the awards portion of our morning. While this has indeed been a year special year – there is only one founding year, be ready to embrace new scholars in the fall – there will be more who come, they will want what you received this year – welcome them with willing, charitable, and generous hearts.
Thank you.
