Head of School's Message: November 28

Chandler was a school in full as Heritage Day and Grandparents' and Special Friends' Day returned for the first time in three years - full of food during the Heritage Day picnic and full of visitors. The atmosphere was overwhelmingly joyful.

Thanks to everyone who helped prepare food for Chandler’s Thanksgiving a.k.a. The Heritage Picnic. There was no turkey or stuffing but an abundance of falafel, collard greens, sushi, pretzels and dumplings. Dishes from all over the world represented Chandler family heritages. Plates were piled high. Everything was eaten, and while no one napped in class on Thursday afternoon, it was not the most productive of teachable times. Students digested the food and gained a deeper understanding of the rich, diverse school culture to which they belong. 

Thanks to Hillary Blunt, Chandler’s Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, for her leadership in organizing the heritage picnic alongside CFA Special Events Chair Julie Ambrose and thanks to our amazing parent body for volunteering during a busy time of year to prepare and serve food, to help with set-up and clean-up and for enjoying the celebration along with the students, faculty and staff.

After a three-year absence, many of the Grandparents and Special Friends who visited the campus on Friday were here for the first time. Following welcoming remarks and music recitals, the classrooms greeted the guests for activities organized by teachers that brought the generations together. There were scavenger hunts in the kindergarten garden, readings of student work in second grade and math games in the seventh and eighth grades where visitors experienced a warm glow of nostalgia at being back at school, and no one suffered fear-inducing flashbacks as they faced equations for the first time in a while.

Thanks to Jennifer Johnson '94, Chandler’s Assistant Director of Advancement and Community Engagement, Lower School Director and Head Elect Emily Brown and Middle School Director Rob Evans for organizing the event. Thanks also to parent volunteers who helped shuttle people from their cars to the campus, for helping to guide visitors once they were here and for taking photos of the event. It was a fantastic community effort. 

At the end of the morning, as everyone streamed out of school and headed off for the official Thanksgiving holiday, the grandparent of one of our new sixth-grade students came over to me and said that he loved joining his grandaughter in class and enjoyed meeting her friends and their grandparents. As he walked away, he turned around and said, “What a great place to go to school.”

Thanks to our parents, students, faculty, staff and administrators for making Chandler a great place to go to school. 

With gratitude,