Palmer Trinity School

Many Palmer Trinity students take a Sustainability Pledge, one that commits them to reducing their environmental impact. This idea of sustainability, however, is also a thread connecting their lives as students to the alumni they become after graduation. "Sustainability" denotes an ability to be maintained, a harmonious balance between intake and output. This, in the end, is the greatest wish that parents, teachers, and the entire Palmer Trinity community can hope for our graduating students. The ability to maintain who you are means that the foundation you stand on is strong, the learning you've garnered is sound, and the presence of mind you occupy is resolute. The theme of this issue of the Aerie magazine is next steps and letting go, embarking on college and university, and what it is like to transition from student to alumni. You'll read about two alumni, Gil Lang (1997) and Dax Tejera (2003), who eloquently describe how Palmer Trinity set them on their current paths. You'll also read Assistant Head of School for Academics Bruce Musgrave, as he explains how the three facets of education here (curriculum, co-curriculum, and extra-curriculum) impact student life, and what is important to know for graduation. This issue pivots its focus on the time before and after graduation, or another word for the event, commencement, which rightly suggests the beginning rather than simply an ending. Bel Kaufman, professor and author, said: "Education is not a product: mark, diploma, job, money…it is a process, a never-ending one." And so the process continues for our 2010 graduates, as their knowledge and dreams are sustained into the next stage. Education serves to create and solve puzzles, because the more you know, the more you are aware of what you don't know. Change, however, is difficult. Experts everywhere have questioned why change is hard. What is it about our brains that resists new ways of life? The best laid plans, the most organized sequence of actions, can still be challenging to face head on. Our graduates are at an interesting crux in their lives, because it is imperative to honor and celebrate this outstanding achievement of high school graduation, while still focusing on what is yet to come. I think a primary wish for graduates is to focus on moving forward while still hoping to leave an imprint. We can't look in the front and rear view mirrors simultaneously, however, and still expect to arrive at our destinations. This is when our graduates have to have faith that their many hours of college preparation did indeed equip them for their next journey. That the friendships made here at Palmer Trinity will last a lifetime. And that letting go is the only way to move through space and time, in spite of how difficult it can be. Our students must have faith in sustainability, for indeed, they will be the sustainers of the future. Suzanne Gottlieb Calleja Director of Communications and Public Relations EDITOR'S NOTES | Editor's Notes | 1

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