Leaders at Woodside Priory School (CA) thought they knew the answer to this question, then began to rethink everything at the NAIS SummitHack in summer 2017. Girded by Benedictine values, Woodside Priory has long been focused on helping students create meaningful lives and find balance among schoolwork, play, and sleep. Several years ago, the school realized it was falling short on its mission. Seniors’ exit surveys revealed that students were feeling overwhelmed with academics and cheating to keep up. With a surge of youth suicides in Silicon Valley, school leaders redoubled their efforts to deliver on the school’s mission. Over the past few years, Woodside Priory has focused on teaching students how to achieve balance in their lives, and received a grant from the Edward E. Ford Foundation for this work. Then, in discussing this work with colleagues at the NAIS event, leaders realized that they needed to take a more holistic approach that honors students’ search for meaning. Here’s what they discovered.“Balance ultimately didn’t make sense as the end point. It’s a means to the end goal of a meaningful life. The challenge is to create balance so students have time and space to think about what a meaningful life would look like for them. We’re taking it one step at a time.”
—Matt Lai, Director of Admissions & Financial Aid
“The SummitHack lit a fire in us about balance and meaning—for students and faculty. What are we doing to model balance? For example, I am intentionally giving students brain breaks during class to reset their energy and attention. And in working with new faculty, I advocate for downtime and self-care as part of the journey into the culture of the school.”
—Kindra Briggs, English Department Chair and New Teacher Mentor
“Meaning is not part of a strategic marketing plan for us. It’s authentic and foundational to all we do. It’s the graduation outcome we care most about. It’s how we want to hire people. We want it to be the orienting principle for us.”
—Adam Siler, Dean of Residential Life