The Weekly Bulldog
May 23, 2019
From Tim: The Difference between happiness and joy
In my last letter of the school year, I’d like to say simply thank you for the privilege of walking alongside you during another year of helping children become the best selves they can.
I’ve quoted columnist David Brooks before, and no doubt I’ll do so again. For me, he captures some essential truths about the human experience, with direct relevance to our lives as parents and teachers. A couple weeks ago he wrote a column called, “The Difference Between Happiness and Joy.” Happiness is certainly fine and good, and it comes from things like accomplishments, yet joy is transcendent and “comes when your heart is in another.” He talks about the essence of friendships in our lives as one clear avenue to joy. “They say that love is blind, but the affection friends have for each other is the opposite of blind. It is ferociously attentive. You are vulnerable, and your friend holds your vulnerability. He pauses, and you wait for him. You err, and she forgives.”
It strikes me that we live in a time when vulnerability is hardly a valued commodity. We promote strength over weakness, winning at any cost, image over substance, and we’re encouraged to project unrealistic illusions of our lives over social media. It seems we are often too concerned with protecting our status to simply be genuine and risk letting the world see us as we really are.
But we get these moments in our lives, don’t we, when we get to cut through all the nonsense and experience joy in its purest sense. Graduation exercises are those for me – certainly those of my own children, and also those of our students each year. There’s just an overwhelming sense of contentment watching our children reach these critical milestones in their lives. In a moment, these rituals capture all our memories of what has gotten our children to this point, and they hold the promise and hopes of their futures.
My hope for all of us is that we celebrate another year passing for our children, and ourselves, in a manner that has meaning individually. I’ll see many of you at upcoming continuation and graduation exercises, and for all, I wish you a peaceful and joyful summer season.
All the best,
TimTop Five Things
1. K-2 Social-emotional class
This spring in Allison's social-emotional class, students focused on five main areas: problem solving; problems versus reaction sizes; impulse/self control; empathy for the earth; and stranger safety. Students used their imaginations putting themselves in the shoes of others' with the help of topical books and class discussion. Take a look at stanleybps.org/learndobecome.
2. Drop in for a bite on Wednesday - you've earned it!
3. Extended Day's annual Splash Day tomorrow
Everyone is welcome to play in the sprinklers at 12-3 p.m. Friday, May 29. It's Extended Day Splash Day. If your student isn't already enrolled in Extended Day that day, order drop-in care for the afternoon online. Kids need to remember a swimsuit, towel, shoes that can get wet... See the sign-up genius for details on the day.
4. School year's last call for box tops
Barbara says this was one of the most successful box-tops collection years for Extended Day classroom! Boxtops for Education will move to an app-based system next year, so if you have any remaining clipped coupons, drop them in the Hambidge Commons vestibule or the Extended Day room before June!
5. Parking at a premium during commencement season!
We love our cozy school, but our few accessible parking spaces are in high demand at this time of year. Please keep the accessible lanes clear for families and grand people during graduation celebrations this May.
Upcoming Events
May 23
Tuesday and Thursday Academic Clubs last day
Just-in-time-for-summer Book Swap (through Friday)
May 24
After-school Enrichments last day
May 27
May 28
Middle School Inflatable Fun Buy-a-share Event
May 29
Community Appreciation Breakfast
May 30
May 31
June 1
Stanley British Primary School
Email: admin@stanleybps.org
Website: www.stanleybps.org
Location: 350 Quebec St., Denver
Phone: (303) 360-0803
Facebook: facebook.com/stanley.british/
Twitter: @stanleybps