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ABS Thursday Notes- June 6, 2024

Published for the Arts Based School Community

June 6, 2024


Wow! What a year!

We are grateful to all our families, students, board members, and staff for another great year at ABS! We are honored by the trust that you all give to us to look after and educate your children. Together, we rose to the challenge, and we have been able to accomplish so many good things for out students our school, and our community!


On Monday, as we watched our 8th graders cross the stage to receive their diplomas, we saw in them much of the love and care poured into them: from their families and homes, their teachers and friends, and from our school. We are full of hope for their future and for ours as a community. Thank you for being a part of our school!


8th Grade Graduation Speech 2024

-Mary Siebert


This is what we call a mountaintop moment; when you can look around you and see how far you’ve come. Your parents and teachers see that too. It’s not just an important night, it’s your life. It’s nine years of your childhood extending behind you, and the rest of your life ahead.


We are all thinking about what you’ve learned here. We’re all hoping it’s enough. In fact, we are hoping it’s way more than enough. Enough to graduate, yes. Enough to pass the test. But we hope you’ve learned more than that. 


It’s true that a test can sometimes reveal how much you've learned. Sometimes you just need to know the right answer. But as you get older, problems arise, and you have to find an answer that nobody has found before. Sometimes you need to create something new or make a discovery. Mrs. Hollis’s husband is a biochemist and a professor at Wake Forest University. He once told her that his students are all very good at getting the right answers. But the students he really wants to see are the ones who can come up with new ideas and solve problems. That takes creative thinking, and that’s what we hope you will do.


You have had experience with this. When you made those beautiful portraits of yourself with Mrs. Gledhill and Diana Green, the ones we have been projecting this evening, and which you’ll take home with you. You didn’t start out knowing how they would look. You had to learn how to work with the tools and the techniques. You had to develop an idea, then play around with it, and eventually you made decisions that created your portrait. As you were working on it, your ideas changed about what the portrait would be, and what it could be. Some things you tried didn’t work, and you couldn’t just quit, you had to try another angle. You’ve been through this creative process in many ways, at this school. Notice that, in describing that process, I used the word work AND the word play. You need both. 


You might think that math or science are areas where there is a single right answer, and that the arts are different. But in fact, how to make a middle C sound on an instrument does have a right or wrong. And in a play, if you have lines, you have to get them right. You have to get the steps of choreography right. There is room for your personal style…but there is a right or wrong. 


Once you know the basic tools and techniques though, whether you are writing or singing or making pottery or memorizing a scientific formula, that’s when you can start becoming creative. There is such a thing as a beautiful mathematical equation. And if you’ve ever talked with an auto mechanic who has a passion for their work, you can see that they love the problem solving. The important elements are curiosity and persistence.


At your last Friday Sing, the song I chose was “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.” Maybe the most important lesson you’ve started learning here is how to identify your own light, and how to let it shine. 


One of the things I love about your teachers in the Arts Based middle school is that they love what they teach. It’s not only kids and teaching that they love. Ms. Farrell is fascinated by social studies and history and human interactions across time. She loves to learn about that, and she loves to share it by teaching. Ms. McNamara loves literature and poetry and writing. She reads all summer, for fun, and she loves to get students interested in authors. Ms. Hoffman, Ms. Cleland, Mr. Woosley, Coach Bri, (don’t even get her started about pickleball…) all of your specialists…they love their subjects. They have identified a light that attracts them, and something they can share.


So now is the beginning of a journey to find out what interests you. What draws you in? What is so interesting to you that you could give your heart, your creative thinking to it?  I don’t mean that you love it like you love your favorite band or a video game or a football team. Those are things that entertain you, and that’s fine. But what makes you want to apply your brain and your energy? Where do you want to help solve problems? What PULLS you? Some people call this following your bliss.


THAT is the American dream: to figure out what you care about and what you are passionate about, and to be free to give yourself to that. It’s not buying a Mercedes or a highrise apartment. It’s doing work that you care about, that you can give you life to and enjoy it. What makes your little light shine?


So in the end, the most important thing we are teaching here is love. Love for learning,  for being alive, and curiosity about the way that everything is interconnected in a beautiful web. All of this beauty is meant for ALL of us. It’s meant for all of you.


Look inside yourself and find out what you care about most. Not something that you take from, but something that you want to give yourself to. 


We will miss you, graduates! Please stay in touch, and let us know where life takes you.

The video of the 2024 Graduation is now posted on the parent portal

Password: ABS2024


How Did We Do?

Each year we conduct a student survey (grades 2-8) to gauge our success from our students’ perspectives. We also use these results to understand what’s working and what’s not working as well as we’d like. Results are attached to your email. 


Thank you ABS Volunteers!

   I wanted to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude for your dedication to volunteering at the Arts Based School. Your invaluable support and commitment have made a significant difference in our school community, and we are truly grateful for your presence.

   Your willingness to invest your time and energy into ABS has had a profound impact on our students, teachers, and staff. From assisting in classrooms, chaperoning field trips, or contributing your skills and expertise, your efforts have enriched the learning environment and created memorable experiences for our students.

   Your commitment to fostering a positive and nurturing educational atmosphere has not gone unnoticed. Your unwavering support has shown our students the importance of community involvement and instilled in them a sense of pride in our school.

 

Videos of Performances

You can find videos of this year’s performances at the Family Portal on our website. 

 

The Mary Siebert Legacy Fund

To honor Mary Siebert’s outstanding legacy, her friends are collecting gifts large and small to ensure that Mary’s influence will be felt for years to come in the place where she dedicated so much of herself. All gifts made to the Mary Siebert Legacy Fund will support the resident artist program that bring learning to life at ABS. For more details and to make a gift, please visit this page. 



Ways to get involved and learn more about ABS:


 

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