CAPTAIN'S CORNER

Dear St. Margaret's friends and families,

Happy New Year! One of the joys of working in schools is the opportunity for new beginnings. We experience them in September when our community takes form for the new school year and again in January, when we return from our first extended break. The Christmas holiday provides ample opportunities for reflection as well as the incentive to select just a few new year's resolutions. I always marvel at the sense of purpose I see in teachers and students in January, so different from the eager anticipation that ran through the school in December. Now we know all of the players as well as the goals and we settle in to accomplish them. It feels healthy and productive.

I like to take the time away to catch up with all of the books I have stacked on my bedside table throughout the fall. This year's collection included several great novels; a book of travel essays; NPR's National Story Project collection of true stories, titled I Thought My Father was God; Jim Collins' Good to Great, looking at common qualities of successful businesses; Rachel Simmons' Odd Girl Out, which explores the often hidden culture of aggression in girls; and Robert Sternberg's Practical Intelligence, about how practical and creative intelligence determine success in life.

Sternberg was the keynote speaker at this year's annual conference sponsored by The Association of Boarding Schools. Over the last year, he has conducted a research project to identify the qualities of successful students in boarding schools, with the premise that admission test scores are not the best predictor of success. Not surprisingly, he found that sensible self-confidence, motivation, internal locus of control, and an understanding of how to use the resources available within the school environment were the strongest determinants of success.

I was pleased to have seven St. Margaret's faculty members in the audience with me to hear Professor Sternberg emphasize the qualities which are so central to our mission of educating young women for life. These are the elements taught in our study skills program, as well as in each classroom. Our successful students take advantage of the many resources a boarding community provides, from Teacher Available periods to having your soccer coach also be your English teacher. As Sternberg says, "Successfully intelligent people don't just have abilities, they reflect on when and how to use these abilities effectively." What more could we wish for for our students?

Sincerely,
Margaret R. Broad,
Head of School

COMPASS POINTS

25 - SATs

30 - Long weekend begins after 2 p.m.

3 - Boarders return by7 p.m.

14-16 - Closed weekend

19-21 - Second trimester exams

21-23 - Closed weekend

24 - Minimester begins