Last week, I was asked by a local resident “what kind of parent sends their child away to boarding school?” I have, as you might guess, answered this question many times and I see it as an opportunity to talk about the Leelanau School as well as broaden others’ perspectives on options for secondary education. My short answer goes like this: Parents will often look at boarding school as an option because they find that they provide a better learning environment for their child or meet the needs of their child better than any of their local options. Often this prompts questions and further discussion and other times it seems to be sufficient for the person asking. My hope and intention is that the person with whom I’m speaking leaves knowing that choosing to send your son or daughter to boarding school is not about sending them away; no parent finds that to be an easy decision, but is rather an investment in their child’s future.

What I’d like to say to them is that the parents who send their child to boarding school are the ones who understand that there is no better environment in which to learn (or teach) discipline, accountability, compassion, commitment and the benefits of hard work.

Students who are surrounded by an energetic, engaging, dynamic faculty are encouraged to learn and live in a manner, which is in conflict with the increasingly impersonal and increasingly fragmented nature of our “busy” society. This developing life style includes being vulnerable to and with others, learning to measure a person’s value on actions rather than demographics or cultural norms, offering a helping hand before it is asked for, realizing the depth and range of one’s actions, and commitment to a very real community—critical components of a meaningful and purposeful life.

As beneficial and powerful as these lessons of life that can be learned in a caring student centered school are, we are still schools and a school’s strength is often measured (externally, at least) by its academic curriculum. I believe strongly in a liberal arts education. Students need a broad and solid foundation on which to build. I believe that students need to be kids first—our focus should be to maintain and protect their natural curiosity for their world and provide them with a healthy environment and the skills to follow their curiosity and passion—other critical components of a meaningful and purposeful life.

We work hard every day to be this boarding school for our students. Your gifts, visits, relationships with each other, even your shared memories support us in this work. Thank you for your commitment to the Leelanau School, our students and our future students.

I wonder how the woman who asked me the question last week would have responded to my longer answer—would she have walked away shaking her head or would she have asked for a stack of applications to share with others she meets?

Matt Ralston, Head of School, 2009-2016

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