It was good to see and speak with so many of you at our three Back to School Nights over the past two weeks. I welcomed the opportunity on those nights to share with you the larger ideas that animate the AFS experience. Against trends in education that have been narrowing for decades, our ambition for our children comes from a generous and expansive view of who they are and can become as full human beings.

Passionate about the importance of our distinct vision for education, I am challenging myself as a leader and our entire community to extend the reach of our school to more families in our surrounding region this year. Simply put, more families should experience an AFS education and the goodness that it brings to the lives of children and that grows so beautifully in the lives, families and communities of our graduates.

We have a major opportunity to connect with new families during ourAdmission Open House on Saturday, October 17, beginning at 1 p.m. Please take seriously the concrete challenge to have one prospective family visit that day because of your family’s specific outreach.

To that end, I encourage you to think about your own path to AFS and who else from your communities – former schools, places of business, congregations, co-ops – should know more about AFS. Think of specific children in your circles who you think might thrive at AFS and encourage their parents to explore AFS as a potential life-changing possibility for their family.

Other steps to I encourage you to take:

• Display an AFS Open House sign on your lawn. Pride in our community is infectious and really does capture the attention of families in our surrounding communities.
• Help build our visible presence in the wider world with an AFS magnet on your car and AFS hoodies, hats and t-shirts on your family members!

There is a natural and valuable humility that we embody as a Friends school, but the light of this community should also shine brightly. I believe passionately in the value of an AFS education and I know that many of you share that passion. Let’s harness that spirit and energy to ensure the strongest possible enrollment at AFS. By doing so, we enrich more lives and our own community is enriched socially, in the range of programs we can offer and in the overall strength as a school. Thanks for joining me in advocacy for this vision of education.