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Letters to Seniors: Michael Mann

Dear Seniors,

This year reveals in the starkest way that nothing is permanent, that our lives are only somewhat under our control, that we must bend in the wind or risk breaking.

This experience will make poets out of some of you; others will become filmmakers and musicians; others novelists. Some of you will go into medicine to find cures for the next pandemic. Some of you will return to the land and grow food and raise animals to feed your fellow Vermonters. Some of you will run for public office and demonstrate, for a new generation, the leadership Vermonters have always shown in hard times.

James Joyce wrote, in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, “Welcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race.” By race, he was referring to his Irishness, his cultural roots. Each of you, too, has now encountered the reality of experience, and each of you is forging in the smithy of your soul the uncreated conscience of the human race.

We count on you to restore the earth to balance, to be kind and generous to the downtrodden, to think of others before yourself, to create, to be great. We believe in you.

All the best, class of 2020!

Mike Mann
Class of 1984



our VALUES

Excellence

We set high expectations. We challenge all members of the school community to reach their highest potential.

Commitment

We value initiative, courage and dedication. We take personal responsibility for the goals we set and work hard to achieve them.

Cooperation

We work and learn together. We see teachers as coaches, students as team members, families as partners, and learning as practice and action.

Caring

We provide individuals with personalized support and guidance. We care about each other and the larger community.

Diversity

We respect differences among people. We welcome the contribution of varied perspectives to a rich and flexible school culture.