What’s Happening at Bement
The Year of the Dragon is coming to a close, and the Year of the Snake will begin on Wednesday, January 29th – Happy Lunar New Year! Each year at Bement, our community gathers to celebrate the Lunar New Year with a series of student performances, traditional Lunar New Year activities & games, and a massive feast for all attendees. Over 150 Bement students, parents, faculty, and staff attended this year’s celebration; it was a perfect way to ring in the Year of the Snake. A big Bement thank you to all the parent volunteers and Bement employees who helped plan this special tradition for another year.
What I’m Reading, and/or Watching, and/or Listening To
A friend at Hotchkiss recommended a great recent podcast from Serial and the New York Times: “The Good Whale.” This limited series (which requires a NYT subscription) chronicles the story of Keiko, the orca who portrayed Willy in the 1993 hit film Free Willy. Keiko’s true story is compelling from a number of angles, even if the movie is unfamiliar to you. Picture a FedEx airplane flying a five-ton whale from Mexico City to the Pacific Northwest–and that’s just in the first two episodes! I zipped through this podcast in a matter of days – enjoy!
What Else Is on My Mind
In this section this week, I am reprinting a section from an email I sent to all Bement families last week regarding the school’s position on recent political developments.
This week, the new presidential administration issued a series of executive orders covering a range of topics: immigration, gender identity, climate change, and federal initiatives designed to lift up traditionally marginalized groups, to name a few. Most of these orders, which are limited in scope but symbolically powerful, have no direct bearing on Bement’s operations, practices, or policies. However, they offer a preview of a new administration’s legislative agenda, and some members of Bement’s community may feel their effects more acutely, especially if they are directed at a group, identity, or policy that touches their family.
At Bement, our core values of compassion, integrity, resilience, and respect guide daily life on campus and are derived from our school’s mission statement and century of history. They exist and persist outside of the shifting winds of politics, and they provide a foundation that will guide Bement’s faculty and staff during this period of transition. Bement does not plan to change or adjust any of its policies based on the recent actions or stated priorities of the current administration.
More specific to the issues in the news today, Bement’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, co-led by two faculty members, will continue its vital work to support the entire Bement community and advance the principles outlined in Bement’s Diversity Mission Statement. Bement remains committed to strengthening the bonds our students, faculty, staff, families, and alumni have forged together and to supporting each student and family who comprise our nurturing, inclusive community.