Today was the first day for all of the faculty and staff to be back on campus together. After some time of prayer, conversation, and encouragement in the morning, each school went to its respective division meetings: Pre-Grammar and Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric.

I sat in on 30 to 45 minutes of each meeting, and I was struck again by the adaptability of a school like CCA to meet the needs of students throughout the entire span of their childhoods. We get them when they are three, and they leave us when they are eighteen. THREE to EIGHTEEN all on one campus, with one staff, but not without a variety of designs.Here’s a snapshot of that adaptable program, based on the major themes of the meetings:

The Logic teachers were talking about stress and space when I slipped into their meeting. Mrs. Cook had made the point that being aware of stress in kids corresponded to teachers being aware of stress in their own lives and in their colleagues. One part of the solution for stress in a frenetic society is to intentionally slow the pace of activity—editing curriculum and assignments, for instance—and to stay focused on care for one another.

In the Rhetoric meeting, the main theme can be summed up with a question: How do we show friendship and empathy to our students? They are increasingly socially independent, they manage much of their own schedules and affairs, they make decisions about the contours of their lives largely on their own. As more than one teacher noted, “Discipleship happens in relationships, so that needs to be a top priority.”

See the span? To see it all in about an hour and a half reminded me of the wonder of a classical Christian school. The investment we make in our students is not isolated—it is universal. By the time they leave us they have become adults (if not entirely full formed). But what a privilege to shape them for so long and with such a wonderful purpose.