A Note from karen One year ago, we were preparing our Winter 2020 issue with no idea how severely our work and our lives would soon be impacted. After a spring with so much upheaval, we spent the summer in planning and reflection, sharing in our summer issue how we as individuals and as a community were processing quickly changing information on public health, the rise in racial justice protests, and a transition to largely distanced and virtual life. As I write to you now, I admit I am writing from a place of inner conflict. I am heartened by our strength and resilience, by the tremendous amount of work on display by our learning community and society to adapt our way of life, to create a vaccine, to sustain and support each other as best we can. I feel frustration in the unfulfilled promise of our country’s social justice aims to create a more equitable and just society. And I am reeling from the violent insurrection we witnessed on the floor of Congress just days ago. I know that each of you, like me, holds your own unique mix of emotions and reactions as we process all that has happened and is happening. It is important to acknowledge the weight that we are carrying. We owe it to ourselves to address our social-emotional needs while finding the glimmers of hope that can feed our strength. We also owe it to each other to ask what is needed of us to help others find hope and courage.
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We & Thee | Winter 2021
These months of hardship have laid bare so many truths, but they have also affirmed and uplifted one thing I already knew to be true — that this incredible learning community is one built on respect, shaped by passionate dedication, and defined by love. I see that love in the care with which our teachers nurture our children’s curiosity. I see that love in alumni who are eager to aid students and staff. I see that love in the ways our students use their voices to advocate for others. I see that love in the trust we build, in the connections we make, in the contributions of hundreds to nurture the mission of Carolina Friends School. Know that I continue to hold all of us in the Light. I hope that among the updates, reflections, and news in this issue, you are able to find sparks of hope, joy, and courage. I leave you with this quote from Nelson Mandela, “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
In peace,
Karen Cumberbatch Head of School
