A visitor asked me the other day how long I’d been at Woodland. Ten years, I told her, and then I thought, “really? Ten years?” When I came to Woodland in the fall of 2001, there was an entirely different cast of characters in the school office, and it took a long time for me to not feel like the new girl. I was blessed to be taught and supported in the traditions of Woodland by co-workers who were generous, engaged, and absolutely crazy about Woodland Presbyterian School.
So, ten years of Welcome Back Family Cookouts, of Grandparents’ Days, First Grade Thanksgiving Feasts and Science Fairs, adorable kiddos in their Christmas programs and “Santa is the Man” performed by 5th and 6th graders in shades, Favorite Guy Breakfasts, and Homecoming with its transformation of 8th grade girls in braces into beautiful young ladies in heels, towering over their escorts who haven’t yet gotten their height. There are great new traditions that have come along too—the Golf Tournament and Family Science Night, the incredible Middle School Arts Showcase, and so many more. I can honestly say that it never gets old—I think I get as excited about seeing your second-grader in his school play as you do. And I always cry, no matter what they are singing.
It is hard to explain the sweet—sometimes bittersweet—comfort of watching your children start out with their loveys and blankeys, progress to tooth necklaces from the nurse’s office (there was NO nurse’s office, or nurse! for the first several years I was here), go on to being too-cool-for-school middle-schoolers, and then tearfully say goodbye to Woodland for the kind of scary and big world of high school. The amazing thing is that these kids get it—they may not show it, but they know they have been loved and known and appreciated for who they are at Woodland, and leaving the nest is not easy. The good news is: they are ready, whether they know it or not.
It seems clichéd to say they feel like mine, or anyway like ours, and to worry a little as we send them on their way. Like parenting, we know we did lots of things well while they were at Woodland, and maybe a couple of things not as well as we’d like, so we pray for strength and mercy and grace for them and for kind and understanding and patient teachers to come alongside them as they leave us. As we begin this new season of growth and exciting improvements to our campus, I look forward to the new traditions we’ll establish, but after ten years at Woodland, I know with all my heart that our essence will always be intact. Woodland Presbyterian School is, as our motto says, “growing young hearts and minds.” What a privilege it is to be a part of that vision.
Nancy VanCleve
Administrative Assistant
