A Decade of Making Dreams Come True

Happy Birthday Chets Creek!

Last week’s action packed events celebrating our 10th year of learning together reconfirmed the community of learners and leaders culture that is so deeply entrenched in the work we do together. The community culture at Chets Creek is second to none. Founding Principal Dr. Terri Stahlman with a team of dedicated teachers set forth to establish the vision, mission, and learner expectations of our school based on Roland Barth’s work in Improving Schools From Within. This week’s events revisited this process, offered great reflection, and allowed for celebration of our great successes. Sure, we could have just sang Happy Birthday, or handed out cupcakes, but instead in true Chets Creek fashion---we celebrated with a week’s worth of over-the-top events, and created a lasting memory for our faculty and our students.

Participating in the events of the week, I marveled at the culture, how a small team of dedicated party planners came together to create this wonderful walk down memory lane, and how all stakeholders embraced the special memories.

Students revisited through DVD the “Magic School Bus Ride” that delivered the inaugural classes to their new school. They browsed through the Chets Creek Museum of artifacts that we dug up from the time capsule laid in place in 1998 under the primary playground. They dressed up in remembrance of old themes to hoot and holler at a Birthday Party complete with cake, music and lots of fun. They listed to guest alumni teacher and student readers after a faculty alumni breakfast. The 1,200 Chets Creek students gathered around the flag pole on Friday to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem, and hear their head learning leader, Principal Phillips speak about this very special community we all share. Each child then formed a part of the letters—C C E and took part in marking their place in history as a aerial photo was taken. The time capsule full of new 2008 student artifacts was then settled comfortably back in its place beneath the primary playground to be reopened in 2018 upon our twentieth birthday celebration.

As we usher in the next decade of learning and growing, I wonder what the future holds...