"Cotton-Eyed Joe" became a staple of our agility drills and part of our warmup routine on race days. What a great way for runners to get themselves in a positive mindframe right before a race — laughing and dancing with their teammates and friends right before toeing the starting line!

One of my goals as an educator is to move them towards being comfortable with uncertainty by helping them make guesses, hypothesize, test theories, and ask questions.

Most people see the new calendar year or the spring months as symbolic of a fresh start or some type of renewal. As an educator, I feel fortunate to have another opportunity to begin again each fall. The new school year affords me a chance to reflect on what has worked in my practice and tweak what hasn’t; to unlock new creative possibilities; to watch a new and unique Dana Hall community engage, learn, and grow together.

Originally the goal of the Peer Education program was to prepare students to lead peer-to-peer discussions around topics such as body positivity, mental health, healthy friendships, and digital responsibility during the eight weeks they were scheduled to teach. While the main goal of the group continues, the student peer educators expressed they wanted to impact the Dana Hall community beyond just the classroom.

We rely on schools to keep our children safe and meaningfully occupied during the day, but it’s not just high-quality custodial care that makes a school like Dana Hall so valuable. A good school experience is one where every aspect of a child’s life is enhanced.

Art. Fun. House. These three words form the title of the current Dana Art Gallery show. They represent the ideals of creativity, pure joy, and community that the arts can provide and that we are in desperate need of in our daily lives right now.