Head's Notebook: Finding Your Voice

This fall has been an exciting time to be at Fay with the opening of the Center for Creativity and Design. When I was growing up, my school looked very different than Fay does today; back then, the individual most likely to be regarded as the smartest person in the room was the one who had the most information about the topic at hand. I could never have imagined that in 2022, we would have access to virtually all of the world’s information via the smartphones in our pockets.

This evolution means that understanding how to sift through information and identify credible sources are crucial skills for students today. So of course these skills are taught throughout Fay, because we are committed to teaching what students need to be successful right now.

 

But we are also constantly thinking about our students’ futures and preparing them for what will come. And we might be tempted to ask: do we have an important future innovator, such as the inventor of the next smartphone, here in our student body? But instead, Fay approaches this differently by asking: what if making impactful contributions to the world isn’t a pre-existing condition that lies within one student and not others? What if we can create conditions at Fay so all students graduate with the creative confidence to tackle problems, devise ingenious solutions, and contribute to the world in meaningful ways?

 

We may not know what our students’ futures hold, but we do know that every generation has to face unprecedented problems. So how do we prepare our students to be the ones to find the solutions? Foundational skills and knowledge–in reading, writing, math, science, and history–are critical. One cannot build a life of learning without them. But beyond that, students will need other skills. Students need to become comfortable with failure, and with sticking with a challenge until they solve it. In the Center for Creativity and Design, we call this iterating, and it is built into every project. Students become accustomed to iterating and can see over time how their final product is superior to their first prototype. In this way, Fay students also develop the enduring skills of persistence, reflection, resilience, and effort.

 

Our students also need to be able to communicate their knowledge and discoveries to others. After two-plus years of pandemic-induced isolation, we have learned first-hand how essential communication, connectedness, and collaboration are to children’s well-being. One might argue that communication skills are more consequential than ever now that we share some of the same challenges with the rest of the world, whether it be climate change, financial market stability, or global pandemics. If students are going to lead positive change in their communities, whether their community is their class, their school, their family, their town, their country or the whole world, they must find their voice and speak up.

 

“Finding Your Voice” is this year’s schoolwide theme, but it has actually been deeply ingrained in the Fay experience for years–and is something central to who we are as a school.

Throughout their time at Fay, our students participate in Vox Inventum, which loosely translates to “Finding Voice.” Vox Inventum is a school-wide program developed by our faculty that fosters public speaking and presentation skills, cultivates self-advocacy and organizational skills, and emphasizes effort, civility, and kindness. Vox Inventum is infused into classes across the grades and disciplines, and it is woven into the fabric of daily life at Fay. You will find it, for example, in our advisory program, in our formal public speaking program, and in our biweekly effort grades.

 

Through the Vox Inventum program, Fay students learn how to identify their intellectual passions and pursue their interests. They practice leadership, whether they are serving as a dorm proctor, captaining a sports team, leading a Morning Meeting, or coordinating a conversation about identity in our Community Connections discussion group. And they learn that manners matter, from looking someone in the eye when they’re speaking to offering a confident handshake. Perhaps without even realizing it, Fay students participate in Vox Inventum every single day–from required classes in the Center for Creativity & Design, to speeches, family style meals, and service learning projects– just to name a few examples.

 

It is indeed an inspiring time to be at Fay. Our new Center for Creativity & Design offers our students the best of learning on the leading edge while also supporting our ongoing commitment to our core values. And we are with our students every step of their journey, helping them get ready to tackle life’s challenges with confidence, empathy, and creativity–and helping each one of them find their voice along the way.

 

—Beth Whitney, Acting Head of School