By Alex Chantilas ’18, News Editor
Over the course of the past couple of weeks, members of Student Council, Honor Council, and the Peer Mentoring program have teamed up with faculty members to discuss Country Day’s motto: Virtue in Action. The goal of the endeavor was to recognize “Country Day as an already wonderful place to be a student and teacher,” while at the same time “working to make it an even more inclusive place,” said ninth and tenth grade Dean of Students Chantal Thornberry. Virtue in Action means something different for each member of the Country Day community, so it makes sense that the group be made up of a wide breadth of people. The perspective that each individual was able to provide was not only unique, but perceptive. Everyone who was a part of this movement for Virtue in Action brought their own exceptional ideas to the table in order to synthesize a way of bringing positive change to the Country Day community.
Initially, this diverse group met on a Saturday morning, which was later split into even smaller groups to discuss more specific ideas during free-bells. The purpose of these meetings was to brainstorm the strengths and weaknesses of our community, and to think of ways make our school as virtuous a place as possible. Each of the small groups were to come up with one big, all-school activity to bring the school together, along with a couple smaller activities that we could implement throughout a regular school year. These ideas consisted of everything from large scale bonding opportunities to ways of making everyday life more light-hearted. The groups were able to be productive amongst themselves, knowing that there were others in another room doing the same thing. Bringing together their individual ideas, the students kept their minds open, knowing that there would be a need to modify the smaller groups’ ideas once the whole group reconvened.
Following the successes of these small groups, they will come together to present their ideas of Virtue in Action to the others. Once all the groups have presented, through the combined efforts of Student Council, Honor Council, and members of Peer Mentoring, they will deliberate on the best plan of action to proceed with. After the group has decided on what it will do, the exact logistics of it will be considered, and the plan executed. One thing that’s for sure: the student body can expect change, big and small.
