I did not, as Upper Division students sometimes do, receive a Veracross alert informing me that I exemplified an aspect of The Park Portrait, but on a recent crisp fall Saturday, I was a Joyful Learner. In fact, I got to see the entire Park Portrait in action.
Park families with students in the drama program had been invited to participate in this year’s first Community Creation event to help build sets and props for the Fall Plays. When we had all gathered, Theater Tech Coordinator TJ Liquori told us that we weren’t there to build boxes or make props as quickly as we could.
Instead of focusing on task completion, the goal was to have fun and seek joy. TJ and fellow drama staff member Lily Mittnight encouraged everyone to meet someone new, try something new, make mistakes, and have fun problem solving. Having these community oriented goals that focused on joy and learning enabled families to ask “who hasn’t used a drill and wants to try?” instead of “who’s the fastest driller?”
A large group of mixed age kids, mixed experience adults, and buckets of paint, drills, saws, and power sanders has epic disaster and disappointment potential. But on that morning, I saw Park staff, students and families exemplify The Park Portrait.
Park students are…
JOYFUL LEARNERS Pursuing curiosity and finding joy in challenge, they welcome a journey of lifelong learning.
The wide eyes and big smile when a 5th grader was handed a paint brush and told not to worry if it dripped, just go ahead and paint the whole box black.
The sound of a parent laughing while using a power drill for the first time.
MINDFUL LEADERS Seeking multiple perspectives and acting with kindness, they lead in service of their community.
Watching the Tech crew circulate and answer questions or locate items for participants, acting as co-hosts of the event rather than disappearing into their own tasks.
Seeing my eighth grader patiently teach a younger student how to use a jigsaw, letting them take over the task he’d been working on and giving them a thumbs up.
SKILLFUL COMMUNICATORS Considering audience and listening thoughtfully, they communicate with purpose and responsibility.
The Tech Crew getting up on stage and sharing unscripted safety guidelines with the group, emphasizing not to worry because it’s mostly common sense and they’ll be there to help.
TJ’s welcome slides, which established the event as an opportunity to learn and collaborate, where success would be measured in how everyone participated and not what everyone produced.
COMPASSIONATE COLLABORATORS Valuing the vision and voice of others, they collaborate to achieve a common goal.
Hearing a group of students deciding how to take turns so everyone would get a chance to both drill pilot holes and put in screws.
A parent spotting a student standing between groups and walking over to help them join one, then seeing that group shift their task structure to include them.
CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVERS Generating questions and learning from mistakes, they create and explore solutions.
Students discussing how to use craft paper and aluminum foil to create giant Hershey kisses, troubleshooting the shaping issues, and teaching newcomers the most successful process.
Power tool users figuring out the best system for sharing tools.
PRACTICED ADVOCATES Exercising empathy and courage, they care for self and others.
Kids wearing safety glasses, ear protection, or aprons without complaint, and feeling confident and comfortable enough not to bother taking them off if they switched tasks.
Hearing one student reassure another that it was fine that they’d drilled a screw in crooked and it was sticking out of the wood, because it was inside the box, and no one would see it from the stage anyway.
Families lingering to make sure there was really nothing else to clean up, while students actively looked for ways to help.
During Community Creation I saw how second-nature it was for Park students to support each other and work together in all the ways emphasized by the Park Portrait. They’re not just words on our website. I could tell that these values are practiced at Park, and our school has purposefully built a culture that enables TJ to put together kids and paint and power tools and have the experience be more joyful than it is stressful. A culture where parents can spend time learning from and collaborating with students instead of supervising or correcting them.
I like to think that we actually helped out on that Saturday, and we definitely got some things done! But I also know that it was a huge amount of work to set the stage (literally) for that many volunteers to have materials and tasks to work on. Teaching, like parenting, is full of moments where it would be easier to do it yourself… but that’s not the point. TJ and Lily let families experience what it means to learn at Park.
We got to be Joyful Learners for a day.
Our children will bring The Park Portrait with them for a lifetime.
Families with students in after school drama can sign up to attend the next Community Creation event by watching for the link in their Weekly Drama Newsletter.
Upgrades to the theater’s sound and lighting systems were made possible by philanthropy. A Park family recently made a capital gift to the School supporting theater technology, as well as physical education and wellness initiatives. Their gift celebrates the experience of their young alumni children, and honors faculty members Kyra Fries, Steve Savage, and Olivia Moorehead-Slaughter.
