Dear Parents and Friends of Crestwood Preparatory College:
They say that the older one gets, the more quickly days and months and years pass. That should be a cautionary tale while raising and teaching our young people. While I’m wondering where all the hours have gone, some of our students may be counting the seconds. But in the end, young or old, we managed to put another year behind us. This one was not as joyful as others. Tragedy has a way of reducing celebration and anticipation, and we had reason to limit both in the spring of 2018.
Your children have done a fine job. Even those or especially those that struggled should be applauded loudly for their efforts. Success comes in bits and pieces sometimes. Thanks to all those who learned to tippy toe around the house while CPC students studied for tests and exams. Thanks to all those students who believed in the teachers and in the system at school to give it 100% every day. You have made us all proud.
We are barely finished one school year before we begin to think of the next. Several important and exciting initiatives await CPC students in September. Our sports programs continue to be enhanced. Our basketball victories, and the players involved, have already become the stuff of CPC legend. Hockey will get its turn next year. Staff and coaches are busy honing up on all their sports skills to make sure their players can play their best. Success, which I define as working hard to achieve victory and not victory itself, should flow from our basketball and hockey programs to all our other sports. Encourage your son or daughter to get involved when the time comes.
The more important initiatives lie in the academic and programming side. Our technology opportunities will be enhanced with the purchase of a 3D printer, as well as a big boost in materials and recruiting for the Robotics program. I believe it’s time when kids were taught the more creative, engineering aspects of our booming technology fields.
Literacy has been the main topic of conversation at staff meetings and will continue to headline virtually all classroom endeavours for years to come. Our students must be taught the art of writing and speaking in more analytical and creative forms. We will be bringing back some speech and science fairs, working on student thought expression as well as literary skill in their homework and assignments. We will be giving specific talented students chances to perform in public. Our art classes will be working with new materials and objectives. All of this, of course, requires the guidance and inspiration of teachers who will enhance all projects with their own enthusiasm (many of these ideas came from the staff), encouragement, and meticulous assistance.
2018-2019 promises to be a great year. I’m thrilled that almost 500 students, about fifty teachers and a thousand parents will witness the daily success we are all bound to be part of. In the meantime, there’s summer to enjoy, carefree activities to indulge our senses, and, down deep inside us all, especially the older ones, the knowledge that September will be here before we know it.
Best wishes to all:
Vince Pagano
