a farewell from our head of school

dear friends

a letter from our head of school

“Swimming to the Other Side” We are living ‘neath the great big dipper We are washed by the very same rain We are swimming in this stream together Some in power and some in pain We can worship this ground we walk on Cherishing the beings that we live beside Loving spirits will live forever We’re all swimming to the other side (Pat Humphries)

I shared (sang?!) the chorus of “Swimming to the Other Side”— the lyrics of which I’ve included above—recently with my 3rd Grade neighbors as part of their “You Should Listen To This” project near the end of May, when Lower School Music Teacher Jane Rinard invited her students and colleagues to share a favorite song, to reflect on the role music plays in their (our) lives, and to explain what makes the shared song special. I’ve since received recommendations (from reliable sources) of versions by Magpie and Emma’s Revolution—and the families and friends in attendance at the 2022 SFFS Graduation Choir serenaded our 8th-Graders in a heartfelt rendition on June 8. But I first heard “Swimming to the Other Side” at Carolina Friends School. It became part of a closing ritual for Lower-Schoolers who loved to sing it because of the way it made them feel—and because they liked the way it made their family members in attendance feel (translation: a combination of tears and smiles.)

Music creates that kind of space for me. I described it to my 3rd Grade Friends as a “holding space,” a space in which I can hold feelings of sadness, joy, loneliness, togetherness, and everything in between. I listened to my children and their friends and countless students rehearse and perform the song, and before long I noticed I was singing with them. And feeling with them. Much like I am today.

I feel some of the sadness that accompanies saying “Good-bye for now” as I prepare to leave a place where I have felt—where so many of you have made me feel—so much at home. I think about the sadness, even grieving, as both about loss and about remembering, sealing in my heart and memory as much as I can.

I prepare to move on and into the next chapter of life with more to feel grateful for than I have words to convey. But nothing more than the spirit of togetherness—team— that I have experienced at SFFS with students, trustees, faculty and

The original SFFS COVID Response Team gathered for one last “meeting” (really, it was just a fun lunch) before Mike departs for North Carolina.

ON MY BOOKSHELF:

admin colleagues, members of the COVID Response Team, alums, guardians, parents, grandparents, and friends.

Thank you for swimming with me—and for affording me the gift and privilege of swimming with you.

Thinking SFFS,

Mike Hanas Head of School • The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid • The World-Ending Fire: The Essential by Wendell Berry • Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman • Manifesto For A Moral Revolution: Practices To Build A

Better World by Jacqueline Novogratz • The Culture Playbook: 60 Highly Effective Actions to

Help Your Group Succeed by Daniel Coyle • The War for Kindness: Building Empathy in a Fractured

World by Jamil Zaki (SFFS Parent) • The Lincoln Highway: A Novel by Amor Towles • Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You

Don’t Have All the Facts by Annie Duke • South To America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry