Exhortation2015

Welcome parents, teachers, and students to the 2015-2016 academic year. It is a privilege to address you today at the beginning of this our sixteenth year. We thank God for our many blessings, for this sultry, fall morning, for Highlands Latin, for a new school year, for the gift of life, the gift of children, and the joy of learning.

In partnership with parents, and guided by the gospel, we are committed to helping students develop their intellectual gifts to the highest standards of the classical tradition. We are committed to character and faith formation.

We are committed to helping students grow in knowledge, wisdom, and in the love of Our Lord, so that they may use their gifts in the service of others and for the glory of Christ and his Church.

A Highlands Latin education is built on a strong and lasting foundation: a foundation of the three universal languages of Latin, mathematics, and music, a foundation of reading the classics to develop wisdom and virtue, and the foundation of a living faith.

This is a bittersweet year for HLS, in that our high school has left its charming and beloved home in Crescent Hill to move to an equally charming and beautiful home at Spring Meadows. A new home of lovely cottages with fresh new classrooms, surrounded by trees, fields, and creeks.

A home with a spectacular baseball diamond and a soccer field and a gym rising from the ground. A home that our Crescent Hill students will use and visit often, and think of as their own, before moving permanently to Spring Meadows for high school.

I want to recognize and thank our faculty and staff, especially Mr. Wheatley, Mrs. Booker, Mrs. Melchoir, Dr. Dickie, Mr. Borah and many others for the planning and execution of the countless details involved in this move. Their dedication and hard work are truly remarkable.

I also want to recognize Brian Lowe and his multi-faceted operation of designing, remodeling, building, landscaping, contracting, negotiating, and purchasing, which have made our new campus both beautiful and affordable.

If you have ever wondered how HLS can have such a handsome campus without fundraising, the answer is Brian. He scours the internet for bargains, such as lab furniture, safety doors for classrooms, flooring for the dining hall, a self-serve steam table (which just arrived Sunday), and much more, all of which he finds at a fraction of new cost. Brian is a builder and property manager, and he donates his time. Please join me in thanking Brian Lowe for his extraordinary dedication to HLS.

Scripture tells us about another builder, Lady Wisdom. In Proverbs 9:1-6 we read that Lady Wisdom hath built her house, she has hewn out her seven pillars. She has slaughtered beasts and prepared a great banquet, she has spiced her wine and set her table. She has sent out maidens to call everyone to the feast. Students, your teachers have prepared a great feast for you this year, a banquet of learning. How fortunate you are to come to this feast in the House that Lady Wisdom built. Be grateful and thankful for the opportunity you have for such an outstanding education.

Students, in a few moments you will be sitting in your first class of the year. Remember always to honor your parents and respect and obey your teachers, and be a builder this year. Build up your classmates with a helping hand and a word of encouragement every day. Build up your teachers with a smile and a willing attitude. And build up your own foundation of learning by giving your all and striving for excellence every day. Have a great year.