By Brian McDavitt
Welcome to the 2024-2025 school year! This year we are celebrating our 40th anniversary throughout the year. I recently stumbled across the very first commencement address delivered at KCA, then called Kansas City Academy of Learning, back in 1985. Delivered by one of the founders of the school, Martha Fly, it was a powerful reminder to the audience of the reason our school was created. At the time, Trivial Pursuit was a wildly popular board game, and in her speech, Martha Fly discusses what constitutes an idea being trivial versus an idea being essential. KCA’s first graduaing class consisted of six seniors, which to some might seem trivial. However, for those seniors, who came to the school looking for a place to start over and be themselves, nothing could be further from the truth - KCA was essential to their lives.
KCA still exists as that safe place for students 40 years later. While we are not the largest school in Kansas City, we are far from trivial. I believe Martha Fly was correct, and we are still as essential now as we were in 1985. The mere existence of this school is even evidence of the important role we play in our world. In her closing, Martha said that the success of KCA would be judged not by "its size, or the facility, or even financial stability and institutional survival but rather...if 6 graduates leave here having stood in a place where they know the difference between the trivial and the essential." Over 400 graduates later, we continue to judge ourselves by the same measure.
Each year, as I interview prospective students, a theme emerges. Students tell me they are looking for a school where they can be themselves, feel seen by their peers or their teachers, learn in an emotionally safe environment, and exist without fear of being ostracized or bullied because of who they are. KCA continues to provide a space in the educational landscape of Kansas City because we believe every student is essential and no one should be made to feel trivial or unimportant. My goal for this year is to help KCA not only honor its past but look forward and make plans to continue for another 40-plus years. I look forward to working with you in this process.
댓글