Guest Post: Cosmo Tells Us About Being Long-View's First Student
I was the first student at Long-View Micro School. Now that I am finishing 8th grade and going off to high school, I have been looking back on my time at Long-View and what these 5 years have meant to me. I have grown so much academically and just as a person. I have learned how to be a problem-solver, and how to push myself to solve a challenge even if I don't have prior experience on that topic. For example, I might push myself in math to solve a problem the teacher didn’t tell me how to solve. I also learned how to manage time and multitask better. As a person, I have learned to be myself, and not care about what other people say.
On top of my own growth as a student and as a person, I have also had the opportunity to be an integral part of helping the school grow. As the first student, I was an important part of helping build community, as I welcomed each new student along the way, from the first year through my 5th and final year. I was part of creating the culture of the school, and helping new students see “how we do things at Long-View.” Even in my 5th year, I sense that younger kids would watch me to get signals for what makes Long-View what it is and how we go about doing things, especially the things that are different from how other schools work. Additionally, my opinion was always held up by the Long-View teachers as important. I gave my opinion often as the school developed and the teachers would always listen and take feedback into consideration. I appreciate this chance to be treated as a thoughtful person with good ideas.
As the first student, I had the chance to support the teachers in all kinds of ways, and I think this is still an important part of how we do things at Long-View. It is a reciprocal relationship, and we talk often about how it takes all of us to build community, and the teachers talk often about how the school belongs to the kids and they have to work to make it the intellectual community that they desire. And even as the children have chances to support the teachers in all kinds of ways, the teachers also support the children and help them learn things that might seem too hard for them. This is not easy for me to explain, but I now see that Long-View has really helped me to learn to embrace challenge and to persevere when things are challenging. It’s also a place where the “why and not just how” is really valued. Before Long-View I was much more focused on just figuring out how to do something, but WHY is now very important to me. Now, whenever I am taught something in any subject, I think about why that might be. Long-View has helped me to grow into a student who isn’t just trying to get the work completed, but really trying to learn the subject matter and have a deep experience with the ideas of the discipline.
Lastly, I think Long-View has given me a gift in helping me stay curious, always wanting to learn more about things. The culture and the way people talk at the school is part of this, but the short school days and Fridays off really also help because I needed time to grow my hobbies and interests. I am thankful to Long-View for giving me the desire to be curious and the time to grow and diversify my interests. I’m thankful to Long-View for inviting me in to challenge and including me in designing the school. I’m grateful for the chance to be a valued community member and a leader with my peers. My next experience at a rigorous high school will be quite different, but I will carry with me the intellectual and personal values that I developed at Long-View and will always be glad for the chance to be the first student at a school that will always be special to me.
