Hynes Sight - October Edition

I was addressing the student body recently and told them that when the military engages in a mission, they will have what is called a primary objective.  The goal for them is to meet this objective at all costs, understanding that certain collateral damage is to be expected.  It may seem a rather drastic topic to bring up with students, but I wanted to make my point.  By comparison, I let them know that my primary objective is to keep the school open for in-person learning; and therein lies my point.  I also explained to them that in order to achieve this objective, we do have to make some sacrifices, our version of “collateral damage,” if you will. One such sacrifice would be the mandate to wear a mask, for example.  It is also important to note that no sacrifice we are making is calling us to behave unethically or compromise our dearly held beliefs in Biblical standards, and therefore they are worth it if it allows us to achieve our primary objective – to stay in school.

But why is this objective so important?  I’ll tell you why.  We have a current enrollment of 254 students, a 30% increase over last year; new academic electives, clubs and sports opportunities abound, and are growing every day; eight new employees on campus are joining with the rest of us in our shared vision of being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ in the lives of young people; and in order to carry out our mission, we must engage in the act of discipleship at every moment we are on campus.  This objective is not simply important, it is vital to the entire purpose of our existence as a Christian school.

In order to fulfill our mission, we have to be present.  This is the reason we never shut down last year, and the reason we will make small sacrifices to maintain in person learning. Our primary goal as a Christian educational institution is to spread God’s love and make Him real in the lives of every student.  In order to achieve this, we set aside political, social, or societal messaging.  When your focus is Christ, you rise above all this noise and allow only His love to prevail, which it will do.  This is why you have placed your precious students here and why we partner with you in this journey.

These are challenging times to be sure, but nothing is bigger than our God.  I know there are frustrations, but then what would life be without frustrations!  I am honored and humbled to serve a second year as Head of School and look forward to continuing to achieve our primary objective together.

Blessings,

John Hynes

Head of School