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This Week at South

This Week at South - 6.21: The Value of Earned Experience

Greetings South Students, Parents, Staff, and Community Members,

Past issues of this newsletter are available at the following link: TWaS Archive. 

TWaS is also sent via Canvas Messenger and linked to my Canvas Module for all students and families to access, and shared on South’s FB page.

Part I: The News

Content Disclaimer: I am not omniscient. Don’t see your event or results in the newsletter below? I rely on parents, coaches, and others to send me information to include in the newsletter. Feel free to share positive news and results anytime via my email. 

Help Needed in School Store: PTSO is looking for volunteers to help run the school store at lunch. Sign up here: https://bit.ly/4edAiBZ

Nordic Ski Film Fundraiser, Wednesday 1/22:

The ski team will be screening the TGR ski film “Beyond the Fantasy” on Wednesday January 22 at 6pm in the South Auditeria Tickets are $5 for students and $10 general admission. Tickets can be purchased in advance at lunch in the commons.

Just Serve Bounce Back Charity Game at UAA:

On Saturday, January 18th, both the men’s and women’s UAA Basketball teams will play a charity game at the Alaska Airlines Center to collect resources for the Clare House and Catholic Social Services. Games are at 3 and 5:15 pm and admission is free with a donated item. See the following flier for the items needed. 

FAFSA Night for Migrant, Indian Ed, and CIT Students:

Federal programs will be hosting a FAFSA night for Migrant, Indigenous, and CIT students at the ASD Education Center on January 16th from 5 to 7:30 pm. Students are encouraged to sign up in advance. Information about the event can be found on the following flier, and students can sign up with the following LINK. 

Model UN

Model UN is meeting at lunch in H111 on Wednesdays and Fridays for all students interested in participating in the spring Model UN conference at UAA. The conference is February 20th -22nd. All South students are invited to join. Information on Model UN can be found at https://www.uaa.alaska.edu/academics/college-of- arts-and-sciences/programs/model-united-nations-of-alaska/index.cshtml

Ninth Circuit Civics Contest - When Duty Calls:

The Ninth Circuit Court is holding an essay and video contest to address the importance of maintaining and exercising our civic rights and responsibilities. First prize is $3000. Details can be found on the following PDF. Submissions can be submitted as early as January 7th and the final deadline is March 7th. Submission can be made online HERE. 

Part II: What I’ve Learned

This week, I continue to learn from literature, philosophy, and science. As such, I am reflecting on two passages from A Gentleman in Moscow, which I wrote about last week; an article I read by Brian Klaas on Substack, where he argues against over-scheduling and optimizing all the down time out of one’s life; and the evolutionary concept of adaptation. 

Although the first two authors are from different traditions, both Towles and Klaas appear to have come to the same conclusion: to truly live and get stronger, we must move out of comfortable and well-defined spaces into the unknown. 

Late in A Gentleman in Moscow, the Count and his adoptive daughter Sofia’s music teacher, Vasily, are talking about how much she has grown up. At 17 she is a talented musician, yet she has lived her entire life within the four walls of a hotel. The two acknowledge their life has been richer for having lived adventurous lives, during which they were able to have a wide array of experiences and develop resilience. They also realize they cannot give Sofia or any other young person their experiences by telling those stories or keeping them at home. She will not be able to benefit from her talent unless she leaves the confines of the hotel. At this point, they realize they have to let go:

  • We should dedicate ourselves to ensuring they taste freely of experience. And we must do so without trepidation. Rather than tucking in blankets and buttoning coats, we must have faith in them to tuck and button on their own. And if they fumble with their newfound liberty, we must remain judicious, and then sigh with pride when they pass through the revolving doors of life. (p. 322)

This insight comes when the Count realizes how comfortable and predictable he has made life for Sofia. When she faces the uncertainty of having to perform in front of a large audience, she hesitates to leave. 

Later in the book he remarks that:

  • We have ventured to make the hotel seem as wide and wonderful as the world so that you would spend more time with us. But, one does not fulfill one’s potential by listening to Scheherezade in a gilded hall, or by reading The Odyssey in one’s den. One does so by setting forth into the vast unknown. (p. 386-87).

As the plot develops, Sofia ends up performing in Paris and becomes part of an elaborate and risky escape plan. That matters because she never would have been able to perform or risk helping others escape oppressive circumstances if she never left the hotel’s confines.

This idea has resonance in the philosophical realm as well. Last week Brian Klaas wrote an article against optimization in which he argued, “many of the pinnacles of human emotion emerge unexpectedly, often within the slack that we allow for ourselves to truly live.” In other words, prophets and those who gain clear insight and resilience are those who are willing to wander into the desert or the woods in search of truth and experience that cannot be possessed within the comfortable boundaries of life. 

Another way of looking at Klaas’s point is to make a distinction between being well-adapted to one’s environment versus being adaptable and resilient to a wide array of circumstances. If forced to choose, we likely want to be adaptable to many different and unexpected challenges rather than being singularly adapted to one environment and therefore brittle. This concept is well-illustrated by the monarch butterfly. 

Monarch butterflies are adapted to feed on milkweed to be able to migrate and escape harsh winters. As long as milkweed is available, Monarchs thrive. Yet, a change in the environment that eradicates milkweed also eradicates Monarchs because they have not adapted to feed on other plants in order to migrate. This is much like Sofia thriving in the hotel surrounded by her guardians. It works so long as her circumstances don’t change. Yet, the moment the building and support are gone, she would become vulnerable.

The Count captures this idea succinctly when he tells Sofia:

“For what matters in life is not whether we receive a round of applause;  what matters is whether we have the courage to venture forth despite the uncertainty of acclaim” (p. 387-88). 

And that’s just it. Venturing forth into the unknown, without a guarantee of success, is the only way to gain experience, to learn, to grow resilient, and to come back with stories worth telling. 

As such, let’s have courage and the Count’s “judiciousness” to let them go get that experience and learn without our meddling.

As Always, Onward!

Luke Almon, Principal