At the beginning of any school year, there is a familiar mix of excitement and uncertainty. There are new classrooms, new teachers, new routines, and new relationships to build. For some in our community, this year also brings a new country, a new culture, and many unfamiliar faces. All of these beginnings invite an important question: What makes a school feel like home?
This year, I find myself asking that question alongside many of you. As someone new to BCIS and to Beijing, I am learning the rhythms of the school, getting to know people, and discovering the traditions, relationships, and experiences that make this place unique. I am finding my place here too, and I am grateful to be on that journey with our students, families, faculty, and staff.
One of my first experiences at BCIS offered an unexpected answer to that question. During our opening days together, our Head of School asked the entire faculty, both new and returning, to move around the room according to the region of the world from which we had come to BCIS. We then went around the room sharing and celebrating the many nationalities represented among us. As I looked around, I was struck not simply by the number of countries represented, but by all the different journeys that had brought us together in one school in Beijing.
Our Head of School spoke about that diversity as one of our strengths and challenged us to find ways to celebrate the cultures represented within our faculty. A few days later, at a staff social, that idea appeared again in a different form. New colleagues were placed on a world map showing the places from which we had come to BCIS. Seeing our faces spread across the map and the many paths converging here was a simple but powerful reminder that each of us arrives with a story, a culture, and experiences that become part of the community we are building together.
For someone who is new, moments like these matter. I have been struck by how intentionally people at BCIS have gone out of their way to make new colleagues feel welcomed and included. It has reminded me that belonging is not something we simply say we value. It is something we create through our actions.
At BCIS, we speak about “challenging and joyful learning” and the “freedom to explore.” I have been thinking about how these ideas extend beyond what happens in our classrooms. Joy grows when students feel safe enough to be themselves. Challenge becomes meaningful when students know there are people beside them who believe they can succeed. The freedom to explore requires the confidence to ask questions, make mistakes, reconsider ideas, and try again. All of that begins with trust and belonging.
Maya Angelou once observed, “People will never forget how you made them feel.” I think there is something important in that idea for schools. Years from now, our students may not remember every lesson, assignment, or conversation. But I suspect they will remember the teachers who believed in them, the friends who made room for them, the moments when they were encouraged to take a risk, and the feeling that this was a place where they were known.
The same is true for adults. I may eventually forget some of the details of these first weeks, but I do not think I will forget what it felt like to see my own face on that map alongside those of my new colleagues. It communicated something quite simple: You came from somewhere else, you bring that place and those experiences with you, and there is a place for you here.
For those who are new to BCIS this year, welcome. I am one of you, and I know that finding our place takes time. For those returning, thank you for the countless ways, both large and small, that you have helped us begin to feel that we are part of something. Belonging is not something a school can provide through a single program or event. It is something all of us create for one another.
There is an idea in the Analects of Confucius that feels especially meaningful as I begin my own life in Beijing. In one common rendering of the passage, we are reminded that “within the four seas, all are brothers.” Written in a very different time and context, the sentiment resonates with me as I think about an international school. We arrive from different places, speak different languages, carry different experiences, and see the world through different lenses. Yet we have the opportunity to build something together. Our differences do not have to stand in the way of belonging. They can be one of its greatest strengths.
In the weeks and months ahead, there will be much for all of us to learn, both in and beyond the classroom. I know there is certainly much for me to learn. As we begin this year together, I hope we continue to pay attention to the small ways we can help one another feel known, valued, and connected. If we do that well, we create the conditions in which students can challenge themselves, experience joy in their learning, and have the freedom and confidence to explore who they are becoming.
Perhaps that is what makes a school feel like home. Not that everything is familiar from the beginning, but that, over time, we discover there is a place for us within it.
Thank you for welcoming me into BCIS. I am grateful to be beginning this journey with you.
Garrenteed Learning 