CCS offers something more. When kindergarten students give their first oral presentation, they are discussing a topic they know a lot about: themselves.
To be honest, it’s cute watching them walk through the lobby carrying their posters. There’s a swagger in their step because today is their day. The day they will share their own individual story with their friends and their teacher.
The title of the project is “God Made Me Special” and today is the day they get to prove it.
From an academic perspective, they are learning a skill: They are finding words that convey meaning. Contemplate that statement. This is what we do when we prepare for a meeting and as we role play a hard conversation that we are going to have. We are choosing the right words. There is an idea in your head or a feeling in your heart that you want to share. From experience, we know that if we use the wrong words listeners will be angry, confused, or indifferent. If we choose the right words, then they will be interested, engaged, and ready to learn more.
From a human perspective, this assignment is so much more. They are using words to reveal something about themselves. If they choose the right words, their classmates will see them, know them, and appreciate them.
As a classical school, we teach writing both as an academic skill and as a human endeavor. When we speak, we are attempting to share who we are and where we are with other people. If we accept this definition of writing, it changes the way we teach. We are not simply training students to structure a sentence in light of the conventions of grammar and spelling. We are teaching them to speak from the place where they stand.
Here is what’s interesting: seniors, almost without exception, have the same response when they finish their individual thesis presentations. Watch them when they leave the stage. You can see it in their eyes; they know they just did something very hard. They chose a topic that was interesting to them. They researched the topic. They developed ideas and feelings about their topic. Finally, they found words that conveyed meaning.
If they chose the wrong words, the audience will tell them. People will be angry, confused, or indifferent. If they chose the right words, then the audience will be interested, engaged, and ready to learn more.
This, however, does not explain the pride they feel when they finish. They are proud because writing a thesis is a human endeavor. They are sharing thoughts and feelings that developed as they studied the topic. They are using words to reveal something about themselves. If they chose the right words, their classmates, teachers, and family will see them, know them, and appreciate them.
These assignments ask students a question: can they speak from the place where they stand?
This matters because we are filling the final seats for the 2026-27 school year. We want the families who take those seats to be families who understand the value of those seats, and most likely those candidates are your friends.
