Our Wildwood, Summer 2017, Volume 41

During my first year or so at Wildwood, people often asked, “So how are you liking LA?” I always shared my appreciation for the forward thinking—dare I write, “progressive”—spirit of the place, and especially the wonderful people who make up the school community we treasure. Later, I realized what folks were really asking: How could a man who lived in Maine possibly enjoy living in Los Angeles? I did, and I do.

DRIVE TOWARD THE FUTURE

Over the years, my appreciation for the drive toward the future and all it holds in store has been complemented by an understanding of the importance of being grounded in our past. In just a few years, Wildwood School will mark its 50th anniversary. Those five decades have encompassed multiple locations, the K-12 expansion, and a constant commitment to progressive principles and the honoring of individual students. With all that in mind, I decided that now is a good time to consider the last decade in the context of our hopes for the decade to come. My decision to do some active reflection this school year coincided with work launched by my Senior Institute colleagues: a significant revision to the Senior Exhibition framework our students use to guide the work of that aspect of their graduation requirements. Although my focus was preparing for our annual State of School in the spring, the new structure provided guidance for this written reflection, as well. In the framework, students are asked to incorporate appropriate and substantial evidence from their experience at Wildwood as they reflect on their growth and readiness for the next level of work. Much evidence points to Wildwood School’s growth over the past 10 years. Reviewing it all, it wasn’t much of a leap to see the last decade or so of Wildwood’s history as the early stages of a true startup. In the late 1990s, a group of parents and trustees began the serious work of envisioning a K-12 version of the K-6 school they loved. Recognizing

Five Stages of a Startup:

1. Seed and

Development

2. Startup 3. Growth and

Establishment

4. Expansion 5. Maturity NEIL PETCH, ENTREPRENEUR MAGAZINE

that the Los Angeles independent school landscape already

Head of School Landis Green with students on an International Community Involvement (ICI) trip to Vietnam in 2008.

included a range of well- regarded, if traditionally structured, schools, they began to consider a K-12 school that would marry the culture and ethos of the established K-6 Wildwood School program with the most recent thinking about

what a 21st century college preparation would require.