A Radical School

For the last seven years, Dalat has chosen a theme to focus on together as a community. Previous themes Dalat has had include:

• It’s Not About Me – Life is not just about what you can get out of it, but rather what you contribute to it.
• What’s the Difference? You! – Every person can have a positive impact on the people around them.
• Walk the Talk – Being a school and community of strong character.
• Satu Dalat (One Dalat) – Striving for unity and an even stronger school community.
• Do Hard Things – Challenging the cultural mind-set that teenagers are to focus on selfish goals of fun and little responsibility and instead encourage them to pursue big goals.
• Road Less Travelled – Life is about choices, their consequences, and following your principles and not the crowd.
• DISconnect: Relate, Recharge, Reconnect – In today’s world we need to remember that the most important things in life come through relationship not technology.

This year our theme is “Radical: Living a Life of Conviction.” There are a number of ways the word “radical” is used in the English language today. The word has taken on some negative connotations as it is used often to describe those who are willing to hurt and create chaos in pursuit of their agendas. For our theme, we are landing on the following definition “departing sharply from the usual or ordinary.” With that in mind, we are encouraging our kids to be unusual and extraordinary — to be radicals. We want Dalat students to be radicals in the positive sense: to be people who don’t compromise their values and stand up for what they believe in to create positive change in people and in society.

In the coming weeks and months we will bring the theme alive in our classrooms and in other activities around school. Dalat also chooses each year to focus on one of our ESLR’s (Expected School Wide Learning Results), and for 2013-14 it will be “Servant Leader,” a somewhat radical idea in itself.