Giving Thanks

From our pre-Thanksgiving alumni/student/faculty dinner today...

May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness.

May all beings be free from sorrow and the causes of sorrow.

May all never be separated from the sacred happiness which is sorrowless.

May all live in equanimity, without attachment or aversion, believing in the equality of all that lives.

- Traditional Buddhist prayer

I hope that you and your family have a happy and restful Thanksgiving weekend.

The Mirror

Our Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Accreditation Team is here this week, looking at the self-study we've conducted over the past year and our plans for the next seven years. Looking at ourselves in the mirror has, as always, been invaluable in terms of analyzing our strengths and weaknesses and planning our work on the latter. The team will give us fresh eyes on the work that we do, and will hold up the mirror for us, and help us see ourselves more clearly. We're grateful for their time, thoughtfulness, and hard work.

Mr. Happy

No, not about the election, but about all the kids who made the honor roll this quarter. (I think I'll be focusing closer to home over the next two years.) Almost half our students had all A's and B's, and four of these had all A's. Running an analysis of homework completion vs. GPA for the first quarter, it's notable that of those who completed 90% of their homework (averaged across all classes) all had a GPA above 3.0. Of these, 17 of the 21 had GPA's above 3.5. Conversely, of those who did less than 80% of their homework, all had a GPA lower than 2.5. We're having nice lunches at Vicino Ristourante next door with the honor rollees and their advisors, all of whom worked very hard over the past two months to reach this academic accomplishment.