Transitions can be hard but they can also be magical. 

During the school year, the magic of The Leelanau School can be clouded in conflict, struggle, and growing pains, but between graduation and alumni weekend, it is undeniable. 

We’ve had so many past students return or reconnect with us these past few weeks to share what Leelanau meant to them. Some of them graduated here, some of them didn’t. Some were here 4 years, some less than a semester. Because, from day one, we’re not like other schools.

Instead of “teaching to the test” we create the conditions for learners to learn how to learn. Life isn’t about what you know or can memorize and regurgitate on a test, especially now when most facts are a few taps away on a device in our pocket- but so are a lot of AI fails, fiction, and deliberate misdirections. 

I was reminded just today as I was googling something innocuous: whether or not an actor had been a guest on a certain show. Google’s AI answer said they had, and listed the season. However when I looked they were nowhere to be found. When I re-worded the search, AI’s answer confused the actor with the host of the show. The truth was they were never on the show. Imagine what it can get wrong with more complications.

Yes, AI collects from all human intelligence available online, but it also collects all of our human fallibility. Someone who only learns facts in school may be able to spot information that contradicts what they’ve learned, but what about the constant onslaught of new knowledge and information? Without life skills like critical thinking, they can unknowingly become victims to whatever algorithm into which they fall. 

Learning how to learn is not a mass product (like teaching followers how to follow). It is extremely individual and messy, because leaders aren’t made with cookie cutters. Saying we are a college preparatory school is like saying the device in our pockets is a phone. Readiness for postsecondary life goes beyond academics. It includes developing social agility, emotional intelligence, and executive functioning skills that are embedded in a small boarding school experience.

Thinking back to my own high school experience at a private, college preparatory school with high faculty-to-student ratio and plenty of personal attention- on the outside looks very similar to Leelanau, but it was nothing like it and I’ve never felt the urge to go back to visit. 

From day one at The Leelanau School we challenge kids with seemingly ridiculous, seemingly unsolvable initiatives and games to prepare them for the high expectations and education they’ll be getting all school year. Struggle is inevitable in life and it’s inevitable in Leelanau learning. It takes resilience and faith to learn and teach here; just like it takes resilience and faith to succeed in today’s rapidly changing reality. 

I’ve been with the school for years in different capacities, but being a sub these days, watching it mostly from the outside while my husband continues in the trenches, just crystalizes my view of the Leelanau experience as a whole. I may not have been lucky enough to be a student here, but I am a lucky, lifelong, Leelanau learner.