Page 7 - Menlo Magazine: Winter 2018

From the
Board of Trustees
Dear Members of the Menlo Community,
anks to the magic of social media, I was recently able to reconnect with my high school
calculus teacher, Mr. Harold Smith. I hadn’t spoken with him in three decades. As soon
as he accepted my friend request, I messaged him and said: “You may not remember
me all these years later as I was the introverted nerdy student in the back of your class,
but you had a big impact on my life’s trajectory. You see, I asked you to write my teacher
recommendation letter, and you showed me your rough dra before sending it to the colleges.
In the letter, you wrote eloquently about how you saw great potential in me—potential that I
hadn’t quite the courage to imagine for myself. Your letter undoubtedly helped me get into Berkeley. More importantly, your words boosted my con dence, caused me to set higher goals, and changed my life’s path. You were a turning point in my life. I will forever be grateful that you were my calculus teacher and saw a version of me before I could.”
Attracting, recruiting, and retaining the very best teachers is one of the biggest challenges
facing Menlo. Our community is an expensive place to live, and, at times, a few of our
parents can occasionally be challenging, especially for young teachers, to deal with. So
today, I have a favor to ask. Parents, instead of contacting a teacher just when there is an
issue with the curriculum or with grading or in the class, please also reach out to your
child’s teachers when you hear about how wonderfully they are teaching in class, how
engaged your child is by a certain module, how much they are learning, or how excited
they are about a project or a topic. And, alumni, if a teacher had a special impact on your life, let them know! I’m sure they’ll be as happy to hear from you as Mr. Smith was to hear from me. Our teachers need to know from our community how much we value them. We are more likely to retain our best teachers if they are valued for what they do each and every day.
As you read this magazine, I hope you will be inspired to learn why our excellent teachers do what they do, and I hope it increases your appreciation of Menlo’s greatest asset—our wonderful teachers.
Rob Chandra Board Chair
MENLO MAGAZINE
Without question, Menlo’s teachers are the School’s greatest asset. ey are unbelievably talented and passionately dedicated to their cra . Beyond their knowledge and expertise, they are kind, they are caring, and, perhaps most importantly, they know our students— they know their strengths, interests, hopes, and fears. ey spend time with them at lunch, on the Quad, on the sports elds, and in rehearsals. By the time students graduate from Menlo, they are prepared to meet the challenges and opportunities that face them, in
part because they’ve truly been li ed up by this amazing faculty. e relationships forged between my children and their Menlo teachers stand out as a seminal part of their Menlo education. I consider our community fortunate to have such a committed group of teachers nurturing our kids.
“By the time students graduate from Menlo, they are prepared
to meet the challenges and opportunities that face them,
in part because they’ve truly been li ed up by this amazing faculty.”
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