Exploring with Curiosity. Growing with Wonder.

I am honored to begin my journey with you at Boulder Country Day School and have been reflecting on what it means to start our year with curiosity and wonder at the center. These two ideas are not just poetic aspirations—they are essential habits that sustain lifelong learning and are central to who I am as a leader.

Leaning into curiosity allows us to discover the power of asking better questions, to listen more deeply, and to embrace perspectives that stretch our understanding. Leaning into wonder gives us permission to pause, reflect, and explore. Together, they invite us to slow down in a world that often moves too quickly, creating the space we all need to connect more fully—with ourselves and with one another.

For me, one of the most enduring ways to nurture curiosity and wonder has been through reading. From childhood, books connected me to voices beyond my own experience—challenging my assumptions, sparking new questions, and opening unexpected doors. Our students’ journeys unfold in much the same way.

Because each of our brains are wired in uniquely beautiful ways, children learn to “crack the code” of reading at different ages and stages—whether by decoding sounds, following the rhythm of picture books, exploring graphic novels, or delving into chapter books. Reading with our eyes and listening with our ears are both powerful entry points into curiosity, imagination, and understanding. Listening to a story is just as formative as reading it aloud, strengthening oral language, empathy, reasoning, and the ability to connect in real time. By honoring these diverse pathways to literacy, we honor each child’s pace, voice, and lived experience. Reading is at once a mirror and a window: a mirror that reflects who we are, and a window that expands the way we see others and the world.

At BCD, our mission is our north star: to broaden students’ understanding of an ever-changing world while preparing them to be adaptable, empathetic, and engaged global citizens. Our values—taking care of ourselves and others, exploring many paths, meeting challenges, fostering inclusion and belonging, and being a part of something bigger —guide not just the way we teach, but the way we live and learn together. When we teach students how to use words with care and see one another with empathy, we are building the habits of changemakers. These core practices connect directly to our new initiative, ‘Reading with Robin’.

At last night’s Patio Party we launched ‘Reading with Robin’, a school-wide reading series designed to spark discovery and dialogue across classrooms, families, and generations of the BCD community. I’ll be reading with students in their classrooms and also hosting book club dinners for adults who want to take part. My first selection is How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen by David Brooks. This book resonates deeply with me because it speaks to one of the greatest challenges of our time: the need to truly understand one another. Brooks reminds us that connection begins with curiosity, not certainty, and with the simple but profound act of listening. As bell hooks once wrote, book clubs can lead to the “pleasure of conversation, turning the solitary act of reading into a path toward connection and community”. As a leader, it has shaped the way I approach relationships, and my hope is that it will inspire us all to slow down, listen carefully, and build bridges of compassion. ‘Reading with Robin’ is not just about reading, it is really about creating community. We thrive when we come together—listening, sharing, and learning side by side.

Copies of How to Know a Person are available for check out in BCD’s Library.