One of the great benefits of a PK-12 school is the opportunity it affords for younger and older students to learn from one another.

At our opening assembly, students from all four school divisions spoke, each from their own experience, about what honesty and integrity means to them. Last week at Lower School Spirit Night, the students on the boys and girls varsity soccer teams formed a tunnel to high five our Lower School athletes as they streamed through the gauntlet. Next week, we will, after a three-year hiatus, host our Homecoming Family Picnic at which our Upper School athletes will run clinics for our Lower Schoolers.

Throughout the year, older students serve as buddies or peer tutors. They come to classrooms to read stories and assist with projects. And a great many of our Upper School students have their first jobs working in the summer program and in After the Bell.

Younger students treasure those moments when the schoolmates they so admire take time to greet them, to guide and support them. These older students are powerful role models, and by the tone they set, they help to build the warm, inclusive community that makes Seven Hills such a special place.

But the relationship is really symbiotic. Our older students, too, learn a great deal from these interactions. They take real pride in their positions of leadership and are inspired by their obligation to serve as appropriate role models and mentors to younger children.

Over the years, these interactions among our students weave a complex web of relationships that enriches all their lives. It is truly wonderful to witness.