Coming to Providence. . .
When I walked into a Providence Grammar school classroom for the first time, I knew that this is where I wanted my own children educated. The classroom atmosphere was warm and inviting, the walls covered with both the tools of learning and the fruit of that learning. Timelines circling the room, a giant lion sitting in the corner watching over the students as they read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Egyptian architectural details framing the doorway in the room where ancient Egypt is studied under the weight of a nearby sarcophagus – it was abundantly clear that Providence’s teachers not only understood what schooling really could be, but that they were adept in realizing that vision.
When I first sat and listened to the Upper school students discussing Euthyphro’s misguided definitions of piety, I was confident that the work of the Grammar school was paying dividends. The faculty of the Upper school impressed me immediately with their ability to engage their students – no easy task, and one that requires a certain strength, and dare I say it “uniqueness” of character that we hope to pass on to our students.
Anyone can put things on the wall, but the walls of these Providence classrooms were tastefully adorned, even beautiful. Anyone can talk to a teenager; it takes talent to talk with a teenager. Providence seemed filled with beauty and life. The students were happy and yet self-controlled – a glorious combination!
Students were not afraid to come to me in the hall and engage me in friendly conversation. Ask yourself, where else do young children, as well as young men and women, engage their elders in polite and meaningful conversation? This is the beauty of Providence. . . joy and confidence appear to rule the hearts of the students, not visceral cravings and pride.
Education is not just about the content. It is an experience that ought to be fully orbed – those experiences ought to be beautiful as well as true and good. They ought to feed the eyes, and the heart, and the soul as well as the mind. The teachers at Providence know this, and act on it.
I and the rest of the Pitts family (Ellen, Abigail, Ethan, Preston, and Ari) are excited about our new life at Providence. We are honored and blessed that God would allow us to be a part of the great work that He has been doing, and will continue to do, here. We are eager to meet our new PCS family, and we pray that God will bless each and every one that has made Providence such a desirable place to be.
May He who makes Peace in His Heavens, make peace for us!
Shalom,
Timothy W Pitts, PhD
Headmaster
(C) J.B. Haygood Photography
