As my last day at Moriah is next Friday, 3 November, I wanted to use my last newsletter article to say farewell.
It is with mixed emotions that I leave Moriah. When I started as Head of High School almost three years ago, I was anxious about leading the High School. Before starting, I was given some feedback and commentary about the High School students, some of which was negative, and so I wasn’t quite sure how I would go. In hindsight, how wrong some of that initial advice was. Over the past three years, I have grown to love the High School students and they are one reason I get up every day. Every single day, they make me laugh and keep me thoroughly entertained. I find the students warm, engaging, entertaining and craving connection. I have been so impressed by how capable they are and what they can achieve. I have found the community perception of the High School students to be– out of sync with my experience with the students. The students have treated me with incredible respect and it has been my absolute privilege to lead the High School for the past three years.
Likewise, I have found the Moriah staff to be of the highest calibre. It has been an absolute privilege to lead such a talented, dedicated and quality team of staff. I have learnt so much from my colleagues over the past three years and I leave Moriah a much better educator for the experience I have had. I thank the staff for supporting me so positively and for being so willing to take on my ideas. The future success of Moriah is dependent on retaining and attracting quality staff and so my advice to parents is to be kind to the Moriah staff. Always treat them with respect and value the great work they do, as your children deserve excellent educators.
I have spent almost 14 years of my career at Moriah in two different stints, and I have been a school leader in many outstanding schools around the world. I feel that I am very well-qualified when I say that Moriah is an outstanding school, and I feel that it is undervalued by the community. Over the past three years, it has saddened me greatly to hear that some of the greatest criticism of the school comes from within the Moriah community. I understand that there is no such thing as a perfect school, but I feel that Moriah is judged too harshly by the community. I hope that in the future, people will be kinder towards the students, the staff and the school.
As a school leader you hope that when you leave a school it is a better place than when you started and so I hope this is the case with me. I feel very proud of what I have achieved over the past three years. I truly value the friendships and connections I have made, and I will miss the students enormously.
In my experience, there are no other students anywhere in the world who are comparable to those at Moriah. There is something very special about Moriah students. I love their sense of fun, their confidence, and the positive way that they approach life. There is no question that Moriah students are world changers, so I look forward to hearing of their many successes in the future and to witnessing their many contributions to improving and changing our world. I have no doubt that I will have many moments in the future where I will be able to very proudly say, “I knew that person when they were a student at Moriah!”
Farewell!
Written by Mark Hemphill, Head of High School at Moriah College
moriahcollegeblog.com 