From the desk of Celia Tucker, Academic Counselor:

While driving up to Brook Hill one morning I saw Jan Hommel and her family standing out in front of the museum by the helicopter watching something extremely interesting going on. I just had to go by and see what they were looking at or I would have wondered about it all day.

I drove up and got out and they said, “Come and watch the killdeer birds with us. They are amazing.”

Yes, amazing they were. This particular morning I found out that not only is Jan Hommel an expert on history, I found out she is also an expert on birds. After thoroughly enjoying watching these little bitty birds run around directionless as little children often do and watching their parents patiently, lovingly, and methodically guide and direct them back to safety, Jan encouraged me to continue researching the species. I took her advice and thought the following description was worth noting:

Killdeer baby birds hatch with their running shoes on and are called precocial. Precocial means “ripened beforehand.” (The word comes from the same Latin source as “precocious.”) Other precocial birds besides killdeer are chickens, ducks, and quail. None of these precocial babies lies in the nest and gets waited on.

Hhhmmm, hatched with their running shoes on and don’t lie in the nest and get waited on…

Oh, my word—I immediately thought about our Academic & College Guidance Office. This is exactly what we want for our graduates—we want them to graduate with their running shoes on by not lying in the nest and being waited on. We love and adore our Brook Hill students. We love and adore them to the point that we patiently, lovingly, and methodically guide and direct them while watching them take responsibility and grow into independent young people.

In the Academic & College Guidance Office at Brook Hill we try to put every available resource in our students’ hands. We talk to them year after year about “To Do Lists” so that when the time comes to apply to college they are both proud of their transcript and ready to pull all of their pre-prepared documentation together.  When students come in with questions about a particular college we help them find the person they need to talk to and then put the phone in their hands so they can make the call themselves. When they are filling out college applications we provide assistance and encouragement as they independently put their unique personality into it. We stress the importance of meeting deadlines; we stress the importance of planning ahead; we stress the fact that they need to be totally involved in the application process so that they can answer questions that admissions officers might have—students don’t want to have to say, “Give me a minute so I can talk to my parents or talk to my counselor and find out that answer for you.”

In the Academic & College Guidance Office at Brook Hill we do not allow students to say bad words. We absolutely prohibit students from saying things such as, “I have not submitted my college application yet”… “I have not written my college essay”…  “I   have not asked anyone to write a letter of recommendation for me”…. “I have not started putting my resume together”… “I have not sent my SAT and ACT scores to the colleges I have applied to”… “I didn’t fill out the scholarship portion of the application”…

No, these words are not allowed.

When talking to senior parents at the Senior Breakfast this year I told them how much I admired the graduating class of 2015. I believe that true learning and understanding comes when you can take something you have been taught and teach it to someone else. At Senior Chapel our seniors were teaching and at times preaching to the underclassmen. You could have heard a pin drop as the soon to be graduates talked about how important grades were; how important a GPA is; how important it is to get involved in something you are passionate about; how important it is to get things done on time—to de-stress your lives by not procrastinating; and about how important relationships are and not to miss an opportunity to compliment someone—they said, “Don’t just think something nice—say something nice.”  I stood there in awe thinking, “Let’s hire the whole class right this minute. They totally speak the language of the Academic Office.”

In the Academic & College Guidance Office at Brook Hill it feels like a family. When I first started working at Brook Hill I listened to person after person say how much of a family this school is. Being brand new I smiled and thought, oh, that is nice, and assumed that only those who had been at Brook Hill forever could feel like that. I can’t explain how over a period of only two years, I now know what they were talking about. How does that happen? Well, of course, I know it is God, but being able to be on the receiving end of this tremendous blessing is unbelievable. My attachment becomes so obvious to me when I am out and about away from school and see a Brook Hill car or the Brook Hill bus and immediately feel connected.  It is not just a “Oh, there is someone I know” feeling but a “Oh, I am so glad that part of my family is here” feeling.

I know people must think I am crazy by the total change in my demeanor when I see our students—whether it’s when I am on another campus checking students in for an ACT/SAT test and I look up and Brook Hill students are in line; or when I am in the parking lot getting ready to walk/run the Fresh 15 or the Komen Race and I look up and there are our students in their tennis shoes (their very fast tennis shoes); or when I am at a College Fair and looking up and seeing our students walk in—I feel like my family has arrived and tend to get a little excited.

I so enjoy driving up to Brook Hill in the mornings and seeing Jan and her family keeping track of those little killdeer birds as they grow and become independent.  I also so enjoy helping Brook Hill students “get their running shoes on”. Watching them is a joy as they work hard to prepare for, to research, and evaluate the style, the color, and the type of “shoe” that fits them perfectly.

We love them. We guide them. We direct them. We prepare them. We hold them accountable. We rely on them to take responsibility. We let them go.

And so goes Brook Hill.