It goes beyond our four walls
Greeting one another with a handshake – an Ambleside tradition
Dear Parents,
We have a number of traditions at Ambleside that predate my time here and, I hope, will outlast me as well. Handshaking is one of them.
When students arrive each morning, they are greeted by at least one but usually two adults: an administrator and a parent volunteer. Each child is greeted, by name, with a hello and a firm handshake.
If the shake is weak or half-hearted, we call them back to try again. The handshake is usually more convincing the second time around.
Those who arrive early head to morning rooms around the building, where they are greeted by another adult and, yes, another handshake. Finally, when it’s time for class, their teacher welcomes them at the door with yet another handshake.
A handshake is a simple act, but it conveys much. It says, I see you. I know you. I respect you. I’m glad to be here with you. One of Ambleside Schools International founders, Dr. Bill St. Cyr, is known for saying, “It’s good to be me here with you.”
A handshake expresses that sentiment without words through the meeting of hands, a smile in the eyes, and a warm, ready good morning.
In a divided and busy world, a handshake draws together. It bridges. It respects. It loves.
I’m happy to say that Ambleside students know how to shake hands, and they do, not only here at school, but beyond our grounds as well.
Last week, I heard two stories — one at the start of my day and one as I was packing up to go home — that reminded me how our students are carrying this tradition into the community.
A former student, now a freshman at a local, private high school, did something surprising one morning. As she entered the building, she shook the hand of the security guard. No one else had done that before.
Soon after, another Ambleside graduate shook the security guard’s hand, and then, one by one, the rest of the students began doing the same. Now, every student who enters that school greets the guard with a handshake.
That same day, I heard about our middle school students’ trip to the Waterford Fair. At the conclusion of a tour of a historic home, one student shook the docent’s hand in thanks. Each of his classmates followed suit, to the gentleman’s great delight.
Charlotte Mason wrote in the preface to Ourselves, “If only half a dozen children in each such school got an idea of what is possible to them and what they should aim at, some elevation of character throughout the nation should be manifest in a single generation.”
May we continue to share this Christ-centered, life-giving education, sending out into the world young people who bring respect, courtesy, and love wherever their feet tread.
For the children’s sake,
Krise