Dear Hutchings Community,
Happy Valentine's Day! We saw some amazing Valentine's Day boxes today, and students enjoyed great celebrations throughout the building.
I rarely share media recommendations, and I'm not sure how many Hutchings families like musical theater, but I saw the musical Come From Away this week at the Fisher Theater in Detroit. I can't recommend Come From Away highly enough. If you can't make it to a live performance, a recorded performance is available on Apple TV and Amazon Prime. I'm sure you can find the Original Cast Recording on your preferred music streaming services, too.
Come From Away has spectacular energy and fantastic music, but the reason I'm thinking about it for this newsletter is because it is an incredible story about human connection. The story is about the Canadian town of Gander, located in the province of Newfoundland.
At one point Gander International Airport was incredibly important to air travel because it was a great refueling stop for transatlantic aircraft. Before planes could make longer trips, they had to stop at Gander because of how far east it sets. According to the musical, the first time that The Beatles set foot in North America, it was refueling at Gander's Airport.
The story shows us a period of about five days and begins on September 11, 2001. After the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, more than 40 planes and 6,600 passengers were ordered to land at Gander International Airport as American air space was closed.
So many people were struggling and coping with the disastrous events of September 11, and the people in and around Gander rallied. They were compassionate, generous, creative, charitable, hospitable, and accepting. They recognized a crisis and saw people in need from all over the world, and they acted. Without a playbook for an unimaginable crisis, their selflessness serves as a reminder of what we're all capable of.
I'm sure I mentioned this in a previous Herald, but before I was a principal, I was an English teacher. As an English major in college, exploring themes in literature and making real-life connections was a pretty standard assignment.
Watching Come From Away this week reminded me of all the things I love about working at a school. Students come to us from all over the place. And we have gifts to offer- just like the people of Gander. We meet our students with compassion, generosity, creativity, charity, hospitality, and acceptance. When we see people in need, we act. Sometimes, we don't have a playbook for how to help, but we start by showing up. We have faith that we can figure out how to help because we want to help, and because helping people is right.
I hope you'll look into the musical, and I hope a recommendation was a welcome change of pace. It feels a touch pretentious on my part, but Come From Away had me thinking about what I love most about working with all of you.
Sincerely,
Ben Malecki
Principal