Before Students Arrive, Hillcrest Staff Begin With Prayer
“Lord, help us see them.” The prayer carried a little differently through an empty classroom as Hillcrest faculty and staff stood in a circle in the third grade classroom.
There were no students at the desks yet. No questions being called across the room. No backpacks in the hallways or half-finished assignments waiting to be turned in. But as Hillcrest teachers walked through the Lower and Upper School campuses during faculty in-service, they could picture the students who would soon occupy those spaces, and they prayed for them.
They prayed over desks where students will wrestle with ideas. They prayed through hallways where introductions will take place, friendships will deepen, conflicts will be called out and dealt with, and young students will make choices that will shape who they are becoming.
To prepare these spaces for students, teachers and staff members prayed for the young minds that will be stretched, for habits that will need to be strengthened in students' hearts, and for those souls who will discover that learning often requires doing something difficult long enough for a new level of identity and belonging to be unlocked.
They prayed for the families behind those students, too. Staff and teachers know the parents making significant sacrifices because they want something more for their kids academically and spiritually. And teachers also prayed for themselves, that they would quickly notice and understand students’ needs, and guide them to the God who made them and knows them.
The prayer walk and worship time that started the teacher in-service became the starting point for everything that followed. The in-service launched from this important time into training on safety, security, and the vision and mission of the school. President Fiskness updated staff on enrollment, the projection for the school year, and the incredible ways God continues to meet daily needs at Hillcrest through the financial and prayer support of alumni and friends.
In the afternoon, Upper School teachers explored how the classroom environment itself can shape learning. They studied the classical idea of scholé, a kind of restful, attentive learning that gives students room to think deeply rather than simply rush from task to task to achieve an outcome.
Restful learning is not passive or easy. It can involve difficult books, demanding questions, complex equations, careful discussion, and sustained effort. But a well-ordered classroom can create enough calm for students to wonder, notice, wrestle, and engage rather than simply react.
Joanna Diniz helped teachers explore the many ways God has designed people to encounter His good world and internalize truth. Students learn through words, relationships, movement, images, experiences, reflection, patterns, and questions. Good teaching makes room for those different pathways while continuing to call students toward the same goal: deeper understanding.
This is part of what Hillcrest means by Christian formation. Students are not only learning what to know, they are learning how to see the world, understand themselves within it, and respond faithfully to the gifts and calling God has given them.
The school year will soon bring assignments, practices, performances, conversations, victories, frustrations, and plenty of hard work. But before any of it begins, Hillcrest teachers have already walked the halls and prayed for the students who are coming. Then they trained.
That order matters. Hillcrest begins with God, seeks to understand the students He has created, and then works carefully to teach them well.