Gooden Blog

Some of my most potent memories of my time at Gooden are of its special events. I remember how excited I was to sing a solo in Lessons and Carols. I remember the fierce competitions we had on Orchard Day; my team—green—rarely won an event, but that did little to stop our unyielding determination to win. I remember sitting next to my best friend at a school tea and learning that it is, in fact, possible to eat too much sugar. I remember Mrs. Ewen surprising me with a birthday cake during our spring music concert, and needing three tries to blow out all the candles. After that day, my grandpa has never let me forget there is a reason I play a string, not a wind, instrument. These are just a few, among many, of my fond memories at Gooden, and it was in these special events that Gooden transcended its role as a school and became much more—a family and community. 

I believe Gooden’s small, family-like community is its greatest asset, and a student’s experience as part of the Gooden community can be crucial in their development as a young adult. Growing up, we students find ourselves members of increasingly bigger and more diverse communities, with high schools of several hundred students, colleges of several thousand students, and working communities of even greater sizes. It is easy to get lost along the way and start looking out only for ourselves, especially in a culture that so often misinterprets self-care to mean putting ourselves before all others. Because of this, familial communities that emphasize love for others are incredibly rare, and must be actively cultivated. But because Gooden teachers, staff, and administrators have already done the work to cultivate this love in their community, any student at Gooden can learn to be vulnerable and to accept and give help. As we alumni navigate an increasingly diverse and complex world, this experience serves as a beacon to guide us in our own networks of communities. 

But why should we care about cultivating these types of communities for our students? After all, independence and self-sufficiency are usually considered to be signs of strength and healthy development. Let me share a piece of advice my college dean, Sarah Mahurin, once gave me: it takes real strength to be independent, but it takes even more courage to be vulnerable and care for somebody else. After all, this is what a Gooden education is all about—Respect for Self, Respect for Others, and Respect for the World. To truly respect others and the world, we need to move beyond the fallacy that success is measured in individual achievement, and instead value the bonds of love and trust we build with others along the way.

Sam Christopher '14, a student and teacher in training, graduated in 2022 with a Bachelor of Arts in economics and mathematics from Yale University. This fall, he will begin a teaching residency with the Pasadena Unified School District while pursuing a Master of Arts in teaching from the Alder Graduate School of Education. While Sam’s ultimate goal is to teach middle school or high school math, he also enjoys playing, composing, and producing music at home.