Matt Burgy, Head of School
October 18, 2024
Dear Oakridge Family,
I distinctly remember the first time I made a grade that I didn’t like. I was in 6th grade, and I was taking Pre-AP Pre-Algebra. Math was a subject that I LOVED, and I’ve always had a very strange ability to look at numbers and to be able to manipulate them. My teacher that year (and the year after) was demanding of our time. I can vividly remember the amount of homework that I had and the ferocious pace that made my head spin.
After our first grading period, I brought home my first C after never having anything less than an A in Math. I remember how much I worried about bringing home that grade. My parents had high expectations of me, and I had high expectations of myself. To say I was disappointed would be a severe understatement. So, I went home, and at dinner that night I showed my parents my report card. Dropping my head, I said, “I have something that I need to show you. I got my report card out and showed them my grades. 6 A’s, 1 B (in ceramics of all things…Visual Art is not a gift of mine), and 1 big, fat C in Pre-Algebra. I remember sweating as they looked over my report card, worried about what they might say. But, the response shocked me. They started by asking me what I had learned, and I told them everything that I had learned in each class, except Pre-Algebra. I remember my dad, “and what did you learn in Pre-Algebra?” I went on to tell him the many things I learned: what a variable is and how to solve for one, what an integer is, and how that was different from a regular number, and this awesome thing called Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally (otherwise known as PEMDAS or Order of Operations). He turned to me and said, “Well, it sounds like you learned a lot these 6 weeks. How do you feel about the results?” Sheepishly, I said, “Not too great.” He followed up and said, “Do you do your best?” I answered more confidently that I had indeed done my best, I just had a hard time understanding why they kept throwing this “X” in place of a number. He chuckled and said “Well, if you did your best, you worked your hardest, that’s good enough for me. Is it good enough for you?” I told him it wasn’t, and he said, “It’s ok to not get your desired results. If you spend your life worrying about making an A every time, you’re going to have a very tough life. Instead of worrying about the product, worry more about the process.” And that was that; we never talked about that C again. I learned quite a bit from that experience, but my biggest takeaway was that I could learn from hard things. I struggled in math that year, and the next year, I struggled in Algebra 1. And then, I took Geometry. Suddenly, math made sense again, and I never looked back. I went on to do very well in math, and when I became a teacher, I taught math (and yes, I now understand Algebra).
Now, as an educator and a parent, I see how valuable those moments of struggle were. They helped me develop skills beyond math—like resilience and the confidence to tackle challenges. These are the same skills we strive to nurture in your children. They are not alone when they face a difficult concept, a challenging project, or a tough practice. Our faculty is here to support them. But we also recognize that allowing students to wrestle with challenges is essential for their growth.
We want our students to know that it's okay not to understand everything right away, and that sometimes, the most significant learning happens when they push through those tough spots. In doing so, they not only master the material but also gain the confidence to take on future challenges—both in and out of the classroom.
Thank you for your continued partnership as we support your child’s growth. Together, we can help them embrace the struggle and find the strength within themselves to overcome it.
Happy Homecoming and Go Owls!
Matt Burgy
Head of School
