Grateful Hearts

This weekend, many will be gathering with families and friends to share a meal together and reflect on all that we have to be thankful for.  Great Hearts Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Jay Heiler recently shared, “Here in the present, we know that the feast is a pretext for drawing close with those we love, remembering what we most cherish, taking stock of how good we have it, and recalling those with much less.”

It is important to take some intentional time remember what we are grateful for and truly appreciate life’s Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.  Gratitude is the virtue of rejoicing in what is. It is expressing the feeling of joy we get from all that brings us joy.  But it is more than just a positive feeling.

The Roman philosopher Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of the virtues but the parent of all others.”  From gratitude comes reverence for family, appreciation of friends, and acts of kindness.  Gratitude inspires us to do good.  It is a behavior that produces other virtues in our lives.

We often fall into the trap of the “hustle and bustle” of the holidays and forget to remember and reflect the reason these days are set aside.  Be sure to remove yourself from the noise long enough to recall the people and the moments you are thankful for.  And don’t forget to share your gratefulness for others.

Heiler reminds us, “For all of us at Great Hearts, this time of year brings us to cherish all of you – the families who make up our school communities, the faculty who bring learning to life every day with such love and skill, the countless good souls who bring the unbought grace of life to the daily tasks of operating a school and bringing up the next generation.”

“All of you have had an essential hand in our continued success,” continued Heiler.  “That success includes having been the highest performing multi-school enterprise in Arizona in recent academic achievement measurements, including the highest-performing single school in the state of Arizona (Great Hearts Lincoln lower, led by Toyin Atolagabe and her wonderful faculty); and earning an overall ‘A’ rating from the Texas Education Agency while growing faster in that great state over the past five years than any other charter school organization.

“In Great Hearts Arizona, we are thankful for the camaraderie among our 24 superb Headmasters, the devotion of our 1,200+ teachers, the support of our school staff, and the trust the parents of 15,000 students extend to us every day,” said Great Hearts Arizona Superintendent Brandon Crowe.  “I am grateful to continue to be part of an enterprise that seeks to prepare young people for a full and meaningful life by calling them to examine the richness of their humanity and the wonders of the natural world.”

Great Hearts wishes you a Happy Thanksgiving and a safe and happy holiday weekend.

Do you have a story or know of a story that you would like to see featured at Great Hearts?  Please contact jmoore@greatheartsamerica.org