Weekly Message from HOS 2026/03/09-2026/03/13

Dear Keystonians,

Last week, as I prepared to welcome educators to the IT Heroes conference, I asked myself: how do you set the stage for a day about technology without losing sight of why we are here?  

I went back to three questions that guide everything we do:  

• What is worth learning? 

• How are those things best learned?  

• How do we know they are learned?  

Every debate about education comes down to how we answer these. Technology has been reshaping our answers for decades—never faster than now.  

But the fundamentals remain. What is worth learning? How to be the best and highest form of human. At Keystone, we name these aspirations in our five shared values: 仁 (compassion), 义 (justice), 礼 (respect), 智 (wisdom), and 信 (honesty). These are not abstract ideals. They are the competencies our students need most.  

Sometimes I hear arts and humanities discussed as if they compete with STEM. They don’t. In excellent schools, they are all woven together.  

The final (and most inspiring) presentations came at the end of the day. They were not from another tech industry leader, or school principal, but from Keystone 6th and 9th grade students, sharing about their transdisciplinary learning. What they talked about most was not new machines or fancy tools. They talked about learning to work together. About identifying what they care about. About failing and trying again to reach more elegant solutions.  

In their words and work, I saw our five values alive: the compassion to collaborate, the justice to share credit, the respect to listen to feedback, the wisdom to iterate, and the honesty to name what didn’t work. 

I couldn’t be more proud of them.  

Thanks to everyone who made that day, and every day at this amazing school possible. 

Wishing you a great weekend, 

Emily