Fostering Possibility: Building a Community Where Every Child Believes They Can

Every week at Community Time, I help our students think about what it means to be joyful learners, mindful leaders, skillful communicators, creative problem solvers, compassionate collaborators, and practiced advocates.

These are not just words on a poster — they are the values that shape who our students become. What resonates with me more and more is this: we are not just teaching children how to read, write, and calculate. We are building the foundation of who they believe they are and who they believe they can be.

When I look around at the community we are creating, where children see themselves as artists, mathematicians, scientists, writers, editors, builders, and creators — where they are empowered to advocate for themselves and for others — I often wonder, Who would I have become if I had grown up in a place like this?

As a child of Cape Verdean immigrants, my first language was Cape Verdean Kriolu — a beautiful, rich, oral language, traditionally passed down through storytelling, song, and conversation. At the time, Kriolu wasn't a written language — and even today, while many people are working to create written systems for it, its oral roots remain strong.

At home, communication was about being understood — grammar and spelling in English were secondary. No one corrected my tenses or my spelling; what mattered most was connection. Because of this, I often saw myself more as a storyteller than a "writer" — someone who could capture attention, feeling, and meaning through words, even if my English didn’t always look or sound "perfect." I rarely saw books that reflected my world, and I didn’t imagine myself in the pages of the stories we read.

Now, as an educator — and as a parent — I see with fresh eyes how critical it is to build a community where children feel seen, encouraged, and believed in. The feelings they carry from these early experiences — of being valued, respected, and capable — shape who they are, far beyond the time they spend with us.

Being part of a community like Park has changed me, too. For the first time, I have felt uplifted not only as a leader and educator, but as a storyteller and a writer. Even now, I sometimes doubt my technical writing skills — but here, my voice is heard and celebrated. Our students, full of confidence I lacked at their age, remind me daily that yes, I am a writer.

This realization has pushed me to pursue a lifelong dream: to write a children’s book that reflects the story I never saw growing up — a story rooted in Cape Verdean culture, multilingual identity, and belonging.

In creating spaces where children are told, "You are a writer, a scientist, a builder, a creator," we are not just preparing them for school. We are shaping the adults they will become, the dreams they will dare to dream, and the stories they will one day tell.

For me, this work is not just professional. It’s deeply personal. And it’s a privilege to help build a community where every child — and every adult — can believe they are many things, and that their possibilities are limitless.

By Ildulce Brandao-DaSilva, Assistant Lower Division Head

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