One Family’s Gratitude

Lorraine Jenne was more than a little surprised when her daughter Emily came home early from camp the summer after her freshman year. While at camp, Emily had learned about Principia Upper School and was determined to get her paperwork in order and apply for the fall term. Lorraine, on the other hand, wasn’t that interested. “I thought we had a perfectly good public school nearby and didn’t need to think about private school,” she explained. Emily, it seems, had other ideas.

“She contacted her current teachers, got references, ordered her transcripts—all on her own!” Lorraine shared. “All the pieces fell into place beautifully and any obstacle was quickly resolved. She was so solid in her thinking that we started to realize this must be right for her.”

Lorraine explains more about the evolution of her own thinking in a way that hits home with any parent: “It’s often difficult to know how best to support our children’s growth. As a parent, I’ve always prayed for the guidance to do the right thing and have tried to instill this in my children. My husband and I genuinely love our two daughters’ company and the opportunity to teach and guide so it was not an obvious choice for us to let our youngest daughter go to high school halfway across the country. But our daughter was very clear in her thinking and rationale and the application process was so natural and seamless that I had nothing left to say but ‘okay.’”

A month after dropping Emily off at school, her parents came for family weekend and saw just how right their decision had been. Lorraine exclaimed, “It all hit me in one fell swoop—there was no better place for her to be! The teachers were capable, attentive, and set a high standard. The dorm staff was a perfect extension to our parenting. The coaches had just the right blend of toughness and principle-centered competition. And the level to which Christian Science was incorporated into the daily experience was unquestionably the basis for all the good evident at the school. As hard as it was for me to leave following family weekend, I knew we had made the right decision.”

Lorraine adds that the high caliber music and theatre program was the “deal-maker” for Emily. “She never would have tolerated a school that didn’t have the best of the best.”

Three years later, during a gratitude session before graduation, Lorraine was one of many senior parents who shared what a Principia education has meant to their families. She summed it up by saying, “Most of all, it’s about a solid foundation. When Christian Science is the foundation of your school, you can’t help but be on solid footing. I see it in the kids. I see it in the adults. They’re all coming from the best possible place—a position of spirituality—and that’s as good as it gets.”

You can read more stories of gratitude from parents of this year’s graduates at http://www.principiaschool.org/admissions/parent-gratitude.