A Message from Jake Lewis

This place and this program have been central pieces of my life, personally and professionally, for the last 8 years.  I was married up in the hay meadow just out the window; my second son was born in that bedroom just down the hall.  In the first year of the gap program, the gappers lived in the house that I now live in!  The turn of the seasons here supports so many wonderful opportunities to learn and to live, to work and to play, to struggle and to celebrate.  I will miss it all, and am eager to see who steps in to take up the next chapter of Gap at Glen Brook’s development.

It was my privilege to steward the school programs through the tumult of COVID. I’ve known many of these young people for many years, and have memories of their adventures and misadventures over time playing through my head as I write. For the students to have such a place to return to, and for me to watch them grow as the seasons go round and round, is a blessing that goes both ways.

This past year also saw me at the head of Glen Brook’s summer camp. To see children once again playing in the meadow, leaping into the lake, and singing on the lawn was a powerful antidote to the isolation of the pandemic days. I’m proud to have been a part of making it happen. Many of my previous campers and CITs were my staff this summer. May all educators have such a rewarding experience as to witness those they’ve taught grow up to teach others.

My work here—and in so many ways, the life I’ve lived alongside it—is only partly mine. It has come to me from many, many others, for whom and to whom I am grateful. To the WSGC teachers and staff, to my colleagues/neighbors/friends at Glen Brook, and to the many children who have grown up in part at Glen Brook: I’m a better person for the knowing of you.