A parent's view

Dear Woodstock Teachers and Staff,

My name is Maura Murphy and I am the mother of Woodstock students Aya Wakita (6th grade) and Maeve Wakita (4th grade). After having spent a wonderful vacation with my daughters and being amazed at all of the wonderful ways they are developing, I am moved to shout a great 'Thank you!' to all of you that would echo through the Himalayas!

Despite my strong intuition that Woodstock would be an ideal place for our daughters, after deciding to visit, the closer I actually got to the school, I began to have second thoughts: winding along higher and higher, on the edge of a soggy crust of earth that seemed headed for heaven, I thought, 'What am I doing?...' It was raining almost horizontally, and the clouds floating by my window were gray and felt foreboding. Being deserted by my driver ('I'll be back in 5 minutes, madam,' somehow became the next morning) and sleeping in a bed with a termite-infested frame didn't help matters, and I tried to rekindle my enthusiasm as we got lost on three different mountain peaks before finally reaching Woodstock.

All of the logistical nightmares involved in getting to Woodstock melted away, though, as soon as I passed through the gate and was introduced to a world even more wonderful than what I had imagined. I was impressed, but even more than that, moved, by the dedication and love of the students that was so evident in each and every member of the administration and staff I met and talked to. Being able to see the students themselves, their smiles and 'aliveness' was the final and decisive factor, and I knew without a doubt that Aya and Maeve would be blessed to go to Woodstock, both for what they would receive and also for what they would be able to offer.

While our phone calls and emails gave me a fairly clear idea of the kids' experiences, progress, challenges, joys and occasional scrapes and bruises, when they came home for the holidays and I was able to look into their eyes, listen to their stories and see how they had both grown in so many ways, my awe and appreciation of what you are doing at what I have come to call the 'mini-UN in the Himalayas' became all the greater. In addition to the many teachers and staff known to us already, whose names come up repeatedly in conversations, there are so many more people who, although unknown to us by name, have less visible but very important roles, interactions and presences in our daughters' lives at Woodstock, and I would like to offer thanks to those both known and unknown, from the enthusiastically and effectively engaged administration, teachers and residential staff, to those who are cooking our children's food, maintaining their living spaces, washing their clothes, etc...

Thank you, thank you, thank you one and all!

Yours truly,

Maura Murphy

This letter was a great encouragement to Woodstock staff, and we are grateful to Mrs. Murphy for permission to use it here.