Psychologists have long considered the critical role of play in human development. The sandbox or playground provide environments for safe exploration of the world, enabling the child to experience the relationship between fantasy and reality, while dealing with the emotions triggered by success and failure. Adults denied play as children uniformly exhibit aberrant, anti-social behavior.

While the value of play in adolescence is less studied, high school athletics certainly serve a critical need as youth grow into adulthood. Indeed, management consults increasingly advocate play in the adult business world to stimulate creative problem solving and new paradigms for institutional advancement.

It follows, then, that play serves a serious role in our ability to work optimally. Or: in order to achieve our mission to provide optimal environments for our students' growth, we value play.

This is a recurrent agenda on this site: to expose what is too often hidden (buried!) by schools in their media...that teenagers excel at serious pursuits while still being teenagers.

As we approach the end of the fall trimester, (most) students are absolutely cranking....

Halloween is perfectly placed in the year, allowing for lots of play in our work. OK, students, pay attention to the teacher in the banana outfit....

When you think of it, the arts are work and play combined.... concentration and creativity at the same moment.

The drama team's production of the 1936 Pulitzer Prize winning comedy You Can't Take It With You plays Friday and Saturday nights in the Norris Theater. It's hilarious, and played beautifully. Don't miss the fun!