By John Novick, Jr., Head of School

The Mackinac Bridge traverses the turbulent and volatile Straits of Mackinac, the unpredictable body of water that connects Lakes Huron and Michigan. It is 26,372 feet long, weighs 1,024,500 tons, and is suspended by 42,000 miles of cable. It is secured in place by 4,851,700 steel rivets and 1,016,600 steel bolts. The supporting anchorages alone weigh 360,380 tons. The longest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere resulted from 4,000 engineering drawings and 85,000 detailed blueprints. It took 3,500 workers to build the structure over a three-year period (1954-57), including 5 who lost their lives in the process.

And yet the reason the Mackinac Bridge remains standing today after 212,000,000 vehicles have completed the five-mile crossing from Mackinaw City to St. Ignace is not its immutability, nor its brute strength. It has withstood the test of time because its deck was constructed to sway up to 35 feet in either direction when confronted by severe winds, a naturally adaptive response that dissipates dangerous wind and prevents structural damage, even as that same movement feels rather ominous to anyone riding on the deck. Its true strength lies where it is most vulnerable. Reflecting on a late summer weekend in the Upper Peninsula and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario (where we have family) with my wife Dana and some dear friends, all of this reminds me just how timely, relevant, and important Brene Brown’s research on vulnerability remains.

As we begin another school year together in a broader societal context that promotes a dysfunctional, dangerous, and disturbing vision for what "strength" looks like–with clear implications for how children grow up and come to see themselves and the world– Brene Brown and the Mighty Mac offer us a healthier, more authentic, expansive, just, and sustainable vision, one in which qualities that can be mistaken for weakness are actually where our strength lies.

As Brown’s research demonstrates:

• "Staying vulnerable is a risk we have to take if we want to experience connection."
• "True belonging doesn't require you to change who you are, it requires you to be who you are. And that's vulnerable."
• "Vulnerability is not weakness; it's our greatest measure of courage."
• "Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and
• creativity."

Thank you for all you will do in the days, weeks, and months ahead as educators, parents, coaches, mentors, and extended family to inspire character, curiosity, critical thinking, collaboration, well-being, creative self-expression, compassion, listening for understanding, and intellectual and social-emotional growth in our students. Our individual and collective modeling of NPES’ Core Educational Beliefs, decency, and humanity have never been more essential. And we are all incredibly fortunate to have this opportunity to do something this important, in these times, together. Our children, and all children, deserve better.