An organization’s mission statement is fundamentally important. As I often say, our St. Clement’s mission is like a filter through which we run decisions, programs and approaches to ensure that we are focused on doing what we say we are doing.
It is one thing to include a mission statement in our materials, and another to embed it in our community and culture. When our girls, often in assembly skits, include the importance of intellectual curiosity, courage and compassion—sarcastically or not—I know we are being clear about our work. This week, I was elated to hear Georgia ’26, in her Grade 6 speech to the Junior School, speak about what the mission statement meant to her.
After hearing her speech, I asked her permission to share parts of it in my blog, as I was thrilled to know that our girls are reflecting on the meaning of our mission statement and its impact. Her thoughts are below.
“SCS’ mission is to develop outstanding women who are intellectually curious, courageous and compassionate. St. Clement’s school has these values to prepare young women for their future. It seems as if we know this saying by heart, but most of us have probably not thought about the special values of this mission statement…
Curiosity is important in the SCS mission statement because it allows us to be innovative, and by getting answers to our questions we learn and become smarter.
We must have courage in order to explore new concepts without fear of the unknown and without fear of failure.
Without compassion, SCS’ mission statement would not be nearly as powerful. I believe that compassion is the most fundamental characteristic of each and every Clementine.”
These reflections were wonderful to hear, and it was her closing ‘call to action’ that topped the speech off.
As Georgia said, “I challenge you to always be thinking about this mission statement. I challenge you to truly be a young woman who is intellectually curious. I challenge you to truly be courageous. And I challenge you to always be compassionate. If you accept this challenge, I promise that each of us will be better tomorrow than we are today, and this community will be a better and brighter one. “
Here’s to the importance of the mission and to our girls who reflect it.
