What Really Matters?

Welcome to this new blog page and welcome to our new website. A great deal of time and effort has gone into making this new site more informative and more user-friendly. We would certainly appreciate receiving your feedback on the look and feel of the site.

Being new to the school this year, my family and I gave a great deal of thought to our move. Moving from Europe to the USA was a big decision and we wanted to be sure that we made the right one. In making that decision, we started to ask ourselves: What really matters?

Of course, what really matters in schools is the right combination of many things; teachers, students, parents, program, and facilities to name but a few. But, for us the things that really mattered when choosing to come to Riverstone, were family, community and relationships.

Riverstone International School is a very special place and it’s not just the rigorous IB curriculum, it’s not just the college admission success, it’s not the fact that our students score in the 97^th percentile on PSAT scores. What really matters at Riverstone, what really makes this school stand out, is its community and the relationships it develops among staff, parents, students. We are one big family, all working together for the benefit of our students.

Having worked in many international schools around the world, I can tell you that we should never take this for granted. Not all schools are like Riverstone, not even those that are as academically successful. To be honest, when I first came for an interview in November 2007, I knew nothing about Boise. I distinctly remember returning home and trying to explain to my family why Riverstone was the place for us. What really mattered was the sense of community and the relationships that developed as a result of that.

This was brought home to me very recently as part of the Capital Campaign to build the new Elementary School building. Teachers in any school are not the highest paid citizens in society, but our staff decided to get together to find a way to contribute to the campaign. As a group, they decided to have part of their salary set aside each month over an eighteen-month period. As a result, they managed to provide a leadership pledge to the campaign of $15,000. That is extraordinary! As a group, the staff understands how important that sense of community is to this school.

This school is extraordinary for many reasons, but being new to the school, what makes it so special for me is its sense of community!

Andrew Derry