It all started with a question.

Cary Academy, I mean.

What if?

What if a school could combine an interdisciplinary, liberal-arts curriculum with technology-rich, innovative approach to teaching and learning?

Over the last 20 years, we’ve gotten an answer to that original question, and we’ve found incredible power in embedding that optimistic curiosity in everything we’ve done since our founding.

Today we are proud of the curiosity that drives our faculty to design evolving paths of inquiry to engage and enlighten our students, and in turn of the curiosity those students bring to their intellectual pursuits.

This is what it means to be a learning community. Everybody learning. Together.

Of course, there is danger here. As a community of learners, we are bound to make mistakes. When taking risks, there will be failure. What keeps us going is the goodwill that comes from a community aligned by mission and a deep respect for open communication.

Toward that end, I am proud to announce a new initiative this year. We are calling it #CACurious. This is intended to be a weekly blog, written by members of the CA community, that examines the processes behind the work we do together. Rather than be a finished essay or a promotional story, we want to give you a sense of what goes on behind the scenes at CA.

We expect that some of these will impart good-to-know information. Others might leave you with more questions than answers. That is OK. We embrace questions.

We will highlight a new blog entry each week at the top of our CA Weekly e-newsletter, and I hope you’ll take time to click through on some that interest you.

Communications Updates
While I have your attention, let me also share a few other changes coming in the ways we communicate with friends and family this year.

Email

• Last year’s launch of the CA Weekly was well received, and we want families to use this as the go-to place for regular information about happenings at the school. This comes out every Thursday at 4:30PM. Our PTAA grade level reps will continue to share monthly email messages with information specific to grade level activities.

Website

• We will continue to post updates about our students and alumni on the “news feed” of our website. This is a place we share pats-on-the-back for individual or group excellence. Of course, the calendar section on the website has all you need to know about events and activities.

Social Media

• We update our school Facebook page regularly with images and takes on events and activities around the campus. Thanks to the work of the PTAA, we also have very active grade-level groups. Our athletic department and alumni office also have active presences on Facebook. The school’s Twitter and Instagram accounts also highlight school activities. You can find links to these accounts on the front of the CA website.

Print publications

• This summer we updated the school’s “viewbook” that is given to prospective families in the admissions cycle. One page of that new publication is illustrated at the top of this post.
• This year, we will be combining the school’s two print publications, Access and Discoveries, into one publication. This will be printed three times a year and feature stories of campus life and from our alumni.

There is a lot to share, and we hope you find some meaningful ways to engage across all these platforms.