Head of School Weekly Update 5/4/26

Head of School Weekly Update 5/4/26

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Dear Paragon Families,
There is a moment in every school year that feels like a deep exhale — a pause in the middle of all the doing to simply say: we see you.
Friday’s assembly gave us that moment twice over, as we crowned the final SEL Award winners of the 2025–2026 school year. These awards are not given lightly. They are not about grades or trophies or statistics. They are about the “be kind” in our motto — the part that is hardest to measure and most important to celebrate. Watching our community stop and honor the humans behind the hard work is one of my favorite things we do all year.
This year’s faculty winner of the Problem-Solver Award was none other than Mr. Joey, Paragon’s Dean of Students — and if you know Mr. Joey, you know why this one hit different. He is not the kind of person who seeks the spotlight or campaigns for recognition. He is the kind of person who is already three steps into fixing something before anyone else has realized there is a problem to fix. In fact, in a moment that felt almost scripted by the universe, Mr. Joey was literally in the middle of solving a problem when his name was called as the faculty winner. He looked up, completely surprised, and got to work accepting an award for the exact thing he had been doing a second before anyone was watching. That is Mr. Joey in a nutshell.
What makes this moment even more meaningful is that Mr. Joey holds a distinction no other staff member in Paragon history can claim: he is the only person ever to win the Charlie Award, our annual recognition for friendship and the only award chosen by students for students. To now add the Problem-Solver Award to that legacy is a reminder that the best people in a school community show up fully, in every direction, every single day. We are so lucky to have him.
That spirit — the one that keeps your head down, stays in the work, and doesn’t need anyone to be watching — is exactly what we hope every student at Paragon is absorbing. It is not always the loudest person in the room who makes the biggest difference. Sometimes it is the one who is already solving the problem before the assembly even begins. We see that modeled every day by people like Mr. Joey, and we see it reflected back in our students in ways that make us genuinely proud.
Which brings us to Monday — because if there is a group of Paragon Knights who have embodied that exact ethos all season long, it is our JV soccer team, who are heading into the AIPL championship game with everything on the line. They have worked hard, played hard, and done it with the kind of quiet determination that has given them a perfect season with no losses. Come out to the game, bring your school spirit, and let them feel the full weight of this community behind them. Go Knights!
With joy,Lindsay Hay, M. Ed.Head of School

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