In Like A Lion?

Have you ever heard the expression, “March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb?” Typically a comment upon March weather patterns and their palpable transition from winter harshness to a milder spring, it can also be applied to this season in school. While our own winter 2025-26 has been calm to say the least (sorry about all of those unfortunate ski bus cancellations!), these first months of 2026 have been anything but lamb-like. Still feeling deep in gratitude and appreciation for the work of everyone associated with our NWAIS Reaccreditation, we launched into a very busy February, rich with lunar new year celebrations, Black History Month activities, and high school placement news. And if that weren’t enough, February 2026 closed with the NAIS Annual Thrive Conference, held at the Seattle Convention Center. This conference welcomes thousands of independent school educators, leaders, and trustees from across the association, and due to this year’s location, several Villa Academy leaders were able to attend with me.

With one or two exceptions, I have attended NAIS annually since 2013. (That’s quite a lot of name tags and weak coffee!) Each year has its particular energy, tone, and flow, and this year’s Thrive was no exception. Major topics included affordability and institutional sustainability, leading and supporting new generations of educators, ethical use of generative AI, and maintaining our humanity through the seismic changes taking place in our world and our schools. While education is necessarily always in flux, this year’s conference stood out as one grappling with “a time between worlds,” reflecting an industry working diligently to provide excellence in education, minister to the needs of children and families, and strive for justice in an historical moment seemingly primed for cruelty. And yet, as keynote speaker Bryan Stevenson reminded us, hopelessness is simply not an option. Rather, hope is a discipline, one that we practice each and every day both for ourselves and with our children. Stevenson reminded us that our schools are all branches of the “beloved community” referenced by Dr. King as well as the recently departed Rev. Jesse Jackson. I am grateful for that reminder and the presence of other branches as we navigate this next chapter together.

At the end of this month, Villa’s eighth graders will step into greater awareness of the beloved community as they travel to the American South, retracing the path of the Civil Rights movement. After reading Stevenson’s Just Mercy, their trip will conclude with a visit to the Equal Justice Initiative headquarters in Montgomery, Alabama, and they will be different as a result. How fortunate we are to live our mission in this way, sending our young people into the world, prepared for lives of service and purpose. We are so proud of all of our Villa Voyagers!

Thank you for holding our community in care and prayer as we march along through March.

All my best,

Liz Willis, PhD

Villa Academy Head Of School