The Sense of Belonging and Identity

I have been uneasy over the past few months about what our daughters understand by the

sense of belonging and as a father of three children I also wondered which one is mine and if I have a

I have managed to convey some of that sense to them.

The family is the primary nucleus to which we belong, whether it is the ideal family, the common one or the

that we don't like. We are someone's children, and well as Christians we are God's children.

Many of us are proud to belong to a family, others perhaps not so proud, but

also belong to one.

Belonging to Colegio Santa María makes us part of a community. Students,

parents, teachers, administrative staff, alumnae and suppliers, among others,

we have bonds that identify us and make us members, whether we are connected or not.

not with our community.

My oldest daughter finished about two years ago and what I can tell you is that out of 94 girls, 93

families we lived a Colegio Santa María that marked our lives, that transformed us to

everyone and made that class of 2021 an unforgettable experience. We learned to educate

our daughters to be part of a community united on their behalf and to let them loose for

to go their separate ways. If you ask them or us, their parents, what they or their parents are

feel, I'm sure more than one will answer: proud to have belonged to the class of

2021.

We were a very large group, full of differences, however, we learned to

and to think that the most important thing was to provide them with an example of unity and

belonging.

We have been building this sense of belonging since the early grades, and we have also been able to welcome

girls who arrived over the years. Little things and situations marked our group,

especially sports activities, cultural activities, bazaars, first communion, the

confirmation, integration meetings and other events, in which our participation

as parents showed them the importance of building friendships and achieving goals together.

Also to accompany them in their defeats and sorrows, accepting the natural differences.

and providing them with tools to be constructive in the face of the challenges they face.

difficult, uncomfortable and even adverse situations, seeking their opinions,

comments and actions will avoid being destructive, malicious or harmful.

Today, with my little girl in third grade and her class of 2031, we have already been consolidating that

group of girls, parents and families. As a family we also hope to build for that

We have a wonderful future ahead of us, where we know there will be difficult moments and other very difficult ones.

We hope that our stay and permanence in the school will also be a pleasant one.

a universe of experiences.

Our society is advancing by leaps and bounds. In terms of intelligence alone

artificial - the famous -CHAT GPT - we already have educational challenges never seen before, the

immediacy of information that can be very useful to avoid major disasters but that can be

also unfortunate to destroy a person's reputation or good name,

situation that we see in the management of messages by Whatsapp, Tik Tok, Instagram, etc.,

before we pontificate as masters of the truth, let us think about the

damage we can cause to a person or a community with a statement by

be true.

The feeling of belonging is a fundamental aspect in the formation of our company.

as human beings. It identifies us and gives us characteristics -imprints- that make us

be unique. Our daughters, even we with CSM have very unique characteristics.

special.

I invite all the members of our community to live and transmit that sense of

belonging and identity. It has to express it and to make it known with respect, with respect, with

pride. I invite all members to put on the shirt; to accompany our

our daughters, even if they are not athletes, at sporting events, to our

who represent us in cultural, musical, theatrical or any other activities in

that a little girl Santa Maria dares to show her gifts. To be there with them, even if they are not

our daughters, helps us to know ourselves, to emphasize that there are sacrifices and moments in which we can

we can live for them, rather than for ourselves, even if we have rainy days, or our

activities are so important that we cannot devote time to them. What are 14, 10,

5, 2 or a year in school, when school life goes by so fast, like the blink of an eye, that it is a

close your eyes?

The childhood and adolescence of our daughters passes quickly, very quickly, and this is lived in the

with parents, families, teachers, general services personnel, etc., and the school, and the

important are the teachings, the values, and what remains; what is also as that

person was molded to have that sense of belonging and that identity of self, and

how in the future you will be able to build your life, your family, your home, your career, your country.

Those of us who have some role with Santa Maria as students, parents, teachers,

employees, etc., we identify with and belong to these unique and unique characteristics.

special to the school, which make us a unique and wonderful group, in spite of the

that we can have a diversity of beings in our community, however, all of them are

with different identities, we manage to interact, we agree on something, which is the welfare

of our daughters, of our students. Knowing each other makes it possible for us to live together.

and grow, especially in an environment such as a school.

Our responsibility as members of this community to strengthen our

and identity is that we learn to recognize our achievements, to express ourselves and our

to have our contributions valued, to feel comfortable, to feel free and valued, to feel comfortable

and make the other feel comfortable, to offer our support, and also to know how to

to respect the other and to teach our daughters and students how to

to respect themselves and others; to communicate transparently and responsibly,

to feel valued as people and to value others.

We are also a community of faith, in which we are sheltered and sheltered by Mary, our

patron saint. This gives us our own identity and teaches us to be grateful and to belong to this place.

human group.

Sense of belonging and identity as a legacy for our students, for our students, for our students, for our students, for our students, for our students, for our students, for our students and for our students.

We are not only for our daughters, but also for us as their guides, whether we are fathers, teachers, or directors,

friends, acquaintances has to be a permanent reflection and a life guideline with the purpose of

to be coherent, good people, good human beings, good parents,

good mothers, good teachers, good employees, good children, good grandparents,

good in general, thus building a CSM identity and belonging.