Dear Parents,

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to visit the Google offices in Kitchener-Waterloo. This included touring their facilities, as well as gaining an understanding of the culture they have created within their workplace and company. During a question-and-answer period, we were able to ask about which skill is the most important in their workplace that we need to develop in our students. While the majority of the 700 workers at this Google location are engineers, the answer was not math or science. As a matter of fact, it was not a school subject, but rather the importance of excellent communication skills.

One of the Googlers went on to explain that most of the problems in today’s world are too complex for one person to solve, but can be effectively resolved by a group of brilliant people working together. In order to further illustrate this point, he gave the example of the Chromebook, which requires over 10 million lines of coding. It would take up to 30 years for one person to examine and write this much code. As a result, the teams that prepare the coding must communicate effectively with each other and trust that their partners will do their jobs well.

As we prepare our children to thrive in the world that they will live in as adults, it is important that we equip them with the necessary communication skills. While technology will evolve substantially in the coming years, the need to communicate will only increase and thus be a differentiator in the workplace. As Christians, we also recognize that communication with our heavenly father shapes the way we live our lives and empowers us to thrive. I encourage each of you to reinforce this with your children by modelling strong communication skills and creating the space for them practice this essential skill.

Sincerely,
J-D Lussier, Principal