I graduated from CFL in 2011 and eventually found my way into mainstream education, completing a Master’s in Psychology in Bangalore. Although working with children was not part of my career plan, I found myself engaging with children with special needs through play and therapy since graduating.
I always say more of my childhood was spent at school than at home, which was often a weekend getaway to get spoiled by my parents. Over the years, I’ve noticed that what I learned there hasn’t arrived all at once—it surfaces slowly, in layers, revealing its value as I move through different stages of life. Despite having my own struggles with mainstream institutions later as I moved from college to therapy centers, I believe CFL equipped me with a toolkit that enabled me to decipher new and unfamiliar situations, work with different kinds of people, and find flexible solutions to barriers. I also found that I was able to interact with adults around me differently to my peers, especially authority figures. The community at school always felt safe, a place to ask questions without fear and ask for support you needed. I was able to learn how to draw and uphold boundaries, challenge myself and others during my years there. This experience shapes the way I continue to relate to people today.
In hindsight, I’m beginning to understand how CFL runs on a tremendous amount of faith and commitment from every teacher and staff member. It provides a consistent and holistic education, a meaningful campus environment and a community approach to decision making. It must take superhuman patience to handle a bunch of wild kids year after year!
I’m grateful for the childhood, relationships, and education I was fortunate to receive at CFL. School will always be a place I return to, in different ways and in different phases of life.