Building Community

Throughout his novels, one of Thomas Hardy's recurring themes is the idea of community. For the Victorians, and therefore Hardy himself, social status and social standing were paramount to leading a fulfilling life. When interacting with others in all aspects of social interaction: whether on the street, at a market, or at a party; Victorians categorized those they met into various social classes - and once you were a member of one, you were prohibited from fraternizing with the others. This practice was at best a contraction of character, and at worse hypocritical.

Missisquoi Valley Union operates on similar principles, albeit not so draconian or puritanical as the Victorians, where we have several sending schools which coalesce into a single Union school. The variety of communities create a melting pot of peoples which have their own rituals for interaction. Thinking back on your first experience coming to MVU and combing that with what you know now, years later, having been an active member in this community, explain what defines our community? In what ways do we define ourselves?