The Road Not Taken describes a journey in which the speaker must choose between two seldom-traveled roads. He surveys both as far as he can, then selects the “one less traveled by.” “And that,” he says, “has made all the difference.” As readers, we are left to wonder whether the difference is positive or negative. The speaker doesn’t say, and in truth, it doesn’t matter. Instead, the message is that we make choices, and the choices we make a difference.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening also narrates a journey. Here, too, the speaker pauses in his journey, but this time to savor the beauty of a forest filled with snow. In both poems, choices are made that suggest something about what Frost valued. A journey is a common symbol of life, and Frost perhaps suggests that we should make choices on life’s journey with care and take time along the way to enjoy the moment. The point is not the destination, but the journey itself. In neither poem does the speaker describe arriving, only the journey.

Education is similar in that it’s the journey that creates value. There is a goal—a diploma from high school, or a degree or degrees from a college or university—but even those are just points along the journey of a lifelong learner. As students and educators, it’s important to recognize that the choices we make define the journey and determine which goals we achieve. But it’s also important to savor the present moment.

When Robert L. Frost Elementary’s new facility opened at the beginning of the 2011–2012 school year, we were visited by Vincent D’Amico. Mr. D’Amico is a retired HISD educator and a longtime Robert Frost scholar and enthusiast. It’s fair to say that one of the defining moments in his life was spending an afternoon visiting the poet at his New Hampshire home. Mr. D’Amico presented Frost with a portrait of the poet, which now hangs in the school’s Media Center/Library, along with a number of photos and artifacts currently on display at the school.

Mr. D'Amico also contacted the Robert Frost Farm and described our new facility and its semi-rural location. In response, the Robert Frost Farm donated four volumes in the name of the poet Robert Frost, his family, and the Trustees of the State of New Hampshire to the school library.

This is a wonderful gift, for which we thank them.