A photo from Back-to-School Night got us thinking.

At first glance, it is exactly what you would expect: families gathered together, kids squeezed in beside friends, parents smiling for the camera. But the longer you look at it, the more you begin to see everything that exists around the photo.

You see families whose children became friends and who, somewhere along the way, became friends themselves. Parents who know the kids their own children spend their days with. They know their personalities, save them a seat, hand them a snack, make sure they have a ride and cheer for them from the sidelines.

You see teachers whose relationships with students extend far beyond assignments and grades. They know what excites them, what challenges them and what can bring out their best. They are there in classrooms, of course, but also in the audience, at games, at performances and in the everyday moments when simply being known matters.

You see older students stopping to talk to younger ones and younger students growing up with people just a few steps ahead of them to watch, learn from and look up to.

And you see a community that has become invested not only in its own children, but in one another’s.

These are not the things families usually find on a school comparison chart. They are difficult to measure, and most of them happen without anyone making much of a fuss about them.

But put enough of those small moments together, year after year, and they become a pretty significant part of a childhood.

Our students get to grow up surrounded by people who know them, encourage them, celebrate them, make room for them and keep showing up for them.

Imagine growing up knowing this many people are in your corner.

That’s the big thing about a small school.