What is Finch?

The name “Finch” is inspired by the character Atticus Finch of Harper Lee’s famed To Kill a Mockingbird. Defined by his principles of integrity, empathy, humility and strength, he serves as an anchor for the young, and a pioneer of truth and individuality. At Finch, we aim to serve as equal examples to our students, guiding them not just as writers, but as people navigating the world.

Writing is not only a way to tell stories, it’s our defining currency as human beings. It’s how we evolved, and how we continue to progress. However, despite its importance, writing is sometimes dismissed as a trivial pursuit, losing out to more practical means of math and science. In reality, narrative shapes permeate our lives every day. In the thread of our conversations, the angle of our arguments, debates, negotiations, our texts, emails, interviews, speeches, pitches, even in our own self-talk. Or otherwise, that voice which develops over time to form our perception of the world. It influences all of our decisions, impacts our relationships, constitutes our awareness and gratitude, and perhaps most importantly – how we feel about ourselves.

So, it’s about much more than just writing. It’s about being alive. We really believe that. And we believe in fairytales. And dragon tales. And diary-keeping. And crumpled up essays. And all those little private poems that lead to nothing. Because they don’t really lead to nothing...

They lead to everything.