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My hope with these monthly letters is to share my perspective on the year while taking a look back and a look ahead all at once. To be additive to the community newsletter, which is so full of helpful information on a weekly basis, is the goal. To that end, here is some of what has been occupying my
time since I was last in touch about one month ago.
As we moved from September to October, a number of us at school were engaged in work aimed at preparing for our fall trustee meetings held at the beginning of this month. As you know, we are now within one year of the school’s centennial and are hard at work on two fronts: First, we are working on plans to celebrate this school milestone with the many who are part of our extended community. Second, we are moving further into a Centennial Campaign with our sights set on improving academic space in ways that will strengthen the experience students have across all disciplines.
On the first of these two fronts, we have a number of campus and regional events coming together that we will be able to share with the community as this school year moves along. In addition, we are doing all we can to underline that our headline centennial event will be a celebration on campus beginning on
Friday, June 11, 2027, and concluding on Sunday, June 13, 2027 – the end of our 100th year. Mark your calendars! With the latter of these two fronts, we are increasingly excited about our Academic Commons facility, which we will begin construction on at the end of January with an expectation that it will be complete by the time the 2026-2027 school year begins. You can see some images and take a “tour” through the space. While Luce Library will continue to serve that purpose, the main and upper floors of the building will be completely renovated in ways that house an expanded Learning Center program with writing, quantitative, learning strategy and enrichment opportunities for students. We will also be adding five new classrooms and a wide range of collaborative, small group, and quiet study spaces. Ultimately, we believe this building will become an academic nerve center of sorts for students moving forward. We will look forward to sharing updates as this project draws closer.
At every trustee meeting, we carve out some time for students to be with the group. At these meetings, we had five students who participated in our Students on the Forefront internship program this past summer present on the experiences they had in a wide range of fields. While centennial and campaign work are both important and fun, this time when students are front and center is always a highlight for trustees. I am pleased to report that this group did not disappoint, and it was so much fun to hear them reflect with such poise on experiences they had. Moreover, it is a source of great pride to lead a school so full of student groups we could pull together for presentations and conversation with trustees. Your students are doing a lot of really impressive work!
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