October 6, 2022

Dear Parents and Guardians,

As we look forward to welcoming many of you to campus this evening for the start of our Family Weekend program, I am glad to have this opportunity to be in touch. Our 270 acres are beautiful at all times of year, but October is a particularly nice month and we seem to be on our way to some nearly perfect autumn weather over the weekend. The decorating a number of you have done all over campus, and the progress we have made with construction and landscaping work along Main Street, has the school looking terrific. Thank you for the help! It will be fun to enjoy it all together.

While the balance of the fall season will move quickly, I hope the weekend provides all of you with a feel for how this first month of school has gone, along with a look at all that is in store over the six-plus weeks that remain before Thanksgiving Break. As our pace quickens, and our lives at school become increasingly full, we run the risk of missing out on opportunities to share all that has been going on. These next couple of days will play a part in helping get all of you up to speed, but I did want to use this letter to share one experience I had this past Friday night -- a highlight of the year to date for me.

Earlier in September, one of our deans of students, Ingrid Knowles, invited Assistant Head of School Nina Hanlon and me to be judges in the first-of-its-kind Brooks Clean event. Without knowing much, I was glad to sign on. The goal of the event was twofold: to pull together a fun dorm theme/show for the judges, and to get all of the rooms and common areas cleaned up. The dormitory that won the event would get a pizza party of their choice for the whole building. The stakes were high.

At about 8 p.m., I made my way to Peabody House for the first stop on the Brooks Clean tour. Nina, Ingrid and I gathered outside of Peabody, and you can imagine our surprise when we were met by fog pouring out of the entrance and were welcomed by two students to what we learned was “Club Peabody.” I paid my $5 Brooks Bucks cover charge, and we made our way into a nightclub scene with dancing and singing that will be hard to forget -- and the rooms and common areas were immaculate. I left Peabody thinking to myself there would be no way any other dormitory could compete with what I just experienced. I was wrong.

From Peabody, we went to Hettinger East, where we again found our way to incredibly clean rooms and a full-blown boxing match in the common room with announcers, referees, and a ring cushioned by pillows. The match was called a draw. Hettinger West was next with each dormitory room set up with favorite movies and movie candy for Nina, Ingrid, and me to pick. I chose a box of Good & Plenty, which apparently was a surprise. Chace House followed with a study hall skit featuring an especially enthusiastic study hall proctor and difficult study hall participant -- both shall remain nameless. PBA was next. This building is named for Phyllis Batcheller Ashburn, and was turned into "Phyllis’ Bakery." We were required to judge what appeared to be gingerbread houses of some sort -- all of them were great and the rooms were as clean as could be. Blake House warmed my heart with a tailgate party, excellent cheeseburgers, and New England Patriots banners and jerseys everywhere. A run through the lofts revealed clean rooms and plenty of gadgetry that I suspect may impede academic work from time to time. Thorne House, our biggest dormitory, welcomed us through one of the two entrances, and to a first floor room with a screen welcoming Ms. Hanlon and me to the building -- a good start. From there, they took us through one clean space after another while acting out The Cat in The Hat. The show was impressively choreographed and acted, with Hugh Foster ’26 stealing the show in a lead role.

We heard Whitney House before we got there with a welcoming song on the steps to the building. The winter holiday theme and scene with computer monitor fires in every clean room and hot chocolate and cookies to enjoy was great fun. Merriman was our ninth stop of the evening and a dreamland theme was in full swing. Candy and clean rooms were everywhere, and I was even invited to knock down a piñata the group prepared for the event. There is a video if you are interested. Finally, we finished the night in Gardner and the rainbow theme they pulled together. Another slate of tidy rooms and our visit culminated with a Skittles taste-testing contest between Ms. Hanlon and me. I won.

As we made our way out of Gardner at around 10 p.m. and into what was a full weekend with our admission visiting day and homecoming festivities, I felt a huge lift from the camaraderie, spirit, and fun our students and faculty had with this event. It really was Brooks School at its best, and I will not soon forget it -- a tribute to your children. Now, we just need to determine who the winners are!

I will look forward to seeing all of you over these next few days and to sharing more about what I think has been an excellent start to the school year. To build on this momentum through October and November will be the goal. We hope you have a safe trip to campus.

Best,

John R. Packard

Head of School