September 22, 2022

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope all of you are well as we near the end of our second week of classes and gear up for our first full weekend of fall athletic games on Saturday afternoon with the ISL schedule set to begin. In many ways, this is when the fall really takes hold and we begin to find our way to a familiar rhythm and routine. From my perspective all of your children and our faculty are off to a terrific start with a lot to look forward to between now and Thanksgiving.

This is my 15th year as head of school at Brooks, and as we move into the 2022-2023 school year with 113 new students, 17 new faculty members, and a number in our community serving the school in new roles, it struck me that this is a good time to rethink how and what I communicate to you at points through the year. For some time now, our weekly family newsletter has been doing a terrific job capturing all sorts of important and helpful information in one communication. So, in an effort to avoid being redundant, I am going to leave the updating to the family newsletter. For my part, every two to three weeks when school is in session, I am going to share a snapshot or two of school life that has stayed with me for whatever reason. We shall see how this goes!

There are a number of firsts when the school year begins and it is fun to be part of them over these early weeks. Here are two that are front of mind for me:

In our opening school meeting of the year, I introduced the Hello Campaign. The goal of the Hello Campaign is to encourage everyone in the community to say hello to one another as we move up and down Main Street over the course of the day. Each year, students can ask me whether I know their name while we are both on Main Street and get $5 in Brooks Bucks on the spot if I fail to come up with the right answer. To date, I have already turned over $150 for the cause! This year, however, I added the caveat that if I see a student on Main Street with a phone out and/or ear buds in when I am asked a student’s name, all bets are off. Thus, the goal is two-pronged: First, to have some fun getting to know names, and a number of coordinated student efforts have been successful at scouting my travel habits in order to earn a bit of school store/snack shop spending money. Second, I am hoping the cell phone and earbud wrinkle plays a helpful role in getting us off of our devices and into actual human interaction on Main Street. I have enjoyed these encounters over the past week and am looking forward to doing all we can to leverage Main Street with community in mind!

Second, I attended the club fair on Monday night and was blown away by the enthusiasm and energy your children brought to that evening. From letter writing to Amnesty International to spikeball, the vast array of interests, talents, and passions our students bring to the school above and beyond all they do in their full lives on campus was just amazing. When I think about talking with prospective students and families about what I believe is so wonderful about Brooks, I think about moments like Monday night -- students engaging with other students inviting and sharing what they love with one another. I believe that so much of what we aim to do with your children is based on foundational relationships that take quickly in our small school where there are no unfamiliar faces. My experience Monday night was a powerful reminder of just that. It felt great to be in the midst of all who were there.

We are looking forward to seeing as many of you as are able to make it to campus for Family Weekend. In the meantime, please do be in touch if you have questions or items in mind that you would like to discuss. Your children are off to a great start!

Best,

John R. Packard

Head of School