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Letter from the Headmaster

Dear Great Hearts families,


Welcome back! What an ebullient, glorious first week we’ve had, culminating in our first assembly today as six houses and one student body in our gorgeous new gymnasium! Hearts ablaze, our senators, scholars, teachers, and Maximus the Mustang exuberantly recited house chants, celebrated new scholars, applauded senators’ rousing house orations, dueled fiercely with Hula Hoops, and waved house flags, honoring the virtues of our heroes.


In the revelry, I exhorted our scholars, as Cicero wrote: “Non nobis solum nati sumus—Not for ourselves alone are we born . . . May we live into a Story that is larger than ourselves this school year. May we be outward-facing people who love others and serve others above ourselves.”


In contrast to a “Me-Culture” (which results in young people who are quite unhappy, the research says!), I want something more beautiful for our young people, don’t you? So I told our scholars, "Each of you is profoundly loved, seen, and held by a grace that hovers over us; you are a person of infinite value—of profound worth! And each of you has the power to make this the kindest, most loving, best school in America! This is your school. Our culture here is what we make it." I challenged our scholars to ask three daily questions, and I invite you to follow up at home:


  • What did I learn today?
  • Whom did I love and serve today?
  • How did I make Great Hearts a better place today?


As our Senior Humane Letters scholars ascertain in Dostoevsky’s novel, Brothers Karamazov, one of the best remedies for the unhappiness and angst of the modern age is to not focus on one’s self. In this novel, Dostoevsky distinguishes “love in dreams” from “active love.” Love in dreams demands that others serve me and notice me. But as Augustine writes, this kind of “incurvature of the soul” leads to unhappiness. It causes the soul to turn inward on itself.


Active love, by contrast, serves others. It sees others. It pays attention to others. Active love befriends a new classmate sitting alone at lunch—it picks up trash in the courtyard— it comforts the hurting one—it says “thank you” to those who open our jammed lockers, teach us, and serve us in carline. It makes multiple “deposits” for every withdrawal. And this kind of love sets our souls free. It also makes Great Hearts a better place!


Active love is never wasted. Unlike electricity, it can’t be squandered! Even if the beloved is not changed, I will be transformed from having loved and served my neighbor. Or perhaps you will be changed, bearing witness to a miracle of love. For the happiest humans, as Shakespeare writes, are not those who hold back—but those “who give and hazard all” for the sake of love.


Treasured Great Hearts families, what an honor it is to serve your children and to link arms with you for the 2022-2023 school year. May it be the best one yet. . . May we be a people who live non nobis solum—“not for ourselves alone.” 💕


With love and gratitude,

Dr. Dyer

Executive Headmaster, Upper School

Great Hearts Irving 

GreatHeartsIrving.org