CAPTAIN'S CORNER

Dear St. Margaret's friends and families,

“Aren’t you counting the days until graduation?” Each May, this is the first question from friends and family, and always, I am a little surprised by my unpremeditated answer, “No!”

It is during these warm spring days, after a full 10 months together, that we begin to see ourselves as the school community we imagined we could be. We have come a long way since orientation in September, through the daily routines and traditional ceremonies that have shaped our year, past the long separation for Minimester and Spring Break. Now we are St. Margaret’s School, no longer individuals brought together around our mission, but a community strengthened by its understanding of the possibilities that we can transform into realities.

Fortunately, this is not the first time we’ve experienced this poignant sense of our possibilities, and, over the years, our school traditions have provided opportunities to honor the transformations we’ve seen within individuals, groups and the entire community. Our school clubs, committees and organizations transform individuals into successful teams: peer leaders, athletes, blue/grey members, mathletes, Ensemble and Treble Choir, Soulful Voices, teaching teams. Our singers went one step further when they became a choir of 200 performing in four European cathedrals.

Perhaps our most visually beautiful transformations take place in the transitions of leadership: in the dark of a May night when seniors hand juniors both their St. Margaret’s rings and glowing lanterns, in our own chapel during the candlelight installation of new school leaders when retiring leaders pass the flame of authority to those who will succeed them, and finally at the leadership retreat when next year’s prefects and peer leaders spend a full 24 hours together with Mr. McDowell, Ms. Kollaros and me developing their own goals for the next school year.

Now we await the final few traditions that mark the close of another school year: Baccalaureate, the Academic Awards Banquet and Commencement. Traditions frame transformations, and nowhere is this stronger than on the platform on graduation day. When we send the seniors on their way rejoicing, we know that as they commence their new lives, we will have another year, another group of students, another opportunity to honor our mission in the life of our school. On that day, my answer is finally a resounding, “Yes, all 365 of them!”

Sincerely,
Margaret R. Broad,
Head of School

COMPASS POINTS