MESSAGE FROM THE
HEADMASTER ‘Tough, Determined, Good-Hearted’
W
HAT WE strive to teach at Brunswick
ultimately win gold at the 1936 Olympic Games
speaks volumes, and is sometimes
— hosted by none other than Adolf Hitler’s
literally best spoken in volumes as well.
Germany.
The opportunity to speak once again
to Brunswick’s core truths presented itself in the
Brown deftly weaves together dual storylines, contrasting the teamwork and perseverance of
summer’s reading assign-
the “boys in the boat” on
ment for the Brunswick
one hand, to the evil and
Trust — and so we selected a volume that brought those truths to life as powerfully as possible. In his national bestseller The Boys in the Boat, describing the boys in the University of Washington’s varsity eight, Daniel James Brown writes, “Each, in his own way, had learned that nothing could be taken for
AS I THINK ABOUT OUR SCHOOL’S GOALS AND MISSION, I DOUBT WE CAN DO BETTER THAN SEEKING TO INSTILL THE MESSAGES OF CHARACTER THAT CAME TO THE “BOYS IN THE BOAT” THROUGHOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES.
duplicity of Hitler’s Germany on the other. And ultimately, as the themes play off each other, they present a host of messages directly in line with the Brunswick Trust and, in turn, the mission of Brunswick School. Here are just a few: ■■ The
obstacles that many of
and purpose that resides at the core of what Brunswick is all about.
the rowers had to overcome
In essence, really, the book highlights the value
granted in life. For all their
just to attend the University
of understanding that we are all at our best when
strength and good looks and
of Washington, let alone to
working with others toward a greater good.
youth, forces were at work in the world that
become a member of the varsity boat, serve as
were greater than they.
healthy reminders of how lucky we are.
mission, I doubt we can do better than seeking to
■■ The
instill the messages of character that came to the
“The challenges they had faced together had
setbacks and disappointments encoun-
As I think about our School’s goals and
taught them humility — the need to subsume
tered on an individual and collective basis serve
their individual egos for the sake of the boat as a
as lessons of resilience, persistence, and grit for
whole — and humility was the common gateway
our boys as they make their own way in life.
our Brunswick boys — “they were all skilled, they
through which they were now able to come
■■ The
were all tough, they were all fiercely determined,
together and begin to do what they had not been
the purest pursuits in this world — amateur
but they were all also good-hearted” — then,
able to do before.”
sports — to serve their dastardly propaganda
surely, we will have done all that we can as we
purposes, contextualize a historic moment that
strive, in the words of George Carmichael, our
to assign Brown’s book, published in 2013, as
must be remembered by our boys so as never to
founding Headmaster, to “prepare young men
the inaugural summer read for Upper School
be repeated.
for life.”
boys, their parents, and faculty — one of the
■■ Most
myriad new initiatives stemming from the
competition — eight rowers and one coxswain
Brunswick Trust.
working as one to move a fragile and inherently
Such words were at the heart of our decision
The story follows nine rowers at the University of Washington who compete in and
actions of the Nazi leaders, using one of
“boys in the boat” throughout their experiences. If, in the final analysis, we are able to say of
important, the very nature of the
unstable boat through often rough water at high speed — paints a vivid picture of the teamwork
Thomas W. Philip
WWW.BRUNSWICKSCHOOL .ORG
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