20 1 9 -2020 A N N U A L R E P O R T
A YEAR Like No Other
LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL
I
must begin this letter introducing the Annual Report 2019-2020,A Year Like No Other, by saying how grateful for and proud I am of the people who compose this wonderful school community as we have worked together to respond to Covid-19. In particular. our students and the faculty and staff who
support them on a daily basis, and by extension each of their families, have risen to meet the many challenges, big and small, wrought by the pandemic. Our hearts and prayers remain with all caregivers and those who have suffered from the virus, including at least a few in our community who lost loved ones. May God's grace and blessing strengthen them. The pandemic has been a most unique and global test across all professional and personal circumstances. As an educational institution, we were fortunate that the student body was preparing to depart the campus for spring break when the pandemic began, and we could make sure that they did so with school-supported technology. We were also grateful for the adaptability and focus of both students and teachers in moving to distance learning. CFS benefitted greatly from the strength of its technology and more recent experimentation with the blended learning environment. albeit on a small scale. Having this resource and experience provided greater avenues for a successful transition. But it has been the essential human work of staying in touch with one another on a regular basis as people, making sure each person was OK, settling into new routines, looking ahead and knowing that we could and eventually would find our way forward that has brought the power and value of our adaptability home. In fact, this has been a hallmark of CFS ingenuity and growth since its inception and its dedicated pursuit of a mission to serve people in the midst of challenge, all the while looking to find and build upon opportunity. Our community started the year putting two particular principles in place to guide our journey. The theme "Excellence Looks Good on You" intended, as Assistant Head of School Chris Seeley stated in September 2019, "a simple but powerful phrase that is once an admonition and an expression of pride ... indeed, our goal is to achieve excellence in our program and in ourselves. We begin this year with a renewed commitment to realizing that possibility." Additionally, the approval and launch of a new Strategic Plan, "Unlocking Potential," had the school organized around and pursuing five important pillars: Student Success, Distinctive Identity, Organizational Excellence and an Enhanced Campus - all Powered by Philanthropy. The school community quickly became engaged in both and while the year's theme was more prevalent and visible within school culture, the Strategic Plan is being gainfully pursued in planning sessions designed to make its goals operational.
Accompanying our walk through the year has been the hum and staccato of our Campus Modernization Project, which you can read more about on pages 10-13. We look forward to the day when we can welcome visitors to our campus to see these immense changes, especially our generous donors who have made this project a reality. befits this loyal and dedicated group of people, the engine that makes CFS possible, one couple sent an additional and most generous gift to the Annual Fund this May with the simple statement. "We are thinking of the boys in this most challenging time and thought this would help." It is this kind of continuing friendship and partnership between good people looking out for the welfare of others that makes our mission possible. Thank you one and all for your continued and passionate support this year. In closing, I am remembering what a lifelong friend once told me, that there is the life you want to live and then there is the life you live. These words testify to the tension and distance we often find between our hopes and dreams and the realities and vicissitudes of life that interrupt and impede progress. The sentiment is echoed by the 18th century Scottish poet. Robert Burns, who wrote these other familiar words, "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." While we have experienced these to hold some truth, I also see that the past year has been one of overcoming obstacles and finding ourselves adapting well to new realities and still reaching for our dreams. God and good people willing, we will remain very much on course.
With abiding gratitude and best wishes,
And even while the school community pivoted to new realities this spring, the essentials of excellence and unlocking potential have remained guiding principles to our work and new ways of being.
THE REVEREND EDMUND K. SHERRILL II