From the Head of School

As I write, we are days away from opening the 2021-22 school year, the 172nd year in The Frederick Gunn School’s history. While always exciting, I wouldn’t typically comment on it here. What makes this so special is that it will be the first time that we have had all students, faculty and staff on campus since early March 2020 — and we are thrilled, despite the myriad variables of the year ahead. Our responsibility to each of the 315 students in our care this year, and every year, is to provide an excellent learning environment, one that leverages the many advantages of being a boarding school in Washington, Connecticut, by integrating the classroom, cocurriculars (outdoors, athletics and arts), and residential life into a transformative, holistic growth experience in line with Frederick Gunn’s educational mission to create engaged citizens. To do that as a school, our next responsibility is to the faculty and staff who do that work with students day-in and day-out — the people who, in my phrase, create the ecosystem conditions for student flourishing. Alongside these responsibilities — in fact, undergirding them — is the long-term responsibility for the school to take the right posture to risk. To succeed as an institution requires that we imagine a future that is better than the present, no matter how great the present is. This carries inherent risk: What are we not doing that we need to start doing? What are we doing that we need to stop doing? What are we doing well that we need to do better? Risk means making choices in line with our Core Values that are intended to result in an even more dynamic, transformative environment for students and the people who teach them.

> Integrated Humans > Hopeful Faculty > Learning Ecosystem > Moral Character Development > Active Citizens To succeed as an institution requires that we imagine a future that is better than the present, no matter how great the present is. This carries inherent risk: What are we not doing that we need to start doing? What are we doing that we need to stop doing? What are we doing well that we need to do better?

Simon Sinek, in his 2019 book, “The Infinite Game,” differentiates between finite and infinite games: “Finite games … have known players, fixed rules, and a clear end point. The winners and losers are easily identified, like in a game of football or chess. In infinite games, like business or politics or life itself, the players come and go, the rules are changeable and there is no defined end point. There are no winners and losers in an infinite game. There is no such thing as ‘winning business’ or ‘winning life’ ... there is only ahead and behind.” As a competitive person, it is easy for me to fall into thinking about the school as a series of finite games — winning or losing a year in terms of student life, athletic records, the admissions cycle, or the annual fund. Stepping back from the finite view reveals that the goal is bigger than stacking up a series of winning years. Rather, in the infinite game in which the school competes, the goal is ensuring, to the best of our ability given that we can’t predict the future, that the major strategic decisions and investments we make as a school today will position the institution to be stronger, 10, 25 and 50 years from now, relative to its ideal peer set. Setting our sights on that horizon, rather than only 12 or 36 months out, takes no pressure off of the need to execute on this year’s core commitments to students, faculty and staff. It does, however, help us adjust our risk profile and expected results — longer-term investing, requiring a greater commitment up front, and expecting a larger return in terms of the student, faculty and staff experience, and therefore, in the overall health of the school.

We have developed a few goals, captured in our Strategic Plan, that reflect our best thinking about appropriate, bold risks for our school. First, invest dramatically and consistently in our people — faculty and staff — in line with our five Core Values. We will not follow every educational trend under the sun. Instead, we will hew to the thought and practice of Frederick Gunn about what it means to be the adults responsible for creating the conditions for student flourishing. Second, recognize that our place — our campus, buildings, and location in Washington — is unique among all boarding schools, and invest in it intentionally for a sustainable, beautiful long term. Third, invest in existing programs — and create new ones — that stem from our Core Values, and hold them accountable to the highest standards available. We have set ourselves to this work in earnest. Some of the fruit has appeared already — The Thomas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center and Koven-Jones Glade; our ongoing commitment to the work of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at all levels of the school; the opening of the Center for Citizenship and Just Democracy (see page 4); the expansion of our Outdoor Program (see page 30); and hiring a Chief People Officer (see page 24), and launching a more proactive professional growth effort for faculty. Much more fruit will appear soon, including plans for a new, 24,000-square-foot facility to replace the current Math and Science Building; hiring an architectural firm to update our long-term campus plan; investing in faculty salaries; and expanding our entrepreneurship program. As we navigate this incredible year and enjoy the presence of everyone learning and living together in person — something we’ve learned not to take for granted — the fuel for all of us on campus is the joy of watching students grow within the school’s learning ecosystem. We have an awesome group of students and faculty and I encourage you to visit and see it in action! Meanwhile, we are planting saplings today through our strategic plan initiatives and ensuring they have the resources they need to grow, confident that future members of the school community will enjoy their fruit.

Go Gunn!

Peter Becker Head of School