The Word

As Head of School, Craig Gemmell began a tradition of announcing a Word of the Year, giving the community a guiding notion that would weave its way through that school year’s campus and scholarly life. Head of School Kristy Kerin has continued this tradition, with “uplift” as the word of the 2022-23 school year.

2015-16: Culture

2016-17: Integrity

2017-18: Community

2018-19: Awareness

2019-20: Legacy

2020-21: Connection

2021-22: Curiosity

2022-23: Uplift but we’ve actually had a lot of fun! We’ve been skiing together, and he lived on a 53’ sailboat with me for a week. How many heads of school would voluntarily go off and live with their board chair in a confined space for a week?!”

Gemmell’s next years as Head of School saw more than its share of peaks and valleys—from the highs of National Championships, breaking ground on the Reimagined Rogers project, and the launch of “Our Watershed Moment, The Campaign for Brewster” to the terrible lows of unexpected deaths of students and young alumni that shattered the community. Gemmell was alternately cheerleader and leader, consoler and counsel, all the while showing his deep understanding of emotions at those seminal moments in the lives of a school community.

That trademark understanding and connection, when reflected in his students, is perhaps the most meaningful aspect of Craig Gemmell’s legacy as a head of school. And nowhere is that more evident than in Ceara Caffrey ’16. Caffrey was the very first student Gemmell met as the newly named Head of School when she arrived early at a July 2014 Brewster reception.

“Yes, I was the first Brewster student he ever met, and I don’t know if that raised the bar or lowered the bar,” Caffrey said recently, laughing. After that first meeting, student Caffrey “fully abused Dr. G’s open door policy,” forming a bond over impromptu conversations about class projects and life. When sharing ideas with

Gemmell, she says, one leaves feeling that “he is on your team, believing in you. It helps build your confidence.” It also helped Caffrey form a plan for her future: “I knew I always wanted to be a boarding school teacher, coach, and dorm parent. I wanted to be the Lauren Hunter for someone…I wanted to be the Coach Yau for someone,” she says, citing faculty who influenced her at Brewster.

Caffrey credits Gemmell with helping her along her path, as she earned her undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies from Sewanee in 2020, secured her first teaching position, and most recently completed her Masters of Science degree in Sustainability at Nashville’s Lipscomb University. In fact, she used Brewster as the case study for her thesis: a strategic plan for sustainability in secondary schools. This spring, she met with her mentor, Gemmell, as well as other Brewster administrators and staff to complete the massive project.

“Dr. G is an amazing person,” Caffrey says. “I’ve known him as my head of school, as a former teacher who inspired me, and now as a colleague of the same profession. I know I can always count on him for advice, a recommendation, or really anything. He is simply one of the best people I have met.”

It’s a sentiment shared by many who have come to know and admire Gemmell as he has cultivated his vision of what independent education could be. Now, as that vision is extending to another continent, the community here in Wolfeboro can reflect on all The Gemmell Era has meant and will mean to the school.