early morning walks across campus with her dog Lego, when movement and quiet allowed space for the ideas to emerge. Creativity, she noted, requires finding environments, both physical and mental, where imagination and discipline coexist. It is built through practice, repetition, and preparation long before moments of performance, competition, or assessment. The final and most challenging element of creativity is risk. Creating something new requires vulnerability and a tolerance for failure, Salvucci argued. She reminded students that transformative ideas — from Van Gogh’s genre-breaking art, to Galileo’s radical understanding of the universe to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision of a new way of life for this country — were initially met with resistance. “Sometimes it takes the world a moment to catch
up with your new ways of thinking,” Salvucci said. “But keep going.” In the end, Salvucci returned to the question that anchored her address, asking students to reflect on what ignites their curiosity and sense of purpose. She urged them to remain nimble in their thinking, open to growth, and willing to change course as they evolve. Creativity, she said, has the power both to challenge and to renew — and it is through that process that individuals shape their lives and the legacies they leave behind. “You are right now on the journey that is your one wild and precious life, and you get to decide how you create it,” Salvucci reminded her audience. “I hope that you approach this year and the years beyond, examining what lights your soul on fire and chasing after exactly that.”
Creativity requires finding environments, both physical and mental, where imagination and discipline coexist.” —MICHELLE SALVUCCI P’26, ACADEMIC SUPPORT TEACHER
SPRING 2026
7