DR. PJ McDONALD May 31,1968—May 9, 2023

Remembering a Legacy

For more than two decades, PJ McDonald insisted on meeting prospective students and families after their tours of campus. He would say that it was important for them to connect with the head of school personally, to see that he was present and accessible to them.

While that is undeniably true, it was also obvious that he simply couldn’t wait to ask each every one of them, “What did you like most?” Such was PJ’s enthusiasm for Eagle Hill. He wanted to know whom they met on tour, with which faculty members they spoke, and what their favorite parts of campus were. He was delighted when, invariably, they simply couldn’t choose just one.

The Trouble with Poetry

Poetry fills me with joy

When Dr. Matthew Kim, chair of the English and reading departments at Eagle Hill, first thought to contact poet Billy Collins, he was told that Collins was vacationing in Tuscany. It didn’t sound very promising. However, he and Assistant Head of School for Academics Dr. Michael Riendeau were encouraged to write to him. And so the invitation was crafted on a Hardwick postcard, inviting Collins to come share his poetry with us at “Tuscany” on the Quabbin. Somewhat surprisingly, the invitation was accepted.

Reading a common text helps build community.

For a number of years now, Eagle Hill students and faculty have engaged in the sharing of a common text. From Shakespeare, Thoreau, and Chimamanda Adichie to climate change, refugees, and recreational math, we have—as a community—shared in the reading, pondered the text, argued the themes and the merits, and been inspired to write in response to a myriad of inspiring works.

Why community reading, you might ask? Why should we take valuable academic time to have all students read a text in common? The answer is simple: reading a common text helps build community. If you consider that a community is a group of people with diverse characteristics who are linked by social ties, sometimes share common perspectives, and engage in joint action, then community reading is a great place to start when building a school community. Sharing ideas around a text does impact how we come together, as shared conversations encourage us to learn more about each other. It is a way for us to find common ground.

The achievement of bringing Billy Collins to our campus was a coup for several who have long been fans of the two-time poet laureate. It meant a lot to Matthew Kim that he was able to “bring a living, breathing poet to our community and help students make connections to a living artist—making poetry