Who is an Episcopal High School Graduate?

Four alumni discuss what the Portrait of a Graduate means to them.

At Episcopal, we often talk about the Portrait of a Graduate: a Venn diagram depicting the intersection of intellectual and moral courage that results in courageous action (see page 35). While the Portrait of a Graduate was unveiled in the 2018 Strategic Plan, the content was certainly nothing new.

When Head of School Charley Stillwell began in the summer of 2016, he thought often of the concept of “intellectual and moral courage” that initially drew him to the School. He wondered what those ideas would look like if we worked as a community to put them on paper. “How do we know we’re being successful in developing intellectual and moral courage?” he asked himself and others. “We needed to find a way to measure our success.” Thus, the Portrait of a Graduate was born — though any alumni reading this will know the Portrait qualities have been leading the way since 1839.

Ultimately, the Portrait defines everything we strive to do at Episcopal, from fostering academic excellence to challenging students to understand diverse perspectives and preparing graduates to pursue lives of ethical leadership and service long after Commencement. “This is what leadership is,” Stillwell said. “It isn’t about having a title; it isn’t for the chosen few. It’s everyone stepping up and using their skills and personal qualities to make a positive difference in the lives of others.”

In the following pages, you will read about four alumni who embody our Portrait qualities.

ALEX LIU ’76

LEADS AND SERVES WITH HUMILITY AND KINDNESS

In business, EHS Trustee Alex Liu ’76 always returns to his father’s advice: “It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.” Liu has worked at global management consulting firm Kearney since 1996 and now serves as chairman emeritus and partner, where he leads a team of 5,000+ employees. He has long embodied one of Episcopal’s most often discussed Portrait qualities: “leading and serving with humility and kindness.”

Through his work, Liu helps executives, companies, and countries reach their full potential as a trusted advisor. Coming from a family of teachers, he likens the work to coaching or teaching. “You have to set the tone,” Liu explained of leading teams across the globe. “You set the tone by being inspirational and aspirational — and also intentional about the culture and community you want to have. Why would you settle for anything less than a culture where everyone feels like they belong?”

Liu does not just lead with humility and kindness at work; he also does so through his work on Episcopal’s Board of Trustees. He has served during a consequential six years, remaining a humble and kind fixture in Bryan Library throughout the Courage Campaign, the Covid-19 pandemic, the social justice movement of 2020, and beyond.

I would hope that Mr. Hoxton, Mr. Callaway, Mr. Ravenel, and all the amazing teachers on the wall outside Laird Dining Hall would look at the Portrait of a Graduate and say, ‘Yes, that is what we have always pursued at Episcopal. - HEAD OF SCHOOL CHARLEY STILLWELL

To Liu, leading and serving with humility and kindness means always being a mentor. “My biggest source of pride is seeing the number of partners who worked with me when they were very young,” Liu said of his many years at Kearney. “It’s a relay race. No one’s going to be sprinting forever. You need people to help you get to where you’re going.”

In a true coach’s mentality, Liu said he would tell today’s students to “be courageous enough to run your own race. Even if you don’t know where you’re going, you have to go.”

INVESTIGATES WITH CURIOSITY AND AN OPEN MIND

Curiosity has always come easy to longtime journalist Hayley Peterson Herrin ’05. Keeping an open mind while chasing that curiosity is something she learned on the job. This critical component of our Portrait of a Graduate has defined Herrin’s career as an investigative journalist and now as an executive editor at the global news organization “Business Insider.”

Herrin conducted some of her first interviews as a student in Peter Goodnow’s Honors Government class her senior year. She and her classmates approached strangers on the National Mall, polling them on topics they were studying in class. She remembers

Episcopal as an “intellectually safe environment,” where she was treated like an equal by her teachers and where no idea was too outlandish. “Intellectual curiosity was celebrated at Episcopal,” she said, “and you could feel confident speaking up in class and debating with your peers.”

This safety in the classroom still impacts how Herrin operates in the workplace. She likens her staff meetings to sitting around a Harkness table at EHS. “Those round-table discussions helped prepare me for a key part of what I do each day — lead meetings and debate ideas,” Herrin said of her transition from journalist to executive editor. “You need to have the confidence in a room of editors and writers to share your ideas, hear others’ ideas, and allow their ideas to shape your own understanding of something.”

Through her years in journalism, Herrin knows the most important aspect of reporting is “being willing to change your thesis when you discover new information,” something that does not always come naturally to writers who come into a story with a specific outline in mind. At the end of the day, Herrin is motivated by her responsibility to the audience to be accurate and fair above all else: “You have to pursue the truth wherever it leads you.”

DR. KARIMA HOLMES ’08

LISTENS AND COMMUNICATES EFFECTIVELY

Dr. Karima Holmes ’08 has always known she wanted to be a doctor. “I loved the idea of being of service,” she recalled, “and I wanted a job that would require me to always continue to learn and grow.” Despite this certainty, her path to medical school was not linear.

Holmes struggled through pre-med courses at the University of Virginia, while falling in love with her eventual major of religious studies. She ultimately listened to her inner voice that urged her to stop pursuing pre-med in favor of a post-bacc program at Virginia Commonwealth University. This commitment to listening to herself and others has been the throughline of her career.

Holmes’ first memory at Episcopal was her Latin 1 class that was taught by Mason New and made up of a diverse group of classmates. New showed Holmes how the power of listening can create a safe space where students thrived. “By listening to us, Mr. New made me feel like I was part of something.”

In her role at the University of California, Davis, Holmes strives to be that same haven New was for her. She is the lead psychiatrist for a new program that ensures the medical school continues to attract students of diverse backgrounds and support them with mental health resources during their training — a role that requires her to listen and communicate effectively every day.

Holmes’ desire to help medical students stems from her own experience in medical school, where she often felt overwhelmed. After starting a peer support group, she soared in the program and ultimately fell in love with the power of listening — just like she did at EHS. “I felt like I could listen to people’s stories of resilience for 30 years,” Holmes shared. Through her work, Holmes is more often listening to what goes unsaid. “It’s so important to have two different sets of ears,” she said of actively listening to her patients while also reading between the lines to get to the root of the problem. Luckily for her patients, Holmes knows how to lend an ear.

WALTON J. “TAD” MCLEOD IV ’97

EXPRESSES OPINIONS WITH CONVICTION AND CARE

In the spring of his junior year, being the youngest person in his class, Tad McLeod ’97 decided to drop back a class year. Unbeknownst to him, he was also elected to the Honor Committee at about the same time. He ultimately served on the Honor Committee not once, but twice — an experience that transformed how he thought of service to others. Now a South Carolina Circuit Court Judge, McLeod has dedicated his career to a critical Portrait quality: expressing opinions with conviction and care.

Over his years as a U.S. Naval Officer, a lawyer, and now a judge, McLeod has learned that operating with conviction and care usually begins with quietly and carefully listening to others while making the full effort to understand what you mean to convey and why. When it comes to making a decision in the courtroom, his process is simple: “Withhold your opinion until you have a chance to really hear the facts, weigh the evidence, and formulate a decision that your heart tells you is the most fair.”

Before he issues serious criminal sentences or consequential rulings in civil cases, McLeod is sure to take several minutes for himself in his chambers. This pause is how he ensures he is infusing care into every case decision — be it a straightforward civil case or a more complicated criminal case. When someone leaves his courtroom, McLeod hopes they know how much thought and care went into his decisions. “Whether they agree with the decision or not,” he said, “they hopefully know that someone gave it careful consideration and made a decision they thought was best.”

When McLeod first felt called to be a judge, he thought back to his time on the Honor Committee — so much so that he discussed it during the application process. “It didn’t just prepare me to be a judge,” McLeod said. “It helped me deal with tough situations thereafter, whether that was in the Navy or in the law. I was proud of that.”

McLeod’s work is ultimately inspired by one line of the oath he took as he was sworn in as a judge in 2018: “Seek justice and justice alone,” which he has strived to do since his days on the Honor Committee.