Head of School Message

Dear Westminster School Community,

Visits with alumni who were students during my time at Westminster are so personally rewarding. To be in the company of these alumni, now in their settled adult lives, while remembering them as students, is a remarkably affirming experience. Together with them in their professional offices, at their homes or at coffee shops, we discuss their personal and professional experiences since graduating from Westminster, often with them crediting the lessons they learned on Williams Hill. Throughout, memories flood my mind of them as students on campus — for many were in my history class, on my team, on my corridor or among my advisees. Students arrive at Westminster as adolescents and graduate as young adults, and the arc of their transformation on campus and after graduation animates all of us who devote our lives to teaching.

As many of you know, this winter we put an outdoor ice rink on Commencement Lawn in order to provide students another venue for fun and relaxation during this pandemic. In fact, Commencement Lawn has been a hive of activity throughout this school year. For instance, this fall, the performing arts staged outdoor productions there. Similarly, our Student Activities Committee hosted Saturday evening movies, and volleyball and badminton games, among other weekend activities on that lawn. During the spring, Commencement Lawn is a venue for evening stickball games — yes, stickball remains a much-anticipated feature of our spring term! — and the pathways along the lawn are often lined off for four square. Surrounded by Cushing Hall and Keyes House, Armour Academic Center, Andrews Memorial Chapel, and the head of school’s residence at Pratt House, Commencement Lawn is a vibrant community space.

In the moment of any school year for students, their future trajectory from adolescence to adulthood remains mysterious. Recently, Athletic Director Tim Joncas ’00 shared with me a 1915 photograph taken by our school’s founder, William Lee Cushing, of boys playing hockey on an outdoor rink on Commencement Lawn. Personally, as a history teacher, reflecting upon what lay ahead for those boys in that 1915 photograph is sobering: our entry into World War I in 1917, the 1918-1919 flu pandemic,

the Great Depression and World War II, all by the time they were in their mid-40s. And the memorial plaques in the chapel and Alumni House honoring the fallen alumni in World Wars I and II, respectively, remind us that some of the boys in that 1915 photograph surely did not live through it all.

Perspective is especially critical in challenging times, and our shared pandemic experience, extending back to the winter of 2020, has certainly been challenging, especially so when considered with our national reckoning about systemic racism and the horrific events of Jan. 6, 2021. Perspective, though, helps us transcend absorption in our own circumstances, as we seek to appreciate the even more challenging experiences endured by those before us and in the process discover pathways to address better our current challenges.

In that regard, I have been so proud of how well our school community has responded to all that has confronted us recently. Beginning with their 2020 spring vacation, faculty and staff colleagues devoted countless hours to reimagining Westminster in a world of masking and distancing; students embraced that challenge with remarkable grit and grace, led successively by the Classes of 2020 and 2021, which both had Sixth Form experiences far different than what they ever anticipated. With a similar resolve, faculty and students recommitted to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, including focused study of the significance of the enduring legacy of racism through our nation’s history.

Our school’s motto balances grit with grace and, in doing so, affirms the importance of personal improvement balanced with a concern for and an attention to others. As underscored by the focus of our Soar Together Campaign, on enhancing community spaces and supporting the people of our school community, Westminster School seeks to prepare students, as they transform to adulthood, to make a difference for the world at large and to adopt a world view imbued especially with grace. And it is that spirit, which I have encountered so often in my visits with Westminster alumni, that has been so personally energizing and affirming, and that lights our way forward together.

Jenny joins me in extending our best wishes to Martlets across the country and around the world. You will always be in our hearts and on our minds, so please stay in touch. Martlets Fly Highest When They Soar Together!

William V.N. Philip P’06, ’09 Head of School