Thank you, Mr. Haskell, Mr. Murphy, and Ms. Merritt for the wonderful, warm introduction and for giving me this great honor. I was afraid I was going to be a little late because I couldn’t find my parking space. I decorated and painted it in 1983.

What happened?

Well, I do want you to know how special it is to be back on this campus, a place where I felt safe to explore and learn and grow . . . and become.  

At Shorecrest, we care very much about the safety of our students. This includes not only physical safety, but emotional and psychological safety, especially when it comes to allowing students to show up as their “full selves.” I also believe this should be a privilege afforded to staff and faculty. One of the ways that I am reminded of who I am is by reaching out to build community - whether it be with service partners, parents or other educators.

I want you to look round the room. Look at the people sitting to the right of you. Look at the people to the left. Take a second to see the people in the row in front of you. Locate a few teachers and take a look at them, too. Take notice of your surroundings.

This past summer I read a thought-provoking article by Paul Barnwell in The Atlantic titled, “Students’ Broken Moral Compasses: The pressures of national academic standards have pushed character education out of the classroom.”  While Barnwell’s primary targets are public schools, where standardized testing and the Common Core have created less room for educating the whole child, there are still important takeaways for independent schools like Shorecrest. 

Remarks from Convocation 2016 -

Let me put forth an early disclaimer. This is not a political speech. I am not advocating for a particular candidate. When I was thinking about what I wanted to say to you as we begin this academic of year of such great promise, I was genuinely conflicted. On the one hand, the ugly political climate that we have all witnessed thus far, coupled with the concern that any comment I make about the presidential race could be construed as either supporting or denouncing one of the candidates, made me not want to touch this topic with a ten-foot pole.