Happy Birthday, Berwick

Earlier this winter I was at a meeting with a number of Heads of School in the metro Boston area where people were asked to introduce themselves. For whatever reason, the first few people mentioned that their schools were celebrating a 100^th or 150^th birthday this year. People were impressed. When the spotlight finally made its way around to the guy who had come out of the woods of Maine, I think people were amazed to hear that in 2016, Berwick celebrates its 225^th birthday! It is actually a pretty amazing thing to reflect upon just how long we have been educating the rising generations on this Hilltop.

Suffice it to say that we have lots planned to celebrate with the community this year. First we will start by bringing back a favorite Berwick student tradition of a Winter Carnival in mid-February. Alumni of years gone by talk about this event as being a highlight of each year. In part, we think February is a great time to break up the routine and have some fun, but we also want our students to pause and acknowledge our amazing history. Not so secret plans include construction of an outdoor rink, sled races, and snow sculpture endeavors to keep everyone busy. Let’s hope the weather cooperates.

Next fall, we are working towards throwing a huge party on alumni weekend. Certainly we plan to offer a broad invitation to the Berwick community, and you will hear more about it in the weeks ahead. We hope we will be able to get as many Berwick supporters as possible on Fogg field for a beautiful day in September. In the meantime, you will start to see some new flags and banners going up across campus in the weeks and months ahead. I hope you are as excited as I am to kick off a yearlong celebration of all this place has accomplished in 225 years.

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