We often lament in the Admission Office that we wish we could bottle up the Berwick spirit in our marketing efforts. Bringing clarity and data to all that makes Berwick unique is a difficult task. To some degree, one has to experience it to believe it. In fact we just celebrated one of those nights last week at our Trustee/Faculty/Staff dinner. At that event, our guests from the Taktse School in Sikkim, India were in attendance as were their Berwick host families. One of the added bonuses of this arrangement was that a few of our Berwick parents caught a glimpse of this special event that is generally not open to our parent community. I hope my musings today might offer some of you a glimpse as well.
It is a rare and special tradition that after our January Board meeting, our employee community sits down with trustees to share a meal and celebrate the school. January strikes me as a good time to do this, when we are in the thick of the year rather than the excitement of the beginning or the end. At this event, we celebrate ten-year employees in the Bill Matthews society, twenty-five year veterans in the Marie Donohue society, and hear a keynote address from our Teacher of the Year. Additionally, this year we honored Matt Friel and Eric Katz as new trustee emeriti.
It is impossible in this blog to tell all of the stories that were told that night. I can’t replay the video where Ryan Feeley celebrated the work of Rob Quinn with a parking cone as his central foil. I can’t bring back Chip Harding’s alter ego with a hard Boston accent in honoring Ben Baldwin. I can’t reprint all of Patrick Connolly’s witty emails that were quoted or give you the sense of emotion when teacher of the year Sue Maddock spoke to what Berwick Academy meant to her family. Suffice it to say there were few dry eyes in the room.
What I can highlight are a few of the themes that seem to bind our veteran teachers, our trustees, and the spirit of Berwick Academy. There is a fundamental connection of work ethic and humility that we celebrate each and every year. Phrases like “not seeking the spotlight” are common. Words like “authentic, empathetic, and innovative” feel omnipresent. “Balance” is another theme that we come back to over and over again in considering the demands of work, family, and the desire to be the best school community we can become. When videos play and we hear from the teacher voices, love of students and love of colleagues are inevitably the central themes. And we hear a lot about fun – goofy pictures, wacky moments, and the ways in which we maintain perspective in all that we do.
There are lots of great independent schools out there, and almost all of them can speak to excellence in one way or another. But the alchemy of Berwick Academy is unique, and those of us who devote our lives to it connect with this spirit with almost religious fervor. Certainly knowing that I am in my final year allows me to appreciate this alchemy in a different way, and I suspect the same was true for our parents who joined us last Thursday.
In our 225th anniversary video, Brad Fletcher speaks most eloquently to this fact, expressing that Berwick is nothing without its people. He argues that the history of 225 years cannot be found in the campus or the buildings but rather in the overlapping generations of people who ultimately make this place come to life. Sometimes we all forget just how lucky we have been to play a small part in this amazing story.
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