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Alumni Weekend


​Today marks the start of alumni weekend, which is always a day when I can’t help but reflect on the remarkable history of our school. I kick off Saturday morning with the pumping music of Lower School field day, address our older alumni at the Hilltop luncheon, and generally reconnect with the younger alumni set in Portsmouth on Saturday night. One of the things I enjoy most about alumni weekend is the blurring of these generational boundaries when alumni from our public school era cross paths with our recent alumni. At times, we will see alumni interact with current parents watching athletic contests, and I am struck by the sense of mutual respect and connection to this school on the hilltop.

​Alumni relations can be a tricky thing to manage for a Head of School, especially one that has a public school era, a boarding school era, and a day school era to juggle. There are some predictable trends for sure: alumni wish the dress code would come back, and they love to comment on their relatively Spartan experience compared to the facilities our students enjoy today. It can be a delicate balance running a school that is working hard to be innovative and be forward thinking on a weekend that fundamentally celebrates the good old days. The one common thread that binds all generations together is their affection for the teachers – it is as if this common thread pulls all of our eras together. The constant has always been unbelievably caring adults who simply love and care for their students. And the memories are never academic in nature – they are about the extra conversation, the push to take a risk, or the self-esteem that a Berwick faculty member fostered during a student’s experience here.

​That said, it is so rewarding to hear older generations of alumni express such pride at what Berwick Academy has become today. There is a recognition of a complex and changing world and that this school is not standing still. I am a firm believer that it is our job to make a Berwick Academy diploma worth more and more over time, so that our alumni do, in fact, benefit from the good work we are doing on this campus today. My predecessor, Hap Ridgway, told the crowd at his final alumni event (where I was honored to be present) that it would “take a village” for me to be successful at Berwick. Now, eleven years later, I can once again vouch for Hap’s infinite wisdom while taking this chance to say thank you to the amazing alumni village of Berwick Academy.

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