Happy Birthday St. Margaret's!

Happy birthday St. Margaret’s!

As we celebrate our school’s 45^th anniversary and make progress on our new heart of the campus, the St. Margaret’s Commons, I have spent a lot of time reflecting on our founder, Father Sillers, and how he would feel to see our school now. Much has been written about Father Sillers and what motivated him to come out of retirement to open our school on October 1, 1979.  In an interview on the topic, he said the following:

The through line for our remarkable Tartan community has always been about the children. The people who choose to work here and the people who choose this place for their children are all focused on building a better world through the education of the hearts and minds of young people.  We have chosen this place as our home because of what Father Sillers envisioned many years ago, and it gives me great pleasure to think about all the young Tartans who have made this place a home with the goal of going out and making a better world. 

The theme for this year’s PTF General Membership Meetings is centered around home, which deeply resonates with me. Dr. Tania Robertson, PTF President, asked me to share my feelings around home for the opening kickoff meeting. I immediately knew that I would center my words around St. Margaret’s and how this place has become my home, despite living most of my life on the east coast. I then began reflecting on how others may perceive home and my belief that many people would reference their childhoods. As I shared in the opening PTF meeting, my upbringing—with many moves throughout central Massachusetts and many different schools early in my life—didn’t lend itself to an image of a childhood home. Yet the one constant was my immediate family. At a tender age, I learned that life would bring change—much of it unwanted—yet I could always count on the people who loved me. For me, home was about the people, not just a place. 

I share that sentiment here, as well. St. Margaret’s has become my home because of the people. The people who are drawn to this place—the professional community, the families who send their precious children, and the students themselves—share a set of beliefs about childhood, the importance of education and how people deserve to be treated.  We are all drawn to the whole child mission, the core values and the Episcopal identity that guide us to see the inherent beauty and dignity in every person. Because we have all selected this school as our place of work or as our partner in raising our children, we have so much in common.

Perhaps it is this shared set of values that encourages us to be respectful and thoughtful even when we have differences of opinion. Our Upper School students exemplify these shared values and have recently had in-depth conversations about the national election and the unfolding war in the Middle East, all the while listening with empathy and respecting each other’s differences. As a school, we work to teach our students not what to think but how to think and, importantly, how to listen to those with whom they may disagree.

When I think about what we are seeing in the national landscape and the divisiveness that is apparent in our country, I feel hopeful when I see how our students engage across differences and use evidence to support their thinking. They are learning to lead and serve, and I believe they are the hope for our future. The best of us can listen with empathy and work to find common ground even when little is immediately apparent. I see our students leaning into the discomfort of disagreeing about ideas, but nonetheless treating each other with kindness, respect and dignity. That is not happening on all campuses, and I am incredibly grateful to our professional community for teaching our students to be prepared for the world that exists but with the express intent of leaving it a little better than they found it. 

The community we share is so very special. I hear all the time from new families and new professional community members how welcome they feel from the moment they walk on our campus. I hope you and your family feel like St. Margaret’s is home. We are all here to support, encourage and lift each other up. And importantly, over my 20-plus years as a Tartan, I have learned that the more I give to this beloved place, the more I get in return. I encourage each of you to get involved by saying yes to events and opportunities, yes to gatherings with fellow Tartans, yes to speakers, performances and athletic events and yes to embracing all that St. Margaret’s has to offer. I hope to see you all at the upcoming Parent Up Speaker Series, the Homecoming game and our beloved Forever Plaid gala, to name a few. I promise this community will give you more than you ever thought possible.

 

It is all of you who make St. Margaret’s home for me. Thank you for all you do to make this place a home where everyone belongs – a place where we are instilling in our children that they indeed have the depth, strength and fortitude to make our world a better place.  Father Sillers saw this need in 1979, and it is still ever present. I feel honored to partner with you in this journey as we work to fulfill our mission of educating young hearts and minds for lives of learning, leadership and service.

With Tartan love,

Jeneen