Let the games begin!

Mother nature provided us a beautiful fall day to open the new tennis courts. The intramural tennis gang went out to whack the balls back and forth on the four new courts. We hope that the sun will warm them for a couple more weeks of use before it is time to retire them for the season. Some of the varsity players are already thinking about the spring season and the chance to host matches on the new courts.

Ambassador Charles Stith visits Winchendon

On Thursday Ambassador Charles Stith brought his decades of experience of working with many African leaders to Winchendon. Ambassador Stith, who currently directs a program at Boston University bringing the works of African heads of state together, was at Winchendon as part of our Global Dynamics course.

Ambassador Charles Stith began his career as a minister in Boston and quickly migrated into first local civil rights issues and then international issues. In 1994, Ambassador Stith went to South Africa as an official observer for the landmark democratic elections in that country. This is an event that we have referenced several times this fall. Then in 1998, he was named Ambassador to Tanzania, and had the daunting responsibility of rebuilding both the recently bombed embassy and frayed relations between Tanzania and the U.S. Since completing his duties in Tanzania, Ambassador Stith has worked with many different heads of states in numerous African countries.

The Ambassador shared the story with us of how he had first developed his interest in and connection with Africa. As a young man, Stith had the opportunity to go to Africa on a mission to build churches. He was somewhat reluctant to leave the comforts of home, but his mother was relentless in her encouragement for him to go. She hounded him until he gave in! The Ambassador's recounting of this experience with his mother and his final decision to go to Africa to as much to get her off his back as for his own interest made me smile. He shared how the trip changed his life and has created many opportunities over the years. I am always pushing our students to take advantage of the many opportunities that they have to immerse themselves in other cultures but am often frustrated. Perhaps I just need to nag more?!!

The Ambassador's visit wound up being perfectly timed both because in Global Dynamics many of us been spending time looking at the impacts of the colonialism as well as looking for the positive trends and momentum. Stith shared his experiences in a number of countries and some of the very positive progress he sees in different areas. He ended his time with us by fielding a variety of questions from students that ranged from his challenges in his role as Ambassador to the impact of the upcoming World Cup on South Africa to whether current economic support from non-African countries represent a new form of colonialism. There were numerous questions, and I think that Ambassador Stith could have kept us captivated through the afternoon if he hadn't another commitment.

So again, I offer a big "Thank you" to Ambassador Stith for being with us, to the students for some great questions and to one of our parents whose support and connections made this wonderful morning possible. The general enthusiasm about the whole event has me looking forward to the next Global Dynamics event.

Hitting the "Big Time"

Early one morning recently, I had the opportunity to be rereading a collection of E.B. White's letters. While E.B. White was perhaps best known for bringing us such classics as Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web, he also was an avid sailor and lover of boats. It his love of things boating that had me reading his letters.

Pursuit of the 'big time" is a concept that seems to have become too attached to becoming successful in pro sports, Hollywood or music. However, in a letter written in 1983, White seemed to have a much more appropriate take on 'big time' when responding to a friend. The friend was complimenting White's son, who had become a well known naval architect at that time:

"It has been a great satisfaction to me to have watched Joel work his way into the big time-which is excellence, no matter what the product is, or the craft, or the profession."

There is wonderful clarity in that for me ... Big time = excellence ... "no matter what the product is, or the craft, or the profession".

All week this has hung with me as I have observed many of our teachers and some of our students achieving the "big time". This is the big time that counts.

Thank you E.B. White for your wisdom and to his daughter Martha White for sharing his letters.

Seasons of change...

As I walked up to the office in the stunning pre-dawn glow this morning, I was struck by how the light coat of early snow covering the sixth green in front of Ford Hall is a very appropriate metaphor for the changing seasons. Sometimes the change in seasons come slower than we might expect or want, and sometimes change comes faster. But through it all, we move on, knowing that winter will follow fall, spring will warm us after winter, and so on.

This past weekend, The Winchendon School experienced a moment of important change. On Saturday morning, Jon Rotenberg '65 resigned as President of our Board after more than three decades of board leadership and service. Jon provided our School and community with absolutely remarkable leadership, keeping us ever-focused on our mission and philosophy and leading the school through very challenging times in the early seventies to being a school today that is among the financially strongest in its peer group with a clear vision, a talented faculty and a beautiful campus. Anyone who has been associated with our School in the last 35 years owes appreciation to Jon. I certainly am very thankful for the leadership and guidance that Jon provided to me as I transitioned in as the new Headmaster over the last two years.

But, as spring follows winter, there is a very strong new generation of board leadership stepping in to follow Jon. This past weekend, the trustees elected Joe Dockery '61 and Chris Frame '63 to be the next President and Vice President of the Board. Joe has been a long time Board member and until this weekend served as Vice President, and Chris just completed his first three year term. Joe was a member of the last graduating class from our predecessor school Hatch when we were still located in Newport R.I. and Chris was one of a few who experienced both campuses, starting in Newport and then spending two years in and graduating from Winchendon. They have both enjoyed successful business careers and bring great experience to lead our Board and School.

As for the early autumn snow on the sixth green, hopefully the golfers will be back at play by noon! Winter will certainly come, but we are not quite ready for it yet!

A view of Winchendon - Mountain Day 2009

Mother Nature treated us to a spectacular fall day today as The Winchendon School community took time to climb Mt. Monadnock. It was a wonderful day, made even more spectacular by the success of some initially reluctant climbers who ultimately conquered this southern New Hampshire pile of granite. The hike and the aches were worth as the view was almost unlimited in all directions, including back to our own Winchendon School.
The quick break came at a perfect time after five weeks of hard work and tough practices. The festivities started with last evenings surprise announcement at what was billed as an all-school Global Dynamics film viewing. That actually proved to be a an ice cream snack and a school viewing of "Remember The Titans", which almost all including your writer were captivated by. This morning people slept in, wolfed down a big brunch and then went off to climb the rock. This evening it was back for a special dinner which all seemed to enjoy.

I send a special thanks out to Mr. Magay and his helpers who pulled off another flawless Winchendon adventure.

The New Triumverate

Democracy was in action last week as we completed elections for new officers and this year's Student Council. Candidates treated us to a great evening of speeches last Wednesday, and votes were cast on Thursday and Friday. Voter turnout topped 90%. I was excited to learn on Sunday that three students in the race for President had all earned within one vote of each other. After caucusing with the Student Council Faculty Adviser (Mr. Williams) and the candidates, we decided to head in a new direction. This year we will have Co-Presidents. They are Roxanne Pouliot-Naud, Hao Lu and Junjie Hu. This is especially exciting to me as these are great students who have been involved in our community in many different ways and therefore represent a broad cross-section of students and interests. I know that they have a number of agenda items to push already and look forward to the start of our weekly lunches this coming Monday.

There were also good races for a number of the Student Council spots, and we came away with an impressive team to lead us through the 2009-2010 year. I am looking forward to an exciting year under their leadership. More to come...!