As the summer continues to race by, we find ourselves closing in on the 2016-2017 school year. While all of us hang on to these final summer days, we are also increasingly excited about what lies ahead. There is always so much enthusiasm for new beginnings at this time of year, and we plan to take full advantage of this energy and momentum once we are all together. This will be Brooks School's 90th year, and we are on our way to making it a great one.

 

When I was last in touch, the summer had taken hold and I was pleased to have an opportunity to welcome all of you who are new parents. By now, my hope is that you have managed to navigate the many components of registering your daughter or son for all that is to come this fall. If loose ends remain, we are glad to help in any way. I also want to provide an update on all that has been going on here during the past month, as much of this work has improved the school since we were last in session.

 

At the end of this week, our expansive summer programs will begin wrapping up after what has been an excellent couple of months. There is a wide range of adults and students of all ages on campus during June, July and August, and it is nice to see so many enjoying all that we are so privileged to enjoy during the year. The bulk of these participants take advantage of the expansive outdoor spaces we have at Brooks, and this has been tricky with the unusually hot and dry summer we have had. While we have managed to keep some portions of the campus relatively green, and this has us in good shape for early athletics, a fair amount of our 251 acres have suffered considerably due to the lack of rain.

 

In the two weeks we have between the end of our summer programs and the beginning of the school year, we devote a lot of time and energy to getting the physical plant fully squared away. This will include finishing work on dormitories that have received some attention over the summer and getting all of our academic spaces ready to go. Above all, we could not be more pleased with the way our new Health and Wellness Center is rounding into shape. While we hope that our students will steer clear of being ill and needing to spend lots of time in this facility, we are amazed at how the space has come together and will serve students in need of a wide range of care. To equip our superb health services staff with a space that will allow them to do so much more than the previous space allowed is an important step forward for the school.

 

We are also moving in the direction of exploring some improvements to our Student Center, which is located below the Wilder Dining Hall, and you likely received our driving policy update indicating that the snack bar in that part of the school will be used far more regularly than has been the case. As we move in the direction of our new arts facility and theater scheduled to be built on space adjacent to the Student Center, we would like to give it some new life and prominence in the daily travels of the student body. We will have more to share about that work over the months ahead. Finally, we are closing in on building the remembrance garden made possible by funds given to the Anna Trustey Memorial Fund. This project should take about one month to construct, and it will be nice to see it unfold before our eyes. The hope is to have it completed and dedicated by the end of the fall.

 

As work on the campus moves along over these next couple of weeks, the faculty will also gather again for a full week of meetings during the week prior to Labor Day weekend. We will be welcoming six new colleagues to the school that week, and we will spend time sharing with one another work and thinking that has occurred over the summer. As I have noted before, a number of returning colleagues are in new roles as the year begins, with John McVeigh as dean of faculty, Susanna Waters as academic dean, Mary Jo Carabatsos as dean of teaching and learning, Lisa Saunders as director of administrative computing/registrar, Bobbie Crump-Burbank as director of athletics, and Andy Campbell as interim dean of college counseling. John Haile has moved into a full-time teaching role in the English Department, and Lori Charpentier has completed her move to the admission office as an associate director of admission. So, there are a lot of terrific people in new roles this year, and their enthusiasm for what is ahead will add significantly to the strong start we are poised to have. We will break for Labor Day weekend at the end of that full week of meetings, and then return ready to welcome all of you beginning on Tuesday, September 6.

 

During our full week of opening faculty meetings, we will look forward to seeing many of you, and your sons and daughters who are new to Brooks, at a reception for new families at the home of Leslie and Belisario Rosas P'15 on Wednesday, August 31, at 5 p.m., in Andover, Massachusetts. In addition to all of you who are able to attend, we will have a contingent from school and some current parents there as well. This is a nice way for you, and your daughters and sons, to meet a few of their classmates and begin to make some acquaintances ahead of school starting. At the same time, this is not a required event, so please do not worry if you cannot attend. We will spend a lot of time getting to know one another once the school year begins!

 

I referenced the revision to the school's driving policy above and trust that you have had an opportunity to look that over since receiving it from Andrea Heinze and Willie Waters. Our hope with that step is to shore up our attention to the whereabouts of our students during the school day, and tend to a safety concern that has been growing over time. A key component to making this change work is opening the snack bar and looking at improvements to the Student Center. As noted, the former will happen as we partner with our new dining services vendor, Meriwether Godsey, and stock the snack bar with choices our students are looking for. As for the latter, we have taken a fresh look at the Student Center, and will be exploring a range of ways to reconfigure and activate that space for student use as the year gets started. In the end, we believe the school is a better place with all of us on campus during the day, and we are committed to looking at services and facilities that will help us move successfully in this direction.

 

We all look forward to seeing you as you return to campus on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday of the week following Labor Day weekend. My wife, Kim, and I will host all of you who are new parents at a reception in the Head of School's residence on Wednesday, September 7, at 2:15 p.m. We hope you will be able to make that event, and that we will see all of you over the course of these three days. After getting everyone situated, we will begin the school year in the Ashburn Chapel first thing on Friday morning, September 9. Also, I should add that it is never too early to remind you about Parents Weekend, which is scheduled for Thursday, October 27, through Saturday, October 29. We hope that weekend has been circled on your calendars.

 

In closing, we wish all of you a pleasant finish to what we hope has been a wonderful summer. As you encourage your sons and daughters to finish Ready Player One and all the other summer reading they have been assigned, please know that we could not be more excited to begin the year with them and with you. To do all we can to ensure this experience will be the most meaningful educational experience your children and our students will have in their lives is our goal.

 

As always, please let me know if I can help in any way. Enjoy the next few weeks.