Dear Alumni & Friends,

These last ten days have been abundantly rich with the fruits of our labor; from graduation, and the send-off for another amazing class of Senior Spartans, to Reunion 2019 and the welcome reminder that the "Spartan Spirit" lasts a lifetime. 

 

At the Alumni Senior Breakfast the day before graduation, Kevin McDonald '70, a Founders' Day Award honoree and Class Agent extraordinaire, quoted English teacher Laura Moore saying, "Overall, the class of 2019 is an impressive group of stellar individuals in the true LA tradition: they are individuals who have lifted each other up in their journey through high school. In this class are singers, dancers, mathematicians and computer programmers, poets, actors, comedians, magicians, highly motivated and skilled athletes, historians and politicians, environmentalists, activists, spiritualists, humanitarians, and adventurists."

 

We saw evidence of that senior spirit during our 226th commencement on May 31, where we celebrated the Class of 2019—111 seniors heading off to 66 different colleges. Head of School Dan Scheibe, and speakers Nicole Winthrop '19, Will Adam '19, and Kate Williams (1% for the Planet) inspired us with anecdotes full of humor, insight, and personal connection, emphasizing the importance of using one’s education to make a difference through meaningful memories, a more fully-realized sense of self, and protection of the planet.

 

Just as we finished grading exams and waving goodbye to our underclassmen the following Friday, Reunion classes were returning to campus, reminding us that what we do from September to June matters. The common thread with LA alumni is that they connect deeply with others through their intense experiences in class, in the dorms, with their advisor, in sports, in Winterim, on Mountain Day, and in community and extra-curricular activities, learning in the process how to become themselves.

 

Indeed, much of Reunion was, as usual, just plain uplifting, from the annual Tom Warner '75 Memorial 5K to the Class of 1969’s celebration of 50 years to the Athletic Hall of Fame inductees: 1959 boys’ lacrosse team, the 2008 girls' field hockey team, outdoorsman Nathaniel Holmes Bishop from the Class of 1852, Michelle McAteer '99 (soccer, hockey, softball), and Rich Roby '04 (basketball), and the great turnout for all the reunion classes—faces from near and far, some we see often and some who were making their first return to the quad in decades. Be sure to check out the Facebook photo gallery.

 

So while they have been jam-packed, inspiration was the name of the game for every occasion over the past two weeks, reminding us of the power of the LA experience and the importance of these four years in a young person’s life, and launching us into the rejuvenation of summer with the promise of more of this important and fulfilling work to come in the new year that waits on the other side of August.

 

I send my best to all of you for a fantastic summer!

 

From the hillside,