Just after sunrise on Tuesday, I decided to walk the campus with my favorite canine companion, Nelson, in anticipation of Day One of the new school year. It was already a beautiful morning, and as we crested the path northwest of the MAC, turned left, and made our way between Thomas and Taylor Fields, I was suddenly struck by the sight of the moon shining over my shoulder, pendent and full and stubbornly luminous in the brightening western sky—and also, it seemed to me, impossibly large.
When I spoke with our Middle School students and faculty later that morning in Eliot Chapel, I confessed that, up until that moonstruck moment, I had been unsure of the message I should share with them—and a little nervous, frankly, given how few hours remained for me to prepare—but in that incandescent instant with Nelson, I knew that my words would be about wonder. “Not only did I wonder at the moon,” I recalled to them, “but I wondered how many thousands of times I had wondered at the moon previously in my long life, and then I wondered how many tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years it has been since our earliest human ancestors, probably living in what we now call Africa, first lifted their eyes and wondered at the moon like me. A relentless sense of wonder is my wish for you this school year—wonder in your classes and other endeavors, wonder in your friendships, wonder in yourselves. Education begins with wonder.”
Ten days ago, I asked the faculty and staff at our opening meeting in Brauer Auditorium to choose, from an extensive list of human qualities and ideals, the ones that best embodied their hopes and goals for the new year. These were the words that spoke to them most:
I decided to repeat the exercise with our Middle and Upper School students this week (“Which of the following qualities and ideals come closest to capturing your hopes and goals for the school year?”), and hundreds of them replied, citing these aspirations most often:
As is obvious at a glance, responses varied between the groups. Words chosen by teachers and staff at higher rates than students included “authenticity,” “care,” “compassion,” “grace,” “gratitude,” “humility,” “intentionality,” “love,” and “presence.” Words chosen by students at higher rates included “ambition,” “dedication,” “discipline,” “focus,” “perseverance,” and “persistence.” I should note, however, that every word was chosen multiple times by members of both groups, and there were many areas of overlap. Taken together, our students, teachers, and staff cited ten aspirational qualities and ideals most frequently:
balance • confidence • determination • improvement • joy • kindness •
laughter • leadership • patience • positivity
“Wonder,” for its part, was on the list and had plenty of proponents in both groups: 13% of teachers and staff and 22% of students. As for my own wondering at Tuesday morning’s apparently massive moon, I have since discovered that it was at perigee—as close to Earth as it ventures—and that further “supermoons” are in store on September 18 and October 17. After that, though, you will have to wait until November 5, 2025, for the same imposing view, so mark your calendars! How do I know these things? Well, I didn’t know them before Tuesday morning, but when you get caught between the moon and a Golden Retriever, you make a spreadsheet. (I know it’s crazy, but it’s true.) Education begins with wonder.
Happy New Year! It is wonderful to begin anew with you. Always reason, always compassion, always courage. My best wishes to your families for a joyful weekend ahead.
Jay Rainey
Head of School
This week’s addition to the “Refrains for Rams” playlist: Little Wonders by Rob Thomas, released in 2007, as this year’s seniors, the Class of 2025, were first arriving to the world (Apple Music / Spotify)