2 minute read

From the Head of School

Catherine S. McGehee

Dear Foxcroft Community,

I've been thinking a lot about trees lately. Around Middleburg this past summer, strong thunderstorms knocked down trees, including a beloved old oak on the Schoolhouse lawn, right by the apron for the old Porch dorm. What stories that tree could tell! I like to think it shaded generations of students, providing a peaceful backdrop for reading, studying, or chatting with friends. We certainly enjoyed it when we ate outdoors during the pandemic, and it offered cover from the sun. We are also losing some of the very old cherry trees that create the iconic pink canopy as you drive up Foxhound Lane. Fortunately, these trees have been back planted, and the young ones are ready to take their rightful place. There are only a few left of the apple trees that gave Orchard dorm its name. Thanks to the Class of 2021’s junior project and an alumna, the School has replaced some of these fruit trees in Big Track to carry on the tradition of apple picking and baking.

At Foxcroft and around the world, trees are part of a vital ecosystem in which they support one another, other species, and of course, the planet. A trailblazing female scientist, Suzanne Simard, discovered that trees are connected through vast fungal root systems. These networks share carbon, water, and nutrients. Simard demonstrated how trees communicate and even cooperate between species, relaying distress signals about drought and disease and trading minerals through a complex circuitry that Simard compared to neural networks in the human brain. Her research also identified “mother trees” that act as “hubs” for these networks. They can recognize their own offspring and provide extra resources to them. When these mother trees die, they upload food and information for future generations of trees.

As I thought about this school year, I thought this “Wood-Wide Web” was a perfect symbol for us as a School community and our theme, “Be Well, Be Green, Belong at Foxcroft.”

Foxcroft is made of many strong people of different ages, backgrounds, cultures, identities, and experiences — all part of one community. To make the School community strong, we come together and connect. As students progress through their time at Foxcroft, they develop roots, creating shared support systems that provide the “nutrients” we all need to be healthy, to learn, to build relationships, and to succeed.

And we form networks that last a lifetime. Student leaders, alumnae, teachers, parents, administrators, and board members serve as “mother trees” who provide resources for the School and look out for future generations. But just like forests, our community must be tended to, and no one individual succeeds without the entire community coming together to support one another.

This issue of Foxcroft magazine focuses on how the School intentionally creates systems and programs — in and out of the classroom — to support the most basic need of our students: to feel an authentic sense of belonging so that they may learn, grow, and thrive. It also celebrates the tremendous support of our alumnae in providing our students with the tools and facilities to prepare them for future success. Learn about the transformative gift to the Building for Our Future Campaign by the Mars family and why they chose to give it on pages 30-31 of this issue. I know you join me in thanking them for their incredible generosity and leadership. This is a proud moment for Foxcroft, indeed.

As you enjoy the articles, I hope you know that you — no matter your role at Foxcroft — belong to the vast network of people who love and care for the School and one another.

With excitement for our future,

This article is from: