Letter from Board Chair

Dear Falcon Family,

With the closing of another academic year at Fort Worth Country Day, I want to share some expressions of gratitude and a summary of what I conveyed at the School’s 2022 graduation ceremony.

First, thank you to the parents for entrusting your children to us at school. We are humbled and honored to serve your families. We look forward to seeing your children grow and learn throughout their academic journey embodying our school’s slogan: From Here, Anywhere ….

I also want to express my appreciation for our talented and dedicated faculty and staff, especially given the incredible challenges over the past couple of years. They have an unwavering commitment to changing the world for the better, one Country Day Falcon at a time.

At the School’s May 13 graduation, I shared advice with the Class of 2022. I was in their shoes nearly 30 years ago, and I thought about what I wished someone would have shared with me on graduation night. I referenced this quote from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: “Tell me with whom you associate, and I will tell you who you are.”

Science has proven that our relationships have an overwhelming impact on our mental health, biological responses, mortality rate, motivation, mental acuity, and success. A study performed at the University of Southern California suggests that the effect of positive relationships on one’s lifespan is twice as powerful as that of exercising and equal to quitting smoking. Another study confirms that neural connections are strengthened in amazing, measurable ways as you experience positive interactions with the people around you.

As you select people to share your precious time with, take inventory of their influence over you. Do they inspire you? Do they sharpen your mind? Are they supportive of your journey? Or are they causing you to feel overburdened and discouraged? Are they pulling you away from the vision you have for yourself? The people you choose to surround yourself with are the people that will shape who you become. They will support or hinder your growth in all facets of life, inspiring you to be better or holding you back.

Further, consider that your impact on this world will be magnified through the people with whom you spend your time. Just as they influence you, you, too, will influence them. You will share a piece of yourself that they will, in turn, radiate out into the world through their thoughts, words and actions.

My senior quote in 1993 was from country music star Garth Brooks, and it goes like this: “Life is not about the finish line; it’s about the chase.” Today, this quote reminds me of the often-debated question: What’s more important, the journey or the destination? To me, the answer is neither. It’s all about who is traveling with you on your journey. I know our graduates will choose wisely.

Fly Higher, Falcons.

Randy Eisenman ’93