View From My Window

Dear Falcon Family,

Eight years ago, Shannon Young Ray ’80 played her role as Board Chair in introducing me to the Fort Worth Country Day student body one division assembly at a time. It was March 2015; I would take on the Head of School role in June. Soon after those gatherings with students, I was led to the FDP for my first campus meal. I did not get to eat much. Out of nowhere, students from all three divisions formed a line for the sole purpose of shaking my hand and welcoming me to “your” school.

Since that moment, for Debra and me, “your” school has turned into “our” school, and I have regularly invoked the memory of that first lunch, describing us as a handshaking community. At FWCD, we believe in looking someone in the eye and giving them a firm grip as we meet for the first time or hundredth time.

A good handshake speaks to a person’s pride. You give a good handshake because you want someone to get a positive first impression of you, and you want the other person to know that you are showing them respect.

It is the pride in themselves and in the School that I felt so much in that 2015 spontaneous receiving line in the FDP. It is pride for our school that is at the heart of so much of what we do. The pride of an alum leads them to return to campus with a friend or spouse or child of their own and show them around, introducing them to their teachers. A student's pride makes them tell their neighbors about where they go to school. A parent's pride makes them put a “From Here, Anywhere” sticker on their car bumper.

With a routine we inaugurated in 2019, Shannon Allen, Communications Manager, and I assembled what we call our Points of Pride again this January. What a “stand tall” feeling those points give me. Any one of the items we choose in a given year impresses me; the whole assemblage simply wows me. I hope, whether alum, past or current parent or grandparent, past or present faculty or student, you have that same sense of, “Wow, Fort Worth Country Day does amazing things and has amazing people!”

And with articles you read in this always excellent publication, I hope your pride extends to people, events and accomplishments over our many years. Sixty years, to be exact: A milestone we will be celebrating throughout the 2023-24 school year. The story on Butch Traeder H’16, for instance, reminds us of an educator who impacted so many lives in his 30 years as a Falcon. While we mourn his passing, we celebrate the many impressive people who comprise our community and who make us all Falcon proud.

Sincerely,

Eric Lombardi