View From My Window

Dear Falcon Families, Alumni and Community,

It is an honor to be leading FWCD at its 60th anniversary. My charge has been to sustain the incredible work that came before me, while also looking to set the School up for continued success in its second 60 years.

For our longstanding success, we owe a great deal, particularly to our founding Head of School, Peter A. Schwartz H’98. An experienced school leader when he arrived here in 1962, Peter was hired for his proven success leading schools and particularly for his high standards. Our founding Board of Trustees did incredibly well identifying Mr. Schwartz and luring him and his wife, Alice, to Fort Worth.

The School these board members envisioned, and that Peter developed, would serve students by providing an academic program to rival – and exceed – the education provided by the country’s leading boarding and day schools, but this time right here in Fort Worth. In addition, the School they founded would instill a sense of community that would inspire civic leadership, both here in Fort Worth and in any city our alumni call home. Sixty years later, their goals have been realized. Falcon alumni are accomplished in every professional field imaginable, often as leaders in their professions and in their communities.

Sixty years after our auspicious beginning, we remain committed to Mr. Schwartz’s high expectations. We aspire to be always improving. Some of that improvement is in the classrooms or on fields, and some of that improvement we seek in 2024 involves our facilities. Many of our facilities have served us well for decades, but they no longer meet Fort Worth Country Day’s standards for today or for the future. We have important work to do for our current students and for those yet to come. That work is the goal of the current comprehensive campaign, Forward Together. In the pages of this magazine, you’ll read about alumni, current students, current and retired faculty, many of whom credit their years at FWCD as the foundation of their personal philosophies, civic engagements, and family credos.

As members of this community, you, too, will be invited to join the campaign as contributors to ensure the facilities and endowment goals are achieved. My great hope is that you will accept this invitation and become a founder of our school's second 60 years.

Sincerely,

Eric V. Lombardi Head of School