HEAD OF SCHOOL

“The deep sense of belonging so many feel at KUA is rooted in those connections that we make to one another.”

Living Deeply in the Present

The start of a new calendar year is always an appropriate time to look in both directions: back at the year just completed and forward to the opportunities that lay ahead. While redefining our experiences within a new set of health protocols and guidelines has been an essential priority during the past 20 months, it has not prevented us from also scanning the horizon and looking out to what the future holds for Kimball Union.

When I reflect on 2021, the milestones that led up to our in-person graduation for the Class of 2021 and the outstanding start to the 2021-22 school year are filled with experiences and challenges that we celebrate daily. While we lit up the stage in Flick and sent multiple teams off to NEPSAC tournaments, we were also able to articulate our central mission as a school while simultaneously living it out. During student-led initiatives that expanded our community service and addressed issues of equity in our community, we also pioneered a new approach to the accreditation process and crafted a strategic plan that will guide our decision-making and evolution for years to come. Throughout our break, I reflected that living deeply in the present moment while thoughtfully thinking about the future is a nice metaphor for how we approached the year gone by.

One of the most challenging exercises for a dynamic, diverse community of extremely inter-connected people is to succinctly articulate who we are through our mission. It is a process that we entrusted to those who are experiencing the depth of life at KUA: our faculty and students. One of my most professionally gratifying experiences of the past year was to work with a group of faculty and students to find the words to capture KUA’s essence and the impact a KUA experience has on a student. The process is outlined in an article later in the magazine, and the outcome is a statement that has authentically resonated throughout our community and served as a solid foundation to our subsequent work on building strategy and navigating our accreditation. In this issue, you will hear our mission being lived through the voices of student Sebastian Morris ’22, faculty member Alexis Liston ’03, and alumna Katrina Spade ’95, as well as others within our community.

Here on campus, our students continue to lead our community as they find their voices, embrace the tradition and history of the Academy, and put their own twist on campus life as every class has done before them. On January 8, we gathered outside the Stu and held a ceremonial dropping of the ball and fireworks show to mark and celebrate our return after winter break. The deep sense of belonging so many feel at KUA is rooted in those connections that we make to one another—and never has that been more alive than it is today.

Happy New Year. K

TYLER LEWIS Head of School