4 minute read
A School to Be Respected
Ben Williams, head of school from 1969 to 1984
by Joseph Sheppard
The man mostly responsible for shaping the Lawrence Academy we know today arrived in Groton in the fall of 1969 as an energetic and idealistic 33-year-old.
Ben Williams had always known he wanted to teach, and following a stint as an instructor in the Marines ’ Officer Candidate School, he landed a job in Pomfret, Connecticut. After a few years, running a school became an aspiration. “I was young and ambitious, and I went after the Lawrence Academy job like a crocodile, ” he told us in a recent conversation at his home in Pomfret. Williams had visited the campus and, being an outdoorsman, loved it. “Angus on the hillside, green everywhere. It was my kind of territory, ” he recounted. “It seemed too good to be true. ”
It did come true, though, and Williams admitted that the job was a bit overwhelming at first. “On opening day, when I saw the students running on the lower fields, it dawned on me that they were now my responsibility. It was daunting.
Williams decided that Lawrence Academy would become coeducational as soon as possible, a change that the board of trustees supported. Beyond coeducation, though, Ben had no “ grandiose idea ” about what he was going to do with his new job. “I was flying by the seat of my pants, ” he smiled, recalling his and his wife Nan ’ s early days in Groton. Having recently experienced the move to coeducation in Pomfret, he knew that in 1970 coeducation “just
made good sense. ” Williams continued,
“We wanted to move into the modern world, and that meant coeducation. It was an opportunity to raise the bar academically and to increase the applicant pool. Women had a lot to contribute to the school academically, athletically, and in extracurricular activities.
Coeducation inspired curricular innovations, and Williams ’ dreams for Lawrence ’ s future gradually took
shape. Early in his tenure, he hired the brilliant and creative Vin Skinner, whose legacy we honor every year through his creations, Winterim and Lawrence II (now called the Independent Immersion Program). The school’ s curriculum was examined, taken apart, and put back together numerous times in an exhaustive search for an academic program that fit Lawrence Academy ’ s evolving identity. Williams recalled that it took time and hard work to get the programs off the ground. “Was it all done well from the beginning?” Ben asked, rhetorically. "No, it wasn ’ t. There was precious little substance in some of the early Winterims, for example. You don ’ t have a finished product right away. It takes time. ”He credited veteran teachers like Bob Darling, Dick Jeffers, and Alan Whipple for “ enabling us to become what we became without a major revolution. Others who contributed greatly to the academy ’ s athletic, academic, and creative programs, were John Curran, Dick Richardson, Bill Mees, Bob Kullen, Terry Murbach, and Peter Hazzard. ”
Together, they were creating, bit by bit, the studentcentered style of education that has been Lawrence Academy ’ s hallmark for many years now. Philosophies and programs that are currently being advocated in many of today ’ s schools have been staples at Lawrence Academy for years, according to Williams. The school’ s unique curriculum contributed to what was perhaps Williams ’ greatest dream: to have a student body that had sought out the school because of its excellent reputation. The greatest advancement in that direction during his time as headmaster was joining the Independent School League. That move garnered Lawrence Academy much respect from neighboring schools.
Williams ’ desire to bring Lawrence Academy into the modern world—certainly not a priority among private schools in prior generations—drove many of the changes that swept through the school in the 1970s. It did not take him, or his faculty, long to realize that together they were creating an educational institution that would stand out among its competitors. In the early days of Williams ’ tenure, coeducation, Winterim, student-initiated programs such as the Lowell Project, and a strong commitment to increasing the ethnic and socioeconomic diversity among the student body transformed the school into an innovative institution that reflected the rapidly changing modern world. This goal was aided by a conscious decision to enlarge the day-student population, a change that over the years has had a profound and positive effect on the social climate among the students.
When talking about the
“ prestige factor ” in the world of independent schools, Williams ’ take was characteristically forthright. “Will we ever be regarded as a Groton or an Exeter?” he asked. “I doubt it and I don ’ t covet it at all. Our excellence has got to be in the experience that the students have and what they make of their lives afterwards. And that does not depend on from where you get your diploma. ” Williams discussed what has been an unofficial motto at Lawrence Academy for more than four decades now: “We need to do what we believe is right for our students. If we do that well, ” he continued, “ then it is going to get communicated. It is not persuasive to tell people who you are; you should just be who you are.
We are still doing
“ what is right for our students, ” in large part to the dreams of a courageous, passionate, humble, and dedicated man who, with the help of an equally committed and talented core of faculty, shaped Lawrence Academy into the institution it is today.
Annie, Ben ’ s copilot
