OBSERVATIONS ON THE OVAL

THE MADEIRA CAMPUS IS TRULY SPECTACULAR. As I approach the end of my tenure, with an international move on the horizon, I want to share how pivotal this campus has been for me by revisiting some of the places that have played a significant role in my day-to-day living. Please join me as I travel once again around this campus that has been my home and my workplace for the past ten years, and accompany me on this journey of rediscovery, and yes, of nostalgic reminiscing.

That initial drive into the campus ushers one from the world of urban business into a place of total calm. While the entire campus is beautiful, nature and seasonal change is what I will miss most about it. I particularly love the trees lining the entrance. The blossoming dogwoods in the springtime, the entrance road festooned with yearbook pictures of those coming back to celebrate reunions, and the fresh green of pastures and fields renewing after a long winter make the campus awaken from its winter slumber. The lush green of summer, alas, comes with the high temperatures and humidity typical of the area and hints that behind every green leaf there is a bug or a spider web, a good reminder that at heart, I continue to be a true city girl! Autumn paints the landscape in bright reds interspersed with glowing yellows and oranges. Once I saw a tree that shed all its yellowed leaves around it like a discarded gown that it no longer had use for. Madeira is magnificent as well in its winter splendor: snowbanks, branches bowing under the weight of wet, heavy white magic, and girls sliding down the embankments on colorful sleds.

Walking down Meyer House Road I often hesitate between the proverbial fork to take, and I have the choice of Black Pond or going around to the back of the stables. I often take the former. No matter the season, the rock formations

HEAD OF SCHOOL

around the pond mirror the sunlight in a way that makes me wish I were an artist. Sometimes they are reflected in the still pool of water, doubling their impact in a play on vision. I have come to learn that this formation is the oldest of its kind in the Chesapeake area. In the springtime I have felt transported into a paradisiacal landscape when the bluebells bloom. I love hearing the chirping of birds break the silence as I make my way down the paths that take me across to the pond and to the river. Along the way, startled deer often leap into the woods, reminding me of ballet dancers as they gracefully move across a stage. Arriving at the pond, there is a large beaver which sometimes comes out of its dam to flap its tail at strangers. These visions are etched in my memory. Madeira’s campus is magical.

KAREN JOOSTEMA

Send comments to KJoostema@Madeira.org

FROM THE EDITOR

On Madeira’s social media sites, we often use the hashtag #NotYourAverageCampus when we post photos. Madeira is definitely NOT an average campus, and that thought serves as the inspiration for this issue. Not many schools can boast the combination of on-site riding facilities, a pool, turf field, sports center, and tennis courts that Madeira offers. Even fewer can claim exhilarating river views and access, acres of trails, outdoor challenge courses, and breathtaking scenic views.

As you flip through these pages, I hope you will see places that inspire you with sheer beauty, that bring back nostalgic memories, and that make you proud of the bold path Madeira continues to chart. With this issue of Madeira Today, we celebrate the fact that our campus, the School, and Madeira graduates are anything but average.