LEADERSHIP
Dear Members of the Country Day Community,
W
e made it! While the pandemic has been an extraordinary challenge both on a global scale and to our school, there is much to celebrate as we close Country Day’s 95th academic year.
Last August, we took a bold approach by opening on campus, but we knew full well we were buttressed by the collective strength of our community and its commitment to our students’ learning (not to mention numerous safety practices and protocols). Your perseverance made an improbable year possible. And perhaps most remarkable about the past school year was our ability to give our students a high level of normalcy despite the disruptive conditions. Most rewarding was watching our students deftly defy the challenges of the pandemic. They made it seem almost effortless, quickly acclimating and acquiring the skills necessary to navigate new ways of learning while staying connected with teachers and classmates. For a year that demanded staying apart, our students came together in admirable ways that has left us stronger, smarter, and even more compassionate for having endured a year of uncertainty. They have been true heroes in this chapter of Country Day’s history. In athletics, Country Day’s competitive excellence remained as strong as ever. The school maintained its full slate of athletic teams across all divisions, with teams winning several league, district, and regional championships. Eleven members of the Class of 2021 will play at the collegiate level. The wisdom gained through sports remained as much as part of the learning day as time spent in class, and we are grateful to our coaches and parents for their tireless support of our athletes. Country Day’s artists, with their boundless creativity, ensured that the show would go on all year long. They continued to display their manifold talents through the performing, visual, and literary arts. Our productions were not only entertaining, but they also afforded opportunities for our students to develop new skills not typically associated with the arts. Service continued to be an important aspect of the student experience. While the pandemic curtailed our ability to put virtue into action throughout the city and beyond, we turned our service inward and provided on-campus opportunities. The school’s institutional strength is also affirmed by its strong student enrollment for the past year and the year to come. Amid the pandemic, we enrolled 152 new students for the 2020-21 year—one of the largest new student numbers in the past 10 years. Another positive trend is current student retention with 92.5% of the student body returning for the new school year. This is the school’s highest retention rate since 2005-06. The positive momentum in our school’s enrollment can be attributed to school’s ongoing commitment to our students’ academic and personal growth that never diminished despite the challenges prompted by the pandemic. At this time, we also say goodbye to our seniors. The 75 seniors of the Class of 2021 impressively accumulated $6.5 million and scholarships and grants and garnered 355 acceptances to colleges and universities across the U.S. While they are off to their next academic homes, Country Day will always be with them. Most tellingly, this past school year reaffirmed the strength of the Country Day’s foundation, which proved exceptionally solid, allowing us to thrive in a year when many schools struggled. And on those occasions, when we encountered our differences, we did not let them divide us. As our alma mater reminds us, we stand together. Together we weathered the unique challenges of the past year and have come through the storm stronger for having endured it. My closing days on campus have been bittersweet. Lucia, the boys, and I will miss the school and people we adore and cherish. Our hearts will be with you next year and for many years ahead for this superlative community! Sincerely,
Anthony T. T. Jaccaci Scan the QR code for Tony’s full letter to the community
2 | CONNECTIONS
