MESSAGE FROM THE HEADMASTER

Moving Forward

On a recent school morning, I found myself walking through the Lower School library where, of all things, chapel was taking place. Its typical home, the auditorium, was being used by fourth graders who were performing the first Lower School play since February 2020.

About halfway through the service, I could hear footsteps and murmurs behind me. I and all the boys who were doing their best to remain attentive turned around to see the entire cast of the about-to-begin play, in full-costume splendor (including both male and female roles), walking through the space toward the auditorium and a host of Lower School parents eager to cheer them on.

It was a classic boys’ school moment — a comical and lighthearted wrinkle interrupting an otherwise solemn school moment of prayer and reflection.

The best part for me, however, was the fact that neither our wonderful Lower School chaplain, the Rev. Darren Steadman, nor our chapel students, nor our budding fourth grade actors skipped a beat. After seeing the actors enter, the students returned their attention to the Rev. Steadman, who paused briefly during his homily, nodded attentively to the student actors, and continued with his remarks.

One of the gifts of the COVID experience (and there are a few, though not many) is that it has forced so many of us, including young people, to “pivot” repeatedly. While I now rather detest that word and its overuse, it’s accurate to say that all of us — even educators, who crave routine, rhythm, and predictability — are now more adept at change, especially sudden change, innovation, and adaptation.

At St. Christopher’s, in March 2020, we shifted from a 100% brick-and-mortar teaching-and-learning community to a 100% virtual teaching-and-learning community in a matter of one week. And now, just over two years after the beginning of the pandemic, we have slowly but surely returned to our pre-pandemic routines and norms, at least the ones worth preserving!

Even before the pandemic, I’d like to think that innovation and adaptability were ingrained in the ethos of St. Christopher’s. We have always expected our boys to study and excel in multiple dimensions and fields of learning. We raise not only students, but student-gentlemen, student-artists, student-athletes, studentleaders, student-servants, and more. Our boys have always been and will always be multidimensional, and in teaching the “whole boy,” we prepare them for lives of breadth and diversity, unpredictability, and surety of change.

We are proud of the alumni innovators you will read about in this edition of StC Magazine, just as we are proud of the teachers and students of today’s St. Christopher’s, who have proven what we can accomplish together when we are open to change and committed to serving the best and enduring interests of our boys.

Gratefully,

Mason Lecky, headmaster

A scene from the Lower School musical, “The Magic Treehouse: The Knight at Dawn Kids.” Each homeroom in the fourth and fifth grades held its own performance.