Letter from the President

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

Aprominent focus in this issue of On Campus is our dynamic international population. The timing of International Week traditionally marks somewhat of a celebratory mid-point in the academic year.

This year, we are delighted to recognize students from 22 countries across the globe.

Current and alumni international boarding students enrich the Tallulah Falls School learning community through a naturally occurring cultural exchange. Simply by spending time together in the classroom, dormitories, and athletic venues, all TFS students learn to work together.

This commitment to collaboration bodes well for success in life.

From a global perspective, as TFS prepares leaders for college and beyond, an education earned here can impact positive relationships in exponential ways.

We’ll never know the ripple effect of how friendships sparked at TFS might change the way individuals think and relate to each other.

Investing in the TFS experience is undoubtedly time well spent; we see this as we maintain strong connections to our alumni base. Some of our graduates are well established in post-graduate programs or already making an impact professionally. A few of these include:

• Min Hyun Oh of South Korea, Class of 2012, earned a master’s in education from

Harvard University and is enrolled in a doctoral program in education.

• Vanessa Lewis of Mt. Airy, Class of 2016, majored in cellular biology at the

University of Georgia, conducted independent research on the COVID virus and is currently working as a research assistant at the Yerkes National Primate Research

Center at Emory University.

• Lianjie (Jerry) Wei of China, Class of 2016, majored in biochemistry and philosophy at the University of North Carolina and is a predoctoral student.

• Mark Fainfold of Russia, Class of 2017, majored in computer engineering at

Georgia Tech and is now working with Amazon.

They were great students when they were here. Now they have gone on to share the TFS mission related to intellect as well as character since many of them are pursuing serviceoriented careers – education, medicine, research, etc.

As we celebrate diversity, we need only look to our students to realize how we are focused in our quest for cultural understanding and unity.

In addition to reading about the international students, we invite you to applaud all of the academic and athletic accomplishments highlighted on these pages.