2020: Looking Back + Moving Forward

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2020 looking back + moving forward

2020 has certainly been a year “that will live in infamy,” to quote President Franklin Roosevelt’s famous words at the onset of the United States’ involvement in World War II.

The start of a new decade felt full of possibilities, but by the end of March, the entire world seemed to be going through the motions of a science fiction novel: schools and churches shuttered, lockdown orders for entire states, food insecurity and empty grocery store shelves, and an unknown enemy virus with no cure. The end of May brought a reckoning of a di erent kind, as the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor drove people across the country into the streets to demand justice and protest systemic racism.

And yet…when Lovett and other schools were forced to go online to teach students, we pivoted our technology but kept those attributes that make a Riverbank education special. When Breakthrough Atlanta couldn’t provide its usual on-campus summer program to bright students from public middle schools, it provided virtual high-impact academics, loaner laptops and food support. A new and exciting after-school program, canceled this spring due to COVID-19, was moved to July upon the reopening of campus - giving young Lovett campers the opportunity to learn baseball, character and leadership skills from exceptional Atlanta Public School student-athletes with life experiences Pictured:Head of Lower School James Choi greets Asher Givens ’28 on the first day of school.

extraordinarily di erent from their own. Hopeful things have indeed happened, even during the chaos brought by this year like no other.

To look forward, however, is to know that there are still challenges ahead and much left to do. Lovett’s Strategic Design Process committees, forced to pause this spring, have restarted their important work regarding the future of our school. And the new standing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee of Lovett’s Board of Trustees - which met dozens of times over the summer - has released its initial report and moves forward with its plans to ensure that all families of color thrive at Lovett.

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower,” wrote French philosopher Albert Camus. Perhaps this season, so long associated with the start of a fresh new school year, holds the possibility of many other important new beginnings as well.

Courtney Fowler

executive Editor, Lovett Magazine