Message from the Head of School

A MESSAGE FROM Jason Lopez

Head of School

Dear Pegasus Community,

“Gratitude” might feel like the wrong word when you reflect back on 2020. Even for the luckiest among us, it’s been a year filled with great uncertainty and unexpected challenges. We’ve all been forced into adaptive circumstances, sometimes uncomfortable and usually out of our control.

But as is often the case, times of hardship not only deliver important life lessons—resilience, creativity, strength, and fortitude to name a few— but they also reveal the bedrock qualities and institutional values that define us. Pegasus has never been immune from demanding times. Every challenge we’ve endured over our 36 years, however, has only solidified and strengthened our ethos or, as some call it, our “Pegasusness.” We are who we’ve always been—an adaptive institution able to draw from a deep well of flexibility, innovation, institutional intelligence, and talent within our community. This past year, we discovered how deep that well goes. Gratitude, therefore, is the perfect lens to reflect back on the past 12 months. I’m more grateful this year than most for having witnessed the power of our community. I’m grateful for our committed faculty, who not only continued to provide an outstanding educational experience, but delivered those lessons with imagination and compassion. Our Teacher Tuck-In program, for example, allowed our youngest scholars to not only appreciate books, but also to feel safe and seen and treasured. Our online Talent Show enabled our students to showcase their gifts centerstage with a much wider audience tuning in from across the country. Our graduation ceremony permitted every graduate more time, space, and individualized attention from their teachers.

What separates Pegasus from other schools is our focus not only on the whole child, but every child. Ironically, in many ways, the pandemic allowed us to do that better. And while not always easy, we’ve all once again proved it possible. Thank you to each of you who modified your lives, and your homes, and adapted along with us. Thank you for the time you devoted, the energy you expended, and the funds you donated to make this past year not only survivable, but extraordinary.

While many schools simply tread water, waiting for this time to end and life to return to normal, Pegasus embraced the opportunity by trying new teaching techniques, maximizing the benefits of technology, and exploiting the hidden gifts of hardship. We incorporated the outside world—with all its rapid changes—into our everyday lessons. Those

lessons are critical to training 21st century leaders and educating resilient scholars. Diamonds, as we know, only form under pressure.

While we can’t control our world, we can control our reaction to it. Pegasus, once again, sought out every opportunity allowing this to be a time of ingenuity, creativity, growth, and empathy. None of this is possible without you and your generous contributions to our community. For all of that, and for each of you, I’m grateful.

Jason Lopez Head of School