University School of Nashville
University School of Nashville Association
My
homes of faculty and staff while keeping a social distance.
dozen years of volunteering with USNA started by taking baby steps as a room parent, picked up speed as the Bonus Bucks Coordinator, and culminated in earning my black belt in volunteering as Artclectic Chair, USNA Service Vice-Chair, and USNA President. Knowing everything that I know now, and even despite a pandemic, I would do it again. I especially loved working in roles that connected me to parents in my children’s grades and in all the other grades, new parents, and seasoned USN veteran parents. These interactions made me fall in love with our USN community all over again and left me in awe of the talent, kindness, wit, and enthusiasm that USN parents bring to the table. I made friends for life.
Kobie Pretorius and her family: husband Mias, Mia ’19, and Stefan ’21 with pup, Leo.
With not-so-perfect hindsight, it seems like an understatement to say that this past spring was a wild one. One minute we were celebrating the records set by Artclectic 2019, marveling at sold out Evening Classes, and dancing to Colin Hay from Men at Work in the Auditorium. The next moment we were wondering how to pivot from an in-person Faculty/Staff Appreciation Luncheon to a safer alternative, resulting in a team of masked volunteers delivering 230 boxes of cookies to the 16
More and more challenges steadily mounted on the horizon as the pandemic stretched into the summer. Zoom went from weird to familiar as we tried to plan for the school year ahead while adapting to our new normal. I am so thankful for the support from the school, USNA Board, and parent volunteers who — while dealing with their individual pandemic disasters and disappointments — jumped in to rethink and shape the new realities of USNA in 2020. Anna Cramer and Joanna Hall have embraced the challenges that they were faced with as incoming USNA Co-Presidents, and I am grateful for their steady leadership.
It now seems like the pandemic will leave nothing untouched and that we will all emerge a little different than before, including USNA. We have time to rethink our projects, work smarter, and listen harder. I’m looking forward to the day we can again hug each other in the halls of USN, pack a crowd into the backfield while the Dads’ Alliance grills hotdogs, and enjoy a hot and sweaty graduation with our seniors under the big tent. We will do this together. Kobie Pretorius, 2019-2020 USNA President
