Head of School’s Notebook: This is the Work

May 30, 2025

Last weekend, we honored the Class of 2025. These seniors, in particular, have reminded us that leadership takes many forms. Sometimes, it listens before it speaks. It builds trust, slowly and over time. It bakes cookies after a long, hard day and writes the best Senate recaps you’ve ever read. It guides quietly in the classroom. It invites the whole chapel to dance to Mamma Mia. And sometimes, it says, simply, I see you. I’m here for you. I’ve got you.

Despite the fact that our seniors have left the Mesa, their spirit lingers on, imprinted in the hillside, our hearts, and in the aspirations of our rising seniors.

Just yesterday we gathered with our 9th, 10th, and 11th graders for our Moving Up ceremony where we celebrated outgrowing who you were yesterday as we welcome the roomier, more spacious version of ourselves we’re becoming tomorrow. Luckily, the warmth and rest of summertime will allow us all a little breathing room to celebrate who we’ve become before we are called to grow again.

As students completed their final exams this week, I noticed that there was a sense of calm and ease as they prepared – diligent, committed, and certainly ambitious, it brings me such delight to see our students balancing the demand of their finals with pauses to play a game of Spikeball with their friends on Senior Lawn, or laugh with one another as they moved boxes into the storage below Schoolhouse.

Perhaps this is undeniable because of the majesty of the Mesa – how can you walk through the warmth of the sunlight here and not pause? Or, perhaps we are cultivating an environment where students see the value of this pause as much as they see the importance of their preparation. I like to believe it is a bit of both.

I am reminded as this year comes to a close that these small moments – laughter with friends, the pause, the sunlight, even tearful goodbyes – are not separate from our work as educators. They are the work, the quiet markers of a community that is thriving and excelling all at once. Thank you for yet another joyful year on the Mesa. May the summer bring you rest and renewal so we can begin again in the fall, ever in service of one another.