Head of School’s Notebook
January 10, 2019
Head of School’s Notebook | Welcome Home
On our way back from Montana we were stopped by the Highway Patrol at the Nevada border with California and turned around. An accident closed the freeway at Primm for over twelve hours. So we improvised, traveling the highways and byways of Nevada to make our way slowly back to the Mesa. Two of our …
December 21, 2018
Head of School’s Notebook | Holiday
I was in Washington, D.C. this year on the evening that the White House Christmas tree was lit, and I walked by it shortly after Cate’s D.C. Reception. Strangely, it’s not a tree at all. It’s a tall post with fabric and light-bedecked panels that form the traditional cone shape of a Christmas tree. Though …
December 6, 2018
Head of School’s Notebook | Dad
My father left home for boarding school in the eighth grade, and he was consumed by homesickness. In the late 1940s, student services weren’t what they are now. So my inconsolable father was sent to the infirmary to cry in the relative quiet of his sick bed. At some point, a few days later, my …
November 9, 2018
Head of School’s Notebook | Sport
As a boy I got goosebumps when I heard Jim McKay’s voice introducing each new episode of the Wide World of Sports. Who can forget the language or the imagery: “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.” My brothers and I would never miss the show and would gasp – no matter how …
October 27, 2018
Head of School’s Notebook | What We Do
Fall is travel season at Cate. Already we have spanned the States, holding events for alumni in cities like Chicago, New York, Boston, Seattle, and Portland. In September we were in Florence, Italy, and London and in a few weeks we’ll be in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Seoul. It is immensely gratifying to take Cate …
October 10, 2018
Head of School’s Notebook | Sophie and Cambria
Since I began my tenure at Cate I have been asked one question over and over again, “What is your elevator speech?” I have plenty of them … but I’m rarely satisfied with any. It’s quite possible my questioners feel similarly unfulfilled by my words. Maybe I should ask beforehand, “What size building are we …
September 27, 2018
Head of School’s Notebook | Growing Up in Carp
Cate is a member of the Carpinteria Valley Historical Society so we get the quarterly newsletter. The focus of the most recent edition is the work kids who grew up in Carpinteria did as children. Many of the accounts are from the 1940s and 50s and seem a world removed from the experience of kids …
September 14, 2018
Head of School’s Notebook | Living Up
There is something tumultuous about beginning things, especially new things. We notice that each year with students new to Cate, as they experience the highs and lows of the transition. Our programming arguably contributes to the swings because we go from the non-stop scheduled pace of opening days to a busy first week of classes …
September 13, 2018
Head of School’s Notebook | Outings Week
On Sunday morning the eleven juniors with whom I shared the week in the Sierra woke up so early it was still dark. We were at 9,000 feet and the night had been clear, so it was cold and the kids huddled around our two stoves as we warmed water for our oatmeal. About eight …
August 24, 2018
Head of School’s Notebook | The Wisdom of Others
I find myself reading a little more closely these days, listening a bit more carefully, paying ever more attention to everything, in fact, because we are on the cusp of another school year. In my 55th year of life, you’d think I’d have this down by now, but the start of school is momentous no …
May 3, 2018
Head of School’s Notebook | Tracks
The only house my parents ever owned when I was growing up had railroad tracks behind it. The trains had stopped running long ago, but the tracks were still there, and the railroad bed was a frequent destination for my brothers and me. We fished the creeks below the bed, and hunted the quail and …
March 28, 2018
Head of School’s Notebook | Our Planet
During last week’s revisit day for accepted students, I was speaking with the grandfather of one of our future Cate students. We were talking about schools and teaching when he paused, looked at me with a worried expression, and said very earnestly, “What about the planet?” “What about it?” I asked, more than a little …
March 1, 2018
Head of School’s Notebook | Authority and Power
Our inquiry question two years ago dealt with the source of power. It’s a tricky subject, figuring out where authority comes from. Among other things, we discovered that we actually endow others with power that they wouldn’t otherwise have. “We” are the source of “their” power. But “we” also claim authority on our own from …
February 1, 2018
Head of School’s Notebook | Momentum
There is a traffic sign on the Conejo Grade, a long steep downhill coming north out of Thousand Oaks, that reads, “Watch Downhill Speed.” It’s a well-located reminder, for the car – at least when I’m driving – accelerates quickly down the grade. I am reminded in such moments about the power of momentum. Gravity …
January 15, 2018
Head of School’s Notebook | Sophomore Insight
I was a substitute English teacher on our first day of classes in 2018. Some members of the faculty couldn’t reach us because of the storm, so I was pulled off the bench just to get kids thinking after a long hiatus from school. I reached for my favorite provocateur, Abraham Lincoln, and we read …
November 14, 2017
Head of School’s Notebook | Jim Durham
Nearly two decades ago, English teacher and Cate legend Jim Durham delivered remarks to the community in the chapel. Only twice in his nearly forty-year tenure did Jim take to the podium, and both times he referenced a poem by Carl Sandburg: The Limited Express. It is the story of a train ride, though Jim …
October 11, 2017
Head of School’s Notebook | Tennis
I was watching the Cate girls varsity tennis team thrash yet another opponent the other day when a member of the team sat down beside me and wrung her hands a bit about the lack of fan support. “Generally,” she said, “We have three or four fans. You … and a couple of students.” I …
March 24, 2017
Head of School’s Notebook | Riddles
There’s a riddle I was told when I was a kid that has stayed with me. You reach a fork in the road. One trail leads to everlasting happiness and the other leads to your doom. There are two brothers – twins – standing at the fork in the road. One brother always tells the truth. …
January 16, 2017
Head of School’s Notebook | East and West
Cate hosted a meeting recently of the heads of western boarding schools. Such meetings of school heads were a staple of my growing up. My father was a member of a group who called themselves the Tavern Club, in homage to their gathering place. The Tavern was a modest, off-the-beaten-path establishment outside of Boston, central …
December 21, 2016
Head of School’s Notebook | Hope
Each time I meet with families who are visiting Cate, I encourage them to savor what I believe to be the most fundamental quality of our School: unbounded hope. I think all schools are overflowing with it, frankly. It is part of the fabric of places where young people go to discover who they are, …