The 2018-2019 School Year Comes to a Close
The 2018-2019 school year has come to a close, and the campus is quiet. There were many events to celebrate the Sixth Form class during the last few days of school, concluding with the 97th Commencement Exercises. The end of year events began on Sunday, May 26 where a Baccalaureate service was held at the First Church of Deerfield to honor the Sixth Form graduating class.
Regina Rockefeller, Eaglebrook trustee and the mother of Jack Rockefeller ’19, was the Baccalaureate speaker. Regina operates a cattle ranch in Montana and serves on various boards in the northeast. Regina shared several messages to the class of 2019 about Confidence, Opportunity, Potential, and Responsibility. She told the class, “you are well prepared to move on to your next school, you have values and skills that will help you succeed at whatever you try. Never be afraid to look for and take advantage of opportunities that come your way in life. Seize them with enthusiasm and confidence. You will never regret exploring them, but you may regret not taking them." Regina then discussed “Potential” and told the class, “life is all about choices. It’s the choices we make in life that shape us into the humans that we become.” Regina finished her speech by discussing responsibility and told the class, “be a good citizen in our ever-changing world. A world that is more challenging and complicated than when I was your age.” See photos from Baccalaureate here and watch Regina Rockefeller’s speech to the class of 2019 here.
The entire school community walked to Deerfield Academy to honor men and women who have given their lives in support of our country on the morning of Memorial Day. The Eaglebrook Band and Ad Libs performed along with the Bement School and Deerfield Academy students. See photos from the ceremony here.
Field Day followed the Memorial Day ceremony. Field Day is an annual tradition at Eaglebrook where the six dormitories compete in a variety of games and activities. This year, Taylor House took home top honors followed by Flagler House and Kravis House. Photos from field day can be found here and you can watch a short highlight video of the fun here.
After the Field Day activities were completed, students and faculty moved to the Gates Quad in the center of campus. It was time to honor this year’s Good Fellow. The Good Fellow is a Sixth Former who is a friend to all and someone who embodies the mission of Eaglebrook School. The Sixth Form class elected Thomas Barton ’19 as the 2019 Good Fellow. See photos from the ceremony here.
The end of year concert was held on Tuesday, May 28. The String Orchestra, Band, Chorus, Ad Libs, Jazz Band, and three solo pianists performed for the school community. See photos from the concert here and clips from the concert here.
After lunch on Wednesday, May 29, the 2019 Talon, Eaglebrook Schools’ yearbook, was unveiled and the dedication was announced. The 2019 Talon was dedicated to Rob and Angela Trimbach-Rios, honoring their commitment and passion for teaching middle school students. Watch a short video of the dedication here.
The spring Athletic Assembly took place on Wednesday afternoon, where six members of the class of 2019, including Jose Madero ’19, Galen Deane ’19, Rohan Edwards ’19, Bob Zhang ’19, Devin Walcott ’19, and Bodie Fish ’19 discussed their time representing Eaglebrook on the fields, courts, rink, and pool. See a short highlight video from the spring athletic season here.
The Academic Awards took place on Thursday, May 30. Nick Leyden, Director of Studies, told the audience, “I looked back at the year and did a little bit of math. For the benefit of our guests, we have a seven-period, rotating schedule. Each period is labeled with a letter, so we have A Block, B Block, and so on, all the way through G Block. The periods rotate so that on most days only six of the seven periods meet. I counted up the A Blocks for all three terms, and we had 120 of them. Give or take a period, the other blocks would have met the same amount, putting the total number of class periods this year at about 840. As we have around different 30 classes happening during any given block, that means our faculty delivered over 20,000 lesson plans this year.” He then told the audience, “ We are here today to acknowledge the multitude of successes that you and your peers have achieved in your classrooms this year. Ultimately growth is the goal – not awards, grades, nor secondary school admits – and every individual in this audience grew in valuable ways as a student this year.” See photos from the Academic Awards assembly here.
The spring musical, Disney’s “Mulan” directed by Ms. Emily Landau was presented on Thursday evening. Watch a scene from the show where Mulan is getting ready to meet the matchmaker here, and take a look at the photos from the performance here.
On Friday, May 31 the 97th Commencement was held on the dell next to Little Hundridge, the home of the Headmaster. It was a beautiful morning to celebrate the Class of 2019. Zach Schonbrun ’01 was the 2019 Commencement speaker. Schonbrun is a journalist and author of “The Performance Cortex: How Neuroscience is Redefining Athletic Genius. He is also the senior editor of The Week and has been a longstanding contributor of the New York Times writing about sports and business. Schonbrun told the class of 2019 “practice doesn't actually make perfect, what practice teaches you is how to afford the subtle inconsistencies in our abilities and succeed within the limitations of our bodies. Zach goes on to suggest, “we find solutions and the more you practice, the easier the solutions will become available to you.” He finished by telling the class of 2019 “you can still be great without having to be perfect. As you move on from Eaglebrook, you will likely face pressures to conform; pressures to fit in; to slide into a certain template or follow a preordained path, you will likely ask yourself as I did, why can’t I be better at this? Why does it come more easily to them but not to me? In these times it may be instructive to embrace your quirks and not view them as flaws. Set your sights on a solution and follow your own route toward achieving it, understanding that the noise is different for everybody, but there is no escaping it.” He then left the class of 2019 with a challenge, “be great at whatever you choose to do but more importantly be yourselves. You might find that what you thought was your biggest imperfection could ultimately become your life-defining advantage.” Watch Zach Schonbrun’s speech here.
You can also watch the Sixth Form Commencement Speech by Thomas Barton ’19 here. Thomas told his fellow classmates, “as our class goes through life, never forget the source that supports you and feeds you.” He goes on, “never forget that this Hill will always be our safe perch.” You can watch Headmaster Andrew Chase’s response here who told the class of 2019 “As you move on to secondary schools, we want you to treasure your days on our mountainside, stay close to your friends and return often to share the on-going stories of your lives with us”. Lastly, you can watch the class prayer given by Archie Baldocchi ’19 here. Photos from Commencement can be found here. Congratulations to the class of 2019!
The 2018-2019 school year was an exciting and successful year for all students. Students and teachers experienced the growth that comes with another year full of new challenges and so much fun along the way. Watch the 2018-2019 Video Yearbook here, and the farewell to Sixth Form students here.
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