By Eduardo Silva, Dean of Student Life
So, what makes something a tradition? Unsurprisingly, each community is going to have a different answer to this question,
and you’ll get different answers depending on who you ask.
The adults in the community might say that traditions are moments in which we gather as one to celebrate our values. Students, on the other hand, might say in jest that a tradition is an event that gets them out of class! However, I would confidently say that no matter who you ask, somewhere baked into the answer is going to be the idea that traditions remind us of who we are and why we’re proud to be a community.
When I arrived at Tower Hill 12 years ago, I was enchanted by the schoolhouse, the kids and the remarkable colleagues I was gearing up to work with. But, if I’m honest, I was most excited to be a part of the many traditions I had heard and read about prior to joining this community. Tower Hill certainly does many things well and boy can we put on a show! More specifically, our community is lucky to have a handful of traditions and experiences that not only bring us together, but create legacies and memories that aren’t found at every school.
At Tower Hill, when thinking about traditions you might quickly think about Tree Trim, Homecoming and Field Day. Each a time-honored tradition, they are cemented in our legacy and have provided, in some cases, over 100 years of treasured memories. And of course, there are some cyclical traditions that, although they don’t happen every year, are certainly part of the story we tell at Tower Hill. The Installation of our Head of School comes to mind. You might have attended our most recent one in which Sarah Baker was installed as the 11th Head of School. This event was an opportunity for all of us to celebrate the roots of a new beginning and to recommit to what we cherish as Hillers.
There’s an old saying in independent schools—if you do something once, it becomes a tradition. While we have a slightly higher bar in deciding what becomes an official tradition, what I hear in this is that communities like ours are always yearning for new experiences that represent the wonderful changes that naturally occur in the life of a school. What’s more, they are not always necessarily events.
If you have attended our major all-school events in the last couple of years, you might have noticed that the individual grades have paraded into the venues led by a new class banner. These banners, on which you will see the graduation year of each class, have become a new tradition in their own right. They are meant to represent the spirit of each class and, most importantly, the pride that comes from belonging to a class. Another example of a new tradition is Convocation. As a shift from our first day of school assembly, Convocation will henceforth occur later in the fall and serve as the official opening to a school year. This year’s ceremony included student speakers from every division, the seniors marching in with their Lower School buddies, and, yes, our class banners.
As we look ahead to the future, what will never change is the fact that these traditions belong to us and are therefore always open to feedback and input so as to keep them living traditions that will continue to represent the community of today. As a result, many of these events have committees that are filled with passionate members of our community who are always dreaming about what can be next. Students, of course, are also actively involved in the shaping of our traditions. It is a testament to the fact that what we do as a community can only be as strong as the members it represents. Lucky for us, we are stacked in that department. Teachers, students, staff, parents and alumni—we are all committed to ensuring these storied traditions continue on for generations to come. People come and go in life who can take us in many different directions, but just know that if you are ever in town and need to see the sparkle in a child’s eye upon seeing a gigantic tree light up, or want to experience the joy in seeing a senior have a full circle moment as they usher in the youngest generation, remember that the Tower Hill community will always save a seat for you at the next event.
