Welcome Back!

Dear families, 

 

On the first day of school, I enjoyed shaking hands with students on the front steps. The importance of a firm handshake and looking someone in the eye are often underrated. One eager young student, clearly with lots on his mind that morning, greeted me earnestly with a firm handshake and said, "Welcome to first grade, Mrs. Speers." All of a sudden I felt much younger! At Tower Hill, we promise to challenge and support your children academically, and we will also help them develop what I like to call "confidence of character." This is the ability to engage in the moment with confidence, curiosity and humility. A handshake and eye contact are surely part of this foundation. 

 

In President Peter Salovey's opening address to his students at Yale University, he encouraged a culture of curiosity: “Usually in an opening address, university presidents tell undergraduates that they are amazing individuals, selected from among the most talented high school students in the world today. That is, of course, true, but it is not the point I want to make. Instead, I want to encourage you to approach college unimpressed by how impressive you are; have more questions than answers; admit to being puzzled or confused; be willing to say, 'I don’t know ... but I want to find out.' And, most important, have the courage to say, 'Perhaps I am wrong, and others are right.' That is how you will learn the most from your teachers and classmates. And that is why we have all come to this place. We are here to ask questions—questions about one another and about the world around us. We are here to nurture a culture of curiosity.”

 

In my remarks to our students in Opening Assembly this week, I said, "As we begin the year together, it is time to have hope, to be gracious, to be humble, to have confidence, to have the courage to be yourself and, most of all, to demonstrate integrity each day, helping to make the Tower Hill community the very strongest it can be. Each of you matters to Tower Hill, to your teachers and to me. Thank you for your leadership. Let's make this the best year ever for Tower Hill!"

 

Thank you for your support of this wonderful school, and most of all, for the privilege of educating your children. Happy New Year!

 

Elizabeth C. Speers
Head of School