Back-to-School Address

In the summer of 2022, a number of US colleagues and I attended the International Boys’ School Coalition Annual Conference, held that summer at St. Mark’s School in Dallas, Texas. Among the speakers at the conference was paleoanthropologist and National Geographic Explorer Dr. Lee Berger. A leading figure in his field, Dr. Berger was instrumental in the discovery of early human ancestors Australopithecus sediba.

 

For me, impressive as Dr. Berger’s professional resume was, more striking were his personal stories of resilience and realization. He shared how Google Earth and other technologies upended his practice as he knew it, how the COVID-19 pandemic forced upon him radical adjustments and altogether novel strategies in the field, and how perhaps the greatest personal barrier of all was confidence – the confidence that he already knew full well, for example, what an ancient site might have to offer scientists like him.

 

Dr. Berger went on to explain a series of unexpected discoveries of early hominid development, all the more remarkable for happening in areas he thought he had already explored. He likened his familiarity with a site to our own experience of a place. Simply put, we might not know our own backyards nearly so well as we think we do. Relatedly, Dr. Jeremy Wolfe of Harvard Medical School describes “normal blindness” – that is, how we might often miss what is right in front of our eyes. 

 

In this spirit, Dr. Berger urges us, in his words, to “seek the anomaly and approach everywhere as if you're a child. Never assume you have seen a place, even if you've been there many times. One of the things that we do as humans is we think we have places that are familiar or we think we know. You actually have to fight against that if you want to really discover things because there are discoveries to be made everywhere, in your own backyard, every yard, that others haven't seen…”

 

At US, you will see much and encounter many every day. This year, I encourage you to engage them all in this same spirit of concerted, continual discovery.

 

A number of years ago, a young student (now a senior) happened into my then-office here at the Upper School. He looked around, sat down on the couch, and imagined, I suppose, the kinds of conversations an administrator at US would have there. Waving his finger, he asked, “Do you just say, Responsibility-Loyalty-Consideration-Responsibility-Loyalty-Consideration-Responsibility-Loyalty-Consideration all the time?”  

 

I laughed – and I still smile – that he thought our motto alone could cover the multitude of interactions that might take place between the school and our stakeholders. But he was not altogether wrong. Our motto is foundational to our identity as a school, and, even as we might walk by its words as inattentively as Dr. Berger admitted he sometimes did his own sites, the start of the academic year is an opportune time to reflect on our school’s values. 

 

Today, I ask that we think about Responsibility, a cornerstone of our work, and our work together, this year and every year, and I ask that we not let it just be part of the background we walk past unthinkingly.

 

Responsibility begins with choice. While the law requires children in this country to attend school, no one is required to attend this school. Being a part of University School is a choice, an active choice we elect every year.

 

It is not a choice to be taken for granted. For students, your options are many. Northeast Ohio has many fine schools, public and private, at which you might have enrolled. Faculty and staff have autonomy, too, to choose workplaces where we might be stimulated, challenged, and fulfilled and to choose communities whose values align with our own. 

 

All of us are here this year, then, by choice. I trust you know that many would trade places with us for the opportunities and resources we have in this community. All of us are privileged to be here. 

 

Gentlemen, with that active choice comes active responsibility. If you choose to be here every year, choose to be here every day. Your choice is evident in your attitudes and habits, in your personal dos and don’ts. And don’t just be here – do be prepared, be involved, be positive. Don’t be the one who happens to be sick so frequently on the day of the big test, the one whose trips to the bathroom multiply and grow longer and longer in duration, the one who tears down his teammates on the sidelines instead of building them up, the one who might “take a Monday” after a weekend away. We might not think of it as choosing irresponsibility in moments like these, but if we are falling short of responsibility, we are not fooling anyone and are failing only ourselves.

 

This choice, actively committing to Responsibility or passively acceding to Irresponsibility, reminds me of the words of a colleague here at US, retired Chemistry teacher Mr. Johnston. He cautioned generations of US students, “Do not be someone school happens to” – a perfect summation of your responsibility to make the most of your experience in this community. 

 

Indeed, the words of faculty and staff resonate with me time and again; the ability to work amongst such dedicated professionals is exceptional, for students and faculty alike. This year, I encourage you to cultivate relationships with the adults who give so much of themselves in commitment to our ambitious mission, and to not take for granted their wisdom. Dean of Faculty Mrs. Axelrod has said, “All of us are here because someone has worked hard for us to be here.” We encounter a number of those hard-working individuals every day, and it is our responsibility to reciprocate their hard work with our own. Finally, as we gather today in this formal setting to inaugurate the academic year, I am reminded of another start to the academic year at US. That fall included alumnus Mr. Lewis’s return to US as a new faculty member. He asked the then-Director of the Upper School, Dr. O’Neil, about the faculty dress code. Dr. O’Neil said that we faculty dress in a way befitting the importance of our work. Mr. Lewis smiled widely and responded, “Then I should come in a tuxedo!” If you listen closely this year, I am sure your teachers will have more such words of wisdom to share.

 

In 2014, the University of Texas at Austin invited Admiral William H. McRaven – a UT alumnus, former Navy SEAL, and Commander of U.S. Special Operations – to be its commencement speaker. His speech earned rave reviews, racked up tens of millions of views on YouTube, and inspired a bestselling book. In what would become his most famous line, McRaven said, “If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.” (The speech is popularly known, as the book is titled, “Make Your Bed.”)

 

This task, this responsibility, McRaven says, “will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.”

 

Many of our responsibilities here at school are of that sort, prefaces to larger, more impactful, and more meaningful responsibilities. We do not expect major anthropological discoveries from you this year, nor will we be requiring tuxedoes of you; but we do expect all to embrace our school values, responsibility foremost among them. We do trust in everyone’s good-faith efforts and earnest engagement. With them, when you walk across the stage at Commencement one day, you will have enriched the experience of others – you will have given them a gift – and you will have given yourselves an even greater gift.