Both upper and middle school students will gather on the Ted Slavin Field on the first day of the 2013-2014 school year for an all-school convocation and the investiture of new President of Harvard-Westlake Rick Commons.
The administration began thinking about holding an all-school opening convocation even before they knew President Thomas C. Hudnut would retire, Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts said.
With the arrival of Commons, the administration thought it would be a good year to experiment, especially since they wished to hold an investiture ceremony for Commons.
“If this goes well, if we think it was a worthwhile experience to have the entire school together once per year, we may continue this every year,” Huybrechts said.
Huybrechts said that the all-school convocation will present the rare opportunity to completely unite all the school’s students.
“Wouldn’t it be nice if once a year every single member of the community was in the same space at the same time for a particular reason?” Huybrechts said.
Students will attend a few of their classes before middle school students are bused to the upper school. After meeting on the field, Huybrechts will welcome the students, introduce the new theme for the year and introduce Commons.
She will then perform the investiture ceremony, which Commons wants to be as “short and concise and simple as possible,” Huybrechts said. The Board of Trustees will also likely be present for the ceremony, she said.