Head prefects Ryan Stanford ’19 and Kevin Chen ’19 spoke about the importance of courage and being comfortable with oneself as middle and upper school students joined at the sixth annual all-school convocation.

Stanford stressed the importance of balance and asked her peers to be courageous in their endeavors this school year.

“If I could name a theme for this school year, I’m pretty sure it would be courage,” Stanford said, “The dictionary defines courage as the ability to do what frightens you, but to constrain the definition is to ignore that often, the greatest difficulty lies in not saying yes, but knowing when to say no.”

Chen said that students will ultimately prevail in the face of adversity, and he called on students to both improve on and accept themselves.

“If you’re satisfied and happy with the way you are, there is no need for you to change.” Chen said, “If you find something wrong with yourself, something you do want to change, make yourself better.  And if there is something you can’t change, accept it. Change or no change, what is important is embracing who you are and what you will become.”

Head of Middle School Jon Wimbish encouraged students to create strong relationships with one another.

Head of Upper School Laura Ross emphasized the importance of living in the moment.

“We often take our presence elsewhere,” Ross said. “When we are not present in each moment and each interaction, we lose the opportunity to build relationships that make our relationship stronger.”

President Rick Commons swore in middle school senators and upper school prefects  by reciting a list of their responsibilities. All members of student government promised to complete their duties with a collective “we will.”

After the convocation concluded, the school provided Krispy Kreme donuts for students, faculty and staff.