New Heights of Achievement
We’ve had a month of excellent academic and athletic pursuits across Principia as students at all levels push themselves to new heights of achievement.
The College mediation team won a regional tournament by taking home the top prize in Mediation and placing third in the Advocacy division. They travel to Georgia this coming weekend for the International Intercollegiate Mediation Championships. Two College runners took first place and were named the men’s and women’s Runner of the Year in the SLIAC Cross Country Championships at Forest Park in St. Louis.
At the School, the girls’ volleyball team became District champions for the first time in 10 years, and four cross-country runners are headed to the State competition. Two Upper School students who competed in a 23-school speech and debate tournament qualified for membership in the National Speech & Debate Association. And an Upper School senior was named a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist.
Two weeks ago, I enjoyed participating in the second of our Alumni & Field Relations networking events. About 200 Principia alumni and friends gathered in Los Angeles, along with 32 organizations representing 18 different industries. The program included a keynote talk and panel presentation, along with breakout sessions focused on the art of interviewing, applying metaphysics to a job search, and using social media for networking. Then conversations flowed among the young, mid-career, and more seasoned alums and Principia friends in attendance—all bonding and building on their Principia connection.
We held the first networking event in Washington, DC, and look forward to sponsoring more opportunities for professional connection in Seattle, Atlanta, Boston, and Northern California. Stay tuned for future details.
Closer to home, we welcomed nearly 400 College alumni and friends to Elsah in mid-October for Homecoming and an outstanding Gold & Blue Athletic Hall of Fame ceremony honoring six individual and two team inductees. The Gold & Blue Golf Classic was held in honor of Coach Crafton, and alums took on the College rugby, volleyball, and men’s and women’s soccer teams in spirited alumni games.
Later this month, we are looking forward to welcoming Apollo 13 Astronauts Captain James Lovell and Fred Haise along with Mission Flight Control Director Gene Kranz as part of the George A. Andrews Distinguished Speaker Series. The talk will take place on Thursday, November 13, at 7:30 p.m. (central time) and will be broadcast on Principia Internet Radio.
Following their intensive study of the Bard, the College’s just-returned England Abroad students will present Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale November 20–22 in the College’s Davis Theatre. It should be a terrific show!
School Principal Travis Brantingham, College Academic Dean Joe Ritter, and I are looking forward to heading out for a nationwide Principia Today tour early next year to provide Principia-wide updates and hear from alumni and friends around the country. We’ll also be bringing along current students to share their own Principia experiences. You can expect to see us in California, Denver, Boston, and Connecticut from February through April; more details will be coming your way soon. We are excited to connect with Principia friends from coast to coast and share all the good happening here on both campuses.
As we approach the season of Thanksgiving, I wish you much more than “material feasting,” as Mary Kimball Morgan once told a group of Principia’s early parents. Let it be “an occasion of genuine gratitude expressed in a forgetfulness of self that reaches out to bless others” (Education at The Principia, p. 40).