A Year of Continuity—and Change
During these opening weeks of classes, I am once again struck by the exceptional opportunities available to our students.
Upper School seniors have just returned from a long-weekend retreat where they interacted with several Christian Science practitioners, participated in high and low ropes courses and other bonding activities, and thoroughly enjoyed challenging one another in all directions.
At the College, student dancers have had the opportunity for master classes with prima ballerina Karin Averty from the Paris Opera Ballet. This is Ms. Averty’s second visit to the campus, and she loves working with our students, describing them as fearless in their willingness to try new approaches and routines.
On a recent trip to Washington, DC, I met Congressman Rodney Davis, whose district includes Principia College. He remarked that a current Principia College junior who interned in his office this summer was “outstanding.” During her time in his office, the student helped write biosketches of the 79 living Congressional Medal of Honor winners that were read into the Congressional Record in a bipartisan celebration of these inspiring American heroes.
Back on campus, the School and College athletic seasons are starting out strong, and we are looking forward to our first game on the School’s renovated Mesa soccer field later this month. Several School athletes have been featured by local media outlets, and a number of College athletes have been recognized as conference athletes of the week. In the recent national rankings, Principia’s rugby team is 17th in the nation.
The Cardboard Canoe Regatta, one of my favorite annual activities, saw 10 boats launch into the mighty Mississippi. This included three boats designed in the College’s 3-D art class and one unofficial entry, built by Lowrey House, that had room for six paddlers and went well out into the river. Learn more here.
At the School, we are looking forward to welcoming parents and other family members to Upper School Family Weekend October 11–13. They will attend classes and athletic events while reconnecting with their students and, we expect, catching a glimpse of the Principia difference.
As we dive full force into the joys of a new academic year, we’re also planning ahead for Principia’s future. To that end, we just announced some organizational moves across Principia. During the course of this academic year, we are reorganizing and returning to a model used when Principia founder Mary Kimball Morgan was still directing Principia. This model has a central Executives Committee overseeing the leadership and operational responsibilities for all of Principia.
The 10-person Executives Committee will include three members each from the School and College, representing academics, student life, and athletics, as well as a new position of vice president of enrollment to manage enrollment across Principia from Preschool through College. In addition, three business-area vice presidents will represent finance/operations, administration, and external relations. Related changes will involve recruiting for the newly defined position of School principal, replacing our outgoing Head of School, Marilyn Wallace.
The changes in the business area reflect a further consolidation in the organization’s administrative areas. The College president and chief executive positions will be combined under the title of president of Principia to be more in keeping with the academic nature of these functions.
Many of these changes will not go into effect until July of next year, but we are making some of the business-area shifts more immediately. First and foremost, we want to provide continuity and support educational excellence for students at all levels.
One thing that strikes me after four years of spending significant time on both Principia campuses is that there is much to share and learn from each other across Principia. We are seeking a greater sense of unity and simplicity while complying with a mandate always to remain one organization, no matter how Principia grows or develops.
These organizational adjustments maintain the current number of academic administrators while allowing each of them to focus more fully on the educational offerings for which he or she is responsible. This focus on education is further supported through the cross-campus collaboration of the Executives Committee. And all of this serves to more fully realize Mrs. Morgan’s requirement that we have a “comprehensive plan” for students “from the first year in the elementary school to the end of the senior year in college” (Policy 15).
I expect this new model to carry Principia forward and help us better focus on fulfilling the educational needs of our students. And I’m staying in close touch with current parents and students as we roll out these changes. To that end, I’m hosting Sunday-night dessert gatherings at Isabel House on the School campus for parents at each School level. Cookies and casual conversation are proving helpful in bringing us all together and moving Principia forward.
In the early years of the school, Mrs. Morgan told a group of parents, “Together we are working out this idea of Principia, and we must keep very close together in our work, which aims to uplift the standard of education and manifest to the world the highest sense we can gain of our Leader’s scientific thought of true education (Education at The Principia, p. 31). Uplifting the “standard of education” remains our privilege and duty here at Principia. Thank you for your ongoing support of this vital effort.