FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL
Dear Westminster School Community, Visits with alumni who were students during my time at Westminster are so personally rewarding. To be in the company of these alumni, now in their settled adult lives, while remembering them as students, is a remarkably affirming experience. Together with them in their professional offices, at their homes or at coffee shops, we discuss their personal and professional experiences since graduating from Westminster, often with them crediting the lessons they learned on Williams Hill. Throughout, memories flood my mind of them as students on campus — for many were in my history class, on my team, on my corridor or among my advisees. Students arrive at Westminster as adolescents and graduate as young adults, and the arc of their transformation on campus and after graduation animates all of us who devote our lives to teaching. As many of you know, this winter we put an outdoor ice rink on Commencement Lawn in order to provide students another venue for fun and relaxation during this pandemic. In fact, Commencement Lawn has been a hive of activity throughout this school year. For instance, this fall, the performing arts staged outdoor productions there. Similarly, our Student Activities Committee hosted Saturday evening movies, and volleyball and badminton games, among other weekend activities on that lawn. During the spring, Commencement Lawn is a venue for evening stickball games — yes, stickball remains a much-anticipated feature of our spring term! — and the pathways along the lawn are often lined off for four square. Surrounded
by Cushing Hall and Keyes House, Armour Academic Center, Andrews Memorial Chapel, and the head of school’s residence at Pratt House, Commencement Lawn is a vibrant community space. In the moment of any school year for students, their future trajectory from adolescence to adulthood remains mysterious. Recently, Athletic Director Tim Joncas ’00 shared with me a 1915 photograph taken by our school’s founder, William Lee Cushing, of boys playing hockey on an outdoor rink on Commencement Lawn. Personally, as a history teacher, reflecting upon what lay ahead for those boys in that 1915 photograph is sobering: our entry into World War I in 1917, the 1918-1919 flu pandemic,
Above, students in 1915 skating on a campus outdoor rink, and on opposite page, students in 2021 skating on a new rink in the same location. 2
Westminster Bulletin
