Public Remarks from Head of School

These remarks were shared at the Opening Belltower Ceremony on August 28, 2024.

Welcome back everyone and welcome especially to the newest members of this community. It is great to begin a new year. This past summer, I spent a good amount of time, watching the Olympics. I love the team competitions, the individual events, the sports I would not usually get to watch. The joy of the Olympics provides an opportunity to marvel at the incredible talents of athletes from around the globe and the power of teamwork. Simon Biles, Suni Lee, Katie Ledecky, Summer McIntosh, Noah Lyles, Sha’Carrie Richardson: just some of the many individual athletes who captured our attention. 

These remarks were shared at Chapel on Alumni Weekend on June 22, 2024.

On June 2, 1869, Bishop Benjamin Wistar Morris, the second Bishop of Oregon, founded St. Helen’s Hall. His sister-in-law, Mary Rodney, was appointed the first principal. Her sisters, Louisa and Clementine, were some of the first employees of the school.  A couple weeks ago, we commemorated Founder’s Day by visiting the graves of Bishop Morris, Mary Rodney, and her sisters here in Portland. This was a new tradition and we intend to do this every year on Founder’s Day. We placed beautiful wreaths, made from flowers and greens gathered here at the school. It was very humbling to visit those graves and reflect back on what it must have been like to make the decision to found a boarding and day school for girls in 1869, only ten years after Oregon was admitted as the 33rd state. 

These remarks were shared at the Commencement for the Class of 2024 on June 14, 2024.

It is wonderful to finally be at this very special moment to join with parents, family, friends, teachers, to celebrate this class of 2024. The program says that I am to give a charge to the class; I interpret charge as a task, something not just to think about, but something to do.

These remarks were shared at the Mt. Hood Climb Observance Day Ceremony on May 8, 2024.

Today we remember, as we have every year for the past 38 years, the lives of nine people who died in that terrible tragedy on Mt. Hood. At the time, I was a sophomore in high school, the same age as many of those students, and I was on the other side of the country in Massachusetts. At that point in my life, I had never climbed a mountain, and I couldn’t imagine that a snowstorm was possible in May. And yet, I watched the TV each day, hearing updates about the search and rescue operation and then about the fate of those nine people, nine lives lost, nine families irrevocably changed, one school community left to find a way through the pain and the sorrow and the shock of it all. 

These remarks were shared on Earth Day during the Upper School Chapel on April 22, 2024.

On April 22, 1970, over 20 million Americans gathered across the United States to observe the first Earth Day: a collective demonstration of support to advocate for environmental protection across the nation. Fifty-four years later, we recognize Earth Day again today as we face the existential threat of climate change and its geopolitical impact across the globe. Earth Day reminds us of our collective identity as global citizens of the biotic community, entwined in a fragile web of life. We are all called to do our part through sustainable practices in our daily life; responsible management of our forests, fields, and oceans; and thoughtful consideration of a more responsible ethic of environmental care.