On Sunday, amid the bustle of registration and opening day activities, our school paused to reflect on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. At 10:28 a.m. the Phillips Stevens Chapel bells tolled, signifying the time when the second tower collapsed and bringing a moment of silence to our beautiful campus.

The spectacular, sunny day was eerily reminiscent of the one ten years ago that changed the world our students inherit. As I paused on the banks of the Williston Pond, one of my favorite places on campus, I noted that the stillness of the water reflected the silence around me (OK, so there were a couple of cars going by). To my right, across street and in front of Whitaker-Bement, the American flag fluttered in a calm wind.

My thoughts turned necessarily to family, friends, and then to our students, whose intellectual and moral development and what they do with their lives will shape the character of our nation for decades to come.

Members of the Class of 2015, who are at Becket-Chimney Corners on an orientation trip as part of our Ninth Grade Program, also paused to recognize the anniversary of an event in history that occurred when they were just beginning kindergarten.

Though this saying has been made trite by campaign rhetoric, our students really are our future. Purpose, Passion, and Integrity, the triad of ideals that forms Williston’s mission statement, serves as our compass as we begin anew together the shaping of our future.

Here, Ninth Grade Program co-coordinator and English teacher Matt Sawyer reads a memorial to ninth grade students during orientation.