June 9, 2023
Dear ISW Faculty,
Today is the concluding day of ISW’s fifteenth year, and my youngest daughter is graduating. As you all know well, The Independent School of Winchester was founded as a gift to the community with the intention that the school would long outlive me and continue to nurture students for many years to come. I am so proud of all we have accomplished together!
Today, though, I write as a parent, with a heart filled with gratitude. As of tonight, all three McDonald girls–Ming, Grace, and Liana—will have graduated from this school. They are very different humans with different interests, strengths, and needs. And yet you served them so very well—giving each of them just what they needed when they needed it. All three speak highly of you daily (literally!), and the two who have made their way through college constantly reference their gratitude for the foundation you gave them. Thank you.
I also write as a teacher. At a time when educators are abandoning the profession in droves, thank you, my colleagues, for maintaining your commitment to serving the future. This generation has already lived through the smartphone revolution, the COVID pandemic, political upheaval, national controversies over race, gender, and orientation, and environmental disasters, and, like all of us, they face an uncertain future. More than ever, they need skilled, experienced, loving teachers who will help them develop their talents and find the kind of confidence that is only born of hard work and a loving launch to life. Our students will undoubtedly be called upon to use their expertise to find solutions to thorny problems—both local and global. The work we do here at ISW every single day prepares our students to take on those issues with expertise, civility, and a love for their fellow human beings that will guide and temper every decision.
Thank you, ISW Faculty Past, Present, and Future. I could not be more grateful—as a parent, as a colleague, as a Head of School, and as a human who thinks often about the world our grandchildren will inherit. Thank you for holding the future in your wise and kind hands.
Peace and love,
Claire