Convocation Kickstarts Year of Integrity
Convocation is the momentous way we begin the academic year at Millbrook School. The solemn affair takes place on the Thursday of the first week of classes and is filled with unique Millbrook traditions that live forever in the memories of all who are fortunate enough to call themselves Mustangs.
So, on Thursday evening, students donned their finest formal wear and made their way to Flagler Quad to line up by form. Facutly, too, lined up along the bricks leading to Flagler Memorial Chapel, organizing themselves by years of service. Then, as the traditional bagpipes began to play, everyone proceeded through the gauntlet of international flags—held by students from each the 26 countries represented in our student body—and into the chapel. Once students were seated, faculty entered and stood lining the walls of the hallowed meeting place.
HELP US EXPAND THE CHAPEL: Contact the Alumni & Advancement team to find out how you can help ensure everyone in our community has a seat.
With the departure of long-time campus chaplain Cam Hardy at the end of last school year, prefects Lucy Stettinius ’26 and Frankie Lombardo Jr. ’26 stepped up to open and close the ceremony with poetic words of invocation and benediction, between which Head of School Jonathan Downs ’98 delivered the convocation address and everyone sang the school hymn, “For the Beauty of the Earth.”
At Millbrook, each year is themed around one of the values set out in our mission statement: respect, integrity, service, stewardship, and curiosity. In his address, Mr. Downs reminded students that this year we will focus on integrity, explaining the etymology and definition of the term, and how each student and faculty member present can implement the principles delineated by the word in their daily lives at Millbrook.
“The hundreds of choices we make every day determine whether or not we have integrity, whether or not we are whole, whether or not we walk the walk that we talk and practice what we preach,” he explained. “… It is my hope and Millbrook's purpose that you will carry Millbrook with you, have a stronger sense of self, a deeper sensitivity of others, and you will string together a series of small gestures that will make up your wonderful personality. Attention to the little details, the small gestures, will sharpen your convictions of your conscience, bring you closer to whole, as you inch nearer and nearer to a more complete understanding of self. After all, the definition of integrity can only be discovered by answering the most essential question of all: Who am I and who do I want to become?”
When the ceremony concluded, the community walked to Casertano Dining Hall for the first formal dinner of the year. Convocation and formal dinner are two of the many traditions at Millbrook that have grown out of an institutional drive to build community and do our best to ensure that every student who calls Millbrook home is truly known and needed.
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