Legacy: Finding Our Mark, Making Our Mark, Leaving Our Mark

“It is up to us to live based on the legacy that was left behind for us, and to leave our own that is worthy of our children, their children, and their children’s children.”

~Christine Gregoire

As I mosey along in life I think more and more about what I am going to leave behind. At the risk of getting too melodramatic, what will my legacy be? Although more personal and intimate are such thoughts, I think they are common.?

At the top of any parent’s list, including mine, is the legacy I leave my boys - now men. Hopefully, it is a legacy of warm memories, wonderful modeling and sound advice.

In my role as Head of School, almost unconsciously and as if now by instinct, thoughts of legacy have been dancing around my head for a while. For example, it has become an extra-important objective and focus of mine to grow people and thus the potential for our school’s legacy. To this end, I am very proud that most of the senior leadership hiring in the past five plus years has been internal (and successful).?

Recent events have also ignited my thoughts about legacy.?

For example, sadly, we are at the one year anniversary of The Covenant School tragedy. The legacy of bravery and courage their community has shown is impossible to communicate through words and is a constant source of inspiration to me as a school leader. The inspiration to do whatever it takes to keep our campus safe and to continue to provide opportunities for small miracles to happen daily.

Also, recently and within a week, we lost both Kathy Rayburn and Barbara Gregg? - the two longest serving and most impactful heads of school in our history. Talk about legacy? Wow! Barbara became the head of school in the early and vulnerable stages of Westminster School and in the span of just over ten years grew enrollment from 50 students to 170 students, essentially ensuring the school’s long-term viability. Kathy’s legacy is this beautiful campus we now enjoy and the amazing imprint she left on all whom she met. She had a monumental vision for what Currey Ingram could be and she made it happen. Today, we stand on their shoulders with the obligation to build upon their legacies.?

With enrollment continuing to surge to all-time highs, providing increasingly more academic, extracurricular, and social opportunities for students and families, our legacy expands. With increasing interest and growth in the Residential Life program, our legacy is touching families that otherwise would never have been able to attend. With the significant growth of Community Outreach initiatives, such as CORE and Pathways, our legacy is extended into the broader community. With a successful re-accreditation just completed and a new strategic plan on the immediate horizon, our legacy is affirmed in the present and intentional about the future. With the IDEA Center set to break ground this summer, our legacy will be even more nuanced and future-relevant.

For legacy to transpire, we all must be given the opportunity to find our mark, make our mark and leave our mark. Creating opportunities for our students to find their mark, so they can make their mark and ultimately leave their mark is what it’s all about.

May we all leave a legacy worthy of our children’s children, and beyond.