Dr. Jennifer Zaccara Welcomes New and Returning Students at 2017 Convocation
“What ideas will you bring to the table?” asked Dr. Jennifer Zaccara as she delivered her first Convocation address as the head of Vermont Academy. “I can’t wait to hear.”
On Sunday, September 3, Zaccara welcomed new and returning students, faculty, and staff to Vermont Academy for the 2017-18 school year. She began by commenting on the history of the space in which the assembly was held, the auditorium of Horowitz Performing Arts Hall, constructed in 2005. “This room is not that old,” she said, “but it will have a rich history over time. There is something like sacred space in any meeting house, and this is a meeting house.”
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The event began with an invocation by English department chair and longtime faculty member Lorna Schilling. “Aristotle said, we are what we repeatedly do,” said Schilling. “Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. It is my hope that together we can work on building a habit of tolerance, compassion, and empathy, because if we do, we will have a community of which we can be proud.”
There were numerous reasons to be proud over the course of the ceremony, as a series of awards were given to students, as well as to one coach. Chris Davidson, director of athletics, launched the evening’s honors by awarding the inaugural Lakes Region Coach of the Year Award to Abbey Edwards, girls’ soccer coach, history department chair, and 9th grade dean.
Next, students from the sophomore, junior, and senior classes took the stage to receive the Anna Mae D. Fenney Award, given annually to students who maintain a grade point average of at least 3.67 and earn high honors during each trimester in the previous year. Academic Dean Susan Schmitt called the students to the stage, and Zaccara awarded each the Anna Mae D. Fenney Medal.
David Hodgson ’89 presented the Class of 1892 Award to Karl-Antoine Girard ’18, the returning senior who earned the highest grade point average in 2016-17. Hodgson has been a Vermont Academy faculty member for two decades, serving recently as dean of students until this year, when he has returned to the Admissions Office as senior associate director of admissions.
The Harvard Book Prize was presented by Joe Echanis ’79, chair of the science department, to his daughter, Dariel Echanis ’18. The Harvard Book Prize is awarded annually to the member of the junior class whose achievement in academic, extracurricular, and citizenship areas has been exemplary—a student of high personal standards who gives promise of sound leadership in later life.
One of the most anticipated events at Convocation is the presentation of the University of Vermont Green and Gold Award, a full-tuition scholarship given at each Vermont high school to the senior who has earned the highest academic distinction in the class at the end of junior year. This year’s recipient was Will Svensson ’18. His advisor, Caitlin Wilkins ’07, presented the award.
A key feature of every Vermont Academy convocation is the signing of the Honor Code books. Brian Anderson ’18, the student representative on the Vermont Academy Standards Board and a four-year senior, spoke about the importance of the honor code to the community. New faculty and students then filed across the stage to sign the books as the rest of the group sat in silent contemplation.
In her closing address, Zaccara spoke about the importance of community and the acceptance of diverse viewpoints. “For if we do not learn soon the art of compromise, then the very underpinnings of this social fabric, this democracy, this great idea of America will begin to change, and something crucial will be lost,” she said. “So here in our meeting house, in our public space, we can begin to understand while continuing to hold different views.”
Zaccara introduced several proposals for increasing student involvement in the community, including inviting students to department, administrative, and board meetings. She also invited students and faculty to visit her during open office hours on Friday mornings at Leavitt House, the head of school’s residence. “Settle down near the fireplace and tell me your thoughts,” she said.
“While you will find it easy to speak to me,” Zaccara added, “you will also find that I have high standards, that I am upholding and raising up the reputation of this school, that I am committed to the rules that bind our community together in agreement about what it means to be well, to be a person of character, to learn to discipline your mind and body so that your spirit can be free.”
Invoking new scientific discoveries about the interconnected communities formed by the roots of trees, Zaccara urged listeners to form the same sorts of bonds: “Let this be true of the friendships you make, of the support you give, of the way you take care to listen to one another.”
“Every Vermont Academy student and teacher, every staff member and administrator should hold his or her head high,” she said, “because we have created something great here, and there will be more to come.”
Vermont Academy is a coed college preparatory boarding and day school in southern Vermont, serving grades 9-12 plus a postgraduate year.
