Welcome to a new school year at University High School! Whether you are returning or just beginning your time here, we are so glad you’re part of this community.
Last year, we celebrated our 25th anniversary, reflecting on all the dots that have shaped our school’s timeline: the people, the moments, the questions that brought us here. We honored our founding Head of School, Chuck Webster, and recommitted ourselves to the vision he helped create. It was a year of looking back with gratitude. Now, as we turn the page to year 26, we find ourselves looking forward with curiosity, ready to discover what comes next.
Earlier in the summer, Assistant Head of School Jamie MacDougall set a theme for our year: Living the Questions. Inspired by the poet Rainer Maria Rilke’s reflections on uncertainty and becoming, this theme invites us to stop chasing quick answers and instead sit with complexity. It asks us to hold wonder close, to stay open to discovery, and to let the act of questioning shape who we are becoming. While Rilke’s thinking sets a perfect backdrop for the J-Term-specific summer reading all of us have done (or – ahem – will do shortly), it also aligns beautifully with our mission to expand the hearts and minds of students. It reminds us that learning is not just about acquiring knowledge but about becoming more: more thoughtful, more compassionate, more engaged in the world around us.
As we step into this new school year, I look forward to finding all sorts of new questions together.