To: The Blair Parent Body
From: Dave Low
Date: May 15, 2007

A sunny and slightly warmer Monday has followed on the heels of a brilliantly clear Mothers Day (that featured a special student-led Vespers program paying tribute to motherhood and to the goal of world-wide peace that is so important to our students) and a Spring Arts Weekend filled with outstanding performances and contributions. I know that a number of you were here to enjoy the array of talents that Blair students have, and we hope that you enjoyed the weekend. The only weather curve ball was the rain on Saturday night, but the cast and crew of The Braggart Soldier took it in stride and made a seamless mid first act switch from the open air theatre to the stage of Dubois Theatre. Not a beat—nor a laugh—was missed.

As we come down the homestretch, the attention of seniors is very much focused on end-of-year matters. Most of them are in good shape academically (those who aren’t are facing the less than happy prospect of having to take exams while their classmates relax next week!), and are enjoying both the camaraderie of their final ten days together and excitement about moving on to the next stages of their lives. The prom and graduation loom larger and larger on their collective horizon!

Underclass students are focused in different ways. Many spring teams are still hard at work (boys’ varsity lacrosse notched a convincing victory over Mercersburg on Saturday, and our rowers continue to excel, surprising the field at the prestigious Founders Cup Regatta in Connecticut a week ago by claiming the trophy, and performing very well again this last weekend, as they gear up for the very competitive Stotesbury Regatta at the end of this week.) End-of-year final exams are much more important for our underclass students than they are for seniors, and they are concentrating as well on what lies in store for them here at Blair next year. We are all excited about the very active construction taking place on our athletic fields—cooperative weather has provided optimum conditions for the first several weeks of the project, and we can hardly wait to see the transformed fields come September!

Specific to the parents of juniors, I want to take a moment to talk about the prefect selection process. As is the case every year, there are bound to be disappointed rising seniors who had indicated interested in serving the school in this regard and who have not been selected. The reality is that there are far more candidates than slots to fill, and the selection process has much to do with matching rising seniors with housemasters based on an already established relationship. In this sense, Blair prefects are more dorm-based than school-wide leaders. It is hard to explain to a disappointed seventeen year old why someone else may have been picked over him/her, when in fact it is the case that numbers of them could do the job well. So our collective (yours and ours together) challenge is to encourage them not to let disappointment turn to cynicism or self-doubt. There may be discussions ahead with their advisors or other trusted faculty members that might help them with the disappointment, but some of them are getting a taste of one of life’s lessons—that we don’t always get what we hope for, even if we are qualified.

There are several more rounds of leadership decisions to be made over the next two weeks. Tablefeet will be selected to lead in the Dining Room next year, and the faculty will also appoint rising juniors and seniors to various standing committees. Juniors who are disappointed by the prefect decisions have the opportunity to make known their interests in these various positions. We know that the strength of next year’s senior class will depend in large part on how many of them choose to take an active role in being leaders in various capacities.

We hope that you too are excited about the end of the year—whether you are parents of seniors or younger students—and about the prospects of having your sons and daughters home for a stretch of time in the months ahead. Certainly you know how much we enjoy working with them … and we do trust you to take good care of them when they are not here!

Regards,
Dave Low
Assistant Headmaster

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