Groton Welcomes Families to Parents Weekend

Groton School welcomed nearly three hundred families to Parents Weekend, October 29–31, the first in-person Parents Weekend since 2019.

 

The weekend was filled with a variety of activities, from student performances and parent receptions to the headmaster’s annual address. But central to the autumn gathering were Groton’s parent-faculty conferences. Each year, parents have the opportunity to meet with all of their children’s teachers, as well as with the faculty advisor.

 

More than 2,100 conferences took place over the weekend, not including about 200 that are scheduled virtually for families who were unable to attend in person.

 

In Headmaster Temba Maqubela's address to parents, he recalled his early days at Groton. “When I first came to the Circle a little more than eight years ago, it did not take me long to acknowledge that something special was taking place in this corner of America,” he said. “A Circle that constantly tried to improve itself, tried to be more perfect. … All of us have played a role and continue to have a responsibility to nurture and enhance this idea of a school that is at once traditional, forward-looking, and dynamic.”

 

Mr. Maqubela also referred to a recent accreditation report that affirmed Groton as a school that lives its mission, and he mentioned ongoing work by trustees to create a new strategic framework “that aspires to take us from being about inclusion to a place where all feel they belong.”

 

Last year, the pandemic canceled Parents Weekend, and parents met virtually with advisors instead. This year, the school’s vaccine requirement for students, employees, and visitors made the weekend possible. Families traveled to Groton from twenty-four states and all corners of the globe, from Canada to Botswana, China to Costa Rica, Mexico to Ethiopia.

 

The weekend also included a luncheon for international families, presentations on counseling and college counseling, athletic games, and performances Friday and Saturday evenings that featured the jazz ensemble; dance and Step, the chamber orchestra, and the Maqupellas a cappella group. The most important activity: spending family time together.