A Memorable Prize Day Celebrates the Form of 2021

“There is no courage without fear.”

Prize Day keynote speaker Richard Stengel shared that empowering observation with ninety-four graduates of the Form of 2021 and their guests, after relating a story about Nelson Mandela, whose outward calm at times belied an inner fear.

Mr. Stengel, who collaborated with Mr. Mandela on his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, once met with the former South African leader after he disembarked from a particularly harrowing plane flight, on a tiny plane with a broken propeller. Mr. Mandela had not appeared to flinch at news of a potentially dangerous landing, but once safely on the ground, admitted to Mr. Stengel that he had been terrified.

In fact, he had told Mr. Stengel of many times when he was afraid. “He was afraid when he ran away to Johannesburg. He was afraid when he first started studying at a university,” said Mr. Stengel. “He was afraid when he went underground to launch the military wing of the ANC [African National Congress]. He was afraid when he was sentenced to prison. He was afraid that he was going to be assaulted.” 

Addressing the Form of 2021, who persevered in a pandemic and who enter a world of unknowns, the speaker explained the up side of fear. “What Mandela is saying is there is no courage without fear. The fear is actually something that helps you, and the courage comes in overcoming it and not letting it stop you from doing something that you know you need to do,” Mr. Stengel said. Admitting fear as Mr. Mandela did, is a “sign of strength, not a sign of weakness.”

The speaker urged members of the Form of 2021 to stick to their principles, explaining the difference between principles and tactics. For example, non-violence was a principle for Mahatma Gandhi, he said, and a tactic for Mr. Mandela. “Figure out what your principles are—the things that you really care about—and then stick to them,” he advised, “for then everything else is a tactic.”

Also speaking at Groton’s Prize Day ceremony was Beatrice Agbi ’21, who was selected by the Sixth Form to be the student Prize Day speaker. Beatrice described a tumultuous year, the opening of the Groton Circle and Groton mindset, and how a Groton education prepared this year’s graduates to ask tough questions of the school.

“The fact of the matter is that this institution was not made with people like me in mind,” said Beatrice, explaining that the school at its founding was for “straight, cisgender, rich, white, Christian boys. Not for students of color, not for women or those who identify outside of the gender binary, not for members of the queer community, not for international students, and not for those from varying socioeconomic statuses. And yet here I am, the antithesis of all that the school was intended to be.”

Beatrice said that the form has grappled with the tension inherent in a school balancing an “elitist past” with prevailing values of inclusion and globalism. The Form of 2021 asked questions, and more questions. “Why don’t we read more books by marginalized peoples in English class? Why don’t we spend more time on non-Western civilizations in World History?” Beatrice began a list of questions the form has broached, touching on topics from non-gendered dorms to racial justice. 

“Our Groton education has been equipping us with the knowledge and vocabulary necessary to ask these questions of our school,” Beatrice said. “What we have taken from these classrooms is our ability to discuss, empathize, and listen to one another.”

Also speaking at Prize Day was Headmaster Temba Maqubela and Board of Trustees President Benjamin Pyne ’77, P’12, ’15. Headmaster Maqubela greeted the guests, awarded prizes and diplomas, and honored the Form of 2021. He described how this year’s graduates had fulfilled four essential pillars undergirding a Groton education—scholarship, spirituality, service, and globalism. “Scholarship: Because you would be hard pressed to find many schools that accomplished as many in-person teaching days as we did. Spirituality: You look after and take care of each other in profound and mundane ways. Service: Whether it was in mask-wearing or wiping down benches after every class, you accomplished the greater good with distinction. Globalism: Never was globalism more in focus as when we had hybrid learning, or even a hybrid Prize Day as we have now.”

Mr. Pyne expressed gratitude to all who made in-person learning and Prize Day possible this year, explaining that last summer, due to the pandemic, it was uncertain for how long in-person school would be possible, let alone a Prize Day celebration on the Circle. The school took numerous precautions for the in-person gathering, including limiting the number of guests per graduate and using three tents rather than one to allow for social distancing.

Mr. Pyne also turned his thanks toward the graduates. “We need to thank you, the Form of 2021, for your amazing leadership through all the past challenges of this school year. On many occasions, Mr. Maqubela has told me and other trustees how you set an example for the whole school and showed leadership. And as we all know, learning leadership is part of our mission, and you exemplified it this year.” Mr. Pyne also encouraged optimism and, as a fellow Groton graduate, stressed that friendships made at Groton “really do last a lifetime.”

The traditional words spoken at the end of Prize Day took on extra meaning in 2021. “Go well!” said Mr. Maqubela as graduates tossed their straw boaters into the air. Going well and staying well were goals this year amidst the pandemic, and Prize Day provided a joyful opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments and courage of this year’s resilient graduates.