Welcoming New Families to "A Place of Belonging"

 

With that simple sentiment, Headmaster Temba Maqubela summed up Groton’s role as an oasis in an uncertain world, as he welcomed new families to campus on September 11.

 

Mr. Maqubela began his talk with a moment of silence, asking everyone to turn toward the flagpole across the Circle, where the flag was flying at half-mast. As he remembered the lives lost on 9/11 twenty years ago, he paused to name two of his former students, Stacey Sanders and Todd Isaac. “Your children never leave us,” he said, capping the solemn introduction.

 

He then went on to explain four longstanding pillars of the Groton experience—service, scholarship, spirituality, and globalism—noting how they continue to resonate strongly today. The pillar of service plays out constantly in a community that is fully vaccinated, working together to protect—and thus to serve—one another.

Scholarship, integral to Groton’s mission, depends on dedicated teachers. “They are truly essential workers,” he said of Groton's faculty.

 

The pillar of globalism was front and center as school opened, with students arriving from around the world, from Botswana to Beijing, New York to Costa Rica—many having to struggle through various countries’ pandemic protocols to get to Groton. Their determination, said the headmaster, points to our connectedness in the global village that is Groton School.

 

Finally, spirituality was exemplified in the opening moment of silence—an attempt for individuals to join as one.

 

Mr. Maqubela’s talk celebrated the mere fact that parents were gathered before him. A primary lesson from the pandemic, he said, is that education flourishes in person. “Kids do well when they’re together,” he said. Indeed, COVID precautions made in-person learning possible: students submitted negative results from PCR tests for COVID-19 in advance and were tested upon arrival. Most new students arrived on September 11, but arrival was staggered throughout the week as preseason athletes, Sixth Formers, and other groups arrived early.

 

Before bidding parents farewell, the headmaster warned that students might become homesick, but that they would settle into their new home soon enough. In the interim, rather than frequent video chats, he suggested an old-fashioned approach: “Write letters reassuring them of their place in their home and in your heart.”

 

He also reminded parents of the exceptional gift of a Groton education. “You’re one of the 9 percent,” he said, referring to Groton’s acceptance rate. “I can assure you, of all the gifts you are going to give, this is probably one of the top gifts they will ever have, because this is a place of tradition but also a place of dynamism.”