Building the We
Anyone familiar with Concord Academy knows how much this school values community. “We are a community” is the first phrase in CA’s mission statement, balanced later by “honoring each individual.” How do we hold these commitments mutually? What does being in community require of us as individuals? What shared responsibilities and intentional relationships enable us to care for one another, grow together, and contribute to something larger than ourselves? What tools and mindsets are necessary for building trust, engaging in honest and respectful dialogue across differences, and supporting lasting habits of connection?
These are some of the questions CA faculty, staff, and students are considering during the 2025–26 academic year, guided by the Council for Community Life’s theme: “Building the We: Responsibility, Connection, and Growth.” Extending last year’s focus on courageous conflict engagement and resolution, the council has asked the campus community to consciously shift from “me” to “we”—not by overlooking individuality, but by embracing mutual care and accountability.
In sharing these voices from campus, we invite you to reflect on how you engage in your communities, at CA and beyond, and what relationships, habits, and structures you want to help cultivate this year.
Convocation
Convocation, a 25-year-old tradition introduced by former Head of School Jake Dresden, opened the school year. In his convocation address, Jeff Desjarlais spoke about the dynamic of common trust in this ever-changing community, drawing on his 27 years of experience at CA. He suggested that the strength of CA’s school culture comes from a continual dynamic of reflection and adjustment, and he emphasized the opportunity available in every moment to build lasting habits of care and connection.
“Remember, our character and culture don’t come from the pursuit of common trust—they come from a shared belief that common trust exists in the first place.”
Jeff Desjarlais
Counselor and coach
2025 Convocation Speaker
“I hope you find a way into sharing, and allow yourself to grow, to make mistakes, and to take advantage of the support here that will catch you and help you back up.”
May Zheng ’26
2025–26 Student Head of School
“In return for the space to be our own authentic selves, we are asked to respect, to listen to and to care for the other members of this community, even when we don’t fully identify or agree with them.”
Jen Burleigh ’85
Co-President, Board of Trustees
Chapels
Several mornings every week, the CA campus community still starts the day in the Elizabeth B. Hall Chapel, where a member of the senior class has 15 minutes to talk about whatever is on their mind and in their heart. Occasionally, a faculty or staff member speaks as well. Here’s a small sampling of voices from the fall semester.
“Please, value the time you have with those you love. Go out of your way to check in on your friends, peers, coworkers. Life is too short to be apathetic, so care.”
Finn Uhrich ’26
“Find joy and beauty in the little moments. Embrace discomfort, learn, and laugh about it. Everything will work out!”
Olivia Kopelman ’26
“Take just a minute or two a day to watch the world. Whether that’s lying on the quad looking at the clouds, or sitting on your windowsill watching the moon, or just appreciating the sunset, our lives our so full of magic. Notice it.”
Caroline Espinosa ’26
“Every teacher I’ve interacted with here, even briefly, has taught me that every story is worth telling, no matter how small or insignificant it might seem.”
Sophia Primmer ’26
“Choosing happiness is giving yourself grace, recognizing the way you feel, and allowing yourself to work through it in the way that you need to; choosing happiness is choosing yourself.”
Danaliz Estevez ’26
“Let yourself be childish. Let yourself be excited by things. Indulge in Disney movies, dumb books, dissonant karaoke, reality TV, really whatever makes you tick. If it makes you happy, it is worth doing. You’d be surprised how many people might relate.”
Lila Abruzzi ’26
“There is a lot of ugliness and sadness in this world, but there is also a lot of good. The hardest and most beautiful part of being a person is that we can hold onto both at once.”
Lucy Targum ’26
“I have had the joy of hearing nearly 1,000 chapels, and while they do not all stand out clearly in my memory, each one has shaped how I think about the world. Whenever I sit through a chapel, I think of the line from Muriel Rukeyser: ‘The universe is made up of stories, not atoms.’”
Will Tucker
Science Department Head and Teacher
“The moments that shaped me most weren’t the big, dramatic ones; they were the random, small things that I didn’t pay much attention to at the time. And I think that’s what makes CA so special. … Over time, we stop thinking of kindness as something we go out of our way to do—it just becomes the way we live here, and we should all be grateful for that.”
Misha Varlamov ’26
“Understanding yourself is just as important as understanding others. … Learn to feel your emotions; learn to understand them. And then let them lead you toward the things that matter most.”
Tal Richmond ’26
“The present is a gift—open it!”
Henry D. Fairfax
Head of School, Dresden Endowed Chair
“The thing that I find both comforting and overwhelming about geologic time is the idea that the fraction of time that we as humans have existed is so small. It reminds me to be grateful for the immense luck that brought us all here today—to sit here in this building that was painstakingly constructed by students before us when only 11,000 years ago it would have been covered in miles of glacial ice.”
Kiley Remiszewski
Science Teacher
“Take time to get to know yourself. You’re never the same person twice, and you are always more interesting than you think you are.”
Olivia Kim ’26
“Think about those around you who make an impact, who go out of their way to include you, who truly embrace the community they’re in. Tell those people you love and appreciate them, and try your best to emulate those parts of them.”
Lyle Waldeck ’26
Strive Workshops
To encourage open dialogue and connection throughout the school year, the Community and Equity Office invited the CA community to propose and facilitate workshops to share their cultures, heritages, histories, or other aspects of identity. Six workshops, all aligned with the community theme, took place during the fall semester, with many sessions led by affinity group and student club co-heads. Topics included the experiences of women of color in the feminist movement; the influence of Black culture on fashion; the history of the Middle East conflict; and queer history in ancient, medieval, and Victorian times. One workshop even had participants cooking, as part of an exploration of Chinese American cuisine.
Common Read
In a September campus community meeting, English teacher Nick Hiebert introduced this year’s community read: a brief essay from Ross Gay’s The Book of Delights. After students took turns reading it aloud, Hiebert offered a personal reflection, then invited everyone to pair up and share an example of everyday care they’d witnessed at CA. “Reading something together allows for a quality of attention that I think makes some magical things possible,” he said.
“The point is that in almost every instance of our lives, our social lives, we are, if we pay attention, in the midst of an almost constant, if subtle, caretaking. Holding open doors. Offering elbows at crosswalks. Letting someone else go first. Helping with the heavy bags. Reaching what’s too high, or what’s been dropped. Pulling someone back to their feet. Stopping at the car wreck, at the struck dog. The alternating merge, also known as the zipper. This caretaking is our default mode and it’s always a lie that convinces us to act or believe otherwise. Always.”— From “The Sanctity of Trains,” The Book of Delights by Ross Gay
CONNECT
How are you centering responsibility, connection, and growth in your life? Share your thoughts with your CA friends on social media or email magazine@concordacademy.org.
