Chronicle 2018

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

THE SENSE OF A CARING COMMUNITY

TONY DICOSMO, CFRE Executive Director, Advancement and Community Relations

When I heard that the theme for this year’s Chronicle was Rebels and Reformers, I thought that Ellen Knox would have smiled – and approved. That may surprise you, looking at her portrait which hangs in the library that is named in her honour. She looks every bit the epitome of a Victorian gentlewoman, with her sombre dress, stiff lace collar and carefully upswept hair. Yet, as you look behind this genteel façade, you discover a woman ahead of her time, blazing trails in women’s education and challenging her students to think about what they were going to do in their lives. One of the first things I did as I prepared to join the Havergal community was to learn about our history and, particularly, about our founding in 1894. A student of history, I am always fascinated by the genesis of ideas, structures and such, and learning about Havergal was something that I most certainly relished. The story that has most stayed with me from Mary Byers’ Havergal, Celebrating a Century recounts Miss Knox’s first impressions of how she would fashion Havergal. While initially finding the facilities drab, depressing and unsuitable to her vision, and even defining her task as a “perilous undertaking,” she possessed the imagination and courage to succeed, turning the only positive about the site – the crabapple tree under the staircase window – into a classroom that fit her philosophy of teaching and was the antithesis of what she had found: black desks turned to the wall “so girls could keep their backs turned and study without looking at their companions.” I call this reform – and perhaps even rebellion!

Remaining true to its ethos and purpose while adjusting to changing times is, I believe, the hallmark of any organization that withstands time. Each step is guided by timeless principles that are informed with imagination and a conviction to mission. In my opinion, Havergal has done this very well. So, while the beloved aspect which Havergal presents to Avenue Road is stately and declaring of the pride which we take in our traditions, like Miss Knox’s sombre dress, one must look inside to see a school that is thoroughly modern, working daily to both anticipate and respond to the changing needs of its students in a world that is transforming at lightning speed. The new approaches, “reforms” if you will, that will set our students up for success, are firmly rooted in our timeless mission and our guiding values: courage, compassion, integrity and inquiry. Havergal 2020, Our Future is Limitless is built upon our values and on the reforming ethos established in those very early days by Miss Knox. How? Allow me to illustrate. At a recent reception, we toured through the school to show the many advancements in teaching and to preview the new spaces being added to our beautiful campus. There were many Old Girls present and they all marvelled at how the school had evolved to meet its purpose in changing times. It confirmed that the way forward is indeed paved by investment in teaching and in creating student spaces which challenge the status quo and anticipate what girls will need to make a difference. I am sure that Miss Knox would find parallels in our plans for the future with her idea of a classroom in the branches of a crabapple tree replacing rows of black desks facing a wall.

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PHOTO: DR. CATHERINE STEELE 1928 ARCHIVES