Reflections of Havergal: 1994-2019

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAST AND FUTURE

the campus, in the ever-evolving program and in a community that is devoted to the education of girls. The story of Ellen Knox, of her steadfast commitment to her girls and the strength of her will, continues to inspire. It is tempting to imagine what she would say if she were to write her book now. She could not help but be surprised by the opportunities available to Havergal students and by the daunting challenges they face, by necessity or by choice. There can be little doubt, however, that she would ask the new Girl of the New Day the same question she asked so many years ago: “What are you going to do?” Havergal can take deep pride in its efforts to prepare young women to embrace the future and to work hard to make a difference for good in the world. The Havergal tree continues to flourish because as an institution, the college has responded to Miss Knox’s urgent question with an abiding integrity. Chances are very good indeed that the inestimable Miss Knox would approve of what the college has been—and what it can become. Always ahead of her time, she knew the future, if uncertain, was also limitless.

Poem Excerpt Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh, Book II 36 “That headlong ivy! not a leaf will grow

But thinking of a wreath, Large leaves, small leaves, Serrated like my vines, and half as green. I like such ivy, bold to leap a height ’Twas strong to climb …”

Brenda Robson, former Dean of Students and current staff member

both in your own character and customs and in the character and customs of those around you? As her questions indicate, she believed, to use the words of British philosopher, author and lecturer John Cowper Powys, that “education is only real education when it is a key to something beyond itself.” That key is the school’s enduring values. They have shaped its rich and complex history, which now spans three centuries. That history has given rise to a multitude of stories that reflect those values: this anniversary account is but one. As Dr. Ditchburn observed in the 2005 edition of the Chronicle : The nature of story is such that it permits many narratives—each human story is a contrapuntal composite of themes woven together. Each contributor takes up a familiar theme with a new voice or introduces a new theme then to be recast in the voices of others. There are, in fact, many more stories of Havergal than there are members of its community, past and present. Were all these stories to be told, however, there would assuredly be a consensus that the enduring values of the school—integrity, inquiry, courage and compassion— are embedded in the thoughtful stewardship of

Strategic Plan, Havergal 2020: Our Vision is Limitless.

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