Reflections of Havergal: 1994-2019

outstanding leadership and vision, an endowed fund named The Dr. Susan J. Ditchburn Fund for The Institute at Havergal has been established.” In June 2008, Dr. Ditchburn completed her 11th and final year at Havergal, and she was asked to share her favourite memories in a “sound portrait” created by Old Girl Alannah Campbell. The two experiences Dr. Ditchburn recalled reflect her feelings about the spirit of the school. That summer the school said goodbye, as Torch article so aptly phrased it, to “a woman of tremendous vision, integrity, poise and grace.” Her optimism, captured in her words in the 1999 Chronicle , was infectious: Since Icarus, the allure of flight has had mythical proportions. Amelia Earhart and Roberta Bondar, modern embodiments of the fundamental human dream, serve as icons for women’s aspirations. As we approach the new millennium, itself assuming mythical proportions as a symbol of massive and unpredictable change, there are countless examples of women taking flight: from the entrenched values of the corporation, from rigid gender boundaries, from inhumane and unimaginative prescriptions for social justice. And their flight is toward a better and more compassionate future, one that offers hope, justice and possibility. There can be no doubt that Dr. Ditchburn’s rich legacy will sustain and inspire the school community for years to come—as will the “shoes, glorious shoes” that Havergal’s faculty and staff commemorated in spirited song: Two Memories from Sue Ditchburn

Susan R. Groesbeck, 2008–13

In August 2008, Dr. Groesbeck arrived from South Carolina, ready to take up residence on the campus and assume the role of Havergal’s 10th principal. That she was well-prepared for that position was clear from an article that appeared in Torch that fall. Dr. Groesbeck brought experience and enthusiasm to her new life and, in particular, to a key aspect of her mandate: the creation of a new strategic plan. Commenting on the process she quickly immersed herself in, she said: We’re writing now a strategic plan, and a Strategic Plan is a five-year vision. That’s one of the areas of interest for me, where we don’t just perpetuate what’s always done, but we look at “what will a young Havergal woman need to know and be able to do in 2013, and 2015?” Part of what’s so exciting about that is that we don’t even know what we don’t know. This Strategic Plan has to allow for an education we can’t even yet dream up. When the school’s Strategic Plan for the years 2009–14 was published, Dr. Groesbeck’s commitment to its foundational concepts of self-efficacy and global capability was readily apparent. As she noted with pride in “The Power of Great Teaching” in the Fall 2009 Torch , “Our Havergal students are taught how to think, how to learn and how to question. Most importantly, they discover themselves and the possibilities in the world around [them] ...” According to Dr. Groesbeck, the plan’s emphasis on the whole girl is of paramount importance because, as she put it, at its core the concept “recognizes our efforts to continue to develop graduates who are fully capable young women” ( Torch , Spring 2010). No doubt her own experiences in the classroom, as both teacher and student, informed her intention to support the Havergal

“Shoes, Glorious Shoes” Sue Ditchburn

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