Convocation 2024: Disconnecting to Reconnect

Sun bathed the Flagler Quad as the entire Millbrook community gathered for convocation. Students queued on the green by form while faculty lined up according to years of service on the bricks. Then, when the traditional bagpipes sounded, everyone marched through two rows of flags—proudly held by students from each nation represented at the school—and into Flagler Memorial Chapel to ceremonially initiate Millbrook’s 94th year of school.

Once the students were seated, surrounded by faculty standing along the walls, prefects Sadie Wilson and Sutter Schwartz welcomed everyone and introduced Rev. Cam Hardy to deliver the invocation. Head of School Jonathan Downs ‘98 then stepped down from the platform for a special moment. Calling History Department Chair Lindsay Peterson to the front of the room, Mr. Downs awarded her the Keenan Chair for Excellence in Teaching. Following the presentation, the seventh head of Millbrook School returned to the pulpit to deliver his annual address to the gathered community.

Mr. Downs’ remarks linked this year’s focus value of respect to cell phone usage. With a prop cigarette dangling from his lips, he began by drawing parallels between recent data highlighting mental health issues caused by cell phones and society’s evolving views on smoking as research unveiled its dangers. “Phones will be this generation’s cigarette,” he cautioned, explaining that data will bear out how harmful unbridled cell phone use is to ourselves and others. Mr. Downs petitioned students to “Respect this community,” reasoning that Millbrook’s tightened policies around cell phones are meant to enhance rather than restrict the community:

As convocation drew to a close, Rev. Hardy led the congregation in singing the school hymn and then offered a benediction. Finally, students and faculty proceeded from the chapel to Casertano Hall to engage with each other over formal dinner, all without a single cell phone in sight.

Watch convocation here.