{"id":1578,"date":"2018-11-13T00:29:51","date_gmt":"2018-11-13T00:29:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/?p=1578"},"modified":"2018-11-13T00:29:51","modified_gmt":"2018-11-13T00:29:51","slug":"convocation-emphasizes-community-with-an-open-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/2018\/11\/13\/convocation-emphasizes-community-with-an-open-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"Convocation Emphasizes Community with an Open Mind"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rhea Kapur ’21<\/strong><\/h4>\n

On September 7th, Upper and Middle School students and faculty came together in Hauser Auditorium to commemorate the beginning of the new school year with the annual Convocation ceremony. A traditional, deeply-valued event in the community, Convocation allows all students and faculty to formally recognize the Honor Code and set the tone for the upcoming school year with a number of speeches. <\/span><\/p>\n

The ceremony was led by senior faculty member Mr. Miller Bugliari \u201852 with the Invocation where he encouraged students and faculty to have \u201cthe ability to see the big picture\u201d and to \u201canticipate outcomes so you are able to make good decisions\u201d this year. He was followed by Student Body President Andrew Cowen (VI) who emphasized his strong belief in the collective community and his desire to contribute, as well as his driving motivations to be a student leader. Acknowledging the many amazing figures who have addressed the community on Hauser\u2019s stage before and recognizing his own relative standing, Cowen shared his reasons for and thoughts on his place on stage. He spoke to how every one of us \u201cwant[s] to be a part of something bigger than ourselves,\u201d namely, the Pingry community. He also encouraged students and faculty to \u201cthink about what <\/span>we<\/span><\/i> can accomplish\u201d during this upcoming school year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Next, Honor Board Chairperson Drew Beckmen (VI) spoke to the immeasurable support, comfort, and guidance a strong community can offer. He used a story about how a group of complete strangers had remained by his side when his bike broke down during a 24-kilometer bike tour, emphasizing the value of a supportive community. He encouraged students to \u201chave the courage to ask questions\u201d and remember that \u201cthe Honor Code represents a promise to support those around you. By lifting each other up, we realize our own potential.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Board of Trustees Chairperson Mr. Jeffrey Edwards \u201878, P \u201812, P \u201814, P \u201818 began his speech by asking the audience about whether our large variety of perspectives on a plastic water bottle shed light onto our personalities. He spoke to how there will be many different viewpoints for students to consider this academic year, but he advised that \u201cwhen <\/span>interacting with people, and in your academics, consider possibilities, perspectives, and nuance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lastly, Headmaster Mr. Nathaniel Conard P \u201809, P \u201811 spoke about and connected the lives of John McCain and Aretha Franklin, two unforgettable icons that had different views on the world and recently passed away. Mr. Conard spoke to our own tendency to surround ourselves with those whose opinions are similar to ours. He encouraged the community to \u201cwalk out of any echo chamber in which you find yourself, to engage with each other and with each other\u2019s ideas in a respectful manner, to entertain the possibility that you might be wrong, and to assume good intentions on the part of others.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

New student Zoe Wang (III) offered her take on the event, saying it was \u201ca memorable start to the school year and a wonderful tradition that I\u2019ll look forward to for the next three years.\u201d The ceremony closed with a rendition of \u201cOld John Pingry\u201d to establish a thoughtful and energetic start to this school year. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rhea Kapur ’21 On September 7th, Upper and Middle School students and faculty came together in Hauser Auditorium to commemorate the beginning of the new school year with the annual Convocation ceremony. A traditional, deeply-valued event in the community, Convocation allows all students and faculty to formally recognize the Honor Code and set the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":1472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[38,10],"class_list":["post-1578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-school-news","tag-convocation","tag-school-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1578"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1579,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1578\/revisions\/1579"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}