A Year of Personal Responsibility: Convocation 2023 On Friday, September 8, the entire MBS community gathered in Founders Hall to commence the new school year and hear from a variety of voices across campus. Below are Head of School Liz Morrison's morning remarks.

Good morning and welcome to Convocation for the 2023-2024 school year! What an incredible joy it is to see all of you here. We have been planning for this all summer and eager for this day. You - the students are why we are all here! 

To the class of 2024, thank you for already bringing energy, excitement, and ideas to our wonderful school. With your leading the way, how can this be anything but an awesome year. 

As I look into an audience of both new and familiar faces, I am so grateful to have the opportunity to speak with all of you as we start the year together. I’m beginning my 3rd year at MBS. This tradition - of starting the school year with a community gathering - is one of my favorites. 

You might be wondering: What is Convocation? Literally, it means “to call together” and that is exactly what we are doing this morning. We gather here in Founders Hall to start this journey together, because this place symbolizes community. We gather here for All School Meetings, we gather here to celebrate our artists on stage, we gather here to learn from visiting speakers, and in June, we’ll be back in this space to celebrate the Moving Up ceremony of our 8th graders. 

Between now and then, there are so many possibilities waiting for each of you. You get to carve your own path. One of the things I love about MBS is how you are encouraged to own your own experience and fill it with challenges that are meaningful to you. All of us have the chance to create, to try new things, and to find our passions and purpose.

As a lifelong educator, I have always felt excited about September and the promise of a new start. It’s part of my identity. Since I walked into nursery school at age 4, I have spent every fall starting a new school year. One of the things I loved as a student - and now as a Head of School -  is the notion that September means a fresh start. Where else in the world do you get to reframe your goals and norms and decide how to show up and when to make different choices?

If you showed up a bit unprepared last year, well now you get to let that go. You get to start again. Trust me - even someone my age appreciates a fresh start. It’s never too late to be who you were meant to be.

One of the things that shapes us into who we are is our sense of values and beliefs. 

Although MBS is an academic institution that prepares each of you for college and beyond, we also encourage all members of our community to cultivate a life guided by moral principles. 

Our seven guiding values are:

1. Personal responsibility

2. Awareness of Diverse Perspectives 

3. Engagement 

4. Tenacity 

5. Independence of Mind 

6. Humor 

7. Humility

We started a tradition last year of using a school value as our “word of the year”, keeping it front of mind in all that we do. 

You might have had a big “engage” sticker on your laptop or water bottle and maybe you joined a team or started a club or found new ways to show up and engage.

This year, we will focus on PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.

This value is the very foundation of character, and we can practice it in big and small ways every day. Perhaps later today you’ll be in the dining hall and see someone sitting alone at lunch. Or maybe you’re walking through the MSC and see garbage on the ground. While these things might not directly affect you, you have the ability to make a difference. 

Arguably, because you’re part of a community, you also have the responsibility to make a difference.

Me? I’m a night owl. I love the quiet of the night time hours. If I had my own clock and wasn’t bound by the school day, I would never go to bed before midnight or wake up before 8. My whole life I’ve struggled with making my internal clock work with the demanding schedule of an athlete and educator. I would love to NOT be as sleep deprived. 

I’ve had to learn - and am not perfect at it - that when I sit down to read my email at 11pm, it can make other people feel like they have to respond right away. Like I’m putting pressure on them. When really, it’s just the time of night when I have the space and silence to think and work. Luckily I’ve gotten a little help from Google schedule, which automates when my emails get delivered. 

My crazy schedule doesn’t have to fit with everyone else. But this story isn’t really about staying up late – although I know many of you do – it’s about me practicing personal responsibility and being aware of my actions and how they might affect other people.

So that’s your challenge this year. This is a conversation you’ll have with your advisors and teachers and coaches. How do you demonstrate integrity? When a situation goes awry, how do you reveal your character?

The life of a school is really in the hands of the students. 

Over the last few days and weeks, I’ve heard some really thoughtful ideas from many of you of ways to make this year the best you’ve seen since the pandemic. 

I’m excited to support you and see those ideas become a reality. My primary goal is to support student endeavors. You are ready and you have the desire to take ownership over the spirit and joy of this community. We grown-ups here on stage want to support and guide you.

In the past there have been many student-led events that became legendary. I’ve heard about the time a creative writing class wrote a ghost story about Morristown Beard and then turned the chapel into a haunted house. 

I’ve heard about students running all school meeting and being emcees and having video contests. I’ve also heard about very enthusiastic student leaders of quiz bowl who created a teachers vs. students tournament here on stage at Founders. 

What are the new ideas you’re imagining? What are the old traditions you want to bring back? You owe it to yourselves, to each other, and to the community to plan and lead a vibrant year of activities and events.

It doesn’t matter what you aspired to do last year or what you didn’t quite accomplish. As we all sit here today, we get to decide: who do I want to be? What do I want to do? What are we trying to create in our community? 

Here’s to fresh starts and to a tremendous year ahead!

If you want to explore these themes and topics further, I recommend:

Young adults are struggling with their mental health. Is more childhood independence the answer?

https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/60624/young-adults-are-struggling-with-their-mental-health-is-more-childhood-independence-the-answer

Good Inside, by Dr. Becky Kennedy

https://www.goodinside.com/book/