Head of School “Dr. D” is seated alongside racer and Upper School student Ally Raphael ’21.
As I write this, the season is finally blooming and we are preparing for all our traditional spring events that define the close of the school year. This issue of our magazine arrives after going through an extensive redesign including a new digest-style sizing, the launch of a new enhanced website (d-etoday.org), and the introduction of a related online D-E today Video Archive.
The website d-etoday.org includes both expanded versions of the features you see here and a more interactive version of this booklet, with links to all the e-communications regularly shared with our current families, faculty, and staff. The D-E today Video Archive represents what our students, faculty/staff, and parents see every day when they are on our campus, on plasma TV screens located in gathering places such as the Lobbies of Hajjar and Schenck Auditoriums, and Modell’s Sports Complex. With these enhancements, we aim to better capture D-E “today” in an authentic way for our extended community located throughout the US, and even overseas.
The School is now in the final chapters of another interesting and exciting year. Groundbreaking was held earlier this year for the Middle School, the newest phase in the School’s Village Project campus development project. We have recently watched the steel beams going up and cement poured. At this time I am reminded of how the construction process can exemplify a disparate, wonderfully diverse group of individuals coming together to create something that is even more glorious than the sum of its parts.
This year I have also seen exceptional examples of our community demonstrating our mission in action. Our “Seeking Excellence” feature hopefully can motivate all of us, with examples from our alumni body as well as current students and faculty. 2018 Distinguished Alumni Awardee Aaron Dworkin ’93 epitomizes the ideals too of “making it better” through his work at a nationwide after-school program. Allison “Ally” Raphael ’21 (see below photo) is just one student who inspires me.
Finally in this issue we also remember Anthony Bourdain ’74 whose untimely death caused so many to pause and think about the importance of seizing new opportunities, and to always maintain fresh perspective, a listening ear, and the mindset of a life-long learner.
Thank you for being a part of our community,
Dr. Rodney V. De Jarnett
Head of School P ’13 ’17
