The 12th annual All Things Wellington was an inspiring evening focused on the transformative educational opportunities offered our students as they pursue their passions. It was also a poignant final ATW for Head of School Robert Brisk P ‘13 ‘15, who could still recall with vivid clarity the first event in 2007. During his opening remarks, Brisk unveiled his newly coined term evention, an event that one invents, and reflected back on that first night as one in which he could have never imagined drawing such enormous enthusiasm and support from parents.
Brisk also spoke about the building and facilities improvements over the years that had transformed education at Wellington. Fostering autonomy for students and teachers through engagement grants has been central to his work. As a longtime champion of growth for all members of our school community, he shared his future plans after leaving his current role as head to “revolutionize education in America, and bring the returns back to Wellington” by furthering his student engagement work to more schools across the country.
“All Things Wellington has always been, and will be tonight,” Brisk said, “a celebration of the glorious brains given to us and the amazing use we can make of them when the conditions are right. We’ve worked hard to make the conditions right at Wellington. One of the most important conditions is that we embrace the fact that the ambitions and dreams of our students may and should exceed the imagination of teachers and parents. This fact creates what for me, are my absolute favorite moments in education, and that this the joy of hearing students express, with incandescent clarity and focus, ideas I don’t understand.”
It was a fitting introduction for the entire evening as students, faculty, and alumni shared just a few examples of the very best our school has to offer children of all ages. From providing an environment in which entrepreneurship, technology, and innovation are connected from early childhood through graduation to giving students the support they need to be global problem solvers, Wellington’s curriculum is more agile and life-changing than traditional education paradigms.
In his concluding remarks, Associate Head of School and Head of Upper School Dr. Jeff Terwin said of the evening, “We saw that learning can, and should be a positive disruptive force, helping students to value new ideas, be open to new challenges, and work through failures with resilience and tenacity. Students are clearly challenged and loving it. It is right where we want to be be.”
For full coverage of the 12th annual All Things Wellington, watch the video and take a look at photos from the remarkable evening.