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Miss Porters RES Life04

The Future is Bright

2018 was a year of celebration for the Miss Porter’s School community, as we recognized the school’s 175th anniversary. Our celebrations were plentiful, they were heartfelt, and they were shared around the globe.

In January, we saw six decades of Ancients gather in their communities for the first-ever Worldwide SitDown Dinner. In September, a record number of Ancients returned to Farmington for the All-School Reunion. And all year long, Ancients held service projects in their communities, giving back to others in the ways that are most meaningful to them. Collectively, we recognized the tremendous impact of our founder, Sarah Porter, and reflected on this pioneer in women’s education as we honored her school.

And now, as we turn our calendars to 2019, we also turn our eyes more fully to the future of Miss Porter’s School. For what better way to honor Sarah Porter’s 175-year legacy than to build upon it?

As educators, we are called to innovate, to lead, and to define what it means to be the school of consequence for girls. We evaluate our work and make decisions for the future through the lens of our mission statement. While the current mission statement has been in force for more than 20 years, it could not be more relevant or meaningful today:

Miss Porter’s School educates young women to become informed, bold, resourceful and ethical global citizens. We expect our graduates to shape a changing world.

An example of the mission statement in action is the Innovation Lab, which opened in October and was made possible by the generous support of current parents as well as Stanley Black & Decker and S&S Worldwide. In “Program Spotlight: Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship” (page 22), you can learn more about this space and other aspects of our TIE program.

In this issue, we explore this and other ways in which Miss Porter’s School is looking ahead. In “Paving the Way” (page 4), we talk with those who are responsible for governing the school into the future: members of the Miss Porter’s School Board of Trustees. See how these individuals think strategically about the school and are dedicated to its success and fulfillment of the mission statement. We also hear from Dean of College Counseling Amy Rogers, who ponders the question, “How do we prepare students for a future we cannot imagine?” (page 16). And, because our legacy is so much a part of our future, we check in with the Class of 1968 (page 26), who celebrated their 50th Reunion in conjunction with the school’s 175th anniversary.
We marry our past and present as we explore the school’s history of lifting up female artists, the ways we continue to do so today, and how we partnered with Sotheby’s for “By Women, For Tomorrow’s Women,” a first-of-its-kind event featuring 25 pioneering female artists (page 8).

The best way to honor the legacy of Sarah Porter and her school is to build upon our strong foundation and history as a leader in girls’ education, while moving forward and keeping our focus on the future.

The future is bright.

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