Head of School

Greetings from the Hillside. The end of October brings us to the end of our first quarter of classes, difficult as this is to believe. With our new block scheduling, each boy has been taking either a humanities class or a STEM class, five days a week, morning and afternoon, for the last eight weeks. They just switched to the other discipline for the eight weeks until we break for Christmas on Dec. 18. Our block schedule and cohort classes seem to be enjoyed and appreciated by both teachers and students alike, our teams have been competing in very controlled environments, and Fr. Klots continues to lead several weekly chapel services. While we have had to suspend our traditional “jobs” program because of COVID precautions, the boys are still responsible for keeping their rooms and dorm common spaces clean. Despite the pandemic-enforced extra routines, weariness of mask wearing, and social distancing in the dining hall, the year and term seem to be racing by.

I gave a chapel talk in the middle of the month about Simplicity of Life. My hope is to address Directness of Purpose and Self-Reliance later in the school year. To put my remarks in context, here is the chapel reading that preceded my comments, from Matthew 6:25-33.

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? …And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.’ ...

Simplicity of Life Chapel Talk

When Mr. Michael Hirschfeld, the recently appointed headmaster of Kent School, spoke to us on the School’s Founder’s Day, he mentioned our shared Trinity of Values - Simplicity of Life, Self-Reliance, and Directness of Purpose. These values came to us from Fr. Frederick Sill, the founding headmaster of Kent, in a letter to his protege, Kent alumnus and founding headmaster of South Kent School, Mr. Samuel Bartlett. Fr. Sill wrote to Mr. Bartlett that:

“Simplicity, self-reliance and directness of purpose are to be especially encouraged in the boys. I have no idea when I put these last phrases together, and I am sure at times that I did not realize their full significance, but we have tried to make them real.” Today I would like to address the first of these values, Simplicity of Life.

Father Sill and Sam Bartlett were not the first to be concerned about living simple lives. We just heard from St. Matthew how Jesus explained: “Do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ” Two thousand years ago Jesus cautioned about keeping things simple. He was advising us that there are more important things in life than what we eat or what we wear. As my mother used to say to me, “The best things in life aren’t things.”

Father Sill also passed on some more specific advice about Simplicity of Life to Mr. Bartlett in 1923, the year of South Kent’s founding: “In luxury loving and easygoing days it seems to me that we are on the right track in giving our boys the chance to share in a life that is robust, healthy, simple...and wholesome….” The luxury loving and easygoing days to which he refers were the Twenties, often called The Roaring Twenties, a decade when automobiles were first produced, oil and gas companies became big business , the radio was mass produced and available to most people, and marketing advertising got its start. Many towns had cinemas for silent movies, and celebrity status was suddenly conferred on movie stars whose only qualifications for fame were pretending to be someone other than who they were. These were the luxuries of the 1920s, and Fr. Sill was warning against succumbing to these culture-changing phenomena. And while these did alter the world in their own ways, their impact was nothing compared to the changes that technology has forced on today’s rapidly changing and increasingly competitive world.

Here at South Kent, simplicity of life seems obvious to spot: we don’t have the fancy student centers or ski lodge-like dorms as do other schools. What we offer instead is the opportunity to grow and learn in ways more subtle and complex, more important than immediate gratification. In fact, simplicity of life is perhaps the most critical component of your education here, and one of the greatest values that we have always worked to impart.

The amount of information now available to us all is truly overwhelming. We cannot possibly keep up with it. A current “fact” floating on the internet is that the amount of new knowledge developed in the last ten years equals all knowledge combined from the entire history of mankind, and continues to grow exponentially. After millions of years of evolution, our brains reached their current state of development about 40,000 years ago, or 38,000 before Jesus and St. Matthew asked us to consider the lilies. We are trying to process amounts of information at a rate that is increasing exponentially by the day, with brains that have not changed much in many, many centuries. For every fact you can find on the Internet today you can find a counterfact, and none of us has the ability to discern that which is actually true, or even what “true” means anymore. To further complicate matters, there are social media influencers, and AI computers monitoring and controlling every single thing we see on our devices. This bombardment of information has increased stress levels, rates of depression and anxiety in everyone, young and old.

By resisting the allure of constant contact with hundreds of our so-called best friends, and trying to live a simpler life, we can reduce stress, clear the fog, and focus on what is essential: beliefs, empathy, friendship, and perhaps most importantly, personal integrity. Being true to ourselves and to those we love - that is simplicity of life in its most vital form and precisely why simplicity of life is so important today. Turn off the noise. Unplug from immediate distractions as best we can. Enjoy the walk up the hill from the rink or the pitch without looking at the phone or listening to anything other than the birds, footsteps, or the person walking next you. Talk. Really talk to those around us. Listen. There are so many things available to us today, but to make sense of any of them we need to develop the ability to discern that which is important from the fluff. We need to nurture quiet thought and reflection, both of which require the time to do so.

We are not immune from these realities of modern life, nor can we live in complete isolation from the rest of the world, though our COVID measures seem to make it so. By concentrating on the here and now, we can learn a great deal more about ourselves and each other than we can when we give in to the lure of a complicated, constant bombardment of stuff that really is not important at all.

Take advantage of our simple life on the Hillside. Relax and embrace the opportunity of simplicity that is offered here. You may never get such an opportunity again. We push you hard; your lives here are not easy. That is by design. Try to focus on the reasons you are here and the daily tasks at hand. Try to find reward in doing the simple things well, and remember: the best things in life are not things. Thanks be to God.

I am especially grateful at this time that we are a community that adheres to time-tested values that stand up in difficult situations. Our mission statement and founding principles provide us with the tools to balance the tests of the present by relying on our strong and well developed traditions from the past.

As always, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me should you have questions or concerns. My very best regards to you all. Stay safe! Lawrence A. Smith '73 Head of School

Head of School's Reading/Watch List:

“The Social Dilemma.”
Directed by Jeff Orlowski

If you have not yet seen it, I recommend this documentary film on what social media is doing to our society. “We tweet, we like, and we share— but what are the consequences of our growing dependence on social media? As digital platforms increasingly become a lifeline to stay connected, Silicon Valley insiders reveal how social media is reprogramming civilization by exposing what’s hiding on the other side of your screen.”

Tribe
by Sebastian Junger

I am not sure why I have not read this before (it came out in 2015) but I found it to be one of the most compelling explanations of our species' behaviors, particularly male behaviors, that I have ever read.

Rise of Rome
by Anthony Everitt

Anthony Everitt’s explanation of the rise of the Roman Empire, detailing how and why they expanded as they did, left me with many questions as to where we are headed as a nation today. This is not a doom and gloom story, rather a careful explanation of what relatively unlimited power and wealth can do to the fabric of a society that is based on hard work, dedicated citizenship and values of equality, and what each of these means.

Video Updates:

Hillside Update Week 7 (A Day in the Life)

Hillside Update Week 8 • Part 1

Hillside Update Week 8 • Part 2

Hillside Update Week 9

Hillside Update Week 10

Cardinal Corner Episode 4
A conversation with Head of School Lawrence A. Smith '73.

New Faculty Spotlight

Michelle Borsavage

Science Faculty

Michelle joins South Kent School's STEM learning community this fall. Eight years ago, Michelle started her teaching career at the neighboring Marvelwood School where she taught science, math, and learning support. This Litchfield County native earned her Bachelors of Science at the University of Vermont and studied secondary education and chemistry. She is passionate about hands-on, experiential learning, and is looking forward to supporting student inquiry, problem solving, and forming connections to the evolving world we live in. In her free time, Michelle enjoys the views of our gorgeous Northeast landscape from her bicycle, experimental cooking and baking in the kitchen, and dancing to live music. Michelle feels fortunate to reside on campus with her fiancé Tom and curious cat named Cyrus. She cannot wait to cheer on our hardworking student athletes, Go Cardinals!

Paige Naclerio

English as a Second Language and International Student Coordinator

Prior to joining South Kent School, Paige worked as a Reunification Social Worker in Bridgeport, CT. Paige received her undergraduate degree from Providence College and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work and Public and Community Service. She then went on to receive her Masters of Social Work Degree from Campbellsville University. Paige is passionate about working with adolescents to help them become the best versions of themselves, and is excited about bringing this passion to her work with the international student population here at South Kent. Paige lives in the Tanner house with her husband, Mark Naclerio, who coaches the U-15 hockey team.