Last week, two seemingly unrelated events occurred that speak volumes about the past, the present and the future of St. Margaret’s. These events reflect years of hard work and dedication, a deep love of and respect for the school and a commitment to striving for the very best. I have closely watched both, and I am enormously proud of what has been accomplished and more optimistic than ever about the future of St. Margaret’s.

This past Saturday evening, The Sound of Music played for the sixth and final time in our new Performing Arts Center. To say that this production was a tour de force is a huge understatement. When conversations began last year about how best to open our wonderful new facility, The Sound of Music was immediately the choice, but Darcy Rice cautioned that this was a complex show requiring a broad range of age groups (grades 2 – 12) and exceptional musical and acting talent, even more than usual given the universally high level of familiarity with this particular musical. These factors combined with the excitement surrounding the opening of a new theater created inordinately high and potentially daunting expectations.

There really is no written description that can do justice to what emerged. Throughout my career, I have had the privilege of attending school musical performances of all shapes and sizes and as would be expected, some are better than others. In fact, I would submit that what was produced on our campus in the venerable Sillers Hall was much better than most, and there were some who wondered if our new facility would really make that much of a difference. I don’t think the jury is still out on this one. The answer is an emphatic and resounding, yes!

This was, by all measure, the very best school musical I have ever seen — by a factor of many. What made it so is what bodes so well for the future of theater at St. Margaret’s. This new space enabled our highly skilled and dedicated performing arts faculty to tap the talents of our students in ways never before possible. Music fit for a cathedral was produced by a large and hugely talented chorus of nuns, an orchestra comprised mostly of students set the “tone” for the entire production, a whole new era in the technical side of theater was introduced by a student crew that controlled all the lighting, sound and set changes, and the actors and actresses, led by two, 15-year-old sophomores, performed at a level that led many who attended to exclaim – “this can’t possibly be a school production!”

Where we go from here remains to be seen, but I do know it will only get better. There is no question that we have entered a new and exciting era at St. Margaret’s in more ways than one.

Coincidental to The Sound of Music, a search for a new headmaster was also in the works. That these two events concluded at roughly the same time and with the same high result is, however, no mere coincidence.

For more than six months, a small committee has been working diligently to search the country for the very best person to lead St. Margaret’s beginning July 1, 2013. Similar to producing a first-rate musical with the accompanying high level of expectations, a search of this magnitude requires an extraordinary commitment to the school and a willingness to devote untold hours to the process and to the result.

Once again, by all measure, this search was conducted with the highest level of dedication and integrity and the result bodes incredibly well for the future of St. Margaret’s. Throughout the search process, one person stood above the rest in both his qualifications and his “fit” for SMES. Not surprisingly, other schools across the country felt the same way about Mr. William N. “Will” Moseley. Led by trustees and current parents, Mike Berchtold and Paul Heeschen, the Search Committee worked tirelessly to represent the school community and bring the very best person to St. Margaret’s. This may seem to some like a small undertaking, but this is a hugely complicated process and the potential for failure is high. Like school musicals, much of the heavy lifting takes place behind the scenes and it is, in the end, the “performance” that matters the most. Once again, we have truly distinguished ourselves.

Since announcing my decision to retire at the end of this school year, I have had many opportunities to reflect on my time here and what the future holds for St. Margaret’s. I will confess to more than a little anxiety as I have thought about my successor and the direction he or she would take the school. Change is not always easy and there is inevitably a certain level of unpredictability in the process, but I am as confident as I can be that Will Moseley is the perfect person to lead St. Margaret’s forward. I know for certain that he had many options, and the very fact that he chose us speaks volumes about the school and the place we occupy in the world of education today. I won’t say it’s going to be easy for Pat and me to leave in June (leaving is never easy if your heart has truly been touched), but it is reassuring and comforting to know that the school will be in exceptionally good hands.

Fortunately, we still have many months before we move on to the next phase of our lives. I am enormously proud of the school we are today and what has been accomplished these past 10 years. Yet, I know too that like the performances in our new Performing Arts Center, we are just getting warmed up and we will only get better. Or more to the point, in the immortal words of legendary Broadway jazz musician and entertainer, Al Jolson – “you ain’t seen nothing yet!” These are extraordinary times to be a Tartan!