Beyond the Quad

I just got back from a great trip to the Southwest to visit with some Dublin alumni who’ve made their homes far from New England. One of the best parts of my job is visiting alumni in their hometowns and learning how they continue to build lives of meaning, joy, and purpose. As you might guess, we don’t have too many alumni in the Southwest, so I only get there every few years.

I want to thank Pete Read ’60, John Klopp ’61, William Bucknell ’69, and John Seidner ’88 and their families for their hospitality in Scottsdale & Tucson, Arizona, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. This was my first time exploring these states, and I can see why they are making their homes there. Breathtaking scenery, delicious food, inspiring art, and warm hospitality (and weather) are what each location had in common.  John and his wife, Jennifer, shared that many of the people they have met since moving West are also new to the area, and therefore, there is a culture of openness and willingness to meet new people. That reminded me of how every year I see how our campus creates an intentional space to build a welcoming community for students, a place to make new friends and even reinvent themselves, all knowing that every student there is trying to do the same thing, often far from what they are used to.

In the Dublin spirit of trying new things, I even squeezed in a 10k tail race on Saturday hosted by the Amerind Museum on the Texas Canyon Nature Preserve in Dragoon, AZ. It was a super fun race, put on by good people in a beautiful location. As I ran, I thought about how exposing our students to lifelong sports like running, biking, and skiing gives them ready-made communities all over the country and the world for the rest of their lives. The fact that I could sign up for a race in a state I had never been to and run a course I had never seen with people I had never met is pretty awesome. Thank you to all our alumni and families who support Dublin School and help us show our students how to build lives filled with adventure and community wherever they may go.  - Erika