Special Ceremony Marks Start of Holy Innocents' Academic Year

Holy Innocents' Episcopal School kindergartners presented seniors with their senior class ties and seniors gave kindergartners bookbags Tuesday morning, Aug. 16, in the Stephens Family Courtyard, marking the beginning of the 2016-2017 academic year.

Head of School Paul Barton spoke at the beginning of the ceremony, telling students, faculty and guests that the 128 members of the senior class are now the school leaders.

“These are young men and women who model kindness, perseverance and integrity by the example they set in classrooms, on athletic fields, on stage in the FAB and in chapel. In the way they treat everyone, from the littlest among us to one other,” he said.

“To the Class of 2017, we ask you to honor and appreciate the trust we are placing in you as you receive your tie from a member of the Class of 2029. You have earned our respect and admiration,” Barton said. “Lead us to the best year our school has ever had.”

Barton also said he hoped that the annual ceremony would be a reminder about what it means to be part of the caring, compassionate community at Holy Innocents', a community that looks out for one another, from the Alpha through the Omega years. “We are a diverse, inclusive family built on the unshakeable belief that every human being has been endowed with unlimited worth and divine dignity,” he said. “Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School was founded 57 years ago not to reflect or settle for current societal values but to aspire to what is eternally good and true.”

While seniors and kindergartners gathered behind the STEM Building Tuesday morning, Middle School students met at the Main Gym for an assembly with Theresa Jespersen, Middle School principal. Jespersen welcomed students and introduced new faculty, including the Rev. David Wagner, Middle School chaplain. Wagner is an ordained Episcopal priest who will teach Middle School religion classes and lead chapel services.

The Middle School will have a new music room this year. With generous gifts from the Parents’ Association, the Middle School will also receive new equipment for the STEAM Club and a 3-D printer for student design projects.

Other changes across campus:

•a new, glass-and-metal greenhouse on the Correll Family Terrace, on the STEM Building’s second floor. Fernando Notario, Upper School teacher, said the greenhouse will be used in environmental science and biology classes, particularly for growing things in a controlled environment, and for teaching different techniques of food production, aquatic ecosystems and plant production techniques;

•a remodeled Lower School reception area, Promethean Boards throughout the LS, new playground equipment on the auxiliary playground, and a new LS art room in the Riley Building;

•a music flex space for all three divisions that replaces the LS visual art studio; and

•a colorful new “Buddy Bench” coming soon to the Primary School playground. “The bench (provided by the HIES Parents' Association) is being painted by parent volunteers, and provides a place where children can sit when they feel shy or lonely, signaling to other children to ask them to play,” Greg Kaiser, Primary School principal, said. The PS will also receive a set of some 105 Imagination Playground Big Blue Blocks (large foam building blocks) for the playground.

In addition to the Rev. David Wagner, Middle School chaplain, new faculty/staff this school year include: Steven Turner, associate head of school; the Rev. Ricardo Bailey, Upper School chaplain and head chaplain; and Andrew Payne, communications director.

Dorothy Sullivan will serve as acting LS principal while a search is being conducted to fill that position, and Beth-Sarah Wright has been named director of enrollment management.