Head of School Murray’s Convocation Address Encourages Lawrentians To Sow Seeds of Hope

Lawrenceville’s Convocation, the official start of the School’s 212^th year, was held yesterday on a crystal-clear fall evening. Student faces glowed in the late afternoon sun as it reflected off Woods Memorial Hall on to the crowd gathered in the Circle, just as it has since the building’s construction in 1885. And in this beautiful setting, Head of School Steve Murray dedicated his annual address to hope.

He began by reflecting on his career as a middle school teacher in Paris and as head of Cleveland independent school. Murray explained that while separated by distance, both schools were located in blighted areas where “the system that was set up for [children] to succeed [was] so utterly absent.”

“So how do we engage in the hard work of instilling the right kind of hope, of creating upwardly mobile possibilities in communities?” Murray asked. “I know it can be done, because I’ve seen it happen up close, and under the right circumstances, it works.”

He described his work as part of a local group of civic leaders, Leadership Cleveland, and efforts made by this “incredible network of ordinary people.” Murray said, “The more I learned, the more interested I became, and I began to see various initiatives begin to take shape, not highly orchestrated at first, but over time, there was a remarkable confluence of what seemed at first to be disparate efforts.”

Murray and a group of other local school leaders ultimately created a network of successful charter schools, honored as Blue Ribbon Schools through an Obama administration program aimed at highlighting success stories across the country.  

“By the time I was leaving Cleveland after ten years, we were opening our tenth school, we had over 3,000 students in high-quality seats, and were educating a significant percentage of public school students in the district. Downtown Cleveland was an entirely different place, and the city was experiencing its first housing shortage in decades,” Murray said. “Just as a downward spiral is hard to reverse, upward momentum builds on itself, and even with the hard reality of life in a rustbelt city, these communities knew that they mattered, knew that people were prepared to invest in their children, in their homeownership, and in their futures. They had hope.”

He encouraged Lawrentians to take advantage of the tremendous opportunities afforded them by their Lawrenceville educations. “And whatever you do, whatever lives you eventually choose, whatever professions you pursue, find ways to sow the seeds of possibility, of opportunity, of hope,” he said.

Murray said he is still “haunted” by the dim prospects his Parisian students faced – they did not have the benefit of a grassroots support organization. “And yet, as I look out at all of you here today, as I sensed your energy arriving back on campus and the joy last week at House Olympics, as I see you rolling up your sleeves and leaning into your work, I am reassured and confident that you will indeed take advantage of Lawrenceville, and when called upon in later years, will do your part,” he said. As for me, having seen what is possible, what can be accomplished to improve the lives of others, this gives me great hope.”

Click here to watch Lawrenceville’s 2021 Convocation ceremony. More photos available on our Instagram account and soon on Flickr.

For additional information, please contact Lisa M. Gillard Hanson, director of Public Relations, at lgillard@lawrenceville.org.