A Letter From the Head of School

It is with immense gratitude that I share my final Head of School message of the 2025-26 academic year. In the coming days, our campus will be filled with meaningful rites of passage: Lower School Field Day, promotion ceremonies for our 6th Grade Class of 2032 and 8th Grade Class of 2030, Upper School Awards, Prom, and finally, our capstone celebration — Commencement for the Flint Hill Class of 2026.

Today, I want to focus on these 141 remarkable seniors.

Whether they began at Flint Hill as four-year-olds or joined us as teenagers, the Class of 2026 has been on a journey shaped by change, growth, and possibility. More than half began in our Lower or Middle School, and eight are “lifers,” having started in Junior Kindergarten or Kindergarten. As 7th graders, they returned from the pandemic and helped christen the opening of Peterson Middle School. In many ways, they have been asked to blaze trails from the very beginning — and they have answered that call.

What I admire most about this class is not simply what they have achieved, though their accomplishments are many. They have earned accolades in science, math, and cybersecurity competitions; won individual and state-level honors in athletics; and shined on stages throughout the DMV. They have taken their learning beyond campus through senior projects in private equity firms, record companies, hospitals, schools, veterinary clinics, and research settings focused on mechanical systems, data analysis, cultural demographics, and more.

But beyond the résumé, this class has shown us something even more important: how to be fully themselves while still belonging deeply to a team. They have celebrated individuality without losing sight of community. They have cheered for one another, lifted one another, and reminded us that excellence is most powerful when it is shared.

The Class of 2026 also took meaningful risks in imagining their next chapters. Together, they submitted 1,345 applications to 277 colleges and universities. Next year, 87 different colleges and universities will be fortunate to welcome at least one Flint Hill graduate. Seven colleges admitted Huskies to specialized visual or performing arts programs, seven HBCUs admitted members of this class, and thirteen seniors will continue as NCAA student-athletes, with many more pursuing athletics through club and intramural programs.

Our graduates will matriculate at a wide range of outstanding institutions, including some of the most selective in the world. And yet, we know that true success is not found in an acceptance letter. It is found in the person who arrives on that campus: curious, capable, compassionate, resilient, and ready to contribute. It is found in the Flint Hill graduate who self-advocates, builds relationships, asks better questions, leads with integrity, and uses their gifts to make the world around them better.

That is the long game of a Flint Hill education.

One hundred forty-one Huskies. One hundred forty-one stories. One hundred forty-one sets of hopes, talents, quirks, dreams, and possibilities. We have given them our very best — in the classroom, on the stage, on the field, in advisory, in moments of celebration, and in moments when they needed support. And now, as they prepare to cross the graduation stage, we send them forward with the values that have guided them here: respect and value all equally, lead and support with compassion, act with integrity, imagine what’s possible, and blaze the trail.

Whether this is your first year at Flint Hill or your last, I hope you will join me in celebrating the Class of 2026 and holding for them the same aspirations we hold for every Husky: take meaningful risks, be yourself, and make a difference.

Thank you to our students, families, faculty, and staff for an incredible 2025-26 school year. Have a joyful and relaxing summer.