Last week, I had the great honor of accepting the Andrew Clarkson Award on behalf of NCCS at the Horizons National Conference. The award, which honors an individual or institution for their longevity of commitment, embodiment of the Horizons mission, and work that has been leveraged across the entire Network, was presented to NCCS and Horizons @ NCCS in recognition of the 60th anniversary of the program. Symmetrically, it is also the 30th anniversary of Horizons National, and it was wonderful to hear the transformational impact that NCCS has had on so many other Horizons affiliates and the network as a whole. There were nearly 200 attendees there, and it all started at NCCS, both Horizons in general and Horizons National.
In the near future, you will all receive a letter I wrote inviting you to the upcoming “Horizons Greatest Hits” biennial benefit on April 27. Our Horizons program is thriving. As was made clear at the Horizons National conference, we continue to lead the way in providing innovative and impactful programming for underserved students from Norwalk and Stamford. Each summer, our campus is bustling with more than 300 students in Kindergarten through Grade 9. In addition to a robust summer program, our Horizons students enjoy year-round academic support and enrichment programming. While the “Horizons Greatest Hits” Benefit promises to be a fun community event with dinner, dancing, and a live auction here on campus, it also provides critical financial support for our Horizons year-round and summer programming. I encourage you to come join me for an inspiring night and a chance to learn more about an organization that is very much at the heart of our mission as a school.
In accepting the award, I had the opportunity to share some remarks, and I pasted a small excerpt of them below. I hope to see you on April 27.
“We stand on the shoulders of giants. Sixty years ago, some NCCS teachers had a dream that Head of School George Stevens enthusiastically embraced – to develop a program, starting in the summer, that provided academic enrichment and swimming lessons to students from underserved or less well represented populations in the neighboring area. Part of the dream was to help NCCS become a more diverse school and part was to expand the vantage point, or dare I say, the Horizons of the students it served. This was in 1964, early days for the Civil Rights movement and before even the National Association of Independent Schools itself named a diverse learning environment as a tenet of best practice. With Lyn McNaught at the helm and the unwavering support of the NCCS community, Horizons @ NCCS flourished, and then with Lyn’s vision, Horizons National soon followed. And now I have the pleasure of looking out at all of you here, furthering this original purpose and these principles. This honor is well deserved by the people who had the vision, passion, support, and talent to bring Horizons to life sixty years ago and to help it spread as it has. My hope at New Canaan Country School is that Nancy [von Euler, Executive Director of Horizons @ NCCS] and I, as stewards of this vision, can perpetuate it, solidify it, and nurture it to even greater impact.”
Letters from Aaron 