We Get To Do This!

Dear St. Margaret's Families,

 

 

Throughout this summer, St. Margaret’s has been alive with the energy of our summer programs, from Breakthrough San Juan Capistrano to Summer at St. Margaret’s to Special Camp. The love, laughter and loud cheering keeps our campus feeling active and energized. We also have a new perspective on campus now that Wallace Hall is no longer standing. From the front of our campus by my office, it is now possible to see directly into the Ortega Village Center, providing a better sense of the breadth of our physical footprint. This newfound perspective is a reminder that St. Margaret’s is growing and changing and that is such a gift. 

 

This year, we will be celebrating our 45^th year as a school. It has been inspiring to look back and see the photos from our humble beginnings in 1979 compared to how our beautiful campus looks today. I am certain that our founder, The Reverend Canon Ernest Sillers, would be incredibly proud of what we have become. Our school is thriving by every metric and now we are on the precipice of constructing the much-awaited St. Margaret’s Commons, a place to nourish body and spirit and the central gathering place for generations of Tartans. We have also embarked on the beginning stages of developing a new Strategic Plan and look forward to getting feedback from all of you and sharing our progress as the year unfolds.

 

There is so much to look forward to and the excitement on campus is truly palpable. I think it is also fair to recognize that change brings a level of uncertainty and that creates a mix of human emotions: excitement, apprehension, gratitude, trust, uncertainty – truly the full range. It is important to recognize that these emotions exist whenever change is afoot and if we can recognize them, we can manage them.

 

 

As we move into this year where change is present in almost every area of our lives, let’s together remember that “we get to do this.” We get to shape the future of St. Margaret’s; the place we call home and the school we love dearly. We get to continue growing and enhancing our beautiful campus by building a community space that will positively impact Tartans for generations. We get to cheer for our student-athletes, celebrate the wins and support each other through losses. We get to be inspired by our students’ artistic pursuits, whether in the studio or on the stage, and recognize the importance of the arts in our understanding of the human experience. We get to chart the course for the next generation of Tartans through our upcoming strategic planning process.