On Friday, September 6, Fort Worth Country Day held their Convocation for the beginning of the 2024-25 school year, an event that consisted of senior-kindergarten buddies, quad games with the student/faculty body, lively cheers, and spreading our core value of kindness.
Convocation began as the cheerleaders gathered around an arch to welcome the seniors and their kindergarten buddies, and to pep-up students and faculty arriving in the Round Gym.
“For me, Convocation means the fresh start of the new school year to make new memories,” cheerleader Cloe Charron ’27 said. “My favorite part is seeing the new kindergarten faces and cheering on people to start off the year with a great attitude.”
Convocation began nine years ago when Head of School Eric Lombardi began his first year at Country Day, wanting to incorporate a celebration of our community for all grade levels. For him, this occurrence provides a chance to assemble every student and faculty in one building and for older students to act as role models for younger students.
“Schools like ours that have JK-12 grade levels are special by having all ages on campus, and I wanted a way to celebrate with all the grades for the beginning of our new year,” Lombardi said. “This serves as the start of a real new year [for the school] as everyone moves forward, rather than just changing the date.”
A new perspective for this school year’s Convocation, Lombardi and special events planner Mallory Sample spotlighted the theme, “Celebrate Kindness, Interrupt Unkindness.” They invited students to think of spreading the FWCD core value of kindness, as well as focusing on stopping unkindness, on and off campus.
“[We wanted to focus] on kindness and how they can encourage people to make other’s lives better by being kind,” Sample said.
For the following years, Lombardi plans on continuing and adding on to this motto, potentially emphasizing each core value for each new year.
“Honestly, if I could add a core value, it would be empathy since empathy plays a big role in being kind and interrupting unkindness,” Lombardi said.
Overall, Lombardi enjoys welcoming in new students, celebrating our new school year, and gathering all the grades together as one.
“[The part I enjoy most while speaking] is being at the center of everyone; it feels like one big hug from every quad,” Lombardi said. “My favorite part while I’m not speaking is during the competitions when one person from each grade goes up to participate.
