December Message from the Head

December 16, 2008

Dear Alumni, Parents, and Friends,

It is hard to find fault with Ojai at this time of year. Recent blessed rain has rinsed our campus and washed away the dust. New grass is sprouting in the pasture. The sun, on its way to winter solstice, has found the perfect angle for horses and humans-low enough to make its rays our warming friends. And, of course, when the sun drops in the evening over Twin Peaks, the chill sets in quickly, and faculty and students alike don jackets. It is the perfect time of year for running and riding on the trails, camping out in the Sespe and at Patton’s Cabin, playing soccer in the setting sunlight on the fields, and, for all, taking deep, long breaths of this clean air.

For those of you who have not been in touch with the School recently, please know that the faculty, staff, students, and campus are robust and vibrant. As one School visitor said recently, “Thacher is simply strong across the board.” A few statistics support this assertion: We received 410 applications for 80 openings this past year. We accepted just 20 percent of the applicants. Our yield on applications was the best for any boarding school in the nation: that is, of that 20 percent we accepted, 84 percent, accepted us. Of this year’s new students, 43 percent come from out of state: great geographical diversity. Over a third of our students come from ethnically diverse backgrounds. Thirty percent receive financial aid. Campus visits are up forty percent in the last five years and up again this year-good news in a down economy. The great preponderance of students live more than three hours away-meaning that we really are a seven-day boarding operation, not only in philosophy but also in practice. Specifically, students hail from 26 states and11 countries.

We are also a stable community: Student and faculty retention is at about 98 percent, which is the best in the national boarding school world. We have enrolled more students at Dartmouth and Stanford in the last five years than at any other college or university; yet our students are discovering that excellent post-Thacher education is available at many fine schools. Given the increasing competition for post-secondary education-especially in the last ten years-colleges and universities throughout the nation have enhanced their academic and extra-curricular programs in order to offer more diverse and challenging opportunities for this generation of students.

Much of our success can also be attributed to your unstinting help. For example, your support in our recent Campaign helped Thacher raise $81 million. These gifts have, in turn, allowed us to increase our financial aid, to house our faculty in better homes, to offer opportunities for professional development, and to help build some of the campus infrastructure in order to offer the best and most dynamic program for the students. Looking around the campus these days is an amazing experience. We see a new athletic field, track, and fitness room. Our freshmen boys are enjoying a new Lower School and, soon, the sophomore girls will move to a new Hill dormitory complex. Our students love the new student commons and performing arts center and use both actively. The Anacapa House for Visiting Scholars allows us to host guest lecturers and performers who augment our offerings. All of these improvements and refinements are the results of your great generosity.

The students this fall have been lively, fun, and very successful. I am deeply pleased with the overall leadership and commitment of the senior class. A supportive, energetic class in every respect, they are now hearing the beginnings of the college news. As always, some hear what they want, others do not, but it almost always works out in the long run.

Some of the enjoyable parts of autumn have been watching our fabulous athletic teams; all varsity teams-boys and girls cross country, girls volleyball and tennis, and football-went to CIF Playoffs. Our boys cross country finished seventh in the state and our football team made it to semi-finals. Currently, it looks as though our winter sports teams will be just as strong in both boys and girls basketball and soccer.

The Thacher Masquers produced The Real Inspector Hound this fall to the delight of the community. Nearly a quarter of the student body participated, either as actors, stage crew, set designers, and even as a dead body. And, most of the kids mastered the various accents of the British Isles, which added to the fun.

This fall, too, we were fortunate to celebrate Marvin Shagam’s 51st year at Thacher. Unbelievable. That evening featured some of the most entertaining, uplifting, and hilarious speeches that I have heard in quite awhile. And most importantly, it was a great tribute to an extraordinary teacher and mentor, and a deeply compassionate and caring man. If you were not able to attend or you would like to hear the speeches again, visit Thacher’s website, click the “News” link to enter the Archive of Feature Stories, and look for the story “Mr. Shagam’s First Fifty Years at Thacher.”

During the final Assembly of 2008, the Community celebrated Cam Schryver’s participation in the Extreme Cowboy Race National Finals just south of Kansas City earlier this fall. He and 21 fellow qualifiers from Montana to Kentucky, and sixteen other U.S. states, competed in three grueling days of obstacle courses and surprises such as using knitting yarn for reins and riding a bucking green mare that had only been ridden a few times. None of these challenges could shake the Schryver-Sticks team: they won the competition and brought the ECR national title back to Thacher. Now Cam is considering training some or our senior riders to compete in entry-level Extreme Cowboy competitions. Stay tuned!

The kids are now just starting to enjoy camping in the backcountry after a warm fall. The streams are running; our newly fixed-up Patton’s makes a great rendezvous spot for the trips, and all the freshmen are in the process of riding over the Ridge on one weekend or another into the backcountry.

As many of you know, Thacher’s Board of Trustees have granted to Joy and me, after 23 years at Thacher and 33 years of teaching, a fabulous opportunity to take a half-year sabbatical. The School will be led by our most able Assistant Head of School Peter Robinson until our return in August. In turn, Joy and I will spend seven months learning, reflecting, and resting so that we may return to the School rejuvenated.

Being a school for high school students, of course, means that a year is never complete without drama of some sort.  This fall’s came when, recently, a junior boy and a senior girl who, on a whim and in response to some stresses in their lives, walked off campus without telling anyone where they were going. They proceeded on a walkabout down to Carpinteria and on to Santa Barbara. Ill-prepared, they did not bring any cell phones, money, or identification with them; they never told anyone where they were going. This resulted in our having to conduct, with various authorities, a full-on search for them-one that, I am happy to report, was successful. The two were in good shape and chagrined at their own thoughtlessness. After all was said and done, they wondered, “What were we thinking?” Impulsive decision-making is not uncommon for teenagers, as we all know. Now is a great time for them to do some strong learning. And I am confident that despite the stress caused to our Community, they will learn a nd grow from this experience.

Speaking of challenges, we are all painfully aware that our economy is in a deep recession. The good news for Thacher is that our Board of Trustees and our administration has been actively managing the School and its hard-earned resources. No college, university, or school endowments have been immune to the market fluctuations, however, and our endowment has taken about a 20 percent hit-which is admittedly far better than the average. For this we are grateful. Still, for every loss of $1,000,000 of endowment, the School loses $50,000 in operating revenue. This is our current reality and we will have to adjust accordingly in order to achieve a balanced budget this year. We are not alone in this exercise, but that does not make the work any more enjoyable. As a result, we will tighten our belts as needed, and look carefully both at the revenue and expense side of the ledger to bring in a balanced budget. The Board and the Administration are committed to maintaining our excellence and to protecting our program so that our students and their families are served at the highest possible levels.  We can and will do this, but we will need your help as the Annual Fund takes on more importance than ever.

I ask, therefore, that all of you-parents, alumni, and friends-make every effort to support the School’s Annual Fund this year. This is critically important to us as we move forward with the aim of keeping the School’s programs strong and hardy. If you have never donated to the Annual Fund before, this is the year to do it. And if you have, I hope you will consider doubling your gift to help Thacher through these demanding times. The School is rare and outstanding, and education of our youth is more important than ever. I am confident that your philanthropy is well invested here.

I speak for all of us here at Thacher when I say thank you for all of your support of your School. As Daniel Webster said of his college when arguing before the US Supreme Court, “It is, Sir, as I have said, a small college. And yet, there are those who love it.” I’d only add, “til the best we can do is all done”!

Sincere wishes,

Michael K. Mulligan

Head of School

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