1989 Loomis Chaffee Commencement

A spirit of celebration has always marked commencement at Loomis, Chaffee, and Loomis Chaffee. Blown bubbles, beach balls bouncing through the air among the seated senior class, and small tokens of appreciation given to the Head of School by every member of the senior class are a few of the ways that Pelicans bring joy, a sense of humor, and enthusiasm to Commencement Day.

1919 Loomis Class Poem

Hull Platt Maynard '19 authored the class poem and presented it at the Class Day ceremony held during Commencement Weekend. Maynard was honored at Prize Day with the Gwendolen Sedgwick Batchelder Prize for Industry, Loyalty, and Manliness and returned to the Island to join the faculty in 1928. He served as the school's first director of admissions, retiring in 1966.

1949 Loomis Commencement

1949 marked the final commencement of Headmaster Nathaniel Horton Batchelder, who is shown here leading the graduates and guests in song during the program. Rev. Robert Wicks, dean of the chapel emeritus at Princeton University delivered the address. At a reception following Commencement, Evelyn Longman Batchelder presented the school with a portrait bust of her headmaster husband honoring his 37-year tenure. That sculpture can be seen today in Founders Hall.

1969 Chaffee Commencement

With the traditional procession into Windsor's First Church, the Class of 1969 began their Commencement Exercises. Ella T. Grasso '36, Secretary of the State of Connecticut, addressed the graduates, telling them "You are not just the new generation, but a new kind of generation." She praised the compassion of young people of that time, noting "they are concerned, and rightly, that justice and equality do not find expression in the realities of a polarized society."

1969 Loomis Commencement

James Parton '30, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and faculty member, Bud Porter '35, congratulated members of the senior class during the Commencement ceremony. The Hartford Courant reported that Dr. Howard Rubenthall, president of Dickinson College, urged the graduates to "unleash their full intellectual talents for the benefits of society."

1974 Loomis Chaffee Commencement

This remarkable view of the commencement procession, taken from the Founders cupola, records the second Loomis-Chaffee Commencement. Boys and girls lined the Senior Path, as they do today, to welcome faculty and distinguished guests before taking to the path themselves and processing through Founders Hall and then outside to the commencement site between the Homestead and the Heads House.