Wakako Cheung, mother of freshman Sara Cheung, sat in the performance hall of the Hubbard Music Center on Friday, October 18, as she awaited the start of the head of school’s welcome address for Family Weekend. 

She reflected on one of the aspects of Loomis Chaffee that was important to the family when deciding which school Sara would attend: the interactions, the teamwork, the camaraderie on campus. These qualities resonated as Family Weekend progressed.  

“Students know how to collaborate,” Wakako said. “Even on the campus tour, they always came as a pair, and I really like this collaborative mindset.” 

A few minutes later, Head of School Jody Reilly Soja echoed that sentiment about working together. Jody had recently shadowed a student for a day, and her description brought some laughter. “I had a very humbling experience in calculus and an even more humbling experience in genetics, and things got worse for me in French IV,” she said. “But one takeaway was to watch the students interacting. ... That was really powerful. How much the students were not on their computers — they certainly were not on their cell phones because they are not allowed to be. They were doing during the course of the day.” 

They were talking together, working together, doing hands-on lab work, she said. “Supporting each other in positive and collaborative ways,” Jody said, “and to see that teamwork in action was really powerful.” Much of the same occurred when Jody went to a soccer practice. “They were leaning on each other, depending on each other, supporting each other, and lifting their teammates up,” she said. 

That kind of collaboration was about to take place on stage during the Performing Arts Sampler, which included the Dance Company, the Chamber Singers, the Concert Choir, the Wind Ensemble, the Orchestra, and the Jazz Improv Ensemble. 

“It is really great to perform in front of people and to show off what we have built as a whole,” said sophomore Daniel Onyemakonor after being part of the performance of “Daa Naa Se,” a traditional Ghanaian folk song. 

Junior Sophie Posamentier was greeted backstage by classmates after singing “From the Start” as part of the jazz improv performance. “It is just a really positive experience with friends,” she said.

The orchestra led off with a performance that included senior Oscar Kong with a violin solo. Netta Hadari, the orchestra director, was not on stage for that but came out for the next song. "They really don't need me," he joked. "I'm just up here for show."  

Earlier, out on Rockefeller Quad, Erin Kanter and her daughter, sophomore Lillian, visited the tent set up by the Alvord Center for Global & Environmental Studies to look at the various educational trips offered this year. 

“Probably the biggest compliment I can give Loomis Chaffee is that it is filled with students who want to be here, and they're excited to learn and to expand their horizons,” Erin said. “And they are surrounded by faculty and staff that share that vision.” 

She thought back to why her daughter enrolled at Loomis. 

“On revisit day this blew all the other schools out of the water,” Erin remembered. “The genuine excitement, the palpable desire to have her and other students join the community won us over.” 

Dhurata Margolis, mother of sophomore Lily, said one of the things she finds special about Loomis is the “camaraderie [students] develop with their peers. They make fast friends and lifelong friends — it is really impressive.” 

Senior Eli Krasnoff’s parents were soaking in the sun of the blue-sky fall day. Eli’s mother, Elizabeth, said Loomis “has given [Eli] the appropriate amount to grow into who he is with the appropriate amount of scaffolding, so he has all this support and space that he needs. Love is space and love is support in varying doses.” Eli’s father, Darell, said the school gives Eli “room to follow his passion and continues to nurture that along the way.” 

The weekend events were plentiful. Families attended fall play practices in the Nichols Center for Theater & Dance, where the directors of the plays stopped and started scenes, drilling down to get things just right. In the end, those soon to attend The Importance of Being Earnest in the NEO or Shakespeare’s  Measure for Measure  in the Black Box Theater will see what appears to be a seamless product. This was a chance to see some of the teaching and practicing that go into the plays as the actors search for just the right way to say something, to carry themselves, to get their point across to the audience. 

There were receptions by classes; open houses for the Pearse Hub for Innovation (PHI) and the Center for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion; campus tours; sessions on college guidance; an exhibition in the Sue and Eugene Mercy Jr. Gallery by Loomis ceramics teacher YoonJee Kwak in conjunction with the Community Art Show and the Emerging Artists Show. And much more. Between Friday and Saturday, there were more than a dozen sports events, contested in weather that reminded one more of summer than fall. It was a busy weekend filled with opportunities to get a taste of life on the Island.  

A gallery of Family Weekend photos can be found HERE.