It is tempting, as we work to close out a year that has challenged all of us in innumerable ways, to put our heads down and focus only on that one task. But I would like to challenge all of us to lift our heads for a moment, and look forward. What is next for Ambleside School?

Ginnie Wilcox’s departure from her long and wonderful tenure as Head of School will leave a gap that we are all feeling. We will miss her dearly. As I prepare for this new season as the next Head of School, I want to share a piece of my story—because we are now moving into a new chapter of Ambleside’s story, together.

I am incredibly humbled and honored to be standing in this place as the next Ambleside Head of School. I’d like you to know that I didn’t get to this place lightly. Hours of prayer, fasting, conferring with family, trusted mentors, dear friends and my pastor aided me along this path.

Being named the next Ambleside Head of School is actually a dream come true for me. It may sound a bit adolescent, but it is true nonetheless. I’ve had a few “dreams come true” in my life: I was traveling to Florida with a college biology class some 20 years ago when I stated for all to hear, “I want to live in a National Park one day.” One person, the only one who was probably listening said, “I can help you with that.” Less than a year later I was living and working in a National Park where I not only found the Lord, but also received my call to education as a vocation. And then it was ten years ago when I declared, “I want to be a principal of an Ambleside School someday.” And, well, here we are, another dream come true!

So has a Master’s Degree in Education, four years of teaching in a public high school, a few years serving as Director of Children’s Ministry at my church and nine years teaching at Ambleside with 1.5 years in Ambleside International's Master Teacher Training Program prepared me for this?

A common refrain that we have heard since Ginnie’s retirement was announced a year ago has been, “How are we ever going to fill her shoes?” Years ago, some of you will surely remember Ginnie had an accident that left her with one broken ankle and a broken foot. She figured out that the injury was caused in part because of the type of shoes she was wearing and she vowed, as a result, never to don those shoes again. Weeks later, after she had recovered from her injuries, Ginnie presented me with a pair of those forsaken shoes and, lo and behold, they fit! So yes, I can apparently fill her shoes because we have the exact same shoe size.

But what about in the areas that matter? Can I fill her shoes in those ways? The areas that you as parents care about? The areas that the teachers and faculty care about? And the students, what they care about? Like Veteran’s Day, the Christmas Program, our annual Shakespeare Festival? Our middle school First Friday program with the canoe trip down the Potomac, hiking the lesser travelled trails through Great Falls National Park and the much-loved camping trip?

And in the small things? Multiple morning greetings for each student, singing the old hymns at assembly, weekly chapel services with varied and inspired messages? And how about in the classroom? The reading of rich and life-giving texts, an adherence to Charlotte Mason’s philosophy, the dedication to habit formation, and believing in children and seeing the potential for growth in each and every one?

My answer is the same that we give every year at the School Blessing: “I will, with God’s help.”

The areas that parents and teachers and students have come to love and to lean on and to look forward to, I also love, and lean on, and look forward to. What I hope to be, in this next season of Ambleside McLean, to paraphrase our beloved Charlotte Mason herself, is but a torch-bearer, passing on the light that I have received to the next as I have received it from the last.

The light was ignited more than 100 years ago in Charlotte Mason, who embraced children—all children—with insight and respect. They are unique, eclectic, capable, full of potential and possibilities, curious, hungry for knowledge of all kinds, and equipped for relationships with all that is around them.

Ginnie picked up this torch over 17 years ago, first for the benefit of her own children and then for the benefit of all our ours. She has been faithfully and diligently working to pass on to me all that is useful, pertinent, and inspired so that I may be fully prepared for what lies ahead and be able to carry this worthy torch forward to light the way for the next generation of Ambleside students and families.

I’d love for you to join me.

Letter from the new Head of School