Lise's Lens: May 21, 2026

On Sunday, I joined Kevin Smith and a group of students — specifically from our Community Service Committee — for a weekend activity volunteering at the Hannan Healthy Food Farm in Lincoln. It was heartening to see so many people doing good in ways that felt meaningful and manageable to them, and to imagine the multiplying impact of those collective actions. I’m thinking of the Community Service group who sponsored the event and provides a space and avenue for this kind of work; of Kevin, who has such a sincere love of gardening, a respect for those who grow out food, and a love of passing on knowledge to our students (and me!) on the good earth, and what it can give to us if we respect it; and of my own time weeding with a student I had never had the chance to spend time with. We had fun! We talked about everything! It was also a pleasure to be able to break bread with everyone who was on the farm that day. There are so many ways to fill the needs we have as a community and society: It can be with a few huge outsized actions or many, many hands in action.

In addition to volunteering with our Community Service Committee this past weekend, I also had the privilege of watching our students in action in various settings. Girls Varsity Tennis made the NEPSAC tournament for the first time ever this year, so I couldn’t miss the chance to watch them compete down at Pomfret. While the team ended up falling short, I know the players were so excited and I’m really proud of how hard they have worked to get to this point. I was also able to make it to the opening reception for Liminal – Living Intersections, a student-led art exhibition at Lincoln’s Clark Gallery. Spearheaded by the students in the Zora Foundation, the exhibit brought together students from several area schools to explore “what it means to live in the liminal and be citizens of the world.” It’s such a rich time of year and I am SOOO happy to be on campus to witness as much of it as possible.