Alumni Speaker Andrew Byrne-King ’20 on the Power of Community and Connection

Introducing Byrne-King, who is also known on campus as "ABK," Chief Development Officer Sean Brown P’22 '27 noted that he had the distinction of being the youngest alumni guest speaker in the history of the event. As a student at Gunn, Byrne-King spent time in Steep Rock and around Connecticut as a member of the Outdoor Club, and attended Model United Nations conferences in Boston and Washington, D.C. He earned a varsity letter playing Ultimate Frisbee, served as a Class Representative his junior year, was an Resident Advisor in Bourne, and yearbook editor. He and his fellow prefects also shaped a sense of community during the first months of the global pandemic.

Earlier in the day, Byrne-King toured campus with his father, John, and was a spectator at the faculty vs. student softball game. “It’s such a pleasure to be back on campus. Only four years ago, I was right where you are, getting ready to graduate,” he told the Class of 2024, recalling, “Sadly, I was at home on the couch in my pajamas, preparing for ours during Covid. So, it may be a little different, but those inherent feelings of graduating are always the same, no matter the circumstances, and you should all be incredibly proud of getting to the finish line and enjoy the moments you will have with each other over the next few days.”

While Commencement and Prize Night signify all that Highlanders have already accomplished, “tonight is a celebration of your future,” he told them. “From the moment you receive your alumni pin, you go on to the next stage of your Gunn experience. Although I have not been an alumnus for very long myself, I feel confident enough to speak on our behalf in extending the warmest of welcomes to you all as you enter this grand community of former students, a community that can offer you support, connection, and shared experience. Those who walked the same paths had lessons in the same classrooms, and shared in the Frederick Gunn experience that you all have. Your journey here doesn't end with your graduation but becomes something new and exciting. I encourage you to utilize the alumni network to stay in contact with your class, to meet new and interesting people, and to never lose your connection with Gunn.”

Byrne-King spoke about the milestones of life, and noted that he was not only addressing the graduating class as an alumnus, but as an upcoming college graduate himself. “We look forward to these milestones our whole lives but we’re always looking forward, trying to reach the next one.  We don’t always get the opportunity to take stock of these milestones. Being with you all today, I am grateful to be able to look back on my past and observe all the things I gained from my time on.”

As a Gunn Scholar, Byrne-King said he was fortunate to be able to research the foundations of the sense of community created by our first three Heads of School. He read first-hand accounts of students dating to the 1800s, and noticed that their perspective is one the Senior Class would soon share. “While once you graduate the opportunities to come back here become few and far between, there is still a piece of you that stays here, and a piece of this place that will stay with you. Mr. Gibson, the third headmaster of The Gunnery, said that he hoped students would return 30 years hence and recognize in their school the same characteristics, the same atmosphere and ideals, and recognize also the part that they played.”

While the campus has changed in the four years since he has been away, Byrne-King said the feeling he got when he returned was the same, and he is very much looking forward to returning again in June 2025 to celebrate his five-year reunion with the Class of 2020.

“The school community that Frederick Gunn created, and that we have all tried to preserve, has always been about more than the place. It’s always been about the people and the feeling; and while I don’t know you all personally, I feel like I know you. As you go off to college and start your adult lives, I want you to know that you can always come back. You’ll recognize the same characteristics yourself, that same atmosphere, and you’ll see yourself in all the new students that walk the halls. When you come back in four years or 30 years, you will find that some things may have changed but know the important things have always and will always remain the same.” 

An alumnus in a 1925 edition of The Stray Shot wrote that “as alumni we were custodians of the good name of the school and we had a partnership interest in keeping it unvarnished,” he noted. That same sentiment remains true for alumni today, whose stewardship will help to sustain the Highlanders of tomorrow.

“You will always be custodians of your experience and you will always carry with you the community you’ve become part of. Your time at The Frederick Gunn School will always be a foundation from which you can pull — you will have lessons you have learned here, in and out of the classroom, to help guide you throughout your life. You go forward and walk through life as a testament to your time here, that others may see you and wish to give their children the same opportunities afforded to you here,” he said, encouraging the seniors to slow down and enjoy the moment.

“After graduation in a few days, you will no longer be seeing each other every day in the dining hall, in class, or on the field after practice. You will have walked your last School Walk, gone to your last Convocation, and you have one last Move Out. Your new beginnings must come with the end of old things but this ending doesn’t necessarily mean goodbye for good. You will be able to come back together as a class again at alumni events in the future,” he said.

At the dinner, Gunn Society Co-Presidents Yoyo Zhang ’24 and Caroline Marich ’24 and Senior Class Representative Joe Shaker ’24 announced the class gift, and Izzie West ’24, Senior Editor of the Red and Gray, presented the yearbook dedication to Jeff Trundy, who has served as a member of the Science Department faculty and as the David N. Hoadley ’51 Baseball Coach since he arrived at Gunn in 1997.

Members of the Class of 2024 were then invited to receive their alumni pins. “Only an alum can wear this pin. If you didn’t go here, you can’t get one. Like the numbers after your name, it is earned. And the first time you wear the pin, it should be pinned on you by another alum,” Brown said. Alumni participating in this year’s pinning ceremony included Byrne-King and Laura Eanes Martin ’90 P’20 ’23 ’25, Ray Whitney ’87 P’24, John Fonte ’93 P’24 ’25, Kate McMann ’05, Will Marich ’23, Phil Dutton ’81 P’23, Kori Rimany ’14, Marlon Fisher ’01, Shane Gorman ’10, and Ashley Judson ’16.

Above: Highlanders at home: Former Head Prefect Andrew Byrne-King ’20, who will graduate from the University of St Andrews this summer, was joined outside TPACC by Head of School Emily Raudenbush Gum, an alumna of St Andrews, and Erin Whitney ’24, who will be attending St Andrews in the fall. To view more photos of the 2024 Alumni Association Induction Dinner, please visit our SmugMug Gallery.