Celebrating our 175th Year With School Walk Around the World

Alumni, families, and friends near and far took part in School Walk gatherings in Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., Dallas, Texas, Denver, Colorado, Burlington, Vermont, Charlotte, North Carolina, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and around the world.

On campus, the school continued its tradition of hiking eight miles through Steep Rock, which is celebrating its centennial this year. The preserve was established through the generosity of Ehrick Rossiter, Class of 1870, who in 1889 was inspired to purchase 100-acres along the Shepaug River and save it from destruction by a timber company. In 1925, he donated the land, which today forms the core of the preserve, to a group of nine trustees, many of whom also had ties to the school. Prior to setting off from the Koven-Jones Glade, Associate Head of School Seth Low P’26 spoke to students, faculty, staff, and families on October 1 about Mr. Gunn’s vision of an ideal school, which he outlined in a speech to the Teachers Convention in Hartford in the autumn of 1877.

“What he said about it was that it was situated in the country, and that it had ample playgrounds, and it was kept neat by the students themselves; that the buildings are attractive, and that the teachers are large-hearted and loving. And when you entered this community that he dreamed of, that the atmosphere was warm and genial, and that love and confidence shone in every face, and that there was fun, and there was frolic, in every eye that you caught," Low said, continuing: “We have been working for 175 years to build that vision of a school and you are part of that tradition, and we have built a culture that is about joy, and kindness, and love, and that is awesome to be a part of. My encouragement to you today is to choose joy, to choose love, and to have fun, and in all your time here, with all of the choices that you get to make at this school and beyond, that you make that choice of joy, love, kindness.”

Celebrating our Sense of Place
The night before School Walk, students attended a special presentation in the Tisch Family Auditorium by Darlene Kascak, a Native American storyteller, member of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation, and educational outreach ambassador for the Institute for American Indian Studies in Washington. Kascak’s role is to promote understanding of the lives of Connecticut’s indigenous people, past and present. She was joined by Susan Scherf, lead educator for IAIS, which was founded by the late Ned Swigart P’82, who was Science Department Chair at Gunn and Director of the Outdoor Club when it was credited with finding some of the oldest Native American remains in New England, in 1970. 
Together, Kascak and Scherf shared with the community  the principles of Etuaptmumk, which means “two-eyed seeing,” and explained how we can see things with one eye toward Western knowledge, and another towards indigenous learning.

“Be observant. You are deeply connected to your environment,” Kascak told the students, encouraging them to be mindful of their sense of place as they made their way through Steep Rock. “Etuaptmumk acknowledges the inherent value and rights of all living beings and promotes harmony and balance within our natural world. Use your eyes as if you ar seeing things for the first time. Enjoy the wonder of all the things you see, and realize your connection to all those living beings. We are all connected. In our culture, we don’t believe that we are better than any living thing."

Following the presentation, Highlanders gathered around fire pits and danced on the Glade to live music provided by professional bagpiper Jesse Offgang. This newer tradition is a nod to Mr. Gunn's Scottish heritage and evokes an earlier scene described in The Master of The Gunnery in the chapter titled Last Days and Last Rites, by Henry W.B. Howard, Class of 1865. Low shared this account with students who gathered to remember Mr. Gunn and place flowers on his grave in Washington Cemetery on September 30.

On October 3, 1882, the night before the monument to Mr. Gunn was dedicated at the cemetery, alumni and friends gathered on campus for an informal assembly in the Grove, which was located south of Solley Dining Hall, roughly where The Lizzie stands today. The alumni built a bonfire, similar to our fire pits, and there was dancing.

"It was a bold experiment, to make our reunion in the grove without Mr. Gunn! No spot was more closely identified with his memory, and in no place or manner could we more surely have tested our ability to meet and rejoice that we had known him rather than lament we had lost him. But we were led by that calm, brave spirit, [Abigail Gunn] the serene and faithful executor of her husband's wishes; and she knew that Mr. Gunn would have preferred everything to be done as though he were with us. So we had the old familiar bonfire, heaped high among the trees, and while the older ones talked in groups, the youngsters amused themselves in the good old way. Some one timidly proposed a dance -- that had always been a part of a grove party. Mrs. Gunn did not hesitate long in deciding; the spirit of Mr. Gunn was there, and that said, Yes; so Mrs. Gunn said Yes,” Howard wrote, noting, “It was a fresh tribute to Mr. Gunn, and a new evidence of his continuing influence, that we should thus commemorate him."