Blog

Today we welcomed the T14s – all 282!  It was so fun to look out into the crowd and think about their futures.  For the next 22 months, the T14s will build a community together that will follow them the rest of their lives.  At their 5, 10, 15, 20… year reunions, I expect to hear about the intersections of their lives – both professionally and personally.  The great vacations they shared; the investments they made together; the business they founded; and the families they built.

In my speech today, I talked a bit about the Tuck community and the responsibility that comes with it.  One of the things I love most about Tuck is the luxury we have of working and living in a small community at a personal scale.  You are not a number at Tuck – you are a person.  That community extends beyond Tuck Drive to this special place we call the Upper Valley.  Really, it is just a little hamlet and like Tuck you are not anonymous in the Upper Valley.  We all shop at the Coop, head to Murphy’s to watch a game, and slip off for romantic evenings in little restaurants tucked into corners of the valley.  Tuck students are part of the Upper Valley fabric – and part of my life outside of Tuck in many ways.  We hike together, ski together, and serve needy folks in our community together. We sit next to each other at the Hop, in church, at weddings, and funerals.  Over the years, Tuckies have eaten many meals at our house, taught our kids in school programs, watched our house when we were away, and walked our dogs.  That closeness is all part of the Tuck experience.  And I can’t help but think it is one of the most important things the students will take with them 22 months from now.