Convocation 2026
Good morning, friends. It gives me such joy and inspiration to look out today and see you as we formally begin the school year together.
At our NMH on Stage evening last week, I shared a couple of grounding principles for our journey together this year.
First, in all we do, let’s seek to see, hear, and support our neighbor. As human beings, we yearn for connection and simply finding our people: belonging. Northfield Mount Hermon is a school that embraces the strength that comes through our diverse interests, backgrounds, and identities. To engage this strength, we have to question our own viewpoints and assumptions, seek to understand others, and give one another the care required to extend ourselves in meaningful ways. At NMH, we seek to shape a community where everyone can belong.
My second principle closely aligns with the first. Namely, I ask us all to be Hogger Forward. In other words, be proud of our school and what our community brings. It is OK – and, in fact, quite meaningful – for us to celebrate our individual and collective successes. Let’s be known for our positive school spirit, for bringing our best to every endeavor, and for taking pride in what our school means to each of us and the world in which we live. We go much farther when we move together, so let’s lift one another up and honor our common connections as Hoggers.
These principles, you will note, speak to our humanity. So, I want to spend the balance of my time reflecting with you on what this means in today’s world and, more specifically, what this means for us as we navigate a world where technological advances move at breathtaking speed, fueled by rapidly developing AI models.
At NMH, we want to equip our students with the knowledge to engage critically, creatively, and thoughtfully with this powerful tool. Yet – and this is so critical – we do not want any of us to avoid the many moral questions AI raises. Rather, we must take them on directly, because the need for us to find sustainable and balanced solutions is imperative.
We will do this by asserting our humanity in every way we can. Let us together apply the very questions we raise in our Humanities 1 course: Who am I? What is my place? What does it mean to be human? How, then, shall I live?
Our humanity empowers us; it centers us. It allows us to feel things in profound ways, to care for others, and to live with integrity. It also allows us to struggle, to problem-solve, and to dig deep to form our own ideas. And, so important, our humanity allows us to work across differences to collaborate and partner with others to be creative engines. Our humanity is what allows us to thrive in a rapidly changing world. This is not a new idea, yet it is one that I would argue has even greater urgency today.
My hope is that my brief words today serve as a catalyst for each of us to continue to educate ourselves about the challenges and opportunities new technology brings; to seek out the creative tension that living, learning, and growing in our community offers; and to push back against the tides to conform. As we do, let us engage our heads, hearts, and hands so that we may live with our humanity and purpose in all ways, at all times. This is what we do at NMH.
William Blake wrote the poem “Jerusalem” in the midst of industrialization taking hold of England in the early part of the 19th century. One interpretation of his work suggests that it was a call against the tyranny present and conformity required as mills – the “dark satanic mills” – denied workers their independence and compromised their humanity. Blake calls the reader – all of us – into the struggle of pushing against injustices. So, at NMH and in our communities around the world, I ask us to heed Blake’s call that we not “cease from mental fight … till we have built Jerusalem.”
Our work at NMH has been and will always be to engage fully with the world in which we live. It is our shared work to ensure that each of us has the resources and convictions required to serve and lead. So, I ask all of us, let us lean into the opportunities and responsibilities this moment calls us to. We are ready. We are up for it. As our student speakers Eu and Amelia encouraged all of us: Let us build Jerusalem together.
- Brian Hargrove (September 2, 2026)