The Great Perhaps 

While the venue was different, the ceremony was much the same, including inspirational speeches from two special speakers. Senior Class Speaker Amelia F., who would later receive the highest honor presented to a graduating senior, the Charlotte Haxall Noland Award, spoke about her search for the “Great Perhaps,” and how she — just like the main character in John Green's Looking for Alaska who goes to a boarding school in search of his “Great Perhaps” — hoped to find hers at Foxcroft. She shared stories about her class coming together as freshmen only to be separated by the pandemic at the end of sophomore year and finally coming together once again to finish out their time at Foxcroft. “Our class is so special and our experience here has been so unique" she reflected. "As the only current class to experience a non-Covid year, we had a lot of expectations for what our time at Foxcroft would be like. And even though it didn’t turn out how we expected, we made it work. We lifted each other up and guided the underclassmen through this past year. It’s been hard, but we can walk away from our time at Foxcroft knowing that we have found at least a part of the Great Perhaps, meaningful human connections and a love of learning will follow each of us as we leave this school.”

Asked by the seniors to be their Commencement Speaker, Assistant Head of School Courtney Ulmer, who is also moving on from Foxcroft after 16 years, encouraged the seniors to give things their all and believe in themselves. She also shared a list of lessons learned such as the importance of making your bed and the unfortunate realization that she will probably never have a panda of her own. “You may have come up with your own list while I have been speaking,” she concluded, “but for each of us, the lessons we learned at Foxcroft will be interwoven into the next phases of our lives. Like a true friend, some lessons will be with us day in and day out, and others will re-emerge again when we need to draw from them the most. Use these lessons well as you graduate from Foxcroft.” 

The culminating event of the day brought Chair of the Board of Trustees Kate Hastings ’78 forward to award diplomas to the impressive group. Collectively, the members of the Class of 2022 received 148 offers of admission from 104 colleges and universities. Ten seniors received 28 merit scholarships totaling $1,431,800. Eight are AP Scholars, two are AP Scholars with Honor, two are National Merit Commended Scholars, and nine are members of the Cum Laude Society. Three members of the Senior Class were inducted into the International Thespian Society for achievement in performing arts, and eight students have won regional awards in the prestigious Scholastic Art and Writing competition. The Class of 2022 has eight students who have pursued our Academic Concentration program: three in Animal Science, one in Global Studies, two in STEM, and two in The Arts. Members of the class will attend Carnegie Mellon University, Culinary Institute of America, Cornell University, Gettysburg College, Louisiana State University, Loyola Marymount University, New York University, Syracuse University, The College of William and Mary, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Kentucky, and University of Virginia, among others. Visit our website for the full list of college acceptances.

In addition to those announced at the Awards Assembly the afternoon before, several prizes were given at Commencement, including Valedictorian Claire A. who will attend New York University and Salutatorian Xinyi S. who will matriculate to University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Other top awards went to seniors Marlow B., Nia D., Chelsie E., and Catherine J. The highest honors for younger students went to juniors Lucy M. and Helen V., sophomore Emmy Q., and freshman Madi W. For a complete list of awards and prizes, please click here.

Congratulations to the Class of 2022 on your graduation! Go forth and conquer — share your unique voice with the world — but know that, as Amelia said in the closing lines of her speech, “we can always come back to this place and come together just like we have during our time at Foxcroft. What brings me comfort is the knowledge that we’ll always have a life in old Virginia and country roads leading us back.”