What do I love about Holderness? What has kept me coming back for two decades as a teacher and coach and dorm parent, and now as the Head of School? I think it comes down to the fact that Holderness is not simply a school, it's a lifestyle - a lifestyle that celebrates a number of different things, and holds them all in a balance you'll find nowhere else.

To live at Holderness is to be intellectually passionate and always curious; to be public-spirited and always attentive to the needs of others; to be physically active and always in touch with the outdoors; to be artistically creative and always conscious of the power of intuition and imagination; and to be aware, finally, of the spiritual dimensions of human experience.

Don Henderson, now retired, often quoted Robert Frost when he was teaching here. Don said that his object in living was to unite his avocation and his vocation "as my two eyes make one in sight." As a legendary Holderness history teacher and a former coach of the US National Ski Team, Don knew how to achieve that sort of vision. His work was full of playfulness, and he and other great teachers here have helped the whole community to live and work that way.

The different qualities of the Holderness lifestyle reinforce each other so naturally that they blend into one another. Mind and body and spirit direct themselves in unison to high achievement and an atmosphere of excellence - not the sort of excellence that is arrogant or pretentious, but rather is expressed in a humble sort of confidence.

That's what makes life at Holderness rich and full, and also what keeps me coming back. It's a recipe not only for success, but for the joyfulness a person finds in exercising all of his or her gifts.

Phillip Peck, Head of School