Birthdays are a big deal at Western Reserve Academy (OH). We announce birthdays during our morning meetings to a student body that erupts into cheers and host monthly birthday celebrations at my house––a tradition I started when I began my tenure as head of school––welcoming students and their plus ones (which somehow has evolved into plus fives) for copious cupcakes, conversation, and community.
So when a major birthday milestone was looming for the school itself—our bicentennial—we recognized both an opportunity and a responsibility. There was, admittedly, some pressure. When the school turned 100 in 1926, so many revelers packed into our chapel that the floors were said to shake, and the building had to be evacuated.
At WRA, we have a joyous spirit at our core, but reflecting on 200 years of history carries weight for any institution. It requires an approach that is both celebratory and cerebral, with a focus on institutional sustainability and values that transcend time. A celebration of this scale also introduces a familiar challenge: countless cooks in the birthday kitchen. This abundance is a testament to the love people carry for the school. Still, it also means more meetings, more ideas, proliferating committees, questions about fundraising, the imperative to collaborate, the risk of overlooking something critical, and the reality of operating under the microscope at a moment of organizational inflection.
However, all challenges are opportunities. And for WRA, we viewed this milestone moment as an invitation for introspection, and with it, a shared and supercharged sense of ambition.
Finding the Right Theme
Themes have always been powerful unifiers in my work in schools. At WRA, we have rallied around ideas such as innovation, community, and flourishing—themes that provide focus for cross-disciplinary efforts and a lens through which we can prioritize or defer initiatives. So when our bicentennial approached, I knew that having a galvanizing theme would be important to its success.
WRA was founded in 1826 as “the Yale of the West,” and we adopted Yale’s motto, Lux et Veritas, or light and truth. Our founders understood something profound about institutional longevity. They brought educational traditions from the Northeast to what was then the American frontier, creating a bridge between established academic culture and emerging regional needs.
That commitment was evident early on. Our Loomis Observatory, built just over 10 years after the school’s founding and recognized as the second-oldest observatory in the United States, demonstrated a commitment to scientific advancement at a time when most schools focused solely on classical education. From the start, the school was both fascinated by the heavens and rooted in reality, navigating issues of the day, becoming a hotbed for the abolitionist movement, and growing up alongside a country only 50 years older than it was. This dichotomy of looking up at the light while grounding ourselves in the pursuit of truth felt like a metaphor worth sustaining as we marked 200 years.
With that in mind, we doubled down on light and truth. This lens gave us a way to think, dream, and prioritize. Realizing we wanted a long runway leading up to our 200th birthday, we launched our commemorations on a day of wonder and light: the total solar eclipse in April 2024. WRA sat in the path of totality, and our whole school community gathered on our campus fields for a once-in-a-lifetime viewing—armed with two types of glasses: eclipse-protecting ones and celebratory “200” ones. We ate moon pies and Starbursts, enjoyed a day when the sun rose and set twice, and shared a moment of collective awe.
Collaborating with Our Partners
Planning a milestone birthday also requires collaboration beyond the school community. Throughout our planning, we endeavored to emphasize quality over quantity and leverage—and ideally deepen—strategic partnerships.
WRA would not exist without the town of Hudson. In 1825, town founder David Hudson gave 160 acres and $2,142 to establish the school; in 1916, WRA alumnus and Hudson resident James Ellsworth saved the school with a $200,000 endowment. Our history is intertwined with that of our town, and any milestone celebration would be incomplete without joint pomp.
To that end, in the summer of 2024, during Hudson’s 225th birthday celebration, we again leaned into light. In partnership with city and government officials, our trustees and alumni, and friends around town, we illuminated a 60-foot oak tree on our campus front fields with 75,000 lights, more than the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. The tree is a natural billboard for our bicentennial and has since emerged as a town centerpiece, serving as the backdrop for everything from selfies to marriage proposals to glow parties for our students.
Given that WRA was founded as the preparatory school to Western Reserve College, which is now Case Western Reserve University, we are also planning to celebrate together. This includes a Bicentennial Marathon during our founders’ weekend in April, where the route runs between our two schools, which are serendipitously 26.2 miles apart, as well as a culminating performance by The Cleveland Orchestra, which will take place in June.
Cementing Our Truth
Lest our bicentennial only be about light, we also used it to face and affirm our truth. We developed guideposts for civil discourse and community belonging. To honor the shared humanity championed by Frederick Douglass—who delivered his only commencement address on our campus in 1854—we produced a trustee-produced 30-minute documentary featuring students speaking his words alongside alumni and trustees to help ensure WRA is forever associated with Douglass. We believe institutions that lead social progress build lasting relevance.
During our alumni reunion weekend in 2025, we exhibited in our Moos Gallery on campus the work of an acclaimed artist and alumnus who faced discrimination as a student on campus in the early 2000s. The artist, whose signature work uses an ultraviolet flash to capture luminescent paint on the human body, came to campus to speak with WRA students and alumni. Afterward, he said, “I leave WRA with my heart full.”
Our Roadmap
Of course, we have also created all the commemorative requisites—books, logos, and garb—but we have worked hard to make these offerings as ebullient and original as the pioneers who have shaped this place over the past two centuries. In short, we are having fun with it, because after all, it’s a party.
In the end, I hope our bicentennial will be remembered as a figurative shaking of the floors—a moment of shared celebration and momentum that will catapult us to the next century. Our two centuries of survival offer a roadmap: lead with values, invest in excellence, embrace progressive change, and maintain an unwavering commitment to student experience. During our bicentennial, WRA has critically examined the foundational tenets of our school, all while keeping our eyes on the sky, on the light and wonder that make education timeless.