Come together

A conversation with Head of School Steve White and Campaign Chair Ron Sargent



A capital campaign? Why here? Why now?
Steve: A few years ago our Board of Trustees developed a strategic plan, starting with a vision of Fay for the next century. The vision was this: we want to be a world leader in middle and elementary school education. You can’t do that standing still. You need to set priorities and find the resources to reach them.
Ron: That’s a big reason why I accepted Steve’s invitation to chair the campaign. Fay’s got the right priorities—and they’re the pillars of the campaign.

To be a world leader in middle and elementary school education—is that a stretch?
Steve: It’s a big vision. But when we presented it to the community, it made a difference. Leadership is a challenge. It takes courage; it takes a willingness to work very, very hard. We’ve discovered that courage in ourselves, and we welcome the work. The way we teach, the way we run our meetings, the way we plan a curriculum—everything now has an added sense of purpose, of meaning.
Ron: It’s big—but it’s not far-fetched. Fay already draws kids from around the world. Alumni in other countries are starting schools based on Fay’s model. I can tell you that Fay responds to each student as an individual—someone with a specific history, specific strengths, specific priorities. And a whole team of people—teachers, advisers, coaches, on and on—is devoted to giving students exactly what they need. You don’t see that every day.
Steve: We’re trying to be the kind of school that others schools want to follow. Here’s an example. Four of our faculty members gave a presentation at the annual conference of the Association of Boarding Schools. They described a counseling program they’d designed in partnership with Boston University—one that addresses kids’ needs proactively. As soon as they came back, the phone calls started coming in: “Can we get a copy of that presentation?” “How can we do what you’re doing?” That’s what it means to lead. And we want to do it in every part of the School.
Steve White and Ron Sargent Of all the causes I could give to, why should I help Fay?
Ron: Fay’s different. It changes lives. I’ve seen it in my sons, I’ve seen it in the alumni I’ve talked to. And these people go on to change the world. I’m thinking of a young woman who lives in London and works for Google. She’s Russian by birth; when she was a boarder at Fay, she lost both her parents. Tragic—utterly tragic. She talked to me about the people at Fay—how they cared for her, how they nurtured her. Now she’s working with one of the most important companies in the world; she’s thriving. Would that happen at another school? Maybe. But I know it happens at Fay.
Steve: I’m thinking of a recent student who came to us as a refugee from Cambodia; we supported him with scholarships. When he arrived on campus he couldn’t speak a sentence of English—but he was incredibly determined, incredibly hard-working. Two years later he won the Founders’ Medal. I can’t think of many schools that can tell a story like that.
Ron: You know, I went to Harvard as an undergraduate and then to Harvard Business School, and I feel great affection for them. But if I’ve got limited time and I want to make a real difference, I’m helping Fay. I believe in the priorities, I know where the money is going, and I know I’m making a major impact. So we can keep telling those stories.

Do you have a personal stake in the campaign?
Steve: I started teaching because I wanted to be part of those aha! moments—those moments when children grasp a new concept, make a new discovery, expand their idea of what’s possible. Now I’m trying to make those moments happen for our teachers—and for the School. Every dollar raised, every goal achieved helps those moments happen more frequently, more universally.
Ron: I’ll be honest: I got involved partly because of self-interest. It’s a way for me to connect with my kids and their education—and to connect with the education of kids for generations to come.
Steve: In the end, that’s what the campaign is about: our students. Every student here is supported by a network of people: parents and family, teachers and coaches, dorm parents and advisors. If you give to the campaign, you’re part of that network, that extended family, that partnership.
Ron: This is a campaign that dreams big dreams. But you also have to live the reality. And the reality is, if we want Fay to be a leader, we have to step up as a community and make it happen. Fifty years from now, nobody will remember our individual names. But they’ll know what we did, what we built, what we created. That’ll be our collective legacy. It only happens if we come together.

Steve White has been Head of School at Fay since 1990.
Ron Sargent is Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Staples. He is the father of two Fay students, and has served on the Fay School Board of Trustees since 2004.