‘I cannot wait to begin this work with you’

Principal Elliott kicks off new school year — Exeter’s 246th — with her first Opening Assembly.

Energy and excitement infused Love Gymnasium on Friday as Principal Jenny Elliott officially began her first school year as Exeter’s 17th leader by welcoming students, faculty, staff and emeriti to Opening Assembly.

In keeping with Academy tradition, faculty began the ceremony by proceeding through the crowd to take their seats, as Music Instructor Jung Min Lee played Gaudeamus Igitur on piano and students rose to their feet to applaud. Students then filed in bearing flags from many of the 39 countries and several Native American nations represented in Exeter’s student body.

Read Principal Elliott’s full remarks

Assistant Principal Eimer Page, Dean of Faculty Meg Foley and Dean of Students Ashley Taylor joined the principal onstage. Foley introduced this year’s new faculty members and the five longest-serving faculty members. Page honored a group of distinguished emeriti faculty members that included former principals Bill Rawson (2018-2026), Tom Hassan (2009-2015) and Kendra O’Donnell (1987-1997), and collectively represented more than 1,000 years of service to the Academy.

Elliott began her remarks by welcoming new students to campus. “One of the most important legacies of our former Principal Rawson that I will work hard to maintain is the clear and consistent message that each and every one of you belongs here,” she said. She added that the three phrases that Rawson invoked in every Opening Assembly — “You can do the work. You will make lifelong friends. Absolutely, you belong here.” — are now enshrined in the Mary H. Rawson Reading Room in Davis Hall, a fitting tribute to the legacy of her predecessor.

In a long-held tradition for Opening Assembly, Elliott spoke of the mission and values of the school as set forward by John and Elizabeth Phillips in 1781 in the school’s founding document, the Deed of Gift, and carried on in the Academy’s modern mission statement: Unite goodness and knowledge and inspire youth from every quarter to lead purposeful lives.

“As your principal, I will work with you, day in and day out, like industrious bees in our shared hive, to carry out our mission,” Elliott said.

The importance of well-being

Elliott’s remarks touched on the importance of managing the stress involved with the pursuit of achievement in the classroom, on the playing field and beyond. “Here at Exeter, we dream big, we aim high, and we work hard,” she said. Accepting that excellence does not mean perfection, she said, allows us to focus instead on progress and betterment, while maintaining our well-being.

“To pursue progress every day, we must build habits that support balance and sustain our efforts,” Elliott said. “Help-seeking, healthy sleep, intentional technology use, relationship-building, time outside, small daily acts of kindness, play and joy.”

Elliott read several excerpts from a thoughtful letter sent by an alumnus of the class of 1968 and said she shared his belief in the “durable qualities of an Exeter experience.” She also expressed an optimistic view of the ability of the Harkness philosophy to withstand challenges posed by modern technology, including cell phones and generative AI.

“At a time when the rapid expansion of machine learning rattles our conception of being, doing and contributing, we get to uplift our most essential human strengths and build our human intelligence,” Elliott said.

An invitation to connect

Elliott struck a personal note in her remarks, giving the audience insight into her personality, character and mindset as she begins her tenure as principal. “I cannot wait to begin this work with you,” she said. “My first responsibility is to be a student of this place and its people. Please come and sit with me in the dining hall, walk the paths with me, invite me to a practice, rehearsal, or club meeting, cheer with me on the sidelines, and visit me in J. Smith and in my living room in Saltonstall House.”

A graduate of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, Elliott is a lifelong educator who spent more than a decade at her alma mater as a U.S. history teacher, dean of students and assistant head of school for residential life. Before coming to Exeter, she served as head of student and academic life at Choate Rosemary Hall, overseeing nearly all aspects of the student experience.

“I delight in young people,” Elliott said near the end of her remarks, before dismissing students (beginning with the senior class) to head to their first classes of the Academy’s 246th school year. “You are the source of my optimism and the very best part of my work. You are the very best part of this community.”