Around CampusBush News
Courage Shines During Convocation 2025
On the morning of Wednesday, August 27, hundreds of refreshed and smiling faces congregated in the Middle School Courtyard to celebrate the Fifty-Second Convocation, a hallmark tradition at The Bush School marking the start of a new academic year. During this momentous occasion, friends reunited after a long summer, students greeted their beloved teachers, and alumni reminisced about their time as students on the Bush campus as they listened to advice from talented student speakers and thoughtful words from tenth Head of School Sarah Smith.
President of the Board of Trustees Karim Lessard ’89 was the first to welcome the community to the 2025-2026 school year. He credited Bush with instilling tremendous courage in him during his time, emboldening the young students to form new connections.
“The education I received at Bush and the relationships I formed gave me the confidence to take really big risks,” Karim shared. “My hope for all of you this year is that you have the courage to be your authentic selves and have the openness to see and appreciate the people around you.”
He graciously welcomed the newly appointed Head of School Sarah Smith, who is the first woman to assume the leadership role since Midge Bowman in 1997.
“I believe Sarah will do more than a wonderful job,” Karim said. “She’s going to be transformational.”
“Our theme for this year is ‘Courage,’” Sarah announced. “Courage to move beyond one’s comfort zone and extend outward to those who may appear different than us. Courage to share our authentic selves, to be real and to be kind, even when it is hard. Courage to trust in this school and its people at a time when trust in many institutions is at a near-record low on the national level.”
Sarah then shared a heartfelt story from her family’s history about what it means to have courage, solidifying the importance of opening one’s mind to new perspectives and possibilities.
“When we allow schools and educational experiences to push our own thinking to extend our sense of connection and belonging, we truly begin to learn and grow into the best version of ourselves,” Sarah said. “At Bush, this kind of growth is rooted in courage.”
Heidi Narayan, President of the Bush Families Association (FA), asked parents and guardians to have the courage to participate in the Bush community through this year’s volunteer opportunities, such as assisting with Fall Festival booths or serving as a chaperone for the Bush SKIBUS.
“Volunteering is a fantastic way to meet other families, get involved in your child’s school experience, and in your community,” Heidi said. “When we come together, we create a culture of shared learning, mutual respect, and collaboration that enhances the school experience for our children.”
Student speakers Nora V. ’33, Lourdes M. ’30, Margot S. ’30, and Eddy V.-S. ’26 each conveyed what courage means to them individually, expressing how they found their own sense of it through their lived experiences on and off campus. Nora’s most courageous year was Kindergarten, when she enrolled at Bush during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I was super nervous about making new friends and what my next thirteen years at Bush would be like,” said Nora. “On the first day, it turns out, we were split into pods, a potential class divided in half. My pod had only five people in it, including me! I gained the courage to make new friends and be part of my new school.”
Lourdes and Margot, both Eighth Grade students at Bush, teamed up to deliver a humorous and relatable Convocation speech, defining the meaning of courage in a multitude of ways.
“The word courage comes from the Latin word 'cor,' which means ‘heart,’ “ Margot explained. “In its earliest forms, 'courage' meant speaking your mind and expressing your heart, but over time, the definition has shifted. A quote by American poet and activist Maya Angelou describes it well: 'One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest'.”
“In my house, ‘courage’ is a very important word,” said Lourdes. We even have a dog named Courage. I used to be afraid of dogs, but spending time with Courage helped me overcome my fears. Ironically, our dog is scared of many things, but she is loving, and we say it takes the most courage to love. My family defines courage as 'doing the difficult thing,' whether that’s skydiving or just saying what’s on your mind. As my dad says: ‘a life built doing the difficult thing, is a life of integrity’.”
Eddy, a ‘Lifer’ student who attended Bush from Kindergarten through Twelfth Grade, shared his personal connections to this year’s theme, emphasizing how he practices courage through performances with his band or through expressing his cultural identities.
“In writing this speech, I was very fortunate and privileged to have the ability to visit grandparents and extended family in Ecuador over the summer,” Eddy said. “At the dinner table, I asked what courage meant to them. They told me how in Spanish, they say ‘Coraje’, and like its English counterpart, it means bravery, it means standing up for what's right. But they also told me how “Coraje” means anger, the kind of anger that stirs inside you when you see injustice. And that's what’s different, because coraje doesn't just stop at recognizing issues, but it fills you with the force to act. And in our united states and abroad, to have coraje is to recognize the issues others face that we as a community are privileged enough to be guarded from.”
Eddy left the community with a final statement to ponder:
“As a Bush community, we can’t just appreciate the power and privilege that we are given at this school, the privilege to not think about these issues and to keep ourselves, our children, and our families sheltered away from frontiers of war and walls of hate, but we must have the courage to act, to give and give and give again that which you have to spare. We must address those in our greater community that don't have as much as we do; we must not shelter ourselves away inside the borders of our institution.”
The Fifty-Second Convocation came to a harmonious conclusion when Middle School Music Faculty Matt Swanson, Upper School Music Faculty Landon Ashby, and Lower School Music Faculty Juliana Cantarelli Vita led the crowd in a joyous sing-along to commemorate courage, community, and the beginning of a fantastic new year.
In case you missed Convocation, view a recording of it here.
The Bush School is an independent, coeducational day school located in Seattle, WA enrolling 749 students in grades K–12. The mission of The Bush School is to spark in students of diverse backgrounds and talents a passion for learning, accomplishment, and contribution to their communities
3400 East Harrison Street, Seattle WA 98112 (206) 322-7978
The Bush School does not discriminate in matters of employment, recruitment, admissions, or administration of any of its programs on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national or ethnic origin, disability, gender, or sexual orientation. In addition, The Bush School does not discriminate in matters of employment on the basis of age or marital status