NCS Opens Its 116th School Year

The annual Opening Cathedral Service began with a procession of each 4th-grader joined by a 12th-grader — signaling the path of education at NCS. The program featured readings from students in Grades 6 through 12, hymns sung by the Cathedral Girl Choristers and the NCS Chorale, and an address by Head of School Kathleen O’Neill Jamieson, who encouraged the students to take note during the school year of “how your world is expanding and how your understanding of it is evolving.”

“Maximize your growth by looking for it. Define your progress not merely by successive courses or grades but by milestones of maturity and understanding.” Jamieson said. Noting that the students “follow in the footsteps of thousands of alumnae who have graduated into the world,” she told them, “All that you are required to do and all that you choose to do prepare you to make your contribution to a world that needs you.”

The service closed with the blessing of the flag and the singing of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Immediately afterwards, NCS student government officers raised the flag just north of the Cathedral — a tradition that dates to the very beginning of the school — to mark the official start of the year.

For the rest of the day, NCS’s three divisions followed different paths. Upper School students divided by grade to take part in class activities, Middle School students went through orientation and took part in a multimedia project examining NCS’s core values, and Lower School students were dismissed early.

A collection of photos from Opening Day is in the Media Gallery.

NCS’s first day of classes will be Tuesday, Sept. 1.