A Gathering of Minds

Eagle’s Nest Plans for its Centennial
By Executive Director, Noni Waite-Kucera

They came from the East with bright, new day energy and vision. They came from the South full of compassion and sense of place.
They came from the West, with introspection and reflection. They came from the North, bearing years of wisdom.

As an Eagle’s Nest community of trustees, faculty and staff we gathered March 14-16 to plan and set priorities for our organization as we approach 100 years old. It was a remarkable 3 days of reflecting upon the input gathered at each of the 15 stakeholder gatherings held across the country last fall, the research conducted by staff, faculty and trustees and the years of experience collectively held by all those in attendance. Through a myriad of exercises that our consultants had prepared for us sprang a set of four overarching priorities for us to accomplish in the next 13 years:

• Empower a Community of Educators
• Cultivate and Celebrate our Place
• Engage the World in our Story
• Build Financial Resiliency

Within each of those of those priorities are many individual action items that you will hear about in the weeks to come. Our next step is for the staff to take our priorities and organize them into a draft timeline for approval by the Board of Trustees at the July meeting.

I can say that this weekend together just south of Atlanta was inspirational, energizing and full of promise for our school and camp that we hold so dearly. I am very grateful to everyone who participated in the pre-work leading up to the retreat, of which there are hundreds, and to those who worked so diligently last weekend to put it all together. This is just the beginning of some very exciting work!