Smitten
At the annual Founders Day, retiring history teacher Ray Cabot P’09 ’12 reflected on four decades at Peddie. The following are selected excerpts from his address.
I was drawn to Peddie in 1986 because I believed it was a school with great possibilities. While Peddie’s collective fortunes have increased and the physical plant has certainly expanded, I was wholly committed to Peddie from the outset because it was a special place.
It is important to remember that Peddie of the late 1980s and early 1990s is the school to which Walter Annenberg ’27 donated $100 million. People make philanthropic donations to worthy institutions, not needy ones, and Ambassador Annenberg (and I) found Peddie to be worthy, even if it was not perfect.
What was it about Peddie that convinced Ambassador Annenberg to invest so deeply in this place? I can’t speak for the ambassador, but I will focus on two factors with meaning to me. The first is the people I encountered at Peddie.
I have spent a lifetime in and on independent school campuses. I can say without reservation or qualification that some of the very best independent school people I have known were here at Peddie. In my experience, Peddie has always had great teachers, great coaches, great dorm faculty and great students, and the meaningful relationships forged with each other made this a special place, even back in the 20th century.
Together, these remarkable people forged a shared sense of community, cultivated a shared culture and embodied a set of institutional values that were the foundation of Peddie in those years, and it is this culture of Peddie that has kept me here for so long. That is the second aspect of Peddie that was great in 1986.
In my experience as a teacher, coach and administrator, I have come to see things as interrelated and of critical importance to any organization or entity. I believe that leadership creates culture. Culture drives behaviors. Behavior allows us to reach our expectations. Before we can think about our expectations for Peddie — what we dream, what we wish for, what we want to accomplish — we have to create a culture based on the school’s mission and values.
So what do I wish for Peddie’s culture? I wish for a culture based on mission, not transaction. I wish for a culture of consistent and committed effort, not complacency. I wish for a culture of engagement, not entitlement. I wish for a culture of proximity, not separation. I wish for a culture of gratitude, appreciation and humility, not self-importance. I wish for a culture based on passion, not indifference. I wish for a culture where we are always looking for meaning, reflection, inspiration and connection, not merely achievement. And I wish for a culture of curiosity, not judgment. Each of us has a role to play in establishing the culture and safeguarding the values of Peddie.
I fell in love with the Peddie I first encountered 40 years ago and I remain smitten by the people and the culture of the place. I hope you will grow to feel as passionate about Peddie over the course of your time here — please don’t be indifferent.
Ala Viva.