From the Campaign Committee Chair

Dear Cardigan Family,

It is with excitement, pride, and tremendous gratitude that I find myself writing to you, the members of this loving, vibrant, and supportive Cardigan community, as we celebrate the conclusion of The Campaign for Cardigan 2020. The key objective of this Campaign was to ensure that Cardigan had the facilities, the programs, the people, and the stability necessary to thrive as it begins its second 75 years. Suffice it so say, we have been successful, far beyond even the ambitious objectives set out over a decade ago. Because of your generosity to Cardigan–in so many ways–our favored School is well positioned to lead in defining and delivering the world’s very best experience in the education and growth of middle school boys for many, many years to come.

As a Cardigan graduate and four-year boy myself (Class of 1992) and now a trustee of seven years, every trip back to The Point is filled with a mix of old memories and new experiences. As a result of the great progress that the School has made in overhauling and expanding the physical campus, many of the places that I called home look very different and in some cases are almost unrecognizable. I am sure that’s where my bed sat in Banks House, but where did the classic 1970s “wood” wall paneling go? I know that this is where I sat, in Hopkins, for Mrs. Small’s English class, but it can’t be because the countless holes in the “Swiss cheese” ceiling tiles into which we launched our pencils are gone. But, these changes are unmistakably all for the better. 

Similar to the constant pace of change of the places is that of the faces. While very few of my former teachers and the wonderful staff from the early 1990s are still on active duty at Cardigan, I delight in surprise encounters with them from time to time, whether it be the hearty greeting of “Karlton!” (I assume it is spelled correctly although I’ve never see it written) from Wim Hart H’08, he noticing me before I him, or connecting with Dave ’80 and Steff H’16 McCusker P’09,’10 at an event, or Bev Wakely H’01,P’70,’73,’75 remembering me so many years and many more boys later, and certainly Dudley Clark H’05 surely still correcting me each morning, today from on high, over my mussed hair or missing belt. Best of all for a Cardigan alumnus, perhaps, is when a current boy eagerly invites lunch-table adjudication from a visitor to settle a debate over some aspect of “what was” extant or not, permitted or not, gotten away with…or not.

It is truly the magic of Cardigan that you can always come back and find the familiar, because as much as it changes, it also stays the same, again unmistakably all for the better. Today’s incredible, talented faculty and staff are just perfect for the Cardigan of today, ready to meet the boys of today in new ways, guiding them through experiences and learning and challenges, both similar and different, from the ones I surmounted during my time. The facilities are undoubtedly fresher and more capable, outfitted with the tools and space to let talent shine and to provide the space for the boys’ minds to expand as a result. The natural environment of The Point, well, is still The Point and the lake the lake and the woods the woods. And that part hasn’t changed a bit, which is wonderful. There will always be a next adventure waiting for a Cardigan boy in this special place.

I share these thoughts to highlight why, as the board Development Committee chair and the chair of the Campaign since 2014, it is so personally important to me that you have shared with, given to, and supported Cardigan so generously and in so many ways; my time at Cardigan was an incredibly formative part of my life and I ascribe so much of my growth and success to this place. You have together catapulted the School forward through transformative changes that will pay dividends to the boys who come here, for generations, so that they too might enjoy this unique opportunity. 

The team that has stewarded this process and this School over the past decade also deserves our collective thanks for all that they have done to set this vision and pursue it with determination, imagination, and care. To David Martinelli P’13, who handed off the baton of Campaign leadership to me at its midpoint: I hope that I have made you proud. Thank you for your vision and energy and tireless work for Cardigan; you built an amazing ship and I sailed it into port. You said to go “up and to the right” for Cardigan, we did, and we got there! And, to the incredible campaign staff, helmed throughout by Director of the Campaign for Cardigan 2020 Sandy Hollingsworth: you are amazing in what you have so lovingly done to grow, nurture, and steward such a supportive community of friends of Cardigan. Clearly, this is an extended Cardigan family that takes joy in supporting this unique School and delivering its mission. 

Of all that we have achieved together over the course of the Campaign, the most impactful outcome is that we have secured Cardigan’s capability to lead and prosper in the education of middle school boys, in the Cardigan Way, for a long time to come. And for that, I am very thankful.

In the spirit of gratitude for this incredible community,

Karl G. Hutter ’92
Chair, The Campaign for Cardigan 2020