Message From Matt Byrnes

Dear Wooster Alumni Community,

What a day we had together at our Homecoming on October 5, 2024. It is hard to pinpoint my favorite, or most impactful, moment. Was it the event at which we honored Young Alumni Award winner Iris Mustich ‘12, – and Alumni Award winner Bing Shen ‘67, – for living lives of exemplary accomplishment and goodwill? Was it going down to the Archives and seeing current students and alumni pouring over the many photographs and other materials contained there? Was it hearing testimonials for the dearly departed at our Service of Remembrance? Maybe it was standing on the sidelines watching our current soccer teams and listening to the reminiscing going on all around. Having the privilege of watching a remarkable short movie about Wooster made by Rawn Fulton in 1973 might have been the most poignant, as members of the audience realized that they were actually IN the movie! Certainly, my meeting with members of the great Class of 1964, swapping their memories of Wooster history classes with accounts of my own current Stories of America at War class, was a big highlight for me. The list goes on.

Of course, it was the whole experience that mattered, just as it is the whole experience of Wooster School that matters for anyone who has been a student, faculty or staff member, or parent at our school. Those of us who make our lives here now are blessed, and Homecoming reminds us that we are both standing on the shoulders of those who came before, and actively strengthening the legacy of a school which continues to ask from each according to ability, and give to each according to need. We had a great day. Thank you.

Be well,

Matt