It is surreal to think that I have almost completed my first year as Head of School at Chinquapin Prep. As I grow into this new, fast-paced role and chapter in my life, I make an effort to pause now and again and take stock to celebrate the wins, even the small ones. The days zoom by so quickly! What I see is that the students are happy and taken care of, the teachers are rocking it, the community is supporting one another, we are celebrating weddings and the growing families on campus, our lovely bus drivers, cooks, and maintenance staff are all doing their parts, our roses are blooming, our grass is green again, and our seniors are counting down the days and trying their best to soak in their last several weeks of Chinquapin Prep.

I came to Chinquapin with an open mind and open heart, and I understood that though we are a small school, the Head of School role was a big job, one that expands over a wide breadth of responsibilities and one that also relies on developing new relationships and deepening existing ones. Fortunately, my own Chinquapin roots have had time to grow and strengthen. They were planted when I was 11 years old, in 7th grade. Some roots grew while I was a student, others during my tenure as a teacher and coach, and then more expanded and intertwined during my roles as Chinquapin administrator, alumni Board representative, and president of the Alumni Association. Now, as Head of School (and Chinqua-parent!), this strong foundation allows me to remain steady and focused on Chinquapin’s vision and mission that Bob and Maxine Moore set out, and it also allows me to overcome challenges that come our way.

A few weeks ago, I watched “A Pebble in the Water,” a 1970’s documentary about Mr. and Mrs. Moore’s new school. I watched it in my office after a long, exigent day. How did they muster the courage to do it, to start this school? It was bold yet vulnerable. It was awesome. The facilities were modest but filled with love and deep care, and the classrooms were led by such presence and passion. Viewing the documentary and hearing Mr. and Mrs. Moore’s voices helped me refocus, and my spirits lifted. Two things stayed with me. The first was that Mr. Moore always wanted Chinquapin to remain small. In the documentary, he said that Chinquapin should never have more than 95 or 100 kids “because it’s a boarding school, because we are living together 24 hours a day for about five days, so [in keeping the school small] we can still keep the familial aspects of the school.” “You’re still going to know the kids,” he said. He added that if we grew much more than that, we would eventually find that one day we would not remember somebody’s name and that it would be a bad thing. I feel the same way. We are a little larger than 100 students now, but we still prioritize and boast about the familial aspect, the connections, the roots. It matters. It sets Chinquapin, a small and mighty school, apart from other schools. Students build strong bonds with their teachers and mentors, which allows them to begin to build their own root systems and confidence, which they will need to help them graduate from Chinquapin and then excel in the world.

The second part that resonated with me was his comment that Chinquapin was a pebble in the water. Mrs. Moore stated that all of her students were “intrigued with the idea that once they get out of college, hopefully, they are going to go back into their communities and help the people there.” Mr. Moore followed, “I hope they retain this because, in a way, that’s what this whole school’s been about. You never know when it’s going to stop. It’ll go on and on and on, and it’ll affect the children of the [students] who’ve gone to Chinquapin. It’ll affect their families, it’ll affect their neighborhood. It may never stop. Their vision was that Chinquapin would represent the pebble that would produce far and wide ripples, and they were absolutely right.

As we wrap this school year, I continue to steadfastly believe that Chinquapin Prep’s mission is powerful. The roots and the ripples. The students and faculty. The alumni and the families. Our Board members and school friends. It motivates me to continue the good work and lead with purpose and intentionality. I also sincerely hope that as we develop new friends of the school and Chinquapin community members, they will easily see how their support of Chinquapin will allow us to provide a college preparatory education to able and motivated students from under-resourced communities and schools.

Mily Salazar Pérez
Head of School