The term “brotherhood” is used frequently around campus. On sports teams, in assemblies, musicals, and so many other parts of how our students experience the school, brotherhood is considered the foundation of our community. Having a brotherhood suggests a community where everyone has trust and support and feels they have a place.
Does everybody feel that way about the school community?
“Throughout different stages of my life at Haverford, lower school, middle school, and upper school, brotherhood had the same noticeable strength but in different ways. In high school, I feel that bond when I’m doing things I like with my closest friends.”
Devon Royal ’29
Jerry Collins ’29 says, “I truly felt the brotherhood when I was on the wrestling team. Outside of the team, the brotherhood was less noticeable.”
This suggests that brotherhood could be felt within smaller communities rather than the whole community, though it’s stated in Haverford’s new mission statement that “each boy is known, challenged, and supported.”
Devon Royal ’29, who has attended the school since pre-Kindergaren, says, “Throughout different stages of my life at Haverford, lower school, middle school, and upper school, brotherhood had the same noticeable strength but in different ways. In high school, I feel that bond when I’m doing things I like with my closest friends.”
A community-wide brotherhood may be unrealistic, and the brotherhood might truly be special, just with closer friends. After all, if you have a couple of close friends that you can connect with throughout and maybe past your time here, that is something special in itself.
During a recent upper school assembly, Head of School Mr. Tyler Casertano discussed the school’s past competitive culture, claiming that it prevented students from forming that bond that Haverford labels a brotherhood. Maybe part of that competitive culture remains, the very reason some question the brotherhood in the first place.
In our greatest moments, after a sports team wins, after a successful musical, after a Sixth Former commits to a really good college, our brotherhood truly shines.
While the school’s brotherhood is not without challenges, its ideal is meant to be imperfect. Brotherhood is meant to be built over time and through struggle, and it will have to be tested. Ultimately, it is up to us, the student body, to decide what the brotherhood will look like today and tomorrow.
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