As I began what I believe may be my 600th Ebytes article, I reflected on many of the wonderful people I have met and events that have occurred at Shorecrest over the past 15 years.

I estimate that 14,580 students have attended Shorecrest over those years. 1,061 have commenced and are now Shorecrest Alumni. Colleagues, parents and I helped, and at times even pulled out of cars, many of those reluctant students who are now graduates when they were in Experiential School and Lower School. It is truly wonderful to see them now!

Shorecrest wouldn’t look the same if not for soon-to-retire Headmaster Mike Murphy. Most of the campus as it exists today was built during his 15 years of leadership. Proud as Murphy is of the role he has played at Shorecrest - which he emphatically calls “supporting only” thanks to the leaders who came before him - he’s more gratified to have helped remake the school’s approach to education.

In June, the Shorecrest community will bid farewell to the Cooper-Nixon family. Paula Cooper, the matriarch of the family, has been a volunteer dynamo at Shorecrest from day one! Paula’s most lasting legacy at Shorecrest will most likely be establishing the International Connection group.

We salute our Shorecrest community members, Chargers Alumni and all those who serve in the medical and health care industry. Thank you for your dedication to the health and wellbeing of those in your care.

Jackson Stovall Willis ‘15, who began Shorecrest in Jr. Kindergarten, graduated Valedictorian, was Shorecrest's first U.S. Presidential Scholar, was named Outstanding Senior in 2015, and headed to Yale University. There he studied in the Directed Studies Program in Western Thought, the Peace and Dialogue Leadership Initiative, and Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy, where his research focused on shareholder activism for social responsibility. Jackson is the first Exceptional Distinction designee from the Yale Humanities Program in over two decades.