Be bold! Growth Begins with Courage Convocation 2026

Student Council President Aksel Hennesy-Newman ’27 welcomed students, faculty, and staff to Saint John’s Prep during Convocation on August 19, marking the start of the 2026-27 school year. Drawing on his own experiences, Aksel reflects on the challenges, friendships, and growth that have shaped his Prep journey. He encourages students to embrace new opportunities, take meaningful risks, and be bold as they begin a new year together.

Read his full Convocation address below.          

Good morning everyone,
Welcome to the start of the 2026-2027 school year! I am so incredibly grateful to be standing here with you today. Thank you to Dr. Glomski, Father Edward, faculty, staff and all of you who are returning, whether it’s your 2nd or 7th year, for being here today. To all of you who are new, I can’t wait to meet all of you, and I have no doubt that you will love Prep. I’d also like to thank Cerys John ’27 for officially editing my speech and drawing frowny faces on my first rough draft!

I wanted to start off today by talking about something at Prep that we are all familiar with: our ID photos. I came here in seventh grade, and I kept that photo guarded away like some kind of secret. It showcased me on one of my first days, with chubby cheeks and a slicked back side part. But keeping that photo out of sight seemed to just shrink me as a person even more. I ended up spending the whole year shoving myself into every friend group in both seventh and eighth grade. Lunchtime was set in a different spot every day, each time experimenting with how I meshed with the other people around me. But I didn’t, and it just felt more disappointing each time I realized that. I ended up enduring a year of awkward situations with people I barely knew.

            But those awkward moments were not only contained to social situations. In fact, a majority of my friends would account that I am a very embarrassing person. One of my earlier examples of this was auditioning for the musical “James and the Giant Peach” during my first year at Prep. In the audition room, I could barely hold the paper because of how much I was shaking, and it was likely the palest I have ever been, but I got the part! And to this day, when I see Prep parents in public, they ask if I played the worm 5 years ago.

Still, I’m definitely not the only bold one in the Class of 2027. A big group of guys in my class gave each other buzz cuts in the middle of the history hallway last year! Sofie Pauly ’27 became one of the first students to go on the study abroad trip to Mexico. Hendrick Schlude ’27 sang so aggressively in his first lead role that his voice died by around the third performance. Season Edwards ’27 has simply never denied the chance to talk to a new person. In fact, there’s a VERY big chance you have, or will be, greeted by her this year.

My point in calling out the senior class is not only to make fun of them, but to show that being bold has gotten us to where we are today. You’re going to encounter rough moments during your time here. Whether it’s grades, a health problem, or a social situation, you should know that you can learn to be bold and take risks to find yourself again.

So seventh grade was over, and the summer afterwards, which I had spent mostly with people from my old school. Eighth grade rolled around and I wasn’t sure if I would even come back to Prep. I debated my choices over and over, but I decided that I wanted to keep trying. It was a couple days into the year, and all of a sudden I had found my group. And, prior to being friends with them, my only interaction had been a DM on discord of them asking to trade m&m’s for fidget toys I won in the Middle School white elephant auction. I couldn’t even explain how it happened if I tried, because it seems like I just sat down with them one day and something clicked.

And now, it’s senior year, and all of us still have those same ID photos. I’ve stopped wanting to hide that photo, despite how embarrassing it is, because I like to think about how much Prep has changed me for the better. I look out at this sea of students and I feel so hopeful for what you all will accomplish. You and your classmates will win sports competitions, scholarships, academic tournaments, and do so many incredible things. You’ll meet new teachers with every year that you progress, and learn how different and inviting each one of them is. Maybe you’ll be really intrigued by the class that they teach, or maybe you’ll eat lunch in their classroom every day, and then one day, you’ll be asking them to write your letters of recommendation.

You’ll do what everyone here has done and become friends with students in the grade or two above you, and then cry when they graduate, and then you’ll do the same thing the year after that. You’ll get super stressed from how much this school pushes you and then get that amazing relief when you realize you’re past the worst of it.

Most importantly, the school will change you during your time here and you will change the school just as much.

I can’t force any of you to be excited for this school year. But I hope that all of you cherish each day that you spend here. Seniors, it’s our last year to enjoy the school before we head to college, and everyone else, the time that you have here will fly by, and soon enough you’ll be starting your senior year. Take advantage of your opportunities here. Live in the moment and experience things as they happen. Let the people around you push you to be a better person, and BE BOLD.

With that, I welcome you to the 2026-2027 school year.