By Charles Franklin, Head of School, Hackley School
(adapted from Mr. Franklin’s Sept. 4, 2025 Convocation speech)
At the beginning of each school year, we come together and sit shoulder to shoulder at Convocation.
One reason for this tradition is that we are one community, united in our association with each other. We are different ages and come from different towns, but we have one essential fact in common — we are all Hackley Hornets.
Head of School Charles Franklin addresses Hackley students and employees at the Convocation ceremony to kick off the 2025–2026 academic year.
The reason this connection is so important is that we are More, Together. We are better, together. We are stronger, together.
I’ll come back to this concept, but first I want to tell you about my love of lists.
I really like making lists. Each day before work starts, I write out on my notepad my tasks for the day. If you are in a conversation with me for longer than five minutes, depending on your interests, I will probably end up asking you questions like, “What are your three favorite books?” or “What are your favorite soccer stadiums in England?” or “Which U.S. cities do you want to travel to?” In addition to these conversational lists, each summer, I also list out my goals for the year ahead.
SCENES FROM CONVOCATION 2025: Seniors and Kindergarteners make their way to Akin Common; Lower School teacher Sue Harmon greets her former students; Hackley’s Mixed Chorus performs the alma mater.
This summer, I started off by listing a number of technical, detail-oriented tasks that I knew I wanted to achieve — items like, “Be more organized with my work calendar” and “Write my Convocation speech.” However, when I stepped back and looked at my eventual list, I immediately realized my mistake — I was focusing too much on myself.
My goals were all specific to me, centered around me, and were not focused enough on others. My guess is that many of you will know exactly what I mean. If I asked you for your goals for the year ahead, you might reply, “I want to earn good grades this year,” or, “I want to make the varsity soccer team,” or, “I want to get a lead role in the play.” And, for the record, those are fine goals that I am supportive of.
But the most important advice I can give you as you begin the 2025–26 school year is to orient your goals toward others. Let’s imagine what your list of goals might say instead:
- I want to be kind and empathetic to everyone I interact with.
- I want to make sure everyone on the soccer team is buying in to the team’s culture and chemistry.
- I want to help make the play excellent by giving confidence to nervous younger actors.
These are goals that focus on how you interact with others, not with yourself. This is an incredibly powerful shift in your mindset, and here’s why: focusing on the well-being and success of other people is, in fact, the key ingredient in living a life of purpose and meaning. You will be happier, more driven and prouder when you make progress toward goals focused on other people than when you make progress on goals focused exclusively on yourself.
Now, to be clear, there are of course many goals we can set for ourselves that are important, and oftentimes we have to focus on ourselves before we can show up fully for others. But there is a danger in looking inward too often, because the real joy of life, the actions that define our legacy, the things that really matter at our core, they are inextricably linked to your connection to other people and the communities you’re a part of. This is why the most meaningful and emotionally resonant moments of our lives are almost always directly tied to other people.
Hackley students and employees gather on Akin Common for Convocation 2025.
Sometimes in life, and especially when we are young, it can feel like this advice will hold us back. You might think, “Mr. Franklin, if I don’t focus on me and my individual accomplishments, I won’t become rich or famous or successful.” And some of you will — some of you will go on to become wealthy, and some of you will become famous, and some of you will go on to become extremely successful in your careers. And that is all wonderful.
But that is not why Hackley exists. We exist as a school to provide you with a foundation to live a life of meaning, of purpose, of service to others and humankind, and to go forth from the Hilltop and lead with character, respect, empathy and civility.
So, I challenge you as you think about your goals for the year ahead to think about how you can uplift your peers, how you can serve as an inspiration for younger students, and how you can help Hackley be More, Together.
About the author: Charles Franklin joined Hackley as Head of School in July 2023. Throughout his career in education, Mr. Franklin has focused on building community and creating opportunities for students and faculty.
