The archives collection in the mezzanine section of the Concord Academy library stores countless documents pertaining to Concord Academy. There are issues upon issues of the Centipede dating all the way back to the 1960s, when the Centipede was first founded. One such issue from November of 1995 allows us to examine what has changed about our community and what remains a core aspect of this school.
On the front page is the article “Rabin Assasination Sparks Discussion”. This article describes how students were affected by the assasination of Yitzhak Rabin—a major promoter of peace in the Middle East. The writer interviewed deeply disturbed students and wrote about how the school came together for a moment of silence and reflection. This illuminates that the CA community was able to unify and support each other during sad times. Our current community also is very supportive of each other, including in the face of tragedy, so this remains a key aspect of CA.
Also on the front page was an article about the arrival of David Rost—at that time, the new Dean of Students. The writer interviewed Rost and was evidently disturbed when Rost yelled at him for being late. Later in the article, he sarcastically noted, “Always modest, Mr. Rost described himself as ‘suave and debonair’ in high school.” However, the student still produced a piece that effectively conveyed Rost’s goals for the future. Rost ended up staying at CA for 22 years. When asked about him, George Larivee—a math teacher at CA who came here in 1998—said, “He was amazing. He worked really, really hard. He worked too hard.” Larivee added that “He, literally and figuratively, had a large, very large presence on campus.” Martha Kennedy, CA’s library director and archivist who has been at CA since 1994, believed that he was focused on upholding rules. She added that, “He was gruff but he had a very warm, a very soft heart when you actually had things happen with kids and talked.”
Additionally, the issue contained an article titled “Weekend Update” that discussed changes made to the weekend schedule. What stood out was a mention that underclassmen had to do 10 hours of community service. When asked about why this changed, Kennedy said, “One of the talking points was something about forcing people to volunteer seemed counter to what we were trying to do.” While it certainly is not ideal to force students to do activities they do not want to take part in, it seems like students in 1995 likely gave back to their community more than we do right now.
However, what stood out the most in this issue as an article about Common Trust. The writer lamented how stealing was rampant in the community and Common Trust seemed to be crumbling. When asked about the issue, Larivee said that during his time at CA there have been waves of theft—he suspects that these are caused by a very small number of people. Currently, Larivee believes that we are not in the midst of these waves. While theft is just one aspect of Common Trust, this demonstrates that the amount of trust we can put in our community right now is something we should be grateful for.
Overall, the November 1995 issue of the Centipede gives us a glimpse into what life at CA was 30 years ago. Some things—such as community service requirements—have changed. However, the support our community provides for each other has remained an integral part of CA. Common Trust, which seemed to be in a dire situation in 1995, is certainly in much better condition now. In some sense, it is very reassuring to think that in 30 years we can count on the CA community still being strong.