Groton Welcomes New Families to Campus

Groton School has welcomed 107 new students to the Circle! The majority arrived on campus Saturday morning, September 7, while others arrived earlier in the week for preseason athletics. All began a weekend of orientation activities—getting to know the school and one another.

 

On Saturday morning, new students stopped first at the Headmaster’s House, where they greeted Headmaster Temba Maqubela and Mrs. Vuyelwa Maqubela, as well as their assigned Sixth Form advisors. The Sixth Formers introduced new students to Groton, helping them through registration and into their dorms. Throughout the morning, students in bright orange shirts—the “move-in crew,” carried boxes and suitcases from cars and vans, easing the burden on arriving families.

 

Families new to Groton this year traveled from five continents. The came from nineteen states—Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, and Washington—and twelve countries—Austria, Bermuda, Canada, China, Egypt, England, Ethiopia, Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, and Vietnam. Besides boxes, bins, and bedding, the students brought talents as varied as their hometowns.

 
Forty-eight percent of the incoming students are receiving financial aid, including many in the often-overlooked “middle"—a reflection of the school’s emphasis on inclusion and the successful GRAIN (GRoton Affordability and INclusion) initiative. 

 

After lunch and meetings with faculty advisors, parents of new students gathered to hear the headmaster speak. Mr. Maqubela discussed Groton’s “dynamic equilibrium,” explaining that while the school adapts and improves, “certain constants of this place remain the same—scholarship, service, globalism, and spirituality.”

 

He urged parents to write old-fashioned letters to their children and thanked them for the faith they put in Groton. “To have you entrust us with your children," he said, "is such a great privilege.”