News & Events

ACS students, faculty, and staff gathered in the gym to celebrate the beginning of the school year and to honor the different nationalities represented in the school. First, everyone was welcomed, by Head of School, Mr. Greg MacGilpin, to the 113th academic year of ACS. Reprising his role of presenting the countries who are represented at the school and their flags, Mr. Karim Abu Haydar, Deputy Head of School, read the list of country names. As he read their names, a representative student, bearing the flag of that particular country, walked in a procession around the gymnasium. In total 70 different countries were represented.

When Mr. MacGilpin came back to the podium, he spoke about the coming year and led an exercise that highlighted the school’s diversity and commonalities. He turned the simple exercise into a lesson on the ACS approach to leading a well balanced life. Referring to ancient Greece and the Oracle of Delphi, everyone was asked to reflect on two messages: nothing in excess and know thyself. Both of which are important factors in leading a well balanced life.

Athletic Director, Joe Toler, also gave his message of leading a well balanced life and the importance of mental and physical balance. When the high school student body Executive Council came to the podium, they showed a video that they had prepared. In the video, they had interviewed students on campus asking them to explain what a well balanced life is and ways to obtain it while at ACS. At the end of the convocation, MacGilpin encouraged everyone to “find something at ACS to help you maintain balance, to be who you are, and to live all day, all knight!”