Over the summer, Head of School Peter Becker ’95 spent two weeks at the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) in Wyoming’s Wind River Valley.

“The most incredible thing about the two weeks was how focused and single-minded my classmates and I got to be for those 14 days,” Becker told the Taft community during his 2024 Convocation address, “how easy it was to pay attention to one thing.”

Attention, Becker noted, is “arguably the most important capacity we have as humans. What we pay attention to is who and what we become.”

“How can we be more deliberate, individually and as a school, about cultivating habits of attention that are life-giving and aligned with how we want to spend our lives?” Becker asked. Perhaps the answer lies in the Taft School motto: Not to be served but to serve. 

Watch Becker’s full Convocation address below.