I am thrilled to begin the 2012-2013 school year and to extend a warm welcome to both new and returning students and families. Today - Orientation Day - was a wonderful day as we introduced our newest members of the Foote family to their teachers and student hosts.

I am looking forward to tomorrow morning! The first day of school is a beautiful experience at Foote, as families greet one another with warm hugs and children skip into school to see their friends and teachers. It is one of my favorite days!

This year will be particularly exciting; the Jonathan Milikowsky Science and Technology Building, named in honor of a Foote graduate, is completed. We will have a community-wide celebration and ribbon-cutting this Sunday, September 9, at 1 p.m. I hope you will be able to attend.

The building is remarkable in so many ways: architect Maryann Thompson uses reclaimed materials throughout, including wood from the seats at the Yale Bowl, which would have otherwise gone into the trash during the stadium's renovation. That wood is now being used again for seating, this time for the Milikowsky Building's interior benches. The wood is beautiful, sentimental, and indicative of the many ways in which Foote - and in particular the Milikowsky building - embraces sustainability. 

We are growing the next generation of environmentalists here at Foote, young scientists who will bring their knowledge of and appreciation for nature into the world to make a difference for its future. This building will be a laboratory for them. As we begin this new year, we thank all who helped to make this wonderful building a reality, and we congratulate all Foote's middle schoolers, who will benefit so beautifully from it!  

I'll see you all tomorrow - bright and early and ready for that first day of school photograph.

Sincerely,