Alli Camp ’14, Alex Archambault ’14: As the 2013-2014 school year commences it is evident that the Episcopal Academy has entered a new era. While there is a plethora of new teachers and new students, the most obvious change is the new trio in the highest administration positions, Dr. T.J. Locke, Dr. Catherine Hall, and Dr. Delvin Dinkins. With Dr. Locke as the new head of school, Dr. Hall as the new assistant head of school, and Dr. Dinkins as the new head of Upper School, one would think the school might be in a rocky position but all three seem very optimistic about the year and appear to have good handle on things. Scho- lium sat down with all three to discuss the state of the new administration and inquire about their thoughts or anxi- eties about the coming years.
Each of the three ex- pressed how often the group meets and how close they all are both in and out of school. Hall explained, “We’re talking all the time right now. That’s really what Dr. Locke brings to the table, heavy collabo- ration. He brings people to- gether around conversations whenever they need to hap- pen. It isn’t overly structured. We certainly have planned
meetings and occa- sions when we meet several times a week. But really on a daily basis we’re all talk- ing to one another.” Indeed, Locke and Hall were seen con- versing at an EA up- per school tennis match the day before our interviews. “We had to talk about a few things,” relayed Locke, “and I said why don’t we ride over to the tennis match and that way we can talk about what we need to talk about, but at least we can be seeing tennis at the same time. So that’s part of the idea of being out and about, we can still talk about what we need to talk about, but it’s much more fun when we’re watching our students!” When asked if the three had any major plans or if changes have been already made, the three answered with a resound- ing “no.” Hall disclosed, “I think what drew Dr. Locke and Dr. Dinkins to Episcopal was this strength of program and this quality of experience for our kids, faculty and everybody else. They certainly weren’t looking to come in and make any major shifts.”
Locke affirmed this, “I think ‘major changes’ is way too strong for a school that’s in such good shape. With me being new and Dr. Dinkins being new, I don’t think any changes that we’ll make would be considered major. I think we need to really under- stand the culture here; we need to understand what people value. I certainly want to do things quickly, like get to know the se- niors and make sure their year is special. But those wouldn’t be considered major changes, not in our first year.”All three agree
this is an exciting time to be at the Academy. Locke conceded, “I think I’m just energized by the talent. Not only is my leadership team smart, capable, and talented, but they’re also fun to be around. We like each other, so it’s nice to come to work every day with people that you enjoy hanging out with. They’re funny and we get along, and it just doesn’t feel like work. I hope I can bring that sense of fun to the whole school.” Similarly, Dinkins revealed that he was most excited about “the energy and the fresh ideas.” He stated, “I’m ex- cited that Dr. Hall has such
a wealth of what I would call institutional knowl- edge. She’s been here for 10 years, so her foot is in a lot of different places.” Locke also saw Hall’s value, “For Dr. Hall, it’s really not a new role actually. It’s very much a similar role. I think her title was worthy of a change. So when I came I was simply changing her title to what’s appropriate. She’s been doing that kind of work for a while now.”
Dr. Hall had some equal- ly flattering words to say about Locke and Dinkins, “they both care passionately about kids. They both have their groundings as teach- ers, and I think that’s going
to be felt by the students.” In regards to the future, Dinkins stated “There is a magical quality to EA that is sometimes not so visible when you’re here because you’re living it, but when you’re new and coming in, you have a different appre- ciation for it because you can see it immediately. We want to make sure that that magic is not only visible to people outside of EA but also make sure that the people who are here appre- ciate it. And for students, to make sure they’re able to live it. Today actually in our fac- ulty meeting we did an exer- cise around that to see what people thought was magi-
cal about EA. We looked at both our strengths and vulnerabilities as a school. If we can dream the dream, what might we put into place here for students?”
Concluding his inter- view, Locke expressed how he wanted the student body to become involved in his positive goals. “I hope that the students will catch our excitement, and will help us to cre- ate it, and will try to work with us. That’s really why we’re in this field, because we love kids and want to make great things happen. Hopefully we’re seen as being on the same team. That’s important to us.”