The Haverford School celebrated the Opening Day of the 2022–2023 school year on Sept. 8.

In keeping with tradition, the day began with the Walk of Virtues procession, where Sixth Formers guide kindergarteners to the opening day assembly on Sabol Field at M&J Spencer Stadium.

Head of School Tyler Casertano and student body president and Sixth Former Luka Sekulic addressed the assembly, announcing the virtue of the year as “integrity.”

High Standards

“The standards you set for each other, the culture of integrity that you reinforce, the ways you support each other and hold each other accountable — that is ultimately what will determine whether or not we are our best selves,” Casertano told the students.

Sekulic invited students from each division to live their lives with integrity, reminding them that “integrity means action.”

The Virtue of the Year

That commitment to integrity as the school virtue of the year then became the bedrock of the comments that followed.

“We are defining [integrity] as ‘dedication to the virtues,’” Casertano explained.

“The word integrity stems from the Latin word integer, which means whole or complete. …[W]e are whole or complete [when] we are living in accordance with our virtues.”

Being Whole

Casertano then defined how to be whole, describing it as an exercise in:

• Reaching inward to be unafraid to take risks or fail
• Reaching downward, as leader, to younger students
• Reaching upward, to alumni, faculty, teachers, coaches, and advisors for support and encouragement
• Reaching out, to classmates, yes, but also to students beyond immediate friend groups

Being Complete

Casertano’s closing words included these: “Your ability to hold yourselves accountable to our virtues when no one is there to do that for you is fundamental to our ability to be complete.”

In Sekulic’s parting words from a student perspective, he said, “As these Haverford walls have stood here solid for the past decades, it is our integrity that gives these buildings history, culture, and reputation.”

The assembly ended with the singing of the alma mater and the traditional strike of the school gong.

More from the remarks of Tyler Casertano at the opening of The Haverford School academic year is online.