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Convocation Rings in a New Year and 50 Years of Coeducation
Stacey Boyer '76, McDonogh's first female graduate, speaks about the value of coeducation. See more pictures from Convocation below.
McDonogh’s Convocation on a crisp Wednesday, August 27 morning, not only celebrated the start of a new academic year but also marked the 50th Anniversary of coeducation at the School. The occasion began with members of the Class of 2026, along with prefirst and first grade students, walking down the hill to Childs Memorial Terrace.
Dr. Kevin Costa then offered the invocation in his role as Director of Spiritual and Ceremonial Services. Head of School Dave Farace ‘87 warmed up the crowd of students, faculty, and staff with a few “dad jokes” before briefly reflecting on the transformative value of coeducation and introducing Stacy Boyer ‘76, Vice-President of the Board of Trustees and McDonogh’s first female graduate.
Boyer painted a picture of McDonogh in her first year, contrasting it with today. She noted that of the 40 girls in Upper School in 1975-1976, eight were in her graduating class, which had 92 boys. At the time, McDonogh offered 22 sports teams, but only three exclusively for girls—field hockey, basketball, and lacrosse. She added that some girls infiltrated the riding, cross country, diving, and riflery teams, making them coed. Boyer also described the impact girls in the performing arts; before coeducation boys played all the roles on stage.
Beyond the arts and athletics, she emphasized how girls enriched the McDonogh community: “Girls brought new perspectives and insights to academics and the creative endeavor, and boys learned to communicate with girls on a different and more mature level and to collaborate with girls as peers.” “Why is this important?” she asked. “Because life is coed. The earlier we learn to communicate and collaborate, and to respect each other, the more enriched our lives will be.”
The program continued with words of welcome from Reid Swirnow, President of the Class of 2026, who reminded students, “With the right mindset, you can have fun doing almost anything.” He was followed by Fritz M. ’30, who encouraged the community to “take risks and grow as people.”
Concluding speakers from the prefirst class, Annika D. and Everett W., wished everyone “another wonderful School year at McDonogh!” and offered “good luck to the Senior Class of 2026.” Convocation closed with the ringing in of the new school year by Jon Aaron ’72, the longest-tenured faculty member, using a traditional school bell gifted to McDonogh School in the late 1980s by its sister School in Odessa, Ukraine.
