Every September, the Montrose School Student Government leadership team selects an inspirational theme for the new school year. This year’s theme, ZEAL – enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or objective – sums up the purposeful enthusiasm that Montrose students bring to all their adventures, whether in their studies, sports, theater, clubs or service projects.
Zeal is not just a passing emotion but a virtue. St. Thomas Aquinas states in his Summa Theologiae that zeal flows from an intensity of love. In a school, we should seek from God the virtue of zeal – to “seek to imitate, where possible, the goodness or excellence we observe in others,” as Monsignor Charles Pope wrote in the Catholic Standard.
Senior Kate Novack ‘24 invoked the spirit of zeal as she greeted the audience of prospective families at our Admission Open House this fall: “Welcome to what I hope will be your new home – a home where I have felt valued for who I am, the unique gifts and talents I am able to put at the service of others, and the joyful spirit that I, and all my Montrose sisters, feel each day.”
Inspired by this theme, I shared with our students the story of a woman who exemplified zeal: cryptanalyst Elizebeth Smith Friedman, an American war heroine, poet and codebreaker. She took her love of Shakespeare and proficiency at solving puzzles and applied them to intercepting and solving enciphered messages – work that was instrumental in helping the U.S. win both World Wars.
I asked the girls to think about the question: What are you made for? And I shared Montrose’s answer: You are made for greatness. As they have heard often at Montrose, every student, and indeed every person, is unique, unrepeatable and called by God to discover her noble purpose, in order to transform the world for the good.
As I told the girls:
