On Saturday, May 9, the Wellington community gathered in the Blanchard Performing Arts Center, named in honor of the school’s second head of school, David Blanchard, for a morning that was equal parts farewell and celebration. Alumni, founders, current and former faculty and staff, campaign donors, and trustees came together to honor the original 1918 building on Fishinger Road and mark the beginning of the transformative renovation ahead.
Program
Head of School Eliza McLaren welcomed the community, honoring Wellington's history while turning forward with excitement toward what is being built. She was followed by David Blanchard, Wellington's Head of School from 1987 to 1997.
Blanchard spoke about the founding vision with the warmth of someone who lived it: a school where teachers love to teach and learners love to learn, balancing academics, arts, and athletics, and committed to seeing each student as a unique and developing person. He shared stories of early faculty who embodied that vision in inventive ways — a science and art teacher who built a replica of Monet's garden at Giverny with students and parents, a classroom experiment with baroque music during silent reading that quietly transformed how students engaged with the material. It was the creativity and determination of those teachers, he said, that made Wellington what it became.
He also spoke honestly about the school's early years being far from certain. There were moments when Wellington's survival was genuinely in question, and it was the trustees and parents who refused to let it fail that carried the school through. Because of what the faculty had done for their children, those families stepped forward. Wellington continued to grow, and it is still here, stronger than ever.
Blanchard closed by noting that before writing his remarks, he had watched the school's video and was struck by how fully the founders' original vision is being realized today.
Next, a Campus Master Plan video gave attendees a nostalgic look into the past and a full look at the scope of the renovation: nearly 70,000 square feet of campus to be transformed, including a new Upper School entrance on Fishinger Road, renovated arts spaces, Middle School expansion, and new outdoor courtyards. Watch the Campus Plan video here.
Eliza then recognized the donors whose early generosity made this moment possible, inviting those in attendance to stand as the community offered its appreciation.
Memory Share, Groundbreaking & Reception
The community moved outside to the Fishinger Road entrance for the heart of the morning. After a group photo in front of the 1918 building, Eliza opened the microphone and invited the community to share memories.
Founders Jeff Wilkins and Jack Ruscilli spoke about the purchase of the building in 1981: the vision, the risk, and what it felt like to stand in front of it knowing they were about to start something. Then four members of Wellington's early faculty stepped forward, each with a story that made the building undeniably human.
Darrel Ivy grew up attending school in that very building when it was a UA elementary school, and came back decades later to teach in the same classroom. She also spoke about how the school's founders stepped in to help purchase computers for her classroom in Wellington's early years. Mary Potter revealed that around the year 2000, her classes made time capsules and placed them in the floors now slated for renovation. She reflected on how the sense of community she found at Wellington has extended well beyond retirement, and that working with the kids there was the best part of her life. Jill Webb shared the humor and camaraderie of being part of something entirely new, and how the space and the school evolved together over time. Chris Robbins shared that it was Kathy Pinson, her own high school English teacher and later Head of the Upper School, who brought her to Wellington in 1991. Her favorite memories, she said, were watching her own children grow up in these halls. The sense of family is the reason she stays.
Across every voice, the theme was consistent: the 1918 building was never just a building. It was where something remarkable began.
Eliza closed the memory share and invited current board chair, Jim Croft, alongside founders Jeff Wilkins and Jack Ruscilli to unveil the new "Coming Soon" signage for the Upper School entrance. The vision was suddenly, concretely real.
The morning concluded with a reception in the Performing Arts Commons and the Wilkins Courtyard, with classrooms open along the way for attendees to take in the current spaces alongside renderings of what they will become.
The 1918 building may come down this summer. But the people who filled it — and everything they built together — aren’t going anywhere. For those who were there, the photos say what words can’t quite capture.