Numis Dinner, 2026
Welcome. Thank you for being at Ridgeview and for being here this evening to support our school and our students. Thank you to Wendy Rankin, Stevie Daigneault, Sarah Banzhaf, Sarah Jones, Katie Johnson, Katie Gates, Lindsey Idem-Steele, Hanneke Boon, Heather Radzay, Megan Estes, Cindy Stark, Jackie Casper and Vanessa Somarriba for serving on the Numis Committee and for bringing us together tonight, and who consistently make the humble nobility we aspire to look so refined.
I do not want to interrupt the energy of the evening with a lengthy speech, but I do want to offer a few thoughts about why what we do matters in hopes that it might encourage you in your generosity.
A student said a remarkable thing in class the other day while we were discussing Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. In describing how the artist had invested the whole of himself into the painting of Dorian, she said, “It’s like the Greek word ‘meraki’ (μεράκι), where you do something with soul, passion, creativity, love…it is “pouring your essence into what you do.”
In my youth, I enjoyed the great privilege of studying at some of the best universities in the world. People said profound and interesting things, but I do not know that day by day, week after week, year after year, I can recount so many reassuring, affirming, and positive experiences with people as it is my still greater privilege to have had in working with our students and parents at Ridgeview.
And, here’s the thing. That discussion about meraki took place not a week ago, and if you asked me the week before, I could have related an equally incredible interaction that took place on the ice climbing trip to Ouray, and the week before that something else.
Something incredible is always happening at Ridgeview. It is happening because we get to work with wonderful students, and we have you to thank for lending us your children and giving us this opportunity. Because they are wonderful, I think we can all agree that what they deserve goes well beyond what the state provides for. What you give tonight enhances the quality not only of their education, but of their experiences at Ridgeview over the course of as much as thirteen years of their lives. To put some brief numbers to this: Colorado spends an average of $11,852 per K-12 student, but spends around $58,265 per prisoner incarcerated by the Colorado Department of Corrections. We spend between three to five times less for students than prisoners. Moreover, we are competing academically and experientially with private schools charging between $40,000 and $80,000 per student per year. Ridgeview is punching far above its weight in what it offers, but it is constrained by financial limitations.
Money is about more than money. Money is freedom and opportunity. It is an investment in a vibrant, wholesome, thriving community. That it is a good investment is evident in conversations around campfires on outdoor trips, in every elementary classroom or curriculum party, in the profound discussions on history, politics, and morality around a seminar table, and among the parents at the reading groups. It is evident in thoughtfulness and laughter, even frankly in the tears and somber moments when you know absolutely that what you are witnessing from a teacher, a parent, or a student has been done with a sense of purpose and meaning. It has been done with meraki as that student would have said. To give some more numbers to how thoughtful this community has been, since 2013 when I began as principal, the parents have read and discussed 327 essays and short stories as well as 83 books. I cite this not to boast about how erudite we all are, but because doing and discussing all of that reading together requires commitment and has made us a more authentic community. Moreover, in a single year, our students went on 55 outdoor trips, spent 93 days outside, and with the help of 362 parent volunteers. 145 of our middle-school students participated in athletics, 120 elementary students won character awards, 286 upper-school students were on the honor roll, and 378 volunteers recorded 16,574 volunteer hours! For those concerned about college admissions and scholarships, the Class of 2025 received over three million dollars in scholarships, were accepted to 47 distinct colleges and universities, including international programs in Ireland, Scotland, and Canada. When I say that we are thriving, I think my point is supported by both tangible numbers and intangible sentiments that warrant generosity.
Generosity has ripple effects. The giver rarely knows the full meaning of their gift. You do not, for instance, know every student or teacher, you cannot envision how it will benefit those who’ve not yet enrolled in the school, or how it might transform in a small or large way the lives our students live beyond our campus. That may all seem a grandiose claim given that we are principally raising funds to purchase lockers, though I think students will HUGELY appreciate those lockers. Money is fungible: what we raise tonight augments the total available, and frees up other money to be spent in a myriad of ways that enhance our students’ experiences.
Thank you once again for being here tonight. It’s an honor to be a spokesperson for something I am so impassioned by and convicted in, and I am deeply appreciative of being allowed the opportunity to see firsthand the way your generosity can transform lives. Our money usually buys things, but tonight, it can make people better and better society.
