Opening Convocation: Ringing in the New Year

At the beginning of each school year, the entire community gathers at Childs Memorial Terrace for the Opening Convocation. Greetings and well-wishes are given to all, with special attention paid to the senior class. The ceremony concludes, and the year officially begins, with the ringing of a traditional school bell. For many years, the bell ringer was the head of the school. However, in 2019, Head of School Dave Farace ‘87 broke with tradition when he asked longtime faculty members Bob Mahon and Jon Aaron ’72, who each had been teaching at McDonogh for 43 years, to ring the school bell and officially start the new school year. The bell used in recent years was a gift to McDonogh School in the late 1980s from our sister School in Odesa, Ukraine.