On Tuesday, Feb. 11, Head of School Tom Dillow, along with the Senior Leadership Team, presented the 2025 State of the School Address in Roberts Theater. The evening began with a reception at 5:30 p.m., followed by the start of the program at 6:15 p.m. This night was the fifth annual State of the School Address and highlighted the success our school has seen in the past year, while also providing an opportunity to look ahead to the year to come.
Although the event received over 200 RSVPs initially, the State of School Address later had to be rescheduled. Fewer people were able to attend the rain date, but there was still a great turnout. Mr. Dillow shared lots of information about the past year at KO and what the school will see in the future. He spoke about how the State of the School Address is important to have each year so everyone in the community can stay connected. “It’s a chance for us to update you and to inform both about what’s going on now and what’s ahead for us here at Kingswood Oxford School,” Mr. Dillow said. “It’s also a time to celebrate the many accomplishments of our students and our school overall.”
Mr. Dillow shared the school’s athletic accomplishments and achievements within the past year. Junior Austin Perkins won the Connecticut State Amateur Golf Tournament last year as a 16-year-old, and is the youngest competitor in Connecticut history to have won. The girls tennis team and girls softball team both won their New England Championships. The football team had successes throughout the regular season that led to their first bowl game in many years. The boys basketball team won the KIT tournament again. A Dallas Cowboys cheerleader came to the school to teach dance to the football team and students in the Choreographer Showcase. The 2024-2025 winter musical, “A Chorus Line,” won the Halo Award for Best Classical Musical in Connecticut, an award which KO has won three times out of the past four years in which the ensemble was nominated.
Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Richard Mutts spoke at the event about the importance of his job and how DEIB is more than just an abbreviation within our KO community. “Our community is only as strong as the belonging that we cultivate within it,” he said. “The work isn’t about labels to me; it’s about the people. It’s about ensuring that every individual at KO feels valued, respected, and heard every day, every time they step foot on this campus.” He shared that KO will grow because everyone values one another and that it is important to be a close community. He ended by sharing that DEIB is utilized not to divide, but to bring us together.
Mr. Dillow gave special shoutouts to many leaders within the community including Executive Assistant Sherri Malinoski, Director of Marketing and Communications Jackie Pisani, Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications Julie Rose (who secured a partnership with Avelo Airlines that provided the plane tickets awarded to the winner of an attendee raffle), Director of Technical Theater Michael Bane, Director of Camp KO Sheri Shea, and the Board of Trustees that makes important decisions regarding the school’s finances. He also gave a huge shoutout to leaders of the parent association, President Meghan Wildstein and Incoming President Jenn Palmer. “We’re so grateful for all of the parent volunteers, for all of you that come and show up and give back to the school, to come to support the kids and support the faculty, support the mission of this wonderful school,” Mr. Dillow said. “It really means a lot.”
Head of the Middle School Ann Sciglimpaglia and Head of the Upper School Lisa Loeb both spoke and shared about the Skills Incubator classes in the Middle School and IMPACT classes in the Upper School. These classes were designed to get students even more involved within both the KO community and the West Hartford community, finding ways to improve everyone’s experiences. Following this, seventh-graders TT DePratti and Alexander Gingeleskie and sophomore Genesis Frimpong shared their experiences in these classes and how they have enhanced their KO journey. Director of College Counseling Jami Silver ’96 also came up to the podium to share that many KO alums wished there was a program like these Skills Incubator and IMPACT classes. She also shared statistics about the acceptance rates at schools KO students have applied and gotten into.
Ms. Silver also talked about how senior Ryan Sadowsky (who wasn’t able to attend the event) did an independent study with Mr. Bane last year called “Energy Optimization.” In this study, Ryan looked into the inefficiencies of the Roberts building and came out with an extremely high level of research and analysis, impressing many leaders in the community.
To encourage more students to do projects like what Ryan did, Mr. Dillow spoke about two key elements that are highlighted in the KO mission statement: involvement and community. He believes that by fostering students’ skills in these domains, the KO community will grow and thrive and be a better place for everyone. He shared that faculty, administrators, and students have been working hard to make the school community even more inclusive and kind.
Mr. Dillow also shared the number of enrollments for this year: there are 503 current Wyverns in total, with 144 students in the Middle School and 359 Upper School students. He elaborated on these statistics by explaining that KO is the perfect size: small enough that everyone is not fighting for attention and big enough for competitive athletic teams. He shared that diversity grows each year and that, currently, 33% of students identify as students of color. There are students from more than 65 towns, as well as 25 international students. He went on to say that last year, KO graduated 85 seniors, 19 of whom went on to play sports in college. This year, five students have committed to playing sports at college.
Mr. Dillow closed out the State of the School Address by showing images of what the cafeteria and library used to look like, what the ongoing construction looks like now, and what the final building is projected to look like. He said that the project is running on track and is scheduled to be ready by the first week of August, and that it is on budget.
Overall, the night went smoothly and was a great way to share the school’s accomplishments over the past year.
