Each August, Rowland Hall holds Convocation, a traditional gathering that brings our community together to connect, learn, and celebrate the start of a new school year.

This year’s event, held the morning of Friday, August 23, centered around Rowland Hall’s 2024–2025 theme, Joy. In the words of professor and author Dr. Gholdy Muhammad, joy is “the embodiment of, learning of, and practice of love of self and humanity, and care for and help for humanity and the earth. Joy encompasses happiness/smiles, truth, beauty, aesthetics, art, wonder, personal fulfillment, and solutions to the social problems of the world.”

Joy encompasses happiness/smiles, truth, beauty, aesthetics, art, wonder, personal fulfillment, and solutions to the social problems of the world.—Dr. Gholdy Muhammad, professor and author

Convocation has long included speeches by the student body president and a member of the alumni community, but for the first time this year, the annual event also included speakers from the fifth and eighth grades.

“It was important to us to include fifth and eighth graders so that all of the students in attendance, from the Lower School to the Upper School, saw themselves represented in the program,” said Dr. Chandani Patel, director of equity and inclusion. “As our theme is Joy, we thought it made sense for peers to welcome everyone back to school and talk about how they relate to this theme.”

This year’s Convocation speakers included fifth grader Kyeran G., eighth grader Shea G., 12th grader Gemma Ciriello, and alumna Elizabeth Izampuye ’17. Each reflected on what joy means to them and the many forms joy can take, and asked those gathered to look for joy in their own lives and work to create joy for others. Their beautiful words inspired Convocation attendees and illustrated why Rowland Hall prioritizes amplifying student voices.

“Our strategic priorities guide us to be more student-centered in all that we do here at school, and sometimes grown-ups need to step out of the way to let the kids do their thing and shine,” said Dr. Patel.

We invite you to enjoy this year’s Convocation speeches by watching the video below, or click to read the speeches.

Student Voices