To view a recording of the Installation of Polly Oppmann Fredlund, please click here. 

Good afternoon, Westover.  Welcome to the Wests - are you out there, and the Overs - can I hear you. Welcome to all who have gathered here today both in-person and through the live-stream.

I am honored and humbled to stand before you today with Sally Port at my back and my feet facing north toward our future. We gather here inside the embrace of the Quad and the history of this space. This incredible space that was first imagined by Mary Hillard and Theodate Pope Riddle and brought to life over time by countless generations of Westover students, faculty, and staff. 

You can feel their spirit here if you listen closely - opening doors on the first floor to classrooms and the daily work of teaching and learning. Cheering under the trees and marching past us with traditions like Rallying, AA Germans, and graduation. Students above us peering out the open windows on Corridor, calling out to a friend across the Quad from one dorm room to another. They are all here with us—our community past and present.

And, I stand here today inside the embrace of all of you. As I look out around me, I see the students, current and former faculty and staff, alums, families, and friends of our beloved Westover. I also see my family, my people— my mother and John, sister, husband Camron, daughters Sigrid and Louisa, my beloved in-laws and the various members of my tribe —who have collectively been cheering me on my whole life. I am pleased that my great aunt Kay Logan Schrenk, Westover Class of 1948, is also represented here today by her daughter and husband Meta and Mike Carr and her son Will Schrenk. 

I arrive at this day full of joy and pride as this collective community stands behind me, holding me-up and pointing us toward the future. I am grateful and honored to accept the charge to lead Westover as the Eighth Head of School.

I want to share my deep appreciation with the Board of Trustees for entrusting me with this tremendous responsibility, and welcoming me and my family to Westover with warmth and authenticity. The Board's unwavering belief in the school’s mission is nothing short of impressive. They serve as guardians of our galaxy, keepers of our mission—to empower young women to lead lives of consequence—ensuring that our north star remains bright for generations to come.

I also want to share my gratitude for Kim Hoagland, Chair of the Board of Trustees, for her steady leadership. Kim has served as a trusted partner through my transition. She is a fellow academic and a true champion of Westover. It is notable that Kim’s roots reach back to the founding days of our school—starting with her grandmother Esther Ward Kimball Class of 1918  and her mother Cynthia Kimball Hoagland Class of 1942. A member of the class of 1969 herself and an astute historian, Kim values our school’s past while simultaneously pointing us boldly toward our future.

And it is you—our students— gathered here today who represent our purpose. We come together on behalf of YOU, and our shared belief in the transformative power of a girls-centered education. You are part of an incredible sisterhood and global community here at Westover. We believe in you and your ability to make this world a better place with your ideas, spirit, and ferocity. 

And just over thirty years ago, I was sitting in a seat similar to yours at Hathaway Brown School, an all-girls school in Shaker Heights, Ohio, alongside thirty-seven classmates. I too was seventeen. I was supported by dedicated teachers like Pauline Thornton, Kavita Hosali Syed, Laurette Payette, and Amy Longley. I understood from my teachers what it felt like to know and be known. I belonged. I mattered—my perfectly, imperfect teenage self. I learned to write and think and do. I made mistakes. I fell down and got back up again. I saw myself as a leader as I became one. 

I see this same spirit of care and engagement amongst the faculty here at Westover. This community of teachers and staff are remarkable—kind, patient , approachable, and dedicated to your intellectual and personal growth. They are cheering you on each and every day.

Our founder Mary Hillard believed in the transformative power of education. She imagined a world for women that was bigger and brighter than the one she found before her in 1909. Her formidable spirit set a course for generations of Westover students to reach their full promise and potential and her vision still guides us today.

Girls’-centered education is powerful for so many reasons, and top among them is that you are the central character in your story. You are the protagonist, the hero in this world that was built specifically for you. These buildings, the supporting characters of teachers and staff,  and the limitless opportunities to think, to do, to be — place you at the center. 

Your experience at Westover will in fact shift the gray matter in your head. You will see yourself and the world differently because of your time here. It will interrupt the cultural norms we all internalize of what girls can and cannot do. And when you step out into the world, those roadblocks of bias and gender inequity will still exist, but you will be equipped with an incredible toolbox, extraordinary superpowers that were earned here through hard work and perseverance. 

And your superpowers do not come in the form of a cape or truth lasso, but rather they manifest in your intellect, your ability to ask questions, work across difference, think creatively, and challenge the status quo.

Pat McPherson served for twenty years as the president of Bryn Mawr, a women’s college and the beloved alma mater of Westover headmistress Louise Dillingham. During her time leading Bryn Mawr, McPherson noted, “The purpose of a liberal arts education is to make your head a more interesting place to live in for the rest of your life.”  What you learn here at Westover will not only set you on a path to see the beauty and complexity of the world around you, but it will also equip you with the skills to lead a life of consequence. To leave this world better than you found it. We are counting on you. 

And this is not your work alone. I stand before you today to accept the charge to lead our faculty, staff, and administration and to partner with the Board of Trustees to ensure we rise boldly to the challenges of our times and equip you with the knowledge and skills required to make a difference in the world. Together we will honor our history while focused on the future. Together we will imagine a world bigger and brighter than the one before us.

On this glorious afternoon, I want to acknowledge and share my gratitude with the Heads of School who came before me, including Joe Molder who is here with us today. In schools— leadership matters—and I am full of gratitude to this group of school leaders, especially our founders —Mary Hillard and Louise Dillingham—for giving us our roots and setting the bar so high.

I also want to take a moment to thank the women who prepared me to step into this leadership role—my mother and grandmother. I am especially grateful to my mom Lydia who showed-up for my sister and me each and every day. My mom taught me how to love deeply, the value of hard work, and above all how to persevere. My life was equally impacted by my maternal grandmother and namesake, Polly Jane Schrenk, whose spirit and ferocity put her on a path from Sandusky, Ohio at the age of fourteen to be the first in her family to go to college, changing the trajectory of her life and the generations of women to follow.

I could not be here without my husband Camron who anchors me today in a partnership where I can be my full self. Forever my biggest cheerleader - with him I am all things a mother, a wife, a friend, a girl boss—that unapologetic and ambitious woman who defines success on her own terms.

My family started this ceremony by lighting a lantern that was gifted to me this week from my Aunt Ruthie, a member of the Westover Class of 1962. Ruthie was at my mom’s first birthday in 1945 starting a lifelong friendship, and she spent her high school years here at Westover. This lantern was passed onto Ruthie from her sister Benita Patterson Barnes Class of 1946 after Benita received it from Loretta Maxwell Howard Class of 1944. This lantern symbolically merges the people and stories of my past with Westover, and it is fitting as your new Head of School that it was used by both Wests and Overs. This lantern is over eighty years old and was illuminated today for the first time in sixty years. It is extraordinary to think that this lantern, full of light, was used for the same traditions our students experience today. 

We are a community bound together by the incredible light of Westover, by our mission, our students and teachers, our extraordinary alumnae community, our traditions, and our shared belief in the boundless promise and potential of our students. 

I am so thrilled to get started and look forward to celebrating this historic day and this next chapter with all of you. May the light of learning and a deep seeded belief in our purpose guide us in all the days to come.