Castilleja celebrated its annual Founder’s Day on Friday, April 24, honoring the school’s founder, Mary Lockey, and a tradition that dates back more than a century. Originally observed as Arbor Day, when students and faculty gathered to plant trees on campus, the celebration was renamed Founder’s Day in 1940 to recognize Lockey’s legacy and her lasting impact on the school community.
The campus was transformed for the occasion, decorated in bright class colors as students, families and faculty gathered for a full program of performances and speeches. The event featured performances by the upper school rock band, the eighth-grade rock band and the upper school choir.
A key moment of the program was the unveiling of the senior quilt and ovals. The senior quilt is a longstanding tradition in which each senior designs a unique square, later sewn together to create a piece representative of individual reflections and collective identity of the class. The seniors’ ovals will be displayed in the administrative building alongside former graduating classes.
Head of School Dr. Betty Noel-Pierre delivered opening remarks before three seniors took the stage to reflect on their time at Castilleja. Madeleine Chen ‘26 spoke about her evolving understanding of leadership, describing how she once worried she lacked a defining quality or, what Dr. Mohan from “The Pitt” describes as her “secret sauce.” She emphasized that leadership does not follow a single model: “Leadership looks different on everyone; you don’t need to change yourself to fit into a predetermined mold of what a leader looks like. I hope you will remember Dr. Mohan’s words, ‘Just be yourself. It’ll come.’”
Caitlin Hopkins ‘26 used the metaphor of crocheting to describe her personal growth over seven years at the school. Reflecting on her transformation from a “rambunctious and rowdy 11-year-old” to a thoughtful, attentive listener and engaged senior, she highlighted the school’s role in shaping students without prescribing a single path. “The beauty of this school is that rather than handing us a pattern, where every stitch is predefined, we instead learn how to freestyle designs that are entirely our own,” Hopkins said, adding that the community helps bring each student’s unique qualities to life.
In a humorous and original speech, Ashley Kwong ‘26 incorporated a wide variety of math metaphors—specifically polynomials and parabolas—to reflect on balance and self-definition. She described how she used to try to “optimize infinite things” in her life without a clear sense of direction, leaving her aimless and exhausted, and ultimately concluding that “maximizing often requires finding a balance.” Kwong encouraged listeners to name their goals and explore their definition of success: “The time when you feel you might be at a low or even your lowest point is also, by definition, the point at which you switch from decreasing to increasing.”
Perhaps the most beloved tradition, the program also featured a choreographed dance by the seniors’ mothers in sparkly red jackets. Following the performance, seniors were presented with roses and took photos with their mothers.
After the formal Founder’s Day program concluded, students participated in a campus-wide hunt for stuffed gators, bringing a lighthearted close to the day’s events.
