Ten years ago this month our school was in a very different place than where it is today. We were going through some serious challenges when I asked our assistant head of school, Silvia Larrauri, to come to my office. “What I’m about to ask you may be the most difficult thing I’ve asked yet, but I need you to take on the mantle of interim head of our school, effective immediately.” I didn’t know how Silvia would respond — I had been praying all day that she would respond the way I’d hoped she would. I expected that maybe she’d say “I need a little time to think and pray and talk to my family about this.” But without a moment’s hesitation Silvia responded “Pastor Willie, I love this school. I will do anything for our school.” And then, a few months later after a nationwide search, we — Board of Trustees, Vestry, and I — called Silvia to be our Head of School.
And so began an amazing journey. A journey whose 10th anniversary we mark today. A milestone in a continuing and ever-evolving journey that, I hope, will be marked with more decade milestones in the years to come!
There is so much to be proud of in our school because of Silvia’s visionary leadership, I don’t even know where to begin! When members of this church founded St. Stephen’s Episcopal Day School 56 years ago I doubt they had any idea of how this school would evolve to become not only renowned throughout Miami, but literally also nationally and even internationally. I doubt they could ever imagine that people would flock from all over to study our St. Stephen’s approach to education or to attend something called “Miami Device” about how bettere to integrate technology into the classroom, or to see how children learn about science, technology, engineering, and math by building things in one of our two “Fab Labs.”
I know our founders would be happy to know that children from many different faith traditions gather in this very building (which had only just been built when they founded our school) twice a week to worship in the Episcopal tradition: once a week in a Morning Prayer service and once a week in an Episcopal mass complete with “smells and bells.” I know our founders would be delighted to know that our students are highly sought after by the area’s middle schools not only because they are well prepared academically, but even more so because of their personal character — their commitment to live lives shaped by the words of our school’s covenant: “With God’s help I will be respectful, honest, kind, inclusive, responsible, and a good ambassador.” The founders from our parish would be happy to know that our students begin every day by saying those words, followed by a pledge to the cross, the flag, and the environment. Our founders would be proud that our school was the first to be recognized for excellence in spiritual formation by the The Center for Spiritual and Ethical Education, that Silvia is on the executive council of the National Association of Episcopal Schools, and that our newest building received the LEED Gold level for being environmentally green.
The members of this church who founded our day school over 50 years ago would also delight to know that our traditions continue: kindergarteners as saints on All Saints’ Day, the Christmas pageant, Baccalaureate Sunday, the Maypole at graduation. They would delight to know that our teachers love what they do and that a new pre-school student told her mother just a few weeks after school after school started this year “Mommy, I have to go to bed early so that I can wake up early and get back to school!”
It takes a special kind of leadership to nurture, foster, and empower a learning environment such as the one we are blessed with in our day school. And we are here today to celebrate and give thanks for that very kind of leadership that Silvia Larrauri embodies. Standing on the shoulders of people who came before her — not only the founders from our parish, but also other heads like Agnes Johnston and Lynne Allen — standing on their shoulders. Silvia took the reins during a challenging time and charted a course that has brought our school into the highest realms of what 21st century education is about: creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication all fed by a strong sense of community.
Silvia is inherently gifted with the personal attributes as well as skills that foster the kind of leadership a school like ours needs. She has vision. She is passionate about what she does. She stands up for what she believes in. She is willing to take risks. And above all, with Silvia, it’s always, always, always about the children. Always and every day.
But there is something else: at St. Stephen’s, both in our church and in our school, we are committed to the understanding that at the heart of the universe there is a loving God who loves each one of us unconditionally and has given us each gifts and talents to help make this world a better place. And the “something else” is also connected to the story in St. Matthew’s Gospel we just hear Father Mike read. A group of people who are, to put it mildly, not fans of Jesus try to trip him up with a trick question. They ask him “teacher, is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor?” Jesus then tells them to show him a coin and asks “whose head is on this coin?” The answer of course is “the emperor’s” to which Jesus replies “”Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.
But see, here’s the funny thing, and the main thing: as Christians we believe that all things are God’s (including of course the coin Jesus’ enemies have just shown him…). All things are God’s. All things are created by God and given to us by God. Our gifts, our talents, our skills — all of these are gifts from God and the only way we can even begin to repay God for those gifts is to use them to make this world a better place.
Knowing Silvia as I do, I know that it is from her understanding of being given gifts by God that has empowered her to be the leader she is. She does not do all that she does for herself or for her own personal glory. She does it out of a deep-seated faith that God has given her certain gifts and wants her to use them to make this world a better place. That faith is what enables her to take risks — literally to step out in faith. That faith is what empowers her to stand up for what she believes in. That faith is at the root of everything she does. And that faith is why our school continues to flourish because at the core of it all is the understanding that there is a loving God at the heart of the universe who gives us each talents and skills to make this world a better place.
Silvia, we are gathered here today to mark an important milestone with you. To celebrate with yo and to give thanks for your on-going visionary leadership. I personally thank you for saying “yes” ten years ago and we all collectively thank you for saying “yes” to our school every day since. May the milestones keep coming! And may God continue to bless you as you have blessed us. AMEN.