Paying Tribute to a Master
This past weekend, we paid tribute to former CA headmaster Chuck Froelicher in a very special event at Colorado Academy. I have included below just some of my remarks from the tribute. I want to thank the hundreds of friends, former students, colleagues and community leaders who joined us on that day; one former student wrote to thank CA for the remembrance and said it was “a day that all of us whose lives were touched by Chuck will remember for as long as we have the gift of memory.”
I want to welcome all of you to this gathering in celebration of the life of F. Charles Froelicher— a gathering so large that we could not host it in the building on this campus that bears his name – the Froelicher Theater. Your presence here is a testament to the impact this man had… on his colleagues, family, friends, faculty, and students. From West Chop in Martha’s Vineyard to the Mountains of Colorado, and from Washington DC to a former student who has traveled all the way from Auckland, New Zealand to pay tribute today.
I am Mike Davis, Head of School at Colorado Academy. I could not be more honored to have that title, knowing that Chuck Froelicher was one of the visionaries who preceded me. And though he had not been in that position since the late 1970s, Chuck’s impact on me and on this school was profound. As one of the founders of Colorado Outward Bound, he shaped the course of experiential education in this country. And, as Executive Director of the Gates Foundation, he had an important impact on the city of Denver and the State of Colorado.
My role today is to talk about Chuck Froelicher as Head of School of Colorado Academy. I feel honored to have known Chuck and to have been considered a friend. I am humbled that he wanted me to speak today. He loved CA, and his association with the school. His leadership represented a great triumph, and we can see his legacy in all that transpires on this beautiful campus. Simply put, Chuck and his vision have enhanced the lives of thousands of young people.
There are many types of leaders. In the school world, it is very rare that we come across someone like Chuck Froelicher. There are people in leadership positions who are essentially managers – we see them all the time ---, and then there are transformational leaders -- and we rarely see these individuals. Chuck was decidedly a transformational leader. He made bold decisions, and empowered those around him.
Chuck would honor me in our conversations by talking about CA as “your school, Mike.” But, we all know that schools don’t belong to the Head of School. In our roles, we have the privilege of service. We understand that it is a collective effort, and Chuck modeled this. When Chuck would talk about the early days of the school, his sentences would frequently mention others who worked with him; from Trustees like Francis Newton and Tom Howard, to teachers like Steve Marks and Bill Matesone, or students like John Sullivan and Paul Raether. In my many conversations with him about the history of the school, he would always tell stories about the people of CA. Chuck understood that schools are a collective enterprise, and he would credit the decisions and important roles many people played in the founding of the school.
He would give of himself and utilize those connections to help others. Rod Oram of the Class of 1970, who is here today from New Zealand, wrote to me after Chuck’s passing. His story is worth sharing. Rod came to CA from the United Kingdom.
“Chuck in particular, and CA in general, were hugely formative for me -
picking me up from a very low point, and giving me meaning and purpose in my life.
So, deeply unwilling to return to the UK at the end of my year at CA, I
applied to Northwestern. David Woods encouraged me to do so!
Northwestern offered me a place. But my family back in the UK couldn't afford to help me at all financially. …
Hearing of my plight, Chuck, unbeknownst to me, called the Admissions
Office. He persuaded them to give me a full four-year scholarship, loans
and a job so I could be self-supporting.
Very simply, Chuck changed my life.”
These stories abound, Chuck’s personal intercession into the lives of his students and colleagues to help them and to transform their lives.
Given the challenges that CA faced in its early years, it would have been tempting for any leader to just hang on. Chuck had to wear many hats just to keep the school afloat: director of admissions, business manager, director of development, and chief irrigator. Yet, Chuck, not only kept the enterprise moving, but had a vision of a school that continues to this day…as a place of challenge and experience.
He told me, “The future is providing kids with an opportunity to self-discover. Self-discovery built on the premise of William James, and Kurt Hahn. You've got to provide opportunities for young people to discover themselves.”
“People start to learn when they actually begin to do something,” Chuck has said, “not when they are being talked at. The greatest success a teacher can have is to see a student take charge of his own learning.”
It is a vision that resonates today with so many school reformers, and another example of how Chuck was a pioneer. He understood how learning is a personal interaction. He told me, “[Students] need a variety of ways in which they can discover what kinds of talents they have. Some people discover it in the classroom. Some people discover it on the basketball court. Other people discover it in the art room. [These] give you every opportunity to discover what your outer limits are.”
Chuck would come back to this theme of “outer limits”—of pushing students to discover themselves. This comes through challenge and rigor and through experience. Chuck created a school in which students find themselves through experiencing academics, the arts, athletics and outdoor education. This is still the core of who we are at CA.
During his time as leader, Chuck saw supporting the faculty as his essential role. He trusted his teachers. He described to me that former teacher, Tom Lee, who worked at CA for a decade and went on to lead his own school, once told Chuck, "The reason I've really loved my time at CA was any time anybody came in to your office with an idea, they'd walk out and say, ‘Chuck said do it." Tom went to Chuck and got his support for starting an orchestra. Chuck recalls, “I didn't go check the manual to see what I was allowed to do or not allowed to do. …We just did it.”
Chuck wrote to me and to the other speakers today about his wishes for this celebration and we intend to honor his memory in a joyous manner. He told me, “I have found my connection with a greater power; [which] seems to have come to me whilst hiking, fly fishing, and climbing in the Rockies, cross country skiing, and star gazing.”
I know that, when I am outdoors, I feel this larger connection to the universe. Chuck understood the power of connections. I know when I explore the wilderness – whether it is in nature or the wilds of running a school, I know Chuck will be with me, as he will be with all of us.
© 2023 Colorado Academy
