In the summer of 2021, Head of Upper School Tracy Bonday stepped foot on campus, preparing to fully transition students from COVID-19 back to school. Five years later, with many vibrant programs established, Bonday will set out this summer to Maryland as the head of school at St. Martin’s-in-the-Field Episcopal School.
In addition to her move out of state, Bonday will be working with younger students at her new school, ranging from preschool through eighth grade. Despite these changes, one thing remains constant.
“I always think about the need to educate children holistically: mind, body, spirit, soul — however you wanted to find that third component,” Bonday said. “I always try to think about programming within that context.”
Following her personal philosophy coupled with driving Trinity’s mission, Bonday reconfigured many school programs to fully optimize student experiences, one of which included the introduction of the Sophomore Day of Service, a program where tenth grade students participated in community service, packaging food through U.S. Hunger and working with different local nonprofits.
When a new portion of Trinity’s mission statement was incorporated in 2023 to “embrace diversity in thought and perspective,” Bonday worked with faculty and students to launch a new interfaith council.
“(The mission is) something that constantly has to be evaluated and looked at,” Bonday said. “Students need change over time. … It constantly requires having conversations about how you can improve in order to make sure you’re providing valuable experiences.”
Diverse perspectives come not only through facilitating student conversations, but also programming that brings new resources to them. Working with Interim Term Director Erin Miller, Bonday helped bring to life the inaugural Interim Term, where students were able to go on learning trips abroad or acquire a new skill through experiential learning. Under Bonday’s leadership, the upper school House System was an additional initiative aimed at fostering community among different students.
However, program development only makes up a fraction of Bonday’s role; her day-to-day involves supporting department heads and faculty, executing administrative tasks and handling student discipline — oftentimes putting out fires left and right (or seeing to the multiple fire alarms over interim). Throughout it all, transparency became Bonday’s greatest asset in making decisions as the head of upper school.
“It is very difficult to make everybody happy 100% of the time,” Bonday said. “There are frequently various stakeholders and or forces that are in direct opposition to each other. What I have found is that people have not always liked the answers I’ve had to give them, but if I have provided them with the rationale for why those answers are what they are and why I’ve made the decision I’ve made, it’s helped to squash a lot of unnecessary noise or discontent.”
The commitment to transparency comes with careful attunement to the needs of those around: faculty, administration, students and parents. When she is not walking through campus checking up with staff members or surveying for trouble, Bonday can be found in her office making time for official and unofficial meetings.
“I am very, very attentive,” Bonday said. “I don’t obviously shy away from conflict. When somebody calls me or I’m not expecting somebody to be here, I’ve never turned down a meeting. I take those types of meetings. I schedule meetings. I make sure I return calls within the appropriate period of time. I hope that what parents have found is that I’ve been a good resource for them to answer questions or be attentive to listening to some of their concerns.”
Outside of the meetings, Bonday managed to fit in many fun adventures throughout her tenure. Her highlights include dressing up for spirit days, helping with grade level trips, chaperoning for forensics — for her dedication she was named the Florida Forensic League Administrator of the Year — as well as traveling with students internationally to Iceland and Greece.
“One is to always have a certain sense of humility,” Bonday said. “Sometimes it involves a little bit of humor. … So one of the things that I have learned is do not hang your purse over your chair while you’re at a restaurant because it is very likely that it will be stolen. On my trip to Greece, I had my purse stolen with my passport and my phone and all my credit cards. So, I learned lots of things on that trip, including how to deal with the U.S. embassy and work with American Express to have funds wired and all sorts of fun and games.”
An unexpected turn of events created an unforgettable memory where Bonday unfortunately missed out on a four-day cruise in the Mediterranean, and instead got dropped off at the police station for a police report and a passport replacement.
Reflecting on her time here, Bonday leaves the campus with many cherished memories and a hopeful future to which she has contributed.
“What I have tried to do throughout my career is feel that in time I depart from an institution that I can honestly look back at my tenure and feel that I have left the institution in a better place than when I arrived,” Bonday said. “I do feel pretty confident that at this point in my five years, there are a number of things that I’ve done to implement change, mentor others or staff members where I think they feel they’re in a better place.”
Moving forward, in addition to becoming head of school, Bonday will be closer to her youngest daughter, who also resides in Maryland, as well as her eldest daughter and her granddaughter who recently turned two, both living in Virginia. Bonday leaves the Trinity family with simple advice.
“Be true to yourselves and be kind to the people around you because you never know what is going on in individuals’ lives,” Bonday said. “Empathy and kindness goes a long way.”
