Thank you, George, for your remarks, and thank you Charles for hosting this wonderful event and welcoming everyone!

What is Canterbury School without the Lucas family? An office building? A parking lot? I’ve told many people on campus, that without the Lucas family and David in particular, we aren’t here, we aren’t having this conversation.  

As a history teacher, when talking about Athens, I refer to Pericles, their leader during the Golden Age of Athens. He stated that Athens was great because people cared about Athens. No one cares more about Canterbury than David and Linda Lucas!

At Canterbury, we have spent the last eight years trying to create the prep school we aspire to be for our students and families. I know how much I cherish my lifer experience at Landon as the best gift my parents ever gave me, and I want our students to learn as much, strive as much, compete as much, and laugh as much as I did growing up on that campus.  

When I interviewed, I was asked about the $20 million dollar debt the school had….. “The greater the challenge, the greater the glory,” I naively replied.

As I arrived on Campus in June of 2015, I was greeted by the previous five-year accreditation letter from FCIS which had us on a three-year cycle of warned status and probation because of our debt-to-asset ratio. I wasn’t so bold now.

Fortunately, I met David Lucas for lunch at the University Grill soon after, and he reassured me of Canterbury’s incredible potential. Among other wise ideas, he taught me never to mistake a clear view for a short distance, to create a current at the school where when you do right by a child, you are swimming with the current, and his famous line, “It ain’t what you don’t know that will kill ya, it’s what you know for sure that ain’t so.” I do believe that was the first time I heard the expression that you don’t know what you don’t know.

Since then, as George recounted, it has been nothing but full, loyal dedication and support that David and Linda have shown me, our team, and our school. I am grateful deep in my heart for the support of the Lucas family. As a result of the wisdom and the Lucas Match, Canterbury’s future is bright!

With an enrollment approaching 800 students and a newly acquired eight-acre plot of land, we plan to build a new Lower School especially designed for lower schoolers. I hope it looks like a castle or an island or something fun that our little Cougars will cherish and remember. We have a blossoming computer science program, an Edison Cup-worthy science department, an entrepreneurship program, a rich arts program, and teams that can compete with the best of Southwest Florida. We have bright enthusiastic teachers who are students of their students and genuinely know and care for our kids. 

None of it was possible without the unwavering support of you in this room. On behalf of our staff and our students, I would like to express our deepest appreciation for your support of our school.  Fort Myers's only true prep school, the Canterbury that we know and love.