Opening Message

Strategic Planning: Committing to the Climb

By Annie Fuerst, Director of Innovation
Post Date: May 1, 2026

This time last week, I was in Golden, Colorado, surrounded by mountains.

I was there for the closing meetings of my Leadership + Design Fellowship, a year spent learning alongside school leaders from across the country. During our wrap-up sessions, and really throughout the entire year, we kept returning to a central question: what does it mean to lead toward a future that doesn’t fully exist yet?

It’s easy, in these moments, to focus on the summits–the bold visions, the big ideas, the “next” thing.

But as I stood with my cohort, looking out at what felt like an endless mountain skyline, my mind turned to something more fundamental. While there is no shortage of bold directions we can take, what matters is choosing one that aligns with who you are and committing to the climb.

That idea was reinforced again and again throughout the fellowship, especially through a set of shared norms: be more curious than certain, listen to understand, and share freely, hold lightly. These are not just good habits. They make it possible to build something bold without losing what matters most along the way.

While the fellowship has come to a close, that learning continues here at Belmont Day. We are fortunate to be partnering with Antonio Viva and the Leadership + Design team as we begin Belmont Day School’s strategic planning process in anticipation of our centennial.

A centennial year invites us to think expansively about who we are and who we want to become. It is a chance to imagine a future for Belmont Day School that is both ambitious and deeply grounded in our values. At the same time, it can be tempting in a moment like this to rush toward solutions, to name priorities quickly, and to begin building the plan.

Instead, our design team has started by getting curious.

We’re approaching the school as anthropologists, paying close attention to signals that suggest the future is already taking shape in small but meaningful ways. We have begun conducting interviews across our community, not to confirm what we think we know, but to listen for what we might be missing and to expand our perspective.

That kind of listening is essential. Not every opportunity is the right one, and not every path is ours to take. Part of this work is identifying what truly differentiates Belmont Day, where our values, program, and community come together in distinctive, powerful ways. From there, we can choose to invest in those areas with intention.

This work, however, cannot and should not be done by a small group alone. Your voice matters, and we need to hear it.

On Friday, May 15, at 8:30 a.m. in Coolidge Hall, we are partnering with the parents’ association to host a Family Think Tank as part of this process. Please join us for this opportunity to step into this vital work and share your insights, questions, and hopes for the future of Belmont Day School.

There are many directions we could go, and many peaks we could aim for. Our goal is not simply to choose something bold, but to choose a direction that reflects who we are at our best. From there, we can begin the climb together, with purpose and care.