A True Vision

Billy Howard
Jul 24, 2017 · 2 min read

from “Young Travelers on the Path of Knowledge,” a coffee table book celebrating the 150th anniversary of Ravenscroft School. I co-authored the book as well as taking photographs.

A true vision will stand the test of time.

One hundred and fifty years ago a spark was ignited by Dr. Josiah Ogden Watson’s vision to found a parish school at Christ Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. Watson left a $5,000 bequest to start a school at the church led by Rev. Dr. Richard Sharpe Mason, who also had a vision for the teaching of young minds and a passionate belief in education.

Mason wrote: “It is not good for the soul to be without knowledge. Who can tell how soon may begin that intellectual disease which is never to be cured…who can tell how soon the mind may commence its divergence from the path of truth.”

Education, in Mason’s mind, implied building a foundation of knowledge, removing impediments, building bridges, and setting a direction for “the young traveler in the paths of knowledge.” He built a school to guide students “a short distance on the road he is afterwards by himself to pursue.”

Ravenscroft, at its very core, has held that path sacred and guided thousands of young people to lives fulfilled by a love of learning and giving. Ravenscroft continues guiding young minds down the path of truth Drs. Mason and Watson envisioned. We reflect on the past, while celebrating the present, and dream of all that Ravenscroft can be in the future. We are all well down a path that renews itself each time a new student begins his or her journey.

The vision of two friends, a spiritual and educational leader and a compassionate doctor and philanthropist, thrives 150 years later. It was a true vision. A school, like the young traveler, continues on the path of knowledge, sending young leaders back into the world with a spark ignited and kept alive by teachers, administrators, families, and the community that is Ravenscroft.

The Write Photographer

A photograph is worth a thousand words, sometimes I just write the words.

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