On a bright, picture-perfect day, Poly Prep kicked off it’s 172th year with enthusiasm and a spirted day of activities on both campuses. Head of School Noni Thomas López started the day by welcoming Poly’s youngest students and their families during arrivals at our Park Slope campus. Lots of smiles, hugs, and laughter all around.

Later that morning, Thomas López joined students, faculty, and staff on Poly’s Dyker Heights campus. She addressed the community with a speech that drew inspiration from the summer’s epic sports highlights—the Knicks’ championship after a 53-year drought and the World Cup that brought people together from across the globe. Considering Poly’s Portrait of a Graduate mindset of being a joyful teammate, she asked the crowd, “What makes Poly a team?” and challenged everyone to think of what each of us can individually do to be that teammate and how we can show up for one another every day.

Following her speech, students participated in an enduring Poly tradition. The Class of 2027 stood and faced students in the bleachers and sang the Poly Song to Grade 5.

Throughout the day, students reunited with old friends and made new ones while enjoying team-building activities and an abridged schedule. Before departing, all were treated to ice pops and had time to relax and enjoy themselves.

Enjoy the speech by Noni Thomas López.

Good morning, Poly! Welcome back!

It is wonderful to look out and see all of you together—Middle School and Upper School students, faculty and staff, returning members of the Poly community, and those of you joining us for the very first time.

If you are new to Poly this year, would you raise your hand? Everyone, let’s welcome our newest teammates!

Now, take a moment to look around. Look at all the Poly shirts. Look at our faculty and staff wearing our “Nowhere but Poly” tees. Today, all of us arrived on both campuses wearing the name of the same school. Our school.

But here is the thing: I asked you to welcome your new teammates this morning, but the shirt isn’t what makes us a team. How we show up for one another does.

Before I talk about our Poly team, I want to talk about another team that made this summer one of the best summers ever here in New York City

Are there any Knicks fans out here? This summer, after 53 years, the New York Knicks became NBA champions. Fifty-three years!

Some New Yorkers, like my husband who happens to be 53 years old, had literally been waiting their entire lives for that championship. I was raised in North Carolina, but my parents were New Yorkers through and through. I was one-year old the last time the Knicks won it all, and over the next five decades, my parents passed their Knicks loyalty, and definitely their Knicks suffering, down to me and my brothers. And we, like generations of fans, kept believing that someday, somehow, the Knicks would make it back to the top. And this year, they did.

Winning the championship was a moment of collective joy. The watch parties, strangers greeting each other with “Knicks in Five!”  The entire city felt connected by something special and fun. This summer, New York was not millions of separate people, we were one team.

When Mayor Mamdani gave the Knicks players keys to the city, he said something I loved. He said, “The Knicks did not just win for New York City, they won like New York City.

So, that got me thinking about our team at Poly. How do we show up for one another? What would it mean for us to Win Like Poly?

The Knicks might have created the blueprint.

We love our Captain Clutch and we all remember Jalen Brunson scoring 45 points in the final game. But the Knicks did not end their 53-year drought because one person carried the team from beginning to end. They won because different people showed up in different moments.

In Game 4 of the Finals, they fell behind by 29 points, the largest deficit any team had ever overcome in an NBA Finals game. They kept playing. They trusted one another. And with just over a second left, OG Anunoby tipped in that winning basket.

That is how teams win. One player may take the final shot, but that shot is built on every screen, pass, rebound, defensive stop, and every practice and word of encouragement that came before it. Yes, the milestone—the chip—is what we celebrate, but it’s the moments that precede it that make it meaningful.

The World Cup offered another example. Ferran Torres began the tournament as a starter for Spain. After a difficult start, he lost his place in the lineup. And I felt for him. You prepare your whole life for the World Cup, and then you are told that someone else will take that starting spot.

Torres could have checked out. He could have decided that if he was not the star, his role did not matter. Instead, he stayed ready. When Spain needed him in the final, he entered as a substitute and scored the winning goal in extra time. The World Cup trophy belonged just as much to the player who waited for his moment to contribute to the team as it did to the players who started the game.

So, what can we learn from the Knicks and Spain about how to show up and Win Like Poly?

The first lesson: pick each other up—and celebrate each other’s wins.

The Knicks came from behind in all four of their Finals victories. They learned how to respond when someone missed a shot, lost the ball, or made a mistake. And when someone made the big play, the whole team celebrated. And we along with them.

At Poly, picking someone up might mean encouraging a teammate after a loss, helping a classmate understand something difficult, or noticing when someone needs a place to sit in the Commons during lunch. It also means cheering when your classmate earns the lead role, makes the team, solves the problem, or wins the award. Another person’s success strengthens the team. Joy grows when we share it.

The second lesson: know your role and value everyone else’s.

Sometimes you will be Jalen Brunson scoring 45. Sometimes you will be OG making the tip-in. Sometimes you will be Ferran Torres waiting on the sideline and staying ready.

Every role matters. The actor performing at center stage needs the crew working behind it. The student taking a risk to speak in class needs classmates willing to listen and encourage them. The football player scoring the touchdown needs the teammate who made the block or threw the pass.

Winning like Poly means understanding what you bring to the team while recognizing that someone else’s contribution may look entirely different and be equally essential.

The third lesson: study the film and adjust the game plan.

Strong teams look honestly at what happened. They ask: What worked? Where did we fall short? What can we learn? After the Knicks lost Game 3, they adjusted how they defended the Spurs. Spain changed its lineup throughout the World Cup. You will also discover that your first approach to an assignment, a friendship, or a challenge does not always work. That is not the end of the story. Reflect. Ask for help. Try something different. Winning like Poly requires the courage and flexibility to learn, adjust, and return better prepared for next time.

And the fourth lesson: embrace difference as a superpower.

The World Cup brought together people from different countries, languages, cultures, and traditions. The strongest teams drew upon players with different talents, perspectives, personalities, and styles of play. Their differences gave them more possibilities not fewer.

Poly is also a community of remarkable diversity. We will not always agree. We will not all think, learn, worship, speak, or experience the world in the same way. That is one of our greatest strengths.

Winning like Poly means remaining curious about one another, listening across differences, and allowing what each person brings to make all of us better. A team does not become stronger by asking everyone to play the same way. It becomes stronger when people learn how their different gifts can work together to achieve a common goal.

Over the course of this year, you will learn more about Poly’s new Portrait of a Graduate: six qualities we hope every student develops over their time here. One of those qualities is Joyful Teammate.

You may not own the Portrait or that phrase yet, but you already know what it feels like. It feels like being supported, included, challenged, and celebrated. It feels like knowing that your gifts matter, and that you are responsible for helping other people discover theirs.

Being joyful does not mean being happy every second. It does not mean that school will always be easy, that your team will always win, or that you will never disagree with someone. Joy is deeper than that. Joy is choosing to remain connected—to the work, to your purpose, and to one another—even when things are difficult.

And your teachers are your teammates, too. That is why they are standing here in shirts that say “Nowhere but Poly.”

Those are more than just words. They are a challenge to all of us to make Poly a place that could exist nowhere else: a community of remarkable diversity in which we learn from one another, lead alongside one another, and thrive together. But a great community is not something you simply join; it’s something you help create. Every person on this field here today—both students and adults—will help determine what Poly feels like this year.

So throughout this year, I want each of you to ask a simple question of yourself: what does my Poly team need from me?

Sometimes the team will need your leadership. Sometimes it will need your creativity. Sometimes it will need your courage to speak. Sometimes it will need you to stop talking and listen. Sometimes it will need your apology. Sometimes it will need your forgiveness. Sometimes it will need your absolute best. And sometimes it will just need your kindness.

Like I said, you will not always get it right. I can absolutely guarantee this. But your teachers, advisors, coaches, counselors, and every adult standing out here today, even those you don’t know, will be here for you. We believe in you. We are excited to see what you accomplish, and we’re even more excited to see how you show up for yourselves, for one another and for Poly.

Thank you and let’s have a phenomenal school year!