All boys. All boarding. Grades 9-12.
Naval Officer Speaks on Trust
Navy SEAL and boarding school graduate Rear Adm. Alexander Krongard told the Woodberry Forest community that trust is built on competence, reliability, and shared values. Speaking January 19, 2017, night in Bowman Gray auditorium, he said his thirty-one years as a special warfare officer taught him that exemplary institutions — such as the Navy SEALS; St. Paul’s School and Princeton University, his alma maters; and Woodberry Forest School — are built on trust.
“My Navy career was all about trust and judgement. Judgement is built by mistakes and experience, and experience comes from bad judgement,” he said. “The SEAL teams let me screw up. They kept me around and trusted me because I learned from my mistakes.”
Working from a definition of trust from Royal Marine Major General Buster Howes,
Working from a definition of trust from Royal Marine Major General Buster Howes,
Rear Adm. Krongard said an institution or group of people needed four things before they can form trust: competence, reliability, shared values, and close friendship. Competence, he said, starts with learning basic skills and actions so thoroughly that they can be performed under great stress. That rigorous discipline, rather than any extraordinary skills or training, is what makes the Navy SEAL teams so effective.
“Don’t discount basic skills such as math, critical reading, and writing,” Rear Adm. Krongard said. “I studied English literature when I was at Princeton, and believe it or not, the things I learned have helped me in the SEAL team.” Reliability, he said, is taking the idea of personal responsibility for actions and ensuring that friends, classmates, or coworkers can always trust a person’s word.
Rear Adm. Krongard said Woodberry was especially good at fostering shared values, which are built through standards, such as the honor system, that apply to the entire community. “As SEALs, our shared value is the respect we have for one another,” he said. “It’s the same idea here. The expectations that are placed on you and the things you go through together during your time at Woodberry are what create shared values.”
During his remarks, the rear admiral shared several stories from his career as a SEAL, which involved deployments to several countries, including Iraq in 2004 and Afghanistan in 2010. Each story illustrated the value of trust, and how trust between members of the SEAL teams allowed difficult missions to be accomplished.
The guest speaker was introduced to the community by his nephew and namesake, sixth former Alex Krongard of Reisterstown, Maryland. During his visit, Rear Adm. Krongard met with several classes and held further conversations with students at a post-speech reception.
Rear Adm. Krongard closed his visit by reminding Woodberry students of the incredible opportunities they have been given, simply because of where they were born and where they are able to attend school. He said visits to Woodberry reminded him of his favorite walking path at St. Paul’s, where a small memorial sat beside a lake. The memorial included a short passage from Ecclesiastes: “Remember thy creator in the days of thy youth.”
“That passage is a reminder to be grateful for what you have been given, and to take advantage of all the opportunities you have here.”
The group photo shows Alex Krongard ’17, second from right, along with his father, Tim, his uncle, Rear Adm. Alexander Krongard, and his grandfather, Buzzy.
Woodberry Forest School is an exceptional private school community for high school boys in grades nine through twelve. It is one of the top boarding schools in the United States and one of the only all-boys, all-boarding schools in the country.
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Woodberry Forest admits students of any race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, and national or ethnic origin to all of the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, or national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic or other school-administered programs. The school is authorized under federal law to enroll nonimmigrant students.