Foundation Stone Assembly

This assembly celebrates the anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone for our current campus. The Foundation Stone is a copper dodecahedron full of wishes and hopes for Hartsbrook from all members of the community, plus verses that were written for the occasion by Ekkehard Piening, our lead class teacher and school mentor, and Arthur Zajonc, founder and Board President at the time. It was laid in the ground under what is now the center of the lobby of Piening Hall in October 1988. The cherry wood circle at the center of the windrose marks the spot. We often speak of the foundation stone, with its contents of thoughtful, deep-hearted vision and intention, as one of the many seeds from which the school has grown and flourished. This assembly is a time to celebrate and reflect upon Hartsbrook’s history and its relationship to the past, present and future.

Foundation Stone Verse for the Hartsbrook School

By Ekkehard Piening

May here, where we behold the sun

The moon, the stars, the span of sky,

Where hawks soar, bird-song fills the air,

The brook wends toward a distant tide –

Where ground which long the Nipemaug have trod,

Fed cattle, sheep, and deer;

Where farmers furrowed and tilled the sod,

The grain and grape to bear –

Goodness be the bearing soil,

Faithfulness the laving rain,

Courage and joy the ambient air,

Love the light that life sustains.

Thus we with grateful hearts affirm,

Place this stone as a sign –

That free, the human spirit unfold,

May yield new grain and new wine.

Here, may there live and work and weave,

What spirit-ken in light and power,

Heart-borne, brings young human beings

To face the future hour.

May here they grow in body strong,

Steadfast in soul, in spirit clear;

May here work farmers as of yore,

Soul-farmers who the spirit hear.