Thetford Academy Celebrates 82nd Founders’ Day Celebration (plus PHOTOS!)
February 11, 2025
On Monday, February 10, 2025, Thetford Academy celebrated its 206th birthday and its 82nd annual Founders’ Day. Former Head of School Carl Anderson started the Founders’ Day tradition in 1944, after a tragic fire destroyed the school’s original campus. With Founders’ Day, Anderson hoped to honor the school’s deep history, lift the spirits of its community, and to celebrate TA’s resilience through hard times.
Many of the original traditions from that first Founders’ Day remain in practice today, from the candle lighting ceremony to the many school wide competitions. Students still compete each year to earn the title “Founders’ Day champion” and, of course, the bragging rights that go along with it. They work in committees to build floats, paint murals and banners, bake cookies, write skits and songs, and make costumes and crowns, ice sculptures, and centerpieces.
Every year, the events center around a student-selected theme; this year’s theme was “Movie Genres.” The 12th grade gets first pick of a sub-theme and this year, the Class of 2025 chose Westerns. The remaining classes chose Mystery (11th grade), Science Fiction (10th grade), Action (9th grade), Musical (8th grade), and Animation (7th grade). This year’s entries were a showcase of the creativity, humor, and skill of our student body and a joy to experience. Check out a slideshow of the day’s events!
The competitions are evaluated by a volunteer panel of Founders’ Day judges, this year including alumni from the classes of 1986, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2003. Big thanks to our esteemed judges: Erika Hoffman-Kiess, Julian Stephens, Kate Hill, Sarah Adams, Lucy Wagner, and Wendy Cole for volunteering to be our judges this year. Our gratitude also goes out to the Founders’ Day committee: Stacy Barton, Siobhan Lopez, Karyn Neubauer, Scott Ellis, Rachael Brown, Kristen Downey, and Gretchen Cjaza.
Congratulations to our Founders’ Day winners (below). And happy birthday, TA!
