The entire Baylor community gathered in Duke Arena on Tuesday to celebrate the fourth annual John Roy Baylor Day, an event commemorating the life and legacy of the school’s founding headmaster and to re-affirm and celebrate the guiding tenets of Dr. Baylor’s vision for his school, including honor, faith, academic excellence, and magnanimitas, translated "greatness of spirit."
The keynote address was given by Dr. Baylor himself, as portrayed convincingly by Baylor teacher Bo Chamberlain '90 in a reprise of the persona he created for the first John Roy Baylor Day in 2019. The address included some facts about Dr. Baylor's life, compiled by Mr. Chamberlain, and words delivered to Baylor students by Dr. Baylor in the last year of his life.
"A student may be strong or brilliant, a leader in school, bright and charming, but they cannot be truly great without magnanimitas. A life lived with magnanimitas, prompts one to do morally good acts of exceptional quality. Magnanimous persons are disposed to perform actions of extraordinary generosity, kindness, fortitude and charity; not in order to gain fame, glory, or recognition, but simply to do what it right, good, just, or needed. It overshadows all else. In order to lead the way, and show students how to follow, a headmaster must live a life of magnanimitas. I did my best to live my life with magnanimitas, living out the values most dear to me of faith, honor, and academics."
Baylor's tenth and current head of school, Chris Angel '89, also addressed the gathering and, in the spirit of the day, Dr. Baylor. "You will be pleased to know that we still hold your/our core values high! Faith, honor, academic excellence, and magnanimitas are still our guiding principles in all that we do here every day," said Mr. Angel. "Magnanimitas is not a word that flows freely off the tongue in 2022; however, I think we all understand that Baylor has placed a greatness of spirit in each of us, that we are all connected through the greatness of Baylor, and that we all aspire to have a spirit within us that would make you proud. From academics to arts to athletics to service to adventure, Baylor students of today strive to have a greatness of spirit, just as we did in your time."
The event also included remarks from Chaplain Rev. Alex Gallimore and members of the Honor Council, and ended with Mr. Angel (and Dr. Baylor) leading the students in "Give Me a 'B'" and the singing of the Alma Mater.