(Photo by Julia Gurevitz’20/Media Team)

Activist John Noltner, author of A Peace of My Mind, spoke at Academy’s annual Currier Lecture Series on February 27, first to the upper school during an extended assembly, then to a smaller group in a lunch forum and followed by a free lecture to our local community.

Held in memory of Academy’s former upper school head, Mr. Phil Currier, who died in 1995 after a two year battle with cancer, the Currier Lecture Series honors Currier, who served for nine years in his administrative  role, encouraging the community to be active in kindness and creating positive change.

“Exploring the meaning of peace, one story at a time,” Noltner’s  A Peace of my Mind, both an exhibition and a book are the culmination of his quest to discover what over fifty Minnesotans’ beliefs were when asked, “What does peace mean to you?”

Noltner told the Academy community that peace is about engaging with people and closing the divides within humanity. He encouraged Academy students and faculty to embrace others’ perspectives and to find a common ground so that we can discover a “more perfect union”—because until we do—there will continue to be tremendous failures in the human condition. Noltner urged us to think about our blind spots, to be passionate in our work, and to strive to create change now and often. 

Noltner’s lecture embodied Currier’s legacy. Urging us to actively seek peace and change, he said, “ . . . there are a hundred little things to do, and probably just as many bigger things.”