Home Community Blog Dedication of the Katie & Matt Willes Wellness Center

Below are transcriptions of the remarks shared at the Willes Center Dedication on January 22, 2025. 

Remarks shared by Andrew Menke, Head of School: 

Good afternoon and welcome! We are so very delighted and excited to gather to celebrate the opening of the NEW Willes Wellness Center! The Katie and Matt Willes Wellness Center is grounded in Waterford’s core value of Caring. This beautiful 2,500-square-foot space is designed to support student well-being, which includes physical, mental, emotional, and social health. This space… and its professional staff… will help students thrive academically and personally by offering both preventative and responsive care and support. 

Waterford understands that providing comprehensive care for the health and well-being of our community of learners will allow students to grow and flourish in important ways as they pursue the aspirations of our liberal arts mission.  Waterford’s vision is to inspire individuals to pursue lives of meaning and purpose and the Willes Wellness Center will help us better realize that vision every day.

In a moment you will hear from Nancy Nebeker about the impact of the new Willes Wellness Center. Then we are pleased that Matt will share a bit about their family’s story. Following Matt’s remarks we will cut the ribbon and invite you to explore this amazing new space. 

I am honored this afternoon to share my gratitude for Katie and Matt Willes. Katie and Matt are the proud parents of 4 Waterford graduates: Paige, Class of 2017, James, Class of 2019, Thomas, Class of 2022, and Annabelle, Class of 2024.

Beyond sharing their wonderful four children with us over the course of nearly 20 years. Katie and Matt have been immensely generous and always incredibly kind and gracious with their support. Katie and Matt were early and significant supporters of our record-setting Waterford Rises capital campaign, with a keen interest in supporting the objectives of our strategic plan — one of which is the student experience and student wellness. Katie and Matt were phenomenal partners during their time as parents, and their children were contributors in so many different areas of our program. I know Katie and Matt love Waterford and appreciate the impact that the experience here had on their children, and how Waterford worked to support each of their children through their educational journey here.  

Katie—we appreciate all of your volunteerism along the way with the Parent Association, serving as a Class Rep and Class Rep coordinator. And Matt, please know how much we — I — appreciate your ongoing friendship and mentorship. Matt and I meet a few times each year over a bagel to talk about Waterford and about life in general. You two are dear friends to me and to Waterford School, you have my— our — humble and deepest thanks for helping to make this Wellness Center a reality. Please join me in giving the Willes family a round of applause.

I would like to take a moment to thank Nancy Nebeker, Dean of Students here at Waterford, and our nursing and counseling teams here with us this afternoon, whose vision and championship of this space have been instrumental. 

It is now my pleasure to invite Nancy to the podium.


Remarks shared by Nancy Nebeker, MS/US Dean of Students:  

I am so grateful and excited to gather with all of you today to celebrate the opening of the Katie and Matt Willes Wellness Center. This project has been close to my heart for a very long time and it is everything I hoped it would be.  I am filled with gratitude for everyone who helped in the envisioning, the design, and the execution of this project — it has been a labor of love for many.  

I am especially grateful today to Katie and Matt Willes, who stepped forward to support this project. As past parents, your generosity is particularly poignant to me. Your children will never benefit from this incredible space, and yet you believed in this work, in this space and in this school, and unselfishly gave on behalf of students who are now following in your children’s footsteps. I loved knowing and working alongside Paige, James, Thomas, and Anni. It truly was my good fortune to be their Dean over the course of several years. And it is my good fortune to say thank you today for your generous gift.

HOW DO CHILDREN KNOW WE CARE? That is a question that is at the heart of the work we do at Waterford every day. That may come as a surprise to students gathered here for this Wellness Center opening. You might think my focus is simply on enforcing rules or helping sort out problems all day (I admit, there is a bit of that each day.), but the underlying foundation of Dean-work is supporting and taking care of students.

So, HOW DO OUR STUDENTS KNOW THAT WE CARE?  In my 15 years of Deaning, we have learned that there are probably as many answers to that question as there are children. Each of us experiences “care” in different and unique ways.

But, there are some generalized elements of care that we know for sure: Being known, known by name and by your individual strengths & interests matters. Feeling heard, respected and valued in ways that extend far beyond your academic achievements matters deeply. Having a trusted adult on campus and a place to go when things get hard matters in a very big way. The Willes Wellness Center is the place we have needed to ensure that our students know that we recognize that all of them will need help and support on their journey through adolescence.

Some of our students will simply find this place to be quietly reassuring. While some of our students will use this Wellness Center as a place to bring their friends for relief and support when things are tricky. And some of our students will be deeply and personally impacted by this collaborative space designed for their physical, emotional and mental well-being. All of our students will be blessed by its presence and what it represents about our core value of caring. Simply put, the Willes Wellness Center is a game changer in the way we will be able to serve our Middle and Upper School students.

We understand that students will come to the Wellness Center for a variety of reasons and needs: chronic health concerns, concussion recovery, a quiet place to take a test due to anxiety or focus challenges, an acute mental health crisis or simply to pick up a mask, a cough drop or just a bit of reassurance. Whatever the reason, when they arrive at this Wellness Center, they will be met by folks uniquely trained and specifically positioned to support them.  

I am going to briefly introduce them to you now and ask them to wave. When you go inside you will have a chance to visit with them personally.

Katherine Stokes, our school nurse, is an RN with a Masters of Science in Nursing. She is a nationally board-certified School Nurse who has spent the last 20 years dedicated to pediatric care, wellness, and community advocacy. Katherine blends medical expertise with compassion to support students in leading healthier & happier lives. Katherine loves working with students and especially loves having her daughter Ella (a Waterford Senior) on campus with her.

Dr. Missy Johnson received her PhD from Columbia University in School Psychology. She has been a counselor at Waterford for 6 years. For the first few years, Missy was the Upper and Middle School counselor. She is now focused solely on Upper School students. Missy is gifted in building trusted relationships with students — making her incredibly effective in her work.

Tanisha Sheddon is our Middle School counselor. She is a Utah native passionate about creating wellness, connecting families, and helping students reach their goals. She has a Masters Degree in Social Work from Northwest Nazarene University. I have seen firsthand how Tanisha supports students by fostering a supportive school environment and encouraging positive skill development and social and emotional wellness. 

Finally, Kristin Anderson, our School Counselor Intern is a graduate student in the online School Counselor program at the University of Denver. We are fortunate to have her full-time through the end of this school year. For the past four years, Kristin has worked as a behavior specialist in public schools, and she has been a valuable addition to our Wellness Center team this year.

Each of them looks forward to visiting with you in the Wellness Center in just a few minutes.  

I hope you can appreciate what this Wellness Center offers to our students and how it will help us demonstrate “care” in both tangible and intangible ways. I end where I began with a heart full of gratitude to the Willes family and all who helped make the Willes Wellness Center a reality. I believe when students come to this Center they will indeed know that we care. Thank you so very much.


Remarks shared by Matt Willes, former Waterford parent:  

I am grateful to be with you today and to express a few thoughts on the opening of the Willes Wellness Center. 

We have four children, and after 56 tuition years, all four are graduates of Waterford School. Each of our kids have their own unique strengths and challenges, and we had to rely more than once on a strong working partnership with Waterford to help our kids get through challenging times. Physical illness and mental health challenges were a part of our Waterford experience well before any of us had heard of COVID. Throughout each and every unexpected twist in the road, Waterford worked with us to find the best solutions for our kids we could find. All I can say to Andrew Menke, the entire staff, the faculty, and the entire Waterford community is thank you!

Twenty-eight years ago, Katie and I promised each other we would travel through the valleys and ascend the peaks of this life together. Our Waterford experience included plenty of both. Our hope is the Willes Wellness Center can and will be a benefit to the Waterford community as it helps all students become the best version of themselves. 

Finally, we are here because of the perseverance of Andrew Menke. We declined the first few times he asked to use our names on campus. When our youngest graduated last year, we thought that was the end of our association with the school. However, we are thrilled and honored to have our names connected to this Wellness Center—for us it is an acknowledgment of the help our kids received from the school years ago and the hope we can all enjoy good health. Thank you! 

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