Old Connections and New Opportunities

Dean of College Advising Greg Buckles brings his decades of experience in independent schools to SPS

BY KRISTIN DUISBERG

In his multi-decade career in independent schools and colleges, Greg Buckles has been an English teacher and a football coach, worked in admissions, financial aid administration and college advising, and served as an assistant head of school. But the new St. Paul’s School dean of college advising chuckles a little at the idea that he’s followed a defined career path. “I feel like I’ve always been more opportunity-driven rather than career-path driven,” he says.

Buckles and his wife, Liz, who joins the faculty in the Humanities Department, were in New Hampshire last November for Thanksgiving when he learned about the opportunity at SPS created by the announced departure of longtime dean Tim Pratt P’17,’19,’21 and concluded that it was one he couldn’t pass up. “St. Paul’s School is the embodiment of what these schools should be about in terms of 100% residential,” he says. “I have strong feelings about size, I have opinions about the investment for families at this level and I think St. Paul’s is the best investment you can make, in a lot of ways.” Other draws were the School’s location — the couple’s four children all live in New England — as well as the chance to work with Rector Kathy Giles. “I’ve known and admired her for a long time,” Buckles says.

Still another draw was Liz Buckles’ connection to the School. Her father, the Rev. Bertrand Honea, served as SPS chaplain and head of the Religion Department from 1956 to 1965, and her brothers graduated from SPS — Bert in 1970 and Murph in 1972. “When we interviewed here, we passed the cemetery up the road and half the people there are names of old family friends and people she knew,” Buckles says. “She was born here in Concord, so this is kind of a sacred place for her family.”

Buckles is ready to forge his own SPS connections. He met his student advisees ahead of his official start at SPS and hadn’t even unpacked his office before taking his first parent meeting. “I was happy to do that,” he says. “I hope there’s some reassurance in seeing that while I’m the new guy here, they’re benefiting from someone with a lot of experience, and someone who’s gone through the college application process as a parent four times and maybe even brings some levity to what can be a pretty stressful time.”

The experience Buckles brings to the role includes leading admissions at both Kenyon and Middlebury colleges and a decade at the Hill School overseeing both the admissions and college counseling offices. He comes to Millville from Lawrenceville, where since 2019 he was the dean of enrollment management, with responsibility for admission, student retention, communications and financial aid. At SPS, his focus will be on college advising, working with the office’s five-person team to help students navigate the ever-more complex college admissions landscape.

If Buckles has one message for students and their parents, it’s that his 40 years of working in high school and college admissions have shown him time and again that places like St. Paul’s equip students to thrive in any environment. “You’ll find your way somewhere that will be a great spot for you,” he says.

“I think [where you go to college] in the end is relational, it’s people. And then you get there, you find those people, they become your friends, they’re your mentors, your advisers; you have a great experience, move on to life and you look back and say, ‘Hey, it worked out just the way I hoped in a lot of ways most of the time.’”

In other words: It’s about finding opportunity, not following a path.