Thomas Eaves | Class of 2003

High School: Trinity Episcopal School

College: Studied Comparative Religious History and East Asian Studies at Guilford College, and received a Master of Software Engineering from Penn State

Current Location: Richmond, VA

 

Tell us about what you’re doing professionally these days.

I am a Senior Engineering Consultant at SingleStone here in Richmond, having also previously served in an advisory capacity in the nonprofit sector as a Vice President of Technology and in more-senior Engineering leadership roles in various for-profit sectors, including working for many in-home names for Gas, Energy, Logistics, Insurance, and Real Estate.

 

What has that journey been like?

My journey has taken me around the world (as has the journey of many Seven Hills School alumni) – to places like Ecuador and China – and has had me doing a great many things, including working at a lumber yard, serving as a cashier at Bojangles, SCUBA, mountain climbing, piloting aircraft, and – now – being a father. 

None of these things I could ever have known I would do and are radically different from what I envisioned doing with my life.

 

What skills or knowledge did you learn at Seven Hills that has helped you along the way?

Seven Hills wasn’t for me – or, I don’t believe, for my fellow alumni – a place where skills and knowledge were the first priority (of course you had a wide range of students with a wide relationship range with their academic work; mine often came in the form of a bag thrown in a hallway corner and spending more time outdoors than with books).

Seven Hills’ first priority was the boy and the non-judgment that came with boy-centric education. Seven Hills’ mission – from my experiential understanding of it – was to help us understand and accept ourselves and the awkward turmoil that was adolescence. In parallel we worked to understand ourselves in relationship to each other and what our expectations of each other were.

At least on the surface – and I choose to believe at a deeper level – Seven Hills handed over the definition of its mission to us, the boys. Everything was left in our hands and we were given the entire world on a consistent, transparent, and honest basis so that – again – we could understand ourselves and how we related to – how we felt about – each other (now including the wider world). 

I don’t define it as “knowledge” or a “skill” – maybe it is is “principle” – but I learned integrity. I learned that truth is important. I also learned radical acceptance and the need to engage in dialogue – the need to understand.

Sure, my other alma maters were contributors to that journey. But Seven Hills is the place that instilled with me the understanding of what is important in this life.

 

What is your favorite memory from Seven Hills?

Another alumnus and I still hang out. My absolute favorite memory is the day when I met my best friend at Seven Hills School – that same alumnus (I tell him this story too much). It was one of the first days of school and this alumnus asked if he could have a sip of my freshly-opened juice box. Wanting to make a friend, I said “Yes.” Very deliberately the alumnus drank the entire box within about three seconds.

 

What advice would you give to today’s Seven Hills boys?

Join Game Club and do Robotics.