St. Andrew’s is proud to welcome distinguished American journalist and author John Seabrook ’76 back to Middletown this June to serve as the 2026 Commencement speaker.

A contributor to The New Yorker since 1989, Seabrook became a staff writer in 1993. His work explores the intersection between creativity and commerce in the fields of technology, design, and music. He’s written multiple books, including Deeper: Adventures on the Net, The Song Machine, Flash of Genius—which later inspired a film—and Nobrow: The Culture of Marketing. In his latest, The Spinach King: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty, Seabrook unpacks his own family’s complicated legacy—the farming Seabrooks went from the bean fields of southern New Jersey to wealthy, powerful aristocrats.

After graduating St.  Andrew’s in 1976, he attended Princeton, where he was a letter-winning member of the crew team. After, he attended Oxford.

“John is a remarkable example of the depth and intellectual curiosity fostered by a St. Andrew’s education—and of how that education endures over a lifetime,” says Head of School Joy McGrath ’92.

In a 2015 Chapel Talk, Seabrook credited St. Andrew’s—particularly science instructor Bill Amos P’67,’74,’75,’78 GP’03,’11,’10—for preparing him for his life’s work a writer.

“It was Bill Amos who prepared me for the work I do now, which is rather odd because how can biology class teach you how to become a writer?” Seabrook told students. “What I learned from Mr. Amos was to look at things as they are, and to see the relationship between things in complex systems—not to see things within hierarchies and categories and value judgments, which so often comes with learning. Rather, to use such powers of observation as I had, and, through study, hope to achieve insight and understanding of the nature of the things that I was studying. The natural life of Noxontown Pond and the way Bill Amos looked at it … that's where I learned to be a writer.”

Seabrook’s return to campus parallels a significant milestone. “This year marks my 50th reunion, a full half-century of real life experience since I walked up and accepted my diploma from Mr. Moss in 1976,” Seabrook says. “The opportunity to reflect on how my St. Andrew’s years prepared me, or not, for what was to come, was too enticing pass up.”

You can find all information on Commencement 2026 here.