PRI RITIES A Magazine of Woodside Priory School
March 1997
VISION of what’s ahead
Values Centered Education for the Leaders of the New Century
From the Prior “While I will miss the Priory and all of you, I am excited about the opportunity for growth this new step represents for the Woodside Priory School.”
Cover: Students in the scope are part of Woodside Priory's second Millard Fillmore Trivia Team. For the story on the big scope, see page 5.
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ver the entrance of the National Archives building in Washington is engraved: “The past is prologue.” In the last issue of Priorities we looked back over the past forty years and the great accomplishments of Woodside Priory’s founders. If the past is prologue, then it is fitting that in this issue we look forward to the future. The community of monks that live here on the campus has for the past two years been studying its future and its relationship to the Priory School. Just as many corporations have been experiencing “downsizing” trends, we are experiencing a “downsizing” too. Currently, we have six members: myself, Frs. Martin, Egon, Pius, Maurus and Br. Edward. The average age is now 62 years. Initially, we looked at possible ways to augment our size. We contacted other monasteries within the United States, the Hungarian congregation which originally founded Woodside Priory, and we talked at length with Abbott Matthew, head of our parent abbey, St. Anselm, in New Hampshire. A similar aging of communities is a problem facing the order and the entire Catholic Church, at least in the western nations. It was apparent that they could not help us increase our size. Next, the community investigated alternative sponsorship models that would allow us to remain active but reduce our responsibility for governance. Many schools have taken this step. In late August, members of Woodside Priory returned to St. Anselm for a joint meeting. As many of you know, the community voted there to begin a transition to a new form of school governance. St. Anselm monastery will retain ownership of the Priory School and continue to oversee its Benedictine and Catholic character in the future as it has over the past forty years. The Board of Trustees will assume more responsibility for governance.
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We have retained the services of Catholic School Management, Inc. of Madison, CT., as consultants for this transition year. They have many years of experience working with other religious orders on similar transitions. In practical terms, little external change will result. On a daily basis the same classes will be held, and the monks will continue to work in the school and live their monastic lives in the monastery. They will continue to provide spiritual direction and liturgical services to the school and to our many friends who worship in the Chapel each Sunday. On a personal note, I will complete twelve years as Prior in June of 1997. Abbot Matthew has granted me a sabbatical starting this coming summer. I will study in the Holy Land and do research at a U.S. university. After my sabbatical, the Abbot will assign me to a new position at St. Anselm. Woodside Priory School probably will not retain the position of Prior. Due to our reduced number, one of the monks will be superior of the community, but not administrative head of the school. Monks will continue to have a presence on the Board of Trustees. While I will miss the Priory and all of you, I am excited about the opportunity for growth this new step represents for the Woodside Priory School. We are a strong school now with full enrollment, waiting lists for most grades, and excellent college acceptances. The Priory School will begin a new era from a position of strength. I am sure all of you share my optimism and faith in the future. Sincerely,
(Very Rev.) William Sullivan, O.S.B., Prior
From the Headmaster
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enedictine spirituality has been central to the Woodside Priory School since its beginnings. What is new these days is the growing interest in other, most unlikely places. The great popularity of Kathleen Norris’s recent books, Dakota and The Cloister Walk placed the theme of monastic life on the best seller list. Br. Edward, O.S.B., Mr. Michael McGough, our visiting scholar, and I discovered a variation of this phenomenon in Washington last November. The Council on Religion in Independent Schools sponsored an intense weekend workshop titled “The Interior Life of Educators Creating Community.” We were the only Benedictine and Roman Catholic school among the 27 schools represented. The text of the weekend: the 1500 year old Rule of St. Benedict. The seminar sponsors shared a belief that this ancient document provides the best blueprint for a school and its leaders. We reflected on themes such as community, listening, humility, authority, forgiveness, care, and service — all at the heart of Benedictine identity. I believe everyone left the conference with the conviction that their schools would respond more fully to the deepest needs of students by incorporating the wisdom and grace of St. Benedict’s reflections. The three of us from the Priory left more deeply convinced that we have a great treasure in our Benedictine identity — the heart of our educational program. Last year many faculty joined in biweekly seminar sessions reflecting on the Benedictine Rule. This year our faculty retreat will include work on making St. Benedict’s values more explicit in our school life. As our Board of Trustees is drawn more fully into the school’s governance, a most important part of their preparation will be an understanding of Benedictine values as the heart of the school’s mission. Let me turn now to a somewhat more recent addition to our educational program — advanced information technology. Rebecca Van Dalsem describes our commitment and progress in the article
on Pages 8-1l. Here are some visions for the future. • Teacher experience is crucial. We will foster and encourage it in every way we can. I have asked faculty to submit personal research proposals and several will be funded for this summer. Continued support from Bill and Rosemary Hewlett is making this possible. • Sharing of student work can be encouraged. Jeff Rasp is thinking of having his sixth grade students research cities of the world, build online reports, and link the reports together as a classwide publication. I hope to see more such projects, which encourage a sense of contributing to (not just taking from) the world’s information pool. • Students can be on-line teachers and learners. The “learning community” model illustrated by Project GLOBE on page 11 has great promise. One application: we soon will join St. Elizabeth Seton School in Palo Alto over the Internet for math-science tutoring. • Home-to-school communication can grow. Student teleconferencing on homework assignments may soon be practical. Teachers can each have a personal spot on our web page. Students might send homework in on e-mail (The dog can’t eat it). Internet newsgroups could provide a convenient forum for parent issues. • We are looking into sponsoring short trips abroad for selected students; if this is possible, Internet contact will be a part of it. We are also looking for ways of sponsoring access to information technology for our families that do not have it. It’s nice to be riding the technological wave. It is even nicer to see that there is a strong wave connected to values and spirituality that has been proceeding for centuries and is still building up its force, not only at the Woodside Priory School but now on a much wider strand. Sincerely, Frank J. Cody, Headmaster
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FALL ‘96 AT A GLANCE AUGUST
Orientations for new students and faculty • Parents’ Barbecue • School Begins • Parents first-day coffee • First Chapel features students and flags from 19 nations • Middle School Swim Party • Used text sale earns $1,800 • Volleyball team awarded Team Academic trophy
SEPTEMBER
Field Day sports and games • Recycling Days begin • Clubs sign-ups (a whopping 30 - see article, page ) • Annual Fund Appreciation Dinner • Family Picnic • Student body elections • Boogie Down Jugglers • First five-school dance • Parents Back to School Night •
Trust your team! Kylie Hepper gets a lift from her teammates during Middle School leadership and teamwork training.
Class spirit competitions begin (Seniors victorious) • Middle School leadership and teamwork training • Soccer, volleyball, cross country, flag football begin • Habitat for Humanity projects begin • Archbishop’s visit • Confirmation studies begin • National Honor Society banquet • Reps chosen for Anna Eshoo’s Student Advisory Board • College rep visits begin
OCTOBER
Malibu Fun Night • Class elections • Magazine drive brings in $4,200 • Blessing of Pets (St. Francis’s day) • Class retreats • READAK study training • Family Tennis Clinic • Spirit & Homecoming Week • Human pyramid contest • Middle School dance • All-School 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament at Residence Halls • Stanford admissions officer talks with parents and hosts faculty seminar • National Honor Society Dinner • Class get-togethers for parents or families • Middle School Fun Night • Five-school dance • Limbo contest • Ramiro Arredondo named San Jose Mercury News’s Athlete of the Week • Science Star Party • All Saints Day Mass • Halloween Dance Costume Contest
NOVEMBER
Parent-Teacher-Student conferences • Ten students earn National Merit or Advanced Placement honors • Chubby bunny (marshmallow-eating) contest • Fall Sports Awards (two league championship teams) • Seventh grade science students at Exploratorium • Mock elections (Clinton victorious) • Middle School class officers takes over campus candy bar sales • Parent networking meetings • French students see French play • Open House attendance keeps going up • Apple-bobbing contest • Thanksgiving celebration in Chapel The Priory’s Visiting Scholar living and teaching on campus this spring is Mike McGough, editorial page editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and contributing writer to Commonweal, New Republic, Nation and the New York Times. He is writing a book on freedom of expression.
New in Academics: • Freshmen will complete their first 25 hours of volunteer service, part of a 4-year, 100-hour community service graduation requirement led by faculty in the Division of Theology and Social Studies. • Physics first? Science professionals recommend that students get a solid grounding in the concepts of physics before taking biology and chemistry. The Priory’s science curriculum now begins with conceptual physics. • Students advance through the math curriculum at their own pace. Starting with Grade 6, class sections provide one and two years of advancement, usually keeping same-age students together. • A more flexible schedule provides teachers extra time in class with students, plus mid-morning break times for clubs to meet, and several periods during the semester for faculty advisors to meet with their 6 to 9 advisees. • Everybody is using the Internet, the CD databases and the other benefits of high technology (see the article on Page 8).
Three new classrooms went up in a flash just before the opening of school, thanks to George Straub (inset) and his crew. An expansion to the Chapel is planned for Summer 1997. The fall star party included five telescopes, including this one which provides a clear view of stars 1/250 less bright than the unaided eye can see. This equatorial mounted, 12” Newtonian reflector scope was in serious need of realignment. Fortunately, math teacher and ace amateur astronomer Dave Hafleigh knew what to do.
Priory Players drama group ad libbed a lighthearted, on-the-spot script based on ideas (and the occasional object) tossed out by the audience for their fall production this year. Led by Coach Jeff Kramer, high school players will enter improvisational theater competitions against other high schools this spring.
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Silver Screen Gala Is In March 23 I
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t’s a one-night-only gala, Dahling! The most exclusive event of the year! And, my dear, you know that Everybody who is Anybody will be there... Garbo...Crawford...Gable...Monroe...De Mille...Davis...It would be wonderful if Fred and Ginger would dance, or perhaps Lawrence would do one of his grand dramatic readings, what do you think? You think they’re all out of town?? Oh. Well. No wonder their agents just sent photos. Anyway, they all said they would be happy to sponsor a table! That’s right, this year you can mingle with the stars — the Hollywood classics and the Priory’s own special people — at “Lights, Camera, Auction!” the Priory’s event of the year. The wine, the foods, the fur wraps and the delectable treats will flow at the Los Altos Country Club on March 22. And treats there will be! By treating yourself you will also be doing something important for the school. The auction is the Priory’s only annual fund-raising event. It supports goals such as keeping class sizes small and providing professional development opportunities for faculty. But back to the goodies. Just imagine...a week in Hawaii...a romantic dining experience, the theater and overnight in one of San Francisco’s finest hotels...enough really fine wines to please the most discriminating sommelier...a once-in-a-lifetime vacation. Or, maybe some good old practical stuff. Computer skills. A supply of film for your camera. Driving lessons for your almost-16-year-old. A catered party to finally pay back everybody you owe. Estate planning. A gorgeous hand-knit sweater that your Beloved would love. Every delightful item will be lovingly displayed for guest bidding while film clips from Hollywood’s Golden Era dance across the walls.
Hollywood look-alikes Bernadette Austin, Brian Sullivan (Gable) and
Young Lee (detective) are among several Priory students who will mimic the stars while assisting guests at the auction.
Silent auction tables are devoted to hundreds of gift opportunities involving • Private Clubs (That’s golf, skiing, fishing...you know); • Events (Tickets to everything imaginable, as well as occasional meet-the-stars and backstage passes); • Gifts (A potpourri of jewelry, flowers, gift certificates, cruises, parties, home accessories, equipment, rentals and more); • Services/Retail (Think spas, vineyards, hotels, limousines, restaurants, landscaping, remodeling...); • Access to Celebrities (Be on film with one, just meet and drool over one. Or give one to your best friend!); • Vacations/Homes/Condos/Apartments (Lots and lots of getaway packages with tons of yummy little extras to make the trip special.) “I want especially to invite everyone to join Father William at what we hope will be his best auction party ever. We want an extra-gala evening because it will be his last auction as Prior,” said Donna Wengert-Neff, auction co-chair with Cyndi Rothmeier. Following a sabbatical leave for scholarly study, Father William expects the Abbot to give him a new assignment. “Let me point out that if anybody thinks Father William might leave us and become famous, he or she better come to the party and get an autograph now,” Cyndi added. After dinner, after dessert, after table hopping and checking out whose feet made it to the Avenue of the Stars in the lobby, a live auction and laughs will cap the evening. The famous grandfather clock, hand crafted by the Priory’s own, grand, Father Martin, will probably be the show-stopper — it always is. C. Dobervich
The Gualala get-away package provided a superb twenty-fifth anniversary celebration for last year’s winners. It will be up for bids again, along with others to Hawaii, Mexico, the Monterey coast, Colorado ski country and many other locales near and far.
Brunch at the
Fairmont will
make any Sunday a special day.
The gift certificate to Children’s Shoppe in Sharon Heights Shopping Center could put a girl in a pretty graduation gown.
Conversation with
Rebecca Van Dalsem Director of Technology
“Even though you’re on the right track, you get run over if you just sit there.”
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Thanks primarily to the interest and generous assistance of Bill and Rosemary Hewlett, the Priory last summer installed a second computer lab in the library; sixteen workstations in the science labs; ISDN (very fast) access to the Internet from all buildings; and computers in most classrooms.
irector of Technology Rebecca Van Dalsem circulates this piece of Will Rogers’ wisdom on campus e-mail and the campus lives it. The technology of the 21st century has arrived with a rush. The Priory’s goal is to use technology as a new set of tools, integrated into all academic divisions and all campus life. Students and teachers will use them when they are the best choice, and use other tools when appropriate. A powerful telescope and an electron microscope (rarely even seen on a high school campus) are exciting new tools. But information technology is the most powerful addition to our high-tech toolbelt — it touches everyone
and changes the way we teach and learn. This year, faculty and classrooms are the focus. Three to five years is an appropriate time frame for getting comfortable with high tech classrooms, according to the schools which have been there. Rebecca Van Dalsem, the subject of this issue’s Conversation seems at first glance an unlikely candidate to lead the way. A teacher and mother of three daughters, she holds post graduate degrees in counseling and technical theatre. Rebecca developed an interest in technology while a professor of theatre design at Skidmore College, where she was fascinated by the potential that computer technology could bring to the arts. Skidmore wasn’t sufficiently fascinated, so she began studying information systems at Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute in Troy, NY. She moved into technical consulting on a variety of projects in and outside the fields of arts and education. A powerhouse of technical knowledge, she looks to short-term assignments in industry among other things to stay current. Most of her e-mail messages are signed off with “I love cruising in cyberspace” and she is bringing the entire WPS community along on a fantastic ride.
C. Dobervich
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■ How will our new communications technology impact the school educationally? A paradigm shift is taking place in the world from “knowing information” to “using information,” and computers facilitate that. This shift is inevitable because of the volume of information available and the speed with which it changes. You already see the effects in industry. Not long ago, people could be “experts” in their profession, and they were relatively able to restrict their work to what they knew. That is no longer possible in most fields. People today have to to be willing to be life-long learners, to be prepared to reach into fields of knowledge they never imagined they would be using. Think about the information we need today to make personal health care and financial planning choices, for instance. The work students do on computers prepares them for this world. Students learn how to formulate questions, make plans and execute them to find answers, and evaluate the answers. They learn to problem-solve when they encounter barriers. They learn that nothing is final. They learn that they contribute to the information base as well as take from it. All this takes persistance, which is important in problem-solving. People who can’t manage a problemsolving process are going to have a tough time in life. ■ You seem to be describing a sea-change in the use of information. Yes. A good description of this new view is provided by the National Academy of Sciences. Their web site, Reinventing Schools, is good information and also a superb example of how to design a web page. We will be seeing more like this and fewer of the ones that are hard to read or take too long to download. The site address is http://www.nap.edu/ readingroom/books/techgap/ index.html.
■ Woodside Priory has long had a computer lab and a goal of technological literacy for every student. What does the new technology add? The lab is intended mainly to teach students the tools. The new equipment makes it possible for teachers and students to use these tools in their class work. One person on our Technology Committee remarked that his goal is to make the computer as commonplace as a pencil, just something the student turns to when it’s the appropriate medium. Access to the Internet, with its potential for information-gathering, is especially expanded now. Every student here learns the basic functionality of the computer. If you look at the course guide, you will see that they learn keyboarding, word processing and e-mail right away, in sixth grade. They get some experience with basic programming, building and programming robots, using LegoDacta, and project organization, using MicroWorld Project Builder. By tenth grade they learn some outlining, databases, spreadsheets, draw and paint programs, animation, on-line information services, and how to do on-line college searches. This year we added HTML language — eighth graders build their own web pages. We have elective courses in advanced graphics and technology. This is what they learn in the lab — the tools. (See the box on page 11 for examples of these tools in use in classrooms.) What I personally mean by “technological literacy” is that students leave here knowing how to set up their own computer system and how to use it to solve problems. Not that they know every application but that they have a working knowledge of the problems computers can solve. I think these are basic skills for going off to college.
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Rebecca Van Dalsem takes the Priory community from “hmmm” to “c’mon, machine!” to “aha!” as we move into the Information Age.
■ What equipment does a student need to enter this information age? In my opinion? A computer (with monitor and printer), maybe a CD drive, and access to the Internet. A parent has been telling me about new technology that will provide basic functions such as word processing, a desktop organizer and a calculator, and Internet access, for around $500. Something like this will make basic technology very accessible to everybody, because it is uncomplicated and low-cost. ■ How might an assignment be different from a stu-
“People today have to dent’s point of view, using information technology? to be willing to be I saw a student’s report on Martin Luther that
life-long learners, to be illustrates the difference. This student could have
done just a standard written report and handed it in.
prepared to reach into What he did instead was, on the computer, create an fields of knowledge outline of Martin Luther’s concepts, illustrated with they never imagined they would be using.”
maps from the Internet, and followed up with a quiz at the end. This piece of work was a good learning experience for him, and he can put it on the world wide web for other students and teachers to use. Our students are building their own web pages now — there is no reason they can’t make links to work like this that is worthy of being shared. Let’s talk through what this student had to do. He had to think of the best medium to both find and present his information. He had to focus his research. He had to organize his data. He had to write. This medium forces writing and research skills because students want to take pride in their work when it will be shared with a bigger audience than one teacher. I love the example from another school about some hotshot chemistry students who began editing their on-line work more carefully when a third-grader wrote and politely requested a clarification of their incorrect grammar! The process intrigued the student who did the Martin Luther report because he could do it all on his own. He could pull together a variety of resources quickly by using the Internet. Students find out that they can get the most current information, and they can sometimes reach experts directly. Adults some-
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times find computers frustrating, but students usually find them liberating. To a student, the Internet is more easily accessible and perhaps less intimidating than library resources. ■ Does incorporating computer technology and Internet research change the role of the teacher? The teacher is necessary in all the usual ways. Computers are just one part of a big picture. But I think we should stop thinking of ourselves as the subject experts and start thinking of ourselves more as coaches and guides where information is concerned. We will not control the information students learn. They can find new information faster than we can. We can give them perspective and help them learn to evaluate what they find. We can give them assignments that help them grow in these skills. Alan Kay, one of the inventors of the Graphic User Interface, said that the biggest task is to teach students how to discern the worthwhile information from the useless. ■ People worry about kids finding inappropriate material or about gee-whiz technology overshadowing real learning. Is this a problem? Security is obviously a concern. At Woodside Priory we will have our own server, which gives us good control. We can shut out web sites we don’t want students to locate, like the Playboy site or other inappropriate sites. Chat rooms can be a waste of time, or inappropriate , or quite valuable if in a foreign language or about subjects of interest to students. They can promote written expression. During school, students are busy and they are supervised. Students in chat rooms would be there with a teacher’s knowledge as part of a project. On gee-whiz technology, I haven’t personally seen technology overemphasized to the detriment of better quality learning. For one thing, technology is improving. Educational software is getting better. The Internet is more accessible. We are getting better at using all of it. Do you know any jobs that don’t require computer literacy? I don’t.
Information Technology Working At The Priory See Dr. Cody’s letter, page 3, for a summary of where the Priory is going from here. • The Internet is a terrific student resource. Fine arts students are using the Internet to research history and public art — part of planning a wall mural for Woodside Priory’s fortieth anniversary. Eighth grade readers of Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men used the Internet to find possible causes for the main character’s odd illness. Foreign language students are exploring French web sites, and shared a chat room with French kids. Science students hop from the US Geological Survey to UC Berkeley to NASA to the Jet Propulsion lab. Sixth graders are pulling down maps, photos and data to compile on-line reports of the world’s cities, which they will link together to form a coordinated class report. “Students are beginning to get a better sense of how and when to use the Internet, what it works for, and what contributions they have to make in the acquisition of knowledge,” said Nancy Newman, faculty member in the Division of Math, Science and Technology. • Research and curriculum opportunities appeal to faculty. For Theology, Dr. Cody pulled moral points of view from several Internet sites, loaded them on his classroom computer, and viewed them with his students on the classroom TV screen which he plugged in as a monitor. Copies of the book Billy Budd are unavailable but by installing the text on the library’s computer bank, the class was able to read and discuss a valuable resource. • Working on their own, many students include in their assignments information and graphics (such as maps and photos) they found on the Internet. These students have learned that by starting at a quality web site, they can often “hop” to other high-quality sites to collect these resources. Many students are proficient users of software tools for creating charts, graphs and maps. • Most students prefer the CD-ROM databases to the printed versions of magazines, encyclopedias and other standard references in the library, says Peter Reinhardt, librarian. About 30 CDs are now in the library collection. Specialized software for study and skill-building is also available, mainly in classrooms. Both collections are growing as teachers identify tools they can use. • Students are creating their own web pages using HTML programming language as part of the eighth grade curriculum. All sites include links, sound and animation. WPS is considering creating an on-campus “Intranet” that will use click-and-go technology to connect people and information created by the school community. • Science students are part of a world-wide program to collect weather data and conduct soil and water studies. Working with GLOBE, WPS students monitor weather instruments and record their findings in a central computer. Data is linked to satellite photos to provide weather scientists with important, enriched detail. Students learn how science works; scientists gain specific data; the science and student communities keep in touch. Participating students around the world can share data and discuss their work. This is one example of a multi-level “learning community,” considered an up-and-coming creative use of information technology. • Families keep in touch. More than 40 percent of WPS families receive the daily school bulletin on e-mail. The school calendar, parent newsletter, course guide, school magazine, student handbook, college prep bulletins and more are (or soon will be) available on the school web page. Course syllabi may follow next fall. • A student technology team is on call to diagnose and solve both hardware and software problems, or to help someone learn to use a new tool. Students update the web site and supervise the computer lab in the evenings.
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Students Mark Lewis and Chris Upjohn are installing an electron microscope, which provides an amazing 250,000X magnification. The typical high school microscope magnifies about 400X. Photographer Jerry Coy, who used it professionally, donated the scope, backup equipment, and many hours of work with students in the installation process. Students already have plans for projects involving cell membranes and crystalline structures, said Mark.
Academics Supporting Students’ Individuality
Deborah Walen, Academic Dean
“An exemplary curriculum, alone, provides a standard set of tools. It does not necessarily help a student put them to use in support of his or her individual traits.”
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ifteen hundred years ago, St. Benedict handed his followers a challenge that we educators still face today. He challenged Benedictines to recognize and encourage both individuality and community as components of human growth. To me, as Academic Dean, his challenge means that leading our student community through an exemplary college preparatory curriculum is important, but not enough. An exemplary curriculum, alone, provides a standard set of tools, but it does not necessary help the student put them to use in support of his or her individual traits. Hopefully, our students and faculty foster individuality every day through the heterogeneous composition of our community and in the way we talk to and work with each other. Let me share with you some specific examples of how we deliberately foster student individuality here at the Priory. Simply staying flexible is the most obvious. For instance, a student in my seventh-grade Spanish class came to me last spring and asked for permission to miss her 8 a.m. class once a week. She had an opportunity to perform in a skating exhibition and needed extra time with her skating coach for a few months. It seemed to me that she would gain more selfdiscipline and self-esteem from her skating experience than her missed Spanish class. These are important characteristics to foster in seventh grade, and I believe they will pay off for her academically in high school. I said “yes”, with the provision that we review the plan if her grades slipped. Another example is Derek Thomas’ exciting opportunity to spend two semesters sailing around the world with other students. He just finished his first semester at sea. By coordinating his on-board studies with Priory graduation requirements, it will be possible for Derek to return in September 1997 for a standard senior year, undoubtedly much matured by this extraordinary experience.
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On the campus right now we have students seriously pursuing off-campus interests in horsemanship, flute, jazz piano, tennis, community leadership, choral music, and probably many other areas. Some have needed adjustments to their academic schedules from time to time; others may need them in the future. I encourage them, within limits. Here are two critical limits. First, the added opportunity must not weaken a student’s academic experience. Our college preparatory curriculum is very clearly defined and all parts of it are required of everyone. Second, the student’s talent or opportunity shouldn’t have to be overwhelming in scope to qualify for special attention. The criterion is whether the student’s individual growth will benefit, not whether the student may someday be a Nobel prizewinner or perform in Carnegie Hall. Some students haven’t yet discovered a passion. We believe it’s in them. We try, through class retreats and club activities, to get every student to find and foster that sense of what’s important within themselves. The Priory’s class retreats are aimed primarily at developing a sense of community, rather like corporate team-building retreats. Individuality is the harmonic theme. Starting in middle school, students write a letter to themselves, describing where they want to be in a year’s time. They read the letter at the next year’s retreat. In another exercise, students are asked to identify who sits on their personal “board of directors” and provides the leadership in their lives. Older students are asked to notice and write down positive qualities about their peers. Juniors and seniors work on projects, such as mask-making, designed to help them become more aware of their own positive qualities. Students have a great time on their retreats — they hardly realize they are defining themselves as well as building a support group for the stressful junior and senior years!
Several times a year, faculty advisors ask their advisees for personal reflections when they plan and discuss course choices and student activities. Club activities offer a different focus. They are experiential and largely run by students for student-set goals. Faculty members advise. We provide time for club meetings during the school day as well as after school because we think this experience is so important for individual growth. Club activities range from community service to chess to drama to astronomy. In clubs, students can learn the organizing and social skills to get a job done and the personal rewards that make a job worthwhile. Students can change clubs, start a new club, or re-direct their club’s activity. The only choice not offered is non-participation. Hopefully, these activities lead students to see that we believe in them. Hopefully, their growing self-knowledge will lead them to believe in and trust themselves as they grow up and move into adult life. This “other side” of St. Benedict’s philosophy is, for us, a never-ending and fascinating challenge.
A balance between rigorous academics and opportunities for drama and journalism was important to 1996 Co-Valedictorian Jeanine Yost. Here, she played Violet in the Priory Players’ modern-dress version of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.
Missing an occasional class for a short period of time allowed this skater to concentrate on her sport.
Team sports can develop an appreciation of both group and individual strengths.
In class retreats, students work on becoming distinctive individuals and also on becoming a supportive community for each other. The class candle, in the center, accompanies each group through the years and stays on in the Chapel after they graduate.
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Athletics Superbowl to Basketball
Priory Coach John Paye’s time with the Niners included the unforgettable experience of Superbowl 23 against Cincinnati Bengals.
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oodside Priory Coach John Paye has lived out every young athlete’s dream of professional sports, taking his career right to the top. Beginning as an all-around star athlete at Menlo School, he went on to play football and basketball at Stanford University, and then to a quarterback slot on the San Francisco ‘49ers. His time with the Niners included the unforgettable experience of Superbowl 23 against Cincinnati Bengals. Four surgeries on his throwing shoulder effectively sidelined John ‘s professional career in 1990, “about eight years sooner than I’d wanted it to end,” he candidly admits. Today, he enjoys sports from another perspective — the shaping of young players. “I enjoy coaching very, very much. It’s an opportunity to be involved in competitive sports, and Coach (Bill) August is the main reason I’m here at the Priory,” John says. Being a product of a small, private school himself, he likes small schools, and he likes the high quality of Woodside Priory’s basketball facilities, he adds. While he was with the 49ers, John was already coaching high school girls basketball. Guiding his sister through four years of the sport was particularly satisfying; she went on to play for Stanford and is now playing professional womens basketball, he says. Bill August, WPS’s director of athletics, coached John at Menlo, and the two stayed in touch. Bill brought John to the Priory to coach girls basketball in 1993, and this spring John is coaching boys basketball. “I am a big believer in teaching and learning the game on a daily basis. You can see improvement and skill growth day by day, week by week. I love seeing kids catch on and start that process of gradual improvement,” he says. John thinks students learn important life skills in team sports. The classroom can be a static and pre-
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dictable place, but, when playing sports, the situation is always changing. The variables are never the same. That makes sports a good microcosm of the way we live, John commented. He takes the opportunity to teach teamwork, sportsmanship, responsibility and self-motivation, he says. One “something extra” that John enjoys is the multi-cultural make-up of his Priory team. “It’s truly remarkable that we have one Frenchman, one Russian, three Asians, and two African-Americans, all on one small team. This just adds to our overall character. This team has a uniqueness about it, and I really enjoy working with each of these boys,” John explains. John’s other involvement in his field is his sports promotion and property management business which has its headquarters in Menlo Park.
Awards Private Schools Athletic League All-League Players Fall 1996 First Team - All League Soccer Ramiro Arredondo Second Team - All League Volleyball Michelle Floyd Honorable Mention, Volleyball Jennifer Upjohn Anne Mecham
League Champions: Seventh Grade Girls Volleyball Sixth Grade Boys Flag Football
Sixth grade teacher and coach Jeff Rasp says it is an advantage to get
to know his students in both spheres.
Alumni
Pedro Mequio and Mike Mitchell, both graduates of the Class of 1996, completed the Marines’ basic training last fall. Here, Pedro chats with Coach Chris Miller and student Geoff Welliver.
NEWS & NOTES Chris Bulkeley, Class of 1981, married JoAnne Suzula in Sacramento in April 1995. Chris is an attorney with the Yolo County District Attorney’s office and JoAnne is an optometrist. They have just moved to a new home in Davis, Calif. Woodside Priory’s Father Martin co-officiated in the marriage ceremony that joined Bill McGlashan Jr., Class of 1982, and Marie Rafic at St. Helene’s Church in Napa on Nov. 16, 1996. A member of the Woodside Priory School Board of Trustees, Bill is president and co-founder of Pharmanex, and CEO of Generation Ventures, a venture capital firm. Marie is leaving the finance industry after seven years with First Boston to pursue a graduate degree in acupuncture. They live in San Francisco. Dave Gerber, Class of 1989, is on the Priory campus this spring team-teaching a short course in architecture and design with Fine Arts Division Head Tom Yacoe. A 1996 graduate of UC Berkeley’s School of Architecture, Dave is now working with the Steinberg Group, an 80-member architectural firm in San Jose. The San Jose’s Children’s Museum and the Tech Museum are among the projects in which the firm has taken part, as well as churches, temples, schools, residences, and all kinds of major buildings except skyscrapers, said Dave. Alumni phones are buzzing as class leaders from 1957 through 1996 try to reconnect with their friends. People who haven’t already received a call will probably hear from a long-lost classmate soon. If you don’t get a call, and we haven’t heard from you lately, please follow ET’s example and phone home! The goal of the alumni steering committee leading
this effort is to update Woodside Priory’s class contact lists in preparation for the school’s fortieth anniversary celebration next year. The updated list will also be helpful in planning an ongoing reunion program, says Doug Ayer, Director of Development.
Can you meet a
Visitors to the campus:
Cathy Molak,
Class of 1996 visitors include Peter Adams, now at Williams College; Ben Hurlbut and Gladys Martin, both at Stanford, Mike Mitchell, looking fit and tanned in his Marines uniform; Pedro Miqueo, also with the Marines; Nathan Williams, at Wesleyan, and Jeanine Yost, at Wellesley. Clare Van Dalsem was a regular visitor on the campus as coach of the JV girls volleyball team. Grant Rosenquist visited from Tulane, and Tim Gerrish dropped in on break from Loras College. Class of 1995 visitors - Mike Farris is at CSU San Jose and is still lending a hand with Woodside Priory’s new technology. Miki Oyler, home from the University of New England, attended Sunday Mass in the Priory Chapel over winter break. Alejandro Chavez is taking a break from school and is working in San Jose. Claudine Chow is at UC Berkeley and is thinking about a change; Sarah Schmidt is enjoying her sophomore year at Occidental College; likewise for Dora Arredondo and Koh Nakajima, both at Santa Clara University. Andy Schilling, visitor from the Class of 1978 lives locally and works in San Francisco’s financial district. 15
graduating senior for career exploration? Call (415) 851-6138. Or contact her through the Priory web page.
Students will study architectural design, then try out their ideas by constructing models, and finally “debrief” as a team during a short course being taught this spring by Dave Gerber, Class of 1989 and Tom Yacoe, head of the Fine Arts division.
Members of the Woodside Priory School Board of Trustees *Pat Adams *Nancy Appelblom *Dick Blach Scott Carey Jeff Congdon *Rev. Mark Cooper, O.S.B. Les DeWitt Fran Dempsey Rick Ellinger J. Michael Gullard *Sharon Ladrech *Rt. Rev. Matthew Levy, O.S.B. David Lewis Kathie Maxfield Sandra McCarthy Bill McGlashan, Jr. *Milbrey McLaughlin Donald McMullen R. Bruce Mosbacher *Matt O’Rourke Keith Patten Art Schultz William Stewart Francesca Turbok Joanne Vidinsky Robert Ward Patrick Yam * New Members
Woodside Priory School 302 Portola Road Portola Valley, CA 94028 (415) 851-8221 fax (415) 851-2839
Address Correction Requested
Standing Committees of the Board of Trustees Executive Fran Turbok, Chair Finance Bruce Mosbacher, Chair Planning and Development Art Schultz, Chair Student Life and Educational Policy Sandra McCarthy, Chair Community Relations Pat Adams, Chair Trustee Joanne Vidinsky, Chair Parent-Student-Faculty Special Committees for the 1996-97 School Year The Scheduling Committee is studying problems and successes of the current block scheduling and will advise on implementing further scheduling changes. The Technology Committee is providing planning and assistance in the educational use of computers. The Chapel Addition Committee is working with architects in designing a chapel expansion for Fall 1997. Many annual committees are managed by the Parents Association. Co-chairs this year are Nancy Appelblom and Sharon Ladrech.
Rev. Mark Cooper, O.S.B., and Abbot (Rt. Rev.) Mathew Levy, O.S.B. (seated), who both have extensive teaching and school administration experience, are new members of the Priory’s Board of Trustees. They are affiliated with St. Anselm, Woodside Priory’s parent Abbey in New Hampshire.
Priorities Editor: Carolyn Dobervich Design: Ennis Kirkland Design Photos: Jim Kirkland, Fr. Martin Mager, Carolyn Dobervich, Lauren Dey (student). Contributors: Fr. William Sullivan, Dr. Frank Cody, Rebecca Van Dalsem, Deborah Whalen, Carolyn Dobervich Priorities Magazine is published in September and March by Woodside Priory School for its alumni, parents, students, neighbors and friends. This issue was prepared entirely electronically.
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