Priorities # 50: Summer 2011

A Magazine of the Priory · Issue #50

· June/July 2011

Drawing a Straight Course with Crooked Lines: Father Maurus Celebrates his Years of Teaching at the Priory

Priorities Magazine celebrates it’s 50th issue!

TOC TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S

Woodside Priory School Celebrating 52 Years of Benedictine Education In This Issue Spring at a Glance. Pages 5-7 Midlle School graduation. Pages 8-9 Senior Graduation. Pages 10-13 Awards. Pages 14-15 Switching Tracks: Fr. Maurus. Pages 16-19 Memories from the class of ‘61. Pages 20-23 Priorities 50th issue. Pages 24-25 Class News & Notes. Pages 28-31 Interview with Terrence L. Gargiulo. Pages 32-37 The Green Page. Pages 38-39

Board of Directors Abbott Matthew Leavy, OSB Father Mark Cooper, OSB Brother Edward Englund, OSB Father Martin Mager, OSB Father William Sullivan, OSB

Board of Trustees Janet Brownstone Lisa Carlos Jennie Chiu Sherri Coats Monica Corman Wayne Davison Kathy Feldman Bob Finney Chris Galli ‘84 Hilary Giles George Hohnsbeen Father Eric Hollas, OSB Peter Kasenchak Bob Latta Rick Magnuson Bud McElroy ‘83 Cecilia Montalvo Father Tom Moran Jami Nachtsheim Father Maurus Nemeth, OSB Dale Pfau Hank Plain Patti Plummer Ray Rothrock Kari Rust Ken Tehaney ‘66 Paul Titterton ‘82 Dan Turner Keith Van Sickle Lisa Wan Mark Wilson

Priorities magazine is published in March/April, June/July, and December/January by Woodside Priory School for its alumni, parents, students, neighbors and friends. Contact the Communications Office at 650-851-6193 or the school at 650-851-8221.

Editor: Sean Mclain Brown Contributing Writers: Maddie Pierson. Gulliver Lavalle, Hovey Clark, Sean Mclain Brown Design/Production: Jim Kirkland, Copperline Multimedia Photos: Sean Mclain Brown, Jim Kirkland, Tina Paulson, Kelly Sargent, Br. Edward, Tim Molak Printing: Communications on the Mark, Mark W. Allen

Chapel Services

Masses at 7:15 a.m. Monday-Saturday 9:30 a.m. Sunday 11:00 a.m. Sunday Hungarian service 8 p.m. third Friday (Taize) ecumenical service All are welcome.

FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

W Dear Priory Community,

Welcome to the 50th issue of Priorities!

The 2011-2012 school year is now in the books. We recently held the commencement exercises for both the Middle and Upper Schools and have sent our graduates on their way to high school or college. It is a bit unnerving how quickly the end of the year arrives – even more surprising to the Seniors who in August saw a long academic year ahead of them. They are now preparing themselves for a new campus and classmates they will meet in the Fall – we wish them the best and in the Graduation section you will be able to read about the ceremonies and other numerous award winners from all grades at the Priory.

In early June I and three colleagues, Brian Schlaak, Josie Castaneda and Brother Edward, made a trip back to Saint Anselm in Manchester, New Hampshire for a conference on Benedictine hospitality. Saint Anselm’s has own and operated the Priory since 1975 and are one of the big reasons we are a thriving educational community today.

The conference explored how this Benedictine value is “lived out” on the many collegiate and high school campus’ across the country. Hospitality is unique to our monasteries and tradition - “all are to be welcomed as Christ” is what it says in the Rule of Saint Benedict and here at the Priory it permeates how we interact with each other, our students, our parents and our guests. When we greet people, offer them food and drink and “Listen … with the ear of our hearts” we are modeling the behavior Saint Benedict had in mind when he wrote his rule for living in community.

Along the same lines, the Priory faculty and staff will be reading “Finding Sanctuary: Monastic Steps for Everyday Life” by Abbot Christopher Jamison this summer. It follows the lives of 5 individuals who live at Worth Abbey in England for 40 days and learn the restorative power of silence in their daily routine.

Abbot Christopher and Worth Abbey were the focus of a BBC series entitled The Monastery and the source for this book. The book and the series explored the challenge of finding, among the busyness of our days, some time for silence to listen and become aware of our inner self. All 5 individuals left with a new found appreciation for the role of down time and the impact our internal voices can have on our wellbeing. It seems that the Benedictines really do know how to live a balanced life.

There is an inspiring article in this issue on Father Maurus who is leaving the classroom to spend more time as the Chaplain of the Hungarian Catholic Mission. He has been involved with this group for many years and will also begin to assist the Development office with our alumni. Father Maurus has been a beloved teacher and mentor for 43 years where countless Priory students learned about the world of Biology. He has worked in the dorms and as Maintenance Director – wherever the community needed him Father was willing to serve. He has been honored with a Faculty Chair by the McGraw Family and we recently dedicated Room 18 and the Science Lab in his name. For his tremendous dedicated efforts there is never enough we can do to honor him and his commitment to the teaching ministry. He will leave his office in the Briggs Science Center and move to his new office in the monastery this summer. continued page 4

There is an inspiring article in this issue on Father Maurus who is leaving the classroom to spend more time as the Chaplain of the Hungarian Catholic Mission.

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I wanted to share our pride and excitement for our Robotics team. This group of Priory students labored daily in a work space in the back of the barn to build a robot and compete in the FIRST Robotics competition which is held annually. The event was the brainchild of Dean Kamen (Segway fame) about 10 years ago and celebrates students in a competitive event other than athletics. This year the Priory “Barn2Robotics” team won the Silicon Valley Regional title (similar to winning a CCS athletic championship). It is the first time for such a high award and a tremendous tribute to our band of tech savvy individuals and their moderators.

Finally, we have just completed a Feasibility Study that confirms that we have the support to begin our next capital campaign. Emphasis will be on the renovation and construction of academic classrooms across the campus. It will be a very exciting time for our community as we continue the success of our Golden Jubilee Campaign, which saw the building of staff housing and our Performing Arts complex.

May the summer months allow you time to “find sanctuary” away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Sincerely,

Tim Molak Head of School

Top L-R: Alison Stasney, Todd Turner, Julia Duncan ‘05, Doug Sargent, and Tim Molak.

Above L-R: Caroline Hickman and Lizzie Boyle Above Right L-R: Julia Teymourian, Mayra Barriga, Brigid White, Olivia Peek Bottom Right L-R: Tim Molak, Liam McCarthy, Bailey Marsheck, and Olivia Peek

SPRING Priory alum John Maxwell Bryan Hampton holds a photo of himself from his time at the Priory. John was on campus to oversee filming of a movie he helped produce.

Priory alum John Maxwell Bryan Hampton holds a photo of himself from his time at the Priory. John was on campus to oversee filming of a movie he helped produce.

Priory alum John Maxwell Bryan Hampton holds a photo of himself from his time at the Priory. John was on campus to oversee filming of a movie he helped produce.

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Priory alum John Maxwell Bryan Hampton holds a photo of himself from his time at the Priory.

AT A Priory alum John Maxwell Bryan Hampton holds a photo of himself from his time at the Priory.

Priory alum John Maxwell Bryan Hampton holds a photo of himself from his time at the Priory.

Priory alum John Maxwell Bryan Hampton holds a photo of himself from his time at the Priory.

Above Left: Jack Hammond aims for a winning shot Above: Nadia Faisal winds up for a rocket shot.

Right L-R: Nora Siegler and Julia Bounds get pumped before the game!

Priory alum John Maxwell Bryan Hampton holds a photo of himself from his time at the Priory.

Above Left: Jack Hammond aims for a winning shot Above: Nadia Faisal winds up for a rocket shot.

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GLANCE Priory alum John Maxwell Bryan Hampton holds a photo of himself from his time at the Priory.

Priory alum John Maxwell Bryan Hampton holds a photo of himself from his time at the Priory.

Priory alum John Maxwell Bryan Hampton holds a photo of himself from his time at the Priory.

Priory alum John Maxwell Bryan Hampton holds a photo of himself from his time at the Priory.

Above Left: Jack Hammond aims for a winning shot Above: Nadia Faisal winds up for a rocket shot.

Right L-R: Nora Siegler and Julia Bounds get pumped before the game!

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Stepping Up

Middle School graduates rise to

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As Exsultate Justi began to play, proud parents, relatives, and friends craned their necks expectantly waiting for a glimpse of the 35 graduates of the Class of 2015.

Tim Molak, Head of School enthusiastically encouraged the graduates to “become lifelong learners and stewards who will productively serve a world in need of your gifts” “In the last three years, Priory has not only been a school, but a home,” said Haley Ebert, Student Speaker, continuing she said, the Priory “inspired us to look deeply into our nation’s government, take an artistic risk we wouldn’t normally take, and motivated us to pursue the meaning in our lives.”

Jane Ross, Student Speaker, likened her class to a Physics experiment that required students to design an apparatus that could safely drop an egg from two stories. She said, “This class is like the egg project. We attempt many things, and sometimes we crack under the pressure. But after our failed attempts we perfect our cushion.”

The Middle School graduates chose Lisa Wood, faculty in the Math department as their commencement speaker. Wood said, “Do you know how much time we have spent together? Have you calculated it?” Wood continued, “we have spent about 300 class periods together. That is 21,000 minutes, 350 hours!”

In her humorous address, she outlined advice for the graduate from Priory freshmen, some of the advice included: Get as much sleep as possible, ask a lot of questions, do not compare yourself to others, and compare yourself to your own standards.

In conclusion, Wood asked the students to remember her, say hello when they see her in the hallway, and to always stay in touch with each other.

9 There is only one you... Don’t you dare change just because you’re outnumbered!

-Charles Swindoll

the challenge of High School THE CLASS OF 2015* Mayra Aileen Barriga Elizabeth Kristina Boyle Michael James Chiu-Schaepe Haley Grace Ebert Clinton Wallace Finney Bruno Luca Geoly Jack Warren Hammond Caroline Elizabeth Hickman Edward Lewis Lansing Philip Thomas Law Rhys Sutherland Lewis Emily Elizabeth Machado Natalie Grace Magnuson Sasha Morgan Malek Bailey Stephen Marsheck Liam Gerard McCarthy Ansel Morris Kathleen Meghan Nachtsheim

Olivia Lorraine Peek Kyle Victor Perez James Kilmer Phelps Neil Vikram Ragavan Christopher Dakota Risley Jane Hamnett Ross Michael John Sammut Elizabeth Hamilton Schilling Amelia Celine Schreiner Nicholas James Souter Michael Patrick Sterbenc Christian Carl Stogner Julia Mary Teymourian Patrick James Tornes Brigid Schulte White Tyler Alexander Woods Julia Nadine Wu

*The Priory identifies the class year of its students as the year they would normally graduate from high school. This is done in order to place emphasis on the school’s seven year college preparatory program, grades six through twelve.

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Creativity The lilting call of bagpipes and drums echoed Alba an Aigh (Scottish the Brave) across Father Christopher field, heralding the processional march of the Priory’s 51st commencement.

Head of School Tim Molak implored graduates to “enjoy each stage of life” and hoped that “when a flame is needed…you provide the spark to get it going.”

He challenged the graduates to rise up and serve the world with their gifts, and had no doubt that they would be the solutions to many “local and global problems.”

“Never forget about community,” said Corey Cheung, 2011 Student Commencement Speaker. He told his fellow graduates that it’s time to spin a new web that involves new people and friends, but never to forget about the web of friends they created in the class of 2011.

Rules

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for Class of 2011

Tina Seelig, the much-lauded Director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, the entrepreneur center at Stanford University’s School of Engineering was the commencement speaker. Seelig laid out her advice for the graduating class and shared three keys that would help unlock creativity. Seelig said “The first key to unlocking your creativity is observation - paying acute attention to the world around you, the second key is to carefully craft the frame for the problems you face, opening up the frame when needed, and the third key is cultivating an attitude that you can solve your problems.”

Seelig concluded, saying that all the keys to life’s problems are found in the cultivation of creativity and that “every word, every situation, and every challenge” is an opportunity for creativity to flourish.

The things taught in schools and colleges are not an education, but the means of education.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

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The Class of 2010 Lauren Janice Barkmann David Bernard Beleson * Brian Andrew Bevilacqua * Ariana Gabriella Bickell Gregory Donald Biles Alexander John-Hubert Brugger ** Clayton Braque Cadwell Kendra Marie Carano Kimberly Elizabeth Carlisle * Vanessa Kye-Ting Cheng Corey Kai Cheung *** Yen-Ting Chung * Andrew Jacob Clark * Melanie Ann Conde Nicole Kathrin Dancer Nurdidagen Guimba Dilangalen * Devon Elaine Errington * Alexandra Frei Fabbro Arturo Ferrari ** Evan Alexander Filipczyk Veronique Marie Filloux *** Keyra Yasmin Galvan * Paul Hailey Cary Betts Hampton * Matthew James Hill ** John Gabriel Jernick Jiachen Jiang ** William Travis Johnson * Dong Yong Kim Jae Hwan Kim ** Mina Kim ** Ui Chan Kim Arnaud Kodjo Kpachavi * Rachel Alexandra Landers

Marie Trudelle is all smiles as she walks the procession.

Monica Weber adjests her cap before the procession.

Drew Yoxsimer and Father Maurus.

Rachel Esme Lazarus * Seoung Jin Lim Seoung Won Lim Hao-Wei Lin *** Connor Lee Mather Kyle Thomas Montgomery ** Aran Nayebi *** Jooeun Park * Caroline Anne Pillsbury Elena Rosalia Poetsch Colton Robert Francis Purvin * Matthew Christian Putnam * Alexandra Maria Quinby Ashley Karina Reyes Danielle Rinat Anne Rachel Schaffer Alexandra Marie Schnabel Colin Fields Schreiner ** Elizabeth Marie Somers Zandalee Springs Marcus Laszlo Stromeyer *** Da-Eun Suh * Guillermo Talancon Katherine Claire Taylor *** Alix Jeanne Traeger Jimmy Tran ** Seaira Rain Truppelli * Justin Tse Chun Che Tseng * Michael Allen Wan Katharine Poole Wick Brandon Lloyd Willhite Rebecca Lauren Wilson * Emma Dorothy Wrenn ***

Academic Honors at Commencement

Academic honors at Commencement are awarded to graduates who have earned a cumulative grade point average by the end of the first semester of the Senior year: *** Benedictine Honors - GPA of 4.0 plus ** Head of School’s Honors - GPA of 3.81 to 3.99 * Dean’s Honors - GPA 3.5 to 3.80

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College and University Acceptances (*) Indicates multiple acceptances by the college.

Schools noted in bold are those where Priory graduates will be attending in the fall.

Academy of Art University, San Francisco American University Arizona State University * Art Center College of Design, Pasadena Art Institute of Boston Baylor University Bates College Boston College * Boston University * Brandeis University Brown University * Bryn Mawr College Bucknell University * California Polytechnic University,

San Luis Obispo California State University, Chico Northridge Carleton College Case Western Reserve University Chapman University * Clark University Claremont McKenna College * Colby College * Colgate University College of Charleston College of Saint Benedict / Saint John’s University Columbia College Cornell University * Davidson College DePaul University Dickinson College Dominican University * Drexel University Duquesne University Elon University * Emory University * Fordham University * Franklin and Marshall College Fresno Pacific University George Washington University * Georgetown University Gonzaga University * Hamilton College Hobart and William Smith College Hofstra University Humboldt State University Indiana University * Johns Hopkins University * Lafayette College Lawrence University Lehigh University Lewis and Clark College * Loyola Marymount University * Loyola University, New Orleans Macalester College McGill University Michigan State University Montana State University * Northeastern University * Northwestern University Notre Dame de Namur University * New York University * Occidental College * Oregon State University * Otis College of Art and Design Oxford College of Emory University Parsons School of Design

Pennsylvania State University * Pepperdine University * Pratt Institute Princeton University Purdue University Reed College Regis University * Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute * Sacramento State University Saint Anselm College Saint John’s University, Queens Saint Lawrence University Saint Mary’s College of California * San Jose State University Santa Clara University * Sarah Lawrence College School of the Arts, Chicago School of the Visual Arts, New York Scripps College Seattle University * Skidmore College Smith College * Southern Methodist University Sonoma State University * Stanford University * Stonehill College Trinity University * Tufts University University of Alabama University of Arizona * University of British Columbia * University of California,

Berkeley *

Davis *

Irvine *

Los Angeles * Riverside

San Diego *

Santa Barbara *

Santa Cruz * University of Colorado, Boulder * University of Denver * University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign * University of Massachussetts, Amherst University of Miami University of Michigan University of Oregon * University of the Pacific * University of Pittsburgh * University of Portland * University of Puget Sound * University of Redlands * University of Rochester * University of Southern California * University of San Diego * University of San Francisco * University of Texas,

Austin Dallas University of Virginia Washington State University Wheaton College * Whitman College * Whittier College * Willamette University * Williams College Worcester Polytechnic Institute * Yale University *

Dean of Students Scott Parker with Melissa Perna.

Faculty Patricia Emerson with Dominic Becker.

Monica Weber hugs a fellow graduate.

14 Upper School Awards

Middle School Awards

Computer Science Grade 9 – Andrew Christense Grade 10 – Willie Wang

Saint Ambrose: Patron of Learning Award for Humanities Julia Teymourian

Mathematics Grade 9 – Sarah Reid Grade 10 – Hazemach Grade 11 – Eric Theis

Keaton Carano and Head of School Tim Molak

Graduation Photos are now available for purchase!

Be looking in the mail for order forms to purchase graduation photos from our photographer Jim Kirkland.

Photos may be viewed on his website:

www.copperline.com Click on ‘login’. Both the login and password is

‘grads2011’ Jim can be contacted at ennis@copperline.com with questions.

Science Grade 9 – William Xu Grade 10 – Brian DiGiorgio Grade 11 – Kathleen Gregory English Grade 9 – Melanie Biles Grade 10 – Sarah Reid Grade 11 – Emily Fockler Theology Grade 9 – Mara McLean Grade 10 – Olivia Ives Grade 11 – Allegra Thomas World Languages Grade 9 – Andrew Christensen Grade 10 – Khan Lam Grade 11 – Kayla Naguchi

Saint Albert: The Patron of Science Award for Science and Math Kathleen Nachtsheim Saint Catherine of Bologna Award for Fine Arts and Performing Arts Julia Wu Valedictorian Kyle Perez Salutatorian Patrick Tornes Leadership Award Liam McCarthy Dean’s Award Jane Ross Saint Benedict Award Elizabeth Schillingan

Performing Arts Grade 9 – Thomas Latta Grade 10 – Emily Tsai Grade 11 – Krysten Pfau

Scholar Athlete Award Kyle Perez Brigid White

Visual Arts Grade 10 – Neil Erasmus Grade 11 – Alana Coleville

Athlete of the Year Jack Hammond Elizabeth Schilling

College and University and Scientific Societies Awards University of Rochester Xerox Award Eric Theis University of Rochester George Eastman Young Leaders Award Kat Gregory University of Rochester Bausch and Lomb Honorary Science Award Aaron Cornelius Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony Award in Humanities Madeleine Pierson Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Award Eric Theis Williams College Book Award Anthony Shu The Wellesley College Book Award Emily Fockler The Harvard Book Award Kat Gregory Saint Benedict Award Grade 6 – Alex Kost Grade 7 – Liam McCarthy Grade 8 - Michaela Koval Grade 9 – Daisy Alvarado-Muñoz Grade 10 – Allegra Thomas Grade 11 – Veronique Filloux

15 Academic Honors and Awards For Class of 2011 Valedictorians Corey Cheung Veronique Filloux Grant Lin Aran Nayebi Katie Taylor Emma Wrenn Salutatorian Arturo Ferrari Headmaster’s Award Brooke Hobbs

Department Awards For Class of 2011 Theology Jay Kim A. Vernon Sohlberg Award for English Ted Tseng Mathematics Jiachen Jiang Computer Science Arnaud Kpachavi Science Grant Lin

Rev. Benignus Barat, O.S.B. Citizenship Award Keyra Galvan

Performing Arts Kyle Montgomery

The Dean’s Award Jay Kim

Visual Arts Grant Lin

Head of School Award Kimberly Carlisle

World Languages Emma Wrenn

Dean of Student’s Award Devon Errington

Social Studies Katie Taylor

Saint Benedict Award Travis Johnson

Residential Life Keyra Galvan

Ellie Oates, Josh and David Nimer

Ellie Oates, Josh and David Nimer

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Switchng Tracks Father Maurus leaves the classroom, but his work continues. .

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17 When asked his favorite part of teaching, he doesn’t hesitate.

“Being in the classroom with the kids, interacting with them,” he says. “I love the challenges that come with teaching. I love my students.”

As the class of 2011 bids farewell to Priory, another transition is taking place: Father Maurus Nemeth is saying goodbye the classroom after more than four decades of teaching. But let it be known: he is not retiring.

“I don’t use the words I am retiring,” Father Maurus says firmly. “I don’t believe in retiring. I am switching tracks, as we all do over the course of our lives. First we switch from slower tracks to faster ones, and then from faster tracks to slower and slower and slower. This is one of those junctions when I am switching tracks.”

Father Maurus has taught biology at Priory since 1968 and headed the science department for over thirty years. “Teaching was always my primary joy,” he says. When asked his favorite part of teaching, he doesn’t hesitate. “Being in the classroom with the kids, interacting with them,” he says. “I love the challenges that come with teaching. I love my students.”

His enthusiasm was evident. “Teaching is what he loves,” says Mark Lewis, ‘97. “You can tell that when you see him in the classroom.” Zoltan Klarik, ‘04, vividly remembers Father Maurus’s passion for science, teaching and his students. “You could tell he truly cared about the students and that they understood the material. You could feel his excitement about the subject matter.” Pablo Avalos, ‘02, echoes, “You could see the joy he got from teaching.”

Part of that joy was a passion for science. “In his class,” explains Klarik, “biology came alive. All his experience and knowledge just vibrated in the air whenever he was lecturing. It was apparent that he loved science—so much that it actually made you love it also.”

Klarik went on to medical school after Priory, and he now works at the University of Debrecen Medical Health Science Center in Hungary, where he is a postgraduate lecturer and Ph.D. student in microsurgery.

Pablo Avalos was similarly inspired. He’s now a general practitioner doing cell therapy research for ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. “Father Maurus is one of the biggest reasons I became a doctor,” he says. “He instilled his love for science in me through every class and every lab assignment. He became my mentor, pushing me to chase my dreams and supporting me in every way.” Mark Lewis, on the other hand, already knew he wanted to become a doctor when he came to Father Maurus’s class.

Still, what he learned there really stuck with him. “Even when I was in medical school they mentioned concepts that I remembered discussing in Fr. Maurus’ biology class,” says Lewis, now an Internist in Mountain View.

Science was at the forefront of Father Maurus’s classes, but there was also room for fun.

“He was strict,” explains Klarik, “but he knew how to have a good time.” When the phone rang in class, for example, Father Maurus liked to joke that it was probably one of his girlfriends. Pablo Avalos remembers his contagious laugh and impressive physical strength.

“We all tried to beat him in arm wrestling, but we couldn’t,” he says.

Father Maurus feels strongly about the collaborative nature of education. “Yes, we are teachers in the classroom,” he says, “but education is a much more complex, much more beautiful experience than, I, teacher, tell you, and you, students, learn from me. We learn together. We learn from each other. I always tell my students, I learn from them as much as they learn from me. We do it together.”

He also believes that learning should be experiential. “I always try to tell my students, education doesn’t come from books.

Books are necessary instruments that information is compiled in, and sometimes it’s good to have it in a written form, but education primarily comes from interaction. Interaction with one another, and with the wider world.”

To that end, Father Maurus continually sought to bring his students out into that wider world. Together, they visited Monterey Bay and farther-flung locales such as South and Central America, Australia, and the Galapagos Islands. Atop a filing cabinet in his office sits a favorite photo from one of those exotic trips. In it, Father Maurus is wearing a baseball cap and a giant grin, and a monkey is perched on his head.

Those student trips were the highlight of his teaching career.

“I love to travel,” he says. “I wanted my students to experience the reality of the rainforest, the Great Barrier Reef, and to see the demise which can come upon these tremendous gifts of God if we don’t take care of them.” He always arranged for students to spend time living with, eating with and interacting with indigenous people. “Those experiences,” Father Maurus says, pausing, “those are the precious parts of education.”

18 James Eaneman, ‘04, went on Father Maurus’ trip to Panama in August 2003. “There are many parts of those two weeks that still stand out,” he says. “Seeing a ship cross the Panama Canal, eating with a native tribe, and Father Maurus himself. It was something of a shock to see him wearing khakis and trail gear. But even outside of the classroom and black robes, he was unchanged. He always pointed out native species and plants, showing his enthusiasm and love for biology.”

Those adventures provided a special opportunity for Father Maurus and his students to connect. Zoltan Klarik remembers sitting next to Father Maurus on a flight. “We were flying from Oahu to Molokai in a small jet, and we hit a small storm right after takeoff,” he explains. “I was scared. When he saw this in my eyes, he started to cheer me up and make me relax with his calm voice. By the end to the trip we were both laughing. He always knows how to handle people, cheer them up and make them comfortable.”

James Eaneman shares a similar memory. “On one hike, he saw that I was having trouble going up the hill. So he fell behind and walked with me. In the classroom or the jungle,” says Eaneman, “he was always friendly and kind.”

Pablo Avalos remembers Father Maurus’s kindness as well.

“He helped me through a lot of rough times during high school,” Avalos says. “His door was always open. He had a sincere interest in my life at Priory and outside of school. It seemed like time just flew when we talked.” Whether showing up to cheer students on at sporting events, driving the bus to the soccer games, or coming to a student’s birthday celebration, Father Maurus has a way of showing he cares. “He has a special connection with his students,” agrees Zoltan Klarik.

Teaching has been only part of Father Maurus’s life and work.

For the past seventeen years, Father Maurus has also served as pastor to the Hungarian Catholic Mission, which brings Bay Area Hungarians together every Sunday for Mass at Priory’s chapel. The group’s primary purpose, explains Father Maurus, is “to celebrate the Eucharist according to our national tradition with our traditional hymns and in our own language.” After Mass, the group holds a social gathering in Priory’s dining hall, and there are language classes for children and meetings of the Hungarian Scouts, all to foster community and promote the Hungarian language and culture. Finally, the group raises money—close to $80,000 annually—to support orphans and the elderly in the home country.

It is the hospitality of the Benedictine community and Priory, Father Maurus explains, that makes the Hungarian Catholic Mission’s philanthropic work possible. “This community did not have to build a church, does not have to keep up the church or support a priest.

We have minimal financial worries. So that is a wonderful, wonderful situation. It is God’s special blessing that we have this opportunity.”

Above: The San Franciso Bay Hungarian community celebrates ‘National Day’ with traditional dance, song and dramatizations in the PAC. Fr. Pius and the Priory hosted this very special Hungarian event with mass and a luncheon.

At right, Fr. Maurus with the U.S. Hungarian ambassador, Belazs Bokor.

Father Maurus’s work with the members of the Hungarian Catholic Mission extends beyond Sundays. “My little community is aging,” he says. “A number of them are homebound or in retirement homes, and I have my rounds visiting them regularly.” He also offers counsel to those who need it. “I am even now involved with a number of people who are in need to sit down and talk,” he says.

“Never mind how busy I would be otherwise, people come first.”

Parishioners like Frank Heil feel lucky to have him. “Father Maurus reaches out with a helping hand to young and old in need, without expecting anything in return. He is a hard worker. He inspires us to live our faith to the fullest.” Appreciation has also come from higher places. In 2007, the Hungarian Catholic Bishops Conference presented Father Maurus with Pro Cultura Cristiana award for promoting the Hungarian culture and Christian values abroad. Two years later, the President of Hungary awarded him with The Knight of the Golden Cross in acknowledgement of his work as an educator and leader in the Hungarian community in California.

Father Maurus’s journey to California, and to monastic life, was circuitous. “I never wanted to leave my country,” he says. “I had to.”

Just after the young (his given name here?) finished high school in 1956, the Hungarian revolution broke out and he was forced to flee, leaving his parents and eight year-old sister behind. For six months he lived in refugee camps in Austria and Holland and then emigrated to Canada, where he lived for more than six years. His Priory students used to love hearing about his work as a lumberjack there. “I

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“God writes straight with crooked lines,” he says with a smile.

have a community made up of many differcarved out a decent living for myself with only ent approaches to God.” Some students are a high school education,” he admits. “I was an agnostics or atheists, he says, but they can still avid reader. But I never ceased questioning, feel at home at Priory. what is the true meaning to be? What I am do“I am thinking of one of my students now ing? Why I am doing it? Even when I reached whom I love dearly who is able to tell me that the point where I felt that I had a very comforthe doesn’t believe in God. And I’m able to tell able and established existence, the question was him, I still love you. God loves you. We can always there.” differ. I respect your nonbelief, I hope you An answer came, somewhat unexpectedly, respect my belief. And the rest is in God’s in the form of Father Leopold, one of the foundhands. He declares that he loves the place and ing monks at Priory. The small Hungarian church he loves to be here. I told him, maybe one of in Canada that young Father Maurus had helped these days—he is a saint, but—he will be a defound was without a priest, and Christmas was clared saint. He laughs at me, but that’s OK. coming. Maurus had heard about Priory, and he He’s not the first person to laugh at me. That’s appealed to Father Egon for help. Father Egon all right.” sent Father Leopold, who came for Christmas As finishes up his last semester as a teacher, and again at Easter, when he invited Maurus and A 24 year old Bela Nemeth in Canada, Father Maurus is both grateful for the past and two friends to visit Priory. before he came to the Piory. looking toward the future. “My last little group in One visit was all it took. Although he had just been made a Canadian citizen, Father Maurus left Canada for good. my AP Biology class, I told them, I consider them a wonderful gift, a “On the 10th of August,” he says, “I packed up. I gave away all my blessing. They gave me a beautiful last year of teaching.”

“Even now I love to teach,” he admits. “But I see that the time has belongings, and with two suitcases on a Greyhound bus I arrived here. It was in 1963, almost 48 years ago. And that was the beginning come when hopefully with grace I can bow out and can let the younger generation continue the work we started here fifty years ago.” of my Priory existence.”

True to his faith, Father Maurus does not question his forced de- When asked what he’ll do with his extra time, he laughs. “I parture from family and country or his peripatetic early years. “The never ever in my life, ever, felt bored,” he says. “I always find things Holy Spirit pushes you in certain directions, sometimes against your to do without looking for them. I love gardening, I love traveling, logical way of thinking. It happened, and there must be a reason for I love just to listen to people and try to give them a helping hand.

So there will be few hours when I will be able to say, Now, give me that. It had to happen for whatever Providential reason.” something to do!” He will continue his work with the local Hungar “God writes straight with crooked lines,” he says with a smile.

Now seventy-four, Father Maurus reflects, “The monastic life is ian community and the school, including helping to bring Hungara continuous learning process. When we become monks, at a young- ian students to Priory each year. “This is my home! If I’m no longer er age, obviously we are full of energy, full of ideas. Sometimes we teaching, it doesn’t mean I can or I would want to disassociate myhave a savior complex. Then we learn that the most important thing self from what was my life for the last 50 years.” is to be open. And to listen. To listen primarily to the voice of God It’s hard not to wonder, as Priory faces this milestone, what will which is coming to us not necessarily in some kind of a mysterious happen as our four beloved monks continue to age. Father Maurus way, with flashing and big sounds, but mostly in the quiet moments. says, “People ask me, So, what if, and when, and soon, these few black-robed monks disappear from these premises? My only answer And sometimes in moments of trial.”

The key, he says, is “to learn to listen, to hear His voice, and con- is, we place it in the hands of God. He will take care of it. I don’t sequently to listen to one another. And as we get older, to mellow a know how! But he will take care of it. This place is going to move on, bit, and listen more. To trust in God’s infinite care and love and ulti- there will be good people who care, hopefully trusting God’s provimate mercy. And that He cares for us. I think that’s the biggest lesson. dence. And it will have a next fifty years, and hopefully beyond that.

If it was God’s will to start it, let it be His will and His care to conAs we get older, we see it clearer and clearer that He cares for us.

Father Maurus has woven that faith through his teaching, and tinue it.” yet he values Priory’s openness to students of different religions and “God is good,” he says. Evidence? He sent a young man here on beliefs. “I hope what makes us different,” he says, “is the acknowl- a Greyhound bus forty-eight years ago. Best wishes from all of us as edgement and cherishing of the presence of God even though we you switch tracks, Father Maurus!

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‘61

Celebrating a 50 year reunion

Memories from the class of

Dennis Duff

Why did you choose Woodside Priory School? How did you know about it?

My parents chose the Priory. They wanted me to go to a prep school and it was in California. I was a dormer. The very first Priory class was about 12 of us. This was the entire student population. As a freshman I lived with 3 other boys in a small house with Father Egon, who later became the Prior.

There were two rooms with 2 beds in each room, plus Father Egon’s room and a living/dining room and kitchen. A dormitory was later built and by the time I graduated there were about 20 dormers.

Generally there were 2 people per room, but one year - I believe it was my senior year - 4 seniors (Jim Ruffo, John Flynn, Csaba and I - I think - all shared a room together).

One priest—generally Father Leopold—lived in the large dorm with us. We studied and slept in the dorm and occasionally watched TV, I believe it was on Friday night, in the one common space in the dorm. Our schedule was pretty strict -—we would have classes all morning and part of the afternoon, have sports and then study about 3-4 hours a day.

We went to mass every morning, and of course, had meals, but there was not a lot of free time. We also went to school 6 days a week. Saturday was a half of day of classes.

Fondest memories of while you were student here?

The relationships that were created with the my classmates are my fondest memories. We created very strong bonds together. We had a great soccer team and also went to my parents ski cabin in Tahoe a number of times. Those were really wonderful trips.

The quality of the teachers was excellent.

I remember some of my teachers who were particularly knowledgeable and generated a lot of enthusiasm for their subjects and it was exciting to be in class with them. There was also a lot of comradery between some of the teachers and students. I fondly remember Father Christopher who not only taught us Latin but was a good athlete and our soccer coach. He had a great sense of humor and was very playful with us.

How did you get from Priory to where you are now?

After a very full life of spiritual service which allowed us to live in San Francisco, London, Chicago, New York, Hawaii, Los Angeles and Fiji.

My wife, Joan and I, now reside most often in our primary residence in the northern tip of the wine country, just above Napa Valley. I recently sold my Internet Marketing Company and my wife has winded down her successful art business. We are semi-retired now, but still manage to keep pretty busy with my investment properties and real

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estate vacation rental business, and spending time with our family.

Joan and I travel quite a bit together and occasionally with our two married daughters, their husbands and their growing families. One of our daughters is a successful Interior Architect in Los Angles whose projects are featured in TV and national magazines. She is married to an entrepreneur who is the majority owner and CEO of a major software company. Our other daughter is an occupational therapist, whose husband is a Director of Photography for many of the TV shows that we all love. We are an active group. We all love to ski, hike, surf, bike, boat, ride motorcycles, and hang out together in beautiful environments. We also have three granddaughters and are thoroughly enjoying this delightful new addition to our lives.

Are you planning on attending your 50th reunion in September? If so, what are you looking forward to the most?

Most definitely! I am really looking forward to seeing my old school mates. Csaba Hrotko was one of my best friends and I haven’t seen him or Jim Ruffo, Tom Flynn or Whitney Olsen in 50 years! I am also excited to see all the changes that the Priory has gone through. It had very humble beginnings and now I hear it really has developed into a highly respected educational landmark.

Whitney Olson We were living in the Hillsborough, CA and we heard about this new high school starting up. I had visited Bellarmine, Serra and St Francis High Schools and went to the Priory and met Father Egon. Seemed like a good opportunity and good education.

I started the year being a commuter but then became a dormer.

As I recall there were 6 of us that lived in the original farm home.

We ate our meals there also. It was a little crowded then but we all got along. When the first dorm was built on the hill I think Father Leopold was the dorm master. He put me at the opposite end of the dorm to watch over the rowdy group. We had a good time. I think the next dorm master was Fr Malachy Murphy. He was a great priest.

It was interesting having an Irish priest in a “Hungarian” Monastery.

Fondest memories Every year on St Benedict’s day the priests could say three masses.

Being a boarder I usually served mass every day. My favorite priest for serving was Fr Pious because he was so fast. On St Benedict’s day I had served two masses and he asked if I wanted to go down

to eat. I said you will be done in 10 minutes father I will serve the third mass.

When there were only a few boarders in the early years, Father Egon would on some occasions take us into town on the weekend to go to a movie.

It was a nice break from the tons of studying.

Denny Duff in our class had a home at Sugar bowl so we would as a class take spring breaks skiing with Father Christopher and Father Egon.

In those days we had a soccer team. There were so few of us we pretty much all made the soccer team. Since the field was so rocky we would spend half of our workout time picking up rocks off the field.

Sure looks different now.

As with all boarding groups and classes there are some things we shouldn’t talk about.

In the 4 years at the Priory we only had one dance that I recall.

My favorite teachers were Father Christopher and Mr. Goode.

My name is Whitney, however Father Egon couldn’t pronounce it, and would always come up to me when I was doing something wrong and say Veetney, Veetney Veetney shaking his hand. I would always smile when he did that.

Now Our family was in the steamship and later tug and barge industry. I sort of transitioned first with the family company and then with other tug and towing firms.

Right now I am probably doubtful for attending the 50th reunion because of a conflict. I would look forward to seeing some of my classmates and the classmates from the class of 62 -64.

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Csaba Hrotkó Why did I choose the Priory?

Well, the Priory kind of chose me! My uncle, Father Christopher, helped me to immigrate from Sweden to USA, as I was a Hungarian refugee there. I escaped from Hungary in 1956, at age 14, freshman in high school, to Austria and then I was taken to Sweden, where I lived with a Swedish family and went to school there. In the meantime, the communist Hungarian government found out I was in Sweden and forced my parents to request my return to Hungary, as I was still an under-aged teenager.

Luckily, the US government granted my immigration visa at the same time,so instead back to Hungary, I traveled to New York ,on a beautiful Swedish Cruise ship, the Gripsholm, and then to Woodside to attend the Priory.

I have a lot of great memories, stories about the years I spent at the Priory, so I’ll talk about them when we meet. I always regarded the “Fathers” as kind of “Giants” of life, I call them the “Oaktrees” of knowledge, and two mantra’s kept me going throughout my life: “Errare humanum est” and “Ora et labora”!

I have a beautiful family, son and daughter, I retired from TWA airline, and now I spend my time in retirement in LA and Europe.

In the meantime, I dabbled in the film industry as a stage and film actor, and presently I am involved with the Hungarian Theater here in LA.I am also working on a project to bring a new musical to stage regarding St. Elizabeth’s life.

James Ruffo I attended Bellermine and I struggled and my parents thought some of my friends were too much of a distraction.

They had heard of a new high school that had opened in Woodside. It was run by Benedictine Mocks who has escaped from Hungary. The problem was, I was going into my sophomore year and they only had a freshman class, and only 7 students at that. So, I had to repeat my freshman year. At the rate I was going, I was going to be bald before I even get out of high school.

I had to board, wear a tie and had school on Saturdays. They were strict. I had to take 4 years of Latin, 3 years of Spanish as well as algebra, geometry, chemistry and the usual college prep subjects. All our teachers had PHD’s. Imagine learning Algebra from a professor with a PHD in nuclear physics and after he taught the class went to work at Stanford’s linier accelerator! I was still struggling to the point that in order to keep up, I painted the lamp over my desk blue and after lights were out I would turn this little lamp on and was able to study in an almost full moon like setting. I had a little trick up my sleeve. The housemaster would walk slowly up and down the halls and if you got caught with a light on, you would end up having to do chores. So, I would sprinkle a little salt on the hall floor. I could hear the crunch when he was coming. Every night I would spend an extra hour studying. Needless to say I was always exhausted. And yes I did get caught. One night the housemaster took off one shoe and I thought he was further down the hall than he was. I only heard every other crunch.

After I graduated from Woodside priory I decided to attend a junior college first. I selected the college of San Mateo. Mainly because they offered courses in pharmacy which San Jose City College didn’t offer.

When I was 18 I had to register for the draft. I was now about 22 and received a notice from the Selective Service to report to Oakland for a second physical and if I passed, I was on my way to Fort Ord. The Cuban missile crisis was building up. Well maybe I could not ready very well but I wanted to choose my own fate.

At the time I was working for a kitchen cabinet manufacturing company and was working my way up as a production planner. One of my co-workers was a Bird Colonel in the Marine Corp. I told him

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my predicament and he told me who to see at The Alameda Naval Air Station. I met him and enlisted in the Marines. With a slight twist. Remember the little 6 years old with the play space ship?

Well, I loved aviation. I joined the Marines as an aviation guarantee.

Which meant, after boot camp when all my platoon mates reported to Camp Peniaitan for advanced infantry training. I was to report to Jacksonville Florida to a naval air-training unit to learn how to order parts for aircraft from bureau of weapons manuals and repair planes.

I was offered flight school but declined because they would not let me go back to my reserve stasis in the event I washed out for any reason. The dyslexia could have been a big factor. Upon my return to Alameda, I finished my 6-year enlistment in the reserve. I loved the Marines. And to this day am proud to say I was one. How many 22 year old get to play with jets? For the last two years of my enlistment I was in charge of a check crew. I was honorably discharged in 1969 as a sergeant...I almost reenlisted but some jerk Sergeant Major gave me a bad time about my sideburns so I gave him a one fingered salute and told him to turn in the discharge paperwork.

Because of the Marines, no one is harder on me than me. I expected and still do expect excellence from myself.

Shortly after my return from active duty I was rehired by The kitchen cabinet Co but learned they were going to move to Reno. So, I went to work for my uncle in a family owned liquor store. I spent the next 18 years in the liquor business and became a partner. We owned and operated 5 stores. We were one of the larger chains in the area. In 1978 fair trade went out. Eventually we could not compete with the Safeway’s and Albertson’s so we sold off the stores one by one.

My wife Patty and I, actually met in Grammar school. We started dating in high school and upon my return from active duty I asked her to marry me. We were married on Aug. 22 1964 and are now going on 47 years. We raised three children, two girls and a boy. We now have 5 grand children.

Patty and I opened an energy store in downtown Los Gatos. We sold woodstoves and some solar and fans. We were about 30 years ahead of the times on the solar. But did very well, but the problem was the stoves were so heavy that I was killing myself installing them.

We weren’t big enough to hire a lot of help. So we sold the business.

I then got into the real estate. I worked for Blickman Turkus for 5 years, before becoming a broker and then started my own company specializing in property management.

I got my pilots license, I have an instrument rating, I am checked out in 7 different airplanes, low wing and high, as well as complex high performance Actual 8, Other than Flash Gordon, Who else can fly a space ship with a Gyro Blaster Magatroniter with optional afterburners.

I am a partner in my dream airplane which is a high performance Cessna turbo charged 310 hp T 210. able to due 224 mph at 25,000 ft.

So here I am going on 70 looking forward to starting another chapter in my book of life.

In the Omnibus yearbook of 1961, the nine members of the first graduating class expressed their appreciation of Woodside Priory School. Under “Our Intention,” it states: “as we look back over these four years, we, the first graduating class, are filled with reverence and awe. For we have found that the true miracle is faith itself rather than our own callousness in taking so much for granted.”

John Flynn is a CPA with an MBA degree from the Wharton School and a B.A. degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He is a retired naval officer.

Frank Greenlaw – Became a Priest

Lloyd Clair – deceased – He passed away in 2002.

Andrew Kudlacik – deceased - Andrew was the valedictorian of this first graduating class. He graduated from Reed College with a degree in mathematics and attended the University of Chicago to pursue graduate work in linguistics. He worked as an editor at W.H. Freeman and Company in San Francisco for several years, eventually moving to New York to continue working with the company. He was an accomplished pianist and a gourmet cook. He passed away in August 2007.

Thomas Whitebone – deceased - Tom went onto University of Redlands after graduating from Priory. He passed away in January 1997.

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50 The

th

Issue

o f

P r ior it i e s

It started 16 years ago as a way to send my son to Priory....

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by James Ennis Kirkland Back when I was a corporate art director the notion of sending my two children to a private school seemed financially out of reach. However, my mother—who was a staunch supporter of the Priory— insisted my wife, Vicki, and I go have a talk with the new Headmaster, Frank Cody, and see what could be done. Low and behold, Priory graciously bestowed a scholarship on my son Doug (class of ‘98) and three years later my daughter Emily (‘01) entered as well. Priory hired me as a freelance graphic artist/ photographer to work on a number of the school publications. My first task was to start a new magazine that would carry news of the school’s ongoing activities to alumni.

We titled this new creation ‘Priorities’, thinking it was quite the play on words. The Director of Communications was Carolyn Dobervich, who was a veteran journalist. So, for the next 38 issue, we had a great time pretending we were working on a two color version of Time magazine. We enjoyed using Priorities to showcase the great events that went on in and outside of school. Additionally, there were the amazing people that visited Priory with whom Carolyn interviewed and I photographed. Like Ambassador Shirley Black, filmmaker Jerry Zucker, the Archbishop of San Francisco, 49er great Steve Young, Stanford president Donald Kennedy, venture capitalist Richard Moran and the list goes on. Priorities also made it possible to get more familiar with faculty through Q&A articles. And it has always been fun reporting the many school activities while watching year after year students grow up and move on to new adventures, many of which have been published in Prioriites. It was a good partnership... right up to the day Carolyn announced she was retiring.

Carolyn’s departure gave me reason to worry. Who, or what, would replace her? Would the next director be so easy to work with... or for that matter, want to continue the magazine with me? Lucky for me Priory hired Sean McClain Brown as the new Director of Communcations. While Sean got right to work bringing Priory’s communications into the 21st century, he directed me to redesign Priorities.

Somehow, he also convinced the powers that be (Head of School, Tim Molak) that the magazine needed to be in full color. This guy was my new hero. So by issue #40 we had gone to a full color magazine. Over the years Priorites has grown significantly in scope and outreach. It has become a major tool for keeping the many Priory alumni and families up to date with the schools activities and advancements. So, keep your eye on the mail as we set our sights on the next 50 issues.

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Social Media ad

Priory Wins Regional Robotics Competition

Copy

27

I

Dear Friends of the Priory, I know that the last couple of years have been difficult ones for many of our Priory families, alumni and friends. Yet when asked to contribute, whether it be time, talent or treasure, the Priory community always responds in a way that assures the continuity of a wonderful Priory experience for our students.

As I write this I don’t have final numbers for the year, but I can tell you we exceeded our annual fund raising goal by a considerable margin. More than 93 percent of families supported the annual fund. Dozens of volunteers from the Priory community performed amazingly, and this year’s Gala, combining the auction and fashion show for the first time, raised a near-record $600,000!

But now that we have finished another fabulous year, it’s already time to begin looking ahead and planning for the next one. In addition to the annual fund raising effort and the planning of numerous alumni activities (including the gathering of our first 50-year reunion class in September), we are working with numerous volunteer leaders to address the next generation of capital needs here at Priory. As we are still in the early stages of planning, I won’t address specifics at this time, but suffice it to say that we are very excited about what will be happening at the Priory in the next several years. And I know all of you will be as well.

Have I piqued your curiosity? I hope so. As plans move forward, we will definitely keep you informed of our progress because, as with all things Priory, we will not be able to do this without involving each and every member of the community.

I want to extend to each and every one of you my gratitude for your support of the Priory during the past year. After being a part of this Benedictine community for four years, I am still amazed at your overwhelming generosity.

In closing, I hope you all have a wonderful summer break. I look forward to seeing everyone in August as, “always we begin again.”

Sincerely,

John Baldwin Director of Development

More than 93 percent of families supported the annual fund. Dozens of volunteers from the Priory community performed amazingly, and this year’s Gala, combining the auction and fashion show for the first time, raised a nearrecord $600,000!

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CLASS

ALUMNI Note: Class Agents’ names appear at the beginning of each Reunion class year. If your year is not represented, or if you would like to become a Class Agent, please contact the Alumni Office at alumni@prioryca. org or (650) 851-6137. And don’t forget to check out Woodside Priory Alumni Association on Facebook for additional photos and updates!

REUNION YEARS: 1961, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006

1961

50th Reunion Year Class Agent: Csaba Hrotko

1966

45th Reunion Year Class Agent: Stephen Welch

1971

40th Reunion Year Class Agents: Dave Rogers, Mark Apton and William Quan

1976

35th Reunion Year Class Agent: George Stromeyer

1981

30th Reunion Year Class Agent: Dan Hart

1986

25th Reunion Year Class Agent: Derek Gibbs

1991

20th Reunion Year Class Agent: Kris Kasenchak

1998

Francis Byun Kevers gave birth to a baby boy, Owen, on April 7, 2011 and he weighed 9lbs 11oz.

Luz Lopez graduated from Canada College with her AA and will be transferring to Cal State Monterey to work on her B.A. this fall.

NOTES

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1999

Emily (Choen) Chapman gave birth to a baby girl, Dylan Hazel Chapman, on April 1, 2011 at 12:48pm. She weighed 6lbs 13oz and was 19 in long. (PIX)

2001

10th Reunion Year Class Agents: Bryan Quinn and Jason Kado

2006

5th Reunion Year Class Agents: Molly Magnuson Hap Plain graduated from University of Redlands with a BA in English Literature with a concentration in business.

Al Young graduated from University of Portland in December of 2010 with a Bachelor’s in the Science of Nursing. He went on to become a registered nurse in both Oregon and North Dakota, the latter is where he just moved for a job.

2007

Christine Ahlstrom graduated from Santa Clara University in May with a major in Communication and a minor in French and Francophone. She will be attending USC for a Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy this summer.

Ivy Bilikam graduated from Westmont College with a major in Psychology.

Julia Clark graduated from Whitman College Magna Cum Laude with honors in Psychology and won the Psychology Department Award.

David Gamburd graduated from University of Oregon with a major in Planning, Public Policy and Management. He has a job next year as a Campus Organizer for USPIRG (public interest research group). He will organize students on campus to ignite social change. He will work at a university in one the following states: CA, OR, WA, AZ, CO. Ellie Gold graduated from Whitman College Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa and will begin a PhD program in English at SUNY Buffalo as a Presidential Fellow in August. Her first assignment at Buffalo is teaching a freshman writing class.

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CLASS

ALUMNI

Alicia Kriewall graduated from Stanford with a major in Economics and Anthropology.

Hilary Landers graduated from University of Redlands with a B.A. in English with an emphasis in Literature and minors in Theatre Arts and Gender Studies. (PIX) Mariana Shtukina graduated from Scripps College with a major in Human Biology and Hispanic Studies. In June, she started working as an analyst in User Operations for Facebook’s Latin America team. She is very excited to be back in the Bay Area!

Linda Szabados graduated from University of San Francisco with a major in Politics.

Chrissa Trudelle graduated from Westmont with a B.S. in Kinesiology.

John “Jack” Wolfe graduated from University of California, Santa Cruz with a major in Psychology.

Alexa Zappas graduated from University of Puget Sound with a major in Molecular Biology.

Katie Zappas graduated from Willamette University with a major in Chemistry.

2008

Andrew Davison is spending his summer this year in Washington D.C. He is interning with Obama For America as a summer organizer. (While in D.C. is on American Universities campus.)

The first semester back to school, Andrew will be spending every Monday and Wednesday in the United Nations Building. He will become a member of a Non-Governmental Organization created by Drew University to allow students to be taught within the building and to gain higher clearance ratings than the public. This allows students to sit in on some General Assembly meetings. Andrew’s business, Foster Maintenance & Monitoring LLC., is thriving.

2010

Sammy Hiller was on the show “So You Think You Can Dance” on June 1st. She went as far as the choreography round. Great job!

NOTES

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Maia Thielen has been selected to be a member of the 2011 Museum of the Rockies field crew. She will be digging up dinosaurs in the Judith River Formation of Montana with Jack Horner, technical advisor for the “Jurassic Park” movies, and inspiration for the “Jurassic Park” character, Alan Grant.

You can follow her blog on the progress and process of the dig at spiritsintherocks.blogspot.com.

Alumni Gathering in Palo Alto at The Old Pro, May 2011

Alumni Gathering in Los Angeles, May 2011 (PIX) Csaba Hrotko ’61, Mark Mintz ’87, Shahriar Hebroni ’79, Scott Bagley ’86, Father Martin, Garth Schooler ’84, Johnson Chan ’85, Travis Maahs ’04.

Q&A Terrence 32

Listening with the Ear of Your Heart An Inteview with

Gargiulo ‘86

An interview by Sean McClain Brown, Director of Communications

Terrence L. Gargiulo ‘86, MMHS is an eight times author, international speaker, organizational development consultant and group process facilitator specializing in the use of stories. He holds a Master of Management in Human Services from the Florence Heller School, at Brandeis University, and is a recipient of Inc. Magazine’s Marketing Master Award, the 2008 HR Leadership Award from the Asia Pacific HRM Congress. He has appeared on Fox TV, CN8, and on CNN radio among others. In addition, he’s quite an accomplished fencer, some of his accomplishments in fencing include: Member of four US Olympic Festival Teams, ranked in the Top 16 in the United States for seven years, 3rd Alternate for 1996 Olympic Games.

SMB: How did you get interested in focusing on stories as a way of fostering learning and communication in the workplace?

TLG: I have always been driven to understand how we connect to others and ourselves. I marveled at the prowess of my father’s conducting. I felt an electricity connecting composer with conductor, orchestra with conductor, and audience with orchestra. I witnessed the power of my mother’s voice bringing music alive with the artistry of caressing words with her breath and spirit. And peak experiences on stage as a child and peak performances as a competitive fencer offered me other glimpses into this mysterious realm.

I’ll never forget one of my first classes at Brandeis University. One of the requirements was a two-semester humanities class. I must confess I was less than excited about the class. It looked as though it was going to be a waste of time. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

I ended up in a class being taught by Professor Luis Yglesias titled “Imagining Who We Are.” Professor Yglesias began his class by reading Shel Silverstein’s story, The Giving Tree. It’s a simple story about a boy and a tree growing up together. The tree is always there for the boy. In the end the tree even gives its life so that the boy can build a home for himself with its wood.

As he finished, the entire class sighed sentimentally. But Professor Yglesias did not stop. He returned to the first page of

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the story and reread it to us. Without editorializing, using only his mischievous eyes and the nuances of his voice, he brought the story alive in a completely different way.

Imagine our surprise when we realized that The Giving Tree was not necessarily a sweet story. The boy could as easily be seen as narcissistic and exploitive; the tree knew how to give, but the boy only took.

The same story that had greatly moved the class was now responsible for catalyzing emotions of outrage and disbelief. Some of us were angry for having our idealized vision of the boy Caption

and the tree shattered; some of us were incensed by the social message of selfishness and the abuse of nature implied by the story.

Professor Yglesias was not making a political comment. Nor was he trying to espouse postmodern assertions of relativism. He was simply giving us a wake-up call, and he was activating our imaginations. He was guiding us to actively connect to the story, and he was asking us to challenge our habitual response to a story we had heard many times. We were being led to discover the heart of what stories are all about. My life has not been the same since that day.

Professor Luis Yglesias introduced me to the power of imagination. He poured a foundation of reflection fashioned out of stories, narratives, sense giving and sense making. I had been looking for a framework for examining how we connect to ourselves and others. Today, I feel blessed to have had this initial intellectual inquiry deepened, by realizing this is yet another vehicle of the Holy Spirit.

Stories are fundamental to the way we communicate and learn.

They are the most efficient way of storing, retrieving, and conveying information. Since story hearing requires active participation by the listener, stories are the most profoundly social form of human interaction and communication.

SMB: What is it about stories that make them an effective means of bridging differences in people?

TLG: We seldom know the “real story” behind someone’s feelings, beliefs, or actions. Worse yet, we do not make the effort to discover their story. Convinced of our opinions we prefer to keep our mental world neat and orderly by staying focused on our perspective rather than entertaining another point of view. While these natural proclivities of our mind are assets intended by evolution to equip our species with the ability to act independently and decisively, they are also liabilities when it comes to

Hearing someone else’s story may not change our perspective but it opens up dialogue and increases the chance of a mutually satisfying resolution. relationships. When we actively listen to other people’s stories we do not need to abandon our ideas; instead we can enter a new frame of reference by reconstituting the story being shared with us in our minds and hearts. Stories allow us to move in and out of a different frame of references. We are in essence, “standing in someone else’s shoes.”

Hearing someone else’s story may not change our perspective but it opens up dialogue and increases the chance of a mutually satisfying resolution. While we may not become expert listeners overnight, stories help us understand another’s perspective because they require active listening. Stories catapult our imaginations into new directions. Many of our habitual ways of looking at things can be altered by a stories’ capacity to engage us. Our connection to others and our understanding of their perspectives is deepened by stories’ ability to inform us in ways that words by themselves cannot do.

As we listen to each other’s stories it becomes possible to negotiate differences. More often than not, our conflicts are a function of not hearing and understanding one another. Spontaneous solutions and resolutions arise when we enter someone else’s frame of reference. Sharing our stories generates vivid pictures for others because when we listen actively we bring our experiences to their telling. Therefore, a bridge of understanding is constructed between two or more people.

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When negotiating differences in either a conflict or decisionmaking process, it is essential to hear, appreciate, understand, and acknowledge all of the perspectives. It turns out that stories are the quickest way to gain important insights. We are inclined to rationally explain and justify our perspectives; however, there are always experiences, values, and beliefs behind perspectives. Stories shed light on these things and can reveal a whole host of hard-toidentify motivations, like fears and self-interests. Stories get to the heart of matters and help us imagine other perspectives.

What’s inherently difficult about negotiating differences is that when faced with two strong points of views, opinions, or ideas, there is always some validity to each of them.

Caption

This can be paralyzing. If each point of view has some validity, how do you draw a fair conclusion? Think about how a trial works. Each side presents its story. A jury has to work through each side of the story. In the end, they synthesize all of the information and formulate a story of their own in order to make a decision.

Using stories as a way of negotiating differences or getting to the root cause of a problem works because, unlike reasoning, stories are not linear in nature. While the sequence of events in a story follows a logical order, the themes and messages contained in it allow our minds to entertain paradoxes. Through stories we can simultaneously hold multiple and conflicting points of view as being true and consider them all without one negating the other.

This leads to a very rich experience, since our minds must open to a whole world of nuances.

When we actively listen to stories we are invited to enter a novel frame of reference. The story provides us with the material to work emotionally and logically with new information. Placing two or more viewpoints side by side offers us an opportunity to imagine a whole new set of possibilities previously hidden to us.

The stories give us a safe and often depersonalized sand box to work out our differences.

Do you ever feel a chasm between yourself and another person?

Perhaps his point of view is so different from your own that you find it unthinkable to even entertain it. Like many of you I’m sure, I have sat through many meetings in which the ostensible subject is diversity among employees, for example, but in which most of the meeting is given over to celebrating similarities rather than recognizing the uniqueness of every individual—a uniqueness that

Using stories as a way of negotiating differences or getting to the root cause of a problem works because, unlike reasoning, stories are not linear in nature. goes beyond, race, ethnicity, gender, or creed. Differentiation is the key to survival. Millions of species would not be alive today were it not for Nature’s careful attention to differences. The question is how can we account for both similarity and difference? Stories can save the day.

SMB: What makes an effective story?

TLG: An effective story is any one that incites insight within us and or between others. Are you drawn into the story? Does it move your heart? Does the story deepen or challenge your current understanding? Does the story spur you to imagine new possibilities? Does it beg you to reach outside of yourself to seek something that you alone cannot give yourself?

By their nature stories are fluid. Stories overlap memories with the context of the moment. I find stories in collages and clusters to be more truthful than pinning the entirety of a message in a single story. All the greatest stories are vast little universes with an orbit of small story fragments. The depth and veracity of stories is more easily perceived when scanning the pattern and intention of stories in proximity with one another. I am naturally distrustful of single

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isolated large perfect stories with clean beginning, middles, and ends and unmistakable story arcs.

In many instances these stories have already been warped around the gravity of a pre-digested message.

Stories are creative acts and furthermore I view them as co-creative stages on which themes, drama, and meanings emerge in a process of co-creation. The story is only one small part of the key. The decoding and collaborative sense making space generated by telling a story to trigger the stories of others is sacred.

My experience has been that when this space opens up, storytelling and listening is authentic, deep, and responsive to the needs of the moment. The space falls apart when listening ceases and any one person returns to advancing a monocular agenda.

SMB: Do you draw on story archetypes, such as Jungian, when you consult with companies on the use of storytelling? If so, why are archetypes effective and how does one avoid stereotypes when using archetypes?

TLG: Stories are patterns. Nature and our mind work in patterns.

Jung’s work is brilliant and archetypes can be an effective way to engage in sense making. Archetypes repeat and they can be found everywhere. However, I do not find it necessary to use them in my organizational work. It’s far more effective to have people create their own taxonomies and categories. Inevitably, there will be overlaps and similarities.

Indexing is how we classify our experiences. The better the index the easier it is find information. The problem with an index is deciding what descriptors to use to classify our experiences. Indexes are further complicated by the fact everyone will chose different “key words,” or descriptors to classify their experiences. If we cannot access our experiences due to an inadequate index or one that does not match someone else’s, our experiences become dormant.

They are left in the proverbial warehouse of our mind available to our unconscious but collecting dust. Effective communicators and learners naturally develop extensive indexing schemes. They draw upon lots of different experiences and can recall these experiences in the form of stories.

Stories require active listening because they are encrypted.

Each listening demands our full and undivided imagination.

Stories are most effective when we leverage their multi-layered nature. Stories harkens us to seek meaning and generate personal associations with them. Stories are not meant to be left in isolation.

Meaning arises through a series of relationships. Each story is somehow tethered to another one and it is through this sea of associations that we generate meaning and behavior.

SMB: What are some of your favorite stories?

TLG: The one I am listening to in the moment.

SMB: What are you currently reading or have read?

TLG: I strongly recommend Gregory Boyle’s book, Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion SMB: How has the Priory influenced your path in life?

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TLG: High school brought me a wonderful spiritual guide, Father Maurus. If his tireless energy, productivity and joy of life was a reflection of a life dedicated to God I was ready to sign up. Fr. Marus’ responsibilities to the school and community were huge.

His desk was meticulously arranged with action items on slips of paper assigned to rows of categories and prioritized. He was always on the go yet he could be found outside of his biology office caring for the roses in his garden. He had a beautiful way of relating the

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intricacies of biology to God’s wonder. For all of my work study jobs he was my supervisor. He was a role model. I experienced firsthand how even with our human limits we can put Christ’s teachings to work in how we do our jobs and treat others.

SMB: Can you think of an anecdote from your time at the Priory that exemplifies your experience?

TLG: Who can forget the impassioned biology classes with Father Marus. Each class was an adventure in the paradoxes of life. On the one hand insatiable scientific curiosity with its rigorous discipline and on the other hands a capacity for joy, wonder, awe and deep humility.

I remember going to visit Father Marus a few years after I graduated from university. I wanted to get some guidance on how I could go about doing God’s will? I wanted to understand how do we really serve? During my visit, I never actually asked the question. When we were in his office, many people and students came by seeking his help. I watched how he gave each person his full attention, care and presence. It struck me then and there that that’s what it means to serve. He had shown me through his example. To this day that’s an anchoring story for me.

SMB: What is the most challenging aspect of your work?

SMB: What advice would you give for current Priory students and parents?

TLG: Cherish each moment. The Priory is a unique ecosystem. You are being nourished and cared for in mind, heart, spirit, and body in ways that you will be hard pressed to find in such abundance as they are at the Priory. There are subtle ways that defy simple explanations that I have been formed by the Priory. Don’t underestimate the unique blessings of the monastic’s community daily rhythm of pray and their committed devotion to imitate Christ’s life as imperfect, fallible humans. We need to ask ourselves how can we be witnesses of God’s unconditional love embodied in the unique experience we had at the Priory?

Sail on your dreams and the dreams of others. So much is possible when we share our passions. Be sure to appreciate others’ talents. Celebrate their successes. Mostly there are great divides between ourselves and others due to our differences and our inability to extend our boundary of self to include someone else’s needs and fears. No one needs proof; only we do—and that is best found in how we creatively attend to actualizing our talents.

Tomorrow is no better than today, and circumstances may change 180 degrees—so be agile. Being settled means being prepared to anticipate the next creative moment.

TLG: Having people understand my work. I don’t sell a specific set of goods or services. I architect communication, learning and development strategies to support performance needs in an organization. It’s never the same; nor do I espouse any secret formula or methodology. I often never use the word, “story,” with my clients. Stories are just an essential and inseparable part of how I do what I do. I’ll exercise the trust of this special forum to admit that the real work is the work of the Holy Spirit. I show up and create a space of dialog. Through the power and grace of the Holy Spirit things happen. People trust one another and they open up to themselves and to each other. People become attuned to a greater set of possibilities offered by God’s infinite unconditional love for us.

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SMB: What do you believe is the most serious issue facing the human race today?

TLG: We have forgotten that we are beggars in God’s kingdom. All of our technology all of our independence, all of our wonderful assertions of free will and creativity that have been given to us have intoxicated us with illusions of who we are. We are adopted sons and daughters dependent upon the grace and mercy of God in all things. Can we return to a sense of awe and wonder? Might we be firmly planted in this world while submitting ourselves to the will of God - working each day to bear fruit from the application of our gifts? If we can act as the hands, eyes, and mouth of our Lord, we will emerge in and out of issues, tensions and problems with a deeper sense of who we are and a greater capacity to cultivate our inheritance of lasting peace.

This holy mystery of the dance between our freedom and God’s will is not one I ever expect to fully understand. My faith guides me today to recognize that God touches everything. He works in every detail from the seemingly miniscule to the monumental. He is sculpting our spirits every moment.

SMB: Who has been the biggest influence in your life and why?

TLG: My mother and father: my mother for her deep wisdom and beautiful faith and my father for his passion. Daddy’s words guide me every day…

May love surround you May music move your heart, and May you be graced with the passion to create something new every day.

SMB: Outside of your work in communications, what do you enjoy doing?

TLG: I’m an avid SCUBA diver, cantor at San Carlos Cathedral, passionate cook and burgeoning bread baker. I think I most proud of the 501 3 (c) Occhaita Foundation my sister Franca Gargiulo and I setup. We collaborate with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City to use the multidisciplinary prism of opera to engage the hearts, minds and talents of students in the arts. We will also be producing new operas for film.

SMB: What is one of your greatest accomplishments?

TLG: It’s really a work in progress; being a husband and a father.

What an amazing blessing to be given God’s gift of being a guardian for my beloved’s soul, co-creating life and acting as a shepherd.

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The Green Page A letter from the Priory Sustainability Coordinator Dear Priory Community This year marked a real turning point in the school’s attitudes toward sustainable operations. We’ve set goals and benchmarks, and implemented procedures for attaining those goals. Next year will see continued progress in the areas of material and energy efficiency. I also hope that next year will see improvements in the school’s efforts to integrate sustainable thinking into curriculum and community relations.

My goals for sustainable improvements in Priory operations have included a short-term 33% improvement in diversion-from-landfill -- which we realized, and a longer-term goal of energy consumption equaling the school’s solar production.

These goals, of course, make economic sense for the school. Our reduction in landfill waste and associated hauling fees could save as much as $8000 in the first year after implementation. These savings have come about at no cost to the school. Additionally, the PG&E subsidized lighting retrofit that the school undertook will save the school almost 40% in lighting costs. We will realize further savings pending the determination of our EPA Energy Star benchmark score, and analysis and implementation of future opportunities for energy efficiency.

I also hope, beyond the economic and environmental impacts of our efficiency strategies, ripple effects will reach our local and regional community. In keeping with the belief that schools serve as effective models of affective education, it is my hope that our efforts at material and energy efficiency percolate into the minds and habits of our students, the households of Priory communities, and the larger global community. By role-modeling sustainable thinking, we challenge students to practice the same habits at home, to be critical thinkers about the practices and policies at work in their communities, and to affect change in the attitudes of society at large.

And while this kind of thinking could be faulted on account of its heavy reliance on idealism, consider this aspect of the energy economy in which we live: electricity markets are not economies of scale. That is, while in some economic markets, increases in demand can eventually reduce costs for the production of additional supplies as new means of production become more efficient, with municipal electricity production, this will never be the case. Hence, the more electricity that a population consumes, the higher the cost of meeting new peaks in demand. Conversely, reductions in energy consumption result in reduction of prices. Thus, it makes sense for everyone – power users and producers alike – to seek out and implement more energy efficiency programs.

We also hope that this kind of affective education influences the local and regional community.

Certainly, educational endeavors such as our emphasis on compassionate thinking, social justice, and service learning have unforeseen ripple-effects on a community that extends beyond the campus boundaries and the walls of Priory family households. The school’s involvement with the Daraja Academy in Kenya, student-led efforts to raise funds for emergency relief in Japan, and the needs assessments of many of this year’s Senior Projects are all evidence of the fact that, ‘what happens at the Priory doesn’t stay at the Priory’.

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As the school endeavors to save energy, we do so in order to save money in operating costs, but also because the larger community can share these benefits as well. As one of the two the largest users of power in Portola Valley, the Priory has the opportunity to pursue energy efficiency programs that will save the school money in the short term, but may also help to reduce energy prices for all in the long run.

This is not only because of the Priory’s size in relation to its neighbors, but also because of the sphere of influence that the Priory – and other schools like it, in other communities like ours – inhabits. What happens at the Priory doesn’t have to stay at the Priory.

Please join me, then, in celebrating a fantastic school year that has seen so much to be proud of -locally and globally. And, join me also in hoping for more and better in the years to come.

Thank you for your consideration and support – at home and in the big world.

Best Wishes, Hovey Clark Sustainability Coordinator

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Celebrating Our 53nd Year

Mark Your Calendar!

Woodside Priory School Alumni Reunion Weekend September 9-11, 2011 Join your classmates and teachers for a weekend of activities: Classs receptions, Alumni Parent coffee, campus tours, 8-man football game, dinner, Sunday mass, brunch and more!

Alumni Reunion Classes 1961·1966·1971·1976·1981·1986·1991·1996·2001·2006