From the Headmaster

WE DO NOT HAVE ANY WRITINGS OF SAINT NORBERT, WHO LIVED FROM 1080 TO 1134. We have only reconstructed histories of Norbert, assembled by his early followers and interpreted by theologians and Norbertine scholars over the centuries.

Tom Kunkel, President Emeritus of Saint Norbert College, completed the most recent compilation of Norbert’s life and interpretation of his spirituality in his book, Man on Fire: The Life and Spirit of Nobert of Xanten. (Saint Norbert College Press, 2019) In it, he characterizes Norbert as a “wanderprediger,” a German term for an itinerant preacher who emulated the austere lives of the apostles, John the Baptist, and Jesus himself.

Kunkel writes that for two years Norbert practiced fasting and self-deprecation, and adopted a strict regimen of daily prayer. From this lifestyle, Norbert grew in purpose, strength, and conviction to realize his vision of reform in the Church that developed into the community of Norbertine priests, brothers, and sisters. His deep faith, combined with his skills of oration, arbitration, adaptability, and empathy made him an effective leader, so much so that Norbert was appointed Bishop of Magdeburg after founding the Norbertine Order at Premontre years earlier in 1120.

Beginning with the new liturgical year – Advent, 2020, through the following year, 2021, when, on Christmas Day in 1121, the members of the first Norbertine community at Premontre professed their vows and became officially recognized by the Church – we will be celebrating the 900th anniversary of the founding of the Premonstratentian (Norbertine) Order.

At Archmere, we have been preparing for this event for the last two years by breaking open the Academy’s three-sentence mission statement, focusing on one sentence each year, and, from that, developing new strategic initiatives for the Academy. We are left with the last sentence this school year, which is, “Inspired by its heritage, Archmere cultivates empathetic leaders – young men and women prepared for every good work.” We believe that our students are formed as leaders in a unique way, influenced by our Norbertine foundation that is modeled after the vision of Saint Norbert and embraces the spirit and rigor of the man.

Let’s first consider the idea of developing leaders. Leadership has been studied extensively over the years, and in particular, within education, many have added to the academic conversation about creating effective leaders. In the late 20th century, Thomas Sergiovanni developed an educational model in which he proposes five leadership forces “to bring about or preserve changes needed to improve schooling.” (Leadership and Excellence in Schooling, 1984, p. 4) These forces are technical, human, educational, symbolic, and cultural. He added that symbolic and cultural forces were most critical to an educational leader’s success.

Mastery of these forces is directly related to a leader’s ability to develop a vision for the school, Sergiovanni believed. His paradigms of symbolic and cultural leadership were substantiated by these and case studies developed independently by his contemporaries including Gardner (1990), Mitchell (1990), and Steere (1996). In addition, the body of work produced by Catholic educational scholars supported the concepts of the effectiveness of a cultural and symbolic leader.

Sergiovanni defines the symbolic leader as one who models selected, important goals and behaviors, who communicates well and often, encouraging new ideas, and emphasizes an open dialog. A symbolic leader is one who is considered to “think outside the box,” or one who “breaks the mold.” I cannot help but consider Saint Norbert such a leader – one who saw a fresh, new, and reformed vision of religious life; shaped, molded, and lived it during his years of itinerant preaching, and pursued it until the idea became a reality in the realization of a Norbertine community that has existed for nine centuries.

Norbert is also an excellent example of Sergiovanni’s idea of a cultural leader, one who “... assumes the role of cultural ‘high priest,’ seeking to define, strengthen, and articulate those enduring values, beliefs, and cultural strands that give the school [or community] its unique identity” (p. 104).

These two most powerful forces – cultural and symbolic – direct an effective leader’s use of the other three forces – educational, technical, and human, such that, the assembly of these institutional resources create a unique synergy around core values and beliefs. At Archmere, I believe we have captured the “fire” of Saint Norbert and emulate his style of leadership through adherence to core beliefs and rituals, while at the same time welcoming “out of the box” thinking to engender continuous improvement.

An important adjective that we use in our mission statement to qualify the leaders we hope to graduate is empathetic. Merriam-Webster defines empathetic as:

1: the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner; also: the capacity for this.

F. Diane Barth, L.C.S.W., psychotherapist, wrote in a October 18, 2018 Psychology Today article, that “research has shown that empathy is not simply inborn, but can actually be taught.” She cites the work of Helen Riess, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, director of the Empathy and Relational Science Program at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, as well as co-founder and chief scientist of Empathetics.com.

Barth summarizes Riess’ work: “Empathy plays an important role in our society’s ability to function, promoting a ‘sharing of experiences, needs, and desires between individuals.’ Our neural networks are set up to interact with the neural networks of others in order to both perceive and understand their emotions and to differentiate them from our own, which makes it possible for humans to live with one another without constantly fighting or feeling taken over by someone else.”

Reiss states that we are all hard-wired to be empathetic; however, with the advent of technology, our interpersonal communications with one another have been compromised, devolved by a text message, tweet, or email that can inflict harm intentionally or unintentionally on another.

To maintain and enhance empathy, individuals have to have a fundamental set of skills, which we focus on developing in our students and staff. These skills include effective interpersonal communication, including active listening, consensus building, collaboration, clarity of vision and expression of thought, commitment, compassion, care, and concern – attributes that contribute to developing a moral compass and foundational beliefs.

Reiss uses the acronym, EMPATHY, to summarize the importance of Eye gaze or contact, Muscles of facial expression, Posture, Affect, or expressed emotions, Tone of voice, Hearing the whole person, and Your response. I see every day examples of empathetic leadership in our students and staff.

“Prepared for every good work,” (2 Timothy 3:17) is a quote from Saint Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy. The phrase is engraved on our Archmere ring, and was taken from the motto of Abbot Gummarus Crets, O.Praem. (1922-1937), Abbot General of the world-wide Norbertine community when Archmere was founded in 1932. Combined with empathetic leadership, it implies that our graduates are prepared for a life of service to others. To have graduates “prepared,” is Archmere’s raison d’etre.

To that end, I am excited about our new strategic initiatives, approved by the Board of Trustees in March, 2019, that will continue to grow the Academy’s ability to prepare our students for the world in which they live. Central to the planning is a focus on our mission, with key initiatives in two focus areas: (1) academic and co-curricular programs and (2) philanthropy and resource generation. I highlight two new programs that we have initiated with the start of this 2019-20 school year.

After conversations with representatives from Neumann University, we have launched a Sports and Spirituality Program. The vision for the program is to “promote spiritual growth and the belief that God’s presence is embedded in the athletic experience. Student-athletes learn to value themselves and others in ways that are consistent with our Catholic Norbertine charism, focusing on building community through teamwork, developing humility, self-discipline and respect for oneself and others.”

Components of the program include an athlete commissioning and blessing ceremony at the start of each sports season, prayer and team reflection time, team chaplains, who are faculty or staff members that volunteer their time to be trained as a resource for students, student-athlete service programs, enrichment through formative training, guest speakers, and professional development of coaches, team captains, and chaplains. The program will be built over time, with the goal that eventually every sports team will have a chaplain and become fully engaged in all parts of the program.

With the start of each sports season, Archmere commissions each student athlete at a school wide liturgy. Commissioning includes a blessing of the athlete and a commitment from the athlete to represent Archmere Academy by authentically embracing the pillars of the program.

Since 2012, we have been making connections with Norbertine abbeys and school communities around the world, particularly in Europe. Faculty members, who have been asked to join these Norbertine Heritage Pilgrimages and Tours over the years, formed the foundation of a think tank to discuss a Global Studies Program for our students. After a year of conversation and thought, we will be including this program in the curriculum for the current academic year.

Mr. Tim Dougherty, Director of Academics, will serve as the Coordinator of Global Studies, as we enhance current and develop new study abroad opportunities, as well as assemble a series of courses that students may select to earn a Global Studies Certificate upon graduation. These are just two of the many exciting ideas included in our published strategic initiatives document that accompanies this issue of the Archmerean.

Global Studies Program The Global Studies Program at Archmere Academy provides students with opportunities to become more aware of the connectedness of humanity and the political, economic, social, and situational forces that shape complex decisions among people around the world. Students may accomplish a Global Studies Certificate or diploma at graduation by completing a series of courses and participating in experiences offered within the program.

Finally, but most importantly, building our philanthropic and revenue-generating capacities is key to supporting these new initiatives and sustaining all of the programming and facilities that we currently enjoy. It continues to be true that tuition does not cover the total of all of the annual operating expenses, and each year, families’ financial assistance needs exceed what Archmere has available to distribute. That is why I am so grateful on behalf of the Academy community for the generous support of the many donors listed in our Honor Roll of Donors Report included as a special section of this magazine.

Gifts to the Archmere Fund for general needs or specific projects and gifts to scholarship and financial assistance endowment make a significant difference in the lives of our students. Truly, we could not accomplish all that we do for our students each year without the support of the entire Archmere community, and we are deeply grateful.

Kunkel, in his book’s final chapter, concludes that the Norbertines adopted this motto from Augustine: Ever ancient, ever new, and they continue to bring that message to over one hundred communities around the world in Europe, Australia, India, South America, and the United States. He states, “…the story of the Norbertines’ coming to America is a particularly illuminating example of how Norbert’s entrepreneurial spirit was never truly extinguished.”

I believe that spirit is thriving at Archmere because of so many wonderful people who believe in what we do, contemporary disciples of a 12th century visionary saint, and who are helping to cultivate “empathetic leaders – young men and women prepared for every good work.”

Sincerely,