Humans of Delbarton: Pat Savidge

Humans of De Pat Savidge lbarton:

By Meghan Podimsky

Humans of Delbarton (HOD) is BACK as our series of personal profiles continues to unfold this school year. On the last Friday of each month, a new HOD story will illustrate what makes Delbarton, well, Delbarton. Our community is filled with dedicated individuals, from students, faculty and staff, to parents and alumni, and each person has his or her unique Delbarton Experience story to tell.

Meet Delbarton Math Teacher and Coach Mr. Patrick Savidge: Savidge grew up in South Windsor, Connecticut where he lived with his parents and five siblings. “Having so many siblings definitely shaped me into who I am today. We spent so much time together and were always outside running around, playing sports, and having fun together. ” Before landing at Delbarton, he graduated from the University of Delaware where he studied mathematics and competed on the school’s swim team.

Savidge is a member of the Delbarton math department as well as a coach for both Delbarton’s swim and tennis teams. Prior to college graduation, Savidge knew he wanted to go into teaching. “At the end of my sophomore year in college, I knew that I wanted to teach. I was tutoring calculus, physics, and computer science for a lot of my teammates in college, and really enjoyed hearing about their success on exams as a result, ” he said. As he celebrates his fifth year at Delbarton, Savidge continues to work with his students to encourage them to enjoy math and see the subject not simply as a series of memorization challenges. Instead, he trains them to look at math conceptually and realistically. “When confronted with new problems, they are able to persevere through the problem and apply the concepts that they have learned to them, even if they haven’t seen problems like them before. ”

Outside of teaching, Savidge spends time with friends and family or finds new ways to compete. From hitting the slopes on a ski trip to a friendly game of hoops, Savidge likes to live an active lifestyle while also finding balance in the downtimes. In September, Savidge fulfilled a bucket list goal: finishing an Ironman Race. “Growing up, I had always described myself as an athlete and loved competing. Once swimming came to an end after graduating college, it definitely felt like a huge hole was left in my life, ” explained Savidge. After signing up for an Ironman competition towards the end of 2021, he began training for the Ironman Maryland race earlier this year in March. With six months of intense training, he was ready to tackle this challenge head-on. As a Green Wave swim and tennis coach, Savidge plans to take what he learned from his Ironman experience and use those lessons to guide his student-athletes. “I think my one piece of advice is really to savor every moment – not just the (continued on page 47)

(continued from page 43) ones where you feel great after accomplishing something, but even the tough ones through training. Remember what it felt like to push through the challenging moments because those are the memories that you can dig back up and feed off of when things get tough during competition. ” Reflecting on his time on campus, Savidge finds the best part about Delbarton to be the people. “My favorite aspect of teaching at Delbarton, as clichéd as it is, is the community. ” From attending various events like the events hosted by our DAP students or sporting events to the musicals and plays performed by Abbey Players, there is something for everyone to enjoy. “It’s awesome to get to see the whole community come together outside of the normal 8:00 am-2:45 pm school day. ” After embarking on a year-long marketing rebranding in 2021, in August Delbarton was pleased to share a new Delbarton.org website with improved functionality and an enhanced user experience. Check out the new site at Delbarton.org. Also in August, Delbarton Athletics introduced an all-new Delbarton Athletics App that allows you to follow your favorite Green Wave team all year long with updated news, galleries, videos and more. Fans can get score update notifications right to their phones and even purchase favorite Green Wave gear from the Athletics Shop. To download the free app, visit Google Play or the Apple App Store Play.

Introducing the new Delbarton Website and Sports App

New World Languages and Cultures Course

Choosing a new language to study can be difficult. Who speaks that language? What’s the point of a language? What kind of cultures are associated with certain languages? In World Languages and Cultures, a new collaborative course for Delbarton 7th graders, we seek to explore many of these mystifying issues, while celebrating the diversity of languages and cultures taught in our school, and beyond. The course is primarily taught by Department Chair Dr. Rachel Carlson and Director of Global Programs Dan Pieraccini. Other faculty members and upperclassmen are invited in to speak about language, writing, culture, folklore and cuisines. The World Languages and Cultures course is off to a great start. In October, members of DAP led a presentation in Spada Commons on the origins of Diwali which included a delicious thematic lunch that was enjoyed by our 7th grade class!

Admissions Open House

On October 2, Delbarton opened its doors to all interested applicants and their families. This year’s Admissions Open House drew a standing room only crowd of 900+ people — young men and parents — who wanted to learn more about Delbarton from administrators, faculty, coaches and most importantly, from students themselves. After an introduction from Headmaster Fr. Michael Tidd, OSB, a student panel that included Ryan Moumdjian ’27 (8th grade), Michael Xu ’26 (a 9th-grade lifer), Jared Baudin ’25 (10th grade), Colin Pryma ’24 (11th grade), Joe Narduzzi ’23 (a 12th grader who transferred into Delbarton for 10th grade) answered questions that were texted from audience members. This unscripted interchange was a wonderful way to connect our guests with current students. Later, guests met Delbarton teachers, coaches, parents and students and enjoyed Student Ambassadorhosted campus tours.

The Brotherhood Grows for Delbarton 7th and 9th Graders

On August 26, two signature events kicked off the new school year for 7th and 9th graders. The Class of 2026 embarked on a journey of bonding and brotherhood when the entire class and 9th grade advisors spent a day at Camp Bernie in Lebanon Township, NJ where the class enjoyed outdoor challenges that called for teamwork and one-on-one support. Meanwhile, the Class of 2028 embarked on the annual 7th-grade rite of passage: a bus trip to Pocono Whitewater Rafting for a rafting adventure on the mighty Lehigh River. This yearly trip allows our new seventh graders to forge the bonds of brotherhood that will follow them throughout their six years at Delbarton. A good time was had by all!

Strategic Plan Team Meets for Retreat

Crafting a new Strategic Plan for Delbarton began in fall 2021, and one year later, on October 27 and 29, 2022 at on-campus gatherings, sixty-one Delbarton constituents reviewed and implemented the Steering Committee’s research to create a draft Strategic Plan. Once revised in light of the November sessions with various Delbarton constituents, the Board of Regents and the monastic community will approve the final version of the Strategic Plan. We look forward to sharing a copy of the final Strategic Plan with the Delbarton community, and we thank the many students, faculty and staff, parents, alumni, regents and advisors who assisted us in this exciting process.