Priorities #33: Spring 2006

PRI RITIES A Magazine of Woodside Priory School

April 2006

It’s

LOVE See the story on the back cover.

Also in this issue: A Benedictine retreat, what people are saying about Advanced Placement, Trinity Project groundbreaking, and more.

Celebrating 48 Years of Benedictine Education

Woodside Priory School Celebrating 48 Years of Benedictine Education In This Issue The Priory community’s experience with the school accreditation visiting team was stimulating and enjoyable. An academic committee and deans are studying the schedule this year to see how it can better meet the varied needs of students and teachers. And a generous family made the difference in meeting our year-end goal for the Trinity Project. Headmaster’s Letter, page 3 Winter at a Glance, Page 4-5

Auction, Page 6-8

Valentine’s Day, Mock Olympic Games and real snow, the first handcreated Bible to be commissioned by Benedictines since the invention of the printing press, the San Francisco Shakespeare Company and all-star athletes are in Winter At A Glance, pages 4-5 “As You Like It” will take guests past the entryway into the backstage area where magic was made in the Globe Theater during Shakespeare’s time. The auction committee has created its own magic for this gala event.

Auction 2006, pages 6-8 Advanced Placement curricula have grown and expectations have changed over the past decades. Some college prep schools and very competitive colleges are re-thinking their original assumptions. Academics, pages 9-10

Advanced Placement, Pages 13-16

The Benedictine tradition of community isn’t like those of other religious organizations or schools. Participants at this year’s faculty retreat were given some guidance and challenged to think out how Saint Benedict’s Rule informs a Priory education.

Dozens of career moves, three weddings, two CDs on the national market, a PhD dissertation on a national educational question, some travel— including Father Martin’s and Al Zappelli’s trip to Mexico-- and a return to the stage. That and more in Alumni News & Notes, pages 12-14

Benedictine Letter, Page 11

The Trinity Project is on schedule for the first groundbreaking this summer (although $2 million is still needed). The first of three residential lots behind the campus has been sold and will benefit the endowment fund and the monks’ retirement. A special scholarship fund to honor Father Egon Javor is being launched.

On the cover: A lovely garden setting and the event co-chairs set the mood for this year’s auction, “As You Like It, ” which follows a Shakespearean theme. Our thanks to Allied Arts, a unique collection of shops and artists’ studios in Menlo Park for the use of their wonderful site. It’s a great place for lunch or tea and browsing. Learn more at www.alliedartsguild.org

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 Mr. Dave Arnold Dr. Kristin Brew Mr. Tim Cain Mr. Peter Campagna Mr. Wayne Davison Ms. Betsy Haehl Mrs. Susan Hafleigh Mrs. Dotty Hayes Father Eric Hollas, OSB Mr. Craig Johnson Mrs. Ginny Kavanaugh Mr. Steven Krausz Father Maurus Nemeth, OSB Ms. Janiece Bacon Oblak Mr. Dale Pfau* Mr. Hank Plain Mrs. Patti Plummer Mr. Bill Roberts Ms. Alicia Rodriguez Mr. Ray Rothrock Mrs. Kari Rust Mr. Bob Simon Mr. Mark Wilson Ms. Andrea Zulberti * Special Representative

Priorities magazine is published in November, April and July by Woodside Priory School for its alumni, parents, students, neighbors and friends. An Annual Report is published separately. Contact the Communications Office at 650-851-6193 or the school at 650-851-8221.

Editor: Carolyn Dobervich Design/Production: Jim Kirkland, Copperline Multimedia Photos: Carolyn Dobervich, Jim Kirkland, Bob Feldman, Ellen Payne 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

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e have some exciting times ahead of us! Our three years of preparation for our next school accreditation came to a conclusion with the three day campus visit in early March by the accreditation visiting committee, led by Mike Baker, President of Maryknoll School in Honolulu.

The committee members read our documents carefully, visited many classes and talked with teachers, students, parents and staff. To borrow a phrase from the prologue of Saint Benedict’s Rule, they “listened. . . with the ear of their heart.” Their commendations and recommendations meshed with the reflections and action plans we had documented in our report. This validation of our self-study is invigorating and encourages us all to move ahead.

Among the main things the committee commended are: • the essence and vitality of our mission statement, • our effort to keep all salary compensation and benefits in the upper quartile of comparable Bay Area schools, • our on-campus housing goals and fundraising efforts, • the creation of the Academic Resource Center, and • the hospitality and enthusiasm they witnessed among students, staff and parents.

Their major recommendations ask us to focus on: • diversity and multicultural awareness, • continuation of the Benedictine heritage, • several areas in the curriculum and in use of staff time, and • alumni outreach.

I want to thank Brother Edward, who again headed this monumental effort, and all of the students, staff and parents, who participated over the last three years. The final report and accreditation will be issued later in the spring by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

Our deans and ad hoc scheduling committee have spent much of this past year studying various ways to arrange class and student schedules to find the right blend of learning opportunity, challenge, and fiscal soundness. In the Middle School, we want to integrate students’ studies a little more. In the High School, we want to keep the range of courses our students need but balance the teaching load (and the academic loads students choose to take) a little better. Saint Benedict advised balance in life and “being fully human” in one’s experience, and we are always trying to make this possible in our students’ lives.

I want to close with a public “thank you” to a generous family that came forward in November with a $1 million challenge gift for our Trinity Project.

Their gift made it possible for us to meet our year-end financial goal and continue towards groundbreaking this summer. This family had already made a gift to the campaign, but said they were inspired to do more when they saw the momentum that could be lost and the good work that would be wasted if we failed to meet that goal. We still have $2 million to go by June, but their gesture of confidence and the willingness of many other friends of the school to meet the challenge or pay early on their pledges convinced our Board of Directors to add their support. Generations of Priory students and families will benefit.

A year-end community effort, led by a Priory family’s generous gift, kept the Trinity Project plans on schedule.

Sincerely

Tim Molak, Head of School

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San Francisco Shakespeare Company Entertains the Middle School Students sat cross-legged on the floor of the Assembly Hall to enjoy a lively traveling performance of Shakespeare’s “Two Gentlemen of Verona.”

Priory English teacher Kate Dunlop, who has been an actor with the company, arranged for the special show.

Winter at

Valentine’s Day For Fun and a Good Cause Junior Laura Hohnsbeen was among the National Honor Society students delivering candy, flowers and singing telegrams around the campus.

The traditional fundraiser this year brought in $700.

Middle School students had a whirlwind cookie decorating event; in the inset photo, seventh grader Travis Johnson takes a bite of his masterpiece.

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Saint John’s Bible Project Draws Priory Students and Monks Father Pius and several students were among more than 160 guests at a multimedia presentation about the newly released Saint John’s Bible, the first hand written, illuminated Bible commissioned by Benedictines since the invention of the printing press. Father Eric Hollas, a member of the Priory Board of Trustees and one of the initiators of the Bible project, made the presentation. People from around the Bay Area interested in art, spirituality, history and religion attended this ninth Community Forum.

a Glance

Community Enjoys Mock Olympics and Real Snow Students Nick Coombs (right), and Charlie Reyes (left) and teachers Sarah Campbell and Scott Parker faced off in the Priory Olympics Mock Ice Hockey event. The Uphill Luge event (on skateboards) was equally popular. In the inset, students and faculty enjoy the real thing in Tahoe, on a ski weekend scheduled by the resident students and enjoyed by day students as well.

High School All-League Athletes, Winter Sports Boys Basketball 1st Team Hap Plain 2nd Team Reggie Willhite

Priory Middle School Plays In The All-Stars Seventh grader Ann Franklin, right, pounds after the ball carrier at the boys and girls basketball SSIL league all stars game.

Girls Socccer 1st Team Maddie Turner Cami Simpson Leslie Barkmann 2nd Team Courtney Lee Rachel Moody Honorable Mention Sarah Montgomery Zoe Ciupitu

Reggie Willhite shoots, and the Girls Soccer Team heads for the field. This team made it to the Central Coast Sectionals playoffs—the first girls soccer team in Priory history to do so.

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‘Your Heart’s Desires Be With You!’

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s You Like It, Woodside Priory School’s 25th auction and ball, will live up to everyone’s heart’s desire with contemporary treasures and Elizabethan fun. Cindy and Wayne Davison, co-chairs, have pulled out all the stops to make this anniversary auction an extra-special event.

Start with cocktails at 5:30 p.m., silent auction browsing and bidding until 8 p.m. At dinner, enjoy the “warm-up” salad auction and entertainment.

At the grand auction, Auctioneer Tim Molak’s legendary skills will tempt you to raise your paddle one more time. Then, indulge with music, dessert and dancing to Wendy Waller and the Natural Wonders until midnight. If you haven’t yet sent your reservation, well, ‘Time and the tides wait for no man!’ Tickets sold out last year and are expected to do so again.

Father Martin Clock Father Martin Mager is at work on his 22nd grandfather clock, about 7.5 feet tall with black walnut trim, German clockworks and three chimes. Father Martin also hand crafted a lovely wooden cradle that will lull any baby to sleep.

‘All the World’s A Stage’

As You Like It, Act ii, Scene.7

In Shakespeare’s time, crowds filled the Globe Theater in London for presentations of the Bard’s latest work and to socialize with friends. Priory guests will sense that same ambiance approaching

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–As You Like It. Act I Scene 2

the As You Like It entryway, where theater posters that might have been the Globe’s will create much mirth and merriment. They vie for attention inside with jongleurs, wenches, stilt-walkers and other crowd-pleasers, and ahead the live Renaissance music of Broceliande calls. At the theater kiosk, guests can peruse the circa 1690s handbills to catch up on the entertainment world’s buzz.

“We are delighted to have roving groups of student singers and actors providing all kinds of entertaining diversions. Everyone will love their terrific impromptu scenes from’The Taming of the Shrew’’” said Cindy Davison.

‘Can one desire too much of a good thing?’

As You Like It, Act iv Scene 1

Guests will enjoy the full bar (including carefully chosen wines) and delicious hot and cold hors d’oeuvres passed by waiters while greeting friends and perusing the bounteous treats in the Globe entryway and adjacent rooms. Banners proclaim each room’s theme with a quote from a favorite Shakespearean play.

Ivy drapes the walls, and the colors throughout are those of an English garden in May—the deep blues

and purples of violets, the golds and bronzes of marigold blooms, the rich fruit tones of raspberries, cherries and figs, plus the colors of honeysuckle, lilac flowers, and pinks.

Velvet curtains will be pulled back at eight o’clock and guests welcomed “backstage,” where many visual and bidding surprises are in store. Each table will resemble a Renaissance still life and the food will be predictably distinctive and delicious, as has been true in past years at Hotel Sofitel. Our chef is researching an English Renaissance dish that he might add to surprise and delights the guests.

Not only are the rooms lovely to look at, the treasures are delightful to behold! Something for every interest and need and pocketbook will be on display. The wines and restaurant certificates, professional services, sporting events and memorabilia, jewels, vacations, performing arts tickets and more will indeed live up to one actor’s exclamation— ‘O, wonderful, wonderful, and most wonderful wonderful!’ (Act iii Scene 2) Gifts from faculty, students, staff, and especially the monks are always highly prized, and many favorites will be back: elegant art glass from students, Father Maurus’s duck dinner served in the refectory, Father Martin’s and Brother Edward’s Down East Lobster Dinner, and the Headmaster’s Council dinner for 20. Faculty and staff will have a variety of tutoring, training and activity

opportunities up for bids.

A tradition is being revived this year with the third edition of the Priory Community Cookbook.

It will feature drawings from students and alumni, bits of historical information (especially about the culinary history of the school), and, of course, delicious recipes submitted and tested by dozens of volunteers. Mrs. Louise Davies and her committee of Priory friends published the first cookbook in 1962.

Dozens of volunteer parents, students, faculty and staff are devoting many hundreds of hours to assure the success of this important event. It is the Priory’s one big fund-raiser for the operating budget. Every year, auction proceeds help to close the gap between the tuition and actual cost of a Priory education.

“Come to have fun, bid high and bid often! The cause is a good one,” said Wayne Davison.

Bidders can whet their appetites for special items by checking the online catalog, which is updated daily. Go to www.woodsidepriory.com/ auction . Below is a sampler from the list: • Relax for a week in the luxury beachfront home “Hale Mar” on the beautiful island of Hawaii. Three bedrooms, two baths, a 38-foot lap pool, workout equipment, and the joy of watching the Pacific tides come with the house.

• Go backstage at the site of contemporary Bid on two pairs of tickets to the San Jose Grand Prix, the Champ Car World Series with seats in the gold grandstand (top eight rows). Enjoy a pit walkthrough and a paddock pass!

As You Like It Schedule of Events Gift-Giving Launch Party—March 10, 2006. Guests played Renaissance games while enjoying modern cuisine and making their donations. The ambiance was typical of a small village fair, perhaps in Shakespeare’s birthplace, Stratfordon-Avon.

Online Auction – ( March 27 to April 10). Go to www. wpsauction.org.

Bargains galore, raffle tickets, and anyone can play.

Auction Raffle Tickets—On sale now; will continue until 300 are sold. Win $10,000 in cash or tuition credit! Second prize is $1,000. You need not be present to win.

Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Luncheon on May 6, 2006 for all of the auction chairs since the first, chaired by Jan and Oscar Piper and Bev and Robert Doyle on Nov. 7, 1983 Auction and Ball May 7, 2006 Hotel Sofitel, Redwood Shores 5:30 p.m. Registration, Cocktails and Hors d’oeuvres 5:30 p.m. Silent Auction, photos, entertainment 8 p.m. Dinner; salad auction, entertainment 9:30 Grand Auction 10: 30 Dancing to live band until midnight

Dozens of parents contribute to the creation of class baskets filled with irresistible “theme” treats, and many Priory friends create special baskets of their own This one, shown off by eighth graders Melanie Wenger and Katie Neckowitz, will provide the winner with many a proper English tea.

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magic! A behind-the-scenes tour of the CBS Channel 5 studios in San Francisco includes the opportunity to see Channel 5 News at Five go on the air. A great gift for students, news buffs and technology aficionados.

• Meet the Oakland A’s, tour the TV truck with the media producer, and see the game from great seats. Just in case someone in the crowd is unaware of your good fortune, your presence will be announced on the scoreboard!

• Oenophiles and just plain lovers of good wine will treasure this case of 2001 Cabernet from Silver Oak Cellars in the Alexander Valley. With a mix of aromas including cassis, spice box, and lavender, and admirable texture, this wine will be a pleasure to the palate.

• For that super-special occasion like an anniversary, a wedding, or the birth of a grandchild: A bottle of 1982 Dom Perignon Champagne, stored in a temperature and humidity controlled environment. The 1982 vintage was stellar, generously flavored with oak overtones.

This opportunity may never come again.

• Pamper yourself or someone you love at the Post Ranch Inn on the cliffs of Big Sur. You will view the ocean and maybe a Hollywood star or two (they are reported to frequent this retreat).

Enjoy the pools, a massage, spa treatment and daily yoga classes in facilities that blend organically with the surroundings. The restaurant features award-winning cuisine and amazing views.

• Improve your merrymaking with Meringue dance lessons with the Priory’s tour-de-force of Latin culture, Spanish teacher José Mejia-Torres. You or your thespian offspring can get theater tryout coaching from a pro, the Priory’s own Shakespearean actress-turnedEnglish teacher Kate Dunlop.

A Salute To The Start Of A Great Tradition A powder blue Lincoln Continental convertible was the “hot ticket” item at “A Night at the Market Place,” held on Nov. 7, 1981 in the campus gymnasium.

Another surprise was a seven piece sterling tea set from St. Anselm College, the Priory’s parent abbey.

The gift was selected to emphasize the Priory’s silver anniversary being celebrated that year.

Some other crowd-pleasers included a Moroccan dinner for 16, complete with belly dancer, a trip to a private island residence off Honduras, and—a last-minute coup, hard to get in 1981—a computer from On Line Computer, with two hours of free instruction.

Looking through the press publicity for that 25years-ago event, a few differences and similarities stand out.

• They had cocktails with “silent and oral auctions” from 5-6:30. We have two live auctions, a Web auction, entertainment, dinner and dancing.

• Their tickets were $65 a couple. Ours are $175 for the third year in a row.

• Theirs was organized and produced by the parent club. Our auction committee is officially incorporated separately for legal purposes but is organized and produced by our parent association and parent volunteers.

• They had more than 90 auction items. Last year, our auction had 550 live and silent auction items plus about 150 offered in two online auctions.

• Auctioneer that year was a longtime friend of the Priory, Tom Hennig. This year it’s Head of School Tim Molak.

• Theirs was an event for the whole school community, inclduing alumni, their families, and friends of the school. So is ours today.

The auction’s goal in 1981 was “continued development of the school.” The goal every year since has been just about the same, with some slight changes in wording. Some things about this special event never change; it just gets bigger with time.

Sleep beneath pansies, orchids, morning glories and many more blossoms on this rambling “English Garden” created by expert quilter Sylvia Pressacco. Fabrics designed by Kaffe Fassett for Westminster and Rowen in the UK lend even more authenticity. The quilting pattern is an all-over stylized Elizabethan rose pattern.

This quilt—Sylvia’s last—was created especially for “As You Like It.”

Academics Fourth Decade

Advanced Placement Assumptions Are Being Tested—A Little Advanced Placement classes—the darlings of college admissions officers a decade ago—may be losing some of their shine. While many studies historically show their value in predicting college success, at least two significant current studies question that finding, and a highly regarded professional organization questions whether APs are superior to (or occasionally even as good as) well taught high school level college prep courses.

Nationally, there are signs of change. Schools without a strong AP curriculum and enrollment are expanding their AP offerings and providing services such as summer prep courses to assure that students can succeed. At the same time, a few strong college prep schools are publicly backing away from unqualified support for AP classes. And some colleges are raising the bar in terms of scores they will accept for college credit.

On the San Francisco mid-Peninsula, most college prep schools now offer a wide range of APs (the Priory offers 18). Compared with 10 years ago, students take more AP classes and begin taking them earlier, some in freshman year.

Many highly academic schools nationally and locally are asking themselves a few questions in light of changes over the past decade. For the students, are more AP classes always better? Do they predict better success in college? Do they always encourage the best teaching?

Nationally, there are some important benefits.

Less affluent students with good AP scores can often pass out of those classes in college and their tuition bill will be reduced. Students who have not thought of themselves as “college material” may develop a more positive academic self-image.

Highly academic schools with established AP programs are looking at some other concerns.

Will the AP classes better prepare students to do better in college?

There is a growing body of evidence that students who do the AP curriculum don’t get better grades in college than students who took good college prep classes. Most current information seems pointed towards math and science.

A 2002 report by the National Research Council questions whether AP curricula in math is too rushed for high school students to develop good problem-solving skills and transfer that knowledge to other academic fields. Another study (incomplete but presented in February at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting) indicates that the rigor of a student’s math training is the best predictor of college success in science, whether the class has the AP label or not.

Good teachers and the opportunity to use math to problem-solve in science labs are the important ingredients, the study’s author said.

Colleges’ views of AP training may be changing.

In the past, a student’s grade of 3, 4 or 5 (on a scale of 1-5) on an AP test would be accepted for college credit at most schools. Now, some schools advise (but don’t require) re-taking the class, and some schools are raising the requirement. Harvard now only credits scores of 5.

Rodin Students are lucky to have one of the most complete Rodin exhibits in the world at Stanford University available to them. Study of Rodin’s work could apply to history, art, or the language and culture class shown here.

Solid college prep classes may be as good or better, and may exempt students from “too-many-APs” stress, recent studies show.

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Leaders at some very academically oriented schools with established AP programs are looking at some other concerns, such as these:

Bridge All students learn in freshman physics about forces, then try to build a popsicle-stick bridge that will withstand them. In class, they test their bridges with weights from the gym. Students continue to build problemsolving skills as they go through the four-year science curriculum.

Is the Advanced Placement curriculum too broad-based and fastpaced for thorough teaching at high school level?

Teachers’ opinions differ. A recent article in the New York Times mentions that a few highly regarded college prep schools in New York gave up the AP curricula in favor of honors classes at their faculty’s request, and at least one highly regarded mid-Peninsula college prep school has raised the issue. Other AP teachers think the curriculum is both good and teachable. At the Priory, AP teachers’ views are in both camps on this and the following quesions, and they make thoughtprovoking personal observations.. Laura Young, who teaches the AP Art History,notes that AP label is for her students an inducement to really apply themselves. (Priory students typically do well on the tests, and top scholars earn AP honors.)

Is the pressure to take ever more APs overstressing students?

A study of Texas students describes a classic “game theory” situation in which students see themselves as competitors for a college admissions prize. They can’t guess what their competitor students are doing, so the tendency is to take more and more APs, past what they feel comfortable taking—in case the others are. The study points out a possible unintended consequence. Students may learn to cut corners and occasionally cheat—actually sacrificing in-depth learning—to survive this academic load.

Students’ assumption that the most competitive colleges expect students to take vast numbers of AP classes might be incorrect. The college admissions officers uniformly say they want students to take “the most rigorous academic program available

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to them” or some variation on that concept. That doesn’t mean they expect students to take as many APs as their school happens to offer.

Yale Admissions Officer Jeffrey Brenzel was quoted in the New York Times (January 8, 2006): “Sheer AP firepower, having 10 APs, doesn’t impress us. It’s just one factor in evaluating a student’s background.”

Woodside Priory’s Director of College Counseling, Betty Van Wagenen, advises freshmen that because the Priory’s college prep curriculum is very sound, Priory students are compelling applicants, with or without AP courses, at the vast majority of colleges and universities in the country.

Students Need Individual Solutions Woodside Priory has no plans to change its AP offerings, but is paying new attention to counseling students in making choices.

“We have a few students who thrive on AP courses and for them, an all AP schedule might be a good choice. I can’t say this student will be a more attractive college candidate, but it allows him or her to do what is most satisfying.

“Another student, who is taking a credible number of APs and is contemplating giving up a great love in life, like sports or arts, to squeeze in that 7th or 8th AP—I will ask that student to consider whether that choice serves his or her interests in the long run,” Mr. Schlaak said.

There are occasional bright students who would prefer not to challenge themselves with even one AP class, and Mr. Schlaak will help that student take a careful look at the schedule he or she is choosing.

It may be realistic; the Priory’s basic curriculum coupled with good grades will gain students admission at many fine colleges (one of the UC campuses, for example) without a single AP course.

Time spent exploring fields of interest, growing up, and developing a strong sense of self, may be more important than college level work for this student.

“It is easy to forget that APs are not college prep work. They are college level work. If a smart high school student is not yet ready for college, that isn’t surprising,” Mr. Schlaak added.

Benedictine Letter

What Makes Us Benedictine? A Faculty Retreat Examines The Question

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oodside Priory School devotes one faculty retreat per year to refreshing and re-committing as a community to the Benedictine tradition. On February 17, 2006, the community of teachers and staff spent the day at a lovely center in the Los Altos hills.

Sister Suzanne Zuercher, OSB, president of Saint Scholastica Academy in Chicago and a presenter with Principal Anne Matz, described her own experience in defining “a Benedictine school.” At the end, they asked everyone in attendance to come up with and share his or her own definition.

When asked the question 12 years ago by one of St. Scholastica’s trustees, Sister Suzanne said the definition was “in her bones” and “in the walls” and people just absorbed the Benedictine way by experiencing it. The trustee gently suggested that some actual words were needed. And so she began to write down what 15 centuries of history and her own experience had taught her.

History is important because Benedictine tradition isn’t like other religious or educational traditions, she said. The Rule, written in the sixth century for a small group of monastics, explicitly stresses love for learning, sense of balance, respect for the individual, stewardship of gifts, and the importance of community.

She found a provocative contemporary definition in a lecture titled “Vision for Transformative Education” given by Thomas Merton, a prolific writer, poet and Trappist monk (Trapists are a branch of the early Benedictine family tree). The purpose of a monastic school, Merton said, is to help a student become wise, and to move beyond knowledge to melding knowledge into the student’s life. Beyond classroom learning, it needs a tradition of experiences shared by teachers and learners, he said.

Some of the specifics Sister Suzanne mentioned include an education that is always evolving and is different from school to school but at the same time gains stability from the Rule. “I rejoice that Benedictine education so easily embraces people of diverse cultures, races and religions, because the boundaries of varied beliefs had not come on the scene until after Benedictines were already there.” The Benedictine value of listening and of respecting the voices of the young were especially meaningful to her, she said.

Anne Matz spoke as a non-monastic heading a monastic school. Making a commitment to the community, knowing that “this is my place and always will be” is important, she said. She also spoke of the unique view of a “learning community” in allowing one’s role to change over a lifetime.

People don’t expect to be in the same job forever, and they don’t look at a change as a “demotion.”

Rather, it is a matter of reassessing the community’s need and the individuals’ needs and abilities within the community. It is different from the typical “career path” approach to planning one’s life, she explained.

Throughout the day they shared their own experiences in delivering a Benedictine message along with the necessities of academic life, and at several points stopped to ask the retreat participants to do the same.

‘I rejoice that Benedictine education so easily embraces people of diverse cultures, races and religions . . .’

In the last issue, the web address for B-E-NET, the international Benedictine educators’ website, should have been www.b-e-net.org (not .com). In the text, an example was given of a lay educator in the Philippines who could not change her school’s status to university because of lack of a priest to head the endeavor. We wish to clarify that the school now has the priest and change in status. The example was offered as an illustration of the issues that arise as a result of the shortage of priests, which was the topic of a workshop discussion.

Part Two of the B-E-NET (Benedictine Educators Network) story will be in the July issue.

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Alumni News & Notes

Taylor’s CD is at Starbuck’s, and Geoff’s will soon be available nationally and in Hungary. Raegan is working towards an Ed.D, and Tadashi has been speaking English so long he is worried about his Japanese.

Tadashi Akimoto, class of 1978 – is living in France and is working for a company called “Group CAT”. He has two children, daughter Rika who is 11 and a son Yuji who is 9. Both attend British School Paris. English is their preferred spoken language, but they are now learning French as well. He and his wife struggle to keep up with their Japanese as they may return to Japan at some point to assure that their children know their language and culture, he said.

Raegan Miller (sic), class of 1983 – is pursuing an Ed. D. degree at Harvard. His field of research is the correlation between teacher absenteeism and student performance. The field becomes interesting when one realizes that the cost of teacher substitutes and sick days totals some $20 billion annually, he says.

Chase Norlin, class of 1987 – is living in San Francisco with his wife, Erin and dog, Abigail. He is working as a senior business development executive for ValueClik.

Shomari Stone, former student 1994 – a reporter for CBS News, conducted an exclusive interview with Samuel and Georgia Gaynor, the parents of the homeless man who died in a brutal attack in Fort Lauderdale. This was in international news story; the video has been shown around the world. He says that it was the most emotional stories he has ever covered. Shomari left the Priory when his family moved to Washington, D.C. Carrie Immel, class of 1995 – reports that she is enjoying family life in Corona, CA with Britt Melancon and their two-year-old son, Beau. They are expecting their second child in late September. Carrie’s mother, Kathy Immel, was a teacher for many years and a Director of the Boarding Program for two years at WPS before accepting an administrative position at a school in Southern California.

Philip Chu, class of 1996 – has been working as an associate transportation planner in San Luis Obispo since 2000. He graduated in 2000 with a degree in city and regional planning from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. He then went on to obtain a Master’s in Architecture Science in 2003. He recently began working on a second master’s degree in public policy. Over the Christmas holiday he visited Hong Kong and met with other 1996 graduates, Raymond Lau and BJ Lee.

Taylor, class of 2002

Max Lui, class of 1997 – writes that he is currently working for Cathay Pacific Airways as part of their management team. He has been assigned to Bahrain to help oversee the airline’s operations in India, Africa and the Middle East as the assistant to the General Manager for the region.

Geoff Welliver, class of 1997 – has been producing drum ‘n’ bass, a genre of dance music, for the past 8 years. His new drum ‘n’ bass group, ‘Company Truck’, was just signed to 2 labels, one in America, and one in Hungary. Their debut CD, “Tongue of the Fatman (sic)” is due to be released on Sideways Recordings in March, and “Teen Wolf”, their second release, will be available for electronic release on a Hungarian label in Budapest.

Terrell Virgil, class of 1998—was the keynote speaker at the Peninsula Bridge Breakfast, an annual meeting of donors and scholars supported by this academic outreach program. Terrell graduated from the University of the Pacific in 2002 and is now a mortgage consultant with Wells Fargo in Sacramento. He and his wife had a baby daughter last summer.

Terrell, class of 1998

Teresa Lyn Falaschi, class of 1999, married Justin Stewart Caltabiano on March 18, 2006 in San Francisco. Justin is a second-year law student at Emory University in Atlanta. Teresa will begin her Master of Arts in Teaching degree program at Emory in June. The couple is currently living in Atlanta.

12 Kelly Immel, class of 1999 – graduated from Pepperdine’s Graziadio School of Business in August of 2005. She has moved to San Diego and is employed by Xerox doing outside sales.

Kenan Alpay, class of 2000 – graduated from San Diego State University with a degree in international business marketing and Japanese (not a triple major, just one major with two emphases, he says.) He spent a year in Tokyo and is approaching business fluency in Japanese. At the present time he is living in Pacifica and looking for work in a company that is dealing or will deal with companies in Japan on a regular basis.

Amanda Davison, class of 2000—is working part-time on the faculty of the Priory Performing Arts Department, as Assistant Conductor for the Middle School orchestra. She also works part time as a law clerk for a firm in San Jose, and will begin an MA degree program in European History at Purdue University in the fall.

She plans to pursue a Ph.D. program after completing the MA, she says.

James Cirino, class of 2000 – completed an airport operations/administration internship at the Daytona Beach Int’l Airport in the fall of 2005. He graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University with a Bachelor of Science in Aviation Business Administration on December 17, 2005. He was accepted into the MBA program at Embry-Riddle in December 2005 and is currently a full time student He also works full time as an academic advisor for the university.

Phil, Ray and BJ got together in Hong Kong, and Jayna is studying in Rome. Max is enjoying traveling with the airlines, and Elaine traveled to Mississippi to help with the Katrina rescue effort.

Emily Kirkland, class of 2001 – is now working as the Community Outreach Coordinator in the Community Relations Department at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and volunteering as a Research Assistant at the Children’s Health Council.

Taylor Eigsti, class of 2002 –His new CD “Lucky To Be Me” (Concord Records) was released in mid-March and is available online, at record stores—and at Starbucks! After a busy March, with performances at the Berkshire Music Festival, in Germany, and Princeton University, he just was confirmed for a performance on May 13 with singer Ernestine Anderson at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. He will be at Herbst Theater in San Francisco with his combo on April 8.

Cassie Perret, class of 2002, went on from the college stardom in volleyball described in the last issue, to being named First Team All American in December—a first for the Priory as well as the player!

Josh Rado, class of 2002 – is excited about his new job with Ducati North America (Ducati Motorcycles’ North American headquarters.) Armed with Business Management training, he works in aftersales customer relations management.

Jayna Sutherland, class of 2002 – is in the middle of a four-month study program in Rome, Italy. She has traveled all over Italy and Egypt, and during the summer will travel to Romania, Greece, and Paris. She is studying at the University of California, Santa Cruz where she is a European History and American History major with a Politics minor.

Bernadette Austin and Michael Bower, class of 1998, announced their engagement and are planning a September wedding. News to follow!

Michael Yost, class of 2003 – played Happy, brother of Biff and son of Willy Loman in a UC Davis production of “Death of a Salesman.” Camille, Mike’s mom and a member of the Priory Admissions staff, said that working with a guest director from the mid-Peninsula’s Theaterworks was a wonderful experience for Mike and the show was great.

Lori Teraoka, class of 2004 – made the Dean’s List at Loyola Marymount University last semester.

Elaine Haegle, class of 2005–spent spring break with eight cohorts in B’Ibirville, Miss. helping with the Huricane Katrina recovery effort. They joined other college students in tasks ranging from building houses and teaching children to working in fields. Volunteers cooked their own meals and slept overnight in a city park. The eight University of Washington honors students have been interviewed on local and national new.

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Other News & Notes Raegan Miller ’85, Laura Brent ’04, and Tim Kovacky, Kyle McAuley, Francys Scott, Dan Wenger ’05, had dinner with Brian Schlaak, Dean of the Faculty and Dr. John Erkmann, Assistant Head of School when the two were in the Boston area in March.

Emily Strawn ‘03 – was listed as a first place winner on a trophy given for Western Regional Competitive Irish Dance. She is joined on that trophy by Ariel Zommer, class of 2008, who won the trophy this year. There have been only two competition Irish Dancers at Woodside Priory School, and they both took first place, winning the same trophy.

Roberto Cannessa, a friend of the school, who has hosted all of our Andes trekkers and was a graduation speaker, was on the Today Show on March 16, 2006. He is world famous as a survivor of the Andes plane crash in 1973 that was the topic of the book ,”Alive!”

Whirlwind Tour of Mexico Combines Promotion with Reunions

About a dozen alumni of the Priory or the former Summer Language Institute made an enthusiastic crowd for the first Mexico City alumni reunion, said Martin Mager, OSB. Father Martin was there to re-connect with old friends and said the luncheon was made especially enjoyable with sharing of stories and recollections of Priory years.

A morning at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe followed by an afternoon visit to the Aztec ruins near Mexico City were additional highlights for the Americans, he added.

The alumni discussed the time, place and location for a reunion next year and will announce it in the future.

Al Zappelli combined reunion opportunities with visits to schools in five Mexican cities, covering them all in just a week. As is always the case with recruiting abroad, help from former students and their families on the scene made the experience far better than he could have accomplished on his own, he said. In Mexico City, Guillermo Maafs, class of 1984, not only helped identify appropriate schools and arrange for visits, he saw that a big, full-color ad about the school ran in the newspaper just before the visit.

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In Mexico City, enjoying the first official reunion in that country, are (from left) Hernan Valdes (Dominican Republic); Dave Arnold, class of1984 and Alumni Association chair; Guillermo Maafs, class of 1984, and his wife, Rocia; Pablo Avalos, class of 2002; Dave’s wife, Donna, Al Zappelli, Director of Admissions; and Father Martin, Director of Alumni Relations. : Benjamin Lee, with his wife and cousin, returned to the campus for the first time since his graduation in the class of 1980 and visited with Father Egon in the monastery. He left with a list of classmates and current contact information.

Campaign Accelerates as the Priory Looks Ahead to Its 50th Anniversary Three important events will be added to the Priory calendar in the upcoming months: • The “blessing of the land” for the new Performing Arts Center auditorium and classrooms in June • Trinity Project/Performing Arts Center auditorium and classrooms groundbreaking in late summer • A special celebration to honor the first Mass celebrated at the Priory, and the 90th birthday of the monk who celebrated it. Father Egon Javor, O.S.B. presided over the Mass on November 11, 1956, and his birthday is in October.

The Trinity Project The Trinity Project goal is $13 million for the Performing Arts Center (PAC) including an all-school auditorium and new classrooms, the renovated Library & Media Center, and the new Student Center.

Having spent over $1 million on prerequisite costs including architects’ fees, geotechnical consultation, landscape improvements, and a new berm required by our conditional use permit, $6.7 million in funds are now available for the Trinity Project. Thanks in large part to a challenge gift of $1 million from a visionary and incredibly generous Priory family this fall, and to both new and returning donors who stepped up to meet that challenge—the community raised $3.9 million in cash since October 2005! This record-breaking drive has been a real group effort encompassing over 60 donors and $2 million in new commitments—including a very thoughtful gift of $30 from a Priory sixth grader, the youngest donor to date!

In mid-January, the school received full support from the Board of Directors to proceed with the plans. And on January 27, Father Martin signed the final contracts with the architects, San Franciscobased MK Think. However, the Campaign still needs over $5 million in new commitments, with a short term goal of $2 million by June 30 of this year.

Groundbreaking for the PAC buildings is slated for late summer 2006, and construction on the Library & Media Center and the Student Center could be as early as Summer 2007.

Endowment The Endowment serves many purposes. It is a key to the long term financial stability of the school and helps to cushion the blows of economic downturns. It also helps augment the operating budget—helping keep salaries in the upper quartile of comparable Bay Area schools and ensuring a significant financial aid budget (the Priory’s current aid budget exceeds $1 million).

The Golden Jubilee Campaign total endowment goal was set at $10 million in 2000, with the “Phase I” goal set at $5 million. The Priory has $2.2 million in gifts and commitments towards this goal, and the focus on the endowment will be increased this year. Not surprisingly, “we are concentrating on the Father Egon Scholarship Fund over the next few months and through the next year,” said Tim Molak, Head of School. “What better way to honor all he has done than to secure that scholarship in his name?” he added.

The “Father Funds,” scholarships honoring current and former Priory monks, are among the most popular ways for people to give to the endowment—especially among alumni, said Gail Kimball, Associate Director of Development. People also endow other scholarships—memorial scholarships, for example. “Every year, we share with the founders the wonderful stories of students who benefit.

Some of them are truly inspiring, and sharing these stories is a definite high spot in my job,” commented Camille Yost, Admissions Associate.

Woodside Priory’s endowment fund and the monks’ retirement fund will both receive a boost from the pending sale of a residential lot behind the campus. Two of the three desirable “view” lots are still available at market rates. More information is available on the Priory’s website, or by contacting Tim Molak. The timely arrival of these funds will help maintain scholarship commitments now and will over the long run help to assure the school’s financial stability.

Update Trinity Project • Performing Arts Center with all-school auditorium & new classrooms • Renovated and expanded Library & Media Center • New Student Center $6.7 million in hand towards $13 million goal.

Board of Directors approved plans, and groundbreaking on the Performing Arts Center buildings is slated for Summer 2006.

Short term goal is $2 million in new commitments by July 2006, with a total of $5 million by Fall 2007.

Endowment $2.2 million committed towards $5 million fundraising goal.

Goal is $1 million for the Father Egon Scholarship Fund by December 2008.

On-Campus Housing Maas Family Commons housing complex completed and occupied in 2003.

Two apartments adjoining residence halls constructed and one home renovated in 2001.

Twenty-three faculty and staff live on campus.

Trustees’ long-term goal is to house 50% of the faculty on campus within ten years.

Chapel Renovation Completed by Friends of the Chapel and dedicated in 2004

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Cindy and Wayne: An Irreplaceable Pair Cover Story: Love is the theme of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” and what more love could Cindy and Wayne Davison show for the Priory community than their dedication to the school’s auctions? They have worked in a responsible capacity on every auction since 1993-4, and they have chaired five of them. They took the event from a too-small country club to the spacious Hotel Sofitel, and they cultivated volunteers and donors to fill those rooms with desirable items. The auction proceeds took a huge leap forward into the $300,000-plus level and have continued moving upward.

As if this weren’t enough, Cindy and Wayne are active volunteers in many other capacities. Wayne has been a Trustee, Board Chair, head of the Finance Committee, and head of the steering committee that studied the need for and launched the Golden Jubilee Campaign. He even helped to launch the orchestral string ensemble program, coaching the students himself in the Father Christopher Room. Cindy has chaired and served on numerous Parent Association committees and with her friend, Liz Cirino, made the Priory Christmas Tea a school tradition. Both have a gift for building a community in all senses of the word and (since love is the theme), working together is clearly their personal love story. One sees their names as co-chairs most of the time, and the stamp of their joint effort is seen in whatever each is doing.

This is the last auction they will chair, and they leave a well-organized production for the auction chairs who follow them. As beloved members of the community, however, they are irreplaceable.

Woodside Priory School 302 Portola Road Portola Valley, CA 94028 (650) 851-8221 fax (650) 851-2839

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Celebrating Our 48th Year