Priorities #6: Spring 1998

PRI RITIES A Magazine of Woodside Priory School

March 1998

GROWTH The Priory’s 40 years, page 14 Music in Education, page 8

Values Centered Education for the Leaders of the New Century

Benedictine Letter “Our pioneering enterprise has become a living part of perhaps the most important experiment in human history — the American vision of a new society.”

A

Cover: Instrumental music (including voice) has a new importance in education.

Story on Page 8.

Celebrating

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accepting and respecting the differences in language, race or color. Real humanism is to be embraced which acknowledges the same dignity in every fellow man notwithstanding different backgrounds.

Only such community can save humanity from self-destruction and make our shrinking globe a safe and peaceful place to live. of Isn’t it a farfetched, naive imagination that connects such Benedictine grandiose vision with a seemingly s you look around the insignificant enterprise, such as the completed, beautiful College founding of the Priory School? It campus … (you) may may seem so. Yet, (our) pioneering think that the founders’ dream enterprise has become a living part has become true beyond their Preparatory of perhaps the most important expectations. experiment in human history — the Yet, I have to confess that the Education American vision of a new society. original vision has gone through So we have a well-founded some fundamental changes. (The reason to celebrate tonight: we are all together original) cherished idea was of making this co-pioneers of a continuing great American foundation a kind of bridge between the thousandenterprise, a tiny living cell in a great social body … year-old mother monastery in Hungary If you, Priory graduates, pass this heritage on …

(Pannonhalma) and the first Benedictine foundation then, even if the times come when the Hungarian in California. This dream turned out to be an accent completely vanishes from this campus, when unrealistic, wishful thought in the decades when the names of the Founding Fathers on the memorial the chilly winds of the cold war were blowing over plaque will not call back living memories in the a divided Europe. new graduates, the Priory School will still serve its Yet, … a much broader and farther-reaching worthwhile mission. The old Latin motto will prove vision opens up before us. We realize now that (our true again, the one featured on the crest of the destiny was) to become part of a greater historical thousand-year-old Benedictine Monastery (which process which started several hundred years ago the founding Fathers were forced to leave by the with the very first founding fathers who came over Communist repression): … “Succisa Virescit,” from the Old World… meaning “trimmed by the storm it sprouts anew.”

The future belongs to a new society which is capable of integrating waves of dispossessed, Father Christopher has retired to Pannonhalma Abbey in homeless humanity without depriving them of Hungary. His address is Archabbey of Pannonhalma, anything they cherished in their past and without H-9090 Pannonhalma, Var 1. The Abbey web site can be melting them into a formless, mechanized mass of reached through any browser. dependent people. A common culture is to be developed that respects and cherishes the same moral and intellectual values and ideals while

Editor’s note: At first, the founding monks planned to re-create their European heritage here on California soil. Over time, the vision changed.

Father Christopher, Headmaster, began to see Woodside Priory School as part of the American dream of a peaceful, multicultural society of the future. Following are excerpts from Father Christoper’s address to the first graduating class, the Class of 1961, at their 25th reunion in 1986.

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years

From the Headmaster

W

oodside Priory School may have started small, but the community clearly didn’t lack imagination. Talking with Roselia and James O’Grady recently, I was struck with how clever our first parents and friends were at combining good work with a really good time. Fortunately, their tradition is still with us today!

Among Roselia’s memorabilia we found souvenirs from the fashion shows and home tours at local estates, the women’s bridge and luncheon afternoons, the Merceces Benz raffles, the Parent Association monthly cocktail parties (“usually up in Hillsborough somewhere, and we always had the Priory Champagne Punch, not mixed drinks”).

Most memorable are the Christmas Fantasies (and the ‘Fantasy Ladies’ who produced them). The Fantasies were the biggest and best event of their kind and hundreds of people came. The gym was aglow with twinkling lights and decorations. Live trees and plants greeted the guests outside. Inside, nearly every one of the several hundred bazaar items was hand made. Guests started at Mrs. Louise Davies’ display of original art in the assembly hall (now the library).

Upstairs, luncheon was served. It was an Event and people dressed.

Mrs. Davies’ letter to her artist friends was completely irresistible. It began, in her own handwriting, “My dear artist friend, warmest greetings to you! Always you are most kind, most generous each year giving us your paintings! And your art treasures! Thank you with all my heart! You are a joy!” Who could resist that! Margaret Lee (Mrs. John) Kiely was equally successful with her Antique Attic tucked into a corner of the gym.

Roselia was a “Fantasy Lady” for twelve of the event’s 20 non-stop years, from 1962-82. “We started in late spring,” Roselia recalls. “We had two rooms (in the guest house) where we set up and stored all our materials. Simone Mitchell was in charge, and, remembering around the room, there was Anamarie

Zabala, Edna Silvera, Callie Cain (the only other family I’m aware of besides ours to graduate four boys from the Priory), Laverne Swan, Phyllis Smith, and Barbara Oswald, and there were others. We’d bring our lunch and stay from 9 or 10 until 2 o’clock. Others also contributed... but our group made almost everything.”

As Roselia remembers it, the fantasies began with Hortense Fitzgerald. The idea was quickly picked up by Suzanne (Mrs. Edward) Eyre’s landscaping committee. The incomparable Mrs.Eyre had no children at the school but decided nevertheless to do something about the barren hillside. The story (not in Roselia’s scrapbook, but told to me as one of the school’s “urban legands.”) has it that Suzanne invited the well-known San Francisco landscape designer Thomas Church to lunch here.

When he arrived, he found himself seated out in a dry, grassy field. “This is not a free lunch. I invited you here to look over the site we need to design” she told her friend. True or not, Mr. Church volunteered his services over many years. Mrs. Eyre’s personal gardener — and often Mrs. Eyre herself — came weekly to the campus until just a few months ago, when she suffered a stroke.

Long after their last boy graduated, Roselia and Jim were active in Priory events. “The great thing about the Priory is that you feel so welcome, like part of the family. We still go up to visit occasionally,” Roselia said.

Nobody could be more welcome, except perhaps all the other people like the O’Gradys whose lives are intertwined with the school’s.

This issue of Priorities features in every section a contrast of the old and the new, in commemoration of our fortieth year.

More of Mrs. O’Grady’s recollections, together with information from the school archives, are in Forty Years At A Glance. “Conversation With” is about our booming music program. The Ruby Ball coverage goes back to the first Emerald Ball. We featured the people and events which, over forty years, have combined to create this place we call a “learning community.” I hope you will enjoy them all.

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FALL ‘97 AT A GLANCE August/September

Celebrating

40 years of Benedictine College Preparatory Education

It’s a slice! Actually, it’s the first annual Priory Golf Classic at the new oceanside course in Half Moon Bay. About 75 parents, alumni and friends enjoyed the exercise and lunch. Nobody claimed the $10,000 prize (for a hole in one) but they did provide a nice contribution to the WPS Scholarship Fund.

Back-to-school parties and socials • New Priory Student Employment Agency for on-campus jobs • Birthday gifts for students with summer birthdays • First faculty/student advisory meeting • National flags display at first chapel • Honor Society students are volunteer servers at the Appreciation Dinner honoring supporters of the Annual Fund • Sign-ups for co-curricular clubs from Amnesty International to Ultimate Frisbee • Field day games and T-Shirts courtesy of ASB officers • Auditions for Priory Players’ fall show • Mass of the Holy Spirit • Middle School Outdoor Education Camp • First College Fair (at Bellermine) • Priory Family Picnic and NHS car wash for charity • Boys soccer, girls volleyball, flag football, cross country seasons begin • Senior portraits • First High School dance • Back-to-School Night • Middle School Fun Night in Gym • First French Club movie night • Kush Toss event at morning break • Malibu Fun Night • Bike Club rides begin • Visits from college reps begin • Priory’s College Planning Night

Storyteller Jim Cogan and student Taylor Eigsti (see pg. 12) joined forces for a special tribute to Woodside Priory’s fortieth anniversary. Jim’s stories, culled from interviews with just about everybody who would know, kept students entertained for more than half an hour. Taylor, a jazz pianist, provided the musical interludes and capped the program with “Ora et Labora,” his original composition which he dedicated to the school. The program was repeated in the evening for parents and friends. Videotapes are available by calling Pat Reed at 650-851-8221.

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October

Orange and Black Day in honor of the Giants • Basketball season begins • Community Service activities begin • Class Retreats begin • School Spirit Week • Halloween Party at Sharon Heights Convalescent Hospital • Outdoor Club hikes begin • First Middle School Dance • Science Star Party (with telescopes) • First Annual Golf Classic • High School and Middle School student body elections • Adam Andreini wins the Money Scramble • Laura Handy is appointed to Congresswoman Anna Eshoo’s Youth Advisory Council • Chess Club contests begin • Environmental restoration volunteers go to work • Stock Mark Club competitions begin • Blessing of Pets • Halloween costume contest

November

How to get 40-odd dogs, cats and critters to form a solemn circle for the annual Blessing of the Pets ceremony? Can’t be done but nobody minds! It’s always a wonderful before-school gathering to commemorate St. Francis of Assisi.

Parent conferences • Crazy Hat Contest • Campus Ministry Forgiveness Candles • Priory Players’ Adventure at the Priory School • Physics egg drop contest winners are Ross Anderson, Roxanne Crittenden and Laura Nowell • Sixth Grade trip to St. Mary’s Cathedral • Movie club afternoon flicks • Thanksgiving treat – free doughnuts at morning break

Seventh grader Claire Davidson and classmates gave rave reviews to the Middle School’s first three-day, sleepover Outdoor Education Camp.

Students slept in tents, cooked outdoors, studied and explored nature, and came home grubby, tired and happy.

December

Canned food drive nets 27,640 cans plus $6,000 in cash for charity – Junior Class won the highestaverage-per-person goal • Parent Association retreat and Christmas coffee • Middle School brings wrapped gifts and makes baby blankets for needy families • Middle Schoolers’ Secret Santas week• Coats, jackets and blankets collection for the homeless • Winter concert • Final exams • Christmas Holiday!

The crosier is a staff symbolic of a shepherd’s crook carried by bishops and abbots as a symbol of office. This one was hand made by Father Martin for Bishop Richard Garcia, who carried it at his investiture ceremonies as auxiliary bishop of Sacramento recently. The four mother-of-pearl inlaid dots are symbolic of the four evangelists, Matthew Mark Luke and John. This is the most recent in a series.

Sunshine, good food and great music were, as always, highlights of the Priory Family Picnic in September. This year, Portola Valley’s Town Council presented a Proclamation commemorating the school’s fortieth anniversary.

Hair-moussing, twinkie-eating, human-pyramidbuilding and other high-jinks contests livened up Spirit Week. Another kind of contest was in chess.

To help everybody keep track of the moves in the international chess match, ceramics students made a giant chessboard with moveable pieces and mounted it on Red Square.

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A Gem of an Evening…

The Ruby Ball R

and Auction

ubies – the rarest of all gems. More precious than diamonds. Maybe magical. All Dorothy of Oz had to do was tap her ruby slippers together and – presto! – she was transported to another time and place.

Guests at the Ruby Ball on March 21 will feel all of this magic around them. It will be a glittering evening with a multitude of treasures. It will be a special time when families new to the Priory can enjoy a social evening and treasured friends of many years can re-connect. A ruby is the commemorative gemstone of a 40th anniversary and the Ruby Ball hosts hope to welcome people from all forty years of Woodside Priory School’s life.

“The first priority of the entire committee is to assure that every single person has a really wonderful time. We never stop brainstorming ways to bring people together and make that happen,” said Chairperson Donna Wengert-Neff.

With items ranging from foods and wines to vacations and club passes, from the professional services of an attorney or a window cleaner to the ultra-high-tech hardware of the sound and

some 28 women wore these emerald jewels, the highlight of the annual Emerald Ball. See their story, page 16 (1964).

At this year’s gala Ruby Ball, the Priory will honor all of the monks who dedicated a portion of their lives to the school, 1957-8 to 1997-8.

Brother Stephen Aferitz Brother Peter Aslin *Father Benignus Barat Father Edmond Brunner Brother Sean Casey Father John Coleman Father Mark Cooper Father Daniel Dempski Father Cecil Donahue Father Brendan Donnelly Brother Edward Englund Father John Fortin Father Francis Fox Father Joachim Froehlich Father Jude Gray Brother Benedict Guevin Father Christopher Hites Father Leopold Hoffer +Father Achiles Horvath Father Pius Horvath Father Stanley Jaki Father Egon Javor Brother Robert Kimler

Brother Thomas Kinninger Brother Thomas Laur Abbot Matthew Leavy Father Martin Mager Brother Peter McNamara Brother Benedict Menenz Brother Andrew Metcalf Brother Hilary Moratz Brother Gregory Murphy Father Maurus Nemeth Brother Joel O’Connell Father Simon O’Donnell Father Finbar O’Mahoney Brother Stephen Pellino Father Placidus Riley Father Charles Schilly Father Christopher Senk Father William Sullivan Brother Emeric Tice Brother Philip Valley *deceased

An ultimate in luxury, this midnight blue 1973 Bentley T1, is a stunning and entirely original example of this most famous marque. The donor, Mrs. Margaret Lee Kiely (and her late husband, John), drove the car only 42,000 miles and kept it in superb condition inside and out. On the freeway, it is so quiet you can hear the clock tick.

computing world, there is always something to delight every auction bidder – and everybody gets excited enough to hover over at least one special item as the bidding closes.

In addition to the gift certificates, guests will gaze lovingly over hundreds of delectible objects that enhance the home, the garden, the office, the sports locker, the garage – and most definitely themselves! Someone may even find a ruby or two to bid on.

The party this year is in a new location – the Palo Alto Hills Country Club. “I loved it the minute I saw it. It’s a beautiful setting, the parking is convenient, and their reputation for great food is well-deserved. I tasted it. Also, our party is growing and we will be more comfortable in this slightly larger facility,” said Donna.

Best of all, the evening enhances a very serious business, that of preserving valuescentered education at Woodside Priory School. This is the only social This ’81 Cabernet magnum from Page Mill wineries was made especially for events such as the Ruby Ball. The commercial bottling has already sold out everywhere, said Dane Stark, Page Mill vintner. “The grapes are from a well-established vinyard in the Childs Valley, Napa County and the wines we’ve made from this vinyard are drinking beautifully back to 1976.

This will drink beautifully right now and will age longer,” he said.

fund-raising activity of the year and it supports such necessities as small class size and development opportunities for the faculty. How often can you do something special for yourself and your school and your sense of values, all at the same time?

After the silent auction and the hors d’oeuvres, the dancing and the dinner, the dessert and the conversation, a live auction and laughs will cap the evening. Two items deserve to be declared National Treasures – the glamorous, one-of-its-kind Bentley, and the famous, hand-crafted grandfather clock, fourtheenth in a series of originals by that master woodworker, Father Martin. Who will win them? Finding out will be the showstopper cap to a rare gem of an evening.

C. Dobervich

“Ruby,” a mannequin mascot for the upcoming ball, is the essence of the Fifties Woman. She is swathed in red silk and sequins, originally from the designer shop at Bonwitt Teller on New York’s Fifth Avenue, most recently from Trappings in Time Antique Clothing in Palo Alto.

They’re back! Father William’s famous lobster dinner will again be on the bidding list. Our popular former Prior plans to attend the Ruby Ball and hopes to personally prepare and serve the feast to the winning bidder.

Tom Hennig and Tennessee Ernie Ford entertain at the 1981 Priory Auction.

Ford was at that time a Portola Valley resident.

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Music!

A Conversation With Teachers and Pros

Making music is more than a pleasing social diversion.

Music may have positive links with intelligence, character development and even SATs. Arts – including music — are for the first time being recommended as essential subjects by state and federal offices of education. People overwhelmingly support music in schools and have faith in its beneficial effect on young peoples’ character, according to an August 1997 Gallup poll.

Music as a performing art exploded at Woodside Priory School in this decade, growing from – well, nothing – to a full orchestra, two choirs and multiple performing ensembles in just about five years. Community-based youth orchestras and choirs also proliferate and students flock to them. Spring ‘98 is a good time to take a look at what’s happening with music, for students who perform and for students who don’t.

This issue’s Conversation With draws on the collective knowledge of the four musicians who direct Woodside Priory’s music program. Dr. Martin Mayer founded the orchestra. Carla Sims founded the choirs and is the principal classroom teacher. Sara Salsbury joined the Priory as Director of Instrumental Music this year, and Wayne Davison is a committed parent volunteer. All have performing experience, advanced musical degrees and active lives in the music world outside of school.

C. Dobervich.

Dr. Martin Mayer At one time had his eye on the concert piano stage; he was a member of the Musician’s Union by age 17. He played oboe and English horn with the Bergen, New Jersey Philharmonic, produced student musicals and developed choral music programs on East and West Coast high school campuses.

He reportedly logged a fair number of hours playing music in smoky music joints on both coasts. For the past ten years he has also been Woodside Priory School’s business manager.

Carla Sims has broad music curriculum experience, from elementary through high school, and she has directed (and still directs) adult church choirs.

She is an active participant in professional music educators and choral directors associations, which offer a wide variety of off-campus opportunities for students as well as faculty. She teaches instrumental musice at Garfield Charter Elementary School in Menlo Park and is the principal classroom music teacher at the Priory.

Sara Salsbury is well known to everyone involved with community music for students on the midPeninsula. She founded and/ or directed music programs in Mountain View, Palo Alto and Sunnyvale schools and churches, and she received an award for her outstanding artistic and administrative work over nearly 20 years with the El Camino Youth Symphony. She is one of the founding directors of the new Peninsula Youth Orchestra and directs instrumental music at McKinley Elementary and Middle Schools in Redwood City as well as at Woodside Priory.

Wayne Davison began singing as a child in church choir and continued through Occidental College and Stanford University (majoring in choral music).

He sang with the San Francisco Symphony and San Francisco Opera choirs, conducted a church choir and madrigal group and was stage manager for several West Bay Opera productions.

Music is his very active avocation – he is senior manager at The Research Libraries Group, currently in charge of telecommunications and server computers.

e Let’s start with something a student wrote. He is

describing his own experience: “When playing in an ensemble, each musician must listen to the other players. They communicate, and each musician can agree or disagree through his or her playing, while always acting as a complement to the other musicians…When a dozen people are talking, all you hear is chaos. When a dozen people are playing, every intonation is crystal clear. So I suppose you could say that music is a language of emotion. But while you can speak dispassionately, you can never play dispassionately.”

Is this typical of a student’s experience in a choir or orchestra? Or would it describe only someone who was very involved and talented?

Mayer: I think the most important thing this student touches on is cooperation. Choir and orchestra may be the only activity in school where cooperation is the number one goal. In sports, personal achievement is still important – for example the number of baskets you personally make. In ensemble music, the unified sound is the main concern. There is competition in the beginning for the different chairs but that is separate from their work as a group.

Davison: The emotional component that the student mentioned is very important for adolescent development. They need to participate in something that has emotional content but within a context that makes sense, where they can be expressive but take things in steps. Some take this farther than others, of course, but they all get something from music that is unique from anything else they do.

Music also has an intellectual component and the physical component of using the body in singing or playing an instrument. This experience brings about an integration that is in itself very helpful and challenging for students of this age.

know of students who were influenced in their decision to come here because they like the style of the music program, which is distinctly the Priory’s.

e So students may gain a variety of benefits,

developmentally and socially. It sounds as though the style of the individual group has a lot to do with the experience.

Salsbury: The conductor sets the tone. Just for the sake of an example, let’s look at the Priory orchestra.

We have about 30 students with different instrumentation (that is, a wide variety of instruments are played) and of course different levels of ability. Should we set a tone of just writing off those younger players, or the weaker sections where we may have only one or two instruments? Or should we set a positive expectation with the whole orchestra that everyone will improve and rise to the challenge?

I take the approach that the director has to look at a wide range of music to find something appropriate for each of the sections, something that will work for the newer members and still interest the others. In the sectional practices, I encourage the more experienced players to work with the others. That has worked well and now they are all up a notch.

All Priory students learn basic music literacy.

By choice, students musicians collectively support a full orchestra and two choirs, plus several instrumental and voice ensembles.

e How do you answer the parent who says “My child

played that piece three years ago…He or she isn’t moving ahead?”

Salsbury: They play more challenging music in small quartets and trios. While those groups practice, I can be working with the others to improve their

Sims: In the movie, Amadeus, Mozart says that an opera is the only place where you can have more than one person talking loudly at the same time and it’s not chaos, it’s beautiful music! As students learn to listen to music they probably develop their ability to hear and understand complexity in other contexts, too.

Davison: By the way, we at the Priory make a conscious choice to organize cooperatively – it is possible to do it other ways and many groups do… I

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technique. A school is very lucky to be able to schedule time for both sectionals and the full orchestra, as the Priory does. The more advanced ensembles can perform independently, if they want to. (The choirs also have an advanced ensemble.)

Alison Schmidt is a member of the Priory Guitar Ensemble. Like all of the music groups, the guitarists meet with their coach weekly, during the school day.

Davison: In the mix, we try to see that everyone is challenged, but it isn’t just about musical challenge.

At the Priory, a sense of community is an important value that is reinforced in other classes. In music, we look to the able students to develop their skills in leading the others — to be role models. Occasionally, this means spending some portion of time playing music that is quite easy for a particular player, but if they didn’t offer their leadership the whole community would suffer.

Mayer: The same thing is true of the San Francisco Symphony or any other large, professional group.

Section leaders are expected to coach their section. It’s part of their job description. They are responsible for the sound in their section.

One thing I especially like is the mix of age relationships possible in the school orchestra. It is an interesting experience, I think, for the older students to see that sometimes a much younger student should be a section leader.

Sims: Students gain self-esteem. There is a camaraderie that comes from a common goal. The good times they have, and the times they start on a piece and think the group will never, ever get it right but at the performance it’s great – those experiences will stick with them for twenty years.

e I see hundreds of students participating in community groups such as Sara’s Peninsula Youth Orchestra or the Peninsula Boys Chorus. What do students gain from this experience that is different from school music?

Salsbury: Interesting question. I think it’s different for each person. And the groups are different. I can compare what I’m doing here at the Priory with what I’m doing with Peninsula Youth Orchestra. One difference is instrumentation. The out-of-school orchestra is typically going to be balanced. It will typically be larger. That means a difference in the

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literature that’s being played. Most of the out-ofschool orchestras have two or three different levels, so the student might be playing with a group geared more exactly to where they are.

Usually, the student is playing at school and just wants to try more…maybe they have a friend in one of the groups. Or they like the idea of more performance opportunities and tours.

Sims: The professional associations (such as California Music Educators Association) provide great opportunities to take students off the campus. They have those varied experiences, but with less time commitment. The four-day music cruise for our orchestra and choirs last spring was extraordinary in that respect. The students were playing with high school and college level musicians, with professional leadership…the students have a new perspective of what they might do if they go farther with their music.

Mayer: I like the California Music Educators Association’s approach to evaluations of the students.

A student can request an evaluation and the process is to provide feedback about each individual performance, rather than comparisons among performers. That means our students are very supportive of each other, in that they help each other prepare and deal with nervousness, because they can all achieve Excellents and Superiors.

e To change the subject a little, I am interested in your

reaction to the various studies of music’s association with intelligence. The University of California, Irvine campus, has a clearinghouse for scientific abstracts, the Music Brain Information Center. Among its more interesting studies are some linking musical instruction with higher SATs and better spatial intelligence. I haven’t seen but have read in the news of links between music and math ability.

What do you think?

Mayer: Playing an instrument or singing has tremendous payoff and it gives students some lifelong skills. Whether it actually changes their SAT’s or not – most of the studies I know of show correlation but that doesn’t mean a causal relationship. It’s not a guarantee. Still, I’ve always wanted to see a study of Priory musicians’ grade averages as compared with non-musicians’. I’m sure musicians’ are higher!

Davison: To the extent that (those conclusions) are true, there could be several reasons for it. The discipline required to perform, to be part of a musical group must have transferability to other areas.

Salsbury: There is discipline, patience, the ability to listen, and to focus, to integrate, to break things down into small parts and put them together again – all of that must benefit their other academic work.

Sims: Some of those skills are the same as the higher-order thinking processes.

e All the research leads me to ask whether music

instruction is the new magic pill. Should every student be required to take music because it’s a good brain-builder?

Even if they hate it?

Mayer: That would probably produce some painful sounds!

e How does a parent decide? For example, how long

should a parent go on encouraging a reluctant student?

Salsbury: I think it depends on the age. Many kids hit an age where they just hate everything and they want to give it up. I know several kids who, when they got through that, were glad their parents helped them stick it out. But you have to be realistic.

Historical Note

“Listen, …with the ear of your heart...”

…from the opening line of The Rule of St. Benedict Music arrived at Woodside Priory with the monks and their schedule of daily singing, as laid forth in St. Benedict’s Rule. Soon, the chapel needed a choir and, naturally, monks and students were drafted. The 1962 daily schedule simply states that, on Tuesdays and Fridays, “all students will report to the Chapel for choir practice…”

Among early musical offerings for area residents was a two-week course in medieval music and culture, including a workshop in Gregorian chants. Participants attended daily lectures, workshops, daily Mass and vespers with the Monastic choir, and a concert on the concluding Sunday.

Today, area residents, chapel friends, Father Martin and one student, flutist Devin Coats, join together in making music for monthly Taize services (an ecumenical musical and meditative program that originated in France) on the campus.

Andrew Smith and Brian Gundell, both members of Ragazzi, The Peninsula Boys Chorus, sang in the San Francisco Opera Chorus for Tosca, which closed in January.

In these backstage photos, a member of the costuming staff puts on the last-minute touches, and a costumed member of the cast stops to wish the boys well.

e Is that age around 9 or 10?

Salsbury: No, I’d say it’s around eighth grade.

(Nods around the table.)

Mayer: In the cases I’ve seen, when music is important to the kids, it’s because music is important to the family. Parents aren’t saying “You have to do it, I want you to do it, it’s good for you to do it,” — they are genuinely interested in music themselves and it has always been part of the family. If there is a connection between brain and music, maybe it comes from this continuous involvement.

Davison: I think every student benefits from exposure and opportunity to play but I would have trouble requiring every student to play an instrument… (Nods again.)

e In schools, the trend is clearly towards providing music

Many students are selected to represent the Priory in regional and state orchestras or choirs. Carolyn Hayes was principal oboist in the California Music Educators Association regional orchestra this winter.

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Then in twelfth grade I drop in as a guest speaker and tie music to studies in the Humanities.

The Priory’s very special pianist extrordinaire, Taylor Eigsti, is often the accompanist for the orchestra, the choir, and the Queentet (advanced vocal ensemble). He is occasionally a soloist with the orchestra, or alone (see page 4). Out of school, Taylor is a professional jazz musician who plays frequently around the Bay Area.

News Flash!

The Priory’s Queentet vocal ensemble just learned they successfully auditioned to perform in this spring’s Sounds of Music Festival. They will lead off the opening concert on Thursday, March 12, 7 p.m. at the Palo Alto Jewish Community Center.

Tickets are $8, $5 for seniors and students.

e So everyone has hands-on experience, but the goal is

different from the choir or orchestra. In the classroom, the students are becoming musically literate, so that they understand the terms, the construction, the varieties of musical styles…

instruction for everybody, starting at kindergarten. Carla, could you just summarize what every student experiences musically going through the Priory?

Sims: The new guidelines are imposing at first glance but in fact the students do get exposure to everything on the list. In sixth grade we work with user-friendly instruments and a user-friendly, fivenote scale (called Orph music). The students read and write simple melodies. They get some basic theory and awareness of composition, practice with rhythms, and always singing. Each year, we build on these skills.

Going up through seventh and eighth grades, they work on writing lyrics and composing a melody, rhythm practice, and increasingly complex singing.

The more advanced students can switch to the eightnote scale and work with changing the key. In the seventh grade we work on jazz … and we compare the music of the “three B’s” – Bach, Brahms and Beethoven. In the eighth grade we work with classical music. For example, we take the folk song, Scarborough Fair, and see how it changes in each of the various periods of musical form, starting with medieval, then renaissance, baroque, classical (in the 1750s), romantic and twentieth century. And we work with the music of Mozart.

In the sophomore year we work on all types of music – Broadway tunes, love songs, opera, death songs from various cultures, Native American songs.

We look at music from different perspectives – the virtuoso, the audience, the performer in the ensemble. We use a multicultural book and I’m just sorry that we don’t have time to get through all of it!

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Sims: I am hoping that before long we can add electronic music – a basic midi-board setup would allow me to expand my teaching and especially to provide more individual instruction in, say, composition.

e Is the experience of teen-age pop music equally valuable?

Davison: The difference is in the level of complexity and sophistication. The popular forms serve different purposes. I always try to be open to various points of view…I think if kids get together to perform and they work at their musical form and they get good results, there is value to that. I find that the contribution I personally have to make is more in the area of “art music” in that I find it easier to relate that to the curriculum.

Salsbury: Our students know the kind of music they will be playing (or singing) here at the Priory and they seem to want it. They can do other music, too, outside of school, but they usually find that they still need the basic musical training offered in the curriculum.

New Guidelines are Catching On Nearly all states have recently adopted new advisory standards for music education in schools, or they are in the process.

California’s office of education just released a document for evaluating visual and performing arts, including music.

Woodside Priory’s required music curriculum seems to conform with all the recommended areas. See Carla Sims’ comments in this Conversation With, or check the WPS web site at http:// www.woodsidepriory.com.

For more information, check http://amc-music.com. This site has links to the individual state programs, including the California Coalition for Music Education.

Athletics Awards Private Schools Athletic League All-League Players Soccer First Team Pierre Courval Second Team Mike Bower Sung Kim Honorable Mention Patrick Sullivan Rutt Pongsurapipat Miles Osborn Volleyball Honorable Mention Michelle Floyd Jenny Upjohn Cross Country Second Team Steve Trudelle

Historic Sports First We don’t know if this Priory 1973 soccer team was first in the league or its players famous but we do know they were carrying on a tradition that may have started with the founding of Priory school. Soccer was unknown in the Bay Area as a high school sport but the monks introduced it and the Priory boys adopted it with gusto. In the 60’s, they frequently played local college and university teams – and sometimes beat them!

League Champs!

WPS’s Eighth Grade Girls Volleyball Team

Some eighty percent of Priory students are playing team sports and everybody wants to be on the field. One solution tried in flag football: divide the boys into platoons that can rotate through the games.

It was a wet season for High School Girls Soccer — eight games cancelled as of Priorities press time.

The High School Boys Varsity Soccer team worked hard and the results showed. They have a record that exceeds the school’s two traditional rivals, and they are receiving calls for matches from both private and public schools, said Coach Joe Montero (Class of 1976)

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Forty Years at a Glance Celebrating

40 years of Benedictine College Preparatory Education

Turning Points: The European heritage: The first monks opened the Priory school in 1957.

The Woodside Priory School story began 1,450 years ago, with the life of St. Benedict and publication of his Rule, a guideline for community living. Benedictines had a strong influence throughout Europe from that time forward, in part because of the monks’ role in preserving knowledge through the monastic libraries.

In 996, St. Stephen, the first king of Hungary, founded in Pannonhalma the St. Martin’s Archabbey, a center of Benedictine learning and the home of Woodside Priory’s founding monks. These monks “never expected to leave their academic life (in Europe),” but Divine Providence dictated otherwise, according to Father Egon Javor.

With the end of World War II and the increase in Communist domination in Eastern Europe, Benedictine schools fell under Communist control and closure. Monks emigrated, sometimes openly and sometimes secretly, in fear for their safety.

Seven young priests found themselves on the East Coast of the United States – Fathers Emidius,Christopher, Benignus, Egon, Leopold, Stanley and Achilles. They were experienced high school and college teachers, with advanced degrees from American and European universities. Faced with the necessity of re-defining their lives, they decided to transplant their Pannonhalma tradition to the U.S. by founding a priory and a school. They quickly learned English and after the required five years became U.S. citizens.

Father Egon took the lead in finding the right location. He was seeking a place where Benedictines had not yet settled, a place that needed teachers and priests. Northern California fit the description. In the San Francisco Peninsula area, he found a community of people who seemed to share the monks’ vision of a Benedictine high school for boys.

It would be small by design, about 100 high school students plus, eventually, a seventh and eighth grade.

It would be built upon rigorous European standards, which included such traditions as coats and ties for class, standing when an adult entered the room, rigorous academics in the morning and sports in the afternoon, and careful,

Father Egon

individual attention to the best training of each student’s mind so that all would qualify for respected universities.

No less important would be the forming of each boy’s character, so that all would succeed as citizens and parents in adult life. Boarding students, international students, Catholic students, Catholics who might eventually elect a religious vocation, and non-Catholics willing to study the teachings of their own faith, would all be welcome.

The monks also envisioned fun. There would be close friendships and lots of activities at their school.

Portola Valley was a good choice because the land was within the monks’ very restricted budget. With $80,000, Father Egon purchased from the Gilson family 18 acres of bare hillside with a farmhouse. The monks contributed their savings of $18,000 and borrowed $5,000 for the down payment. The monks had endless hours of planning, building and landscaping work ahead of them, including physical labor on the business end of a pickax and other hand tools. However, they also had a community of good friends, including several who did not have children to enroll but who wanted to support the fledgling Benedictine presence in California. Together they would create a school.

The Benedictine motto adopted by the new school was, and still is, “Ora et Labora” (Work and Prayer).

It turned out to be a good description of the 40 years ahead.

(Following are highlights from the Priory’s forty years.

They are taken from boxes of books, papers and news clippings, many undated. We did our best and invite your corrections.)

First Decade:

In 1956, Father Egon moved into the little farmhouse and offered the first Holy Mass.

In June 1957, before school opened, Louise (Mrs.

Father Christopher

Father Stanley (picture not available)

Ralph K.) Davies opened her Woodside home for a fashion show featuring clothing from Elizabeth Arden. Guests received a small program with a tiny gray pencil attached; inside the program were several blank pages for their convenience in making notes about the fashions, coiffures and make-up. “People were fighting for tickets,” Fr. Egon recalls, and the sponsors later presented him with a check for $4,000.

This may well have been the school’s first social fundraiser but many would follow, at the Budge Estate, the Sharon Estate and many other beautiful homes.

1957-58 With 14 boys, a farmhouse that served as dormitory, dining hall and recreation room, and a monastery, the Priory school was officially opened. The “gym” was the open space in front of the building. The first classroom building was completed in October. By the end of the first year the school had the monastery building, two classroom buildings (including showers, restrooms and sinks for chemistry labs), tennis and basketball courts hand-built by students and monks, and a graded driveway.

Tuition was $700. Room and Board was $1,200.

The residents’ daily schedule that year: Up at 6:30, room cleaning, Mass, breakfast and 30 to 60 minutes of study time before classes. Lunch was at 1 o’clock, Athletics from 1:40 until 3:00 p.m. Afternoon study began at 4, dinner was at 6, study began again at 7:30 and continued until night prayers in the Chapel at 9.

Lights went out at 9:30 p.m. for the younger and 10:30 p.m. for the older boys.

Curriculum: Form I: Religion, English, Latin, World History, Algebra 1, Civics and Speech, Introduction to Music.

Form II: Religion, English, Latin, Modern Language (French, German or Spanish), Geometry, Biology.

Form III: Religion, English, Latin, Modern Language, European History, Algebra II, Trigonometry,

Father Emidius

Chemistry, Greek..

Form IV: Religion, English, Latin, Modern Language, American History, Western Civilization, Advanced Mathematics, Physics, Advanced Biology, Greek.

In the European tradition, all of the boys attended Saturday morning classes; good students got one weekend off a month.

1958 With only a few weeks left before school opened, and 20 new resident students arriving, the need for dorm space was critical. A spare army barrack was located and moved in as an emergency measure at the very last minute. It had been acquired as a classroom but was adequate for sleeping despite the absence of niceties such as hot showers, windows and doors. But the weather was good, spirits were high and the boys simply showered in the building next door. Their dormitory (today’s junior dorm) was completed in December. The boys helped move their furniture, then set up classrooms in the old army building. They got a good laugh when, early the next morning, the local authorities arrived to check out the use of the army barrack they had authorized!

The first weekend ski trips to the Sierras began, a tradition that would eventually change to a school “ski week,” which continued until 1997.

The Gill family celebrated the Priory school’s successful first year with a garden party for the entire community.

The Woodside Priory School story began 1,450 years ago, with the life of St. Benedict and publication of his Rule, a guideline for community living.

1959 The “library,” an old wooden building from the Palo Alto Veterans Hospital, was donated and arrived on campus. (Today, it is the Fine Arts Building.) Virginia Allen (Mrs. Robert) Gill donated 4,000 rare books valued at $11,250 from the Woodside estate of Charles Jackling. Mr. Jackling’s statue still stands in the Utah state house, commemorating his leadership in mining engineering. Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Jackling hang

Father Leopold

Father Benignus

Father Achilles

in the Priory Library’s Rare Book Room, which is named in their honor.

Remember?

Surrounded by orchards, it would take a strong character for a boy never to give in to temptation.

Apparently, a few boys did and the Priory’s friend and neighbor caught them at it. The next morning, every apple on the man’s tree had a bite missing.

The American connection: The first monks from St. Anselmís in 1975.

1960 Father Pius Horvath arrived on June 9. The old green Cadillac which was sent to the airport to pick him up brokedown on the way home and Father Pius had to push it.

1961 The first graduating class of nine boys held commencement exercises on the tennis courts in front of the farmhouse-cum-administration building. Of the nine, six were from the mid-Peninsula, one from Marin County and two from Southern California.

1962 The first annual Spring Ball and Champagne Supper, from 9 p.m.-2 a.m., held at the Los Altos Hills Country Club, included a midnight candlelight supper. A newspaper article said, “The highlight of the evening will be the auctioning of a purebred Aberdeen Angus steer.”

Proceeds were to be used to decorate and furnish the new cafeteria and multi-purpose building then under construction.

The Landscaping and Gardening Committee held the first Christmas Fantasy, a fund-raising bazaar that would become a holiday tradition for neighbors as well as Priory families for 20 years. (See the Headmaster’s Letter for their story.)

In what today would be a major publicity blitz, San Francisco Archbishop McGucken consecrated the new Refectory. The ranch house became the administrative offices and the bookstore.

1963 A very young Brother Maurus (later Father) came as an affiliate to the monastery. He enrolled in St. John’s University in Minnesota and began teaching at the Priory in the 1968-9 school year.

1964 The Emerald Ball was born, an annual event until 1992 (and

which continues in spirit today as the Auction and the Parent Association appreciation party for faculty and staff). Through contacts in Colombia, parents acquired a diamond-and-emerald-studded cross and a ring designed with tiny diamonds surrounding a perfect emerald gem. Each year they were raffled at the Ball. Each winner could keep them for a year – “to wear, to display or to cherish.”

1965 In the spring, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges visiting committee awarded the maximum 5-year accreditation. The former Social Committee Chair for the Class of ’65, visiting the campus this year, said what he remembers best are the exchange dances with the local girls’ schools.

1966 Neighbors were invited in to tour the school and enjoy sports and band music at the first Community Day and History Symposium. St. Mary’s Chinese Girls School provided the concert; athletic events included soccer against Robert Louis Stevenson and Pebble Beach Schools. Outstanding students of American history from San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties presented papers and held panel discussions with leading history professors from Bay Area colleges and universities.

The new WPS Foundation announced a $1,000,000 development campaign – a major and comprehensive effort that grew from discussions with parents and friends looking to the future. Over the next decade, this foundation would successfully complete its building projects and retire its loans.

The Christmas card this year noted that 25 percent of 88 graduates had earned National Merit finalist or recommended student recognition.

By the end of the first decade, the monks and friends had added three additional classrooms (1959), a temporary Chapel (1960) a science lab, (1961), refectory building (1962), a second dormitory

Father Martin

Brother Daniel (now Father)

(1964), underground utilities (1961-2), and a state-ofthe-art language laboratory (1966), plus improved tennis facilities and a full-size soccer field. Parent club activities provided the materials inside – library books, bleachers, audio-visual equipment, a transistorized speaker’s stand, a movie projector, and several items for the Chapel.

Second Decade 1967- 68 The student body included 108 High School students.

Nine monks and 46 residents lived on the campus.

Also on campus were eight young men studying to become Benedictines.

Tuition was $1,000 for day students, $2,800 for resident students.

Dress code was an olive green blazer or school sweater, black slacks, white shirt, and neckties in the correct class color. Boys purchased them at Jerahian’s Young Men’s Store in the Town and Country Village in Palo Alto. In the yearbook photos through this decade, hair was longer but relative to other schools Priory remained a structured, disciplined environment.

All students shared daily chores in the dining hall and classroom areas. The Chore Director and committee, all students, organized the tasks and reported to the Student Council.

In its annual Christmas message, the Benedictine community noted the progress of the eight men affiliated with the monastery but also noted the “declining vocations to the religious life” everywhere.

On the last day before Christmas break, families were invited to the Priory for a Christmas party, which became a tradition for many years.

1969-70 Archbishop Joseph T. McGucken blessed the new library, science complex and the new monastery. Dr. Edward Teller, the Nobel physicist renowned for his atomic discoveries, was the guest speaker. The new monastery was only

delayed slightly by a high wind that knocked down a wall while the mortar was still soft!

1971 Crooner Bing Crosby and baseball great Gaylord Perry were the keynote speakers at the dedication of the new Gym. 1972 The Parent Association held the first of 10 annual Mercedes Benz raffles. Tickets were $100 apiece.

1973 Dr. Otto von Hapsburg (Habsburg in Austrian), head of the Austrian House of Hapsburg, visited the Priory and was the honored guest at a gala, very large and formal dinner dance held Dec. 6 at the Fairmont Hotel. Born the first son of the Emperor of Austria-Hungary in 1912, he was exiled with his family to Spain when the king was deposed following World War1. He was educated in Spain by Hungarian Benedictine monks, and he knew several of the Priory monks.

1974 Cardinal Mindszenty of Hungary, held captive in his country by the Communists, was released and came to the United States. He visited Woodside Priory during graduation week. He addressed the students, attended graduation ceremonies, and celebrated a special Mass.

By the end of the second decade, added buildings include the third level science/computer & library complex and the new monastery.

The founding monks were growing older. They wanted the presence of younger colleagues who could help in blending European standards with American ways. The Priory affiliated with St. Anselm Benedictine Abby of Manchester, New Hampshire. Four American monks from “St. A’s” came to the Priory community — Fathers Simon, Martin, Mark and Daniel. They were sent for just one year but all stayed. Father Martin is now the Superior of the monastic community.

Third Decade

Traditionally strong in science and math, the Priory in this decade began to strengthen and integrate arts in the

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Father Simon

Brother Mark (now Father and a WPS Director)

Remember?

Lights out was early in the residence halls during the first decade – at least officially.

Supposedly, some inventive boys quickly figured out how to wire their closets for lighting so they could keep up with their homework. Or whatever.

Remember?

In the early days, one of the neighbors reported “colorful language” coming from the sports fields. The monks wouldn’t know – they hadn’t learned any cuss words. The story goes that the problem was solved by bringing in a monk from service in the military.

Priory Monks today: These Woodside Priory Benedictines live on the campus or are actively involved from St. Anselm Abbey today: In addition to Fathers Egon, Mark and Martin, pictured earlier, they are:

curriculum. As the decline in student population hit California schools, the Priory was able to accommodate relatively more foreign students. Also during this decade, the school’s leadership began gradually to increase the school size, when it became clear that a school of 150 could not be made cost-effective in these times.

An often-found motto was “Most prep schools teach you how to get to college. We teach you how to stay there.”

Six weeks throughout the academic year the entire student body focused on a key issue, such as world hunger, drugs and alcohol, and the political instability in Central America. On the social scene, students, faculty and parents dined together in a “Supper Club” program that included cultural entertainment. School field trips included the ballet, opera and symphony performances in San Francisco. (From the 1986 brochure.)

1977-78 The student body had 171 students.

Fifteen monks and 71 students lived on the campus.

Faculty numbered 31.

Suzanne Eyre’s Gardening Committee gave a $25,000 check towards the construction costs of the Olympic size swimming pool.

1981 Priory monks had over the years developed a firm friendship with their neighbor, “Mama” Gambetta. During this time she moved to a retirement home but was unhappy and wished to return to her house by the Priory. The monks moved her back and Louis Kovacs watched over her. His wife, Klara, with their baby, Suzi, often went to spend part of a day with her, although Klara spoke little English and Mama no Hungarian. Klara has been the Priory Bookstore Manager for many years and Suzi graduates from the Priory this year.

The first annual Priory Auction was held – this year’s Ruby Ball is the 17th annual.

By the end of the third decade, the school facilities had increased to include the pool (1978), the student pick-up sheltered area (1979), an expanded Chapel (1982), the third level Assembly Hall, tennis courts (1983), and faculty housing (1984 ) Science Teacher Paul Trudelle and his young family were among the occupants that year .

Fourth Decade

In August, just four days into the new school year, a fire destroyed the Administration Building. Almost immediately, campus leaders developed a plan to replace the farmhouse with a bigger, more flexible building – Founder’s Hall. Parents and community friends raised more than 90% of the needed $900,000 within the next 12 months. A plaque in the entry hall commemorates them.

In this decade, the Priory campus grew, accommodated contemporary techniques and standards but held on tight to the Benedictine values even while the number of teaching monks declined.

1987-88 The student body had 143 students.

Thirteen monks and 90 boys lived on the campus.

Faculty numbered 32.

Tuition was $6,400 for day students, $11,800 for resident students.

(This information is from the 1986-7 school brochure – the 1987-8 is missing.)

The campus celebrated Shakespeare’s birthday with costumes and performances. Shakespeare’s Birthday Bash has become a campus tradition that still continues as “Will’s Week.”

The first campus-wide computer technology installation was made possible by a grant from the Wiegand Foundation.

1988-89 Brother Edward arrived as Housemaster in a very full dorm. The current directors’ lounge held four beds.

1991 The Priory became a co-ed school. Applications from eleven young women were accepted for grades seven and eight. Louise (Mrs. Ralph K.) Davies hosted the first party for this pioneer class – a fashion show in her home with the girls as models.

Transition from an all-boys environment was very smooth. The most noticeable difference, according to one wag, was “guys who w e r e brushing their teeth once or twice a year

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Father Pius arrived in 1960.

Brother Maurus (later Father) arrived in 1963.

are showing up in class with pearly whites…”

Workshops for faculty and students led by experts from Stanford University’s institute for gender equity undoubtedly helped. Dora Arredondo, in that first co-ed class, recalls that “We (girls) had the feeling they didn’t just expect us to participate, they expected us to excel.” And the girls did, quickly becoming academic leaders, student body officers and competitive athletes.

1992 An advanced-technology, multimedia language lab was developed. It became the cornerstone of the Priory’s authentic language study based around a cultural context. Later additions will make it possible to tailor language lessons individually.

1993 Most local elementary schools moved their sixth grades to middle school. Accordingly, the Priory added a sixth grade class.

A campus renovation began, including a girls locker room and new flooring for the gym, as well as many long-delayed repairs. Trustees and monks began plans gradually to increase enrollment to 250, the maximum allowed by agreement with the Township of Portola Valley. The young ladies, larger student body and campus face-lift gave the feeling of a new beginning.

1994 The Western Association of Schools and Colleges awarded the maximum accreditation of six years.

“The Visiting Committee acknowledges the high spirit and vibrancy of the students at Woodside Priory School. The positive benefits of a Benedictine education far surpass the expectations of both students and parents who put their faith and trust in this institution of learning. We recognize the value of a multi-cultural experience made possible by the international character present at Woodside Priory.

We commend and admire the students’ honesty, intellectual curiosity, creativity and diligence

to both achievement and play,” the preface to their report states.

1995 With the help of William and Rosemary Hewlett, a threeyear technology upgrade began with a goal of introducing state-of-the-art computing technology, including Internet access, into all curricular and administrative areas. By 1997, when the project was completed, the campus had 120 computers, including a campus network, ISDN Internet access, banks of computers in the science lab, language lab and library as well as the computer lab, a computer in each dormitory study area, plus appropriate peripherals, CDs and software.

1996 Community service as a volunteer tradition dated back 20 years or more. This year, a high school graduation requirement was adopted of 25 hours a year of volunteer experience integrated with social science/theology course work. Students work with seniors, youth, the poor and the institutionalized. The experience will culminate in a reflective paper written in the senior year.

1997-98 The student body includes 100 Middle School and 150 High School students Five monks and 40 students live on the campus. Faculty number 47.

Tuition and fees are $12,510 for day students and $25,810 for resident students.

Traditions of the past 40 years are apparent today.

Faculty-student relationships are still important and fostered. An individual approach to each student’s education is a constant goal. All graduates attend college; nearly all enroll at 4-year schools. About half of those are accepted at colleges with “very restrictive” to “most restrictive” admissions standards. The Priory does not physically resemble that school of 1957, but it remains a “learning community” that includes high academic standards, many kinds of diversity, a sense of security where a person can grow, attention to personal and moral/spiritual growth, — and fun.

Father William is now Prior of St. Anselm and a Director of WPS.

Brother Edward arrived in 1988

These monks, who now live at St. Anselm, are warmly remembered and much appreciated for the time they devoted to Woodside Priory School: Father Finbar, Brother Thomas, Brother John, Brother Jude, Father Brendan, Father Placidus, Father Cecil, and Father Benedict.

Father William

Father Matthew, originally an affiliate of Woodside Priory, is now Abbot of St. Anselm and a WPS Trustee.

Father Matthew

Trustees of the Woodside Priory School Clockwise, from right: Wayne Davison, Director of the Research Libraries Group, is a Priory parent and active volunteer coach in the school’s music program.

Scott Carey, Chairman of Cornish & Carey commercial real estate firm, has been a friend of the Priory for many years. Ramsay Waterman is President of the Priory Parent Association and is a school volunteer. J. Michael Gullard, Partner in Cornerstone Management venture capital, is Chair of the Board. Pat Adams, a living skills consultant, is an alumni parent. Donna Wengert-Neff, co-founder and managing member of a pharmaceuticals business, is a school volunteer and Priory parent. (Back row) Art Schultz, Acquisitions Manager at Hewlett-Packard Co. is also a volunteer with United Way and Boy Scouts. Les DeWitt, an independent contractor/consultant, is Executive Director of the Peninsula Bridge and Compass academic outreach programs. Rev. Piers Lahey, a 1967 Woodside Priory School graduate, is a priest and pastor of Good Shepherd Church in Pacifica and also works on the Archdiocesan Board of Education. Fran Dempsey, founder of and volunteer for ecumenical spiritual growth programs, has been an active Priory friend for many years. Bob Ward, retired President of Ward Associates engineering firm, is an active volunteer on many corporate and community boards. Bruce Mosbacher attorney and general partner of Saw Island Partners, is also a board member of Stanford Law School. Sandra McCarthy, surgical technician and school/community volunteer, is a Priory parent and an alumni parent. Not pictured is Matt O’Rourke, CPA and business consultant, who also volunteers with the Finance Committee of the Catholic Diocese of San Jose and the Santa Clara Univesity Board of Regents.

Father Mark Cooper, member of the Benedictine Order at St. Anselm Abbey, is active with religious and lay educational boards and committees. Father Pius Horvath is a Benedictine at the Woodside Priory, a teacher at the school and a volunteer with local churches.

Priorities Editor: Carolyn Dobervich Design: Ennis Kirkland Design Photos: Jim Kirkland, Fr. Martin Mager, Carolyn Dobervich Priorities Magazine is published in September and March by Woodside Priory School for its alumni, parents, students, neighbors and friends.

Woodside Priory School 302 Portola Road Portola Valley, CA 94028 (415) 851-8221 fax (415) 851-2839

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