LETTER FROM
Paul J. Stellato, Head of School
The Baby Boom. As the Second World War ebbed, this remarkable generation grew and blossomed into full flower. Through the decades that followed the close of that war, it shaped our nation’s course and secured its prosperity. Its members – now somewhat grayer, considerably wiser, and unlikely to slow down any time soon – are turning from the work of a lifetime to pleasures of more personal pursuits: caring for their parents, preparing for their children’s weddings, spoiling their grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and traveling, writing, consulting, and reading the stacks of books that clutter their tables and nightstands. And so it is at Princeton Day School, as a host of veteran, influential, accomplished faculty will retire at year’s end. Twelve senior members of our school’s faculty have shared with me their plans to retire in June from Princeton Day School. The roster is daunting: Hank Bristol ’72, Eamon Downey, Chris Hart, Susan Reichlin, Betsy Rizza, Lee Rosenberg, Andrea Schafer, Bill Stoltzfus, Deb Sugarman, Barbara Walker, Ann Wiley ’70, and Donna Zarzecki. Having taught, advised, coached, and inspired thousands of students, they leave behind a legacy unrivaled in our school’s 53-year history. Their absence will be keenly felt. I feel it now. Consider the impact of a group whose years of service on our campus reach into the hundreds (303, by my count); whose guidance, care, and direction have enriched the lives of thousands (I won’t hazard a guess) of students, parents, colleagues, and friends of our school; and whose influence on the course and culture of our school can be measured in her unbridled prosperity, her national reputation, and her unwavering optimism. They are the proud parents of 16 Princeton Day School alumni: doctors, lawyers, adventurers, scholars, entrepreneurs, and one member of our school’s Athletic Hall of Fame. Two of them – Ann Wiley ’70 and Hank Bristol ’72 – were present at our school’s creation, arriving on the first day – ever – of classes at Princeton Day School. Eamon Downey arrived six years after the school’s founding and concludes his career as its third-longest-serving faculty member. Think of these iconic programs – the Operetta, the 8th grade musical, Peer Group, 8th grade self-portraits, Ethics and Religion – and summon the names those who lead them: Andrea Schafer, Deb Sugarman, Donna Zarzecki, Susan Reichlin, and Bill Stolzfus. Before becoming an iconic program, STEAM was first the vision of Lee Rosenberg. Imagine the good fortune of a child moving from 3rd grade with Betsy Rizza to 4th grade with Chris Hart; imagine that child’s grateful parents. Consider for a moment the pleasure of reading Macbeth or Hamlet – or almost anything – with Barbara Walker. Committed as we are to the opportunity of hiring the next generation of faculty, I cannot help but think of our first head of school, Doug McClure, who was charged with a seeming impossible task: making a lasting marriage of two reluctant partners, Miss Fine’s School and Princeton Country Day School. At the start of his 16-year tenure, in a letter he wrote to the school’s first board chair, Harold Dodds, Doug McClure penned a line whose central idea has become a school hallmark; he wrote: “Although we are a new school, a young school, our advantage over our peer schools is entire. All of them will hire teachers, but Princeton Day School will do something different, something that will endure: it will build a faculty.” Build a faculty. As the wisdom of that founding vision is embodied in all 12 of them, so it will be renewed by the men and women who return in September, 2018. So it will be refreshed by colleagues new to our school. We are fortunate to be able to turn to them all. Splitting a box of Kleenex with me as she shared her decision, one of these dear colleagues reminded me that she did not begin her Princeton Day School career as a legend. A young teacher new to independent schools, she intended to stay just a couple of years, before beginning a different career in another field. What she found – as have her departing peers – is what all the great ones have found on the Great Road: a home, a community, a sense of true purpose and meaning, and the work of a lifetime.
Paul J. Stellato
JOURNAL