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a lifetime of service and leadership
PAMELA JUAN HAYES’ LEGACY IN THE SACRED HEART NETWORK
Last year when Head of School Pamela Juan Hayes ’64 announced her upcoming retirement at the end of the 2019–2020 school year, then Board Chair Chris Ryan and current Board Chair Kathleen O’Connor spoke for the whole Sacred Heart community when they thanked Pam for her ten years of service as Head at Greenwich and more than 50 years of service to the Network of Sacred Heart Schools.
Under her leadership, Sacred Heart has experienced substantial improvements to its curriculum and facilities. Mrs. Hayes led the creation of a one-of-a-kind online learning environment in SophieConnect and facilitated the purchase of the School’s land from the Society of the Sacred Heart, which allowed for significant facility upgrades from world-class athletic fields to a new dining room, from library and classroom enhancements to observatory updates.
Longtime school archivist Vicky Allen chronicles here the impact Sacred Heart has had on Mrs. Hayes and the truly transformational impact Mrs. Hayes has had on King Street and Network-wide.
“Sacred Heart has really grown since the 1970s, but thanks to the leadership of Pamela Juan Hayes, it has not lost its innate charm or direction. The School is just an amazing place to be a part of in 2020!” —Mary Lou Curran Kingsbery ’75
THE END OF THE 2019–2020 SCHOOL YEAR IS APPROACHING FAST, AND WITH IT WILL COME A CHANGE AT THE VERY TOP OF OUR SCHOOL COMMUNITY: the retirement of our Head of School Pamela Juan Hayes ’64. It is not an exaggeration to say that Mrs. Hayes has played an active and important role in the life of Sacred Heart Greenwich for half the twentieth century and a good part of the twenty-first. A long time of love and service to our School!
Sacred Heart became a part of Mrs. Hayes’ life when she came to school as a very young child. Her family lived in Greenwich, and the highly reputed and beautiful school on King Street was a natural choice for her and her family. She came to school in the first grade, then a part of the Junior School for girls from first to fourth grades. In those days, the School had about 250 students who were classified either as Junior School, Middle School, or Upper School. In the case of Upper School, it was commonly called “First to Fourth Academic.” At that time, most of the students were from Greenwich, Rye, Larchmont and a few other nearby communities.
Until the 1960s, the teaching and administrative staff of the School was made up almost entirely of the Religious of the Sacred Heart. There were only a few lay
people who taught French, math and physical education, but the life of the School and its students was entirely directed by the Religious. The RSCJ centered their lives in the love of Jesus Christ, the School and their students. They were “Mothers” in an important sense of the word, for they devoted their days, their actions and their thoughts to providing students with love, attention, high educational standards and discipline. What was a Sacred Heart education like in that era? Mrs. Hayes believes that the outstanding feature of the system of education was its structure and sense of order. In the Junior School, students were taught not only to walk silently in the hallways arranged by height and grade but to learn how to express themselves clearly and accurately in speaking and in writing. By fourth grade, students knew how to write a structured and correctly spelled paragraph in ink. On the feast day of the Head “I so appreciate the devotion Mrs. Hayes of School (Reverend Mother), students submitted has shown to our school and the Network academic work in a notebook containing their essays of Sacred Heart Schools. When I was and other expository writing copied without erasures or awarded my sabbatical, she immediately mistakes and in ink! connected me to our sister schools in Students went every Monday morning to Primes, California that she had relationships with a Sacred Heart tradition in which students were from her time on the West Coast.” commended (or not) for their behavior and academic —Kerri Moore, 4th Grade Teacher work. This was the time of day when Très Bien or Assez Bien cards were given out. No Notes meant behavior that was not up to school standards. Academic success was rewarded by a medal. At the end of Primes, students returned the cards and medals to their teachers. Uniforms existed for every possible situation, even uniform bathing suits for the pool and white dresses and gloves for feast
“My favorite memory of Mrs. Hayes is when she comes to my basketball games. Whenever I look over at her during my games, she always has a huge smile on her face, and she never stops cheering on the sidelines.” —Sarah Augustine ’22
days. Meals were served seated at tables in what is now the faculty dining room; clubs, sports including field hockey and basketball, and after-school service work all rounded out life at the School. Friendship, mutual respect and support were important parts of campus life.
After graduating from college, Mrs. Hayes returned to Greenwich where she worked as a dorm mother, taught field hockey, drama and history of drama. After spending several years living in Sun Valley, Idaho, she returned to Greenwich to teach several subjects in Grade 5. In the 1980s, she moved to 91st Street to teach in Grade 7, eventually becoming Head of Middle School. Later, she returned to Greenwich as Head of the Middle School. In the late 1990’s, Mrs. Hayes moved to San Francisco to become the head of the girls’ elementary school at Schools of the Sacred Heart and then later became the Director of the Schools, the second lay person in the history of that school to occupy the position. Just over 10 years ago, she returned to Greenwich, where she became the first lay Head of School at Greenwich.
Mrs. Hayes believes that the most important change to our School over the past ten years has been the purchase of our land from the Society of the Sacred Heart. Mrs. Hayes facilitated the purchase of the more than 100 acres from the Society and then donated a portion of the acreage to the Greenwich Land Trust. The ownership has allowed the School to decide and control its own future.
Although much has changed since the early 1950s when Mrs. Hayes came here as a small child, much has remained the same. We are still a Roman Catholic school that celebrates the important feasts of the religious year. We take our tradition of social service, and our students go out to the wider community to give of themselves to others as they have for many years. We still have our traditions of congé and goûter. Although the laity now leads our school, we remain true to the principles that have existed since our founding in France long ago, with the goal of educating “for the sake of one child” as our most important mission.
As Mrs. Hayes likes to tell families first joining our community, this School on the hill will always be her home. We thank Mrs. Hayes for her extraordinary contributions to the success of Sacred Heart Greenwich!
“I have known Pam for a very long time. She was the sweetest, kindest little girl I can remember, and this is still true today. The only addition is that she is now not only thoughtful but also brilliant. Pam has followed the mission of Sacred Heart and for that I am extremely grateful.” —Mary Catherine Joyce McCooey ’60, P’88, GP’23, ’25
“One memory I have of Mrs. Hayes is from the opening of the new turf fields. Mrs. Hayes was so proud and happy in that moment, and she was so excited to be sharing the fields will all of us. It is always fun to see her supporting us at our games on the beautiful new fields.” —Daphne Fallon ’25 “Every year, Mrs. Hayes invites us to put up Christmas decorations on the dollhouse in her office. Mrs. Hayes is so welcoming and thoughtful. She was even our sister’s special visitor at Grandparents and Visitors Day. She is supportive of our work at school and our decorating!” —Claire ’29 + Lillie ’29 Ryan
“Mrs. Hayes served as both a role model and friend to many, including myself, at Sacred Heart. Her impact on the Sacred Heart community extends far beyond the classroom, and is seen through the kindness, grace, and servanthood of Sacred Heart women every day.” —Bridget Scatturo ’14
AS MRS. HAYES LIKES TO TELL FAMILIES FIRST JOINING OUR COMMUNITY, THIS SCHOOL ON THE HILL WILL always be her home.
—Nancy DePalma H’16
