VIEW FROM ABOVE / LEGEND OF PREP INDUCTEE: 2012
PREP LORE
Dr. Rich Kennedy • Faculty Member: 1967-2015
That’s the Spirit
The following has been edited and condensed from Dr. Kennedy’s broader reflection on his years at Prep. His complete essay can be found at spprep.org/ViewFromAbove. It was January 15, 1967, when Max McGee snagged a pass from Bart Starr for a 37-yard touchdown for the Packers against the Chiefs—the first touchdown in the first Super Bowl game. The Vietnam War was raging, Lyndon Johnson was president, and Robert Kennedy would challenge him before very long. Just over a week later, on January 25, I stepped into a classroom at Saint Peter’s Prep for the first time. The school was in its 95th year and likely had not even begun anticipating the centennial celebration that would take place five years later, let alone the 150th anniversary event half a century beyond that. In my earlier days at Prep, most of the boys were of Irish, Italian or Polish descent. A majority were from Hudson County, probably largely from middle-to-low-income households. Politically they were fairly conservative, despite the division in the country at large caused by the Vietnam War. And, of course, let us not forget the jolt to the culture brought about by the emergence of disco, polyester leisure suits, and mutton-chop sideburns. A majority of the students would go on to Catholic colleges, including a large number who would be the first in their family to pursue a post-secondary-school degree. The faculty and staff were also very different back then. When I started teaching, many of the faculty had been at Prep for decades. Some half dozen had fought in World War II—members of the Greatest Generation. Math and science teachers wore white lab coats, while humanities faculty wore black judges’ robes. How different this environment, covering the first half of my tenure on the faculty, was from the second! The administration gradually became staffed by lay men and women, and the number of Jesuits on campus was in gradual decline that manifested itself annually. Females eventually comprised almost half of the faculty and staff. Great changes have occurred, as well, in the curriculum, and its evolution is reflective of the society at large. For most of my 1967-2015 tenure in the English Department, the course material was dominated by the proverbial “dead white men,” with the occasional female author making the cut (as I used to describe it, “from Beowulf to Virginia Woolf”). The most striking change, reflective of the world at large, was the introduction of computer science into the curriculum, as well as computers in the classrooms. Modern foreign languages early on consisted of French and German, with Italian and Spanish gradually being added as options. Also, and strikingly, Mandarin Chinese is a relatively recent addition to the curriculum. Even more so, the campus and the neighborhood have undergone astounding change. Major renovations to Burke (now the Moriarty Science Center), Hogan, and Mulry have transformed the campus, along with the church being converted into O’Keefe Commons. The classrooms have the latest technology—and no one mourns the passing of reel-to-reel or VHS tapes, slide projectors, and LP records. Perhaps it is not too much of a stretch to recall Ernest Hemingway’s beautiful words about Paris—where he spent some of his happiest days—when considering our own memories of SPP: “If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a movable feast.” 246
In 1978, the Fathers’ Club presented a Spirit of Prep Award to a deserving senior at its year-end Activities Awards Dinner. In November 1981, Principal Fr. John Browning, S.J., ’46 reimagined the award as an opportunity to recognize young men who quietly but effectively spread “Prep spirit” throughout the school. He formalized the nomination and selection process, and the Prep Spirit Awards were born. This special award is presented to students—many of whom are considered unsung heroes—who model the qualities and values that best define a Prep man, especially regarding their “above and beyond” support of their classmates. That tradition lives on to this day, with the presentation of the Spirit Awards being a rousing highlight of the quarterly schoolwide assemblies.