View From Above: Dr. Rich Kennedy

Faculty Member: 1967-2015

I t was January 15, 1967, when Max McGee snagged a pass from Bart Starr for a 37-yard touchdown for Green Bay 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. The big movies would be Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate, the favorite song was “Strangers in the Night,” and the blockbuster book (so help me!) was Valley of the Dolls.

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.

I’d like to take a trip down the intervening years with you and share some memories of the six different decades during which I had the privilege of standing behind a Prep podium, which concluded with my retirement in May 2015. I will somewhat arbitrarily divide the time period in half, from 1967 to about 1990, and from 1991 onward.

Let me begin with the student body. In the earlier days, probably fewer than ten minority students were present, as 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; there were also the polarizing events during the Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan administrations.

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.

Most 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.

How different these demographics were from the later and more recent years, when dozens of nationalities were represented on campus, traveling daily from well over 100 towns and over ten counties, plus New York City. These newer students seemed to be middle-of-the-road politically, attended a much more diverse group of colleges, and also were probably a tad more upscale economically than their predecessors.

The faculty and staff were also very different back in the day. When I first 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. Females were rare on campus, except for the secretaries and, of course, the librarian (the Legendary Catherine Collins). The first wave of female teachers--three of them--arrived in 1972, and virtually all key administrative posts were held by Jesuits.

How different this environment, covering the first half of my tenure on the faculty, was from the second! The administration gradually became fully 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, and as opposed to the earlier years, many teachers held master’s degrees, with a few having their doctorate.

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”). History was similar in its Western-centric emphasis, with Latin and religion being required and Greek still being offered as an elective. Art and music continued to be offered, along with newer electives like accounting and statistics. 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 as an elective. Accounting and statistics now form part of the program of studies, at least for some students, and art and music are constants. The biggest curriculum change has been the addition of computer studies, while the introduction of electives and AP courses gradually loosened up the rigidity of the old offerings (the curriculum was probably largely the same from the 19th century until the early 1970’s!).

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 transformed into O’Keefe Commons. The library received a welcome facelift in the late 1990s, along with a few other portions of the old “Freshman Building” (now called the English Building). The classrooms have the latest technology--and no one mourns the passing of reel-to-reel or VHS tapes, slide programs and LP records.

Regarding that latter point, back in the day I played, among others, LP’s of Death of a Salesman, The Glass Menagerie and, so help me, all six sides of the Paul Scofield Hamlet. (With all its pops, blips and skips, my attempts to play it were sometimes simply “not to be,” and the VHS tape of the beautiful and moving Franco Zeffirelli version of Romeo and Juliet had so many jams and gaps that when the film ended there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.)

P.S. If you are unsure what an “LP” is, just ask someone over 65 to explain it.

Among the many cocurricular offerings, perhaps the two most popular during my tenure were--no surprise!--dramatics and sports. The latter involves several hundred students in an ever-expanding number of programs, thus allowing a chance for almost anyone so inclined to get involved. Especially successful has been the football program, which under Coach Rich Hansen has achieved national rankings and sent a few of its participants to play in the NFL. Soccer, basketball, baseball and wrestling all excelled during my tenure, contributing much to our Pride and Glory.

Looking back, this article spans some 20,000 days (about 7,000 of them being school days), nine U,S. presidents, about 8,000 Prep students (I taught about 6,000 of them) and probably 200-300 administrators, faculty, and staff. All of them generate both unique yet common memories. All of them generate their own pantheons of great moments and people, and I particularly have fond memories for those of them--and there are many!--who befriended, guided and inspired me. This includes, of course, those who have been recognized as Legends of Prep, as well as many others whose time spent on campus may have been relatively short but was eventful, nevertheless.

These men and women have made Prep a place where lives are transformed, and where life-long friendships begin.

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 moveable feast.”