Park School of Baltimore

For Those Who Just Mocked, We Salute You

2011-04-18T09:27:00.000-07:00

Friday I had the distinct pleasure of watching Park’s Mock Trial compete and win the State Finals. The trial was held in Annapolis and Judge Joseph Murphy, Maryland’s Chief Judge of the Court of Special Appeals, presided over the case. I watched via webstream which was an up and down experience, but a bit more about that later.

Park’s team has enjoyed great success under Coach Tina Forbush, assisted this year by Tony Asdourian. In eleven years, Park has won two championships and has had two second-place finishes. As you watch the competition unfold, you realize that the preparation must be intense, and I imagine our coaches facilitated this task masterfully. The first thing I noticed as I started watching was how quickly you forget that these are high school students competing in a fictional situation. Both teams delivered a professional performance.

Our role at the championship match was the plaintiff. Our three attorneys, Eli Block, Tanika Lynch, and Daniel Stern were nothing short of brilliant. I can say without reservation that based on our championship record, our defense team must be just as able.

The Park attorneys questioned their witnesses with precision and grace—two qualities that many professional litigators would benefit from having. They were poised and their manners were impeccable. You never lost sight of the fact that this was a competition, but one of the most heartwarming moments came when the judges retired to reach a verdict and both teams congratulated each other in what seemed to be a most genuine manner.

Judge Murphy asked the attorneys some tough questions, and on top of that they had to examine ‘hostile’ witnesses, which is never easy, but these kids never flinched. There were a few moments for each team where they had to back track, rethink their approach and proceed, and our team rose to the occasion each time. I highly recommend that you check this out at http://www.courts.state.md.us/education/mocktrial.html (Watch the timer on the video; the trial begins just after 10:00.)

So Park brings home a state championship. You won’t read about it in The Sun—although you can read about an awful lot of lacrosse, softball, and baseball games that happened on Friday. Local schools were even webstreaming lacrosse games on that afternoon. I love high school sports and think they’re great, but the Park kids were doing something equally, if not more, spectacular. This was truly a battle of wits and guile. I watched on the edge of my seat, and almost jumped out of it at one point during the closing argument that I believed sealed the victory. I have no idea if any of these competitors will go on to be practicing attorneys, but I do know that using their analytical skills, powers of inquiry and oration, command and poise will serve them well for a lifetime.

Way to go Park Mock Trial Team---You Rock!

Fantasy and The Ties that Bind

2011-04-01T05:17:00.000-07:00

Well at least I made you look. Fantasy refers to fantasy baseball of course. It’s a term which makes me very uncomfortable but we’ll get to that later. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Fantasy baseball, well, I envy you. Fantasy baseball (“Fantasy”) is an opportunity for a group of 8-12 regular people to draft real major league baseball players and create a team. Your team competes against your league mates’ teams and the outcomes are based on the stats of the real baseball players--and this is supposed to be fun.

As the real baseball season kicks off this week, so do countless Fantasy leagues, including one that was conceived at The Park School 10 years ago. The group, which originally consisted of students and faculty, is still going strong a decade later after the students graduated from Park, and graduated from college, and moved on to graduate school and professional lives. (The faculty members are still stuck here.) In speaking to two of the founding members of this Park league, history teachers Peter Warren and John Kessinger, I learned some important stuff (and never mind about the unimportant stuff). The important stuff was that the following folks have participated in this league: Adam Dunn ’02, Dan Flamholz ’02, Robbie Gross ’02, Brian London ’02, Zac Milner ’03, Tyler Rorison ’03, Ben Hyman ’06, Dan McGill ’10, science teacher Elliott Huntsman, Upper School principal Mike McGill, and, who it seems is Commissioner for Life, Ben Jacobs ’02.

No matter how you feel about Fantasy, how great is it that these teachers and students (now alumni) are still at it? Most schools promote the significance of the teacher-student relationship for obvious reasons. This league is one tangible example that speaks to friendship and real connections. I’m sure for all of them it is also a great time, well except maybe for Ben. Being the Commissioner is a non-stop headache. More about that in a moment. Peter and John were quick to point out that Ben was perfect for this role in that he was masterful in dispute resolution. So I wish the league Happy Tenth Anniversary, and Ben a dispute-free year or at least one day without trouble.

I must confess that Fantasy has played a sordid role in my life as well. I am so old that to me this habit is known as Rotisserie baseball. Like poor Ben, I served as Commissioner of my league, but Commissioner only. When I did have a team for a few brief weeks, the conflict it caused when my Fantasy players competed with the Orioles was too much to bear. I ran the league for many years with law school pals. Talk about disputes! But these Fantasy ties do bind us, and now I am the silent co-owner of a team with longtime Park friend, Michael Stiller ’85. He’s the brains, and I run the in-stadium promotions.

So this season is just beginning for Fantasy baseball, Major League Baseball, and Park baseball. Fantasies about Fantasy abound. Whether your life is empty enough that you play or full enough that you don’t, take a look around at the ties that bind you to friends and mentors, Park or otherwise, and celebrate them.

Park is Top Choice

2011-02-28T07:35:00.000-08:00

It is admissions season around here, not to be confused with wabbit season. By admissions season, I mean letters of acceptance have gone out and now it is time to convince those students and their families that Park School is their best option.
For what it’s worth, I’m convinced. And here’s why:

Last week, I had the good fortune to substitute teach in an Upper School English class. The class was in the middle of reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. We discussed chapters XVII and XVIII, which focus primarily on Southern sensibilities and feudin’. The kids were brilliant and engaged. Where else would you discover connections between Huck Finn and mixed martial arts, the Ravens, and Donald Duck? One of the better definitions I’ve heard for intelligence is the ability to apply material learned in one context to another one, and these kids did that in lightning fashion. Not only that, they did it with ease and humor, and then they were able to back up their positions with textual references. Needless to say, I think we all walked out of the room with a good understanding of the reading and some new things to ponder.

Two weeks ago, aforeblogged Park graduate and author Adam Gidwitz ’00 was on campus. In the morning, he spoke with fourth and fifth graders. The kids asked him all kinds of questions about the life of a writer and the back and forth conversation was candid, heartwarming, and ultimately inspiring. Park will most certainly be producing a good many more celebrated authors in the not too distant future.
In April, we will be holding an alumni event in New York featuring a panel discussion with three of our alumni in the media world, Ruth Franklin ’91 who is on the editorial board of The New Republic, Rahsan Lindsay ’90, Vice President, MTV2, MTVU & Palladia, and Josh Tyrangiel ’90, editor of Bloomberg BusinessWeek. A dynamic trio to say the least, and they all graduated within one year of each other. That’s not to mention that earlier this month we were in New York for an event at The Metropolitan Museum of Art hosted by Malcolm Daniel ’74, Curator in Charge of the Department of Photographs. Malcolm discussed the Stieglitz, Steichen, and Strand exhibit he had assembled. He was both expert and accessible.

I could keep going and going. Park fosters intellectual curiosity, and it galvanizes the passion and perseverance to follow it. For those who have the opportunity to be here, treasure it. “Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft.” Mark Twain

Access is a Blue Chipper

2011-01-25T06:53:00.000-08:00

I remember from my youth a Saturday Night Live skit based on the notion of being able to buy and sell words as stocks. Each year, there are a number of words that rise to the top of everyone’s vocabulary list. In recent years, access has become one of those words. Locally and nationally, and here at Park, access is used to talk about having the opportunity to get a quality education, investing in education, and being able to afford an education.

At the Upper School Martin Luther King Jr. assembly, we were fortunate to have three alumni speak about their roles in education. Greg White ’81, is the President and CEO of the LEARN Charter School Network in Chicago. He is a terrific guy who has dedicated his life to providing access to a high quality learning environment for students, who without these charter opportunities, would be far less likely to be in a good school. The results of his labors thus far are a stellar 99% graduation rate from the LEARN Charter Schools and an impressive college graduate rate from LEARN alumni. To read more about Learn go to www.learncharter.org

Corey Gaber ’03 is in a master’s program at Harvard’s School of Education. His concern about the disparity of a Park education and what is typically offered in Baltimore City public schools was palpable. After finishing this program, it is Corey’s intention to teach in Baltimore City.

Adria Johnson ’05 is teaching at a Baltimore City public school. She conveyed to our kids how much her students shared their same eagerness for education and how they also possessed similar potential as scholars.

All three speakers were so complimentary of each other and had great respect for what the others were doing to expand access to quality education. In the context of the assembly, Greg likened the access to education as the civil rights issue of our time. As this challenge plays out in Baltimore and the rest of the nation, there are also struggles for access at Park.

The good news is that our community continues to support financial assistance in both small and large ways. Fundraising to provide more students with the opportunity to attend Park has become our central purpose, along with supporting faculty salaries. Thankfully, our donors find that providing access to a Park education is a compelling reason to give.

For those of you who did not witness or hear about our live auction in 2009, in just 15 seconds we sold six lots priced at $4,000 to provide a full tuition to a Park student in need of financial assistance. Many people commented afterwards that they wished we had done more. Well, Saturday night at our annual Bull and Oyster Roast we’re hoping to sell 25-$1,000 lots to provide tuition support for varsity athletes in need of financial assistance. We hope that this too will be compelling. If you will not be attending the Bull Roast but would like to buy one lot or more, please just let me know.

So to this bring this thing full circle, go long on access.

Because

2010-12-08T11:49:00.000-08:00

I’ve tried to resist the blog style where there are unrelated tidbits following each other, but this time I cannot fight the urge any longer.

First things first. This is Park’s Week of Giving. We are trying to secure 500 gifts this week—which would be outrageous.

I hope you will take a look at our video— www.parkschool.net/because--where some folks explain why they give to the Annual Fund. Making this video was an extremely gratifying project. The participants were so enthusiastic about their Park experience that it created an epidemic of good feeling. The videographer, Joe Rubino, has worked with Park many times, and his understanding of the school comes through brilliantly in the finished project. Hillary Jacobs, our Director of Communications, was the organizational guru behind-the-scenes, and the results, well, see for yourself.

Bottom line: Please make your gift this week at www.parkschool.net/giveonline. Pledges are welcomed too.

Soccer season ended without a trip to the play-offs this year. Once again, however, Lucky wrung more hard-nosed good soccer out of this group than most thought possible back in August.

A few weeks ago we had an alumni event in New York that featured two of our young writers: Justin Kramon ’98, author of Finny, and Adam Gidwitz ’00, author of A Tale Dark and Grimm. Each spoke engagingly about his work. We welcomed a great crowd of young alumni who came together to see each other and to celebrate the successes of their fellow alumni.

Speaking of young alumni, huge congratulations to Anders Hulleberg ’07. Anders won the Division III National Cross Country Championship and led the Haverford Harriers to the school’s first-ever NCAA championship.

I suppose the one coherent theme of these tidbits is that Park and its alumni are vibrant, thriving, and always striving.

Have a joyful holiday season and a Happy New Year.

It's Good to Be Ruthful

2010-10-25T06:08:00.000-07:00

On Monday we were most fortunate to have Ruth Halikman Franklin ’91 spend the day here at Park. For those of you unfamiliar with Ruth, she is an accomplished writer and reviewer and currently is on the editorial board at The New Republic. Her new book, A Thousand Darknesses: Lies and Truth in Holocaust Fiction, focuses on whether there is a special obligation for Holocaust literature to be truthful.

She was the speaker at the Upper School assembly--- a daunting challenge for many guests. You have to be intellectually engaging while simultaneously keeping the attention of 300 adolescents. Ruth excelled on both scores, and I would say her presentation was one the most impressive I’ve ever seen in this forum.

The topic has some innate emotional triggers often making it difficult to discuss, and I imagine this only heightened Ruth’s challenge in crafting her remarks. I cannot begin to do justice to her thesis, and its support. In all seriousness, I’m hoping if this blog entry gets to her, she’ll share some of her argument with this audience. One of the most impressive features of the presentation was the construction of her argument. You had to pay close attention. Each premise logically rested on the preceding one and together they built a very sound analysis of what we came to understand, is a murky debate.

We all know that we live in a world of sound bites and video postings that typically last 30 seconds. It was so refreshing to bask in a thoughtful and educative presentation. The 30-40 minutes she spoke were a well-orchestrated journey for the listener to be provoked to re-think assumptions, and ultimately to assess the validity of a most cogent thesis.

Does it help that this compelling speaker was a Park graduate? Yes, and how. Ruth deserves all of the credit, but I’m guessing that she had some pretty good mentors along the way, and probably many of them were at the ‘ole Park School.

To see some of Ruth’s work at The New Republic go to:
http://www.tnr.com/search/apachesolr_search/ruth%20franklin

or for more information about her book go to:

http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/LiteratureEnglish/WorldLiterature/Jewish/?view=usa&ci=9780195313963

The Gift from Purple Shorts

2010-09-27T06:42:00.000-07:00

In a very significant way you need to be a part of it to truly appreciate it, but it is so powerful and amazing that I will try my best to convey some of the craft to you. For those of you who have followed Lucky Mallonee’s soccer coaching career, you know the program has enjoyed seasons full of wins and sometimes titles as well as other campaigns that included losing records. There are certain constants, however, that permeate through all of his teams regardless of wins and losses.

My perspective is as a player in the mid-eighties, and primarily as an assistant coach on his staff from the fall of ’94 through the present. For the last nine years, what soccer historians will someday come to call ‘the Ryugo Era’ we’ve been extremely competitive. We’ve enjoyed a few regular season titles, lots of play-off games, and one championship game appearance. In some ways it was harder to see Lucky’s genius with these teams because we enjoyed an abundance of talent. That is not to say that Lucky did not mold it and wring out the best of it, because he did. Let’s just say it took a discerning eye to see it.

The gift I’m alluding to is the uncanny knack to get these kids to see beyond their own self-defined potential and then to reach it. As long as I’ve been a part of his teams, and I experienced this very directly as one of his players, his intuition for an individual’s true strengths and weaknesses is most perceptive. As only a true progressive teacher can, Lucky sets about leading these individuals to maximize their strengths, and then, what’s most incredible, he leads them to identify their weaknesses and master them.

On the soccer field, you can see this process at work with this year’s squad. We do not have an overabundance of soccer talent, but the goal tending from Jake Abrams ’12 has been spectacular, and the outstanding play of striker Andrew Patterson ’11 has been integral to the team’s success thus far. This season Lucky has taken a group of athletes who got humiliated in a scrimmage at the hands of an A-Conference opponent four weeks ago and melded them into a team that is now battling the best of our B-Conference rivals to a virtual standstill.

If you’re still reading this and saying to yourself ‘that’s all well and good’ but at the end of the day who really cares about high school soccer?’ then here’s the point. After living through this experience and receiving the gift of Lucky’s coaching, these kids go out into the ‘real world’ and apply the lessons learned. The results are a steady stream of emails, letters, and calls from high-achieving professionals in all walks of life, including Hollywood executives, college professors, attorneys, financial magnates, and doctors, all saying that they got to where they are in life by applying themselves the way Mr. Mal taught them.

At Park, we have lots of meetings, and we talk about many areas of the Park experience. Sometimes we talk about athletics, and we wrestle with questions like, ‘how can we express to the ‘outside world’ how special Park athletics truly are?’ Oh, and of course, everyone wants that accomplished with a tag line to match our society’s diminished attention span. Well, here’s one about the old man in purple shorts who roams Kelly Field in the fall, “He doesn’t just win games, he changes lives.”

High Tide

2010-09-13T11:55:00.000-07:00

If you were driving around town on Labor Day weekend you probably saw firefighters’ raising funds for the fight against muscular dystrophy through their boot campaign. I love the boot campaign and happily gave. As I dropped my bills into the boot, and received a very warm smile and thank you, I had a flashback of the aftermath of 9/11. There seemed to be a period of months after the tragedy, maybe through the end of the year, when all Americans seemed to go out of their way to help one and other. You noticed it at the most mundane times--while driving, passing through doorways, and other times when we tend to ignore others. We suddenly became a more empathetic nation.

We, as a nation, and on a smaller scale as a Park community, are constantly looking for opportunities to help. Our reasons are myriad, but there is no denying we are a better country or community for it, and moreover it creates a near palpable sensation of good feeling.

Let me say, I don’t intend for these posts to always focus on giving. (By the way the Boys’ Varsity Soccer Team, on which I serve as Lucky’s assistant coach, has home games this week on Tuesday and Thursday at 4:00, and we’d love your support.) But back to the good feelings. At Park, we do a lot of helping. The Parents’ Association has raised funds for a number of causes, including multi-year support for the Susan Komen Race for the Cure and for Haitian relief. Then, of course, there is the fundraising for Park, or more specifically for the students and faculty at Park. All of these efforts bring out what I believe is our natural desire to support important needs. The result is that there is a lot of good feeling around here.

What can I say? I think giving is a good thing. Someone an awful lot smarter than me said, “A rising tide raises all ships,” and ‘Bama football fans far more devoted than me have spent countless hours chanting, “Roll Tide Roll.” I agree with both sentiments.

Who Rocks

2010-09-03T06:16:00.000-07:00

By Roger Seidenman, Director of Development

My favorite moment as a blogger came two years ago when I was writing about the virtues of a Park education and ended the piece with a quote from The Who. Stupidly, I asked a friend who had read the post what she thought of it. She admitted sheepishly, “I liked the last line.” So in that spirit I thought I would bring back some of Pete Townshend’s wisdom regarding our new Annual Fund.

“I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution

Take a bow for the new revolution

Smile and grin at the change all around.”

Last year we completely overhauled how we run the Annual Fund. We switched to a model that allowed our devoted volunteers to discuss giving with their prospects on their own schedules rather than responding to a school-scheduled series of phoning nights. Ultimately the results were good. Our unrestricted giving went up more than 6% in a year that still included a challenging national and global economy.

Another benefit to the new system was how many more first-time solicitors joined in the effort. Many of these new volunteers expressed how energizing it was to help the school in this endeavor.

It is now a new year, and we have many of our volunteers returning, and as always we are looking for new voices to help. One way to start is to join us at this year’s Annual Fund kick-off breakfast on Tuesday, September 21 beginning at 7:45am for faculty and staff and at 8:30am for the rest of the Park community in the Lieberman Building. If you can’t make it, and want to volunteer for the Annual Fund, feel free to reply to me at rseidenman@parkschool.net or Becky Bridger, Annual Fund Coordinator, at rbridger@parkschool.net.

So after a long, hot summer of thinking about the Annual Fund, here’s my current view on how great the Annual Fund is and the role that it plays in Park’s financial picture.

The Annual Fund:
1.) Makes it possible for students and families who would not otherwise be able to attend Park to do so;
2.) Supports faculty salaries (though there will never be enough to compensate them for their intellect and dedication).
3.) Unites us in supporting an institution that we all love.

Thanks for all of your support. We’re looking forward to another terrific year.

Update from Bruinland

2010-05-04T10:27:00.000-07:00

By Roger Seidenman, Director of Development

I’d be lying if I said there was a hue and cry to bring back my blog, but there have been a few of you who have asked for it to return (thanks big fella, you know who you are), and even if those requests were made out of pity, here goes: Last year, I tried to steer my blog clear of fundraising life at Park School, and I focused primarily on the classroom and the fields. Since the lion’s share of my time is spent working on growing the Annual Fund and increasing the school’s endowment, I thought perhaps I’d share some observations as the fiscal year winds down.

This year we tried a completely different approach for the Annual Fund. In design, the plan was to virtually eliminate our standard on-campus phoning sessions and assign each volunteer ten prospects who they would contact at their convenience. So far, I’d say it has been a success. We’ve enlisted many more volunteers than in years past. In terms of dollars raised, we’re running neck and neck with last year and hoping, as always, to finish strong. Surprises along the way included discovering how many volunteers like the structure of phoning at Park. So next year, we’ll again try to devise a framework that accommodates our volunteers and our donors.

The endowment efforts continue in a leadership gift phase. Much work is put in before gifts are committed, but the progress has been rapid in the last few months. Planned gifts are becoming more common as a means of providing for Park. Perhaps more about that in the weeks to come.

We had a fabulous auction that surpassed our wildest expectations in what could be raised. Liz Block, auction chair, masterfully navigated some very choppy waters, and Ellen Small, formally, Parent Program Coordinator, and less formally, Auction Maven, helped make sure the event came off in fantastic fashion. Feel good moment of the night was the live auction item to provide a full year’s tuition. Six guests each bid $4,000 to support a full tuition. It was sold in less than fifteen seconds. Thank you to President of the Board of Trustees Josh Fidler for this innovative, and very successful, idea.

We’re looking forward to the 2010 Park Golf Classic on Monday, May 24 at Chestnut Ridge Country Club. There are a few spots left if you’re interested. Just contact Jayme Gilden Wood ’93 at jwood@parkschool.net. There are big plans for Alumni Weekend of May 21-22, including an all-community Toast to the Brown & White Cocktail Party and a special event to honor Jim Howard’s retirement on May 24. Learn more and RSVP at www.parkschool.net/events.

A lot to cover in the first blog of the season. Ultimately, it has been a good year. We hope to have a strong finish to the Annual Fund, and if you have not yet made your contribution, please know how much your participation is valued and needed. You can do that at www.parkschool.net/giveonline

I’ll aim to be blogging more frequently. Things are good in Bruinland, and you should know about as many of them as possible.

That's the Way the Thunder Rumbles

2009-07-07T09:12:00.000-07:00

Children of the 80’s or 90’s may recall the line above from Echo and the Bunnymen. The band was singing of buffalo and bison of course, whereas I’m writing, with some sentimentality (which according to paragraph 3 of the school philosophy is one of the excesses that is permitted), of the noblest creature of all: the Bruin.

The 2008-2009 Annual Fund Campaign has ended. In this economically challenging time, the new measure of success is “Did you match what you did last year?” Well, not us. We exceeded last year’s total by 5% and raised a total of $1,557,329. This is a many-layered statement about Park School.

Foremost, we are fortunate to have a corps of volunteers who work tirelessly on the Annual Fund. They spend many dark nights in the fall and winter phoning alumni, parents, and grandparents. They work cards from home throughout the year, and they always ask, “Is there anything else I can do to help?” Oh yes, they also make their own generous gifts.

Then there’s the team of Len Weinberg ‘76 and Tom Wetzler ‘84. These two provide the leadership for the Annual Fund effort. They’re present and working at all of our events, and they do all of the out-of- sight work that makes it possible for Park to hit its goals. They are indefatigable, good-natured, and provide an incalculable service to the cause.

Ultimately, there’s each contributor to the Annual Fund. You are the ones who made this year a success. Thank you. Achieving these results in this difficult year makes a powerful statement about how much Park’s students and faculty matter to all of us.

This year’s campaign worked because young alumni made first time gifts of $10, because parents who could increase their support did, because grandparents understood the need to support the school, because parents of alumni have remembered how significant the school was in their family’s life, and because faculty in overwhelming numbers--more than 90%--chose to support this effort.

A few highlights from 2008-2009:

An all-time high of 68 college-aged alums supported the campaign.

A Trustee, who had already made a sizeable donation in the winter, stepped up to make another significant contribution towards the Meyerhoff Challenge, and I had to stop him from giving more.

Speaking of the challenge, the family of Lyn P. Meyerhoff has been extraordinarily supportive of all things Park for many years. In the spring, the Lyn P. Meyerhoff Foundation committed to matching 50% of new and increased gifts to provide financial assistance dollars for families who developed new needs this year. Yes, our community met the challenge and $50,000 was raised. We are all grateful for the Meyerhoffs’ vision and inspiration and generosity.

So if you’re still wondering why this edition began with thunder---that’s how it felt around here as the campaign came to a close. The community rallied to make this year far better than what the rest of the world is using as a measure of success. The Bruin Nation rose to the occasion in a thunderous roar of approval for the ole Park School. Thank you to everyone who took part in this success. It would not have happened without you.

That’s the Way the Thunder Rumbles in Brooklandville.

Can't Get No

2009-06-15T06:20:00.000-07:00

A benefit of working in the Development Office is that you get to spend a great deal of time catching up with alumni. Last month, we held an alumni reception in Boston. We had a group that ranged in years of graduation from 1950-2005. What was most striking about them was their high level of job satisfaction. There were bio-tech scientists, social workers, public relations specialists, and programmers to name just a few of the professions represented, and in each case they spoke of their work with both pride and joy.

The group gathered to meet Dan Paradis and fellow alumni in the area. As they asked Dan questions about school and shared bits of their time at Park, it was clear that they had received more than just an exceptional education on Old Court Road or in the park. They had gained the wisdom that personal satisfaction with work is important.

My guess is that Park subtly passes that lesson along during a student’s time here. Sure there are parts of the school experience that are not pleasurable—just ask any of my former Spanish teachers—but if the school nurtures individual’s interests and allows passions to be pursued, that’s a lifelong lesson being taught---delving into the mind’s and heart’s desire is worthwhile. The results of this practice are a plethora of students excelling in their areas of keen interest.
During alumni weekend, spending time with a much larger group of graduates, the theme of job satisfaction continued to play out. The list of professions pursued grew exponentially and the high level of joyous engagement was a constant.

Does Park deserve all the credit for this phenomenon? Maybe not, but by now you must now that I’m biased. Are there some alumni who don’t enjoy their work? I would imagine that there are. If you’re a graduate reading this, please share your thoughts on the link between your time at Park and your job satisfaction.

In the meantime, we’ve just sent another a group of Park graduates out into the world to seek, to inquire, to conquer, and to heal.

Sadly, we cannot count Mick Jagger as a Park alum, but if we could, he might very well have sung a different tune.

Ful-FILLY-ing Weekend

2009-05-19T10:46:00.000-07:00

By Roger Seidenman

What a weekend for Park athletics. By the time Rachel Alexandra had crossed the finish line at Old Hilltop, our softball team had won its conference championship. The Bruins defeated Bryn Mawr 8-6. It has been a terrific ride for them all season, and I’d like to add more details, but I was not able to attend the game. You can find more information about the championship at http://www.digitalsports.com/team/id/695334.aspx.

On Sunday morning, the Girls’ Varsity Lacrosse team played Friends for the B Conference title. The teams had met twice prior to this game. Friends won both contests by just one goal. I had the pleasure of sitting next to my pal Len for the game. His daughter is on the team, but more about her later. Early on, the teams traded goals, and I turned to Len and said, “Is this one going to be decided in the last two minutes?” Not wanting to be distracted, his response was something along the lines of, “Probably.”

The half ended with the Bruins trailing 6-5. Both teams had enjoyed the lead, and it seemed as if the second half would be one of numerous lead changes and constant shifts in momentum. As the second half began, Friends started pulling way. They built an 11-7 lead, and as Park called a time out after the 11th goal, it felt like it might be an insurmountable lead. Heading into the time out, as our team name suggests, we looked as if we were still feeling the effects of hibernation. Then it became a different game.

It took a few minutes before the Bruins started to chip away at the lead, but chip they did. Lucie ’10, the aforementioned Len’s daughter, scored three and assisted on the other of the four goals that eliminated the gap. Then with the final minute ticking away, after not converting on two scoring opportunities, Julia Meyerhoff ’10 drove to the goal and scored the winner with nineteen seconds remaining. After the draw, Friends had control of the ball, but then it came loose, Adrienne Tarver ’10 secured it and ran out the remaining the time. Championship won, 12-11 Park.

If you weren’t there, you missed a great game. It took an extraordinary team effort to rally from the four-goal deficit. Every girl on the team and every coach should feel great pride in rising to that challenge. It was a daunting situation to be trailing by four so late in the game, but the Bruins displayed great poise and courage to come back and win.

The game was well attended by the usual suspects— parents, grandparents, faculty, and administrators. One of the great things about Park though, is that the game was also well attended by students and in particular male athletes whose teams did not enjoy the same success this spring as the girls. Park is a community and on a weekend belonging to fillies it was never more so. You won’t see us tossing around monikers such as “Lady Bruins.” We’re all Bruins, especially, “As we’re marching onto vict’ry ‘neath the Brown and White.

FACALICIOUS

2009-04-29T10:25:00.000-07:00

On Sunday April 19, Park celebrated the 20th anniversary of the F. Parvin Sharpless Faculty and Curricular Advancement program. It was truly a great evening for those who attended, whether they were faculty presenting work from previous summers, newcomers learning of the program for the first time, or those who just wanted a deeper look into this extraordinary program. Despite the far-reaching ripples FACA has had into the Park educational experience, there are still many in our community who aren’t exactly sure what it is.

FACA is a an endowed program that provides grants for Park faculty to collaboratively study, learn, write, and examine areas of scholarly interest during the summer. The results of these projects include new courses, new textbooks, and refined methods of evaluating students’ work, to name just a few.

So we honored the 20th Anniversary of this program. As a school that doesn’t spend a great deal of time looking for opportunities to praise itself, you may be wondering why. If you were there, then you would know.

The messages of keynote speakers, Dr. Parvin Sharpless, former Head of School, and Lee Hendler ’70, former President of the Board of Trustees, although separate were fused, and answered the why question perfectly. The program was created to respond to teachers’ desire to sharpen their craft, to allow them to maximize their full talent, and to energize their classrooms and their students. It also was an important statement of Park’s commitment to founder Hans Froehlicer’s concept of “the highest type of teacher.”

That concept resonated with the Park community who gave generously to establish an endowment that has continued to support FACA. With a larger faculty now and greater demand for these opportunities, this endowment must grow and it will.

To truly appreciate FACA though, you must hear the faculty share their experiences. I had the privilege of listening to Lower School teacher Ellen Hoitsma and Upper School English faculty members Patti Porcarelli and Greg Brandt describe a summer spent working on portfolios of their work as teachers. During the process, they dared to teach lessons to each other. It was clear that they were rewarded for their introspection and bravery. What was most compelling was the passion in their voices as they described how this FACA experience helped them to refine their approach to teaching. To someone who teaches just a little bit, the fifty-minute session was filled with thoughtful reflection that would help anyone who has ever attempted to lead a class.

I would be remiss to write about the virtues of FACA and not thank Louise Mehta. Louise has been the engine that turned this vision into the powerhouse it has become. Her attention to all things FACA is meticulous. She is both a tenacious advocate and a nurturing caretaker of a program that has enriched the careers of many faculty and consequently many more students.

Park proponents often struggle to describe succinctly what makes Park the extraordinary institution that we all know it to be. Well, FACA is one of the big reasons that we can enjoy a dedicated, brilliant, and engaged faculty. Who wouldn’t want to celebrate that?

Shout It Out Loud

2009-04-09T06:14:00.000-07:00

Last month, I had the distinct pleasure of lunching with three fantastic Park alumnae, Amanda, Michelle, and Sharna, in New York. We spent a great deal of our time discussing ways to make the Park community, and in particular, the alumni, more closely connected. Cross Currents, which contains alumni notes, is now a yearly publication, and generating more printed publications is not the answer to this question.

It was clear during our conversation that we all know of noteworthy alumni accomplishments and they are spread by word of mouth or keyboard. In some instances, the school publishes these news items, but in many other cases, we in Brooklandville are completely unaware of the story.

We also are the product of a community that, for the most part, has a sense of shyness around self-promotion, but the counter-balance to that is that we also take great pride in the achievements of Park graduates. In a time when news is an instant commodity, we are planning on sending out more messages about Park alumni from a host of applications that I can barely name, let alone understand, including Facebook, Twitter, and www.parkschool.net.

The catch, if you want to call it that, is that we now need you to share your news with us. We’ll be expanding our means of collecting news, but you’ll still be the first to know, so please include us on your list of friends with whom you share your news. The best way to send us your news is to direct it to our Alumni Coordinator Pailin Gaither at pgaither@parkschool.net or at 410-339-4114. This new world of openly showing pride in alumni accomplishments will help us stay in closer contact with each other, and it will have a very real benefit to Park. Prospective families often inquire about ‘outcomes’ of Park students. Well, our outcomes are pretty terrific so why not share a little more than we have in the past? As Dizzy Dean might have once said, “It ain’t bragging if you can do it.”

A Bargain

2009-03-13T09:34:00.001-07:00

By Roger Seidenman

So Thursday night a week ago we had our Alumni Annual Fund Phoning Night. It always provides a glimpse into fundraising at Park, alumni sentiment toward Park, and very broadly the core of Park. This particular phoning session usually features some of our most enthusiastic callers. We spanned five decades of graduates; it would have been six decades, but a few of our stalwarts from the 50’s had pressing engagements.

If you asked me what our greatest challenge was I would reply without hesitation that it’s people don’t answer their phones anymore. Truth be told, I don’t answer the phone much either. Despite all of that, this is not a lament but rather more a hosanna to our phoners, to our alumni, and to our school.

The evening started a bit slowly. But once we got rolling, gifts came in at a good clip. I’m reluctant to single people out, because of course it’s Park after all, but please indulge me. The two youngest phoners in the room, Matt Rogers’ 04 and Jason Trout ’03, were terrific. Being of the “What’s a landline?” generation helped them to reach their classmates, and when they did, they got gifts. Their experience was the lesson. When alumni speak to other alumni about their time at Park, people give generously. Answering the why they give probably has as many dimensions as there are graduates.

Since it’s my blog, I guess I get to share a few of my own answers to that question and I imagine they will resonate with many of you. My reasons include some very special faculty. As a result of taking numerous classes taught by Kenny Greif, I’m a far better reader and thinker than I would have been without that experience. Perhaps I drive him crazy with my exhaustive interpretations of the symbolism behind characters’ names— I’ll go down swinging on the argument that Olive in Saul Bellow’s Seize the Day is not named that by accident—but he taught a level of literary interpretation that is unparalleled. By the way, I’ve found those same analytical skills can pay off when dealing with real people. Brooks Lakin, of course, embodied the notion that what may satisfy many isn’t good enough if there’s more to be done. Lucky Mallonee ’62, who picked on me a good bit my junior year, taught me a great life lesson that has translated on and off the field; we all face challenges and the true winners are those who confront obstacles with all the resources they can muster and who give their best effort without being deterred by the fear of failure.

Aside from those lessons, and there are so many more from other mentors, there are my Park School friends. I’m still in contact with many of them and I consider them family. They embody the things that make life so fulfilling: wisdom, laughter, compassion, beauty, determination, and a whole host of other remarkable qualities.

That’s what Park provides---lifelong learning and a community to share and enjoy it with. With apologies to Pete Townshend, “I call that a bargain. The best I ever had.”

Park beats McDonogh---Again

2009-02-27T11:52:00.000-08:00

By Roger Seidenman

It was truly a great game between two evenly matched teams to decide the Fresh-Soph B-Conference Basketball Championship. As you can tell from the title, yes, the Bruins prevailed. This was a special game for many reasons. For me, Fresh-Soph is a team I had coached for eight seasons, and I have a soft spot in my heart for their challenging schedule. Their conference also includes Gilman, St. Paul’s, Boys’ Latin, and Archbishop Curley, just to name a few. The assistant coach is my Park classmate and good friend, Michael Stiller.

The game was the culmination of an extraordinary season for these boys. Both teams had identical records and each suffered one defeat at the hands of the other. A coin was flipped to determine the number one seed, and Park won the toss. Clearly, this was our year.

Park and McDonogh advanced through their respective semi-final games to the championship. Most Fresh-Soph games draw a crowd of the players’ parents, but on Thursday, February 19, 2009, there were many more folks than usual in the stands at the Brooks Lakin Court. There were a good number of players’ grandparents in attendance, and Bart Cook, our extended-day director extraordinaire, led in a troop of our youngest students. By the third quarter, the seats were almost completely filled, and whether people were there to watch the next contest or were just drawn in by the noise, they were compelled to stay-- the game was that good. The two teams battled back and forth relentlessly. Every time Park opened a small lead, McDonogh, just as quickly, rallied to close it. McDonogh closed regulation with a furious rush hitting a three pointer as time expired to send the game into overtime.

In overtime, McDonogh enjoyed their first lead in quite some time, and after unbelievably clutch free- throw shooting from both teams, the game went into double overtime. It was then that Park’s withering attack proved too much, and the Bruins won the championship by a final score of 69-64.

Fresh-Soph titles don’t get much ink, and that’s ok. Part of what made this game so great was its obscurity. These two evenly matched teams left everything they had on the court. From a Bruin’s perspective, when McDonogh sent the game into overtime it was such a disappointment that the Park squad could have faded. Obviously, the team did not. It was a glorious afternoon-- the Park boys rose to the occasion and defeated an exemplary opponent, and the place was filled with Bruins’ fans of all ages. Go Bruins!

The Nature of Truth and Beauty

2009-02-19T08:29:00.000-08:00

By Roger Seidenman

The nature of truth and beauty---that does set the mind racing. We were discussing that in class last week after the book we’ve been reading made a reference to John Keats’ Ode on a Grecian Urn. The poem didn’t really have anything to do with the course work, other than anytime you dissect literature, truth and beauty have some place in the conversation. We batted the concepts around for a good forty-five minutes and perhaps our greatest epiphany was that these long-time pinnacles of the human state are very temporal in nature. Whether as a group we were right or wrong is open for anyone to judge-- just like the aforementioned qualities-- but our work to reach a conclusion was energizing.

It is one of the greatest gifts in my life that Park allows me to teach an Upper School English course in addition to fulfilling my responsibilities as Director of Development. The students, and my fellow faculty members, serve as a constant source of inspiration for Park fundraising efforts. Sometimes alumni lament that the school has changed since their day. As a graduate from ’85, I know that the physical plant may be unrecognizable to some. Perhaps you didn’t even graduate at the Brooklandville campus. But Park School has never been about those things. It has and remains to be about minds figuring things out, making meaning out of something, and following a path of intellectual energy.

So, after a good ninety minutes spent discussing literature with these remarkably able students, who wouldn’t want to help the institution thrive? Will this blog help? Beats me. I’m not going to ask you to give on this blog. Of course, I hope that you will, and if one of the purposes of this blog is to serve as a forum for questions about fundraising, I’ll be glad to respond. Ultimately, I just want to communicate about today’s Park School. I’ll be asking other faculty members to provide posts here and share their insights about the school, the curriculum, and students. I do hope you will continue to check in here to read some personal observations about Park.