A Bargain

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

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

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.