Page 2 - Salesianum - Distinguished Gentleman - Summer 2020

From the President
I hope this issue of
Distinguished Gentleman
arrives at your home finding you and your family healthy. Ordinarily, I might use the term well, but in these times, none
of us are truly well. The anxiety, uncertainty, loss of life, stress
of quarantine, and subsequent economic damage of the epidemic affects all of us, whether we’ve contracted the virus or not.
We have just concluded a school year that ended with 14 weeks of unexpected closure. No event in Salesianum’s 118-year history has forced it to close its doors for more than a few days.
In the earliest days of the onset of the pandemic, we operated decisively, testing our Salesian call to humility, patience and optimism in ways that I’m sure yours was tested at home as well. The financial impact of the virus was apparent to me early and led to a pledge that I spoke to all of you about via letter and certainly bears mentioning again: no student currently enrolled, and no incoming freshman, will be forced to withdraw from Salesianum because of the economic or medical impact of the disease on his family.
It’s a bold pledge I made knowing what I know about our Salesian family, which is that generosity is woven through our DNA. The school has committed more than $500,000 from its own funds to provide additional aid to families with lost income. Our board of trustees, led by Dawn and Bill Schieffer ’79, has committed $165,000, and our community has already pledged an additional $260,000. I’m grateful. With more than 60 families already reaching out as of this writing, I know we’ll need every penny to honor our promise. But I also know that such a promise is the only way to maintain our ethos of affordability and accessibility during this time.
Salesianum also took the bold step of allocating an additional $500,000 to support our employees and their families, knowing that many will face potentially large medical bills and lost household income due to furloughed or laid-off spouses. I don’t know of another school that has made such
a commitment, but it felt natural to me, knowing that our faculty and staff are our greatest assets.
Indeed, now more than ever, we’re relying on teachers
to deliver our product in new and innovative ways. Our Salesian Charism is never learned; rather, it’s absorbed. Often, it’s absorbed at touchstone cultural moments that provide a natural framework and rhythm throughout the year. With the calendar suddenly wiped clean, it’s the ability of our teachers and staff to make everything still feel like Salesianum, that has amazed me most about the transition to virtual Salesianum.
Our focus now is rightfully on our plans to reopen
which, like the initial closure, will require great patience, humility and creativity to do effectively and safely. While we’ll be communicating specific plans separately, I wanted the entire community to know that we’ll be thoughtful and will make informed decisions in consultation with public health officials. While the start to the 2020–21 school year is unlikely to look like a traditional school opening, I’m certain it will be completely recognizable as Salesianum.
What follows in these pages shows only a glimpse of the story of our response. Like so much with this pandemic, nothing is spared, including Distinguished Gentleman, which is arriving at your mailbox late. The next issue of this magazine will chronicle more chapters of a story that will be written for years.
This pandemic is likely to define the generation of students we are teaching right now. Perhaps some will be inspired to careers in public health or the sciences. No matter the path chosen, the indelible mark left by COVID-19 on
the lives of our students will include positive innovations
and scars alike. However, the human condition, especially the fearless optimism of the young, suggests they have the capacity to adapt and overcome. Our job at Salesianum is
to support them, educate them, and get out of their way so they can do what every prior generation has done when challenged — be resilient.
Tenui Nec Dimittam,
Brendan P. Kennealey ’94
2 DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN | Summer 2020