On Keeping It Simple
This is my first blog post as President of Our Lady of Good Counsel High School. My hope is to post at least weekly so I can stay in touch with the greater Good Counsel community and those who wish can...
View ArticleOn being better
The following post is an adaptation of remarks I shared with the student body during Large Community on Friday, August 26, 2011.September 2, 2011During our opening meetings, I shared a few thoughts...
View ArticleOn remembering 9-11
September 12, 2011The following posting is an abridged version of remarks to students at a prayer service on September 9, 2011:Ten years ago, the Tuesday morning of September 11, 2001, presented one of...
View ArticleOn golfing
September 20, 2011 I played in my first Steve Dean Golf Tournament last Thursday. It was the 29th tournament and remarkably, the two men who got it all started are still involved. I met Danny Boyle...
View ArticleOn hanging out with the Class of 1962
September 28, 2011The plan for last Friday was for a reception to be followed by a victory over the Gonzaga Eagles in the Homecoming Football game. Not for the first time this year, the weather...
View ArticleOn being an accomplished athlete
October 6, 2011In the course of a career as an English teacher that began in 1980, I assigned F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby many times. It was even part of the curriculum for students in my...
View ArticleOn preparing for Open House
October 13, 2011Open House is this Sunday.It's hard to overstate the importance of Open House to our school. In the course of just three hours we expect around 2,000 prospective students and their...
View ArticleOn attending the Alumni Memorial Mass
October 25, 2011Since the start of the school year, it has become part of my routine to make it to the morning Mass here at school.We are fortunate to have Father Barry Gross—chaplain and faculty...
View ArticleOn the fall drama production
November 7, 2011My wife and I attended the matinee of Ken Ludwig's farce Leading Ladies yesterday. When you are head of a school, there are many occasions when you feel like the proverbial "proud...
View ArticleOn religious liberty in Maryland
November 21, 2011Catholics settled in Southern Maryland 377 years ago seeking a place where they could practice their faith in peace. Fifteen years after the arrival of the Ark and the Dove, Maryland...
View ArticleOn the atmosphere at the WCAC Football Championship
December 2, 2011I attended my first WCAC Football Championship on the Saturday before Thanksgiving weekend. I had been at all but one of our home games, including the comfortable regular season victory...
View ArticleOn remembering a great Xaverian
December 7, 2012In ten years as principal at John Carroll, I got to know Br. James Kelly a little. I would see him at the two or three meetings a year for high school presidents and principals of the...
View ArticleOn books and downsizing
January 3, 2012My wife is big on getting books from the library. Me, not so much. I'll get audiobooks there from time to time but the truth is I began my career early as a book buyer and I've yet to...
View ArticleOn taking the Good Counsel message on the road
January 26, 2011I took Good Counsel on the road to New York City late last week. The goal was to connect with alumni working in the city and introduce myself as the new leader of their alma...
View ArticleOn eating lunch with seniors
February 6, 2012Realizing he never taught any of the current senior class, Principal Pat Bates figured he needed to get to know all those students who would be receiving diplomas in May down at the...
View ArticleOn the Metro swim meet
February 14, 2012It sure was bleak outside on Saturday night. The wind was howling, the snow flurries were horizontal, and temps were in the teens.However, once my wife and I stepped inside the...
View ArticleOn going on Junior Retreat
March 2, 2012I had heard it time and again, a kind of refrain in my conversations with alumni: "Junior Retreat was the most memorable and important experience of my time at Good Counsel."I've been on...
View ArticleOn Grand Celebration
March 14, 2012We held the 24th Grand Celebration for Our Lady of Good Counsel High School this past Saturday night at the North Bethesda Marriott.Throughout the school year I have watched the Grand...
View ArticleOn Culture Day
March 27, 2012A year ago I attended Culture Day as the newly-hired-but-not-yet-in-office President, more than three months before my July 1st start. I came away exhilarated then. My first close...
View ArticleOn falcons
April 17, 2012I spent the latter half of Easter week with more than 10,000 Catholic school educators up in Boston at the Annual Convention and Expo of the National Catholic Educational Association. I'm...
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