A letter from His Directorship
February 28th, 2008
The intimidating Tim Clarke sends us his missive:
Dear Classmates:
After spending the better part of the last decade emailing at work, I was in a panic to actually sit down and write you all a normal letter. Unfortunately, for you, there is no Cliff Note version of “SPS Alumni letters”, but I still thought important to do my best to keep you up to date with our class happenings and with St. Paul’s School.
Where do I begin? Well, I have to say, I thought we had great reunion as usual. Annie and Bethany had all the bells and whistles going, so again many thanks to them. I don’t have the official head count, but clearly a great turnout. In addition, it was particularly nice to see a good number of people who had not been back in a long time.
I also wanted to give kudos to Alex Paine and Brittain Stone for all their work on our own sps87blog.com. People Magazine…move over! In fact, SPS has asked for their help in developing something similar for the School and other forms. I spoke to Brittain and the plan is to keep it all going, so stay tuned.
As for the class financials, the 2007 fiscal year closed at the end of last June. We didn’t break any records, but close. Clearly, SPS looks at our form as a leader. Officially, we totaled $64,377 with a 60% participation rate. What does that all mean? Well, it means that we sponsored one student for a full ride this year, which is pretty cool.
On a slightly sadder topic, a few have expressed interest about Heather Robertson’s passing. I don’t know much more about her illness except that she had been battling ovarian cancer. Clearly, she had kept it very private, so it was a surprise to many. What I can tell you is that many of us did gather in the Old Chapel for an informal service. I had forgotten what is like to be a part of a spiritual community and it was a nice feeling. Kelly Clark was in true form and led us not only in prayer, but also in lighthearted fond memories of Heather. I think we all left comforted.
As for St. Paul’s news, I was able to get to a few events this past fall, which included the annual Alumni Directors/Form Agent Weekend and a sponsor’s lunch in Boston. For the first time in some 10 odd years attending these events, there was a real sense of excitement and positive attitude. I have gotten to know many in the Development and Alumni offices and clearly, they are happier with Bill Matthews at the helm. In fact, the School is doing much better fundraising this year then last.
A few line items I thought worth noting.
Did you know?
· The School is going “Green”. The largest student organization at SPS is the ECO Action which you may remember was started by Mr. Potter.
· SPS students are competing in the Eco Challenge, a contest between 30 odd other schools to save the most energy on campus this Feb. See Youtube.com for the SPS video.
· Robotics is now on the curriculum.
· The School’s Strategic Plan calls for every student to participate in an away from campus experience lasting up to three weeks. Initial estimates are that these trips might cost $5,000 per student on average. The School would like to endow the cost of this program, which means an average of 130 student trips a year, plus appropriate faculty supervision, which would cost $15 million.
· Student financial aid is offered in some form to 34% of the students.
· No more phonations! The thought is that it is more worthwhile to do alumni gatherings.
· Starting next spring, the road past the gym is going to be closed to all off campus traffic.
· An example of school costs going up. Recently it was discovered that the power plant tower needed a rebuild for an estimated sum of $750k.
· You can listen to a live stream of WSPS 90.5FM at wsps.sps.edu
· There is a Children’s learning Center for employees of St. Paul’s which is operated year round.
· SPS Boys Hockey is undefeated in the ISL. Just beat #1 Belmont Hill by 6-2.
· Bill Matthews made the NH Hockey Hall of Fame last year.
An obvious concern for the School at this point is that SPS has lagged behind some sister schools in terms of endowment statistics. Basically, St. Paul’s has not had a major capital campaign for the endowment in decades, but this is about to change.
Going forward, my hope is to start leaning on sps87blog.com and email for communication, so please keep that in mind if you haven’t updated your contact information of late. My home email is faclark3@comcast.net. Brittain’s is brittain.stone@usmagazine.com. And also please make sure you keep in touch with the School – Tina Abramson, Director of Alumni Relations, (tabramson@sps.edu) would love your updated contact information, ideas and questions.
All the best and have a great start to 2008!
Best regards,
Tim
