Campaign 2010 Update: We sincerely thank every single alumnus, friend, and parent who has donated to the Annual Fund thus far. We have received $1.8 million in donations from 1,067 donors. This is a significant number of donors, exactly the same as last year and 150 more than two years ago. Donation totals remain a concern as we are not yet on pace to reach our essential fundraising goal of 4.8 million. To bring us up to pace, we ask all who can to please make a donation to the Annual Fund today, and, to help us reach a much wider audience, to encourage your classmates, friends and family to join you with a matching gift. You can donate online by debit or credit card, and you can simply forward this email to others so that they may make their own investment in the great efforts of our hardworking students, monks and teachers. For those who wish to donate by check, please be on the lookout for a special letter from Headmaster Fr. Edwin that should arrive in your mailbox in the next few days and will include a postage paid envelope, which will help facilitate your swift reply. Please contact Michael Liddy, Director of Annual Giving, at (973) 792-5774 for any questions. We are grateful for your help to transform the lives and futures of hundreds of our area’s most promising young men who need what St. Benedict’s can provide them.

St. Benedict's Annual Communion Breakfast will be held Sunday, March 14. This year’s honorees include: Distinguished Alumnus – psychologist, Mathias Hagovsky, Ph.D. ’60; Distinguished Service – Michael DiPiano H’82; Honorary Alumna – Regina Blackwell; Honorary Alumni – Tony Carnahan and Rev. Paul Taylor, O.S.B, Ph.D. Mass at 9 a.m. in St. Mary’s Church will be followed by breakfast in St. Benedict’s cafeteria. For information or reservations, please contact Candace Bradsher at 973-792-5752.

Save the Date! The Annual St. Benedict’s Dinner will be held on Thursday, May 13. We will be honoring three Board of Trustees’ members: Kenneth F. Boehl H’97, retired Vice Chairman of MBNA America Bank; Robert DiQuollo ’65, President of Brinton Eaton Wealth Advisors; and the Hon. Claude Coleman, Superior Court Judge, and his wife, Barbara Bell Coleman, President-Principal, BBC Associates, LLC. For more information, please contact Candace Bradsher at 973-792-5752.

The Basketball team wrapped up its regular season on a 16-game winning streak, capped with a 66-37 victory over Forest Hills of New York during Senior Night on Feb. 18 in Dalton Gymnasium. Coach Dan Hurley’s team, which posted a 20-1 record and is ranked No. 4 nationally by ESPN and No. 5 by USA Today, was led all season by the Texas-bound Myck Kabongo (18 points per game), Rutgers-signee Gilvydas Biruta (10.8 ppg.), Temple-commit Aaron Brown (11.7 ppg.) and Mike Poole (10.8 ppg.).

The Indoor Track & Field team followed victories the Essex County Relays and the New Jersey Catholic Conference Championships by claiming the State Prep Championships on Feb. 17. Sprinter Martin Otieno, who is headed to Lehigh, led the charge in the Preps by claiming the 55- and 200-meter dashes, while Ryan Rhodes captured the shot put title and Kenyon Wright won the high Jump.

The Wrestling team concluded its first season under the direction of Solomon Fleckman by competing in last weekend’s National Prep Championships at Lehigh University. Juniors Chris Dowdy and Bobby Bah, along with senior Riad Abu-Smail each earned distinction as a National Place-winner by placing in the Top 8 of their respective weight classes. Dowdy had a runner-up finish at 135 pounds, Bah placed eighth at 152 and Abu-Smail came in sixth at 215.

The Swimming and Fencing teams saw dramatic improvements this season. The swimming team placed third in the Prep championships behind junior Gio Urquilla, who earlier this season became the first swimmer to win a county title since Olympic Gold medalist Cullen Jones in 2002, and seniors Courtney Mosley, Mike Ciociola, Ian Brown and Yomi Onadipe. The fencing team placed second in the state Prep Championships as senior Rodrigo Bergamasco (Epee) and junior Idris Mitchell (Sabre) placed third in their individual weapons. Coach Jeff Austin’s team went 8-4 on the year.

Tom Koellhoffer '67 and Cullen Jones ’02 were honored by the City of Plainfield and the Plainfield YMCA on Saturday, Feb. 20. Koellhoffer started the Plainfield YMCA Seahorses swim team in 1975, which is now celebrating their 35th anniversary. Jones, who learned to swim at the “Y” in Newark, was honored for his Olympic Gold Medal performance in the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.  Days earlier, Jones sent a letter to the Gray Bees swim team as they prepared for the State Prep Championships.

The Parents Organization will hold its annual Tricky Tray Scholarship Fundraiser on Saturday, April 10. This event is an auction of donated prizes and services and attracts a sold out crowd annually in the Dalton Gymnasium. The St. Benedict's Prep community of alumni and families has strongly supported the event over the years.  The committee is still seeking donated prizes (electronics, home goods, etc.), gift certificates, services, etc.  If you are interested in making a donation or would like more information about the auction, please contact Mary Hauck at (973) 792-5776.

The St. Benedict’s Jazz Ensemble will travel to Boston to compete in the Berklee College High School Jazz Festival on March 12-13. Twenty members of St. Benedict’s ensemble, under the direction of Dr. Jeremy Fletcher, will showcase their talents on Saturday, March, 13, playing “April in Paris” by Count Basie, “Nostalgia in Times Square” by Charles Mingus and “Sir Duke” by Stevie Wonder.

The St. Benedict’s Drama Guild will produce “The Foreigner” by Larry Shue on March 18-21 in Colin Auditorium. A comedy set in resort-style fishing lodge in rural Georgia, the play revolves around two of its guests, Englishman Charlie Baker and Staff Sergeant, Froggy LeSueur. Performances will be 7:30 p.m. on March, 18, 19 and 20 and a 2 p.m. matinee Sunday, March 21. Admission is free.

A Middle States committee, including faculty, parents, students, alumni and Board members, has been working diligently on components of our school’s self-study –including revising our Mission Statement, composing new “belief statements,” compiling a “profile of our graduates” and assembling a variety of data which portrays our current state as a school. The Middle States accreditation team will make its official visit in November.

The Monks of Newark Abbey are sponsoring a special Lenten "Catechesis" for teens and adults, led by adults of the "Catechumenal Way" in the Archdiocese of Newark. The way, as described by the late Pope John Paul II, is "an Itinerary of Catholic formation, valid for our society and for our times." The Neo-Catechumenal way is a journey to rediscover the true meaning of the Baptismal vows in adulthood. Sessions will be held each Monday and Thursday during Lent for adults and teens (ages 13-&-up), in St. Benedict's cafeteria at 8 p.m., now through April 12. For more information, please call 973-372-3376.

Welcome Back! Didier Jean-Baptiste ’86 has rejoined the Development Office at St. Benedict’s after a four-year stint as a commercial real estate attorney in New York City. He is looking forward to once again working with the alumni to keep them connected with each other and The Hive. E-mail or call Didier (973-792-5747) to lend him a hand or reconnect with some of your classmates.

The Benedict News and Kayrix inducted members into the school’s chapter of the Quill and Scroll, the high school journalism honor society, on Wednesday, March 3. Gil Gaul ’69, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, who recently retired from the Washington Post to concentrate on his own writing, spoke at the ceremony. The Benedict News members include Emery Ahoua, Fritz Bondoa, Stanley Guthrie, Steven Abalo, Jose Santamaria, Quran Squire, Nick Yulan and Ramaad Williams. Kayrix inductees are Pragash Parararajasingam, Tyree Huey, Yauchin Lam, Javier Robles, Ian Gyan, Thaddeus Williams and Richard Vincent.

St. Benedict’s is again participating in “School Swap,” a program started in conjunction with the American Conference on Diversity two years ago, before representatives of St. Benedict’s and Kent Place of Summit continued it themselves and are holding its second annual “Swap.” St. Benedict’s students visited Kent Place today, March 4, before the girls’ school brought a number of students to The Hive tomorrow.

A Pan-Asian interdisciplinary collaboration has already begun between a group of faculty members, representatives from the Newark Museum, and the American Symphony Orchestra. The groups are developing an ambitious program of professional development and student study to focusing on India, China, Korea, and Japan, leading to a Pan-Asian festival of the arts to be held in Newark during 2011-12. St. Benedict’s will be the coordinator of school activities from selected other Newark and New Jersey high schools because of our past success of such large scale multi-disciplinary collaborations with the Museum and the ASO.

Dr. David Wolf, English Department Chair, is working with the Rutgers-Newark MFA program in Creative Writing to coordinate this year’s Newark High School writing contest. Along with St. Benedict’s, schools participating this year include Arts, St. Vincent, Central, University, and Science. Noted novelist, Jayne Anne Phillips, the chair of the Rutgers program has been an enthusiastic champion of this program. Dr. Wolf is also coordinating a “Writers in Schools” program, sponsored by the esteemed literary magazine, The Hudson Review, for March 23. For further information, please contact Dr. Wolf.

Check out our latest video of Fr. Edwin, which is posted on our website and on our Facebook "Fan" page, which has attracted nearly 1,300 members since its inception last summer. Fans of “The Hive” can keep informed with up-to-date happenings from SBP by joining, or by visiting the school’s website and viewing the Facebook page. So tell any Alumni, Family and Friends you may know to see what all the fuss is about by clicking the "Join us on Facebook" tab on the top of this page or by visiting our website and clicking on the "Become a Fan" button.

A representative of the national organization, “Schools That Can.” will visit SBP on Friday, March 5, as part of our invitation for membership in this diverse group of individual charter and independent schools that has a common purpose – providing frequently underserved urban minority students quality education preparing them to compete effectively in school and attend college in meaningful numbers. St. Benedict’s will be one of the Newark hosts along with Link Community School of the national conference of “Schools That Can” being held in the city in May.

Students from Loyola University in Baltimore visited St. Benedict’s Tuesday as part their “urban immersion” experience, which was coordinated by Br. Patrick Winbush, O.S.B. The Loyola students are staying at the New Community Corporation in Newark for spring break doing community service and are looking to return to SBP next year, possibly for an entire week.