Rooted Forward

A foundational strategy for the future, Rooted Forward: The Strategic Plan for St. Benedict’s Prep, is driving improvement, investment and recommitment to standards and principles The Hive holds dear. The actual work of manifesting vision into action has begun on Five Strategic Priorities: Ministry, Community, Ecosystem, Endowment and Experience. Here’s a look at how the new strategic plan is shaping up.

If you want to visit Abbot Augustine Curley, O.S.B. ’74, you won’t find him in a remote corridor. The new Abbot’s office is across the hallway from the Dalton Gymnasium, a central location in the HAB where the door is usually open. Kids stick their heads in to say “Hi” or stop by for conversation and tea if they are between early college classes at NJIT or Rutgers-Newark. It’s a busy area, so how does the Abbot get any work done?

Being present and more visible to students is the work, or a significant part of the Benedictine monks’ ministry at Newark Abbey.

It’s also a concrete example of involving the monastic brotherhood more fully in St. Benedict’s Prep, a core line of effort outlined in the strategic plan to recommit to Ministry by Announcing the Gospel Through Prayer and Work. The monastery recently restarted gatherings that had been paused due to COVID-19. Student dinners and Mass with the Benedictine monks (along with a few games of friendly pool) are now a regular recurrence in the Hospitality Center and the monks are looking to branch out with events geared to faculty and others. In a diverse, multi-faith community like The Hive, “Announcing the Gospel,” is practiced by example. “It’s more of here’s how we live and here’s what we do because we’re Christians,” said Abbot Augustine. “Many of our kids come from terrible circumstances. ‘Announcing the Gospel’ is another way to announce that you don’t have to be defined by where you come from. It’s a way of saying there’s hope.”

 Rooted Forward aims to enhance interactions between the monks and parishioners at St. Mary’s Church and Newark Abbey. It is also identifying ways to engage more broadly with the City of Newark. Strategic Priority Ministry is led by Br. Bruno Mello, O.S.B. and Director of Theatre Patricia Flynn H’95.

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Everything good about St. Benedict’s stems from community. While the community within The Hive retained its connectedness throughout the global pandemic, outward connections were halted or operated in cyberspace. Job one for the strategic planning committee on Community tasked with Deepening and Expanding Our Relationships and Connections is rebuilding partnerships in the U.S. and overseas. Progress is already underway. The interfaith seminar on antisemitism and racism with Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School is meeting in person and was even featured on an NBC New York segment, “Fighting Hate by Forging Friendships.” The international exchange with Supreme College (formerly Jac P. Thijsse College) in the Netherlands restarted in February, an experience that broadens the cultural and global perspectives of Gray Bees.

Relationships are multiplying within the Fr. Mark Payne Institute, as well. A resource for public, charter, Catholic and private schools nationwide interested in adapting Benedict’s model of community, student leadership, counseling and experiential education, new partnerships have been formed with schools in Cleveland, Ohio and Wilmington, Del. The Institute has met with or hosted schools from New York, New Jersey, Texas and Arizona. “The more we are able to connect with people, whether it’s across the street or across the country, it helps us as an institution to learn from other schools and expand our offerings to students,” said Glenn Cassidy, Ed.D. ’90, director of the Fr. Mark Payne Institute. “Creating all of these connection points allows us to step outside of ourselves and see our relationship to the larger society.”

Other lines of effort to make the St. Benedict’s community stronger and more resilient will involve increasing diversity and representation on the Board of Trustees and bolstering civic relationships. Fr. Mark DiLone, O.S.B., Associate Headmaster for Mission, and Dr. Cassidy are co-leading the Strategic Priority of Community.

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Enrollment at The Hive increased 30% from 2017 to 2022, a good problem to have considering the dramatic decline in Catholic school admissions across the country. The growth — spurred largely by the Elementary Division and establishing the Girls Prep Division — has also brought growing pains that Rooted Forward is set to address via the Strategic Priority Ecosystem to Ensure Structural and Operational Effectiveness. Faculty recruitment and retention is a key line of effort to achieving the goal, and recruiting for mission is at the center of it. “What makes Benedict’s, Benedict’s is people committed to the mission,” said Dean of Administration Michael Scanlan H’97, who is co-leading this portion of the strategic plan with Chief Advancement Officer Mike Fazio.

Hiring mission-aligned candidates and providing more intentional training and support for adults to acclimate to St. Benedict’s unique approach can help retain talented faculty, coaches and staff. The Ecosystem committee will also study compensation to determine how the School can offer the most competitive employee package possible.

With nearly 1,000 kids on the Property and at the Elementary Division facility on Livingston Street, the Facilities Master Plan is another crucial element in elevating the environment in which St. Benedict’s operates. The School has contracted with the architectural firm Beyer Blinder Belle to develop the Master Plan with the input of key stakeholders. Chief priorities include a suitable home for the Girls Prep Division, deferred maintenance and space solutions that accommodate what Gray Bees need: dynamic learning experiences, tending to the heart and room to develop their talents in activities and sports.

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Have you ever wondered why a constant stream of texts, calls, emails, letters and social media appeals are directed your way every year, asking for support of The Hive? St. Benedict’s financial model is a big reason why. Most private and Catholic schools fund annual operating expenses through tuition. St. Benedict’s does it through fundraising. Nearly $13 million was raised in 2021-22, which covered approximately 70% of the School’s operating expenses, including financial assistance to 85% of Middle and Prep Division students. Roughly the same amount of money needs to be raised, every single year, a challenging circumstance that Rooted Forward seeks to address.

The Strategic Priority Endowment presents a smarter path to meet St. Benedict’s annual operating costs and secure the institution’s future. Preserving Legacy Through Endowment Growth aims to triple the endowment from approximately $36 million to $100 million, yielding more investment income to underwrite school operations, manage inflationary costs, and ensure Benedict’s remains viable and available to all who seek it. A significantly larger endowment works on behalf of the School, allowing for more manageable annual giving goals. It can also free up time and effort to develop advancement programs that further improve St. Benedict’s.

Director of Annual Giving Lauren Alampi and Executive Assistant to the Headmaster and Chief Advancement Officer Susan Kronberg are co-leading the endowment initiative. The central line of effort is an endowed giving marketing campaign, open to donors at any capacity. “A gift to the endowment, no matter the amount, has an impact,” explained the committee co-chairs. “The more we can grow the endowment, the more investment income we will have, lightening the lift of our annual giving initiatives.”

Named endowed giving opportunities for scholarships and program support will also be communicated to the Benedict’s donor community once finalized.

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St. Benedict’s has been way ahead of the pedagogy pack since its rebirth in July 1973, because monks and teachers were always willing to adapt and change the curriculum, daily schedules, even the length of the school year — 11 months — in service of kids.

Now, another reimagining is underway, inspired by the Strategic Priority Experience of Advancing Excellence in Teaching and Student Outcomes. A committee of seven faculty and staff, led by Rich Molina ’06, physics teacher and Grace Lenahan, religion teacher, are pursuing multiple lines of effort that include boosting professional development opportunities, integrating more academic differentiation into educational programs, and engaging faculty and students in efforts to recommit to school life and community standards.

“Almost 40% of faculty are new to St. Benedict’s as of four years ago,” explained Mr. Molina. “This is the first time in a long time that we have a large number of people unfamiliar with the intricacies of our community and how things are done. There is an onboarding process, but there are so many things you have to learn as an adult or employee at The Hive.” A more intentional onboarding process is envisioned by the committee on Experience, one that outlines the expectations for adult participation while providing support for faculty to successfully manage the many demands the accompaniment of Benedict’s students requires.

The primary effort involves innovating the curriculum, which Ms. Lenahan described as a paradigm shift. Members of the committee and a separate working group have been meeting regularly with Headmaster Fr. Edwin Leahy, O.S.B. ’63, about academic differentiation and the goal to introduce more critical life skills into traditional classroom learning. Capabilities that Gray Bees lean on for a lifetime — persistence, problem solving and resilience — are developed in large part during Spring and Summer phases. How can that be extended and integrated into the entire academic year? “It’s the grit part of the curriculum, which involves changing how we think,” Ms. Lenahan said. “What it may look like is still preliminary, but I’m excited. I think it’s needed.”

Balance will be key since the majority of Gray Bees are college-bound. Mr. Molina recalled a humanities course on Newark that he took as a St. Benedict’s student that provides a good model for balance. The class was academic. It encompassed traditional and project-based learning. And it was relevant to students’ lives. Gray Bees were so engaged in the study of their city, that learning how to source primary documents and write research papers (critical skills needed to succeed in college) didn’t seem like a chore.

However the re-envisioning of curriculum happens, it will happen soon. Fr. Edwin set the next academic year, 2023-24, as the target date for the new curriculum to be put into practice. Stay tuned.