“How is the start of the school year going?” I have been asked this question (and several variations of it) a lot lately. My answer is, “It’s going incredibly well!” I’m not exaggerating either. We have been in classes for about a month now and everything is running...
Preston Kendall’s President’s Pen
June President’s Pen with Preston Kendall
Graduation at CRSM is always a highlight of the school year – a reminder of what we are all about… what gets us up each morning. There is nothing more satisfying for educators than to see students we’ve known for four years walk across the stage to receive their...
Holy Week and Easter Reflection from Jim Dippold, Director of Campus Ministry
*Jim Dippold, Director of Campus Ministry, steps in this month to share this reflection: A favorite reflection of mine at this time of the year is Sister Thea Bowman’s piece entitled “Let Us Resolve to Make This Week Holy.” It is a litany of ways that we can act in...
February President’s Pen with Preston Kendall
You could have heard a pin drop. The lights were off with only the gentle light from the north windows saturating the cafeteria. A guitar strummed its first note and then the choir began singing: The Lord is my light, my light and salvation: in God I trust, in God I...
January President’s Pen with Preston Kendall
“Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. If it is, let us trace its movements and pray that our own inner being may be sensitive to its guidance, for we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us.” – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King,...
December President’s Pen with Preston Kendall
Two days before Christmas and all through the school Not a creature was present, I felt like a fool. The work-study vans were all parked in a row Under our new canopy and out of the snow. I pass empty classrooms as I walk down the hall, Whatever happened to that...
Preston Kendall on thanking, praising and being grateful and graceful
Gratitude… Last Monday, twenty-two CRSM students gave up their evening to be here at school calling nearly 400 donors simply to say, “Thank you.” They reached more than ninety in-person. What a treat to hear them talking to benefactors on the other end of the line,...
Preston Kendall’s October President’s Pen
Email is both the bane and the salve of my existence as president of CRSM. I was travelling last week and, despite using most free moments to weed through the growing list, there are still, at this moment, 313 unread messages in my Inbox. Granted, most are frivolous...
September President’s Pen with Preston Kendall: On being people for others
One table in our cafeteria was particularly busy this week. It wasn’t a bake sale or some special food offering. It was students signing up with our Campus Ministry staff for regular volunteer opportunities throughout the school year. Every Tuesday, CRSM sends...
August President’s Pen with Preston Kendall
Here. We. Go! The energy of the first day of school at CRSM defies description. There are only two days per year when we hold back students from their workday for a late start, bringing together the entire student body – the first day of school and our Senior Sendoff...