Page 25 - Priorities #50 2011-June/July

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by James Ennis Kirkland
Back when I was a corporate art director the notion of sending my two children to a private school seemed financially out of reach. However, my mother—who was a staunch supporter of the Priory— insisted my wife, Vicki, and I go have a talk with the new Headmaster, Frank Cody, and see what could be done. Low and behold, Priory graciously bestowed a scholarship on my son Doug (class of ‘98) and three years later my daughter Emily (‘01) entered as well. Priory hired me as a freelance graphic artist/ photographer to work on a number of the school publications. My first task was to start a new magazine that would carry news of the school’s ongoing activities to alumni.
We titled this new creation ‘Priorities’, thinking it was quite the play on words. The Director of Communications was Carolyn Dobervich, who was a veteran journalist. So, for the next 38 issue, we had a great time pretending we were working on a two color version of Time magazine. We enjoyed using Priorities to showcase the great events that went on in and outside of school. Additionally, there were the amazing people that visited Priory with whom Carolyn interviewed and I photographed. Like Ambas- sador Shirley Black, filmmaker Jerry Zucker, the Archbishop of San Francisco, 49er great Steve Young, Stanford president Donald Kennedy, venture capitalist Richard Moran and the list goes on. Priorities also made it possible to get more familiar with faculty through Q&A articles. And it has always been fun reporting the many school activities while watching year after year students grow up and move on to new adventures, many of which have been published in Prioriites. It was a good partnership... right up to the day Carolyn announced she was retiring.
Carolyn’s departure gave me reason to worry. Who, or what, would replace her? Would the next director be so easy to work with... or for that matter, want to continue the magazine with me? Lucky for me Priory hired Sean McClain Brown as the new Director of Communcations. While Sean got right to work bringing Priory’s communications into the 21st century, he directed me to redesign Priorities. Somehow, he also convinced the powers that be (Head of School, Tim Molak) that the magazine needed to be in full color. This guy was my new hero. So by issue #40 we had gone to a full color magazine. Over the years Priorites has grown significantly in scope and outreach. It has become a major tool for keeping the many Priory alumni and families up to date with the schools activities and advancements. So, keep your eye on the mail as we set our sights on the next 50 issues.