Page 18 - Priorities #47 2010-June/July

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Building Trust
Reflecting on the I
past and looking to the future
Thea Sullivan
L-R: Rick Magnuson, Ray Rothrock, Wayne Davison, and Peter Campagna
In 1986, Priory was in a difficult period. Numbers in the monastic community were decreasing and the school faced a crisis in both enrollment and financial leadership. In response to these challenges, the Abbot of St. Anselm Abbey in New Hampshire sent Father William to Priory with the charge to create a Board of Trustees for the school. Heexplains,“Wehadveryeducatedpeople(inthemonasticcommunity) but they were educated as educators, not as business people. It was pretty obvious that the mom and pop operation of a school that had been perfectly fine for a number of years was no longer viable in the modern world. Priory just couldn’t survive that way given the competition and the need to make sure that academic standards were kept high.”
Father William gathered a group of twelve to fifteen laymen and women—some parents at the school, some who came to Priory’s chapel to worship, all of whom felt a connection to Priory and its monastic community—and Priory’s first Board of Trusteeswasborn. Theirrolewasnottoruntheschool—theHeadmasterandBoard of Directors did that—but to support the Headmaster, spearhead fundraising efforts, and ensure the vision and longevity of the school.
The expertise and connections the new trustees brought to Priory were impressive, Father William remembers. “People had connections to foundations, connections to philanthropists in the area, and were able to get grants for the school. It created a very good atmosphere for the headmaster. He had people he could rely on now to give him expert advice in many areas, people to rely on for fundraising. It really provided the mechanism for the school to come into its own, and even survive.”
What really stood out, though, was the passion for Priory that the trustees brought to their role. “The commitment of the people that served was amazing, the amount of time they put in,” Father William says, “They just had that commitment tomakesuretheschoolwoulddowell. Ithinktheamazingthingisthegreatlove for the Priory that many of them had.”
That love of Priory has continued to motivate the Board members to do great thingsfortheschool. Overthepasttenyears,WayneDavison,RayRothrock,Peter Campagna, and Rick Magnuson have each served as Board Chair, and over that decade—a particularly exciting and growth-filled one for Priory—each of them has contributed to the school in immeasurable ways.