A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi

For some reason, which to this day remains a mystery to us both, my good friend Patti Bailey and I were placed in an advanced French class upon entering Notre Dame Prep as freshman so very many years ago. Perhaps it was our grade school record that led them to make certain assumptions about our […]

Excellence By Design

‘Peer evaluation’. There’s a term that’ll send a shudder down the spine of any garden-variety neurotic: Employer questionnaire: Please evaluate your co-worker, Susie B. Employee answer: I’m so glad you asked. I’ve been wanting to bring this to your attention for some time now. I feel that Susie B. can be very insensitive (I wouldn’t […]

Penny Queen

Let’s face it; if you are or have a school age child, chances are you’ve been recruited to do more than your fair share of fundraising. I know this because, more than likely, I’m your biggest customer. Personally speaking, I have enough Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies in my freezer to open my own bakery […]

Dame Maggie Ward

Yes, this is a post about Maggie Ward, NDP’s drama coach for more than 30 years, but don’t expect something out of Glee. NDP is no William McKinley High School of TV fame (thankfully), and Maggie Ward is neither a Will Schuster-wanna-be, nor a diva in her own right. In fact, the only theatrics she […]

Blue Ribbon Year

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. Aristotle. Does excellence matter? In an era where we give our kids trophies for striking out and kudos for feeling good about themselves (if not their actual skills) it begs the question…does excellence matter? The U.S. Department of Education thinks […]