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Reflections on Fifty Years at Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart MAKING HISTORY 69

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Reflections on Fifty Years at Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, the all girls, K-12 school in Princeton, New Jersey

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Reflections on Fifty Years at Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred HeartMaking History

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As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.—Psalm 42:1

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ContentsForeword vii

Introduction 1

The History of Sacred Heart and Stuart 3

The Early Years 11

Architecture 27

Goal One: A Personal and Active Faith in God 59

Goal Two: A Deep Respect for Intellectual Values 69

Goal Three: A Social Awareness Which Impels to Action 79

Goal Four: The Building of Community as a Christian Value 93

Goal Five: Personal Growth in an Atmosphere of Wise Freedom 103

Appendices 126

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The first Lower and Middle Schools

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Life Before StuartSr. KirbyI came from Stone Ridge in Washington, where I had been a teacher. I taught the third academic. I was immersed in American history and literature and psychology, and I loved teaching. Toward the end of the last year at Stone Ridge, Reverend Mother Barry named me assistant headmistress to give me a little bit of experience. Stuart was my first job as an administrator.

“Everybody was very crazy about the school.”—Joan Kirby, RSCJ

Foreword

Dr. Fagin Prior to Stuart, my experience had been in schools that were pretty homogeneous, so I was very excited to join such a diverse community. And my excitement was not unfounded—I very much enjoy getting to know and working with our students and families who come from such varied backgrounds and are of many different nationalities.

First Impressions of StuartSr. KirbyWe had an office on Nassau Street and we interviewed students while the building was in progress. So that whole summer of ’63, I interviewed students and I learned a huge amount about Princeton and Princeton’s commitment to academic excellence and development.

Stuart’s first Headmistress, Sister Joan Kirby, talks with Head of School, Dr. Patty Fagin, February 5, 2013

Dr. Fagin joined Stuart in 2010

Sister Kirby and Dr. Fagin, 2012

Sister Joan Kirby, 1963vii

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Contains excerpts from Stuart at Princeton, compiled by Herman Tull, PhD, 1998

This is no ordinary building: it is an organic entity in which every element of its design suggests a larger purpose. The green exterior tile mimics and melds with the surrounding forest; the floor to ceiling windows illuminate the building with what seems to be the light of intelligence; the small risers on the stairs—now worn through a generation of footsteps—remind us that this is a place designed first and foremost for the children that fill its halls; and the Pillar of the Sacred Heart in the front entry, cast as an organic member of the building’s structure, imbues the entire school with a deep spiritual presence.

Architecture“From the exterior to the pebbles streaming down the pillars, to the Zen Garden. It’s not only aesthetics and architecture. Jean Labatut orchestrated the spirit that resonates for Stuart students while here and well after they leave.”

—Anne Soos, Science Teacher, Upper School Head

Left: The architectural model of the Stuart campus, 1962

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From left: Melissa Robinson, Amy Masonis, and Andrea DeRochi, all Class of 1985 in 1976

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Stuart Enthusiast Nancy Light “We can ascribe the excellence of the school to the Goals as they are lived out. But before they were written, the founders and the nuns lived the goals, always true to their Sacred Heart mission.”

Nancy Light, whose career in Stuart’s English department spanned forty years, is a self-confessed “Stuart enthusiast.” “At Stuart, there is a consistency of excellence.” Asked what sets the school apart from other private schools, Ms. Light observes, “It is a very special school, where the human touch is nearly universal.” She adds, “The students receive such individual attention,” praising “the total commitment of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart.”

She joined Stuart on the heels of the birth of her daughter. “Holly became ‘a lifer’ at the school, and Peter attended Stuart’s preschool.” [At her interview with]

Goal Two: A Deep Respect for Intellectual Values

Nancy Light (center) with Tara Malone ’04 (left) and Sophia Medina ’04 in 2004

Sister Bush and Tom Fulton, “I was attracted to the beautiful wooded approach and Labatut’s wonderful design, straight out of Le Corbusier. Such openness— a lot of glass. The classrooms were so open to nature.”

“‘The heart of education is the education of the heart,’ said St. Madeleine Sophie Barat. It was one of the first enlightened thoughts I heard when I began teaching at Stuart, and it becomes more important to me every year.”

—Joyce Felsenfeld, Fourth Grade Teacher

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The Stuart RingA Stuart girl receives her ring at the Junior Ring Ceremony, a beloved rite of passage. It is a special event at which seniors bestow the Stuart ring to the members of the junior class. Stuart’s ring is distinct in that it features a deer drinking from water. Christy Love Sadron says her design was was inspired by, “Psalm 23, Stuart’s Mater Window, and the Lascaux cave drawings.” Today’s ring is slightly different from the original, as some years ago the mold to the ring could not be located and a new version was made.

“I have finally become my own part of the Stuart tradition of powerful girls in the world.”

—Caroline Scott ’14

“Receiving my ring has made me a part of an eternal sisterhood.”

—Bianca Moreno-Paz ’14

The original Stuart Ring

was designed by Christy Love

Sadron ’66

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“Twenty years from now I can look down at my hand and be reminded that no matter where life takes me I am still a child of the Sacred Heart.”

—Samielle Taylor ’14

“I purposely wear my Stuart ring on a daily basis as a beacon for me to stay focused on the fundamentals that I learned at Stuart… as they have become my core.”

—Kathy Fox Feeny ’71

20102012

1978

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Lower School girls campaign during the presidential election, 1976

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Beloved Coach and Teacher Missy Bruvik“I can’t imagine teaching anywhere else. It’s a place where you’re happy doing what you love. It evokes the same response in students—the girls know how much you love what you’re doing.”

Missy Bruvik is devoted to Stuart’s students and principles. She arrived at Stuart in 1986, having grown up in Princeton. “Of course, I knew of Stuart,” she begins. At Princeton High School, she remembers, “We played them. And sometimes, I’d lose my buddies to Stuart.” Ms. Bruvik was teaching part-time at St. Paul’s School and coaching at the high school, when, “through somebody who knew somebody, I received

Goal Five: Personal Growth in an Atmosphere of Wise Freedom“I think we’re the most special school in the world because we have wise freedom. It feels good to be trusted. Thank you Janet Erskine Stuart. In my heart I shall always be a child of the Sacred Heart.” —Fourth Grader Jolie Brakey, in 2006

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“The community. It’s my favorite aspect about life at Stuart and it always has been. Stuart is like a home away from home. I chose to come here because I could tell there was something special about it.”

—Amethyst Carey ’12

1975

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2012

2011

1977

2007

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Founders Fund celebrates 123 individuals who gave $208,709 to buy land and construct the school.

The Raissa Maritain Library is dedicated.

Children of Mary, the predecessor to Stuart First Friday Gathering, begins to meet under the direction of Reverend Mother Mary C. Wheeler, RSCJ.

November 22, 1963The first field hockey game is played at Stuart against Eden Hall.

1964175 students attend Stuart in its second year.

Beginning of Stuart Fathers Club, forerunner to SPA.

July 1960 Founding mothers travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with Reverend Mother, Superior Vicar of the Washington Vicariate of the Society of the Sacred Heart.

December 1960The Society of the Sacred Heart approves a school and “Project Princeton” is born.

Founders Fund organized to finance the building of Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart.

1961Jean Labatut, professor of architecture at Princeton University, is chosen to design the building. The school is named for Janet Erskine Stuart, the fifth Superior General of the Society of the Sacred Heart.

First Stuart Christmas Bazaar in anticipation of the founding.

September 18, 1963 Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart opens to 94 students in Preschool through Grade 10.

Joan Kirby, RSCJ, is the first Headmistress of Stuart.

October 4, 1963Father Robert Murray says the first Mass at the Stuart Chapel.

50 Year Highlights

Appendices c. 1963

c. 1969

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1972Student exchanges are held with Sacred Heart students from Philadelphia, Rhode Island and Scotland and Spring Break excursions are led by faculty to France and Spain.

Stuart Alumnae Association is formed.

First “Black Student Caucus” of Independent Schools of the East Coast is held at Stuart.

1973Judith Garson, RSCJ, is the third Headmistress of Stuart.

1974A gift from the Robert Wood Johnson 1962 Charitable Trust contributes $300,000 toward reducing the school’s debt.

1975Beginning of the ice hockey program at Stuart.

1976 “A Commitment to the Future” campaign concludes, raising $788,598.

1977Joan Magnetti, RSCJ, is the fourth Headmistress of Stuart.

1978Stuart begins working with Loaves and Fishes in Trenton.

1979Students and faculty participate in the Appalachia Service Project trip for the first time.

1965Gertrude Baker and Sigrid Sittig are the first graduates of Stuart.

1966Mary Russell O’Brien (Rusty) ’67 is elected the first Student Council President.

1967Mary Bush, RSCJ, is the second Headmistress of Stuart.

First Thistle, student literary publication, is published.

Opening of Stuart Art Gallery.

First annual Stuart Garden Party.

1968First Stuart yearbook is published, becomes La Source in 1969.

1969Gymnasium and art space is completed, funded by gifts of nearly $270,000.

First annual giving drive contributes 4 percent of Stuart income.

1970First alumnae reunion with 61 of 90 graduates returning.

First issue of Stuart News is published.

1971Community of the Religious of the Sacred Heart have transitioned from wearing habits to lay clothing.

Upper School students stop wearing uniforms.

Stuart Parent Association is organized.

1977

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MAKING HISTORY: Reflections on Fifty Years at Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart

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