Dear Students:
I am as sad today as you may feel confused about what is happening with the leadership at Pine Crest. While I graduated in 1986, Pine Crest is still an important part of my life…as important now as it was in 1974 when I started in first grade. As some of you might know, my three boys go to Pine Crest, one at the Boca campus and two in Fort Lauderdale, and my wife works as an assistant in the 4th grade in Boca. As an alumnus, a parent and a spouse of a current employee, I like to think that I have a unique and thoughtful perspective on the entire Pine Crest experience. I can tell you that, having been around Pine Crest for almost half of its existence, nothing happening right now is going to affect you and the important things that you will learn at School. Regardless of the silliness that you might hear, you should not at all be discouraged or concerned.
I still wear Pine Crest t-shirts as often and as proudly as I do my Georgetown University sweatshirt. It makes me, as I am sure it does you, feel good inside to let the world know that I continue to be part of one of the best private schools in the nation. Although it was 36 years ago, it still brings a smile to my face when I think about how I used to put on my green blazer, grey slacks and black tie for Friday lower school assemblies and how we used to pray in the little chapel at the back of the Stacey Auditorium. I remember playing ball on the lower school playground, living on campus in the boy’s dorm, and running both the lower and upper school student stores selling little eraser caps and ice cream sandwiches.
I think back and know that my most important memories, though, were from high school when I recall watching this nice, older lady walk the halls and say hello to me as she struggled to bend over and pick up litter. Little did I realize then who that lady was and that she, Mae McMillan, would have such a profound impact on my life and the lives of my entire family. Dr. Mae passed away before I graduated but every day that my boys come home from school, I see that her good, hard work still lives on at Pine Crest. You may not realize it today but each day, her efforts touch you, through your teachers, in ways that will affect your lives forever. Whether you become a writer, an actor, a business person, an artist, an athlete, a scientist, a doctor, a homemaker or a lawyer, Pine Crest is giving you the foundation to think and to act in ways unimaginable to kids that are not fortunate enough to have the same opportunity.
I am writing you today to let you know that I too am sad that the Board felt it necessary to change the leadership at Pine Crest. Like you, I feel that the changes were made in ways that seem insensitive to Dr. Mae’s legacy, and to Dr. Cowgill, who selflessly continued to carry forward where Dr. Mae and her son Bill left off. Dr. Mae gave of herself as she worked tirelessly to build Pine Crest from a small tutorial school in downtown Fort Lauderdale into the prestigious institution that it is today on the Cypress Creek campus. She would be proud to have known that Pine Crest was able to successfully acquire the campus in Boca Raton thereby extending the School’s loving reach to more children who could benefit from its caring, disciplined and rigorous approach to learning. Dr. Mae and her family gave of themselves in ways that today, you seldom see. She acted out of love for you, her students; care for her staff, your teachers, and out of respect for the trust that your parents placed in her to teach you how to best be prepared for college and beyond. She surrounded herself with teachers and administrators that shared her vision and who worked night and day to achieve it.
I know that you might not understand what is going on at Pine Crest but in its simplest terms, the Board decided that the School needed a new Dr. Mae. Someone that you as students could look up to for guidance and leadership, someone that would motivate and challenge your wonderful teachers to be their best, and someone that your parents could trust would set an example of kindness, responsibility and generosity for you to want to emulate. Dr. Mae and her most recent successor, Dr. Cowgill, successfully led Pine Crest for many years. Some of us had the good fortune to know and learn from one or both of these strong and able women and for that we will forever be grateful. The Board tried once to find a replacement but you should know that filling Dr. Mae’s shoes is no easy task and it might be some time before they successfully do so.
In the meantime, you need to know that everything at Pine Crest will be ok, just as it has been since 1934. There is a hard working group of administrators that take their responsibilities very seriously who work every day to make sure that important Pine Crest traditions continue. You may not know this but Dr. Mae had many ups and downs in her life, too. She and Pine Crest survived The Big Hurricane, the Great Depression and World War II. Although tragic for many people, these events were not enough to stop Dr. Mae from continuing to pursue and to ultimately realize her goals of building Pine Crest, the Pine Crest that you benefit from today. While you might hear that some teachers may be leaving and there are unhappy moms and dads, you need to know that Dr. Mae’s vision is still alive and well at Pine Crest and that you should finish this year strong and with vigor. Dr. Mae would want you to learn from this event, just like she expected all of us to learn from all of our experiences at Pine Crest, and to become better people as a result.
I would urge you to take time over the next month to stay focused on your school work, to learn something new, to rekindle friendships and most importantly, to help someone out. All of the rest of this grown-up stuff will work out fine. In due course, the School will find someone to carry on Dr. Mae’s and Dr. Cowgill’s good work and you too will benefit from learning from him or her as we alumni have. Soon enough, you will advance and graduate, journey off to college, perhaps start families and launch your successful careers, and will look back on your Pine Crest years as fondly and as appreciatively as the rest of the alumni do. Dr. Mae devoted her life to Pine Crest and her teachings and lessons will not be lost as the School tries to find someone to continue to promote and expand on the foundations that she built.
Bernard “Barney” Danzansky
Class of 1986
