State of the School Breakfast

Top: Lucas Oland ’22, Tanti Felli ’22, Sai Vadnerkar ’22, Paris Fransway ’22. Bottom row, from left: Xavier Gutierrez P ’26; Maidie Westlie G ’30, ’34; Board President David Lewis P ’14, ’16, ’20, ’23.

THIRD ANNUAL STATE OF THE SCHOOL BREAKFAST

APRIL 13, 2022

This past April, after a two-year hiatus due to COVID, we welcomed members of the Honorable Mae Sue Talley Society—comprised of donors whose lifetime giving is $25,000 and above—to the third annual State of the School breakfast. In its continued tradition, the event took place on Founders’ Lawn on our PCDS campus and featured an opening message from Board President David Lewis, an US student panel, and an address by Head of School Andy Rodin.

Much of the focus of the breakfast was on the robust health of the School which, as mentioned, is especially striking given the great uncertainty of the past few years.

“I’m proud to say that PCDS executed something that very few schools across the country managed to do. With any crisis, you hope that there will be lessons learned that will allow you to emerge stronger than before, and we certainly found our entire community persevering; rising to each challenge, as we all navigated choppy and sometimes fraught waters,” stated Mr. Rodin.

Mr. Rodin provided a “dashboard” of the School’s health, including: A strong applicant pool with record yield and record retention from 8th to 9th; a strong culture of philanthropy as evidenced by our sizeable Annual Fund in both participation and dollars, alumni fundraising, tax credit, and our Louis Family Society for Planned Giving; operationally, we are functioning on a balanced budget with an endowment that has grown considerably over the last decade and of which our Founders would be proud; our School’s 60th birthday; our continued focus on implementing our Strategic Plan in spite of the potential that COVID had to derail it; and a focus on a tenet of the Strategic Plan—our next comprehensive campaign—that our community will be hearing more about in the coming months.

US students also had a chance to speak about their own journeys at PCDS, through a Q&A led by Mr. Rodin. Each touched on what they believe makes PCDS so special.

We are grateful to the generosity of so many past and present families, alumni, and friends who have all been profoundly helpful in the shaping of our School!