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FACULTY PROFILE
NOW PRESENTING
DAN PACHECO
BY RYAN WOOD
Dan Pacheco’s love of performing arts has taken him around the world. Now? He feels that love has made him at home right here at St. Margaret’s, where he started his new role as Director of Performing Arts this summer.
Mr. Pacheco, of course, is already known and loved in the St. Margaret’s community. He’s been a theater teacher at the school since 2018, demonstrating a growth mindset, a dedication to the student experience, and a love for teaching the arts to the next generation that has impacted the lives of many Tartans over the past four years.
When the job leading the performing arts department opened with the retirement of Darcy Rice after 22 years, school leaders conducted an exhaustive search, reviewing more than 75 candidates. In the end, they found the best fit was already here.
“Dan’s amazing professional experience combined with his experience leading theater programs for students of all ages made him a perfect fit for this job,” Upper School Principal Jeneen Graham said. “Adding to his repertoire of skills, he holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theater and an MBA, which is exactly what we were seeking for a program of this scope.
“Perhaps most importantly, Dan loves the students at St. Margaret’s, and they love him. He is a trusted and admired colleague, and we couldn’t be happier to have him lead this incredible program.”
In his new role, Mr. Pacheco will oversee all aspects of performing arts—theater, choral music, band, orchestra and dance. He will continue to teach Upper School theater classes as well as direct Upper School plays and musicals.
His role leading the performing arts program at St. Margaret’s is one he takes seriously, in part because of his belief in how the arts can positively impact students of all ages.
“You can’t educate the hearts and minds of students without the arts,” Mr. Pacheco says. And, he says, he is proof of that.
Mr. Pacheco was born in Bolivia to a Peruvian father and an American mother. He moved to the United States soon after and settled in Maryland, where his love for performing arts developed.
He attended New York University and majored in theater at the prestigious Tisch School of the Arts. From there, he leveraged his training both as a performer and as an educator.
As a performer, Mr. Pacheco acted in theaters across the country, performed as a singer on cruise ships that traveled around the world, toured the country as part of the cast of Wicked, worked as a DJ for Radio Disney, starred in Aladdin at Disneyland’s California Adventure, and acted in commercials.
As an educator, he worked as a coordinator of educational theater for Kaiser Permanente, developing a program for at-risk students to use drama and music as tools for social-emotional learning. He was an adjunct educator for NYU, teaching ways to integrate arts into the public school curriculum. He has served as Director of Creative Arts and Athletics, a summer program at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in New York. He has developed programming for The Dalton School, Dramatic Results and LeAp (Learning through Expanded Arts Programs). While working full-time, he earned his Masters of Business Administration from Cal-State Monterey Bay—perhaps an uncommon degree for an artist, but one inspired by his interest in leading arts education programs in nonprofit sectors.
As his resume continued to expand, he noticed his love for education was growing larger than his love for performing.
“While performing, I found myself wanting more,” Mr. Pacheco said. “As an educator, teaching students is a process, and watching them grow is very fulfilling.”
He heard about St. Margaret’s through Lower School music teacher Zach Hanna, a friend from their time in Wicked. Mr. Pacheco came to St. Margaret’s to interview for a theater teacher opening in 2018, still unsure whether it was the right direction for his career.
“Once I met people in the community and saw the state-of-the-art educational and performance facilities, I quickly realized that St. Margaret’s supports the arts and values the arts,” Mr. Pacheco said. “I was very excited to get started.”
His first four years teaching at St. Margaret’s have been anything but predictable. He directed acclaimed shows like Shrek Jr., Into the Woods and Seussical in his first couple of years. A pivotal moment came in 2020 when health and safety guidelines during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic put the performing arts in jeopardy.
Mr. Pacheco felt an underlying value of theater productions was in peril. An obvious answer for productions for the 2020-2021 school year, like the Middle School musical You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, would be for students to record their parts separately and bring them together as a video presentation for audiences.
Mr. Pacheco, though, thought a crucial element of theater would be missing in such an arrangement.
“I wanted to preserve the live performance, and the rush that it brings and the bonds that are built,” Mr. Pacheco said. “So much of theater is the social aspect, the collaborative creative process, and the friendships that form. It is about the art, but it is also so much more.”
Determined to make a live performance work, he spent the entire summer of 2020 brainstorming, researching different technology options and developing a plan for doing a live production within health and safety guidelines. Several departments at the school chipped in to assist, and the results were stunning: a live performance of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown with 28 students stationed all around the Performing Arts Center in practice rooms (with some performing from home) while the arts department coordinated it all through a combination of Google Meet, Zoom and other software, sometimes using them simultaneously as work-arounds to video and audio delays.
A similar pivot was implemented for the Middle School play A Wrinkle in Time the following spring, which moved outdoors to the Nolet Amphitheater and was reimagined as less a science-fiction extravaganza and more a Greek theater production in front of a limited audience. Through the pivot, students ended up learning a new form of theater and participating in a memorable outdoor performance under a full moon.
Mr. Pacheco’s commitment was indicative of the performing arts department in general during the challenging stretch: The show CAN go on. The students need it. They deserve it.
As he moves into his new role, Mr. Pacheco hopes to encourage even more participation in the arts school-wide. He envisions more cross-divisional opportunities in the performing arts, and he hopes to continue—like many of his performing arts faculty colleagues—to leverage his professional experience and expertise into creating an extraordinary experience for St. Margaret’s students in the years to come.
“I highly value and respect the incredible legacy Darcy is leaving for us,” Mr. Pacheco said. “I want to maintain what he’s worked so hard to build. I want to support this team of performing arts experts here at St. Margaret’s, as we ultimately work to increase and enhance the opportunities for students to discover themselves through performing arts.”
St. Margaret’s Community Comes Together to Serve Young Families
The School Community Partnered with St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church to Expand the Impact of the New Infant Pantry Program.
BY ANNE DAHLEM & RYAN WOOD
When determining the important community needs and a partner organization for St. Margaret’s Episcopal School’s annual spring all-school service learning project last school year, the service learning leadership did not need to look far.
The Infant Pantry program of St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church was an ideal fit.
The Church’s newest outreach program was the result of a brainstorm between The Reverend Canon Rob Edwards and members of the Church vestry. Assessing the needs of families with infants—namely diapers of different sizes, formula for different ages, wipes, nursing pads, diaper cream and more— Church leaders quickly learned that a program helping with such essentials was an authentic community need.
In the first several months of monthly distributions, more than 250 families from Orange County and Camp Pendleton were served, and Church leaders were seeing an increase in demand as word started to spread about the service. That’s where school leaders felt St. Margaret’s could make a noticeable impact.
“Our Episcopal identity, mission and core values are deeply rooted in our partnership with St. Margaret’s Church,” said Assistant Head of School Ryan Dahlem, who oversees the school’s service-learning program. “We recognize and value the work they do serving our local community, specifically families with young children, and look for ways to elevate our partnership and continually support the efforts at the core of their work.
“The Church has rapidly grown the Infant Pantry program since last summer, expanding its operation month over month to meet these essential needs of local families. When Father Rob shared the growth and demand they are observing, we said, ‘Yes, we are all-in with you’ and made it the focus of our annual servicelearning project.”
The project was announced in March at the allschool spring chapel, and every division of the school quickly mobilized with donation drives, educational touchpoints and other initiatives. The results were significant—more than 400 containers of formula, more than 500 baby food pouches, in addition to blankets, baby wipes, cereal and other items were collected and organized by the school community.
In addition to the donation drive targeting the Infant Pantry’s greatest needs, students embraced a creative element. More than 200 fleece blankets were made in Upper School advisories that were included in distribution boxes. In addition, an Innovation Block mini-course taught by Jackie Swaidan introduced students to knitting, and students applied their new skill by creating stocking hats for infants that were passed out at the next distribution.
Beyond serving, the annual all-school service learning project has an important educational component as well, as students of all ages learn more about authentic needs in their own community. Such learning creates a better understanding of societal issues and systemic causes, engenders empathy for others, builds life skills through experiential projects and nurtures deeper connections, engagement and responsibility to serve the community.
Students of all ages served the Infant Pantry program this spring, including Early Childhood School and Middle School students (above) and Upper School students (top right). The donation drive made a big impact during Infant Pantry distribution events (right).
For the Infant Pantry project, students from different divisions came together to understand the needs of new families and the high costs often associated with those needs. The acclaimed children’s book “You Are New” was featured as an age-appropriate read that celebrates the joys of welcoming a new baby to a family. Middle School students read the book aloud in Early Childhood School classrooms. In the Lower School, the book was read and a discussion of the book followed—the questions having been written by students in the grade 8 service-learning class.
Also in the Lower School, a homily written and presented by Upper School students explained the Infant Pantry and its importance to the local community. The presentation communicated the high costs for infant needs like diapers, wipes and formula, and made creative comparisons to food items relatable to Lower School students to illustrate the financial impact on families.
The partnership between St. Margaret’s Episcopal School and the Church had an immediate impact: at the first distribution event after the service-learning project concluded, the Church served 264 families with a total of 374 infants at its April distribution—an all-time high.
The school’s work with the Infant Pantry will continue. Even before the all-school servicelearning project last school year, four Upper School advisories designated the Infant Pantry as their yearlong service partner, and the Middle School service-learning elective class worked closely with the Infant Pantry. St. Margaret’s also encouraged donations during the Lessons and Carols event in December. Such partnerships will continue this school year, as the school finds more ways to partner with St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church and its important work serving the local community.
“We are extremely excited and grateful for the support of the St. Margaret’s students,” Father Rob said. "They have brought ingenuity, enthusiasm and creativity that has helped us grow this program and reach even more families."
To learn more or donate to the Infant Pantry project, visit www.stmarg.org/infant-pantry.
The Infant Pantry
WHAT IS IT?
A program at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church committed to supporting the needs of individuals and families within our community who are raising infants.
WHOM DOES IT SERVE?
Families come from around Orange County, in addition to many active-duty military families stationed at Camp Pendleton.
HOW OFTEN?
The Infant Pantry distributes items once a month on a Saturday morning.
HOW CAN YOU GET INVOLVED?
Visit www.stmarg.org/infant-pantry to learn how to donate or help support operations.
