True Blue Spotlight

q & a with members of pingry ’ s true blue society

Brian Crosby ’89, P ’23, ’25

What inspires you about Pingry today? As an alum returning to Pingry now as a parent, I have been truly inspired by Pingry today. While the Pingry campus, the new facilities like the Bugliari Athletics Center and the turf fields, and the classroom and lab technology and infrastructure are all amazingly impressive, the people continue to be the most inspirational part of Pingry today. The breadth and depth of interesting, engaged, and talented people—both students and faculty—is remarkable. The students are doing incredibly interesting things, supported and empowered by great teachers. While we were engaged as students in a variety of academic interests, extracurricular activities, and clubs and sports, today, students are participating at such higher levels of involvement. As a volunteer college interviewer, I am continually amazed at the students’ interesting activities and accomplishments—from nationally ranked athletes to research-publishing students to local EMT volunteers. Much of their engagement is a result of the support and dedication of Pingry’s faculty, coaches and staff, including numerous of my former teachers as well as nearly 20 Magistri teachers (25+ years!). It is great to see the inspiration of Pingry’s people continuing today.

What has been your proudest moment as a Pingry parent? Last September, after a challenging year-and-a-half of the pandemic, Pingry returned to hosting its Friday Night Lights student rally and football game tradition. As I drove onto campus, I was amazed at the overwhelming turnout and activity. I parked in overflow parking in the outfield of the softball field, since there were cars parked everywhere all over campus from Pingry students, parents, fans, and alums. After having limited school events, games, and activities due to COVID-19 restrictions, there was an outpouring of students and people for Friday Night Lights, who were really excited to be out together once again at Pingry. As a new Pingry parent during the pandemic, I was very proud to see and experience the return of Pingry school spirit, community, and camaraderie, which had understandably been diminished during the restrictions and separation caused by the pandemic. I was grateful to Pingry for successfully organizing and supporting the event, and excited that my kids were able to experience the Pingry spirit and community that had been such a big part of my Pingry memories. It was great to see them together with classmates cheering on Big Blue!

Brian Crosby ’89, P ’23, ’25 with his wife Tiffany and their sons Brice ’25, Bowen, and John ’23.

Did Pingry ever encourage or challenge you to try something outside of your comfort zone? What was that experience like? I have always believed that Pingry challenges and teaches its students both within the classroom as wells as outside of academics. As a new student to Pingry in seventh grade, I was initially overwhelmingly challenged by Pingry’s high-caliber academics. I vividly remember failing my first math test. Afterwards, Mr. Thomson’s compassion calmed a flustered new student as he took extra time to help me through the materials. More importantly, Mr. Thomson reassured me that I could overcome this initial stumble by redoubling my efforts in his math class. His help and encouragement gave me the support and confidence to finish my first year with much better grades!

Outside of the classroom, I enjoyed playing soccer, but was challenged since I was never the fastest (like Will Pappas) or most skilled (like captain Scott Aimetti) player. However, Coach Bugliari not only pushed me to put in the extra time training, but also encouraged me to believe in myself. When Coach started me at fullback for our senior season, I realized that hard work, self-belief, and perseverance are essential in earning and achieving goals. Our team (’88 Boys’ Varsity Soccer) went undefeated in the regular season, was county cochampions, went to a shootout with St. Benedict’s in the state finals, and was inducted into Pingry’s [Athletics] Hall of Fame. Most importantly, this Pingry experience became a valuable lesson for me throughout my life.

TRUE BLUE SOCIETY

Those who have given to The Pingry Fund for 10 or more consecutive years