Enthusiastically Alive in the Present Moment

Since his appointment to the Westminster faculty in 1986 as head of the English Department, Michael Cervas P’96, ’01, ’10 has taught all levels of English; coached basketball, soccer, track, baseball, golf and squash; worked as a corridor supervisor in Alumni House; and presided as department head for three decades. He is retiring at the end of the academic year.

This year, Michael has taught Fourth Form English, Creative Writing and a Sixth Form elective, coached boys’ squash, supervised the community garden and served as the faculty advisor for The Martlet, a school arts and literary publication. His interest in teaching literature by living writers led him to found the Westminster Poet series in 1999

and the Friday Nights at Westminster series in 2009. He continues to direct both.

Michael is the author of four books of poems: “Inside the Box,” “Captivated,” “A Wilderness of Chances” and “Even Here.” He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1972 at the University of Notre Dame and a master’s degree in English at Brown University. He and his wife, Deb, are the parents of Josh ’96, a graduate of Amherst College; Emily Autumn ’01, a graduate of the University of Puget Sound; and Anne ’10, a graduate of Harvard College. They also have three grandchildren.

Michael shares his thoughts about his 34-year tenure at Westminster.

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pa., called Mount Troy. I went to St. Aloysius Catholic School through grade eight and then to North Catholic High School for two years and graduated from North Hills High School in 1968.

What led you to Notre Dame?

I was hoping to go to Princeton University, but my father convinced me to look at a couple of schools in Indiana because his company had a scholarship program good at four schools, including Purdue University. When we were in Indiana, he suggested we visit Notre Dame. It was a rainy morning in West Lafayette, and when we got to South Bend, the sun broke through the clouds, the director of admissions took me on a personal tour and I applied that day.

Where did you start your teaching career?

Right after Notre Dame, I spent five years at Brown University on a Danforth Graduate Fellowship where I earned a master’s degree in English and worked on a Ph.D. I realized I didn’t want to be a college teacher, had a newborn baby and needed to have a job. While at Brown supervising the student writing center, the headmaster at Cincinnati Country Day School (CCDS) interviewed me for an English teacher position and invited me to visit. I was impressed by the faculty and students at CCDS and accepted the job.

What were your responsibilities at Cincinnati Country Day School?

I taught one middle school English class and three upper school English classes. I also coached middle school cross country and upper school basketball and did some work in the College Counseling Office.

Were you recruited to be the head of the English Department?

Yes, and I was the department head at Westminster for 30 years.

What were some of your goals for the department?

I’m not a top-down person, so I wanted to lead a department largely through my desire to forge a group of diverse individuals who were all fully committed to the life of an English teacher. I tried to be a role model for pedagogy and creativity, encouraging us to meet often to talk about how to teach language and literature and sometimes even sharing our own writing.

Did you change the curriculum early on?

From the very beginning, we had conversations that led to gradual changes in the curriculum. I believe in the value of change. One of the worst things that can happen in an English program is for it to get fossilized, for teachers to teach the same books or the same concepts in the same way. I’m experimental, but I don’t impose that on other people.

What is your vision of a good English program?

My vision of a good English program is that it will be as varied as possible in terms of the books and authors that are studied and the kinds of activities that take place in the classroom. For me, it was important to balance classic authors with diverse contemporary writers from every part of the world and also to balance traditional expository and analytical writing with personal and creative writing. I’m happy that the department continues to work together to initiate and manage changes. Michael with Ted Kooser, who served as the Westminster Poet in 2006. Michael founded the Westminster Poet series 20 years ago.

What brought you to Westminster?

After eight years at Cincinnati Country Day School, I was still the junior member of the English Department, and there wasn’t going to be a lot of upward mobility any time soon. Deb and I were hoping to return to New England which we had grown to love, after living in Providence when we were first married. I interviewed at a number of schools and fell in love with Westminster.

Don Werner was very persuasive when talking about the strengths of the school, and the teachers I met really impressed me.

Michael gives a reading from his first book of poems, “Inside the Box,” which was published in 2007.

Michael with his children, Josh ’96, Anne ’10 and Emily Autumn ’01, at the 2010 Lawn Ceremony.

Michael and his wife, Deb.

What led to the launching of the Westminster Poet series 20 years ago?

In the 1990s, we were teaching books of poems by contemporary and modern poets and decided it would be really wonderful if we brought some of those poets to our campus. I called Linda Pastan, who was the poet laureate of Maryland, because I was quite fond of her poetry and had been using it in my classes. She said she’d be delighted to visit and that initiated the program.

We didn’t have enough money in the department to invite a poet the next year, but we did find funding going forward. Our second poet was Billy Collins, who had just been named U.S. Poet Laureate. We’ve welcomed a poet every year since, and this year, Ross Gay was our 20th Westminster Poet.

How has this program enriched student learning?

It was a game changer for me to be able to bring to Westminster poets whose work I loved, and then have them engage in conversations with our students. Students have been able to see these poets as living human beings and not just people who wrote text on a page. I spend a lot of time thinking about which poets would work well with high school students.

How did the Friday Nights at Westminster series get started?

The success of the Westminster Poet program led me to suggest that the opening of Armour Academic Center would be an opportunity for us to expand our intellectual and cultural offerings to our students by creating something that we envisioned at the time as Friday night experiences that would include concerts, lectures and readings.

We now have three concerts and six readings during the academic year. We have had Pulitzer Prize-winning and National Book Award-winning novelists, poets and nonfiction writers, in addition to talented singer-songwriters. It has been fun to curate this program and see how it has become an important part of school life.

What are the biggest challenges students face in studying English?

Social media, the internet and the omnipresence of video have created new challenges. Those things are antithetical in some ways to the solitary activity of sitting down and reading a poem, an essay, a story or a novel. Students’ lives are busy and filled with powerful distractions, which are very seductive. Spending an hour alone with a book can be a challenge.

Our visiting writers help energize students to understand the value of reading. I don’t think there is any reason for English teachers in the early 21st century not to expect students to do the hard task of reading challenging works of literature.

What was the focus of your sabbatical year in 2005-2006?

My first book of poems was a product of what I was able to do during my sabbatical year. I used the sabbatical as an opportunity to read books from many different genres. From that reading, I generated some writing of my own and went back to the poems I had been writing since the middle 1990s and revised them, putting them into a shape that allowed me to go to a publisher. I’m happy the sabbatical program is back because of the powerful impact it had on my own life. Michael spends time with some books in Armour Academic Center.

Do you have a favorite sport you have coached?

Ever since I discovered the game of squash, it has been my favorite sport and the only one I really play now. Sports have been an important part of my life, and I have happily coached a number of sports at a variety of levels.

The value Westminster placed on both academics and athletics drew me to the school. I wanted my children to have the experience of playing on teams in high school, which they all did. Coaching has allowed me to teach students in nonacademic ways.

When did your interest in music begin?

I started taking piano lessons when I was 7 and quit when I was 12 because I didn’t want to practice. Fortunately, when it became cool to play in a band in high school and college, I was able to pick it up again.

Early on at Westminster, I began playing piano with faculty members Dan Aber, Peter Newman ’80 and Scott Reeves. It was the start of the Dan Aber Quartet, which has continued on and off to the present. I also play music with faculty members Grant Gritzmacher and Mary Kennedy. And everybody knows I like to play music in my classroom that relates to the books or poems we are studying.

Music has always been an important part of my life. I like going to concerts, listening to music, playing music and sharing music with my students.

Michael gives opening remarks at a Friday Nights at Westminster reading.

What are your plans following Westminster?

I will continue to work with Westminster’s visiting writers programs. Deb retired last year, but she has a part-time consulting contract that allows her to continue some of the work she’s been doing for decades in the Simsbury school system. We recently bought a condo in Hartford.

We hope to spend more time with our grandchildren and do more traveling. I plan to play music, read books, write, play squash and be more active as a volunteer.

How has being at Westminster changed your life?

I have been at Westminster for 34 years because the community is incredibly warm, respectful and friendly. I can’t imagine a better place to raise a family. I have loved being in the classroom, on the squash courts and in the lives of students and colleagues in ways that bring me great pleasure. I resisted looking for other jobs because I have always thought it would be difficult to find a better community.

At the end of the school day, I often ask myself questions. Did I have fun? Did my students have a good experience? Did we learn something together? And if the answer is yes, I am happy and grateful for the laughter, intelligence and sparks of imagination.

How would you like to be remembered at Westminster?

I hope the one thing that people will say about me after I retire is that I was always passionate about whatever I was doing. I would like to be remembered as a person who worked hard to be enthusiastically alive in the present moment and who welcomed students, friends and colleagues into that experience.