Donald M.Austin - Newark Academy

30
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
OUTREACH fall 2007
JOE BORLO’S
INCREDIBLE JOURNEY
I was amazed and moved to
learn how much and for how
long Joe Borlo affected the lives of his students. Shortly
after reading the tributes to him, I came upon an article
in the current issue of “The American Scholar,” which
contemplates the nature of the relationship between
teachers and students. There William Deresiewicz,
a professor at Yale, writes:
Teaching, Yeats said, is lighting a fire, not filling a bucket, and
this is how it gets lit. The [teacher] becomes the student’s muse,
the figure to whom the labors of the semester – the studying,
the speaking in class, the writing – are consecrated. So
[students] seek out [teachers] with whom to have relationships,
and [teachers] seek them out in turn. Teaching, finally, is about
relationships. It is mentorship, not instruction. Socrates...
says that the bond between teacher and student lasts a lifetime,
even when the two are no longer together. And so it is... [t]he
feelings we have for the teachers or students who have meant
the most to us, like those we have for long-lost friends, never
go away.
Joe Borlo has been lighting fires for over four decades. As
we see from the exuberant tributes submitted by his former
students, our bond with him will last a lifetime, and our
feelings for him will never go away.
DAVID CRANE ’72
NEW DELHI, INDIA
We encourage you to send your letters and
tell us what you think about what you’ve
read in prior issues of “Outreach.” Forward
your thoughts to outreach@newarka.edu
or drop a note in the mail. We look
forward to hearing from you!
CATHERINE LYNHAM’S
INFLUENCE LIVES ON
The thing that struck me about
the last edition of Outreach was
the picture of Mrs. Lynham and students on page 49. John
Lowenstein was in my class, a brilliant boy and good friend,
and Curt Cetrulo was, as I recall, one year behind us.
Mrs. Lynham has been my fondest memory of NA. I
attribute my educational and professional success to her,
and to Mr. Nelke, Mr. Huddle, Mr. Stallings, Mr. Warbasse
and several others among my fine teachers at NA. I’m
forever indebted to her and to them. I’ve spoken so often
to my wife, Cheryl, about Mrs. Lynham; I’m sure Cheryl
thinks that Mrs. Lynham is some mythical personage, a
fabrication of my overly-vivid imagination. I’m quite
moved, at this moment, looking at Mrs. Lynham’s picture,
hearing her voice in my mind, and remembering her so
clearly, more than a half century after I last sat in her class
listening intently and learning not only math and English,
but honor, respect and those values that she instilled in us
that became the foundation of my personal beliefs and
that guided my life decisions and actions.
Well, enough of an old man’s sentimentality.
EARL GREENWALD ’58
STATESVILLE, NC
outreach
outreach
NEWARK NEWARK ACADEMY
ACADEMY
INSIDE:
State of the Academy
Global Perspectives
& Fond Farewells
SPRING SPRING SPRING 2007
2007