Blog

Dear Families and Friends,

As we have been reflecting and preparing our school for the subsequent school year, the myriad of mixing and intersecting realities and narratives presents one simple question: what does it all mean?

In recent months, making meaning out of these moments has been a point of emphasis for our mission. Our remote learning experience prompts and extends this never ending skepticism about our human experience. But there remains a distinction between healthy and unhealthy skepticism.

We should be sure of certain things, yet skeptical of other things. Assessing our own expe...

Dear Families and Friends,

There are those around us who have what we call a “contagious personality”. There is also something to be said for thinking and acting like those we surround ourselves with. On Tuesday of this week, I accepted an invitation from “the man, the myth, the legend”, Mr. Kevin Onnela, to join his weekly conversation on the radio. Mr. Onnela – although he says, just call me Kevin – is a staple in the local community and grandfather to our very own Taylor Goodspeed (6^th grade student). I think he hit me with the talk radio bug, so please pardon me in advance.

After leaving ...

Dear Families, Faculty, and Friends,

Are these unprecedented times? This Triduum, will it be like never before? What will happen when this all ends… the absence, the lack of community, the lack of liturgy?

I made a comment this week along the lines of, “Where are the St. Damien's of Molokai?” My dear friend helped me get to the very consideration of our time.

Yes, we want what is good. We want to be in school. We want the sacraments. We want communion. We want the liturgy.

Our desire for what is good is not unprecedented --- it is natural; our Church has been through this before, and we ought ...

Dear Families, Faculty, and Friends,

As no doubt all of you are aware, Governor Sununu issued a “Stay-at-Home” advisory yesterday and declared all education remote until May 4th.

Mount Royal Academy will therefore remain a remote learning operation until the Governor’s directive expires.

I am honestly kind of running out of phrases to articulate what this all means. Because we are a people of faith, we do not have to look anywhere but the cross for our sense of meaning. I think about the disciples watching their friend and Lord hang on the cross. I think about the intense emotions our Mother ...

Dear Families,

“Today’s dominant educational system, ordered toward the merely pragmatic and utilitarian ends of ‘college and career readiness,’ has no use for wonder or wisdom. We see its consequences in the weary apathy of students who repeatedly ask, ‘Is this going to be on the test?’ When only that which can be quantified or graded is valued, all else falls away. The factory model of teaching and learning is manufacturing the malaise, anxiety, and even despair that burden so many of the young by depriving them of the two elements their innate sense of wonder seeks to find: the meaning and ...

Dear Families,

Welcome to the meanderings of Mr. Tremblay's mind. Sometimes it moves too fast for me to handle, so I hope I don't even lose my own thoughts while attempting to re-present unoriginal ideas that are too profound and true for me to comprehend. 

We just concluded a season of competition with defeat. Observing the season from the perspective of a coach, administrator, father, and human being sometimes presents a perplexing intersection of emotions and rational responses. I am acutely aware that for two of our student-athletes, the season could not have been a bigger catastrophe. We ...

Ash Wednesday

From a letter to the Corinthians by Saint Clement I, pope and martyr:

Let us fix our attention on the blood of Christ and recognize how precious it is to God his Father, since it was shed for our salvation and brought the grace of repentance to all the world.

If we review the various ages of history, we will see that in every generation the Lord has offered the opportunity of repentance to any who were willing to turn to him. When Noah preached God’s message of repentance, all who listened to him were saved. Jonah told the Ninevites they were going to be destroyed, but when they...

Dear Families,

Our school continues to gather national attention, and most recently, even some international attention. A school leader from Australia emailed me just yesterday asking to visit us during May. Our school was also spotlighted in a publication from the NCEA entitled, "Your School's Catholic Identity".  Although I have yet to read it, it is my understanding that the report is primarily based on an interview with a former high school student. I find this most humbling since sitting in my position, I can see where there are opportunities for improvement.

At a conference a coupl...

Dear Families,

Data often overwhelm us. There are infinite ways to measure anything and everything.

Anyone with an infant knows this truth. Each visit to the pediatrician yields endless measures and metrics: percentiles for weight, height, and head circumference. Behavioral measures: at what day and month did your child sit up, stand up, walk, grasp objects with one hand?

Any institution or business has an equal number of metrics and feedback loops: customer satisfaction, increase in profits, decrease in expenditures, growth in distribution, and more.

And then there are schools. There are nor...