Time to look back: 2010 at Hyde.  As I used to point out when I wrote Malcolm’s Monthly (1987-98), I don’t claim to offer a balanced view, just a glimpse of what the whole thing looks like to me.  So, rather than a wide-angle broad overview, here’s a monthly telephoto highlight.

January
Laura and I made our first ever trip to China (and Hong Kong, Seoul, and Tokyo) to meet with both current and prospective Hyde families.  If compelled to identify the single biggest step we’ve made in the past decade to improve academics at Hyde, I would cite the enrollment of our Asian students.  (They now constitute close to 20% of our student body.)  Their work ethic in the classroom has been both inspiring and infectious, thereby raising the bar for students and faculty alike.   

February
February is Hyde’s toughest month, a challenge unto itself.  Builds character.  (If nothing else, you learn to appreciate the fact that it’s the shortest month of the year!)  We survived it at each campus.  The songwriter’s workshop conducted at Bath with alum parent Michael McDonald (of Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan fame) in residence made it pass a bit easier.  (Even though a few kids asked, “OK… So, who were the Doobie Brothers, anyway?”)

March
Loan agreements are signed, plans are approved, and work set to begin on a brand new high school for Hyde-Bronx.  Around the corner from the current school in Hunt’s Point, construction is progressing nicely.  (I checked it out on a visit this month.)  We should be ready to move in when school starts in September 2011.

April
I self-published and released Show Up, Study, & Serve – College Success Guaranteed, a short book intended as a guide for first-year college students.  The book has since been picked up by Rowman-Littlefield, has been revised and expanded, and is scheduled for April 2011 publication.

May
Down 8-5 midway through the 4^th quarter of the MAISAD women’s lax finals, a core of Hyde-Bath seniors, my daughter Scout among them, who had played together for three years collectively said, “let’s do this thing!” and concluded their careers with five flawless minutes of beautiful textbook lacrosse, snatching the championship trophy right out of Hebron’s hands in the closing seconds.     

June
Laura and Malcolm Gauld received their diplomas for having completed the Hyde Family Education Program.  I also won my gentleman’s bet with Mike Dawes who in the early part of the decade laid money that I would invoke executive privilege and substantially change (i.e., make easier) the Family Ed. Program before our first child – Mahalia ’08 – enrolled.  It was a rare victory for me among the numerous side bets he and I have shared on any- and everything.  (Mike was gracious in defeat.)  Oh yeah….  Scout graduated too.

Onward,  Malcolm Gauld