Register
Parents
Parents of current McDonogh students may sign up for website accounts. Signing up for an account allows a parent to access the online directory, DASH, and your customized parent Personal Page.
Alumni
Alumni can create an account in order to take advantage of McDonogh Connect or Pledgemail.
Login
News & Photos
And the Harper Endowed Teaching Award Goes to ... Scott Ward
Director of Aquatics Scott Ward has lots of practice watching his students and swimmers receive awards, including Olympic gold. This morning it was his turn to win.
Headmaster Charlie Britton named Scott as the recipient of the Thomas R. Harper Endowed Teaching Chair. The award, named in honor of retired English teacher Tom Harper by his classmate Bob Chilstrom, recognizes excellent teachers.
Charlie concluded the school's opening faculty and staff meeting with the surprise announcement. He characterized the 16-year faculty member as expert, approachable, and humble. Scott holds his swimmers to high standards outside the pool as well as in it, Charlie noted.
As Scott made his way to the front of Tagart Chapel to accept Charlie's congratulations and an engraved bowl, the faculty-staff audience gave their colleague a long ovation.
"I was stunned," said Scott later. "I've never felt anything like this."
The headmaster's remarks follow.
Now to my favorite part of this meeting… It is my great privilege to announce the new recipient of the Thomas R. Harper Chair. This award was established in 2001 by alumnus Bob Chilstrom to honor his 1963 classmate, Tom Harper, who retired in 2004 after teaching English here for 36 years.
The Harper Chair, like the other five endowed teaching awards, recognizes outstanding service to the school by a faculty or staff member. Recipients hold these chairs for a period of three years and receive an annual stipend in addition to salary. Previous Harper Chair holders include Cynthia Cox, Jon Aaron, and Steve Simmers.
Bob Chilstrom provided most of the funding to endow the award. The rest came from Irv Naylor '54, and alumni parents Dr. and Mrs. James Kushlan.
Before I reveal the next Harper Chair holder, I have bittersweet news to share. Bob Chilstrom passed away suddenly about a month ago, leaving his wife, son, and daughter. Bob also left a void on our board of trustees. He was a brilliant, thoughtful, and kind man.
And Bob knew the value of great teachers. We had the opportunity to tell him about today’s Harper Chair recipient and he was very pleased.
It shouldn’t take you more than thirty seconds to identify the teacher we described to Bob.
It takes a certain kind of person to be able to effectively teach and coach students of all ages, but, somehow, today’s recipient is able to do just that.
This faculty member has been described as unselfish, passionate, dynamic, professional, under-the-radar, expert, and approachable. I would add humble to the list. As a close colleague said of him, “Not enough people know how special he is … he’s like a hidden jewel.”
To say this recipient goes above and beyond is an understatement. Instead of the typical eight-hour day, this hard worker starts at 5:30 in the morning for practice and continues late into the evening. An expert at juggling, he coaches three varsity sports, water polo and boys’ and girls’ swimming, and he runs the Eagle Swim Club.
Colleagues know he’ll come through, regardless of how busy he is. Said one, “You just smile because you know in your heart how lucky McDonogh is to have him.”
As a teacher-coach, he emphasizes balance between athletics and academics. A recent graduate said that the focus she learned in swimming carried over to the classroom and helped her to improve her grades. Today’s recipient even created a competition between the boys and girls teams to see which could earn the highest cumulative GPA.
His swimmers hold him in such high regard that they don’t want to disappoint him in the pool or out. He doesn’t cut anybody. Few have ever quit.
Today’s recipient attended UMBC, where he set school records holder and earned four letters in swimming. He came to McDonogh in 1992 and joined the full time staff in 1995.
Sixteen years later, his career accomplishments are impressive and numerous: he has coached eight different Maryland State record-holders, four US Olympic Trial qualifiers, 14 US National qualifiers, three different USA Junior National champion record holders, five who have earned Top 50 world rankings, two National Prep School Champions including one National Prep record holder, and 26 different High School All-Americans.
Colleagues pay him the highest compliment by saying they want him to work with their children. According to one whose three sons swam at McDonogh, he “demanded respect and discipline from all his swimmers…they were held accountable from a very young age, and they became much more responsible as a result.”
When he is not here at school, he and his wife Christine enjoy spending time at home with their three dogs. But, in many ways, the swimmers he coaches are like his own children. He forms relationships with all of them, regardless of their achievements in swimming. A colleague remembers watching him cheer for one of his former Eagle swimmers as she won an Olympic gold medal. “But he has the same joy in his face when he gets a first grade non-swimmer to swim.”
Since childhood, today’s recipient has been an ardent Redskins fan who talks about football more often than swimming. Many may also be surprised to learn that he enjoys fishing. An alumna reports that “he is very serious about swimming but knows when to joke around.” And he can always get Sharon Bradford to laugh.
Aqua Man, as Mickey Deegan fondly calls him, is the model teacher-coach. It is my pleasure to present the Thomas R. Harper Endowed Teaching Chair to Scott Ward.
Director of Aquatics Scott Ward has lots of practice watching his students and swimmers receive awards, including Olympic gold. This morning it was his turn to win.
Headmaster Charlie Britton named Scott as the recipient of the Thomas R. Harper Endowed Teaching Chair. The award, named in honor of retired English teacher Tom Harper by his classmate Bob Chilstrom, recognizes excellent teachers.
Charlie concluded the school's opening faculty and staff meeting with the surprise announcement. He characterized the 16-year faculty member as expert, approachable, and humble. Scott holds his swimmers to high standards outside the pool as well as in it, Charlie noted.
As Scott made his way to the front of Tagart Chapel to accept Charlie's congratulations and an engraved bowl, the faculty-staff audience gave their colleague a long ovation.
"I was stunned," said Scott later. "I've never felt anything like this."
The headmaster's remarks follow.
Now to my favorite part of this meeting… It is my great privilege to announce the new recipient of the Thomas R. Harper Chair. This award was established in 2001 by alumnus Bob Chilstrom to honor his 1963 classmate, Tom Harper, who retired in 2004 after teaching English here for 36 years.
The Harper Chair, like the other five endowed teaching awards, recognizes outstanding service to the school by a faculty or staff member. Recipients hold these chairs for a period of three years and receive an annual stipend in addition to salary. Previous Harper Chair holders include Cynthia Cox, Jon Aaron, and Steve Simmers.
Bob Chilstrom provided most of the funding to endow the award. The rest came from Irv Naylor '54, and alumni parents Dr. and Mrs. James Kushlan.
Before I reveal the next Harper Chair holder, I have bittersweet news to share. Bob Chilstrom passed away suddenly about a month ago, leaving his wife, son, and daughter. Bob also left a void on our board of trustees. He was a brilliant, thoughtful, and kind man.
And Bob knew the value of great teachers. We had the opportunity to tell him about today’s Harper Chair recipient and he was very pleased.
It shouldn’t take you more than thirty seconds to identify the teacher we described to Bob.
It takes a certain kind of person to be able to effectively teach and coach students of all ages, but, somehow, today’s recipient is able to do just that. This faculty member has been described as unselfish, passionate, dynamic, professional, under-the-radar, expert, and approachable. I would add humble to the list. As a close colleague said of him, “Not enough people know how special he is … he’s like a hidden jewel.”
To say this recipient goes above and beyond is an understatement. Instead of the typical eight-hour day, this hard worker starts at 5:30 in the morning for practice and continues late into the evening. An expert at juggling, he coaches three varsity sports, water polo and boys’ and girls’ swimming, and he runs the Eagle Swim Club.
Colleagues know he’ll come through, regardless of how busy he is. Said one, “You just smile because you know in your heart how lucky McDonogh is to have him.”
As a teacher-coach, he emphasizes balance between athletics and academics. A recent graduate said that the focus she learned in swimming carried over to the classroom and helped her to improve her grades. Today’s recipient even created a competition between the boys and girls teams to see which could earn the highest cumulative GPA. His swimmers hold him in such high regard that they don’t want to disappoint him in the pool or out. He doesn’t cut anybody. Few have ever quit.
Today’s recipient attended UMBC, where he set school records holder and earned four letters in swimming. He came to McDonogh in 1992 and joined the full time staff in 1995. Sixteen years later, his career accomplishments are impressive and numerous: he has coached eight different Maryland State record-holders, four US Olympic Trial qualifiers, 14 US National qualifiers, three different USA Junior National champion record holders, five who have earned Top 50 world rankings, two National Prep School Champions including one National Prep record holder, and 26 different High School All-Americans.
Colleagues pay him the highest compliment by saying they want him to work with their children. According to one whose three sons swam at McDonogh, he “demanded respect and discipline from all his swimmers…they were held accountable from a very young age, and they became much more responsible as a result.”
When he is not here at school, he and his wife Christine enjoy spending time at home with their three dogs. But, in many ways, the swimmers he coaches are like his own children. He forms relationships with all of them, regardless of their achievements in swimming. A colleague remembers watching him cheer for one of his former Eagle swimmers as she won an Olympic gold medal. “But he has the same joy in his face when he gets a first grade non-swimmer to swim.”
Since childhood, today’s recipient has been an ardent Redskins fan who talks about football more often than swimming. Many may also be surprised to learn that he enjoys fishing. An alumna reports that “he is very serious about swimming but knows when to joke around.” And he can always get Sharon Bradford to laugh.
Aqua Man, as Mickey Deegan fondly calls him, is the model teacher-coach. It is my pleasure to present the Thomas R. Harper Endowed Teaching Chair to Scott Ward.