Doane Stuart welcomes new headmaster

In fact, being a parent is one thing that led him to Albany. The decision to leave Cape Cod's Falmouth Academy for Doane Stuart wasn't just a career move, he said. "It wasn't just a job," he said "It was for our children."

Dr. Enemark and his wife Nancy Lawton, a nationally acclaimed artist whose work appears in the Brooklyn Museum, The Chicago Art Institute and the National Museum of American Art at the Smithsonian, are the parents of Faith, a seventh grader, and Forrest, a preschooler.

Religious tradition

The religious traditions of the school also attracted him. "As far as I know, we are the only school in America that has successfully merged a Roman Catholic and a Protestant school," he said. "It is a model for what education is about."

The school was formed from the merger of Kenwood Academy, a Roman Catholic school, and St. Agnes School, which was Episcopalian.

Interfaith atmosphere

At Doane Stuart, he noted, the religious differences that many people find difficult to reconcile have created a community of creative balance that provides a model for reconciling intellectual, racial and social differences.

"What makes us work is what other people go to war over," he said.

While the school approaches religion and ethics from an inter-faith, non-denominational perspective, Dr. Enemark said the traditions of the Sacred Heart Sisters, who founded Kenwood, are crucial to the school. The sisters, he said, also support the school and have a visible presence.

Ecumenical background

"I am determined to continue to make people of all faiths feel at home here," he said of Doane Stuart.

Growing time

Although enrollment is up, Dr. Enemark said the school will not grow dramatically. "Our excellence is in being small," he said at the installation. "Small is a limitation only sometimes; for schools, small is good and almost always. The largest schools are always attempting to duplicate the community of a good small school. At Phillips Academy, Andover, where I taught, its 1,400 students and faculty were carefully broken into clusters, mini-schools of Doane Stuart's size, in an attempt to replicate exactly what we have here."

The school's commitment to excellence can be seen as students prepare for college. Doane Stuart, he said, is first-ranked nationally for Scholastic Aptitude Tests. Also, Dr. Enemark said, "there is no school that surpasses our record with college admissions."

Goals for school

"Ironically, Doane Stuart and its vision are, to many in this capital city, as much a stranger as am I, though our school has given families here an unique understanding of the role of education in our community for nearly 150 years," he said. "My greatest responsibility is to tell the story of this school's excellence to as many as will listen."

Although he has only been at the school since July, his feelings for the institution run deep. "Of all of the schools I've been at, it matters to me that this school be here," he said. "I would like to hope that this school is here for my daughter's children and my son's children with its strong traditions."

(For more information about the Doane Stuart School, contact the admission office at 465-5222, ext. 210.)

(11-05-98) [[In-content Ad]]