Bulletin Preview | The Gift That Launched a Thousand Trips
December 21, 2016
Preview from the Cate School Bulletin Fall 2016 issue by Jeff Barton
Every once in a while, a thing that sounds too good to be true actually is true.
Consider the letter that Peter McBean, Class of 1930, sent to the Cate School Board of Trustees on December 17, 1987. It begins this way: “I deliver contemporaneously herewith 6,667 units of The Newhall Land and Farming Company, a limited partnership, without restriction concerning holding or sale thereof.”
That opening sentence may lack poetry, but with even a limited imagination you can see interesting possibilities in its final seven words. Still, only the wildest of dreamers could anticipate what comes a bit later, when McBean states, “The income from the fund shall be used by Cate School to assist its faculty members, while employed by it, to progress as scholars and academicians. It is my wish that Cate faculty members have, to the extent possible, an opportunity to achieve advanced degrees, have summer travel and research experience.”
To say that McBean’s wish came true would be a dramatic understatement. So far, well over 100 faculty members have put more than 350 different grants to good use. Those delighted recipients have traveled to nearly thirty countries; they’ve attended conferences, workshops, and clinics in a dizzying array of fields; they’ve engaged in outdoor experiences that include horseback riding, NOLS expeditions, and rafting on the Amazon; and they’ve taken classes in dozens of subjects — some purely for enrichment (ballroom dancing, yoga, and plein air painting, for example), others en route to earning Master’s degrees and Ph.Ds.
In 2013, Director of Music John Knecht used his McBean award to visit Hawai’i and learn about the ukulele, the toere (a Tahitian log drum), and the ipu heke (a gourd drum used in hula). In addition to studying Polynesian music in a traditional setting, Knecht was able to purchase several instruments and bring them back to Cate for his students to play in ukulele ensembles and in the annual International Convocation. In 2015, Math Department Chair Annalee Salcedo used McBean funds to spend a month in the Philippines with her husband Chris and their daughters Rosita and Amelia. “We visited five different islands in Visayas,” Annalee explains, “enjoying white sand beaches, snorkeling, and visiting villages and wildlife reserves. The inspiration for the trip, however, was the Sagullo Family reunion, a full-day gathering of nearly 250 relatives on my mother’s side of the family, in her hometown of Candelaria.” The reunion gave Annalee the opportunity to visit with cousins she hadn’t seen in over a decade, and to watch Rosita and Amelia playing with their cousins for the first time ever.
Tim Smith, one of Annalee’s colleagues in the Math Department, has been a McBean recipient several times. “During my 20 years at Cate,” he says, “I’ve had the opportunity to use McBean funds to grow both personally and professionally. … My primary interests beyond my work as a math teacher, advisor, dorm parent, and coach include running, climbing, ocean sports, mountaineering, Latin American culture, and the Spanish language. McBean grants have allowed me to climb in Colorado, California, and Peru; to kayak around the San Juan Islands; to raft and hike across the Grand Canyon; to study Spanish in Mexico; [and most recently] to work specifically on my technical rock climbing skills. I’ve been a rock climber since the age of fourteen, and I periodically work with Cate students in our climbing program. Keeping my skills sharp as I age is increasingly important to me.”
Science teacher and Director of the Outdoor Program, Paul Denison ’79, has also used McBean monies on a variety of adventures, such as whitewater kayaking trips and surfing expeditions. He echoes the sentiments of 100-plus fellow recipients when he states (with his trademark passion), “I’m incredibly grateful for the experiences the McBean Fund has allowed me to pursue. It’s impossible to overstate what an amazing benefit this fund is for our faculty. … I feel indebted to the McBean family and am extremely grateful for their generosity.”
Not surprisingly, McBean proposals for the summer of 2017 are pouring in already.