2008 Woodie Awards
Episcopal alumnus supports bittersweet move
Claire Williams '08
Issue date: 5/10/08 Section: Features
In the summer of 1954, after pre-season morning football practice, Walter W. Buckley, Jr., along with his Episcopal Academy teammates, made their way down to Dakes Pharmacy on 54th Street and City Avenue. Buckley always packed a lunch from home, but he still made the trip in between morning and afternoon practices to buy a milkshake or two.
When Buckley and his teammates returned to Episcopal's football field, they would sprawl out across the turf, a blanket of high school athletes sleeping off their fatigue and sore muscles until afternoon practice started.
Although you can no longer buy a milkshake there, Dakes is still located on 54th Street next to the new Starbucks and across the street from Saint Joseph's University.
In fact, by mid-summer, while Dakes continues to serve customers from its Merion location, it's Episcopal that will head to the suburbs.
Buckley, who graduated from Episcopal in 1955, is one of three generations in his family to attend Episcopal Academy. Buckley's son Walter W. Buckley, III,,graduated from Episcopal in 1978, and Buckley's two grandchildren, Alexa and Walter W. Buckley IV, are currently enrolled. Buckley's two first cousins and a nephew attended as well.
Officials at Episcopal have reached out to alumni like Buckley for whom the move to the school's new campus in Newtown Square is bittersweet.
More than 90 percent of Episcopal's alumni and parents support the move, said Michael Letts, director of communications at Episcopal, but that doesn't mean the move will be easy for them.
"Their memories are of Merion and some of the most important and influential years of their lives were spent on this campus," Letts said. "They worry that their attachment to those memories will be lost, and by association, their attachment to Episcopal will be lost."
In order to help alumni understand why the move is so essential, Letts said school officials have focused on several messages.
The most practical of these messages is that the move to Newtown Square places Episcopal in the middle of its "demographic center," Letts said. More than half of Episcopal students will have a shorter commute to Newtown Square, he said.
When Buckley and his teammates returned to Episcopal's football field, they would sprawl out across the turf, a blanket of high school athletes sleeping off their fatigue and sore muscles until afternoon practice started.
Although you can no longer buy a milkshake there, Dakes is still located on 54th Street next to the new Starbucks and across the street from Saint Joseph's University.
In fact, by mid-summer, while Dakes continues to serve customers from its Merion location, it's Episcopal that will head to the suburbs.
Buckley, who graduated from Episcopal in 1955, is one of three generations in his family to attend Episcopal Academy. Buckley's son Walter W. Buckley, III,,graduated from Episcopal in 1978, and Buckley's two grandchildren, Alexa and Walter W. Buckley IV, are currently enrolled. Buckley's two first cousins and a nephew attended as well.
Officials at Episcopal have reached out to alumni like Buckley for whom the move to the school's new campus in Newtown Square is bittersweet.
More than 90 percent of Episcopal's alumni and parents support the move, said Michael Letts, director of communications at Episcopal, but that doesn't mean the move will be easy for them.
"Their memories are of Merion and some of the most important and influential years of their lives were spent on this campus," Letts said. "They worry that their attachment to those memories will be lost, and by association, their attachment to Episcopal will be lost."
In order to help alumni understand why the move is so essential, Letts said school officials have focused on several messages.
The most practical of these messages is that the move to Newtown Square places Episcopal in the middle of its "demographic center," Letts said. More than half of Episcopal students will have a shorter commute to Newtown Square, he said.
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Losing Weight
posted 7/06/08 @ 4:59 PM EST
There may be sadness now about the move, but some time in the future, people will remember its old location as just history. There will be many new memories made in its new area, while at the same time St. (Continued…)
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