York Preparatory School - NYC

A good History teacher brings alive the events in our nation’s past, and a good tour guide can point out the places where they actually happened. At York Prep in NY we are very fortunate to have both—in the same person. That person is Mr. Michael Roper, who illuminates subjects from World History to Constitutional Law and is also a licensed New York City tour guide.

Weekends in autumn and spring find Mr. Roper leading groups of students (he often hosts teachers and parents as well) on tours ranging from the Battery in lower Manhattan to Brooklyn Heights to as far north as West Point and Hyde Park. His “Little Old New Amsterdam” tour includes the Fraunces Tavern, where George Washington resigned his commission after the Revolution, as well as the oldest Jewish place of worship in America. “Little Italy to Cooper Union” is just that, including the Cast-Iron District, Washington Square, and the place where Abraham Lincoln gave a speech that many say “made him president.” Both tours end with a sumptuous lunch at McSorley’s Tavern.

When Mr. Roper’s class visits the Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, each student reports on one of the historical characters who found their final resting place there, from “Boss” Tweed to Horace Greeley to Leonard Bernstein.

Quite apart from the rich history Mr. Roper reveals to be right under our noses, he shares a wealth of intriguing facts about the Big Apple. Did you know that the Brooklyn Bridge is further west than the George Washington Bridge? Or that the East River is not really a river? How did Wall Street get its name? And where in New York City will you find a gravesite that contains more Revolutionary War soldiers than anywhere else in America?

A delightful and physically invigorating way to find out is to sign up for one of Mr. Roper’s extraordinary trips. Check out the tour schedule listed in http://www.yorkprep.org > Edline > Activities > New York City Tour Club.

During the month of October, York students dutifully and generously donated money to benefit children in developing countries. The coins accumulated in homeroom collection boxes will help provide disadvantaged youngsters with school supplies, mosquito nets, and immunizations.

They say that everyone has different talents, which is just a nice way of saying that some of us are totally untalented in certain areas. I know about this because I was, and always will be, bad at art. There are lots of other things I am bad at (you would definitely not want to hear me sing) but being a rotten artist has always galled me.

In my high school, art was included as part of your general grade average. So I really tried. And failed. I went to a school where the headmaster and I got on very well together. Occasionally, he would come into the art class and look, hopefully, at the art teacher and then at my attempt to paint, and the art teacher would sadly shake his head.

The only time I ever made acceptable artistic objects with my hands was at Oxford. There, on the way to the law library, was the inorganic chemistry laboratory. And, for no reason that I can now recall, I once went in, put on a white lab coat which was hanging on a hook, and tried to look as though I belonged. Since you just study one subject as an undergraduate at Oxford (law, in my case), there was absolutely no reason for me to be in the building. Nonetheless, I approached the center desk where they gave things out and asked for small capillary tubes. I took these over to a Bunsen burner, lit it, and started to make a little glass dachshund by stretching, twisting, and attaching the tubes in the fire. It is not difficult to make a little glass dachshund out of glass capillary tubes, and I made quite a few of them before I branched out into birds and cats (none of which looked as realistic as my dachshunds).

I have really fond memories of making these little glass ornaments. For the first time in my life, I actually had made something I could show others. I was hooked on the whole glass capillary tube animal making skill (maybe there should be commas there but they would break the flow). I discovered that the inorganic chemistry lab had an inexhaustible supply of these tubes, which they gave to me without question. On reflection, it was very generous of them.

I wanted, in return, to hang a sign in front of the lab which read “We Make Little Glass Ornaments,” but then I figured out that they might put a halt to my new-found and sole artistic expression of making glass dachshunds, and so (and in retrospect, wisely) I did not hang the sign.

Now that the holiday season is upon us, I sometimes find myself nostalgically lingering over tree-hung ornaments in stores and those so beautifully presented in windows throughout the city, with the hope that one day I will come upon a little glass dachshund. At least I could say, “I can make those!” It is these little things in life that give us comfort as we grow older.

If you are not decorating your tree (or Menorah, or whatever you may decorate) with dachshunds, hopefully you will consider covering it with objects that stir up happy memories and inspire you. And like the chemistry lab did for me, make sure to give without asking for anything in return. While you are at it, celebrate with the ones you love.

May your holidays be full of joy and creativity!

Ronald P. Stewart, Headmaster
York Prep School, NY
rstewart@yorkprep.org