San Miguel announces new Board members for 2014-15 year

The San Miguel School welcomes the newest members of its Board of Directors: Michael Costello, Meredith MarcAurele, and Patricia Vieira.

The new Board members were officially appointed at the final Board meeting of the fiscal year on June 10 and were announced at the 2014 Annual Meeting later that day. Congratulations, and welcome to our new members!

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Michael Costello, together with his wife and former Board Member Jamie Costello, is a long-term supporter of San Miguel.  Mike, a Certified Financial Analyst, brings to the table financial management expertise. He co-founded Endurance Wealth Management in Providence, and has prior professional experience at Dru Stock, Inc. and Fleet Investment Advisors. Mike has also demonstrated a high level of community service, having served on the following boards: Rhode Island State Investment Committee, St. Mary’s Academy, Bay View, United Way of Rhode Island – Providence, Society of Financial Analysts (Past President) and Gordon School.  

Patricia (Pat) Vieira brings to San Miguel expertise in public relations and communications. She is an accredited public relations professional with extensive experience in developing, managing, and executing all aspects of public relations.  Her background includes 14 years at Providence College in the Office of College Relations and Planning and she currently operates her own consulting company, PV Writes, LLC.  Pat is a long-time friend of San Miguel School, a strong ambassador for the school, a founding member of our Public Relations Committee, which she now chairs, and she is mentor to seventh-grader Alfred.  Pat lives in Rehoboth, MA, with her husband, Jacques.

Meredith MarcAurele is a life-long resident of Rhode Island, and is a Summa Cum Laude Graduate of Providence College. She had a twenty-year career at Fleet Financial Group, with her last position held as Vice President, Corporate Human Resources. Meredith has served on the boards of Celebrate Rhode Island and the Sisters of Mercy in addition to having an active role on planning committees for, but not limited to, The Bishop's Ball, The American Heart Association Ball, The Pell Awards, Celebrate Rhode Island Ball, PPAC Annual Gala, Zoobilee, and Salve Regina Governor' s Ball. Governor Carcieri awarded Meredith and her husband Joe the Governor's Award for Service to Rhode Island. Meredith lives with her husband in East Greenwich. 

Brother Lawrence Goyette, FSC announces the end of his tenure at San Miguel Providence

PROVIDENCE, RI--After 20 years of leadership at The San Miguel School of Providence, Brother Lawrence Goyette, FSC, will step down at the end of the academic year, announcing the appointment of Mark Carty as the school’s next Executive Director.

“It is with bittersweet emotions that I prepare for the end of my journey here at The San Miguel School of Providence,” said Brother Lawrence. “After 20 years at San Miguel, the time has come for me to pass the torch, and I do so knowing that the school is stronger than ever and ripe for new leadership to lead it into its future.”

Joining the school in July 2013 as the school’s Associate Executive Director, Mark Carty spent the school year preparing for the transition. Carty said he has been humbled by the opportunity to study under Brother Lawrence’s direction and to have had the opportunity to develop relationships with the San Miguel community.

“San Miguel is the lived mission of De La Salle,” said Carty. “I am excited to continue the journey with the dedicated families, faculty, staff, and supporters who breathe life into this sacred mission.”

Together with San Miguel’s administrative team and with the support of the San Miguel Board of Directors, Carty will move the school into its next stage with renewed energy, while the mission and school culture will remain the same.

“We are deeply grateful that Brother Lawrence has positioned San Miguel to continue its mission with excellence,” said San Miguel Board Chair Michael Newquist. “We are confident Mark is the gifted, caring, and inspiring leader San Miguel needs as an exciting new future unfolds.”

Brother Lawrence founded San Miguel Providence in 1993 as the first of what has become a model for twelve similar schools across the nation. An all-boys middle school serving young men from Greater Providence, San Miguel School is dedicated to serving those most in need, and the school has grown over the past two decades through Brother Lawrence’s direction and vision.
Next year, Brother Lawrence will serve part-time as a consultant for a new Miguel school opening in California, but he will remain in close contact with San Miguel Providence as a “good-will ambassador.”

“A school is not defined by one person but rather the community that fosters its future,” said Brother Lawrence. “I am confident that San Miguel’s best and strongest years still lie ahead.”

Providence Journal, 4/14/14- San Miguel School: For boys, a place where bonds are forged

Photo courtesy of the Providence Journal

PROVIDENCE — At the tiny San Miguel School, the conversation revolves around changing lives, not boosting test scores.

At the daily morning meeting, the students — 64 middle school boys from some of the city’s neediest families — reflect on John Lennon’s song “Imagine,” an unorthodox choice for a Catholic school.

They discuss the word of the week — “elated” — and one boy says, “I will be elated when I cross the stage.”

Then a couple of students “share out.”

One boy who was asked to leave because of his chronic absenteeism has since returned.

“This is the best school for me,” he told the gathering. “I came back strong.”

“We’re very happy you’re back,” said Brother Lawrence Goyette, the school’s leader and founder.

The Lasallian Christian Brother founded the private school 21 years ago on little more than the belief that young boys from impoverished families deserve the same kind of education as their peers at La Salle Academy.

The middle school opened with 16 boys and two teachers in a former Lutheran elementary school. Although the furniture was secondhand, there was nothing shabby about the education that Brother Lawrence championed.

He built San Miguel on a firm handshake, a respect for others and a willingness to take risks.

“Every child is treasured, and they know it,” Brother Lawrence said.

Bob McMahon, the school’s first board president, said he used to fret over how to measure the school’s success.

“Perhaps the real success of San Miguel is captured succinctly and beautifully in the phrase that Journal editorial writer Froma Harrop coined years ago — the miracle of San Miguel,” he said. “How do you measure miracles? You can’t, at least not right away, because the measure of San Miguel’s success is in saving lives.”

Schools often speak of creating a sense of community. At San Miguel, actions speak louder than words. Graduates keep coming back to visit. Some of them mentor younger students. There is a special San Miguel tradition in which eighth graders are asked to mentor the newbies, the fifth graders.

“I think San Miguel is the best thing that happened to me and my family,” said Omaris Maria, whose two sons graduated from San Miguel. “The best thing they taught my sons was how to always do the right thing.”

Both of her sons have attended four-year colleges, and they still keep in touch with Brother Lawrence.

“It was the little things that mattered — the firm handshake, the eye contact,” said a former student, Johan Molina, now a junior at the University of Rhode Island. “I’d just like to say thank you for giving us that extra attention, for wanting to be the change in the world.”

San Miguel is about building lasting relationships. Faculty members follow graduates through high school, helping them figure out financial aid. They keep in touch with families as their children move through college and beyond.

Brother Lawrence recalls how one group of fifth graders used to talk about what it was like growing up without fathers.

“When we grow up, we want to be present for our children,” the students would say. Today, every one of them is a father himself or a father figure to someone else.

San Miguel never gives up on a child, even years later. Brother Lawrence remembers hearing from a young man after an 18-year hiatus. He had dropped out of high school and was using steroids. Lawrence met with him again and again.

The boy wound up getting his GED and going to URI, where he earned a doctorate in mathematics.

As Brother Lawrence says, “Once a Miguel Man, always a Miguel Man.”

There are now 12 other Miguel schools in cities as far away as Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia.

Brother Lawrence turns 65 this summer. He said he’s leaving “while people still like me.”

The time seems right, he said, because all of the pieces are falling into place: his successor, Mark Carty, a fellow Lasallian, joined the school last summer.

He was invited to be a consultant for several months at the latest San Miguel school, in California.

And the family of the late Ben Mondor, former owner of the Pawtucket Red Sox, donated $1.1 million to the school. That enabled San Miguel to buy the building from St. Ann Parish and finally establish a permanent home.

On the final day of school, fifth graders give the departing eighth graders a small gift. The teachers make sure to have boxes of tissues because everyone winds up crying.

Nothing symbolizes the value of relationships more than this ritual passing of the guard, and Brother Lawrence is always deeply moved:

“The love in the room is palpable.”