After 48 years of dedication to Malvern Prep, Mr. James Stewart’s teaching at the school has come to an end.
It was the fall of 1970 when Mr. Stewart first stepped on Malvern Prep’s campus. He was excited to start up his career, and many good things were to come of it.
“I initially came to be a teacher and an assistant football coach,” Stewart said. “A friend of mine was the head football coach, and his words about the school interested me. I came out and met with Father Knap and got hired.”
In addition to his teaching, Stewart has held the positions of Dean of Students, Dean of Studies, Assistant Athletic Director, Athletic Director, and Assistant Headmaster. He was appointed Head of School in 1990, and President in 2006. He retired from his leadership role in 2012, but continued to teach in the languages department.
[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“Sobresaliente, there is no direct translation for it into English, but it means above and beyond the call of duty, it is used to describe the guy that gives 100 percent.”
–Mr. James Kirchner
[/perfectpullquote]
Throughout his years at Malvern, Stewart taught Latin and Spanish, but his main focus was on the latter.
“[The students] leave with a feeling that they have accomplished something and have learned how to speak the language,” Stewart said. “It is the best part of the day.”
Stewart’s humility and respect toward others is admirable.
“There is no pretension about him,” college counselor and english teacher Mr. Richard Roper said. “There is no attempt to make you feel he is more important.”
Roper is sentimental in seeing his friend and colleague leave Malvern. “I am selfishly sad about his retirement,” he said. “But, I am extremely happy for him because he has done what St. Paul said, ‘Fight the good fight, run a good race,’ and he deserves rest.”
Although there are many positive ways to describe Stewart, Roper chose one word: “Genuineness,” Roper said. “I always felt that I could go and talk to him about whatever was on my mind and have no fear of it coming back to haunt me. I always felt that he was in the middle of the fray of teaching with me and with us.”
Freshman Sean McCarthy described Stewart’s class as engaging.
“I look forward to going to class, Mr. Stewart always asks us oral questions and gets us all involved at the beginning of every class, it’s really just a relaxed environment with Mr. Stewart,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy said Stewart is different from other teachers he has had. “He makes an effort to get all of us involved in class with oral questions and activities, instead of the usual worksheets and busywork.”
McCarthy also said that punishments in Stewart’s class can be very humorous.
“One time someone was acting up in class, and Mr. Stewart got upset with him and told him to leave class and count all the doorknobs in the hallway. He thought it would take him the rest of class but he came back five minutes later and said there were thirty, and got kicked out again,” McCarthy said.
Spanish teacher Mr. James Kirchner reflected on the many years he has worked with his close colleague.
“I have been at Malvern for 23 years and I have worked with Señor Stewart all of those years, his impact has been tremendous, to me he is the epitome of what a language teacher should be.” Kirchner said. “He bleeds Malvern blue and grey, his love for this place is unsurpassed.”
Kirchner still remembers the day he discussed his salary with Stewart after he was hired.
“When I accepted the job in August of 1995 we had not discussed my salary yet, so Mr. Stewart said to meet him at Aronimink swim club the next afternoon to discuss it,” Kirchner said. “I did and he and I sat there in the chairs by the pool in our swim trunks and we discussed my starting salary.”
One word came to Kirchner’s mind when asked about Stewart.
“Sobresaliente, there is no direct translation for it into English, but it means above and beyond the call of duty, it is used to describe the guy that gives 100 percent,” Kirchner said.
