Daily videos unite De La Salle in prayer, humor

After wishing the teenagers a Happy St. Patrick’s Day, leading them in prayer and encouraging them to persevere through the new remote educational set-up between themselves and their teachers, Kelly rolled out a fitting song from one of New Orleans’ favorite sons: “Blue Monday” by Fats Domino.
    

It didn’t matter a bit that it was actually Tuesday and not Monday.
    

“I know we’re all feeling a bit blue with what’s happening in our society today and in our city today,” said Kelly, a 1983 alumnus of De La Salle.
    

“But in the blues (musical genre), there are songs that connote sadness but (that also have) a tremendous amount of uplift, because we are all in this struggle together,” Kelly said. “So, here is ‘Blue Monday’ on a ‘Happy Tuesday.’”
 

Morning pep talks
    

Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, Kelly said he would communicate with his students, faculty and staff every weekday morning at around 9 a.m. in a video posted conveniently on the high school’s YouTube channel.
    

In his inaugural video March 17, Kelly addressed his troops from his dining room, backed by a fireplace mantle festooned in St. Patrick’s green. At one point during the seven-minute piece, Kelly injected humor by raising a leprechaun hat, noting that he couldn’t wear it because it was just a decorative prop.
    

“This is certainly not how I would want to be greeting you today – I wish that we were in school and I was seeing all of your lovely and smiling faces,” Kelly told his teenage viewers, thanking principal Perry Rogers and her faculty for working “incredibly hard” to enable them to learn outside of the physical confines of their St. Charles Avenue campus.
    

“I know this time is scary; it’s incredibly strange; it might be oddly exciting for you, (but) we’re just going to have to push our way through this,” Kelly said, “but we need you to do your part!”
 

Health comes first
    

Holding up a bottle of hand sanitizer, Kelly urged his students to make health their No. 1 priority.
    

“Listen to your folks; listen to the authorities,” Kelly said, encouraging them to stay on top academically by checking in online with “every single teacher,” every school day.
    

“Day by day, step by step, we’re all going to get better at this and we’re going to get through this,” he said.
    

To keep the learning going, Kelly said he would not only use the morning videos to bolster De La Salle’s school community in prayer and the latest information, but he also would devote time in each to sharing his favorite art, poetry, music and other personal interests.
    

As he played Domino’s “Blue Monday,” for example, the camera panned to Kelly’s own modern sculpture of a saxophone player, a maroon De La Salle pennant at its feet. Kelly turned his computer tablet around to display a black-and-white video of Domino singing the day’s song.
    

“Tell ’em about it, Fats!” said Kelly at the end of Domino’s soulful rendition, inviting his students to contact him at his school email address with any questions, concerns or observations.
    

He also asked them to feel free to critique his song selections.
    

“Give my song five stars if you liked it, two if you think I can do better,” he said, reeling off his email address. “Keep me connected to you all!”
    

In his March 18 video, Kelly designated the day as “Hug Your Parents Day” in the De La Salle High School community.
    

To access De La Salle’s YouTube channel, go to https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk8-UdbPwi7_LcoUqPDtvvg.
    

Beth Donze can be reached at [email protected].