De La Salle’s president unites students in prayer, resolve, good humor

Story by Beth Donze

On “Day One” of De La Salle’s coronavirus-induced foray into distance learning, high school president Paul Kelly greeted his students virtually – through a serious yet cheerful YouTube video.

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 them 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.’”

Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, Kelly has pledged to communicate with his students every weekday morning at around 9 a.m. in a video posted conveniently on the high school’s YouTube channel.

In his inaugural segment on 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 video, Kelly injected humor by raising a leprechaun hat, noting that he couldn’t wear it because it was 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 gonna 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” each school day.

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

To keep the camaraderie and learning going, Kelly said he would not only use the morning videos to fortify De La Salle's school community in prayer and the latest information, but he would also 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 declared the date to be “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.