My first Publication 1926874721_Alumni_Magazine_June_2010 | Page 16

Issue 3, June 2010
had carted to Sofia in six boxes brought
through the airport as excess baggage.
Thank goodness the customs officer
was disinterested! Close to 3000 students
had paid their admissions test fee, lining
up on the stairs of the building where
we had our temporary office in the city
center. An architect stopped by one day
to share that he knew the building pretty
well and he feared that the building
might be at risk with so much weight
standing on the staircases. We moved the
line outside.
There were so many wacky incidents at
that time. Only approved institutions
could open bank accounts. We were not
yet approved by the Council of Ministers
so we didn’t have a bank account. What
to do with all of the money collected
for the admissions test fee? We had
no choice. I bundled up the high stack
of leva collected from parents each
day and carried the bundle wrapped in
newspaper to the apartment where I was
staying. I stashed the packets of leva in
the freezer every night. I may not have
had much food in the fridge, but I could
have bought a restaurant.
With respect to the Minister’s warning,
I had a long and lonely weekend
considering our options. In the end,
playing a hunch that if we didn’t go ahead
with the admissions exam we might
be delayed for a long time getting the
College opened, we defied the Minister,
held the exam on Sunday as planned,
and announced the admission of our
first class of 50 boys and 50 girls. Two
days after the test, we were delighted to
have the Council of Ministers approve
us. This time they had no choice. That
meant we could have a bank account
and I could unload the stored leva. What
a relief! Actually, even after we had an
account and the College was opened, the
ACS budget manager and I still had to go
to the bank in the city center to withdraw
large sums of cash to lug back to the
campus and pay faculty and staff their
salaries. We were advised that wasn’t very
safe but there was no alternative at the
time. It felt like the Wild West, or should
I say the Wild East.
Back to the question about doubts: There
were surely those that wanted to stop us
from getting started. But, I think it is also
right to say that many of our frustrations
and annoyances were a consequence
of the simple “newness” of our effort.
We were the first institution to take
advantage of the new law on private
education. They were exploring new
policies and procedures; so too were we.
We were all new to it, including the Board
of Trustees in New York since few of
the Board members had had the chance
to visit the historic campus before we
actually reopened. As such, there were
countless questions that had never been
considered, policy and procedural issues
that had never arisen, uncertainties that
officials had never had to resolve. Many
of our frustrations were likely the result
of the fact that we were the first to try
to implement the new regulations on
establishing schools independent of the
State. The list of unknowns felt endless.
We were answering challenges on a daily
basis. Where is your contract for parents?
Oh, well, let’s see… we’ll develop one
and get it to you soon. We did. You need
a student code of conduct manual. Okay, let
me work on that. I did that sitting in a
friend’s apartment on Stamboliski Blvd.
one Sunday morning, copying much of
the high school handbook my daughter
used in her school in Massachusetts.
Most of it is still in use. You need to consider
some variance to your policy that admission of
students is determined strictly by the results of
your admissions test and essay. Sorry, sir, we
won’t do that, no matter who asks, what is
promised or what is threatened, although
we had plenty of examples of each. The
point is that the inevitable complexities
of our “newness” combined with the
ill-will of some officials made for some
very difficult times.
So, did I have doubts? Of course. But, to
some extent, uncertainties and difficulties
energized our team, created a sense of
shared purpose and helped us support
one another through some tough times.
That is probably why so many of the
faculty, staff, administrators, students
and parents who became part of the
College in the earliest years still feel a
sense of deep and lasting appreciation,
indeed affection, for one another. We
always will.
When did you feel that the mission
had been accomplished?
I think it was on September 15, 1992
when 100 great kids and our small team
of adults (we were pretty young too, you
know) stood on the steps of Sanders
Hall. The sweep of water on the steps to
open our first school day and the goofy
picture we decided to take of us standing
together will always serve as the tipping
point when we realized that students,
parents, teachers, and staff were in it
– and in it together - for the long haul.
It was no longer a question of whether
we could open; we were open and we
were open to stay! I lit a candle in a little
church in the city center that afternoon,
standing amongst some very old women
who were there for other reasons. We
simply shared a sense of thankfulness.
Susan and Roger after climbing on the Fox Glacier in New Zealand during their trip
there in the fall of 2008
14