D'agastino Retires from the Academy

After nearly 45 years at the Academy, Miss Mary-Francis Dagostino will complete her last official work day on the 20th of December 2013, retiring on the 31st.“Ms. Dagostino has worked tirelessly and effectively for 45 years at the Academy to make sure that, among many things, our assembly programs goes off without a hitch,” principal Tom Hassan said.Though the official title of the Assembly Program, Special Events Coordinator and Media Specialist, located in the Academy Building, requires her to provide overall support to the Academy’s Assembly Program and special events and to assist faculty with audio, Dagostino’s daily duties included serving as a member of the Assembly Committee to arranging the transportation services for upcoming speakers to coordinating the type of microphone required for lectures.“45 years is no small feat. But to do it with such goodness and grace is a tremendous accomplishment. There are a lot of bricks all around campus, and I equate Mary Francis Dagostino as the mortar that holds us all together,” drama instructor Rob Richards said.Alumnus Scott Finn shared similar sentiments. “Mary Frances may not be the outsized presence in the room, but she is the reason that the technical aspects of Assemblies go smoothly, for instance. You never even realize that there is someone behind the scenes making it all happen,” he said.In addition to her impressive dedication, Ms. Dagostino embodies all the best aspects of an Exonian.“Mary Frances is a stalwart veteran of maintaining the solid quality and character of the place that hosts so many people coming and going through the halls. She does so expertly, quietly, tirelessly, thoroughly: ‘Non Sibi’. She does so for the students, the faculty, fellow staff, and the very idea and history of the Academy,” Finn said.Inspired by her best-friend who worked at Exeter, Dagostino arrived at the Academy in 1969 after quitting from the banking business“I hated it, I hated numbers, numbers didn’t like me, I was really unhappy,” she said of her previous job.Accepting a full time job in the basement of Phillip’s Church after a few years at Exeter, her interest in audio and visual grew from assisting classrooms with technicalities from sixteen mm super eight slide projectors to reel tape and recorders. Bolstered by her experience with technical support, Dagastino became involved in the assembly program.Faculty from all departments valued Dagostino for her invaluable prowess in audio and visual.Religion instructor Thomas Simpson worked with Dagostino on the assembly program and Martin Luther King committee, described her expertise and steady reassurances as invaluable.“She has been a godsend to me, a wonderful colleague and friend,” he added.As well as her diligence behind the scenes, both students and faculty praised Dagostino’s affectionate character.

“She has shown genuine care for me and my family ever since we arrived at Exeter. I can't tell you how much I will miss her. She is truly irreplaceable,” Richards said.

The kindness, powerful spirit of goodness and genuine character noticed by many reinforced lasting relationships among the community. She is particularly close with the students of the late sixties and early seventies.“I have known her since my days as a student in the early 70s. Her warm and caring manner was as palpable then as it is now. When I returned to work here in 1991, Mary Frances’ welcoming smile made me feel like it was a true homecoming,” Exeter alumni Harold Brown said. “She is a constant reminder of what is best about Exeter. She will be sorely missed.”Dagostino recounted a favorite assembly speakers during her career: Jane Goodall, the world renowned expert on chimpanzees, sponsored by the national geographic, came to the Academy for a morning assembly and evening lecture.“She gave me the slides in a silk sack with a little cord and said ‘Oh Mary Francis help yourself and put them in any order you like’ So I opened the bag and there was chimpanzee fur fuzz everywhere and the slides were rather dirty,” Dagostino remembered her anxieties that the slide projector would reject the fuzzy slides were alleviated by Goodhall’s goodnature.“‘Don’t worry,’ she said, ‘Just keep something up there and i will keep talking. She was just the most delightful, sweetest thing, she was charming’”.Though inconspicuous to most of the community, Dagostino described the anxiety of her job. She felt that any mistakes behind the scenes reflected badly on the institution.“Even though you prepare and prepare and test and test you can never know,” she said. “It is like having a house guest, you want everything to be wonderful and to work well. You want Exeter to do well,” she said.Dagostino’s was always confident in the kind nature of assembly speakers, however.“People are wonderful, they are just really really lovely,” she said. “It is always more positive than negative. They are great, fun, so bright and they have so much to share with us it’s a perk.”That Dagostino applies the motto “you do the best you can” for the more difficult speakers is typical of her loving and kind nature.“One we had a gentlemen with an odd request. He had to have four lemons fresh cut in quarters in a bowl and a green tea, not boiling, not hot, not cool, but at room temperature.”She believes assembly speakers expose the Exeter community to the real world and the people who are doing extraordinarily wonderful things“Otherwise some of us may never know what some of these people are doing,” she said.

Though she looks forward to her retirement with excitement, Dagostio will also miss her workplace of 45 years. When asked “what are you going to miss the most,” “you all,” she immediately replied, referring to the students, almost cutting the question off.

“Just all of you in the morning going off to class…” Dagostino voice broke as pools of moisture appeared in the corner of her eyes. “I didn’t think i was going to get emotional about this,” she laughs through the tears. “Yeah, you guys,” she repeated again, composing herself.Even former graduates, although excited for Ms. Dagostino, are disappointed that she will be leaving The Academy.“As much as Mary Frances has worked tirelessly in the background, deferring praise or recognition as she is doing her job, there is a certain humility and strength and warmth that will be missed. There will be a void where you know something should be. And where it will be now is home, happily working in the garden, baking cookies and taking them on visits to family and friends,” Finn said.The feeling from students was reciprocated by students last Friday during the pep ralley assembly when StuCo president Alice Ju and Principal Hassan brought Mary-Francis Dagostino onto the stage to acknowledge her achievement. The school came to their feet in a rare standing ovation and cheered.“That was the best, I was very, very touched because standing ovation doesn’t happen too often,” Dagostino said. “That was the icing on the cake.”Her time at the Academy taught her both patience and acceptance“The students taught me to be very, very accepting,” Dagostino said. “I wasn’t avery patient person but I have learnt to be here because people aren’t always on time, so you have to be more flexible and just go with it.”In terms of her retirement Mary-Anne Dagastino looks forward with anticipation to the first blizzard of the year when she can take full advantage of the day off.“I’m going to do a reverse snow globe, you know how when you shake a snow globe the snow is all inside,” she explained. “Well I am going to be inside and the snow is going to be outside and I’m going to stay in my jammies all day.” “It’s time to do fun things,” she added. “I’m going to be my own boss.”