(upbeat music) - Hi everyone, Steve Adubato.

We kick off the program with our longtime friend, Father Edwin Leahy, headmaster of St.

Benedict's Preparatory School.

Good to see you, Father Ed.

- Good to see you, Steve.

Good to be here.

- It is good for you to be here.

Is it not a fact that you recently turned 80?

- It's a fact.

80, yep.

- Did you also turn it into some sort of fundraiser for St.

Benedict's Prep?

- Nah, well, I did not.

(Steve laughing) Somebody did, no doubt, but I did not.

- Where did you learn that?

By someone we know.

(Father Ed laughing) We both know.

- Show me the money.

Economics 101.

- By the way, Father Ed makes reference to my late dad who was on the board of St.

Benedict's Prep, and my son Steven taught there.

We have a long time... Conflict of interest, yes.

There's a lot of history with St.

Benedict.

Father, let me ask you this.

The 53rd year as headmaster at St.

Benedict's, it was in 1973, St.

Benedict's had closed for a year.

Many of your students came to my high school at Essex Catholic.

- Yep.

- You were 25 I think, at the time.

You came in, ya start at the school again.

How many students in 1973 when you started?

- 89.

- How many now?

- Almost 1,100.

- What grades?

- Now, kindergarten to grade 12.

- Boys and girls?

- Back then, it was grade 9 to 12.

Yes, boys and girls as well as a kind of a, what the people in special operations in our military, would call a forward-operating base.

We have a relationship developing with a school up in Newburgh, New York, San Miguel Academy.

So yeah, lots happening.

- And by the way, check out a couple things, the previous interviews we've done with Father Ed.

Father Ed is also, he was in the inaugural Russ Berrie Making a Difference Awards in 1997, which I was honored to host.

Father Ed was one of the first honorees, right?

So they're celebrating its 30th, 30 years coming up at the Russ Berrie Making a Difference Awards.

You've been recognized many times, Father Ed, but what did that award mean to you then, and why is it so important to, as the foundation says, make a difference?

- Well, I mean it was, first of all, Russ Berrie was one of the most unassuming people that I've ever met in my life, I think.

He was interested in making a difference, trying to highlight those places, in his opinion and the opinion of whoever worked with him was making some kind of a difference.

So, any of those recognitions that happened way back then were ways of kinda turning attention to what these kids here in Newark were doing positively, right, so I think he was a huge help to us back then.

- Let folks know, Father Ed, about the population of students at St.

Benedict's.

- So most of our kids are from the African dispersion.

Back then, when we first started, it was, they were all African Americans, because the West African immigration didn't happen until the mid to late '80s.

And the Latin American immigration in any great numbers, didn't happen until slightly after that.

So our kids back then were all African American or Puerto Ricans because they're citizens of the US.

Now it's kind of the African dispersion and the Latin American dispersion, I would say.

- Father Ed, for those who have a preconceived idea about urban kids, urban young people, that you've worked with for 53 years plus, what do most people have wrong about their, sometimes preconceived ideas about innercity young people?

Well, they have... - The preconceived ideas are about, not just the young people, but about all of us who live in the inner city, I think, and then the kids, by just by association.

And kids are more inclined frequently to get into the kinda trouble that becomes public, right?

Adults are much better at hiding it, (laughs) the things that they're doing that they might not, ought not be doing.

And there's the media has attention drawn to it as well.

So I mean, the kids don't have a, in one sense, don't have a chance to hide because somebody's always making a point of it and making a point negatively about them.

But the kids are, they're no different than any other kids.

And their resilience is astounding, 'cause a lot of times they're doing it in adverse circumstances.

So they're either doing it by themself or they're doing it with only one parent present, all of that.

- Yeah, and by the way, check out an interview we did with one of Father Ed's alum, one of the alums at St.

Benedict's, Quadeer Porter, an alumnus of St.

Benedict's, received a 2022 Russ Berrie Making a Difference Award for his work with Brothers Building a Better Nation.

And this year the foundation, the Russ Berrie Foundation, is honoring and recognizing Gen Z young people making a difference.

What's your message to the Gen, (laughs) to the Gen Z, and their need to make a difference, Father Ed, 'cause you see them doing it every day.

You promote them doing it every day.

- Yeah, the challenge for Gen Z kids, I think, is working together as a team, because they live this kind of an isolated life, in one sense, on their phones nonstop.

So hanging on street corners like a lot of kids did growing up, and especially in the inner city, that's all disappeared.

They all hang on their phones.

And it's difficult for them to work together as a team.

So working, putting them in situations where they have to rely on one another is the key.

Because doing it all by yourself isn't gonna work longterm as you get older and older.

So that's the biggest challenge I think Gen Z has.

- By the way, let me recognize, that in 2024, Father Edwin was one of the folks inducted, one of the honorees of the New Jersey Hall of Fame 2024, in the Hall of Fame, check that out.

We're partners with the Hall of Fame as well.

Final question, Father Ed, you know I'm a student of leadership.

I struggle with it all the time, write about it, try to understand it.

You've been leading through incredibly challenging times.

The most significant leadership lesson you have learned after 53 years leading St.

Benedict's Prep with 89 students to start, 1,100 plus now, and very different than when you started and much more impactful than anyone ever imagined, greatest leadership lesson you learned is?

- Teamwork.

Relying on the people around you that helps shape your thinking, not to make decisions on your own.

- Yeah, sometimes we think we can do it on our own and we delude ourselves.

Father Ed - Bad idea.

- is the headmaster of St.

Benedict's Preparatory School.

Also let me disclose, he doesn't like me to say this.

He is the spiritual advisor to the Adubato family.

(Father Ed laughs) And I'm not convinced he's doing that good a job at it.

(laughs) I'm only kidding.

Thank you, Father Ed.

- Thank you, Steve.

- Stay with us.

We'll be right back.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by The Russell Berrie Foundation.

RWJBarnabas Health.

Learn More at RWJBH.org.

The North Ward Center.

The Fund for New Jersey.

Community FoodBank of New Jersey.

PSEG Foundation.

Newark Board of Education.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

And by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

Promotional support provided by ROI-NJ.

And by NJ.Com.

The North Ward Center continues to expand their services and outreach in Newark, from the childhood years to the golden years, Offering programs like preschool, youth leadership development, Casa Israel Adult Medical Day program our Family Success center, as well as a gymnasium.

And most recently Hope House, a permanent home for adults with autism, supporting and nurturing our autism community with Hope House 2 coming soon.

The North Ward Center.

We’re here when you need us.