If you ask a female Marymount of Santa Barbara student or graduate, “What is your favorite memory from Marymount?” you will get a list. That list will inevitably include the annual Father-Daughter Dance.
Marymount has many memorable events that bring the community together. It is one of the reasons the Marymount community continues to be as strong as it is today. This feeling of community is palpable enough that when prospective families visit Marymount for the first time with Admissions Director Molly Seguel, they frequently comment on the sense of community they feel when they step onto campus. Events like the Father-Daughter Dance help to build that feeling of community.
Marymount’s Father-Daughter Dance takes place in November every year and was the brainchild of alumnae parent Marie Sexton. It instantly became an honored and loved tradition at this school that manages to hold onto traditions while also offering a top-notch independent, 21st-century education to its junior kindergarten through eighth-grade students.
Marymount’s Education Record Bureau test scores again place two-thirds of Marymount’s students above 95 percent on this standardized test used by independent schools. While statistics like these demonstrate how well Marymount students are learning and working, events like the Father-Daughter Dance demonstrate that Marymount students know how to play and have fun as well.
Many fathers have tales of adventure to tell about Marymount’s Father-Daughter Dances. Plane reservations have been canceled or changed so that dads could attend. Business deals delayed. Marymount fathers have found themselves in florist shops buying corsages for the first time in 30 years. Many fathers have been surprised to learn that their daughters have surprisingly strong opinions about their attire.
One father jokingly remarked that when he asked his junior kindergarten daughter what she thought he should wear to the dance, his daughter replied, “You should look like a prince, of course.” Though most fathers keep their attire to a jacket and tie, this father’s ensemble involved a trip to a costume shop for a crown and an ermine cape.
When speaking to the fathers at the dance, there is no question that the memories of the Father-Daughter Dance are important to fathers as well as daughters.
“I’m out of sorts,” one father of an eighth-grade girl said. “This is my last Marymount Father-Daughter Dance.”
Marymount is an independent coeducational school, junior kindergarten through eighth grade, on a picturesque 10-acre campus nestled on the Santa Barbara Riviera. Building on a 75-year tradition of excellence, the educators at Marymount have crafted a unique learning experience that blends mastery of core subjects with acquisition of the essential skills students need to navigate and be successful in a rapidly evolving world.
— Molly Seguel is director of admissions for Marymount of Santa Barbara.
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