School Celebrates Wall of Distinction Inductees

On Wednesday, September 14, Malvern Preparatory School inducted two members into the James H. Stewart IV Wall of Distinction during a school-wide ceremony. The Wall of Distinction was unveiled in a similar ceremony last year and is displayed in Malvern’s St. Augustine Center for Social Impact because the building provides a location and programming for students to solve problems affecting humanity now and in the future. 

The award is named to honor the legacy of Jim Stewart P’86’94 PT Hon, a member of the Wall of Distinction Committee who passed away in August 2020, prior to the announcement of the inaugural class. 

This year's inductees were Dr. Dan Kelly ’99 and Mr. Barkley Sample ’81, both of whom were joined by proud family and friends at the ceremony.

During the ceremony, Kelly shared with students, “If I can leave you with three ideas it would be manifesto, mentorship, and moments,” he continued, ”by manifesto, I mean finding things you want to pursue, mentors are those who are doing the kind of work that inspires you, and by moments, I mean find the opportunities that allow you experience that manifesto.” He explained that his time at Malvern is what “opened his eyes to a life of service” which continued as he spent time on the ground in Africa during the Ebola epidemic.

Sample also addressed his “future alumni brothers.” “No one comes to Malvern to be average, and certainly none of your parents have sent you here to be ordinary and yet to be able to make an impact on society you have to understand society - exposed to diversity of thought, opinion and culture,” he stated. He encouraged students to really engage and learn more about one another. “You guys can be the change that we want to see,” he said.

The inductees are wonderful examples of selfless service to others and to the Common Good, which demonstrates the Augustinian Core Values of Truth, Unity, and Love – the hallmarks of the Malvern Prep experience. The James H. Stewart IV Wall of Distinction provides our community with role models to be celebrated, honored, and recognized so that our students know what positive leadership looks like and what social impact means.  

ABOUT THE INDUCTEES
Dr. Dan Kelly, an infectious disease fellow at the University of California San Francisco, graduated from Malvern Prep in 1999 at the top of his class. He graduated from Princeton University and subsequently attended Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he pursued a Global Health Fellowship. Dan took full-time leadership role in the Ebola response, stablishing a coalition with Partners In Health in Sierra Leone. He spent eight months on the ground in Sierra Leone during the Ebola epidemic and led multiple frontiers of work. Currently, Dan holds the title of Assistant Professor at the University of California, San Francisco at the School of Medicine and has published on Ebola in The New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, and The Lancet.

A graduate of Brown University, Barkley Sample currently serves as the Regional Director of Catholic Charities in Raleigh, NC which does a lot of work in Raleigh by providing help to people in need by alleviating the effects of poverty and creating hope by developing solutions to transform lives. Barkley also dedicates his time to the Sow Good Now non-profit organization as a member of their Board. Barkley has continued to return to Malvern.  He has been a class agent for reunions and events and is a part of our Alumni Board. He has also assumed the mantle as the Senior Statesman within our Malvern Men of Color organization.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT