School History
In the mid-1980’s Kiernan Moylan, the son of Dr. Joseph and Ann Carole Moylan, approached Hillside High School coaching legend Russell Blunt about training him. Kiernan wanted to run in college. He couldn’t pay, but offered to do whatever Coach Blount asked in return for coaching. They struck a deal—Blunt would coach Kiernan, and Kiernan would tutor another of Blunt’s runners in math so he could qualify on the SAT for college eligibility and a running scholarship.
The boys worked together each day after track practice at the Moylans’ dining room table. Unfortunately, Kiernan quickly discovered that not only did his teammate struggle with basic math, he could barely read. When Kiernan asked how that could be, the other boy replied, “I could always run, so they kept on promoting me.” Despite the boys’ efforts, with so little time and so much ground to make up, the runner did not qualify.
While Kiernan went on to attend college and run for his school, the other boy had few options. He turned to gang life. Two years later he was shot and killed. Fortunately, his all-too-short life served a greater purpose.
Dr. Moylan had developed the emergency trauma unit at Duke University Hospital. In that role he performed surgeries on many youth who had suffered gunshot or stabbing wounds. He saw firsthand the horrors of violence — the damage, both physical and emotional, it inflicts; how it can tear apart the fabric of a family, a neighborhood, even an entire community. The news of his son’s former teammate’s death put a face on the problem and galvanized his desire to reduce the senseless, and often gang-related, bloodshed. Dr. and Mrs. Moylan vowed that one day they would do what they could to help others avoid the same fate and to make Durham a better place.
Once their six children were on their own, the Moylans acted on their promise to each other and to Durham. On the advice of their pastor, Father David McBriar, they began to research the Nativity Miguel Network of Schools. They visited schools in New York, Boston and Baltimore to learn what methods seem to work best. They discovered that, as with drug rehabilitation programs, a sustained rather than short-term approach to education is most effective. The Nativity Schools and their students invest in an eleven-year relationship, stretching from middle school through four years in a private high school and then four years of college. Compared to a national average of 33%, 62% of Nativity Schools graduates attend college. The Moylans decided they had found their model and began to refine their dream. They assembled a board of directors and, after interviewing 20 candidates, selected a head of school in April of 2002. The doors opened the following August.
In its first eight years, Durham Nativity School has made much progress. Its inaugural graduates entered college in the fall of 2009. Five of the eight boys in the school’s first graduating class entered four-year colleges and four of them have enrolled for their sophomore year. Of the seven members of the second graduating class, one is a senior in high school and the other six have all matriculated at four-year schools. In June 2010, 13 boys graduated as part of DNS’ largest class ever and all of them are currently thriving in private high schools. (Find more facts about DNS Alumni here.) Current enrollment has grown to 39 boys.
