Lilian Wang ’26, Vivian Cook ’27
Reverend Michael Palmisano, better known as Rev. P around campus, serves as an extremely valuable member of the EA community. Currently, he is our Middle School chaplain and one of the boys’ cross-country coaches. It is at cross-country practice every day where Rev. P can not only coach but also connect and understand his runners.
As a kid, Palmisano experimented with a variety of different sports such as basketball, baseball, and soccer. Baseball quickly became Palmisano’s favorite until his 5th grade when he took a ball to the mouth. After a couple of lost teeth, Palmisano decided it was time to retire his baseball bat.
In search of a new sport, Palmisano decided to give running a try when he was in eighth grade. He quickly fell in love with the sport and began to prioritize it, putting in all his effort to further improve his times. Once Palmisano decided that running was the right sport for him, the collegiate level became something of interest.
When going through the recruiting process, Princeton University stuck out to Palmisano as the perfect place to further his academic and athletic career. He remembers that while on his recruiting trip to Princeton, he felt at home with the team. “I remember going for a Sunday morning long run while I was there. I ran like 10 miles with the team, just cracking up the whole time.” After that, he knew exactly what his decision would be.
Photo courtesy of Reverend Michael Palmisano
Throughout his time as a runner at Princeton, Palmisano accomplished many great things. His most admirable accomplishment on the outdoor track is the 4×800 record he currently holds. Princeton not only allowed him to grow as a runner but also as a person. It is on the Princeton Track and Field team where he met his wife and where he built relationships with the people he is still close to today.
While at Princeton, Palmisano got his A.B. in Psychology, then went on to attend Villanova University for graduate school and got his M.S. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. His goal was to help people, and he thought both degrees would help him do so. However, he always felt like something was missing. That’s when he discovered his way of helping people was his call to ministry. While working at the Church of the Redeemer in Bryn Mawr, he met Father Gavin through an alum, when he mentioned that he thought he might have a call to school chaplaincy. A few years later, a teaching spot opened up at EA, allowing Rev. P to join the EA community.
Serving as EA’s middle school chaplain, Rev. P possesses many qualities that make him so impactful. Father Gavin shares how Palmisano, “has a perspective that’s unique, around religion, around Christianity, around priesthood, around chaplaincy, that I benefit from and others benefit from too.”
As far as coaching cross-country goes, Rev. P loves to share the experience of running with young students and hopes that they might love it. He explains how his favorite moment in a cross-country season is getting to watch a new runner fall in love with the sport by the end of the season. Palmisano talks about the nature of the sport saying, “I love the team aspect of cross-country, ’cause you’re all doing the same distance at the same time. You just spend a lot of time out there, so you get a lot of time to be with your friends,” he explains. However he also recognizes that practice isn’t just about team bonding but also learning what each individual needs in order to succeed. As a runner, he knows exactly what it feels like and even looks like when a runner is struggling. Being able to recognize the body language of a runner and make a decision based on that has been really important and beneficial for Rev. P as a coach. Father Gavin adds, “The humbleness and humility with which he shares his gift makes him very approachable, so I think for our high school students who are runners, they can look up to him and talk to him.”
Photo courtesy of Rev. P
In the future, Rev P hopes to continue to build a program that sees possibilities such as national titles as the end goal. As for himself, he just wants to keep running. “I hope I can keep running until I am that old guy shuffling on the side of the road who, you know, you’re like, he probably shouldn’t be running anymore, but, he’s still doing it” shares Palmisano.
Recently, Rev. P ran the Philly Distance Run, a half-marathon, finishing with an incredible time of 1:10:26, which equates to a 5:23 mile pace. He was fortunate enough to have a lot of the summer available to sleep and train. At first, he was writing his own training but soon decided he would have better results if he reached out to an old friend who he ran with at Villanova and asked if he wanted to write his training. Palmisano followed this training plan for two months and had a lot of fun running the half-marathon and getting coached by his old friend.
Rev. P has a truly insightful perspective as an athlete, never dwelling on past failures, instead he focuses on the future and improving himself and his runners. Father Gavin comments, “Rev. P works at it, so he doesn’t rely just on past accomplishments. He’s always trying to get better. He doesn’t just rely on his natural talent. He knows he has a gift, and he has to work to make that gift better.”