HOCKEY BEFORE COLLEGE
Senior Joe Abel to put off college for two years to focus on junior hockey
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April 2016
EDUCATION OF THE NEAR FUTURE
EDITORIAL: THEOLOGY
How should the theology curriculum adapt to a changing world?
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Alum Rafferty’s path to National Championship
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Malvern’s curriculum is adapting quickly to project-based learning, but the transition has its challenges.
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Student Newspaper of Malvern Preparatory School . 418 South Warren Avenue . Malvern, Pennsylvania 19355
COMMITTING TO CREW
The sport is “not for everyone,” but has many benefits for those who accept the challenge
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VOLUME 16, NUMBER 6
Before the class of 2016 graduates, we learn from their experience - and from the perspective of a college counseling department that is changing with the times.
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Four Christian Service weekends ahead in 2016-17 Juniors will experience a college visit day, while other classes visit new service sites Tommy Pero ’17 FRIAR LIFE EDITOR ue to overcrowding at Urban Challenge and St. Augustine’s Church, as well as new college visit days for juniors, students will participate in four Christian Service weekends next year instead of three. Director of Christian Service Mr. Larry Legner cited increasing class sizes as the main reason for the change. “We had two juniors who could not go to Urban Challenge this year because I did not have a bed for them,” Legner said. At Urban Challenge, there are only 44 beds available each weekend. “With adding another weekend, I’m able to get the groups down to a size of 32 [students], which is far more manageable,” he said. “In case of emergency, we can accommodate.” Other changes will also follow for the weekend.
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Juniors still have Urban Challenge and two local service days, in addition to a new college visit day. The college visit day will consist of two college counselors taking the group to two different colleges in one day, according to Legner. Each weekend will have two different schools for a total of eight. The objective is to see two different kinds of schools— such as big or small, urban or rural— in one day so that students can get a better idea of what kind of school they want and learn how to do a college visit, according to Director of College Counseling Mr. Ian Harkness. “I think the contrast will be important,” Harkess said. “To see Temple in the city and then come out to see Haverford— two different experiences all within a few miles of each other.” The list of colleges students will visit is not finalized, but they will all be close enough to return to Malvern by the end of a normal school day. The Counseling Department plans to reach out to admission officers at each school to get a personalized visit that will help students learn more about each school and about the college process. “It’s more about the overall experience of ‘did that feel right, or not?’” Harkness said. “Bring that experience to talk with your college counselors when those individual meetings start to happen.” > PAGE 5
Middle School changes academic format Changes to the academic calendar and the leadership structure are ahead for the middle school next year. Joe Lister ’21 MIDDLE SCHOOL REPORTER The Middle School will be moving to a trimester academic calendar and adding grade level deans for 2016-17, according to Middle School Head Mr. Patrick Sillup. Sillup said that the quarter model that Malvern has used for several decades had a “cramming effect” on students. “I think the trimesters will give us an appropriate amount of time to do certain things,” he said. By adopting the trimester system students will have a “longer runway” for evaluation, according to Sillup. However, middle schoolers will be losing classes due to the new format. One of their “carousel classes,” classes that switch every quarter, will be taken away. Sixth graders will no longer have Study Skills class, and the seventh and eighth graders will no longer take Design Thinking and Chapel Reflection respectively. However, > PAGE 7
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The way Malvern teaches Theology is out-of-date. Here’s our proposal to adapt it to the realities of today. Editorial Board teachings, the lessons are irrelevant and can feel ostracizing. here are two main philosophies a Catholic education instiWhat if the theology curriculum was different? tution can take in its faith-based identity. Freshman should still take Biblical Studies to understand the One is to try to present the Catholic teachings and Church and the context of its teachings. ideals to form young men who keep these values in mind. However, once that foundation is built we suggest that the The other is presenting various religion’s teachings on topics rest of theology is divided into six semesters each revolving around with a core value system based in Catholicism - like empathy, a significant social issue. It is more important to talk about these service, unitas, caritas, and veritas. current issues than continue with History of the The current theology curriculum is a reflection Church sophomore year, and solely the Catholic The world of the first school of thought in Catholic education, teaching on various social issues junior and senior around us is changing but the Editorial Board believes a Malvern theology year. and we need curriculum revolved around discussion and differing For example, second semester junior year, stuto have our viewpoints would create a stronger student, comdents might take class on human life. The crux of theology curriculum munity, and religion. the class would be Catholicism’s teachings on the better prepare Students would have an enhanced understandissue and incorporate relevant prior events from our young men ing of a globalized world and more importantly have the Church’s history. This would then also be supfor today’s world by a stronger spiritual identity founded upon personal plemented with perspectives from other religions talking about exploration, rather than unilateral instruction. and groups. Students can internally grapple with the issues Currently, freshmen have Biblical Studies and these issues during class discussions and, over time, from all viewpoints. sophomores have History of the Church. We agree develop their own beliefs. that students at a Catholic school should have a Students must learn the foundations of varifirm understanding of the Church's foundation and ous belief systems in the context of respect. St. traditions. Augustine framed the best strategy for handling conflicting But when junior and senior year classes discuss the social perspectives when he said, “I learned most, not from those who teachings of the Church, Malvern has room to grow into a more taught me but from those who talked with me.” Respectful diainclusive approach. logue forms young adults who are firm in their beliefs, and who During junior and senior year, students hear an excessive can analyze the world in the future to make educated decisions. amount on premarital sex, abortion, homosexuality, among other We are not theology experts who could best determine the topics. semester topics, but we do believe this change will be beneficial Then, tests typically require writing out the same response for the Malvern community. over and over again. The Editorial Board finds three major benefits of the change The topics run dry and the conversations become empty. in curriculum. According to Malvern’s website, the student body is 85% Catholic. One: the community would be more understanding and That 85% can often lose interest in repetitive, black-and-white accepting of others. If every student is learning about all these teachings. For the 15% of students who are not Catholic, when different religions with equal merit, they will come to understand these classes are presented only in the context of Catholic social and respect people with different beliefs than their own. You may
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have chosen to come to a Catholic school, but the expectation with that should be that you have also chosen to come to a school that does not discriminate on the basis of creed. Two: the world is shrinking. Malvern has made a very intentional attempt to move to the new digital globalized age, by expanding the foreign exchange program, adding Mandarin to the curriculum, and emphasizing service trips abroad. All of this brings students closer to people of other faiths during their time at Malvern. We will be expected to do this once we leave Malvern. Therefore, Malvern can and should produce stronger, well-rounded young men by exposing students to other faiths and religions. Three: Finally, when students develop beliefs, they have them for a reason. It’s not just because they were told these things. Students will have a profound understanding of the issue and a belief of their own, and no other. For those of you reading this thinking this is a step away from Malvern’s Catholic faith to be more politically correct - it's not. The world around us is changing and we need to have our theology curriculum better prepare our young men for today’s world by talking about the issues from all viewpoints. Malvern would and should still have its deep-rooted Catholic identity. Traditions of MECO, service weekends, and masses must continue. However, 21st century education cannot exclude the Theology department, and our proposal brings it to the modern day. Some Catholic universities such as Georgetown University in Washington D.C. understand the value of this philosophy. That is why there are more than 50 different religious services on campus every week, according to their website. Our Catholic identity is not an excuse for only presenting Catholic ideas in theology class. In order to lead tomorrow in a shrinking world, we need to learn more about other religions and backgrounds today.5
Remembering Mikey A memorial to the life of a little Friar with a big heart. Michael Droogan ’16 neighbor and School Nurse Mrs. SPORTS EDITOR Kit McGettigan said. lumnus Michael “Mikey” “One time our basement McGinley ’11 passed away flooded when my husband and I the night of the NCAA were away and our daughter was Basketball National Semi Final the only one home,” McGettigan after a night with his friends. said. “MIkey and the rest of his As the saying goes, it’s not family worked for 3 to 4 hours that about the size of the dog in the day to get all the water out. When fight, rather, it’s the size of the fight I told Mikey’s school what he did, in the dog. What Mikey, 22, lacked the principal told me she wasn’t in size, he made up for with a tenasurprised because that’s just the cious desire and a huge heart. type of kid Mikey is and the type Despite standing at only 5’7” of family they are” and maybe 130 lbs, Mikey was a Schiller said Mikey always force to be reckoned with in the had the ability to energize a room pool. He still holds the record in and a unique ability to bring a water polo for career blocks and smile to everyone’s face. steals. “He was always upbeat and MCGINLEY IN HIS ELEMENT SUPPLIED BY J. SCHIL LER positive and if he wasn’t upbeat and “We’d be playing 10-12 ft deep pools and refs would called him for positive he was sleeping,” Schiller jumping off the bottom,” Water Polo Coach Jay Schiller said. said with a smile. “One of the things that used to drive teach“How does a kid his size even get close to the bottom? He ers nuts was he had an incredible knack of falling asleep in just had incredible leg strength and played a lot bigger than class, but when he was awake he was lively, and a kid that he was.” never had a bad day.” Outside of the pool Mikey was a quiet, unassuming, polite Mikey was also a kid who loved being on the beach. He person, who always had a knack for identifying a problem and worked for Sea Isle Beach Patrol his junior and senior year and quietly fixing it without looking for recognition, long-time then worked for Avalon Beach Patrol after he graduated. He
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was always the star of the McGinley’s annual Thanksgiving football game down at their house in Sea Isle, Schiller said. “Since he had so little body fat, he really hated the cold and hated winter. He loved going down to the beach every summer,” Schiller said. In addition to water polo, McGinley also swam, wrestled, and played on Malvern’s rugby team. He always had a willingness to get involved as an athlete. “When Mikey wasn’t swimming junior year I was initially upset,” Schiller said. “But then I found out he wasn’t swimming because he wanted to wrestle to honor his dad who wrestled. He figured since, ‘my dad was a high school wrestler I want to try what he did.’” At Malvern, McGinley was also a talented ceramic artist and graphic design student, and a member of the National Art Honor Society. McGinley was a student at Drexel's LeBow College of Business, where he was pursuing interests in marketing and advertising. To honor Mikey, the water polo team will retire his number in the fall. “The McGinley’s continued to be involved even after Mikey graduated. They even asked that people donate money to the water polo team instead of sending flowers,” Schiller said. The Blackfriar Chronicle sends their condolences to the McGinley Family. 5
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NFL Network Draft Analyst Mike Mayock speaks at Father Son Banquet is a monthly student-run publication at Malvern Preparatory School. Its online affiliate is the Friar’s Lantern (www. mpfriarslantern.com).
The Haverford School alumnus and draft guru shared his perspective on passion, career, and the NFL Draft.
Mission Statement The Blackfriar Chronicle and The Friar’s Lantern are the student-run publications of Malvern Prep. The principal goals of the publications are to provide accurate and relevant information to the Malvern community and to offer a forum for intelligent dialogue on all things Malvern. The reporting for these student publications is conducted thoroughly and edited by student leaders to ensure this accuracy to the best of our ability. In order to fairly provide all points of view, contributions from all members of the Malvern community are welcomed and encouraged through letters of opinion, student reporting, and respectful commentary.
Tommy Pero ’17 FRIAR LIFE EDITOR y memories of Malvern aren’t so good,” NFL Network Draft expert Mike Mayock said in his speech at the 70th annual Father Son Banquet on April 11. “I never beat Malvern in football. I was 0-4. Two of them were for the Inter-Ac Championship. Both games I had the ball in my hands last and threw interceptions,” he said. “I missed the one-and-one in double overtime to beat Malvern for the basketball Championship. They beat us in the third overtime.” However, Mayock said he decided to send his son, Michael Jr., to the “winning side.” Michael Jr. graduated from Malvern in 2009 and went on to play football at Villanova University. Mayock grew up in the Philadelphia Area and knew he wanted to get involved in athletics from a young age. “I don’t care if you’re into the arts, if you’re an engineer, an athlete, an entrepreneur. I don’t care what your passion is. I do know that you need to feed that flame,” Mayock said. “You have to recognize the feeling within you that MAYOCK SPEAKS AT FATHER-SON BANQUET / T. PERO I love something.” “I can’t live without that one thing, and for me, it was Mayock did not immediately take the job. athletics,” he said. “I told them I didn’t want it,” he said. “What kind Mayock said he went on a recruiting visit to Penn State of future is that, to be the draft guy or college guy at the when he was a junior in high school. When he got back to NFL Network?” Haverford, an administrator told him that he would never However, Mayock realized it was the right job for him make the NFL or work in professional sports. and he took the job. Mayock was crushed and told his Mayock’s first phone call as NFL father what the administrator said. Network ’s “Draft Guy” was to New Mayock’s father was not pleased and let England Patriots Head Coach Bill “I don’t care if the administrator know that. Belichick. Mayock said he told Belichick, you’re into the “I had [my father] as an eighth grade “Coach I need help. I’ve never watched arts, if you’re an math teacher. I [also] had him as a high tape to evaluate prospects before.” engineer, an athlete, school football coach for four years,” Belichick told him that he would talk an entrepreneur. I Mayock said. “I thought he stood for all to him every Saturday, while the Patriots don’t care what your the right things as a man. I think more were in season, for at least an hour to help passion is. I do know than anyone else, he was my role model.” him. “I got this unbelievable education that you need to Mayock decided to continue his from maybe one of the best that ever feed that flame.” athletic and academic careers as Boston lived,” Mayock said. College. There, he was the captain of Belichick was so willing to help -Mike Mayock both the football and baseball teams. Mayock because he remembered the Four years later, Mayock was drafted impression Mayock left on him when in the tenth round by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Mayock Belichick was on the Giant’s coaching staff. wanted to make the most of his opportunity and knew “You never know what kind of impression you’re going lasting impressions were important. He decided he would to leave,” Mayock said. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re be the first in line in all the drills. However, starter Donnie in high school, college, grade school. People of influence Shell and future Hall of Famer Mel Blount would always someday can help you.” beat him to the front of the line. Today, Mayock enjoys working around “football peoMayock was cut by the Steelers before the start of ple,” and his work is used by all the teams in the league as the season, but he eventually made the New York Giants’ well as NFL fans. roster. As a rookie on the team, his job was to hit Hall of His process for evaluating starts in the summer before Fame Linebacker Lawrence Taylor in the ribs every time a player’s senior year. Mayock gets a list from NFL teams he started to snore when the team watched film. of college players and how they preliminarily view them. Injuries eventually caught up to Mayock and he ended He starts watching film and develops an understanding of his professional career after only a few seasons. He then where players are before their senior season. went into commercial real estate but soon missed the game During or after the season, Mayock will watch two of football, so he got involved in high school football from to three game films per player from their last season. He the broadcasting side. watches the Senior Bowl, NFL Combine, and Pro Days Mayock still wasn’t entirely happy with his career, and and then wraps up his final evaluations in the weeks leadit became clear he needed to try something else. ing up to the draft. Mayock spoke at a football banquet and talked about Next Mayock sends a “seven round stack,” or final the importance of passion. On the car ride home, his then ranking of all the players in the draft. He talks with genten-year-old son, who would eventually attend Malvern, eral managers and coaches from teams about why he has called him a hypocrite for not fully following his passion players ranked where he does. Many teams use his rankfor football. ings to show where the rest of the league views players “He looked at me with the innocence of a ten or eleven compared to their own ranking. year old and was like, ‘No, no, no, no Dad. You’re not prac“On Draft Day, the way I look at it, my job is to be ticing what you preach.’ And it made more than I think he the general manager of all 32 teams and try to help the knew or I knew at the time,” Mayock said. guy at home have a better understanding of why a pick One year later, Mayock quit his real estate job and was made,” he said.5 pursued his passion. For six months, he looked for football jobs and didn’t find anything permanent. “All of a sudden this thing called the NFL Network came along,” Mayock said. “Another six months later, long story short, I auditioned for it. There were a bunch of way bigger named than me, but they offered me a job being their quote ‘Draft Guy.’”
Editorial Policy The unsigned editorial represents the consensus of the entire Editorial Board. As a team, we agree and stand behind every word. The Editorial Board is a group of students composed of The Blackfriar Chronicle editors-in-chief, managing editors, chief investigative reporter, section editors, social media editor, podcast editor, a representative of the freshman class, and a representative from the Diversity Awareness Club. The group is meant to include a group of different students so all opinions and voices can be heard. Submissions Letters to the editor are encouraged, and may be submitted to Ben Yankelitis (byankelitis60@malvernprep.org), Justice Bennett (jbennett60@malvernprep. org) or adviser Kate Plows (kplows@ malvernprep.org). Anonymous letters will not be published. Editors reserve the right to contact writers or edit submissions for reasons of space or clarity. Our staff also welcomes feedback in the comments section of The Friar’s Lantern online, or via our social media. Each comment is subject to review by a moderator or an Editor-in-Chief of the Black Friar Chronicle/Friar’s Lantern. Commenter’s email addresses must be verified, and comments are reviewed for defamation, profanity, obscenity, libel, and invasion of privacy. Not all comments are published. Joining our staff New contributors are welcome throughout the school year. The Blackfriar Chronicle staff meets Monday and Friday each week at 7:45 AM in Duffy 118. Please contact any member of the staff listed below for the most up-to-date meeting schedule. EDITORS IN CHIEF Justice Bennett ’16 Ben Yankelitis ’16 MANAGING EDITORS Print: James Faunce ’16 Online: Chris Bunn ’16 INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER Tyler Pizzico ’17 SECTION EDITORS Friar Life Tommy Pero ’17 Sports Michael Droogan ’16 Patrick Ferraiolo ’17 Media & Technology Jack Magargee ’18 Local/World News Jack McClatchy ’17 SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Nick Li ’17 EDITORIAL BOARD All editors Mike Flanagan ’16 Mike Harrington ’19 MARCH CONTRIBUTORS Chase Bennett ’19 Christian Franck ’18 Garrett Hallinan ’19 Michael Harrington ’19 Henry Malone ’17 Rohan Jhunjhunwala ’18 Cole Cherian ’22 Joe Lister ’21 Eric McLaughlin ’18 Colin Price ’18 Sean Ward ’17 MARCH DESIGN Jimmy Faunce ’16 Chase Bennett ’19 Matt Pichola ’16 Ethan Rowley ’18
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President Alex Freud says goodbye This year’s Student Council President gives his last update, in his farewell letter. Alex Freud ’16 erving on student council has been an honor. This year student council has accomplished so much and we hope that each student feels that way too. We have started events that will hopefully become traditions. This year we had our first ever tailgate during spirit week with Jim's Barbecue. The Christian service event with Villa went very well this year and I'm looking forward to seeing how Malvern can become more involved with the event in the years to come. FebuHAIRY also started this year and we expect to see it continue in the future. So much goes into each event and every single person on student council worked extremely hard so that everything could run smoothly. Also, Dr. Dlugos and Mr. Moore cannot go unnoticed. They put in their own time and effort for the whole student body. Teachers who dedicate their time to make Malvern a better place are what makes Malvern so great and the whole student body should be thankful for all they have done. It's sad to see the 2015-2016 student council come to an end, but I know we are leaving the student body in good hands. I have been able to work with the new executive board and I know they have ideas and the determination to make next year amazing. Lastly, I'd like to thank all the students who made this year possible. Student Council needs your participation and you guys made this year incredible. 5
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Cats Win it All: 31 year drought comes to an end Kevin Rafferty ’11 shares story, passion for basketball The former Friar - and now National Champion - discusses his path to Villanova and his passion for basketball.
KEVIN RAFFERTY SPEAKS WITH THE MIDDLE SCHOOL ON APRIL 22 / J. LISTER, VILLANOVA.COM
Henry Malone ’17 Joe Lister ’21 enough time, and I missed basketREPORTERS ball,” he said. “So I put all my eggs in ive years after leaving Malvern’s one basket, and decided to work my campus as an Inter-Ac cham- butt off to make the team.” pion, Kevin Rafferty ’11 is now Without any roster spots availa NCAA Men’s Basketball National able, Rafferty practiced with the Champion, playing a key leadership team regularly and dressed in a suit role on Villanova’s 2015-2016 cham- for home games. Eventually, his hard pionship squad. work paid off when he got to dress in Rafferty played basketball all uniform, and he has been a part of the four years while at Malvern, start- the team ever since. ing on the freshman team. Malvern “It was an unbelievable feeling alumnus and teacher when I got that call Andrew DiDominico from [Jay Wright] say’02 recalled coaching ing I made the team,” “It was an Rafferty in ninth grade. Rafferty said. “I truly unbelievable “He always comthink everything hapfeeling when peted, giv ing ever y pens for a reason, and I I got that call talent he had for the think that was a result from [Jay good of the team,” of that.” Wright] saying I D i D ome n ic o s a id . Now, Rafferty is made the team. He was, and is, one of known to most of the I truly think those few guys who students and Villanova everything truly loved the game, fans as 1 of the 3 memhappens for a and was a very cerebral bers of the “bench mob,” reason...” player.” due to their zany bench -Kevin Rafferty D i D o m e n ic o ’s celebrations. However, descriptions held true his real role within the for Rafferty beyond freshman year. team goes much deeper. He transferred from Tufts University “[Jay Wright] gave us [seniors] to Villanova, where he made the team a ton of leadership responsibilias a walk-on. ties,” he said. “We had to be vocal “I loved my experience [at Tufts], leaders on game day and in practice but my dad got sick,” Rafferty said. and be examples for guys, as well as “So, I decided after my freshman year off the court being mentors to the at Tufts to transfer back home, [and underclassmen.” go to Villanova].” One of the guys Rafferty menRaffert y attended Villanova tored was the player who hit the because it was a good school and shot that everyone will remember, close enough to home to be able to Kris Jenkins. Jenkins trailed the see his dad, who eventually recovered. ball handler Ryan Arcidiacono durBut he still yearned for the game of ing the f inal seconds of the tied basketball. National Championship game and “It got to the point where I had made the game winning three point
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shot as time expired after a pass from Arcidiacono. R a ffer t y ’s most memorable moment from the NCAA tournament was different, though. “We had a practice before the Iowa game, and I’d never seen our team so focused,” he said. “It was a moment where we all kind of looked at each other and knew we couldn’t be anymore prepared for this game.” The Cats brought that same focus and hunger with them in every game for the rest of the tournament, finishing it off with the national title. Since winning the title, life for the Wildcats has become pretty crazy. Some guys have to take a different route to class because they know if they take the main route, they won’t make it to class on time because of students wanting to take pictures, according to Rafferty. Rafferty also added that they can’t go to the mall anymore with Daniel Ochefu because of fans wanting to take pictures, sometimes taking 35-40 minutes just to get through Nordstrom. “It’s all good stuff, though. It’s a good problem to have.” he said. On April 22, Rafferty came to Malvern to talk with the Middle School in the chapel. He discussed his journey, offered advice for working hard in school, and discussed the importance of teamwork. He told the middle school that before playing for the Malvern high school basketball team, not many remember him a middle school player. “[He was] more of a basketball than a basketball player,” Mr. Chinici said.
The Villanova Wildcats are NCAA Men’s Basketball National Champions, winning their title in spectacular fashion. With a moment that we will remember for years to come, the question is: Where were you when Kris Jenkins hit the shot? Henry Malone ’17 experienced. REPORTER “[When the shot went in] me ang” is all Villanova and all my friends were frozen,” H e a d C o a c h J a y freshman Gavin Canzanese said. Wright had to say “We ran out of the house grabbing before the now famous shot went the first thing we could find, and up, walking off like started making the a complete gangster, most noise we could.” showing zero emo“I was beside Sophomore tion, after it went myself when Harrison Naughton in. But Ma lver n the shot went reacted similarly, students and the rest in. It was an yelling so loud that of Nova Nation got absolutely his whole fami ly hype, to say the least. amazing woke up. “I thought It had been 31 experience.” it was going to overlong years since the -Fr. Flynn time at f irst, but Wildcats were on top after the shot went of the college basketin, I went crazy and ball world, and in those 31 years, accidentally woke my parents up.” the Cats have had highs and lows, Teacher Mrs. Lappas, who including multiple second round was at Villanova’s semi-final game exits and disappointing tourna- against Oklahoma the weekend ment finishes. But Jay Wright’s before, watched the shot from her boys were the ones cutting down home and shouted so loud her dog the nets after the buzzer sounded barked all night. this season, allowing the ‘Nova Even Malvern President and Nation’ and Malvern students to Villanova alumnus Father Flynn, party like it was 1985. admitted he was shocked by the The Wildcats took down a outcome. “I was beside myself North Carolina team riddled with when the shot went in. It was an future NBA players and led by one absolutely amazing experience,” of the greatest college basketball Flynn said. coaches of all time, Roy Williams. Flynn credits Villanova’s win However, their hustle and to hunger and humility. “The huntimely shot-making prevailed in ger to win, and with humility and what may be the greatest shot in respect for their opponent. That basketball history. humility and hunger are really Every story seems to be differ- what an Augustinian education is ent. Everyone seemed to have had all about.” a different kind of reaction, all with Villanova’s hunger and humilone common theme: celebration, ity are prime examples of head bursting with joy. coach Jay Wright’s coaching phi“My brother and I immediately losophy and should continue to ran out of the house and started lead the Wildcats to success in running towards Villanova’s cam- future seasons. pus,” junior Ollie Walsh said. But for now, lets just enjoy this Like Walsh, die hard Villanova one for what it is: Our local team, fan Junior Ryan Franks ran around taking down a national powerhouse his neighborhood yelling as loud as school, on perhaps the craziest shot he could. in basketball history. Even though this is probably Because who knows how long a hyperbole, there are many other it will be until they win another reactions to the shot that people one. 5
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How he got to the national championship? “I just kept working really hard,” Rafferty said. “I just loved being on a team.” Rafferty told the middle school that he especially loved Head Coach Jay Wright’s leadership. “His program is about family,” Rafferty said. “No one cared about who got the credit.” In the Villanova gym, the word “attitude” is on the backboard of the basketball hoop. According to Rafferty, that does not just have to do with basketball, it has to do with life. “We all believe it,” he told the middle school. The team even breaks out of the huddle with the word “attitude.” Before their Elite Eight game
against Kansas, the players demonstrated a certain amount of attitude, by washing each others feet. It was a “very humbling experience,” Rafferty said. Rafferty said his biggest takeaway from playing at Villanova will be his and the team’s ability to stay focused for so long with so many distractions around them. And if you can stay focused while playing under the bright lights of the Final Four, you can stay focused through anything. 5
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Modified Block Schedule 3.0 may be ahead Malvern’s website changing More changes anticipated to the current schedule for the 2016-2017 school year. Jack Magargee ’18 in one day, classes rotate through five daily blocks over MEDIA & TECH EDITOR an eight-day cycle. “Community Time” falls between committee of teachers and administrators has first and second block, and represents time for students been working on updates to the current schedule to meet with teachers, work on projects, or get involved in order to improve the general effectiveness of it. with activities. Pending next year’s updates, the class of 2017 will In September 2014, Assistant Head of School Mr. Steve Valyo told The Blackfriar Chronicle that the new see their fourth revised schedule in their four years in the upper school. schedule was implemented to "reduce the A roadmap team formed in October frenetic pace of the day and to allow the schedule to be more student driven than to start to discuss what improvements Proposed schedule teacher driven." could be made to the schedule for future changes may mean In the 2015-2016 school year, minor years. the fourth new upper The roadmap team working on schedchanges were made to the modified block school schedule in ule revisions put a focus on face-to-face schedule. The most notable was integrafour years. time between teachers and students and tion of specialty classes into community overall consistency as priorities, accordtime. Homerooms moved back to the Should students ing to Math Department Leader Ms. start of the school day. expect schedule Lauren Lesch, who co-led the roadmap Now that the school year is almost changes should be an complete, the roadmap team is almost team with Dean of Students Mr. Tim annual tradition? Dougherty. ready to unveil the schedule for next year. “The fact that every schedule has “It was a really interesting process. They put a lot of work into it, a lot of every period starting and ending at a different time makes it hard to keep track of what time the time, a lot of effort, and they collected a lot of feedback period starts, what time the period ends on an A, B, C, so I think it was a great process to watch happen,” Upper School Head Mr. Ron Algeo said. Reverse C,” Lesch said, “[Teachers] wanted to see their students more often and for more time.” Now that this is technically the fourth schedule in As of our April press date, Dougherty and Lesch were four years, should students expect schedule changes to not yet ready to share the new schedule revisions with The be an annual tradition? Blackfriar Chronicle. If more schedule revisions are ahead, Dougherty hopes The team was made up of teachers and administrators that the team working on the schedule will stay consistwho brought their own opinions and also the input of ent. “Ideally, we would keep some of the same people so students and faculty. we had some of the information they have. [The roadmap “We surveyed a couple homerooms randomly,” Lesch team members] know the process and the surveys,” he said. said. “And Mrs. Dougherty would grab students in the LC Algeo suggested that frequent revisions may be part and ask them about the schedule, what they liked, what of Malvern’s process moving forward. “Older practices they didn’t like, for about a week and a half.” would have us pick something and keep it for 10 years The 2014-15 school year saw a brand-new modified and not respond to feedback,” Algeo said. “ A lot of our block schedule, which represented a significant change new practices here are looking at trying some new things we think would be beneficial and getting feedback.” 5 from the previous model of every class meeting daily. The modified block schedule operates by having the same eight classes in a row, but instead of having all eight
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Hero of the Issue: Mrs. Christine Leonard If you’re late to class, check in with Mrs. Leonard and grab some pretzels. Tommy Pero ’17, Colin Price ’18 FRIAR LIFE EDITOR, REPORTER or Dean of Students Office Administrative Assistant Mrs. Christine Leonard, every morning is “very busy.” “We have a lot of students that come in late. And we have a lot of people that come and go, and we have all the seniors that have to check in,” Leonard said. Because of senior privilege, seniors who have open first period do not need to come to school until second period. Leonard said 20 to 50 seniors come to school late because of senior privilege each day. “[Seniors] stroll in anytime between any of that time,” Mrs. Leonard said. “Some come right at first even though they’re open, some come at the end of break so they’re there for second period. Several days some of them have two periods open.” “It sounds like a simple task, like here comes [senior] Sam Stroud,” Mrs. Leonard said. “Are you checking in or are you late?” “I’m late,” Stroud said. “Ok. So, it’s community time. You don’t need a pass,” Mrs. Leonard said. “That’s an example, except he’s just late. While Mrs. Leonard checks in all the seniors like Stroud, she is also checking all the homeroom attendance to see who is absent. If a student is absent and his parent has not communicated if he would be absent, Mrs. Leonard looks for the student. If the student is not at school, she emails their first period teacher, and calls the student’s parents if they’re not at school. “Usually there’s a reasonable explanation, and usually the parents are pretty gracious about it,” she said. Mrs. Leonard was born in Philadelphia but grew up in Upper Darby in Delaware County. She went to high
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MRS. LEONARD HAS ONE OF THE BUSIEST MORNINGS AT MALVERN C. PRICE
school at Archbishop Prendergast. After high school, she worked for Philadelphia Electric Company where she then took night classes at Widener University. While at Widener, she also met her future husband. Mrs. Leonard now has four children and is living in West Chester. She had two sons go to Malvern. They graduated in 2004 and 2006. Mrs. Leonard also picked up a new Keith Urban guitar and is looking to teach herself how to play over the summer. 5
Expect changes to come to Malvernprep.org to improve its flow for the 2016-2017 school year. Cole Cherian ’22, Jack Magargee ’18 CONTRIBUTOR, MEDIA & TECH EDITOR ssociate Director of Communications and PR Mr. Jim Mack and Social Media and PR Specialist Mrs. Sarah Ravenfeld are leading a project to revamp Malvern’s website. For Malvern students, malvernprep.org is a vital component to everyday life. Starting after the summer break, Malvern’s website will be changed to improve the experience for the users. Mack said the new website would be different from the current one in “the level of connection that is available between people at [Malvern].” Ravenfeld said that one big change will be that the website will be mobile responsive, meaning the website will optimized for different devices’ screens. He also described the new site’s connectivity, calling it a “hub for education and communication at Malvern.” Mack said that one important change will be an unparalleled connectivity with OnCampus, Schoology’s replacement. He said that the website change was not because of the change to OnCampus, but “[Malvern] had an opportunity to do something that [it] has always wanted to do, which is have everything linked and connected.” According to Mack, the website will not change very much aesthetically, but students, teachers, and parents will be able to have everything in a single place. “I see no end to what we’re trying to call ‘upgrades’,” Mack said. Mack believes that as long as technology advances, the Malvern Prep website will change with it. Ravenfeld is excited for what she called an “evolution.” “This upgrade will provide the user with a more seamless web experience. It's exciting! I'm really pumped for the Malvern community to see the final product,” she said. “Like Mr. Mack said, it won't look too different in terms of color or design, but the user's experience will be much more cohesive, which has always been our goal.” This isn’t the first time Malvernprep.org has been updated in recent years and it certainly isn’t the final version. “I see [the website] evolving,” Mack said, “We may have to change [the website] every three years.” According to Mack and Ravenfeld, the new website will be up and running by the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year. 5
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> CHRISTIAN SERVICE, 1 Changes are also in store for the freshmen. They will no longer go to Elwyn Institute because Elwyn decided to only accept adult volunteers, according to Legner. Freshmen will now go to St. Vincent De Paul in Germantown. Once there, they will have an orientation, split into four groups, and complete their service activities. The other new location is a homeless shelter in Chester called City Team, according to Legner. Freshmen will keep the oncampus retreat and trip to Share Food Bank in Philadelphia. Sophomores will still go to St. Augustine’s, participate in two local service days, and a new trip to The Vanguard School, which is a school for children with Autism. For seniors, there will still only be three MECO retreats. The two weekends of the first three when a student is not on MECO, he is free to do college visits independently. It is still uncertain what seniors will do on the additional service day, according to Legner. “The fourth [weekend], they’re not doing a MECO,” Legner said. “That’s under discussion. It might turn out to be a whole class MECO— not going away to MECO, just bringing the whole class together.” W h i le L eg ner has cited increasing class sizes as the main reason for the change to four
weekends, Director of Admissions Mr. Sean Kenney said class sizes have stayed relatively the same. “The total number of students in the high school, has been relatively f lat,” Kenney said. “Now the Freshmen class might have six more students or five more students than maybe the year before. But we’re not talking about leaps and bounds.” Malvern’s nine year average for class sizes is about 125 students, according to Kenney. Kenney said Malvern prefers to keep class sizes around that size for a higher amount of personal attention for each student. “Now occasionally we might have to add two, or three, or four— maybe up to five students in a particular class maybe because we have five less students in a different class,” Kenney said. “The enrollment ties into the budget of the school and the finances of the school. We have to meet a budget, so you have to have so many students here.” Kenney said next year’s incoming freshmen class has not been finalized yet, but the goal is to keep it at 124 students. “Having four is going to be more work,” Legner said. “But really it’s going to make it easier, and more people will get their choice [of service weekend].” 5
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The Malvern administration is confident that project-based learning will revolutionize education. Other members of the Malvern community aren’t so sure. Danny Malloy ’18 ARTS EDITOR magine that on the first day of school, a freshman walks into his first period social studies class. He expected to find the seats set up in rows like they were at his old school, but instead they are in groups of four. Class starts, and instead of a lecture, the teacher writes an open-ended question on the board, prompting discussion among the students. The students ask further questions, and with the students now engaged the teacher gives the students some background notes on the topic. At the end of class, students are assigned a project relating to that essential question on the board. This is one example of what is known as project-based learning. Project-based learning is “an experience or an activity that allows an overarching either essential question or project to help drive the content, the BRENDAN MCLAUGHLIN instruction, and the daily classroom experiEnjoyed project-based ence,” said Mr. Ronald Algeo, Head of the learning work on Upper School. immigration in the sixth grade academy In this new curriculum of project-based learning, students are presented with a problem or a question at the beginning of classroom instruction. The project runs alongside of traditional content learning and test-taking assessments which are directed towards answering that problem or question. Algeo said that group projects are common in project-based learning, but individual projects are definitely involved as well. Algeo said that this is different from the traditional form of teaching, where the content drives learning through lectures and note-taking with an occasional project towards the end of the unit. “Project-based learning flips that,” Algeo said. “It presents a problem for students in the beginning. There are a lot of unknowns, and it allows students to explore.”
of students to ensure the highest level outcomes that we can at Malvern, doing my own thing at Malvern, enjoying it and achieve.” This means that the group of sixth grade teachers doing it well, to myself becoming part of a team,” Wasson said. works together to create the educational experiences the students “That for me has been the biggest change.” receive, including project-based learning. Wasson said that his students’ communication, presentation, The team of teachers creates a theme for the year. For examand collaboration skills all improved dramatically. ple, last year the fall theme for the Sixth Grade Academy was “The way the boys grew that way was beyond anything I immigration. It focused on an essential question of why people would ever see,” Wasson said. “I look to the real world and what immigrate, according to the Malvern website. Sillup said that all they might be doing after they leave, high school, college, and of their classes were focused on that theme in their curriculum. get into a situation where they really need to have those skills. “You would see different focal points,” Sillup said. “In I think if they have already developed those well in the middle English you would see Mr. Wasson working on specific gram- school and high school, they will be way ahead of the game.” mar and writing techniques and ways to illustrate and tell a The Seventh Grade Academy was formed for the current story more effectively. In Spanish you could look at the cultural school year, and the Eighth Grade Summit Experience will folperspectives and what's happening in different countries, what low next year. types of economic factors are happening. In Global Studies, Mr. Sillup said that the Eighth Grade Summit Experience is a Swope thinks about push-pull factors and project to cap their middle school experience. It will be framed why people immigrate.” around themes of consumption and economy, and students will Sillup stressed that tests and quizzes investigate these themes through three distinct lenses: internawere still a vital part of the curriculum and tional, domestic, and local. that they have their place within projectFor each “lens,” the students will work with an outside partbased learning. nership to learn more about this idea of consumption and econ“What the projects, or omy in their specific areas. For example, Sillup said the problems, or these various that seventh grade students have already Skyped Sillup stressed things have done is that they’ve allowed students with another Augustinian school in Nicaragua and that tests and to feel really connected with the learning,” Sillup some of the grade will travel there at the end of quizzes were said. “So, yes, while you do have a Kindon quiz or their year. Other students will go to a farm in New still a vital a Wasson quiz or a Mrs. Schreiner test, there are York or local recycling plants. these other things that this can result in.” part of the After the trips, students will make a presentacurriculum and Seventh grader Brendan McLaughlin was tion to cap off their middle school experience. that they have involved in the Sixth Grade Academy. He listed Malvern plans to implement the academy model their place some examples of what they accomplished last year in the upper school for the ninth and tenth grades within projectunder the umbrella of immigration. for the 2017-2018 school year. Talbot said that a based learning. “We kicked it off with a trip to Ellis Island, roadmap team of ninth and tenth grade teachers are where we felt what it was like to be an immigrant,” discussing how this would be implemented. he said. “We then interviewed an immigrant, wrote Social Studies Department Leader Mrs. about their story, made a presentation about it and Beverly Gordon, one of the captains of the A NEW CHAPTER OF LEARNING then put our stories into a book the entire 6th grade made, which roadmap team, said that there are no specif ics just yet The project-based learning initiative at Malvern began with is available on Amazon.” because the team is still in the early stages of discussion. the arrival of Mr. Christian Talbot in July of 2012 as the Head “We had to write the actual story for English class, dove of School. Before Malvern, Talbot had been reading about and into the history of the immigrant's home country in Global CHALLENGES OF A NEW MODEL experimenting with project-based learning at Perspectives, and we also had many other Some members of the Malvern community are more skeptical the previous school he taught at, Regis High objectives we had to complete through our of project-based learning. MR. CHRISTIAN TALBOT School in New York City. other classes,” he said. English teacher Richard Roper has been teaching at Malvern Says he is “agnostic” When Talbot got to Malvern, he had McLaughlin said that having projects for 40 years. about testing, and believes multiple choice discussions with about half of the faculty to work on made the learning process much “I’m not at this point against it, but I can’t say I am totally for tests are a waste of time. and some of the staff for a few months. The more enjoyable. it,” Roper said. “I fear that emphasizing a project-based learning culmination of those conversations led to the “The Sixth Grade Academy is so much environment exclusively will take away from some of the indiformation of the first vision statement of his tenure— called better than traditionally taking notes, memorizing them for the vidual needs that students have to acquire individual knowledge Factoring 21st Century Education— that called for project-based test, and then forgetting them a month later,” McLaughlin said. and skills.” learning as one part of Malvern becoming a more student-cen- “It is through applied knowledge and experiences that make us However, Algeo said that project-based learning is not just tered learning institution. better students and eager to learn.” exclusively projects, but a mix of both projects and traditional Malvern got closer to this goal by beginning the Sixth Grade Sixth grade English teacher Jamie Wasson said that the shift note-taking and test assessments. He noted that this is often Academy for students in the 2014-2015 school year. to the Sixth Grade Academy was not only rewarding to his stu- misunderstood with the idea of project-based learning. Head of the Middle School Mr. Patrick Sillup said that the dents, but for him as well. “Twenty years ago, we just would have had quizzes and tests,” academy is “a dedicated team of teachers dedicated to a group “I went from being a teacher kind of living in my own world Algeo said. “Now, we still have quizzes and tests, but there is
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Mr. Christian Talbot “Project based learning is a mode of teaching and learning in which a project forms the evidence of what a student knows and can do. So there’s typically, in any classroom, content, and there’s skills that need to be learned. A project creates a center of gravity for the content and the skills to kind of stick to.”
Mr. RON ALGEO “Project based learning is an experience or an activity that allows an overarching either essential question or project to help drive the content, the instruction, and the daily classroom experience.”
malvernprep.org “A dynamic approach to teaching in which students explore real-world problems and challenges. Project-based Learning is designed to achieve: a greater depth of understanding of concepts, broader knowledge base, improved communication and interpersonal/social skills, enhanced leadership skills, increased creativity and improved writing skills.
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an overarching umbrella over the whole unit. There is a different goal than there was before.” Talbot said that project-based learning complements and actually enhances individual skills and content learning because the project creates a purpose for obtaining knowledge. “A project creates a center of gravity for the content and the skills to kind of stick to,” Talbot said, “as opposed to cramming for a test when you know that tomorrow morning you will be tested on this list of content and that you need to keep it in your head until after the test is over.” MR. RICHARD ROPER Ta l b ot s a id he i s Believes it is still “agnostic” about test-takimportant for students ing, and called multiple to acquire individual knowledge and skills. choice tests a “complete waste of time.” “After the test is over— and studies have shown this time and time again— you are more likely to forget the vast majority of that content because you have no reason to keep it in your head,” he said. However, some students have questions about the relevance of projects, and how well this sort of learning prepares students for the future. Sophomore Louis Margay described a group project in his Honors Chemistry class, called the Compound Competition Project. “In this project, we were given a substance, and had to present the benefits of it over another substance - for example, diesel vs. gasoline,” he said. LOUIS MARGAY Margay said the project Worries that projects may worked well for his group, not have much to do with but had little to do with the curriculum or prepare students for college. current curriculum they are learning. Margay believes that projects can be graded somewhat subjectively, while tests are graded objectively. This concerns him. He also worries whether project-based learning prepares students for SAT and ACT tests and major exams in college. “As a college preparatory school, our version of project based learning would have to be modified in order to prepare us for college,” Margay said. “I know there are many mandatory exams
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in college, so we would have to be prepared for those in some way.” Eighth grader Josh Paulina also has mixed feelings about how group projects could prepare him for college. “Group projects are important, but too many may not help us better prepare for college,” Paulina said. “We also need to learn how to work independently to complete projects. We need the skills to go back, take another look at our work and redo it if necessary.” A lgeo said that Malvern has been researching and surveying many colleges, and learning that project-based learning is now more common at the college level. He cited the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, a traditionally lectureheavy school according to Algeo, as one example of the trend. “What they wanted to do was to see if they could give [students] a little practice with skills as well as content,” Algeo said. “While there still is a little content delivery through lectures and other ways, they give them a lot more time in the lab, practicing with surgery, doing cutting and sutures, doing a lot more student engagement than they ever have before.” “I could go on and on with all kinds of different colleges that do the same,” Algeo said. In practice, the group work that is often involved with project-based learning can be challenging for students and parents. Seventh grade Malvern parent Kathy Ayres said that making sure other students were fulfilling their responsibilities proved to be difficult in her son’s group projects. “My son has had problems when another group member has not completed the work as promised,” Ayres said. “While this can be very frustrating, it forces my son to assess the situation and determine the best way to respond.” “He may take over the role of group leader and address the situation with his classmate or
> MIDDLE SCHOOL, 1 students will still have the “core carousels” of music, art, and life skills, according to Sillup. Carissa Casey, Middle School Counselor and Learning Specialist, said that in between each trimester the Middle School will have a “bridge week” where the students will give presentations of their work during the trimester. “For a full week, it will be dedicated to [the presentations],” she said. “The purpose of the trimester is to allow for the longer adjustment period,” Casey said. “First, second, third, fourth [quarters], they’re pretty short,” she said. “In order to allow for more class time … we’re going to extend [quarters] out into three sections.” Casey taught sixth grade Study Skills, which will no longer be a course next year. “Instead of having it as a class, another way we can approach this is to have your core teachers also implement Study Skills in their curriculum,” she said. “I’m just excited,” Casey said. Assistant Dean of Students for the Middle School Mr. Fred Hilliard isn’t sure as to why the Middle School is moving to trimesters. He said he is confident in the decision, however.
he may decide to do the work himself. Neither project-based learning is integrated properly, situation is ideal, but it does teach students how because I see that it could either be a huge sucto handle difficult working relationships which cess or a huge miss.” will serve them well in the future,” she noted. Parent Michael Mankowski, whose two FOCUSING ON THE WHY sons attend Malvern, said that group projects Algeo said that he understands the critihelp to prepare students for life after high cisms that come from the Malvern community school. about project-based learning, but he said that “At work, you have to be able to work with their feedback will be taken into account. specific personalities, different work styles, and “The key is understanding the why behind with different people,” Mankowski said. “The it, which is increasing student engagement and sooner the students at Malvern get into that, motivation, and the opportunity to take ownand understand that and work through that, the ership of it,” Algeo said. “That conversation is better off you are with managing, communicatimportant. I’ve had that conversation with many ing and working with other people people and I welcome it with famas you get into college.” ilies and students who say ‘I want Algeo said that having project ALGEO more traditional.’ I get that, and I checkpoints and partner feedBELIEVES THAT understand it.” back could be a way to monitor UNDERSTANDING Talbot felt that the change the members of the group and THE WHY BEHIND was necessary to go from the traalso a method to increase student PROJECT-BASED ditional system of education to accountability. In addition, Algeo LEARNING IS KEY project-based learning because said that these checkpoints allow TO INCREASING of the explosion of data and the the grading process to be more fair STUDENT internet in the 21st century. and accurate than just grading the ENGAGEMENT AND “In the 20th century I think final product where everyone gets MOTIVATION we fooled ourselves into thinkthe same grade. ing that we could create courses Algeo said that Malvern also whether they were semester long wants to implement a system of or year long that could cover evedefining roles and giving clear expectations for rything kids needed to know. That was never those roles within group projects. He gave an true,” Talbot said. example of how this system worked in a project “In the 21st century, because of the exploin his own middle school Math class. sion of data, we cannot pretend that anymore. “I’d assess the student’s collaboration skills So what is the competitive advantage for a within those roles that they were given, but learner in that situation? The competitive advanthey would also assess themselves, which was tage is that the student can learn how to learn, really hard for them at first,” Algeo said. “The to become a flexible learner, to be an adaptive more they did it, the more honest they became. learner,” he said. I started to notice a change there, certainly in Margay said that the current system of terms of how they would assess each other, but teaching works well, but he is open to changes. also their responsibility to each other. So that “I like that our administration is taking a helped guys to hold each other accountable.” look at our education system and looking at it Sophomore Patrick Sayers thinks that exewith the perspective of 21st century learning,” cution is the key factor in making project-based Margay said. “Sometimes changes are hard but learning work. they are also sometimes necessary so I hope that “While I do think that traditional tests Malvern makes the right decision for us. 5” and notes have their purpose in class, it helps immensely to have an applied goal for those to be geared towards,” Sayers said. “I hope
“I’m sure there’s data and reasons to support why it’s going to be valuable,” Hilliard said. “But in terms of how it’s going to look, I think that’s still being discovered.” The Middle School will also be adding in grade level deans next year. “As an Academy team … [students] have things happen that are very specific to [them,]” Sillup said. “I’ll get a phone call about when a particular demonstration is happening, or what it’s going to look like,” he said. “Staying in that loop is more and more difficult when all these teams are running at their own speeds.” “There will be questions that I think the best person to answer that question is the captain of that team, not me,” he said. “Why not give [all of the families] direct access?” The middle school does not currently have those deans yet. Application materials were due April 18. “They will be people that teach in the middle school,” Sillup said. “If you were going to be the football team’s captain, you have to play football.” Casey says that the grade-level dean group will be just another one of many teams working in the Middle School. She
said that this team will consist of the grade level deans, the middle school counselors, Mrs. Lott, and Mr. Sillup. “Everybody in the Middle School will have the same sort of conversations with them, the opportunity to collaborate with them… it’s a smaller team within a bigger team,” she said. Hillard doesn’t see the addition of grade level deans changing much for the students. “The goal of the grade level deans is, now your going to have… one person in charge, so it streamlines that role,” he said Hilliard does see one potential challenge in using existing teachers as the deans – the workload. “Now you’re talking about them, still teaching at least three courses, and also having to balance six, seven, eight faculty members,” he said. Casey believes that the biggest positive to adding grade level deans into the Middle School environment is teamwork, and that the teachers will push each other and support each other. “It’s going to allow for even more communication,” Casey said.” 5
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For seniors, college is right around the corner. Some know exactly where they are going. Some don’t have a clue. Tyler Pizzico ’17 CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER pring break is over and seniors like Robert DiCicco have just made the decision on where they will be spending the next four years of their life. “Next year I will be attending the University of Virginia. I actually did not think I was going to be accepted there, but I got in early,” DiCicco said. DiCicco said he did not get into the schools he was hoping for. “I was waitlisted at my top two choices and the whole time, the suspense was killing me,” he said. Senior Liam Moran wishes he went about the whole process a little differently. Moran wishes he spent more time thinking about his major and looking into schools that support that major. When he got his acceptance letters, he didn't realize how important these schools were because he didn’t do any research on his own. “I don’t want the guys at Malvern to do what I did,” Moran said. “I let my parents make my college list for engineering so when they told me I got into places like Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), I wasn’t thrilled because I didn’t know much about it.” Moran’s advice for sophomores and juniors is to get involved in the process and figure out which schools you really want to go to. That way those acceptances will feel way more important and genuine. The period surrounding college decisions should be one of excitement and anticipation. However, increasing selectivity, pressure to apply to top-tier universities, and an ever-changing academic climate instead results in a stressful chapter in students’ lives. Before this year's seniors celebrate their graduation, The Blackfriar Chronicle wanted to learn from their experiences, and from the perspective of a college counseling office that is evolving as colleges boast greater selectivity each year.
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TOUGH DECISIONS ON LIMITED SLEEP t a challenging college prep school, students like DiCicco must tackle intensive classes, work diligently in various activities, and learn how to operate on limited sleep. The modern-day college process has become but another source of stress. “Trying to manage being a MECO leader and performing for MTS on top of doing all my college applications made the process a little daunting,” DiCicco said. Malvern’s college counselors encourage students to put in the time on the front end of the college process to ensure that when the time comes to make a decision about applications, that decision will be an educated one. Senior Colin Wills wishes that he had spread his college application work out a little more over the summer before senior year. “I definitely think maybe Malvern counsellors should remain in contact with students a bit more throughout the summer into senior year to make sure kids are staying on track, researching colleges, preparing for tests,” he said. “I kind of fell off and became really lazy, which happens when I have too much free time. I just overall become less productive.” “We always tell our students to do their homework ahead of
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time,” Director of School Counseling Mr. Paul Simpson said. “Visit the campus, talk to people from that school, get in contact with any Malvern alumni that go to that school, anything like that. All those pieces make the process a little easier when it gets to crunch time.” According to The New York Times, colleges nationwide are receiving record numbers of applications that are drastically decreasing their acceptance rates, while increasing students’ stress rates. Applications at 70 percent of colleges and universities have increased each of the last ten years. The article described colleges' "arms race” toward higher selectivity in an effort to improve their rankings. Students feed into that race by applying to so many colleges. “The college process has definitely gotten harder over the last couple of years and it is important for students to realize that,” Simpson said. Simpson, who graduated from Malvern in 1986, attended Dartmouth University. “I think the acceptance rate at Dartmouth now is about 10%. When I went there, the acceptance rate was probably more than double that.” (Dartmouth’s acceptance rate for 2016 is 10.52%, according to businessinsider.com.) Director of College Counseling Mr. Ian Harkness estimates that most Malvern students apply to six or seven colleges. “I once had a student who applied to 33 colleges and I would never let something like that happen here,” Harkness said. “What that shows me is the student really didn’t listen to his counselors and really had no plan. The process starts early here because we really want students to be thoughtful about it.” The college process definitely wasn't easy for Jack Marchesani ’15 and it seemed like it took an infinite amount of hours. To him the deadlines seemed to be ten days before he thought they actually were and since they were all bunched up, it was easy for him to procrastinate. “On top of that madness, I was competing with a hectic first semester senior year. It was this weird balancing act where I had to decide what was more important: the work I was trying to do that would secure my future or the application that was representing that work,” Marchesani said. According to Simpson, it’s always going to be a tough process but the work that seniors and alumni put in always pays off in the long run. Once the applications are in, it’s a waiting game. “I don’t know if there is a way to replace the stress of waiting to hear from the schools, but ultimately the goal for students should be to have options,” Simpson said. “He should be like ‘ok, now I can compare this school to this school whether it’s a financial conversation, a social conversation, which school is better for my major, etcetera.’” Many seniors report anxiety about the waiting, and about making the final decisions. “My number one choice has jumped around about 3 or 4 times,” senior Josh Zegel said. “You think you love one school, but then you find another one you like more. It's just hard to know which one is the best and it makes the final decision so much harder.” Sometimes the burdens of high school life and the timing of college decisions make students forget to talk about their anxiety with those who can help them most. “When I look back on some instances in the past, I realize that students that have been really stressed sometimes didn't
communicate it well with me,” Simpson said. Counselors do not hear back from colleges – students do. A majority of those acceptance letters, waitlist letters, or rejection letters arrive over spring break, according to Simpson. “On top of a really stressful process we have really unfortunate timing. I encourage my students to reach out to me over the break and communicate how everything is going so I can stay in the loop,” he said.
COUNSELING STRATEGIES he stress might not be the easiest thing to control, but Malvern’s counseling department is adapting their focus to how they can best help students as the college process becomes even more competitive. Simpson said that the department began to adopt a new approach to college counseling about six or seven years ago, as part of the school’s strategic planning process. “I think that the Board of Trustees had the impression that our students were not applying to the more competitive colleges and were not being successful at schools when they did,” Simpson said. “The conversation with the Board definitely was one in which they said we needed to improve. And I realized that, too.”
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Mr. Harkness's
Top 3 College PreP Tips 1. Start Early. The reason why we work on the essay, recommendations, and resume during junior year is because we’ll actually start the common application early, too, and we want juniors to do that so that next fall they don’t have a panic moment like “Oh my gosh I’ve never seen any of this stuff before.” Senior year is fun. Senior year is busy. Senior year is always more stressful than seniors anticipate it to be. It’s important to get a head start. 2. KEEP AN OPEN MIND. As much as we talk about different schools and offer a variety of perspectives with our lists, it still seems to come back to the same schools. If you look at Malvern’s history of enrollment from decades ago, you could still probably pinpoint the most popular schools this year. If you love Villanova, look at University of San Diego. It offers the same things, it’s a great Catholic institution, and you can see the beach! Always be open to exploring different avenues and you will set yourself up for success and avoid disappointment along the way. 3. COMMUNICATE. Keep an open dialogue between the student, his parents, and his counselor. We have tons of ways to help relieve that anxiety that the process brings, but we can’t help you unless we know what’s going on. The process feels long but we are on a timeline. The faster and more efficiently you communicate, the more conversation we can have around what is the right fit.
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College Information Night for 9th grade parents. Parents learn about making educated decisions on course selection, activities and summer plans
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Individual family meetings are held in the spring. Students and parents are advised about 10th grade course selection, activities and summer opportunities
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College Counseling Department hosts a College Information Night for 10th grade parents.
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College Counseling Department meets with parents in small groups to outline college entrance testing, College Counseling Curriculum for the 11th grade, and the development of a college list.
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Each junior meets individually with his counselor in late fall/early winter.
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Parents meet with their son and his counselor in winter/early spring.
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Individual family meetings are held in the spring. Students and parents are advised about 11th grade course selection and leadership roles in activities.
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Test preparation is discussed in detail
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Each student has an initial SAT/ACT testing plan by the end of the year.
MISPERCEPTIONS & REALIZATIONS igh school guidance counselors and admissions experts say the heightened competition is actually becoming a bad thing, turning the process into a anxiety-ridden numbers game. “The fact that students are just applying to Ivies for the name rather than actual fit, make the highly selective schools look even more competitive,” Harkness said. “To get into a Harvard or Princeton, even as a top applicant, now requires hitting the lottery basically.” Simpson holds that the process is intensified because of Malvern’s location. “You always have to think of where we are located. Most of us live in the Philadelphia area, just a few miles from The Main Line,” Simpson said. “We have great independent schools, great public schools, and just an overall flourishing academic environment which can lead to pressure for students to perform at higher levels. That is why the college process is so competitive these days.” When applying to colleges, college counselors emphasize the idea of fit above the college’s prestige factor. “Prestige is not everything and that’s something I think people often forget,” Simpson said.
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12th grade parents meet in small groups with their son’s counselor to discuss application deadlines, senior fall “to do’s”, clarification on the roles of the parent, the student, and the counselor, and to ask questions.
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Counselors meet weekly or bi-weekly with each senior to discuss his final college list, essay progress, teacher recommendation progress, interview preparation and application strategy.
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Students may meet with college admissions officers as they come to visit campus in the fall.
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For the counseling team, success is in the • College Counselors work with students eyes of the beholder. Statistics look nice, but in small groups to discuss college visits, what they are truly concerned with is making college research and choosing a college sure the student makes the best choice for major. him as an individual. “Unfortunately we are measured by webSUMMER sites like Forbes and US News and World • Malvern recommends that each 10th Report by how many kids we got in the Ivies, grader do two college visits during the or how many students we send to Catholic summer between 10th and 11th grades. schools. But those statistics don’t define who we are as an institution,” Simpson said. “The board understands that and ultimately they let us make the decisions we think are best for the students, not for our numbers.” “If a student was applying to all eight Ivies, I’d have a big problem with it,” Harkness said. “It’s not that I don’t think they can do it but are you really going to like Dartmouth and Columbia or are you just applying for the name? Stuff like that is why acceptances rates are so low.” Simpson believes that the biggest improvement in the process over the last few years is the addition of the counseling curriculum “We are able to have a lot more discussion around the college process when [the students] are juniors and then also in the fall of senior year when we start to get into the ‘to do list’ of the college process,” Simpson said. However, not everyone in the senior class agrees that the counseling classes are always helpful. Some offered suggestions on how to improve the process. “Some of the classes really helped me a lot. The ones where you actually do things to help with the college process like start writing the common app essay are extremely important in my eyes,” senior Student Council president Alex Freud said. “But some I didn't think helped at all, like the stress management information sessions.” Freud acknowledged that topics related to college adjustment may be important for some, “but personally I just wanted to get college stuff done during these periods,” he said. “The classes are great if you use them well. I know I would’ve procrastinated if I didn’t have an hour period every cycle to work.” DiCicco agreed that he wished more time had been dedicated in counseling classes to the common app and supplemental essays. “The essay component was the only part of my application where I felt Malvern could have done more to help me and my senior brothers,” he said. Malvern’s counselors, like Simpson, feel the counseling class also helps develop the close, unique connection between mentor and student that they feel it is conducive to success. “At Malvern, because we now have the benefit of knowing our kids longer, we really get to look ahead and see what could be a hook for one student or an obstacle for another,” Simpson said. “I think that is the advantage of an independent school like Malvern because we do try and individualize the process for each student.”
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Student revises testing timeline with his counselor, and discusses athletic recruiting (if appropriate), course selection for 12th grade, financial aid and scholarship resources, and summer plans.
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Students may meet with college admissions officers during visits to campus.
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By the end of March, each student and family receives an individualized college list from the student’s counselor, listing 20-25 schools that could be fits for the student academically, socially and financially.
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Seniors work in the computer labs to continue progress on applications, essays and teacher recommendation forms. In the spring, seniors will learn skills to help them transition to college life malvernprep.org
“We have a lot of successful parents right here at Malvern. If we polled them, I’m certain not all of them went to prestigious colleges and I’m • Focus on educating students about the sure many went to colleges we’ve never even differences between large and small heard of before.” schools, schools in cities and schools According to a study conducted by that are more rural. researchers at Gallup and Purdue University, • Students will learn about what makes factors like the whether the college is very a strong college essay, brainstorm topic selective or nonselective hardly matters at all to ideas, and start to write their first colalumni’s well-being and success in comparison lege essay. to their actual experiences in college. The study concludes that if graduates had a SUMMER professor who cared about them, sparked curi• Students are strongly encouraged to osity within their field of study, and offered finish the main college essay they will outlets to apply what they learned, their submit to every college. Counselors chances of thriving in the workplace and in are available to meet with students in their well-being double. If graduates had an person or to revise essays via email. internship or job where they were able to apply • College Counselors host Application what they were learning in the classroom, were Boot Camp for rising seniors to get actively involved in extracurricular activities them started on their Common Appliand organizations, and worked on projects that cations, work on essays and prepare for took a semester or more to complete, their odds college interviews. of being engaged at work also double. What we can learn from this data is that feeling supported and encouraged to pursue dreams are paramount when it comes to longterm outcomes for college graduates. Students have a better chance of finding those things when they apply for fit rather than prestige. Still, the prestige of the list of colleges that Malvern students attend seems to important to the school. The school lists college acceptances online. A stated goal of the 2011-2016 strategic plan is to provide students with “the structure and tools to identify and gain admittance to the most selective national colleges and universities.” Board Chairman Mr. Steve Cloetingh announced at a March 8 Town Hall that this year’s college acceptances mark “the best results seen in 50 years.” “I think our results are incredibly strong but that’s what I would expect from a place like Malvern,” Harkness said. “I already know we have extremely capable students here, so I’m most excited to see each young man find his fit.” Going forward, it is beneficial for students to take tips from the counselors and know that they are doing everything possible to ensure the process goes smoothly. One major focus for Harkness is building relationships with colleges. “I view my role as much as an external advocate for the Malvern brand, for the brotherhood, so people that don’t know Malvern get to know what makes us special and different from schools like Haverford, EA, and St. Joe’s,” Harkness said. “Once [college] administration officials realize how incredible four years at Malvern truly is, it gives validity to each application a student sends from our school and makes it much harder for the college to say no.” Counselors believe it is important for students to do their part to ensure this validity as well. COUNSELING CLASS
SENIOR SLIDE
“Prestige is not everything and that's something I think people often forget. We have a lot of successful parents right here at Malvern. If we polled them, I'm certain not all of them went to prestigious colleges and I'm sure many went to colleges we've never even heard of before.” -Mr. Paul Simpson
he senior slide tradition, when seniors begin to slack towards the end of their high school career, threatens four years of work and can inhibit one’s ability to actually compete and do well once they reach college, according to Simpson. “The studies I have seen about the senior slide show that the way students finish their senior year of high school is exactly how they start their freshmen year of college. So it’s not as easy as just flipping the switch because you’ve built six months of bad habits,” Simpson said. DiCicco shares this perspective on senior slide. “Personally, I do not know why anyone would sell themselves short in the home stretch,” he
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Students take home trophies at local science fair Students’ work recognized by the US Navy, US Marine Corps, and the University of Pennsylvania. Ben Yankelitis ’16 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF n Thursday, March 31, juniors Zach DeStefano and Turner Emery, and freshman Adam Morys spent their day seeing their hard work come to fruition at the Delaware Valley Science Fair. DeStefano won first place for his research in the 11th grade computer category at the local Chester County Science fair, and then won second place in the same category at the larger, 1,000-student Delaware Valley competition. Emery won second place for his project in the 11th grade engineering category at the Chester County Science Fair, and then received an honorable mention at the Delaware Valley Fair. Morys won second place in the ninth grade engineering category at the Chester County Science Fair. The group separately won four special awards each given out by the US Navy and US Marine Cor ps, the University of Pennsylvania, t he Un iv er sit y of t he ZACH DESTEFANO Sciences of Philadelphia, Created a program to sift through tweets a n d A r i z o n a S t a t e looking for “positive” and “negative” words University. “I’m really excited about [the projects],” said Mrs. Anna Geider, Science Research teacher and Science National Honor Society moderator. “We want Malvern to be seen as a serious science school and by having all three students move forward shows quality.” Morys’s project consisted of using Lego Robotics and his programming skills to track the International Space Station. This was the research recognized by the US Navy and Marine Corps. His device used an open source program from NASA that gave the coordinates, velocity, and direction of the Space Station continuously.
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and space.” Destefano’s project, on the other hand, originated from an AP Statistics project that was meant to apply the concepts of the construction of an unbiased survey. It was required to extend beyond the Malvern community, so Destefano went to the internet. The project consisted of using a computer program TURNER EMERY’S ALUMINUM CAN EXPERIMENT / SUPPLIED BY T. EMERY to sift through tweets from 2013 and 2014 looking for Morys, using that as a function for position, “positive” and “negative” words, as determined wrote a program to control the motors of his by an up to date study that even included interLego block and move the pointer in accordance net slang. with the function of the Space Station. This program collected all of the positive “It was a lot of work to find out how I was tweets and negative tweets and sorted each going to do this, but I enjoyed it,” Morys said. group by location and year. Mr. Lou Osinski was Destefano then comset up as Mor ys’s men- pared the positive and negator for the project because tive states, according to his TURNER EMERY Morys worked on the pro- analysis program, to the Used recycled cans to collect and recycle water ject through the Science 2013 and 2014 unemploy- from plants Research course. This was ment statistics, violent crime a need one fourth science statistics, and various health credit elective where students learned about statistics. the scientific process and completing scholarly He found a strong correlation only between research. states with high unemployment and large numOsinski was impressed by Morys’s work and bers of negative tweets and vice versa - states effort throughout the process. with low unemployment had states with more Osinski was set up with Morys to mentor positive tweets. him throughout the process, but Osinski said DeStefano worked with Mr. Kevin Quinn, he really only helped guide Adam through some Science Department Leader, and Geider to things and Adam did the rest himself. make the research presentable for the science Morys was inspired by his older brother who fair. This step included paperwork, and other works as an engineer for the Air Force. Morys additional tasks, such as creating an abstract said his brother helped him come up with this for the project. idea that “combined engineering, programming, Emery had been working on his project for
multiple years before this. “I really like projects that are oriented in terms of problems that could have solutions that are capable of being discovered on a small scale test,” he said. Emery used recycled aluminum cans to act as funnels to collect condensated water from plants in order to increase the length of their lives. He tested multiple funnel designs sculpted each by cutting the cans in different ways. A “relatively dry” environment was simulated by containing the plants in a tank with a limited amount of provided water and a controlled amount of light. The design pictured collected the most amount of water when the stem of the plant is placed in the center of the funnel. It collected an amount of water 800% (8 milligrams to 1 milligram) higher than would be collected without the funnel. Emery found that this design worked best because it was strong enough to catch the most amount of water, and still stand, not allowing the weight of the water to cause the funnel to collapse. Turner’s work was recognized by Arizona State Universit y’s sustainability solutions initiative because of its effective resourcefulness. “It’s sort of a secret we have this excellent science department,” Geider said. “We want to get our name out there so people say, ‘Hey, look at what Malvern Prep is doing in science.’” The work from Emery, Destefano and Morys puts Malvern on the right track. “By having three entries in the science fair, and having them all go forward it shows we may not have quantity, but we have quality,” Geider said. 5
Ireland is new senior service trip destination for 2017 Current sophomores will have a new option when choosing their service trip destination. Sean Ward ’17 REPORTER s first announced at a service trip meeting for the Class of 2018 and their parents on Tuesday April 26, Ireland will be added as a service trip option next year. But, this new addition won’t be your typical Malvern Prep senior service trip. “We have always wanted to have service trips where the students prepare for it before they go,” said Larry Legner, Director of Christian Service. For the new trip to Ireland, this idea will become a reality. “The kids that are going to Ireland are going to sign up this year, but all of the other students are going to wait until next year,” Legner said. According to Head of the Upper School Ronald Algeo the target number of students for the trip is fifteen or sixteen. “We could get less than sixteen students, but if we get more than sixteen students we are still figuring out how we would get the number down,” he said. According to Algeo, this would entail an application with essays and student-produced ideas for the trip. The students who are selected for the Ireland service trip will all be put in the same theology class for their junior year. According to Legner, the class will be the “home base” of the Ireland service trip studies. In it, students will not only learn theology, but put together a major project of what they are going to do when they are in Ireland. When the theology class falls before community time, the students will stay in class and have an extended period in which a different teacher will come in every time. “It will be a social studies teacher who will teach them about government of Ireland, a music teacher who will explain the music culture of Ireland, or an English teacher to illustrate the
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literature there,” Legner said to give examples. However, teachers will only be giving the students background information and ideas. It will be the students themselves who determine what service they should do in order to have the most positive impact on the trip. According to Legner, the trip will be centered in Dublin, but the students will have flexibility in choosing where they go to for service. And when the students come home as seniors, they will pass down their experiences by teaching the next class going to Ireland. The service trip to Ireland will take place over the last two weeks of August, in the summer between the students’ junior and senior years. Legner approximated that the trip will require students to raise $1,500. It is currently set to replace Fiji service trip, but this could change. According to Algeo, because many students have to go on the Fiji trip due to sports and other obligations, it is possible that one of the two groups going to the Dominican Republic will be replaced instead. Sophomore Pat Keenan thinks that the the trip to Ireland will be a great opportunity to do service around the world. “I think it would be really cool to do service in Ireland. I think it's great that Malvern gives us opportunities to branch
out to other regions of the world,” he said. Keenan also thinks that the student-based planning of the trip is a great idea. “It will ensure students are interested in and passionate about the service that they are doing,” he said. The idea of having a service trip to Ireland has been long in the making, according to Legner, and he believes that it will also provides a perfect opportunity to test this new service trip style. Algeo hopes the new studentbased approach will provide a more authentic service experience where students can fully understand what people are going through, work together to solve problems, and possibly work with other schools. This new format is being tested in the Ireland trip, and may have long term ramifications on all the senior service trips. “We’re going to see how it works, and if it works, then all the other trips will do the the same thing,” Legner said. The new service trip to Ireland could lead to big changes in the way that the service trips are run, but the goal of service remains the same. “People look at Ireland and other service locations as great vacation spots, but there are a lot of poverty and homelessness in these places,” Legner said. 5
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Abel’s unconventional path to college In order to follow his dreams of playing college hockey, Joey Abel ’16 will have to have to take a two year break to play Junior Hockey. Mike Droogan ’16 SPORTS EDITOR hile most seniors are making their final decisions on where they will end up next year, senior Joe Abel will have to wait until June to finalize his plans. Abel hopes to hear his name get called, or rather, see his name pop up on his computer screen, as the Aston Rebels make their selection in the 2016 North American Hockey League (NAHL) Draft. Unlike most other college sports, many college hockey players don’t make the jump directly from high school to college. Rather, those who aspire to play college hockey often take two years off of school to focus on perfecting their hockey skills in a Junior Hockey League. “The main purpose of Junior Hockey is just to get bigger, faster, stronger so when you get to the collegiate level you are the best player you can be,” Abel said. “It’s basically the farm system for college hockey. This is the first step you have to take.” There are three different tiers of Junior Hockey leagues, with tier 1 the highest level of skill and competition and tier 3 the lowest. In tier 1 is the United States Hockey League (USHL), tier 2 the North American Hockey League (NAHL), and tier three has six different leagues. “In order to play Junior Hockey you have to find a way to get yourself noticed by the scouts and coaches,” Abel said. “The best way to do this is by playing for a prep school in New England or playing for a midget [travel] league team like the one I’m on now.” Getting to such a level has been a long, intense process that started with Abel learning to skate when he was three, and starting to play when he was four. Abel’s journey is impressive regardless, especially since he could be considered an anomaly. Yet, Malcolm Gladwell, author of the book Outliers, might say Abel’s journey has defied conventional hockey wisdom. “I started playing hockey with the Junior Flyers when I was six or seven, but since they
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didn’t have a ’97 team, my birth year, I had to play up with the ’98 team for two years,” Abel said. In Outliers, Gladwell has a section focused on Canadian Junior Hockey and the advantage players born earlier in the year have over those born later in the year. He found that those born in the first quarter of the year accounted for over 20% more of the number of players than those born in the fourth quarter. Not only was Abel born in the third quarter of the year, he started off his hockey career playing with kids who could have been a full year older than him. “I think playing for the ’98 team was definitely beneficial to my hockey career and played a crucial role in my development,” Abel said. “I guess I was an outlier.” Another facet of Abel’s career that could have been seen as a disadvantage to others was his tumultuous career, bouncing between AA travel teams, before settling into the superior AAA level Junior Flyers. Although he started playing for the U-16 Jr. Flyers American team, the “B” team, he worked hard to get up to the U-16 National Team, the “A” team. He is now at the end of his career with the AAA U-18 team, the most elite team in the Jr. Flyers program, which he was a captain of this past year. “This was a really underrated part of my
development because I was able to get so many different perspectives from coaches,” Abel said. “I just tried to be a sponge, taking in all the different information so that I could become the player I am today.” “He just worked on getting better every year and stayed focused and always brought something to the team other than being a good player which makes him a valuable asset,” said Abel’s U-18 Jr. Flyers Coach Brian Martin. “His leadership is unique. It isn’t often we get players with his maturity level.” Not only does Abel push himself to perfection, but he also pushes his teammates, both on the Malvern and Jr. Flyers teams, to be the best players they can be. “He’s really serious and intense on the ice, but it's only because he wants everyone around him to be playing their hardest,” senior and Malvern teammate Skyler Davis said. Abel never lets his intensity take away from the fun of the game though. “One of my favorite memories of Joey is last year is when he scored a really nice goal and then skated around the net and drank from the goalie’s water bottle,” Martin said. “Not the best sportsmanship because we were winning by a lot, but I thought it was funny.” Abel said he has spoken with a few Junior Hockey teams up the East Coast, including the Hartford Wolfpack, but he is fairly sure he’ll play with the Aston Rebels, in Aston, Pennsylvania, next year. “Just like the college process – it’s not always about going to the best team, it’s about finding the right fit, and I think the teams I have been talking to are great fits for me so far,” Abel said. Over spring break, he got the chance to get a taste of what it’s like to play at the next level, practicing with the Aston Rebels every day. “I got scratched from the first game of the weekend, but I played in the second one on Saturday night and it was a great experience. I scored a goal so that was pretty cool,” Abel said. Committing to play in Junior Hockey is similar to the commitment of a full-time job. Abel will have to practice four days a week,
Monday through Thursday, and then dedicate his weekends to traveling for games. “We had an away game so I got to the rink Friday afternoon, played Saturday, then got back to the rink around 2 a.m. Sunday morning,” Abel said. “Normally we have Sundays off. But if the coach decides we didn’t play well that weekend we could have practice on Sunday,” he said. Abel is no stranger to filling his schedule with hockey. While playing for both Malvern and Jr. Flyers, there were many weeks during the school year where he had practice every day during the week and then traveled to a showcase over the weekend. “It actually worked out pretty well because both teams practice at Iceline [in West Chester] and the U-18 teams have their own lockers so I didn’t have to lug my equipment back and forth everyday,” Abel said. Despite the gap years between high school and college, junior hockey players still have the ultimate goal of completing college. According to a 2014 press release from the NCAA, hockey had the highest graduation rate of all men’s sports at 92.1%. “Junior hockey is really just a big stepping stone for college hockey and once you get to college, it's just like any other experience,” Abel said. Whether or not Abel takes college courses while he’s playing Junior Hockey will hinge on how it blends into his schedule and if it interferes with his focus on hockey. Either way, he said he hasn’t lost sight of the big picture. “One of Joe’s best traits is his perseverance,” Martin said. “He’s not in a rush, he knows where his levels at, he knows what he needs to work on. Just as long as he stays focused he’ll have plenty of opportunities, in juniors and beyond.” “Playing college hockey has always been a dream of mine so this is a path I decided to take,” Abel said. 5
Athlete of the Issue: Vince Sposato ’17 Junior Vince Sposato has been helping Friar baseball win and overcome expectations. Garrett Hallinan ’19 REPORTER unior Vince Sposato cannot remember a time when he didn’t play baseball. “I think I started when I was five years old, playing teeball,” he said. Using the skills he has developed over the past twelve years, Vince has been a contributing member to Malvern’s varsity baseball team. Earlier in the season, Vince had the most RBIs in the Inter-Ac. Most times, he bats eighth in the lineup. He also switches from right field to left field on defense. “We are 14-1 so far,” Sposato said, “and we are doing amazing.” Friars have big wins this season against Haverford School and St. Joseph’s Prep. The home game against St. Joe’s on March 26th ended in a 2-1 Friar victory. Sposato described the walk-off homerun by captain Chance DiFebbo. “So far, my favorite memories are the three walk off hits we have had,” Sposato said. “After every walk off, we all go crazy jumping on each other.”
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Encou r a g e d by chance of winning the coaches, Sposato and Inter-Ac, and possihis fellow Friars have bly going beyond that been supportive of one standard. another throughout the “In our minds, we season. “We are loud are always the front on the bench cheerrunners,” Sposato said. ing for our teammates. “Everyone is aiming for The coaches encourage Malvern and I think we us to do our best and have a good chance of have fun at the same winning the Inter-Ac time,” he said. and even the independLed by Coach Fred ent league tournament Hilliard and senior this year.” captains Mason Abate, “On t h is tea m, VINCE SPOSATO / T. PIZZICO C h a n c e D i Fe b b o , each player is imporBrent Greeley, and Jake Mullan, the Friars tant. Everyone contributes to the team,” have surpassed expectations set on them from Sposato said. “Our team leaders are all of our other schools. captains and also Shane Muntz, who is prob“This year was supposed to be a ‘rebuild- ably the best player in the Inter-Ac.” ing year’ according to other schools in the Some players have superstitions while Inter-Ac,” Sposato said. “But we have over- playing their sport. In baseball, lots of guys come those expectations. We are doing well tend to perform a certain routine that will this year because all the players on the team maintain success on the mound, the field, or have been so supportive of everyone else.” in the batter’s box. Sposato is one of them. Sposato believes his team has a good “A bunch of stuff goes through my mind,”
Sposato said. “I have this thing where I have to tap the plate an even amount of times, four times usually, before I hit.” After Sposato’s Friar career ends in 2017, it may not be his last season as a baseball player. “I am thinking about playing in college right now,“ Sposato said. “A couple of colleges are talking to me including Villanova, St. Joe’s, and Franklin and Marshall. I am still thinking about if I am ready for that committment or not.” Vince is grateful for the way his parents have helped him grow in his sport. “My parents have helped me a lot,” Vince said. “They have encouraged me and they have supported me no matter what. They have made me better by getting me lessons and hitting with me.” Vince’s favorite sport is baseball because he has the best time playing it. “I have always played baseball,” Vince said. “It has caught on to me. It has been my favorite sport for awhile. I used to play football and basketball, but I chose baseball.” 5
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Muntz eager for bright baseball future Starting varsity catcher Shane Muntz is one of the top high school players in the state, and may have the chance to go to the MLB.
For high school athletes, committing to crew is like enlisting in a full-time job. Eric McLaughlin ’18 REPORTER aturday, April 9th was an unseasonably cold day. It was snowing almost the entire day and all Malvern athletics were cancelled, except one team - crew. While for many Friars March Madness is a spectator sport, the crew team is involved in the authentic March madness of rowing when temperatures are barely above freezing. The Schuylkill River had not frozen over, so it was practice as usual. “Practicing in the snow took rowing to a different level, but it was also kind of fun,” sophomore rower David Wiener said. “The harsh conditions disciplined us to focus more on rowing and our technique. I think it helped us because it allowed for us to have more experience in bad conditions.” Malvern’s rowing program is historically one of the best in the country. According to the Malvern Prep website, the Varsity Quad has won the City Championships, Stotesbury, and the Scholastic Rowing National Championships five years in a row. The team has competed successfully in BRETT ALLAN the Henley Royal Regatta in Still finds time for a London, England and in the social life, says crew has developed his time Silverskiff Regatta in Turin, management skills Italy. Such a high level program should lead headlines. But head coach Craig Hoffman said that since the rowing team does not compete at Malvern, they do not get the same type of attention that the football or basketball teams would get. Rowing is an unusual sport - one with its own vocabulary and limited prime-time sports coverage, and according to rowers involved, it is a lot of hard work. The team has a very rigorous schedule that lasts almost the whole year. “It’s usually six days a week,” senior rower Brett Allan said. “We lift before school three days a week. In the fall we are at the river Monday through Saturday, we are at Malvern in the tanks during the Winter, and in the Spring we are on the river Monday through Saturday with a race usually on Sunday.” “Crew is a difficult sport,” said Allan, who will be rowing next year at the University of Pennsylvania. “You really have to find the fun in it and once you do, it becomes a really enjoyable sport.” Competing in high level tournaments makes crew a very intense and time consuming sport at Malvern, forcing some kids to back away from the sport. Senior Matt Casaday, who used to row but no longer does, said, “I’m glad that I did rowing for the two years I did, but I am even more glad that I am not doing it anymore.” Casaday said that rowing taught him values of hard work, integrity, and honesty. “As time went on, I knew I was not going to be able to continue with crew. Rowing is a mentally and physically demanding sport; if you’re not 100% committed to it, you’re going to be miserable. And even if you
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are 100% committed, you still might be miser- facilities and space to allow our team to be the able,” he said. most efficient we can be,” he said. “Once I realized I couldn’t possibly continue According to Malvern’s website, crew alumni in college, it seemed as though what I was putting have been recruited and accepted by some of the into the team was becoming greater top universities in the country in comparison to what I was getting including Princeton University, out of it. It’s a matter of return on “Rowing is not for Un iversit y of Penns ylva n ia , investment, and common sense,” everybody, but University of California at Berkeley, Casaday said. the opportunities and others. Some students at Malvern that rowing gives “Our work ethic very much fear that by doing crew, they will are a real draw mimics what they do in college,” not be able to have a social life or for kids who want Hoffman said. “The volume in colget involved in other activities at to work hard and lege is greater than what they do Malvern. be the best that in high school, but they follow the Senior Rob DiCicco a lso they can be.” same tenets of training consistently decided to quit the crew team during throughout the year.” sophomore year. “It was simply too -Coach Craig Hoffman Julian Venonsky ’12 rowed time consuming,” he said. “It interlightweight at Malvern and is curfered with the wide variety of extrarently the coxswain, the position curricular activities Malvern has to offer. Leaving responsible for steering the boat, for the rowing the time allowed me to pursue a whole gambit of team at UC Berkeley. “Our team [at Malvern] was different passions as opposed to just one.” always very successful, winning the Philadelphia Allan agreed that crew is a big commit- City Championships, Stotesbury, and the SRAA’s ment. “You probably practice close to 20 hours fairly consistently,” he said. per week,” he said. “But I still “The practice schedule at Malvern was pretty find it pretty easy to have a intense,” Venonsky said, “but nothing could social life.” have prepared me better for a college program. “I don’t think it keeps us Malvern’s program definitely got people ready for from getting involved in the college in terms of time management - which is other clubs and activities that probably the hardest thing to do: to successfully Malvern has to offer,” sophomore Patrick Keenan balance school and rowing.” said. “Everyone still has time to pursue their other Venonsky said that at Malvern they always interests outside of crew.” strived to be the best. Even at the high school Allan also said that crew has not had a nega- level they worked for perfection every day and tive effect on his Malvern experience in terms of all had one goal in mind: to win. He said that getting involved and meeting great friends. He coming into a program like Cal without having said that it has allowed him to focus on his school that background Malvern provided would have work, and that the sport forces you to improve been a shock to his system. your time management skills. “I think my favorite part about rowing at Hoffman believes that the sport is a draw for Malvern was that it was competitive which made students who have strong work ethic. “Rowing it fun,” Venonsky said. “I thrive on competition. is not for everybody, but the opportunities that It makes everyone involved better and I really do rowing gives [are] a real draw for kids who want owe Malvern and Coach Hoffman all of the credit to work hard and be the best that they can be,” for where I'm at now. The program at Malvern is he said. what got me to Cal and what made me strive to Currently, there are seventeen students in be the best.” Malvern’s rowing program. Hoffman hopes to Hoffman said that this year's crew team has expand the program. He said that the more stu- been very competitive in all of their races. They dents involved, the better the team gets. are entering their most difficult part of the seaFew, if any, students have experience in crew son when they compete for the Philadelphia City before high school. “Rowing Championships in May. They allows you to start anew in a JULIAN VENONSKY will also compete in the Midsport. You don’t need to have Credits Coach Hoffman Atlantic races later on. been rowing your whole life and Malvern’s program Hoffman wants Malvern’s with crew success at UC to play at Malvern,” Hoffman Berkeley rowers to graduate not only said. with skills in rowing on the Last year the crew team moved into a river, but also with skills for life during and even new boathouse in Conshohocken. It has been after college. very beneficial to the program so far, accord“The athletes that come out of Malvern are ing to Hoffman. Malvern’s team shares the not only prepared for life in college but in life boathouse with The Haverford School and the after college as well,” Hoffman said. “There is Conshohocken Township. nothing that they can’t do. Whether you’re in a “The new boathouse has given us the oppor- business setting, medical setting, or a graduate tunity to have more efficient practices, get on setting, you set goals.” the river sooner, and have more practice time,” “Rowing teaches that if you work hard and Hoffman said. you work consistently, there is nothing that you Sophomore rower Patrick Keenan agrees. can’t achieve,” he said. 5 “The boathouse gives us a place with great
SHANE MUNTZ / M. DROOGAN
Patrick Ferraiolo ’17 SPORTS EDITOR Shane Muntz dug into the plate in the bottom of the fifth inning, trailing by one run against Springside Chestnut Hill. The stakes were high - but Shane was cool and collected. He calmly stepped into the box and launched a go ahead home run which would ultimately win the game for the Friars. Junior Shane Muntz, according to perfectgame.org, has a fastball ‘up to 90 mph with a power bat as well.’ He has a career .333 batting average in 62 career games, including 48 hits with 11 home runs. In addition, he has posted a 1.82 E.R.A with an 11/5 Curveball and an overpowering fastball. “He’s a very unique player,” head coach Fred Hilliard said. “He has a great personality and he realizes that there are players out there that are as good or better, and he wants to get better - he’s up to the challenge.” Ever since he was little, Muntz was in love with the game of baseball, and the competition it brings. “I probably started when I was 6 and in Little League,” Muntz said. “[Baseball is] competitive. It is just a one-on-one kind of deal. You have to beat the other guy - it’s just you against the pitcher.” Muntz came to Malvern in ninth grade, and made the varsity team as a freshman. Since then, he has worked on his game and grown as a player. At one point during his sophomore year, he was ranked #58th best player in the nation by Perfectgame. org. “He has always had a lot of ability,” Hilliard said, “but now he is more disciplined at the plate. He is taking his walks - which is now setting up RBI opportunities for the guys behind him.” Hilliard also added that although Muntz is not a captain, the team looks to him as a leader that will provide a spark. During his high school career, > PAGE 13
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Baseball wins big on Florida trip The baseball team returned home from Florida after winning 8 of 9 games and developing sense of unity.
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National Art Honor Society painting senior stone NAHS hopes to honor the senior class by painting the block where the sidewalk “ends” on campus.
‘BEFORE’ PHOTO OF NAHS STONE / D. MALLOY
Danny Malloy ’18 ARTS EDITOR he National Art Honor Society (NAHS) had been brainstorming all year about ways to commemorate this special senior class. Now, they have come up with their plan to both honor this year’s seniors and to create a long-lasting tradition that future seniors can continue. The seniors of NAHS will paint an image honoring the senior class on a sidewalk block where the sidewalk ends on Malvern’s campus. It will be right under the “mini-library,” according to faculty adviser of NAHS Mr. Robert Muntz. Muntz said that he and the NAHS knew that they should decorate the stone where the sidewalk ends, when the mini-library was installed there. The mini-library is a small, wooden house founded by English teacher Mr. John Bohannon, and NAHS decided that it was a good spot for the stone. “There is another group on campus that made the mini-bookstore where Dennis Hall used to be,” Muntz said. “So we thought, wouldn’t it be cool to decorate that stone as a commemorative thing for art students to do.” Muntz gave most of the credit to Engl ish teacher Mr. Jason Sammartino ’04 in having the idea for the stone. “It evolved into him telling me how Drexel’s fraternity row has each frat commemorate the year by painting these stones, with things that only their class knows about, things that were really special to their class for those seniors that would graduate,” Muntz said. Sen ior Ta it McGl inn, t he
T FRIAR BASEBALL ON THE BEACH IN FLORIDA / B. FLYNN
Patrick Ferraiolo ’17 SPORTS EDITOR “Usually when we go to Florida, we haven’t had he baseball team took their their talents to many games yet due to the weather,” said junior shortOrlando over spring break to jump start the sea- stop Matt Daller. “Being able to play in the heat is a son with a week of sunshine and baseball. great way to work on things that we need in order to “The trip was smooth,” head coach Mr. Fred improve our game.” Hilliard said. “We play a lot of baseball down there As much of as this trip is about baseball, it also usually two games a day.” provides a sense of unity to the team. The team went 8-1 during the trip. “It is good to get out in the warm cliAfter winning the Inter-Ac for mate and get games in early in the year, the fifth time in a row last year, the “When we are in but the biggest value we get from going team was determined to start the 2016 the vans, you find away is the bonding and the chemistry season off with a bang. out who these kids the team gets,” Hilliard said. “ We have been surrounded really are. You start The team spends a whole week livby words of ‘this is their rebuildto realize ‘oh my ing, eating, and playing together. The ing year,’” junior Will Burgess said. gosh, this kid is really best time for them to bond is when they “These words only pushed us more funny; I never would are in the vans going from place to place. to prove who we are as a team and have thought that “When we are in the vans, you how we want to play out the season before.” find out who these kids really are,” said going forward. Florida was the perfect Hilliard. “You start to realize ‘Oh my opportunity to do this.” -Coach Fred Hilliard gosh, this kid is really funny; I never With great pitching from Shane would have thought that before.’” Muntz and clutch hitting from outBeing comfortable in your own skin fielder Vince Sposato, the team was is one of the biggest parts of being on a able to do just that. team. By the time the team returned home, not only Hilliard sees the trip as imperative for both the were they comfortable, they were ready to play some players and the coaching staff. baseball, and start the Inter-Ac season off right. “Florida is usually the first time we even get on the This year, they returned home and continued the hot field,” Hilliard said. “Normally, we bank on that Florida streak and are setting their eyes for six straight Inter-Ac trip to see what kind of team we have. It is like our own Championships. Spring Training.” On April 18, The Philadelphia Inquirer ranked the Seeing the team play outside of practice allows the team number one in southeastern PA and on April 20, coaches to figure out what the lineup should be and also USA Today ranked them number 15 in the country, what positions certain athletes should play. regardless of school size or whether they are public or “When you only see them hitting in an indoor private. batting cage - you can’t really tell what is going on,” “All roads lead through us until someone knocks Hilliard said. us off,” Hilliard said. “Until someone dethrones us, it The baseball team's trip gives them a leg up on all still is our league.” 5 the other Inter-Ac teams, because of the high quality of play they face.
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>MUNTZ, 12 Muntz has dedicated himself to perfecting his game, including going to catching clinics, working on his swing technique, and working out. He received a full evaluation and has a workout plan to help him improve. “I have a pretty specific baseball training process,” Muntz said. “I lift four times a week along with hitting. In late January and February, I start to work with the pitching coach and start throwing more.” He trains the hardest during the summer, but once the season starts, the actual playing of baseball serves as the majority of his training. “During the season, I normally just do free weights and band work to keep myself sharp - nothing too serious,” Muntz said. While at a showcase in Florida during the summer going into sophomore year, Muntz’s skills wowed many college coaches,
including Virginia Tech. “We just started talking to each other,” Muntz said. “I ended up going on a visit and liking it. Two weeks later, they offered me. I was young and just signed right away without really going through the process with other schools.” But in March 2016, Muntz decided to decommit to Virginia Tech. “I didn’t want to be one foot in, one foot out,” Muntz said. “I wanted to be excited about the program I would be going to, and have a chance to go to Omaha and get drafted.” Currently, Muntz is thinking about 3-4 schools, particularly Florida, Louisville, and Wake Forest - all of which are premier college baseball schools. Muntz is currently a top player in the nation, according to Perfect Game, which could mean being drafted out of high
President of NAHS, said that they spoke to Head of the Upper School Mr. Ronald Algeo about the idea, and he loved it. Next, they sent out a survey to the senior class to gather ideas on what designs they could paint on the stone. Many seniors responded with their ideas, and NAHS secretary senior Nick Rubino said that one possible suggestion was seen more than others. “We want to do something that involves everyone in the senior class, so I think we will be doing something revolving around MECO,” Rubino said. Muntz said that the team of seniors in NAHS will get their design figured out first, and then after the Visual Arts Show at Malvern on April 27, the seniors will have a week and a half to paint the stone before their final day of classes. During that time, McGlinn said that any senior who wants to come over and paint is welcome. “It will just start out with the National Art Honor Society members, but we open the invitation to any senior who wants to come over,” McGlinn said. Rubino thought that this is a great way to honor both this year’s senior class and to have the next class of students continue that tradition by painting over it the next year in April. “The senior stone will be something that will bring my class together and hopefully will set a precedent for future Malvern classes to come together and paint something new every year,” Rubino said. “It's also something returning graduates from my class can come and see when they're on campus and say they participated in creating it.” 5
school. However, he is waiting until next year before he decides anything. “It would be awesome to get the chance to play pro-baseball,” Muntz said, “but I am looking to go to school right now. I am not going to worry about it until my senior year.” Right now, Muntz is taking it one game at a time, doing what he can to contribute to the team. “He has been clutch at the plate this year,” Hilliard said. “He also gives us a great chance to win whenever we give him the ball [to pitch].” During his freshman year, this wasn’t exactly the case. “I was highly touted as a freshman,” Muntz said, “but I didn’t really play all that well. So I just looked at myself and made changes with my swing - which helped me my sophomore year and has continued to grow. You can always get better.”5
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Art school may not be the most conventional path for Malvern alumni, but some decide to continue their arts education in college.
From the river to the studio to the stage, Nick Rubino has made his mark at Malvern.
NICK RUBINO / C. FR ANCK
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Artist of the Issue: Nick Rubino ’16
Christian Franck ’18 CONTRIBUTOR enior Nick Rubino is an artist at heart, and Malvern helped him express who he truly is. Nick Rubino is heavily involved in the arts at Malvern. He has taken art all through high school and currently takes Studio Art IV and Liturgical Music. He serves as Secretary of the National Arts Honor Society. He enjoys playing guitar and has even written his own song, which he performed at Malvern’s last open mic night. “[The arts at Malvern] has helped me become more well-rounded, and has helped me hone skills I didn’t think I had before I went to Malvern,” Rubino said. “It has allowed me to express myself in ways I didn’t think were possible.” Before coming to Malvern, Rubino knew he wanted to explore the arts that Malvern had to offer. “Art was a big part of my life because my mom is an artist,” Rubino said. When he came to Malvern in sixth grade, one of his required classes was Middle School Studio Art. He was introduced to a few mediums, like painting and drawing. As a freshmen, he decided to take Studio Art because he wanted “learn to use different mediums.” Taking the class helped him become “more and more inspired.” Currently, Rubino is working on a massive painting on canvas, inspired by Monet. He is using Pointillism, a style of painting consisting of several
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small distinct color dots to create the art. It is a landscape of rivers, trees, skyline, all depicted by using different colors on his palette. “It is the biggest piece I have ever painted,” he said. Rubino is also passionate about music. “[Liturgical Music] has helped me become more comfortable singing in front of people,” said Rubino, who highly recommends the class to other Malvern students. “It is a good way to do something different,” Rubino said. “I didn’t expect to be in the chorus, but it’s been something I have had a lot of fun doing.” He is also a varsity rower at Malvern, and will continue to row next year at Lehigh University. Despite the notoriously heavy time commitment of crew, Rubino said that rowing and his involvement in the arts at Malvern hasn’t been too difficult for him to juggle. “Crew has taught me a lot about time management,” he said. “I have been able to make the two work.” He loves the arts at Malvern. He thanked the school for the opportunity to involve himself in them. “It has helped me grow as an individual,” Rubino said. “If I went anywhere else, I’d be a completely different person.” 5
Michael Harrington ‘19 REPORTER or some Malvern students, art is just a required credit in high school. But others seem to spend the majority of their high school hours in the Duffy center studios – painting, building sculptures, and throwing pots. And some take the experience beyond four years of high school. Senior ceramics major Ryan Wheeler ’12 is weeks away from graduating from RECENT BOWLS BY RYAN WHEELER ’12 Tyler School of Art. Before Malvern, Wheeler didn't have really have any experience in art at all. “I played sports curriculum was basically sculptural ceramics for a long and wasn't really interested in [art], but I got to Malvern period. and took a ceramics class and fell in love with it,” he said. Hoban is thinking about his plans for the future. “As Realizing his passion for ceramics, Wheeler took the of right now, I really see myself going into the teaching class every semester until his graduation. He worked on aspect of ceramics because it’s a way to use my skills to ceramics as much as he possibly could, staying after school help others as well,” he said. many days to further his understanding of the subject, and Unlike Wheeler and Hoban, Mike Stangis ’14, a biohe soon realized that he wanted to pursue this passion in chemistry and molecular biology major at the University the future. of Miami, decided to take a few art classes but keep his “Probably sophomore year at Malvern I decided focus elsewhere for college. that that is what I wanted to do after high school, and I “I had a great interest in ceramics in high school and it wanted to pursue it for the rest of my life,” Wheeler said. worked perfectly from there,” Stangis said. “It was some“I decided to start looking at art schools.” thing that I had wanted to do given the opportunity at He decided on Tyler Art School as his college, and the University of Miami.” after a few enjoyable years with many great classes, he is Stangis’ interest in the arts started started at Malvern almost at the end of his career as a college student. But in ceramics class. the end of his college experience is only the beginning of “Before I went to Malvern I had never taken an Art his time in the field of ceramics. class that I enjoyed,” Stangis said. “[Ms. Plows] had a great “I want to be an independent class. She made sure that nobody studio artist,” Wheeler said. “I'd like really lost interest in it. It was someto be able to make my work either at thing I really enjoyed doing and I my house or have a personal studio wanted to keep getting better at it.” and be able to sell it to galleries and Like Plows, Studio Art teacher directly to people.” and Arts Department Chair Ms. He also is thinking about using Jacqueline White is glad her class his skills to eventually teach others can let art become a student’s pasabout ceramics. To be able to teach sion. She thinks that the arts facat a university level, he intends to ulty do play a big role in a student's attend graduate school and get his future. Master of Fine Arts. “I think the arts faculty are simiLike Wheeler, other alumni have lar to a coach on the field,” White been influenced to pursue the Arts said. “We are there to provide the as a career, such as sculpture major students with basic foundations, Pat Hoban ’11, a recent graduate of tools, experiences, best practices Penn State University. Hoban has and most importantly to share the RECENT WORK BY PAT HOBAN ’11 passion of what the arts can do for been accepted to Alabama University for graduate school and is waiting to a person.” see if he qualified for a scholarship. White believes that for a small school like Malvern, While at Malvern, he was heavily involved in there are a sufficient amount of graduates who go into the Ceramics, taking the class every semester of high school arts, around three to five, although more could never hurt. – Ceramics 1-8. “A possible 3-5 students a year, maybe even more or less While at Penn State, Hoban started off as a ceramics at times,” White said. major, switched to a business major, and then finally set“I do believe the way the world is going that the tled on a sculpture major. He said that his art curriculum need for more artistic creative minds and creative ways mainly consisted of independent studies. of working will play a bigger part of our business world,” “What that means is I basically write the syllabus for she said.5 my class and have a mentor watch over me as I do whatever I want to do,” Hoban said. According to Hoban, his
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Art Highlight: Vince Melchiorre ’17
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y love for cars grew when I was about 10 years old when my parents and I were out in Lancaster for a soccer tournament. On the way back from the tournament we pulled up to a red light with nothing but open road and just a very scenic view. And this monstrous car which i later found out to be a Porsche Carrera GT pulled alongside of it with a fairly young dude in the driver's seat and I just remember looking at him and thinking it was the coolest thing in the world.”
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hese photographs were shot at Porsche of the Main Line and McLaren Philadelphia. Both of which are awesome car dealerships and probably my favorite places to visit. The staff are super friendly there and the cars are out of this world.”
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Chromebooks present opportunities, challenges Book Review: A look at the chromebooks, and current student/faculty opinion. Rohan Jhunjhunwala ’18 CONTRIBUTOR ver the past few years, Malvern has undergone many changes to its technology - most notably with its transition from desktop computers to Chromebooks. The main features of the chromebook are its portability, light weight, and its integration with the internet. Students can access their files on any device by signing into their Malvern Prep Google Drive account. Some students like the ease and speed of picking it up and using it. They also enjoy the accessibility of files. “It is good that we have computers for all of STUDENTS USE CHROMEBOOKS IN L.C. / R. JHUNJHUNWALA our students,” junior Liam Close said. Other students note that the devices come with some challenges. have people from all sides of the spectrum ranging from “Considering the imperfect internet we full support to disappointment. have, we should not have computers which The trend of bringing in personal devices “Companies of depend on [the internet] so much,” junior continues even with Osinski. He brings all sizes from Turner Emery said. in his own personal Windows 10 laptop, enterprises to startups are Senior Anthony Ciro said that he brings which he uses for a lot of his “day-to-day” utilizing Google in his own personal computer to school if he stuff. He prefers his personal computer to a tools and hardware. needs it. “I seek to avoid Chromebooks at all chromebook. By using multiple costs,” he said. As we continue to see the growing tools we are The opinions differ among the faculty technology changes at Malvern, we should teaching your sons to think and react members too. start to see some improvements. Director differently.” English teacher John Bohannon uses of Technology Mr. Terrence Norko dis-Mr. Terrence Norko the Chromebook for his class. He said that cussed future plans for network upgrades in they are effective for vocabulary, quizzes, his online answers to the 2016 Town Hall and writing. questions. Mrs. Susan Giordani, a fellow English teacher, uses In terms of the problems with internet connection, Google Docs. She uses Chromecast, the new projection Norko wrote that the IT department has “isolated the system which is integrated into Google Chrome to “cast” source of the problem.” He said that when their upgrade what is ever on the laptop screen. Chromecast replaced project is complete, Malvern will be able to support 1,900 smartboards at the start of the 2015-2016 school year. simultaneous connections which will also cover the comThe Chromebooks also have positive support in the mon areas between buildings. Computer Science field. Mr. Lou Osinski, science and “As technology changes, the workforce needs to adapt computer programming teacher, is satisfied with them, “in and react,” Norko wrote in a response to a Town Hall the sense of creating assignments and using Schoology.” question posted on the Malvern website. In comments Chromebooks do have limitations, Osinski said. “They addressed to parents, he wrote, “Companies of all sizes are not a laptop replacement.” from enterprises to startups are utilizing Google tools Many students and faculty support the idea of the and hardware. By using multiple tools we are teaching chromebooks, but some do acknowledge difficulties that your sons to think and react differently. This helps to set come along with the change. them apart as they now know multiple tool sets to solve Bohannon said, “we have been on a learning curve.” a problem.” 5 And as this learning curve continues, we currently
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Justice for Batman vs. Superman It was solid - but not incredible. Nick Li ’17 SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR atman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, the follow up to the 2013 blockbuster Man of Steel, was initially met with negative reviews from critics. However, after watching it this past weekend, I did not think it was as bad as it was made out to be. First things first, Bruce Wayne, a.k.a. Batman, is no longer played by Christian Bale. Ben Affleck assumes the new role of the superhero, and he does a very good job. It was not much of a deterrent and I enjoyed his performance. In addition, Alfred Pennyworth is casted by Jeremy Irons rather than Michael Caine. While Ben Affleck did not distract my attention away, Jeremy Irons did. It was difficult for me to see a character other than the white haired Englishman as Batman’s butler and best friend. Another new character that was introduced was Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. I enjoyed her performance and I thought that the producers gave her just the right amount of lines. Her presence did not detract from the film, and it paves the way for a Wonder Woman movie in the future. Batman vs. Superman had no shortage of action and
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special effects. Traditionally, Batman and Superman movies are actionpacked, and this one was no different. There were plenty of fight scenes, and the final battle between Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and the demon was excellent in terms of special effects. In addition, Batman’s technology was very well designed and impressive. However, not everything about the movie was an A+. The movie had a lot of scene switching because it switched between Bruce Wayne’s and Clark Kent’s perspectives, which made it hard to keep up with. The film also had a very long plot. The run time is two hours and thirty-three minutes, which in reality, could have been a lot shorter. “The movie was pretty cool special effects wise and action wise, but some of the plot was really drawn out and didn’t contribute to the movie,” junior Nick Maras said. “Going into the movie people said it wasn’t very good and it wasn’t worth seeing, but I don’t agree with that at all. I’m glad I saw it.” All in all, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice was a good movie. Out of 10, I would give it a 7. 5
“Butter”
The story of a teenage outcast at Scottsdale High School, Arizona. Michael Harrington ‘19 REPORTER utter, a 423-pound teenager, is avoided by everyone at school. He eats lunch by himself every day and pretty much just keeps to himself. This all changes when he decides to end his life, posting a declaration of his suicide online. The novel “Butter” by Erin Jade Lange is the heart-wrenching story of a troubled boy who unfortunately thinks that the only path left for him is to end his life. He announces to the world via a blog that he will be eating himself to death while broadcasting to the internet, having somewhat of a ‘last meal’. Once his classmates find out about Butter’s plan, everything changes for the teenager. Some people are disgusted by him, others want to help him, and many encourage him to die. Butter is soon seen as a kind of superstar at Scottsdale High because the popular group are highly interested in Butter’s ‘last meal’. With everyone pressuring Butter into going through with his plan, he feels torn between the love of his new life with his so-called friends and his fright at the thought of killing himself. He asks himself if it is worth it to have fun in exchange for his own life. This novel was extremely effective in its ability to get people thinking about important topics. It really gets you thinking on things like obesity, the immorality that comes with immaturity, suicide, etc. I greatly enjoyed this book for its overwhelming ability to bring fresh ideas into the mind. I loved the overall storyline and its extremely unique perspective. You can't help but but start to empathize with Butter who goes through so much. If you enjoy an excellent coming-of-age story, then “Butter” by Erin Jade Lange is for you. This book will especially hit home for teenagers. It shows so much into the teenage psyche very accurately. If you pick up “Butter” at your local bookstore, you will surely enjoy yourself.5
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TV Review: “Daredevil” Season 2 Netflix’s Daredevil returned to show us why binge watching was invented. Jack Magargee ‘18 MEDIA & TECH EDITOR et me start by saying I’m a true fan. I grinded this 12+ hour series out in about three days before spring break. I just haven’t had the opportunity to express my thoughts yet. Do you remember Ben Affleck’s joke of a movie called “Daredevil?” Yeah, I’m trying to forget too. This show almost gets me there. That’s how much better it is. If you don’t know who Daredevil is, he is a blind lawyer who happens to be a ninja and dresses up in a red devil costume to fight crime in Hell’s Kitchen. And, if you don’t know what the show “Daredevil” is, it’s a show on Netflix about the hero that shows a very realistic portrayal of him that makes you think it could actually happen. And the best part is that it all connects to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Season 1 saw Matt Murdock (Daredevil) fight off Wilson Fisk (Kingpin) as he tried to secure his complete control on Hell’s Kitchen’s criminal underground. Season 2 sees a new anti hero come on the scene. Frank Castle: the Punisher is in town and he is not kidding around. With a name like ‘the Punisher,’ he means nothing but business. The series in general does unparalleled work with origins stories and always makes you relate to the character they highlight.
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I say all this as I tip-toe around spoilers to the best of my ability. Though its action scenes could be a tad better, Season 2 certainly proved they’re going in the right direction from the very start of Episode 1. The complex narratives are what really drive the show. Especially in Season 2, when a character is set up for many episodes to act a certain way and see him contradict that in the best of ways makes for some compelling television. The environment and universe surrounding the show are well established and developed further as the series moves on. Between the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and Marvel’s other Netflix series, the city of New York seems to be crawling with superheroes. Sidenote: There have been rumors for about a year now that Daredevil and the Punisher may be making cameos in May’s Captain America: Civil War so get hype. Daredevil is some of the best television I’ve ever seen because they take a concept that is completely unrealistic and show it in a way that really makes you question whether this is a show about comic books or a documentary on a real-life vigilante. I give this season a 9/10 because everything was knocked out of the ballpark except the action scenes which very well may get together in the near future. Also to end it with the first teaser to the new Luke Cage series is an outright powermove by Marvel. 5
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PA House vote on abortion postponed Press conference does what a failed motion couldn’t Jack McClatchy ’17 NEWS EDITOR he bill, which sought to limit abortions after 20 weeks as well as outlawing a specific procedure of abortion, was to be voted on the House floor on Monday, April 11. That vote didn’t happen because a press conference attended by the Governor Tom Wolf and Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards spotlighting women who depended on dilation and evacuation abortions, which are targeted by the bill, forced Republicans’ hands and they postponed the vote until at REP. TIM HENNESSEY least next month, according to Penn Live. Republican member of House, Sponsor of According to the American Pregnancy the bill, believes it “worthy Association, dilation and evacuation abor- of debate” tions are performed in the second trimester of pregnancy. A shot is usually administered before the procedure to ensure that fetal death has occurred, and suction, scraping, and direct removal by forceps are used to ensure that all fetal and uterine tissue is removed. On Monday, April 4, the Republican-controlled PA General Assembly brought HB 1948 out of committee and rejected a motion to postpone a floor vote on Wednesday, April 6 114-73. Planned Parenthood, a major abortion and women’s health provider in Pennsylvania and across the nation, has voiced opposition to the bill. “We are opposed to this dangerous, REP. GREG VITALI extreme bill which endangers women’s Democratic member of health and interferes between women and the House, opposes bill their doctors,” Planned Parenthood spokesperson Katy Otto wrote in an email to The Blackfriar Chronicle. They also said the bill was unique to Pennsylvania. “This is the first time that we know of that a bill has been introduced that is both a twenty week ban and a method ban,” Otto wrote. “In all of the states where either of these kinds of bills has faced legal challenge, they have been enjoined – I.E. not put into effect – due to a lack of constitutionality.” Honors physics teacher Capt. Robert Boyce, an outspoken pro-life advocate who helps to organize Malvern's trip to the March for Life each year, disagrees with Planned Parenthood’s conclusions. “I think that they don’t understand that the Roe v. Wade ruling wasn’t a constitutional issue per se,” he said. “It was their decision on what the rights of people are. When they say similar bills have been defeated, I think that is a misstatement.” Boyce said that he also doesn’t believe that those in opposition in the House or the Senate will use constitutionality as an
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> COLLEGE, 9 said. “To take your foot off the gas pedal this late in your Malvern career would be foolish.” DiCicco has noticed some of his peers shifting focus during senior year. “I have noticed my classmates dedicating more time to - say - an extracurricular activity rather than their studies,” he said. “I believe the first year of college is going to be a difficult year for most, but Malvern has given us the tools to succeed as long as we work to the best of our abilities.” Simpson believes that slacking off can make the transition to a great college more difficult. “When you get to college, there are a ton of gifted people who are very serious about their success,” he said. “To me, it was exciting because I enjoyed that challenge. But to others it may seem intimidating, especially after slacking for so long.” Senior Matt Kropiewnicki has a different opinion. “I don't think sliding is as harmful for college as everyone makes it out to be,” Kropiewnicki said. He noted that during senior year, the only motivation a student has to do well is himself. If he doesn’t care about the classes he is taking, he won’t do the work. When that students gets to college, however, Kropiewnicki thinks that motivation to work hard and do well usually comes back. “College is a whole other animal because the things you're learning actually matter to you, and your grades actually "matter" again,” Kropiewnicki said. “The threat of a rescinded application is not as real as everyone thinks it is, but the idea of flunking college certainly is.”
argument against the bill. “I believe that if it gets past the House and onto the Senate, I think the words ‘This is unconstitutional’ will not be used,” he said. “I think it will be ‘You’re denying women the right to make a choice of their body’ and not constitutionality.” “If the motion to postpone the vote had passed, we would be voting on it in the middle of June,” Representative Tim Hennessey of the 26 District (Glenmoore, Pottstown) said, “which is in the middle of budget season.” Hennessey said that he didn’t believe the motion was a political play to have the budget overshadow the bill, given the failure of the legislature and Governor Wolf to agree on a budget CAPT. ROBERT BOYCE for 2016. Believes postponement “People had said that they wanted time was political maneuvering to understand the bill better,” he said. “Do I by Gov. Wolf. really think that they would have understood what was in the bill better? Not really, people usually make up their minds quickly on issues like this.” Boyce, however, said that this was political maneuvering on the part of Governor Wolf. “I think it was their movement,” he said. “Because as a result, in the last several weeks, many of the people running for the Democratic nomination [in local elections] have added to their repertoire that they are supported by Planned Parenthood, they are pro-choice.” The Pennsylvania primary is Tuesday, April 26, where elections will be held for the party nominations of Attorney General, Auditor General, and State Treasurer, along with MRS. ANNA GEIDER primaries for the President. Biology teacher, “I think the organizations, including our expecting, described feeling movement of a Governor, wanted to move that decision so child at 15 weeks that these candidates wouldn’t be in contrast if the bill had gone and passed,” Boyce said. “The argument would be ‘I’m for Planned Parenthood’ even though the state said that this aspect of Planned Parenthood is wrong.” There are over 97 sponsors in the House, including Hennessey. He said that that does not mean the bill is sure to pass however. “More cosponsors means there’s a greater chance of the bill passing,” he said, “but it doesn’t make it certain.” Boyce disagreed with Hennessey and said the bill will pass the House. He, however, does not know about if it will pass the
AND BEYOND... or Malvern’s administration, success in college and finding the perfect fit are not the end goals, but rather, success in life. “We celebrate every decision, and as a college prep school we take pride in placing 100% of our students in a four year college,” Simpson said. “But that is not the reason I love Malvern and my job.” “I love my job because I see teenagers grow into capable and mature young men. It sounds cliché, but I want our students to be able to change the world,” he said. “I really think that we educate the whole student. We try and educate students spiritually and emotionally and help them discover who they currently are and who they want to be in the future,” Simpson said. For Simpson, it helps if we can reflect on our Augustinian values to guide us to our true vocation. Malvern is currently teaching skills like collaboration and problem solving that, in Simpson’s opinion, are way more important in life after college than how much calculus you know or much history you’ve learned. “It is important to have these skills and values so that no matter which career path you go down so you can be a lifelong learner, an empathetic individual, and know that Malvern gave you a head start.” 5
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Senate. Planned Parenthood has begun to lobby representatives against the bill. “We are organizing supporters to call their legislators and urge them to vote against the bill,” the spokesperson wrote. “We are also collecting and sharing stories of people who have had the kinds of abortions that would be banned under this extreme legislation, to show the very real effects such a law would have.” One such representative who has voiced opposition to the bill is Representative Greg Vitali of Havertown. “I fully support a woman's right to reproductive choice,” he wrote in an email to our staff. “I don’t believe the changes to the Pennsylvania Abortion Control act proposed in H. B. 1948 are needed. I will not be supporting this bill." Hennessey said his reasons for sponsoring the bill were twofold. “I sponsored the bill because I felt it was worthy of debate on the House floor,” he said. “I also thought that if a child is capable of surviving outside the womb we shouldn’t tear it up.” AP Biology teacher Mrs. Anna Geider said that at 20 weeks the fetus is fully developed. “From what I understand, all the organs and body systems are formed,” she said. “The fetus’s job is basically to grow, and to mature those systems, particularly the lungs and the brain, and it can hear outside of the womb.” However, Geider said that fetuses are not viable, or can live outside the womb, at 20 weeks. “We cannot keep them alive that early,” she said. “They cannot maintain their body temperature, their lungs are too immature. They’re very small, and their lungs can’t really function outside the womb.” According to Geider, the earliest viability is 24 weeks, the current limit under Pennsylvania law with an exception “to prevent either the death of the pregnant woman or the substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the woman,” according to the Abortion Control Act passed in 1989 and upheld by court injunction until 1994. Geider, who is expecting in October, has always wanted to have the baby when she found out she was pregnant. “I never knew what it’s like to be pregnant and not want to,” she said, “but you definitely feel movement at 15 weeks, and feeling that movement makes it a much more intimate relationship, that there’s a person that’s separate from you. 5
Impressions from a Donald Trump rally Donald Trump made one last push to win the Pennsylvania Primary. Tommy Pero ’17 FRIAR LIFE EDITOR n April 25, I went to a Donald Trump rally at West Chester University and noticed a few things. Trump supporters and protesters were separated on either side of a street. In between was like a demilitarized zone. At one point, I tried to walk closer to the protestors to take a picture and a police officer told me to turn around. There were shouting and cheers from each side. Hateful rhetoric existed on both sides on the street. When I was walking to my car, a man in a car drove by and yelled and cursed me out. Other signs shared the same message. Politics is becoming incredibly divisive. In a democracy, we must have educated debates on issues. We have the responsibility to hear both sides of an issue. It is fine to be passionate about your beliefs, but it is fine to stick to your beliefs and
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immediately get angry at anyone who does not share your beliefs. Trump supporters are a homogeneous group. The protesters were a more diverse group. Some Trump Supporters actually know what they’re talking about. I expected to see a lot of people supporting Trump just because he was funny or because it was the popular thing to do. While there were definitely some of these people, at least half of the people that I talked to knew what they were talking about. Donald Trump has a positive message. Every presidential candidate should want to make America great again. Every candidate should want to defeat ISIS, create more jobs, and improve the economy. Trump promises to do all of these things, but he never really says how. Basically, he’s asking you to just trust him. I don’t know if he’s a trustworthy person, but no politician really is. 5