The Blackfriar Chronicle - October 2015

Malvern becomes more international New service trip to China, new exchange trip to China, new chinese exchange students, and new partnership in admissions. > PAGE 6

Whitney and Zbrzenj tie the knot Newlywed Malvern faculty members Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Whitney explain their journey.

S’lounge gone?

Algeo and several seniors talk about the status of the Senior Lounge.

> PAGE 16

> PAGE 3

BLACKFRIAR Chronicle

The

www.mpfriarslantern.COM

CHANGES in Wifi raise

October 2015

Malvern Preparatory School . 418 South Warren Avenue . Malvern, PA 19355

VOLUME 16, NUMBER 2

CONCERNS

Director of Technology explains network changes.

Chris Bunn ’16 Sayers said.

MANAGING EDITOR However, other students feel like the performance for the ne of the most highly talked-about changes this school wifi has decreased. year is the new wifi system.

“I prefer last year’s wifi,” senior Benjamin Koo said. “This Over the summer, the Technology year’s wifi is excruciatingly slow.”

Department completely overhauled the network.

Senior Sam Li agrees with Koo. “Every website I Permissions “From a network standpoint, there have been visit takes minutes to load,” Li said. “It’s frustrating which are quite a few changes,” Director of Technology Mr. and annoying.” necessary to run Terrence Norko said.

“When I try to do some work on a Chromebook, the wireless app “Fundamentally, we went back to the drawing it takes 30 seconds every time I try to connect to a include location, board with the wifi. The vendor we were using for new page,” said sophomore Rohan Jhunjhunwala. camera control, the existing setup had not been keeping up with the “For a device that is designed to be used on wifi, and the ability times,” Norko said. that’s pretty bad. It’s faster to run a flash drive to to modify the Norko said Malvern looked at other vendors someone else on campus than it is to send [a file].” contents of the that were much more current. “We knew that point Other users are having trouble connecting to device’s storage. was coming, the question was when that point was the wifi at all. going to come,” he said. “We jumped four or five “I just went on data for the beginning,” senior Once installed, generations in hardware technology.”

Matt Heisler said. “Last week I tried to sign up for the application The new wifi uses Cisco Meraki, which is a set [the wifi,] but I couldn't. I just gave up on it and I requires another of wireless equipment and software meant to handle went back on data.” level of control. high amounts of traffic.

An application which must run on personal “The software is an MDM (mobile device mandevices in order to use the wifi, called Meraki agement) solution. We are using it for encryption, Systems Manager, requests a wide variety of peridentification, and authentication,” Norko said. missions. Permissions which are necessary to run “Otherwise, all of that authentication and encryption has to be the app include location, camera control, and the ability to modify set up by hand.” the contents of the device’s storage.

Student reception to the new system has been mixed.

Once installed, the application requires another level of conFor some students, the performance of the wifi has been excellent. trol, including the ability to erase all of the device’s data and “Overall, it is better than last year because you had to sign disable the camera. on all the time. It seems a little bit more stable,” sophomore Pat > PAGE 13

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Malvern banned all tobacco and e-cigarette products – including cigars on graduation day.

Tommy Pero ’17 FRIAR LIFE EDITOR s of September 1 this year, Malvern became a tobacco free campus.

“Under the new Tobacco Free policy, no smoking of any kind (including e-cigarettes), chewing tobacco, or other tobacco products are allowed on campus at any time,” said Head of School Christian Talbot in an email sent to the Malvern community.

According to Director of Strategic Initiatives Mrs. Carrie Snyder, the tradition of new graduates smoking cigars in St. Augustine’s circle after graduation will come to an end.

Snyder said it was the teachers who pushed for Malvern to become tobacco free when the school refreshed its employee handbook two years ago.

Accord ing to Snyder, Malvern has gotten negative

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Ex-NBA player Chris Herren will speak about his drug addiction and recovery.

Patrick Ferraiolo ’17, John McGlinn ’18 SPORTS EDITOR, CONTRIBUTOR f you were a kid, would you look up to yourself?”

Former college phenom and NBA player Chris Herren asks his readers this question many times throughout “Basketball Junkie”, an autobiography that recreates Herren’s fall and redemption of his drug-addicted life.

Malvern will be able to meet Mr. Herren and listen to his story on October 27. The upper school and 8th grade will attend a school-day assembly with Herren on a D-schedule. A second presentation is open to the general public at 7:00 PM in the Duffy Theatre.

School counselors Ms. Ann Wuetig and Mrs. Korin Folan were among those working behind the scenes to arrange for Herren’s visit.

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According to Wuetig, this process was long in the making. “[Herren] spoke to a neighboring school last year,” Wuetig said referencing Conestoga High School. “And every so often a parent or a student would come up and say that they had this great speaker that has made such an impact that they have talked about him for days on end.”

Wuetig said that community members kept asking about whether Herren could speak at Malvern. "So this year we finally got the funds together and got everybody on board," Wuetig said. "We made the call last March or April."

Herren’s presentation will be funded in part with a grant from the foundation Steps 4 Hope.

Mrs. Pam Moules, mother of 8th grader Matt Moules, started Steps 4 Hope in memory of her older son Jonathan, who lost his battle with drug

addiction and passed away on January 7, 2014.

“We are in the middle of one of the worst health crises of our time,” Moules said.

“Overdose death is now the leading cause of accidental death in our county, more than car accident, homicides, drownings, and falls. It has quadrupled in the past 15 years.”

Jonathan’s life proves that addiction can happen to anyone.

“Jonathan was an absolutely regular kid,” Moules said. “He never thought he would end up becoming addicted and certainly never believed it would end up taking his life.”

“All substances are dangerous and one leads to another,” she said. “Alcohol and marijuana are addictive and gateway > PAGE 10

feedback from faculty and staff, parents, graduation guests and even the press about the cigar smoking at graduation.

While some teachers were in favor of the move, not everyone is in favor of ending the tradition.

“They're not going to escort students off campus for lighting cigars after graduating high school,” Jack Marchesani ’15 said. “I don't think that smoking cigars on graduation day has much to do with the fact that Malvern is going tobacco free.” Marchesani smoked a cigar after his graduation last May. M a t t M a g a r g e e ’ 14 acknowledges that cigar are part of graduation tradition, but supports the change.

“Cigars are smoked at graduation parties off campus, so really the change doesn't matter to any extent,” > PAGE 7

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October 2015

THE BLACKFRIAR CHRONICLE

EDITORIAL Insecurity over security We aren’t invincible and we need to do something about it.

Editorial Board once all procedures and guidelines are officially in place. We need to be taught ALICE and what alvern has an open 103 acre campus with beautiful ponds, fields and trees in a nice part to do in the case of an active shooter on campus. of the Philadelphia suburbs.

Last year, when two men came on campus to target shoot in the corner of campus, students However, it is a false sense of security. said that some teachers and students treated it as a joke or a practice when in actuality it was a School shootings have become almost normalized in American society very serious incident. and media. We would be foolish to think that Malvern is not susceptible to We should have more lockdown drills and train students and teachers on one as well.

ALICE training within the first month of school.

As safe as we think Sandy Hook is safer than 94% of the cities in America, according to neighMore importantly than physical and procedural changes is the culture that we are, we must still borhoodscout.com we have to create and embrace to keep our community safe. take precautions, Columbine was in a “very low” crime rate area, according to city-data.com.

We are fortunate to have a small community of less than 1,000 families because just about Malvern is ranked lower than Sandy Hook in terms of safety level at 90%, in all. It allows for faculty to get to know students more personally and of anyone could walk and in the same category of crime rate as Columbine. course, the brotherhood. on campus with a As safe as we may think we are, we must take precautions because just about Often times, school shootings are not a product of impulsive rage, but gun without any anyone could walk on campus with a gun without any check. rather the gradual compilation of stress, frustration, and anger. check.

Malvern is currently working to physically prevent any attack on campus.

Columbine shooter Eric Harris and his friend Dylan Klebold had been Current precautions include multiple cameras on campus, and requiring building an arsenal and making plans to use it - plans that Harris wrote about all visitors to check in at the Visitor Center in Austin Hill, according to Dean of Students Mr. on the Internet, on his website, according to CBS News.

Tim Dougherty.

An excerpt from Newtown: An American Tragedy published in the New York Daily News, Current procedures for lockdowns are being altered. revealed that Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza “became increasingly obsessed with the military Public Safety Director Mr. LeStrange, Dean of Students Mr. Dougherty, and Assistant Dean and had an obvious fascination with death and an aversion to human touch.” of Students Mr. Rick Poce attended ALICE training sessions this past summer. ALICE stands There can be warning signs far in advance of a devastating school shooting, and as a school for “Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate.” community we need to be cognizant and truly caring for one another.

Lockdowns are commonly thought of as students silently gathering in a corner, but ALICE When you ask, “How are you?” don’t make it a social formality, because actually meaning it is not that. could make all the difference.

According to the ALICE website, “Counter focuses on disruptive actions that create noise, When you say “Malvern has a special brotherhood,” embrace that. Not just the kids in your movement, distance and distraction with the intent of reducing the shooter’s ability to shoot class or the guys on the sports team, but every single person needs to belong. accurately.”

Our biggest defense mechanism could never be a safe campus location or lockdown procedures.

Malvern has yet to inform students on the tactics of ALICE. This must be done immediately It is our sense of community. D

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OPINION

Social media and misinformation Social media should never be the sole source of factual information.

Hunter Peck ’16 CONTRIBUTOR ocial media is undoubtedly one of the most influential additions to society in living memory, and perhaps as revolutionary as the introduction of the printing press for the purposes of disseminating information.

However unlike the printing press, social media allows anyone across the globe with internet access to contribute to, view, and comment on information at the speed of light.

At the user’s fingertips lies the power to share unlimited quantities of information with hundreds of millions of people across the world.

This power coupled with the nearly limitless supply of information that the internet has to offer, provides the opportunity to share groundbreaking and even lifesaving information.

However there is a certain negative implication of extensive social media usage which affects all of us, and can be quite dangerous if ignored.

This problem is inaccurate, unverified, and informal news reporting and information sharing via social media figures, both unintentional and intentional.

News in print has a problem. According to an American Press Institute poll of over 1,000 Americans between the ages of 18 and 34, Millennials get nearly 75% of their news from online sources. With social media becoming an ever-larger part of the average Millennial’s life, it is reasonable to say that much of this news comes from informal and often unverified news sources.

Even reliable news sources on popular social media sites such as Twitter can become unreliable, as tweet

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after tweet eventually distorts an original report into something akin to the result of the popular children’s game, “whisper down the lane.”

Most young people active on social media are more interested in what their favorite athlete or artist has to say, rather than what CNN or Fox News has to report. One parting glance at a tweet or Instagram post from a celebrity on a hot topic can turn into millions of views through retweeting or sharing among social media communities. Unfortunately in the heat of the moment, impassioned audiences seldom feel the need to dive any further into the issue.

Emotions and misinformation spread like wildfire, fueled by the power of thousands jumping on an ill-informed bandwagon before the facts can be brought to light. The Ferguson and Baltimore riots and the social media firestorm they created are prime examples of this dangerous trend.

Before indictments could be made or investigations could be started, numbers of impassioned people took to the internet and the streets. These people acted on raw emotion sparked in the first few hours over social media, before ANY facts were exposed.

In these extreme examples, violence and even bloodshed was the result of what can only be referred to as emotional impulses and blatant ignorance.

Social media has a magnitude of uses and the potential to be an enormous boon to mankind.

However, it should never be the sole source of factual information for our younger generations, nor should people believe that the number of times something is shared determines its veracity. D

Malvern needs to unblock Netflix Not just Netflix, but all of the internet should be unblocked to allow students to learn responsibility.

Tommy Pero ’17 FRIAR LIFE EDITOR alvern should have significantly less restrictions on the wifi so that it can more consistently follow its own philosophy.

It’s a common, frustrating situation. A student sits down in the Learning Commons and is ready start working on some homework. They decide some music would go nicely with their work and Spotify is blocked. Then, YouTube music videos are blocked. Pandora is blocked. Most useful websites not directly related to education are blocked. The student has now wasted time just trying to make their homework a bit more enjoyable and is instead frustrated, angry, and perhaps most importantly distracted from their studies.

Malvern’s Statement of Philosophy on their website says, “Specifically, Malvern’s goals include preparing its students for further study in institutions of higher education, equipping them to understand the society in which they live and enabling them to recognize their own identity in a complex and changing world.”

If we are supposed to “recognize [our own identity in a complex changing world” and be prepared “for further study in institutions of higher education” shouldn’t we be allowed to control where we go on the internet so that we can discover how to better manage our time when we go to college in a few years and restrictions are not so strict? Shouldn’t we be able to chose from the vast variety of websites on the internet to learn new ideas and form our own unique ideas, opinions, and identities instead of choosing from the currently available curated list of unblocked website?

The Statement of Philosophy also states, “Ceaselessly striving to inculcate the truest ideals of Catholic Christian formation, Malvern Prep aims to develop in each student an analytical mind, critical judgment, personal and social dignity, responsibility, skill in effective communication and a persistent will for continuing self-education.”

If it explicitly says in Malvern’s Statement of Philosophy that the school wants students to be responsible and develop good judgement, why is the school not letting students be responsible and exercise good judgment?

By blocking an overwhelming number of the websites on the internet, Malvern is making choices for us when it is instead supposed to teaching us how to make our own decisions.

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THE BLACKFRIAR CHRONICLE

October 2015

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FRIAR LIFE New activities schedule implemented Learning more about this year’s new Activities Schedule from Dr. Fry and a few seniors.

Mike Harrington ’19 CONTRIBUTOR eeting times for activities will look different than they did last year. Extracurricular participants should expect to see changes in the next few weeks.

This year, a new activities schedule has been implemented where different activities meet one day per cycle on a specific day during community time throughout the 8-day cycle. Last year's schedule was not as organized as this year's and certainly contained a few flaws.

“Last year there was not any set schedule for activities to meet,” Director of Student Life Dr. James Fry said. “It was more like activities met when it worked for them.

These meeting times were a mixture of mornings, community times, and after school.”

Starting Monday, October 26, activities will start to meet on specific days during the cycle.

All of the activities moderators thought that this would be the best way to have a more organized schedule, Fry said. He said that moderators of each activity should

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start telling involved students what their meeting times will be throughout the cycle.

According to Fry, this new schedule is better because it reduces the overlap of activity meeting times. This frustrated some moderators last year. He also believes this schedule is better because it should help both students and moderators have a set schedule that will become routine.

Senior Kevin Smyth, a member of student council and peer educators, thought that last year’s schedule was confusing. ”For Peer Educators we met after school and during community time, and for Student Council we had student council homeroom,” Smyth said.

Billy Murphy, a senior MECO leader and a member of liturgical music, thinks that this year’s activities schedule will be better because he will have more time during community time for work and to get a quick snack at break.

Moderators and Dr. Fry hope that specific meeting times for activities throughout the 8-day cycle will improve organization and allow students to balance their time for academics and activities.D

NEW DAILY ACTIVITIES SCHEDULE

State of the School See what Student Council is working on in the next coming weeks and beyond.

Tommy Pero ’17 FRIAR LIFE EDITOR n this new feature, we have a report on the state of what’s going on at Malvern from the leadership of Student Council. Be sure to check out the workings of Student Council each month.

O c t o b e r f e a t u r e d S p i r it

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Week, from Oct. 19-23, Student Council’s annual tradition, featuring a few new highlights this year.

Student Council organized what they called the “Tailgate Olympics” on Tuesday, October 20, during Spirit Week. This included tailgating games such as cornhole and Kan-Jam and food from Jimmy’s Barbeque after school, according to President Alex

Freud ’16.

The members of Student Council were inducted into the organization on October 19 in the Duffy Center.

The elected members each pledged an oath to the organization.

In November, Student Council will hold a handball tournament similar to the tournament last year where students formed teams and competed against each other during the school day.

Student Council is also planning to have more tournaments in various sports including handball, volleyball, and another that is still being decided.

They are working on a collaborative Christian Service event with Villa Maria Academy, as well as a

Student Council sponsored recreational trip in coordination with the Villa student council.

Freud says Student Council will start to focus on organizing the event with Villa. Originally Student Council wanted to do a smaller version of THON but ran out of time.

“Villa has something similar to [THON] every year. So instead of doing our own, we’re going to try to team up with them to make theirs better.”

Freud encourages questions or ideas for Student Council. Contact him at afreud60@malvernprep.org. D

The

BLACKFRIAR Chronicle

is a monthly student-run publication at Malvern Preparatory School. Its online affiliate is the Friar’s Lantern (www.mpfriarslantern.com).

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. mpfriarslantern1@gmail.com / Twitter @friarslantern1 / facebook.com/TheFriarsLantern / Instagram mpfriarslantern1 EDITORS IN CHIEF SECTION EDITORS EDITORIAL BOARD Justice Bennett ’16 All editors Friar Life Media & Technology Ben Yankelitis ’16 Mike Flanagan ’16 Tommy Pero ’17 Jack Magargee ’18 Alex Furtek ’19 MANAGING EDITORS Sports Local/World News Three additional members TBD Print: James Faunce ’16 Michael Droogan ’16 Jack McClatchy ’17 Online: Chris Bunn ’16 Social Media Editor Patrick Ferraiolo ’17 Podcast Nick Li ’17 INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER Arts Desmond Papariello ’18 Tyler Pizzico ’17 Jimmy Canuso ’17 Graphic Designer Matt Pichola ’16

S’Lounge gone, Algeo and seniors struggle Algeo and several seniors talk about the future of the anticipated new Senior Lounge.

SENIORS TAKING CHARGE OF THE LEARNING COMMONS ‘QUIET ROOM’ / H. PECK

Ben Koo ’16 to lack of ventilation. Other locations CONTRIBUTOR are too small or already occupied, eniors and administration have according to Freud. been searching for a location “We’d have to kick someone out for the new senior lounge, but of a room at this point,” Freud said. campus-wide scavenging for usable The previous year’s senior lounge spaces has not produced much result. was located in the basement of “We’ve been really struggling Sullivan, but it was not meant to be a trying to find a place [for the senior permanent home for the lounge. lounge],” Student Council President “The old senior lounge was a temAlex Freud said. “I met porary fix for last year,” with Mr. Algeo in the Algeo said. “The scisummer and the beginence department came Students have ning of this year and to me last January saylooked into we’re still struggling.” ing they were expandvarious places Fr e u d s a id t he ing space, and would around campus, senior interest for the be using that as a classbut many had lounge has “died down” room. The academics problems that since the beginning of take precedence.” make them the year.

A new senior physically “I’m kind of indiflounge this time would unsuitable. ferent to the idea,” senneed to be a space ior Liam Moran said. reserved for that pur“Whenever I have free pose, Algeo said. The time I usually just go to the LC and problem of finding a location for it do work.” should not be reoccurring yearly.

However, some students like sen“I think it's a little ironic that the ior Steven VanOmmeren still look middle schoolers have the brand new forward for the idea of a lounge to learning space which has a ping-pong become a reality. table in it and tons of unused space,” “I think most importantly the VanOmmeren said, “while the sensenior lounge should be a place for iors are in their last year at Malvern seniors to be together,” VanOmmeren struggling to find any room for their said. “I know that the seniors still really own.” want to have their own space, and have Algeo and Freud have not lost even ‘taken over’ some areas like the hope yet. Algeo is pleased with the Quiet Room and the physics room.” leadership of the senior class concernS e n i o r s Fr e u d , A n t h o n y ing the search of a lounge location.

Delvescovo, Kevin Smyth and Joe He said the previous senior class left a Bendinelli have led the initiative in good precedent for how a senior class finding a home for the lounge. They is able to run it themselves. did some research on their own about “Seniors last year did a good job. potential empty spaces on campus They took care of issues themselves, and met with Head of the Upper and seniors should take up ownership School Mr. Algeo for approval. of the senior lounge again,” Algeo said.

“We’ve found a place that is Freud did note some difficulsma l l, and we’re investigating ties in maintaining a senior lounge. whether that would be feasible, then "I think last year it got extremely these guys will propose ways of basi- messy," he said. "At the end of the cally moderating it - make sure it is year it was gross, so we would really used right,” Algeo said. need to make sure it was clean."

Students have looked into variFreud is reaching out to all of ous places around campus, but many the Malvern community. “Anyone had problems that make them physi- who has any ideas please pass them cally unsuitable. A few places consid- my way,” he said. “We tried to think ered were the Mother’s Club storage of everything, but we’ve been strugcloset, O’Neill snack bar, rooms gling and we’re running low on ideas. in Duffy, Alumni Hall, the Quiet If anyone knows anywhere on camRoom, and the squash courts. pus where there is open space, either Algeo said the Mother's Club come to me or Mr. Algeo and please storage closet could not be used due let us know.” D

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October 2015

THE BLACKFRIAR CHRONICLE

FRIAR LIFE NHS prepares for changes

Behind the scenes of Stewart Hall

New moderators weigh in on the changes happening to Malvern’s National Honor Society.

A peek into the workings of the cafeteria, and some insight from the people who make it work.

NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY PREPARES FOR INDUCTION / J. BENNETT

EXECUTIVE CHEF MR. RICK CONNELLY, BEHIND THE SCENES AT 7 AM / N. LI

Tyler Pizzico ’17 CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER he National Honor Society, founded on the 4 pillars of scholarship, service, character, and leadership, has undergone a series of changes in the past year.

The most significant change? New moderators.

The moderator slots for NHS were open coming into the 2015-2016 school year, with the resignation of English teacher and former moderator Mrs. Eileen Day. Ms. Korin Folan and Ms. Ann Wuetig, members of Malvern’s Counseling Department, felt as though they are well equipped to assume the responsibility, to handle the change, and to propel the club in the right direction.

“I think the reason Ann and I jumped in was the fact that the spot hadn’t been filled yet,” Folan said. “We saw that the application deadline was approaching and thought it would be a good fit for us.”

Folan and Wuetig also feel as though their connection to the students through their roles as school counselors make them perfect candidates for the job.

“It wasn’t so much the position had to be filled,” Wuetig said. “But after we thought about it more, as counsellors it would be in our best interest to be in the role because we work so closely with the students and go over [the club’s] criteria all the time with them.”

Another change to NHS was the increase in GPA requirement from a 3.65 to a 3.85. This change was introduced last year, but this is the first school year in which it will be implemented.

“The 12th grade class still has the 3.65 requirement,” Folan said. “The junior class this year will be the first to experience the change in GPA and this change will be lasting.”

Mrs. Day made this change last year with Malvern’s support in order to truly emphasize the scholarship portion of the society.

“Our goal is to have the top ten percent of the class or so be represented with NHS,” Wuetig said. “By changing the requirement to 3.85 the society better reflects the top ten percent of the class.”

In an attempt to drive home the service pillar of the society, the new moderators will be implementing two mandatory service activities. These will have to be outside of the Malvern Christian Service done on campus and service weekends.

“This will be a firm requirement,” Wuetig said. “We don’t want to let it slide.”

With this year’s changes, the new moderators have also eliminated the NHS homeroom.

“This way we are not competing with the other specialty homerooms,” Folan said. “We are doing Wednesday morning meetings from 7:45 to 8:15 instead so that we can have everybody present.”

The new moderators are also considering meetings during Community Time during the spring.

“Every so often on a Friday we would like to see the NHS members and possibly student council lead a community time assembly to feature parts of the school,” Wuetig said. “For example, perhaps the spring play crew could have some time to show a segment of their performance or robotics could show off their latest creation. It would be a way to better highlight what the school is up to.”

Another goal Wuetig and Folan have in mind is to make the society as student-run as possible.

“We are having the leaders of NHS take ownership over the four pillars,” said Folan. “They are going to be the ones holding their fellow society members accountable for following all four: scholarship, service, character, and leadership.”

New President Hunter Peck, Vice President for Scholarship Alex Mankowski, and Vice President for Character Cullen Pina all ran unopposed.D

Joseph Markferding ’16 the many other events held at Malvern.

CONTRIBUTOR “Besides the lunches, we also provide food for many very day, and for every occasion, there additional events,” Gray said. “Things like is food in the cafeteria at Malvern.

Morning at Malvern, special events, we do But feeding an army of young, hunThe switch from all of those.” gry boys and a legion of faculty members the old schedule to The switch from the old schedule to requires careful preparation. block scheduling block scheduling has had both positive and Mr. Tom Gray, Director of Dining has had both negative impacts on the dining staff’s reguServices, is the leader of the whole operapositive and lar business. tion. Gray, a Malvern veteran, oversees the negative impacts “To be honest, each schedule had its large scale workings of the cafeteria staff. on the dining pros and cons,” Gray said. “With the old “Each member of the staff has a specialstaff’s regular schedule, there was no break during D and ized area,” Gray said. “It helps the whole business.

C schedules. Now, with community time, thing run much smoother.” there’s a break every day, so it’s a little easier The process of creating the menus, for to manage.” example, is a carefully planned series of There is also the new system of the ‘slidevents, supervised by Executive Chef Mr. Rick Connelly ing’ lunch, which has presented its own challenges to the and Mr. Gray. lunch staff.

“We try to make sure that we space out certain dishes “With the sliding lunch, you have to be able to preso that we can serve a variety of items to the students.” pare, serve, re-prepare, restock, re-serve; it’s a constant Gray said. process all day long,” Connelly said.

The lunch staff works diligently to stock the cafeteria > PAGE 12 with items for lunch, but they are also in charge of catering

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New student DJs prepare for Homecoming New DJs are getting ready for their Malvern Homecoming debut.

Jimmy Faunce ’16 MANAGING EDITOR omecoming this year will be a little different as sophomore Desmond Papariello and senior Andrew Panzo take the stage as DJs and attempt to give the student body a Homecoming they will never forget.

This is not the first time a Malvern Student will be DJing the dance, as graduate Steve Satterthwaite ‘13 has done it before.

Papariello and Panzo have experience in being DJs, as they have DJ’ed Malvern Middle School dances and dances at St. Patrick’s School in the past. However, they have never performed a gig as big as Malvern Homecoming.

“The pressure is starting to build,” Papariello said.

“Hearing a lot from the students, you know, like make it good. But I’m not really worried.”

Papariello has been in contact with Satterthwaite for ideas and tips on what to do when all eyes turn to him on October 24. “[Satterthwaite] recommended a lot of old school, a lot of throwback,” Papariello said. “He said ‘play it loud, play it long and kill it.’”

Leading up to the week of the dance, Panzo, Papariello, and senior Christian D’Ascenzo, who is building the stage, were anxious about requests they had made to the homecoming committee. They were concerned about funding for equipment and what sort of lighting would be permitted.

“Dr. Fry came in and literally sat down and said ‘What do you guys want?’” Panzo said. “So we told him, and we

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compromised.”

The student DJs understand the changes to this year’s dance. Unlike in previous years, there will be no strobe lights at the dance, according to Papariello.

“There are some people that are negatively affected by strobe lights,” Director of Student Life Dr. James Fry said. “If there is someone that has epilepsy and they see a strobe light they can go into a seizure. When there are 350 people from the outside coming in… I am going to err on the side of caution.”

The new DJs remain excited about the upcoming dance, and are busy in preparations.

“We always meet at community time, just to work on music and talk about music,” Papariello said. “We’re not planning out our setlist song by song, because that takes a certain effect out of DJing. We only pick certain vibes at certain times, and pick the songs on the spot.”

“We have to get the fans to trust us, because if they don't then they won't have fun,” Papariello said. “Then we can throw in some more electronic stuff and more fun songs.”

“We have a lot of fun doing it, it can be [a lot of pressure], but I don’t feel it,” Papariello said. “It’s just a lot of fun cause we love doing it.”

So what can Malvern students expect at Homecoming?

“Some surprises are confidential until the dance,” Papariello said. “But they can expect a lot of fun. And a lot of nationalism.”

Nationalism? “American flags. That’s as far as I can go,” Papariello said with a smile. D

THE BLACKFRIAR CHRONICLE

October 2015

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FRIAR LIFE Donald Bishop shares elite admissions insight Entrepreneuring a new, Families were invited to a presentation about the college process from a leader in college social class admissions.

Mike Droogan ’16 Harkness worked in Gettysburg University Admissions SPORTS EDITOR before coming to Malvern this year. otre Dame Vice President of Admissions Mr. “I like that he said Notre Dame really emphasized Donald Bishop came to Malvern on October 5 character,” Harkness said. “At such an elite school it to give students and parents advice on navigating was nice to hear that they look at much more than the admissions at the top 100 colleges. numbers.”

Bishop, a Notre Dame alumnus, previously worked “There are a lot of things changing in the admissions in admissions at Ohio Wesleyan University, world,” Harkness said, “so it is good to have Cornell Universit y School of Hotel relationships with a guy like [Bishop].”

Management, Creighton University, and “There are a Although Bishop’s econometry relies Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University lot of rumors heavily on number crunching, he advised before returning to Notre Dame. about the students stay away from overanalyzing Bishop said his work in admissions specollege process statistics. cializes on econometrics. that cause “Don’t look at the rankings,” Bishop “An econometrician is an economist who unnecessary said. “Go visit the school yourself and make uses a lot a of statistical analysis to judge stress.” your own opinion. Pick a school that feels whether something an economist is saying like the right place.” is true,” Bishop said. “An econometrician in -Mr. Donald Bishop Head of School Mr. Christian Talbot admissions would look at how many people was able to connect with Bishop through applied and how a class is shaping up based the facilitation of a board member. on who is admitted.”

“I met Mr. Bishop at the house of Steve “As an econometrician, I use numbers to prove that Cloetingh who is the Chair of the Board of Trustees,” other numbers are inaccurate,” Bishop said. “People are Talbot said. “At that event he gave a truncated version of too caught up and numbers and statistics today.” what he talked about and Mr. Cloetingh asked him if he The orchestra level of the Duffy center was nearly full would be willing to come to speak at Malvern. We said for his presentation, which was open to all parents and we would love to have him.” students from Malvern Prep, Notre Dame Academy and Although the talk was promoted as Bishop sharing Villa Maria Academy. what it takes to gain admission into “the top 100 colleges,” Without the aid of a powerpoint or any other visuals, Talbot felt this was a misnomer. He believes that it is hard Bishop was able to use his humor and knowledge to get to label any college as a general “top college.” him through the presentation, Nick Gatti ’17 said.

“The better question to ask is ‘What is a top college for “One stat I found really interesting was that 10% of me and my family?’” Talbot said. “The answer to that quesyour success in college can be predicted by test scores,” tion can be radically different from student to student.”

Gatti said, “while 30% can be predicted by your GPA and Bishop said the most important advice to take home extracurriculars. But people still stress out about SATs.” is to “know your strengths and know where you stand in One of the reasons Bishop delivers these speeches is so comparison to your potential peers.” that students can have that type of change in perspective.

He also emphasized the importance of staying positive “There are a lot of rumors about the college process throughout college admissions. that cause unnecessary stress,” Bishop said. “I come to “The more you laugh about it, the easier it is,” Bishop dispel those rumors.” said with a smile. D Director of College Counseling Ian Harkness appreciated Notre Dame’s holistic approach to admissions.

New class will focus students’ problem-solving skills on communities in and outside of school.

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Campus Hero of the Issue: Mrs. MaryFran Frankenheimer She manages the schedules for some of the busiest programs on campus and makes it look easy.

Christian D’Ascenzo ’16 CONTRIBUTOR ampus Hero Mrs. MaryFran Frankenheimer is the rock that keeps the sports teams anchored.

Every Summer is spent preparing for Fall sports. Inter-Ac titles in eye, Soccer, Football, CrossCountry, and Golf. While students spend their summers relaxing and preparing for the season, Frankenheimer is the person who works tirelessly to get the season in order.

Frankenheimer makes sure that there is not a single hiccup in the school’s athletic schedules.

Frankenheimer works in the Athletic Director’s –office in O’Neill, and manages many of the day-to-day aspects of the athletic program in cooperation with Mr. Ruch.

She coordinates the schedules for officials, busses, games, scrimmages, staffing, and just about everything else.

“A typical day is usually making sure that day's events are covered in terms of transportation and officials,” Frankenheimer said. She normally communicates this information to the schools each Monday.

“Each day looks different depending on the schedule has on it. When there is less games I can work on more office-oriented work to keep everything moving forward,” she said.

Frankenheimer grew up in Malvern, and attended Villa Maria Academy. She played f ield hockey at Randolph-Macon College in Virginia. “One of my proud moments was being inducted into my college’s Hall of

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MRS. FRANKENHEIMER, MULTITASKING / C. D’ASCENZO

Fame,” she said.

She previously worked at Villa and at a charter school.

She teaches fitness classes at ACAC and the local YMCAs in her spare time, and says that three kids and a husband keep her very busy.

“My husband went to Malvern, as well as my brother, which is cool,” she said.

Her favorite ice cream flavor is Mocha Chip. D

STUDENTS LEAD SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP PRESENTATIONS / J. BENNETT

Zac Chan ’16 CONTRIBUTOR ocial Entrepreneurship, a new class in Malvern’s Social Studies Department, kicked off for the school year after running a two week intensive version of the class over the summer.

Twenty students are taking the class being taught by a group of five teachers.

“Within the experiential education program, we’re trying to create opportunities for students in the classroom that go along with curriculum that also match the mission of the school,” Director of Experiential Learning Aaron Brady said. “You empathize with a problem people are having, and we’re going to ideate a way to solve that and then prototype something to make it better.”

Head of School Mr. Christian Talbot, English Department Leader Mr. Jay Rogai, Social Studies Teacher Mrs. Harriet Lappas, Theology Teacher Mr. Andrew DiDomenico a nd Di rec tor of E x per ient ia l Learning Mr. Aaron Brady are coteaching the class.

“This approach to the class lets it be as student-centered as possible,” Talbot said. “The teachers do as little talking as possible. We’re there to coach students. We’re not there to be the teachers.”

The twenty students are split into five groups of four, with one teacher acting as the coach for each group.

“It wouldn’t be practical, or appropriate, for one person to float around from team to team, so I knew I didn’t want to just do it by myself,” Talbot said. “I also thought that if this really is an experiment, in a kind of systematically and deeply studentcentered approach to learning, why not ask if there are other teachers who want to experiment with me?”

The summer intensive version of the class culminated with projects focused on the junior’s international service trip. According to Talbot, the year-long class is focused on local problems and trying to find solutions.

“I wouldn’t say there’s anything fundamentally different about the full school year version [of the class],” Talbot said. “It’s just longer.”

Students will spend the f irst part of the year practicing their problem-solving skills in groups.

Later, according to Talbot, students

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will focus on issues in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

But before mov ing beyond Malvern, one group is attempting to create a new winter dress code.

“They’re not going to actually make an outfit,” Brady said. “They’re going to say, on paper, well this is what it could look like. It still has to be professional, but also maybe not a coat and tie everyday.”

Senior Billy Murphy is a part of a different group, one working on students’ involvement in the school.

“I am working on student input,” Murphy said. “We are trying to give students a bigger role in school decisions and get their ideas to the faculty and administrators.”

“The class is pretty interesting,” Murphy said. “It’s much different than any other class I have had at Malvern.”

At the end of the year, students will present their ideas and prototypes to a board of alumni, whose jobs will be to critique and offer advice.

“We’re going to try to do just like Shark Tank on TV where people try to come up with ideas,” Brady said. “We’re going to have a board of alums to serve as our shark tank.

Each group will present their idea to the board, and the board will come back and say like, ‘This part is great.

Here’s how you can get better. Here’s where you need to improve.’”

“I hesitate to use that [Shark Tank] analogy,” Talbot said. “Only because I think Shark Tank is about competition and trying to get money, and that’s not really the ethos behind what we’re doing.”

“But I think if you’re an entrepreneur and you have either a product or service that you’ve designed, you need to get feedback on it,” Talbot said. “The most intense and official way to do that is to have the pressure of presenting your product to a panel of CEOs.” Social Entrepreneurship brings a new topic, class structure, and ideas to Malvern’s campus.

“Taking the class I didn't really know what I was going to gain,” Murphy said. “But by the end of the year I think I will be much better at working in groups and knowing my role [in a group], which can be very beneficial in college and in the working world.” D

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October 2015

THE BLACKFRIAR CHRONICLE

FRIAR LIFE

Malvern to increase international applicants in upcoming years A new partnership may lead to a more global student body.

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he admissions department has started to form a partnership with Ivy International Group (IIG), Assistant Director of Admissions and Diversity Mr. Pat Williams ’03 said.

“This year we just signed an agreement with Ivy International which is an international placement organization that works with Shipley, Episcopal, a lot of independent schools in the area,” Williams said.

Williams said that IIG was on campus on October 7 to create a profile of Malvern that they will use to show their Chinese students.

“They go through a process of creating a profile for your school and they have counselors who are stationed in China who will promote your school to families in China who are interested in schools in the United States,” Williams said.

Williams anticipates that the partnership with IIG will increase the number of applicants from China. “This past year, without having any relationships with any organizations, I think we had 8 applications come in,” Williams said. “But I think having a relationship with Ivy will send us a good number of applicants.”

However, Williams said some schools can become too dependent on a high number of international students for budgetary reasons because you can typically ask them to pay more.

“For a lot of these families $50,000 a year

for a boarding school is literally a drop in the bucket as far as what they’re making every year,” Williams said.

Williams said Malvern admissions is conscious of the growth.

“I don’t see us getting anywhere close to 8-10% of a class being international students,” Williams said.

Malvern had to create additional criteria for international applicants. One part of that is the TOEFL or Test of English as a Foreign Language exam. For a student to be considered at Malvern they must attain a minimum score of 80 on the TOEFL. Additionally, international applicants are asked to have a Skype interview on top of the regular requirements that domestic students have, Williams said.

“We like to do a Skype interview where you can really get a good idea of their English proficiency by how well they can comprehend in their responses,” Williams said.

Williams, whose other role is Director of Diversity, is excited about what the international students can bring to Malvern.

“I think it is a valuable addition to the Malvern community to have international students,” Williams said. “Getting that experience and exposure is valuable for the exchange students and the domestic students.”

Malvern coordinates service partnership in China Christian service program introduced new trip to China and Cambodia, but was cancelled due to a lack of interest.

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his year, the juniors were offered a new service trip location - China and Cambodia.

Director of Christian Service Mr. Larry Legner organized the trip in conjunction with the Western International School of Shanghai (WISS).

Executive Director at WISS Mr. Tim Guo visited Malvern in February of 2015, Legner said.

“We just hit it off,” Legner said. “Just had a great relationship.”

Legner and Guo started to talk about a potential partnership between the two schools for the senior service program.

In June, Legner said he sent an email to Guo with a list of the service locations and dates to see if any of them corresponded with the times of WISS’s service projects, Legner said. Guo wrote back saying that the time of the Costa Rica trip, during spring break, corresponded with a service trip that WISS goes on to Cambodia, Legner said.

“It would be great for the two schools to work together,” Legner said.

Legner was worried that cost might be too high for the trip to work. “I thought this was going to be so out of range, but it wasn’t going to cost within a little bit more than South Africa.”

The final cost for the trip ended up being $2,000 for students - the same as Philippines, Armenia, South Africa, and Fiji.

Legner hoped students going on the trip would connect with students at the WISS school by the winter.

“I’m hoping we are able to... start a connection even before we go and hopefully afterwards too,” Legner said in an interview prior to the trip’s cancellation.

Students on the trip would have spent two days in the Chinese capital of Beijing and then traveled to Cambodia, Legner said. “We’ll go and we’re going to build a school in a village in Cambodia.”

With all the details and logistics worked out, Legner offered it to students as an option for their service location. However, when it came time for the juniors to select their location only 3 people had signed up for the trip.

“I have to have a minimum of two chaperones on every trip,” Legner said. “Financially without getting group rates with flights and paying for two chaperones for three kids it wasn't workable.”

East Asian teacher Mr. Tom McGuire would have liked to have seen the trip happen.

“The experience itself would be unforgettable,” Mr. McGuire said. “I mean I would love to go there simply to see the country.”

Legner said he plans to offer the trip again next year.

“A trip could be very unpopular one year and popular the next, so I am keeping it open for next year,” Legner said.

Justice Bennett ’16 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Global Exchange Program plans to organize new option to China Malvern’s Global Exchange program is now traveling to the furthest geographic distance possible.

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alvern’s exchange program plans to expand its locations to China at the Western Institute School of Shanghai (WISS,) moderator of the program Ms. Teresa Lohse said.

When the Executive Director of WISS Mr. Tim Guo visited Malvern, he and Lohse met about possibly establishing a student exchange relationship.

“When I met with Mr. Guo and other members of his school in the Spring, they were very open with Malvern and because Howard Yao is here. That is a nice connection already,” Lohse said.

Lohse, who has studied Mandarin Chinese, was excited about the possibility of expanding the program to China. “When I first heard about it, I immediately thought ‘wow what a wonderful possibility for Malvern’,” Lohse said.

She hopes to roll out the new exchange in the next academic school year. However she is not sure when it will be or how long.

Lohse said that the length and time of the exchange is up to the students. “I have already talked with Mr. Algeo and Mr. Talbot is aware.

Everyone seems to be pretty flexible.”

According to Lohse, the Global Exchange program started with Augustinian schools in

Panama, Australia, and Spain. However, last year Malvern partnered with Aquinas American School in Spain which is a non-Augustinian Catholic school.

“Partnering with [Aquinas] was ok, because we share a similar ethos,” Lohse said.

A partnership with WISS would be different. As an international school they do not have a religious affiliation, Lohse said. “It is not a Catholic school, so that is a challenge.”

“It would be slim to none to find a school exactly similar to Malvern in China,” Lohse said. “But if we find a school that has similar goals that we have, and I saw that in talking with WISS, that made me feel comfortable with them.”

This new exchange to China will be the third additional partnership in three years. “We are always looking to grow.”

Last year, Malvern partnered with the Aquinas school. This year, Argentina was added to the list of countries for a summer exchange, and Lohse’s goal is to expand to China next year.

“I am very excited about the possibility of this [partnership],” Lohse said. “It is nice to see so many people behind it.”

Chinese exchange students talk about differences of China and US Sophomore Howard Yao and freshman Michael Hao shed some light on the differences and similarities of China and the US.

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uezhang “Howard” Yao Jr. and Zhengguo Hao are not used to freedom of speech or freedom of the press.

Yao and Hao are from China.

“In China you can’t say your leaders are stupid,” Yao said. “Of course not.”

In China, if someone does not agree with their leaders, Yao said the only thing you can do is accept it.

“You can vote, but it doesn’t count,” Yao said.

Protesting is not allowed, Yao said. “You can’t protest. You will be arrested,” he said.

“You must apply if you want to protest,” he said, laughing that they are often not approved.

However, Yao said the Chinese people like their current leader Xi Jinping.

Yao said that the people of China get their news in similar ways as people do in the United States - TV, Internet, newspaper. “I believe it’s controlled by the government,” he said.

Most people in China don’t have a religion.

“Communists always promote there is no God,” he said.

The transition to a Catholic school is different for Yao. “I respect that, but I still need time to change my opinion,” he said with a smile.

Schooling is also different in China logistically, culturally, and content-wise.

“Two students share a desk,” Yao said. “You will have a stable classroom...and you stay in your classroom the whole day.”

Yao finds the material at Malvern much more interesting than in China. “Most of the things I learned in China were useless,” he said.

School in China is much more competitive, Hao said.

“The competition is really really high,” Hao said. “You want to work hard in elementary school to get into a good middle to school to get into a good high school to get into a good college.”

Hao said he would take hours of classes after the normal school day ended. “When I was in fifth grade, I had 11 extra classes outside of school per week,” Hao said.

Hao’s parents started a business that imports food to sell in China.

Yao’s mother works in a bank and his father is in the Chinese Army stationed in Shanghai. “[My father] is not allowed to go abroad, and he is very busy,” Yao said.

“If you lived in China you would think it is a very good country,” Yao said. “You just do your own life and life is quite the same and also very interesting and lovely.” D

THE BLACKFRIAR CHRONICLE

October 2015

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FRIAR LIFE Australian exchange students come to campus International guests want us to know that they don’t all play rugby.

English has Membean, Math has Knewton.

Tommy Pero ’17 and also learned about the excellent FRIAR LIFE EDITOR and innovative teaching methods ed by Head of School Mr. employed at Malvern.”

Christian Talbot and Math After the meeting, the two sides Teacher Mr. Kevin Moore, decided to partner and initiate a sumMalvern has implemented an online, mer pilot of the program with incompersonalized Math education pro- ing freshmen, according to Teran. gram called Knewton. “[Knewton] was good. Once you Knewton’s website get started, it’s easy to bills the program as pick up and do,” said “the world’s most powI think now— Ryan Mills ’19 who erful adaptive learning while we’re in participated in the engine.” The company Beta phase— summer pilot program, was founded in 2008, it’s more of a “I think it’s applicable and has ten million supplemental [for classroom use].” student users. program. Once Cr uz Siga la ’19 Knewton works by it’s out of Beta, also participated in getting to know each this could the summer pilot and st udent ’s streng ths potentially thought Knewton was and weakness from his become a helpful. “It was really previous work answerprimary source different how it showed ing questions. It then of delivering videos before problems uses this data to teach content.” to help you out. If the student in the best you’re having problems way to fit the way that -Mr. Kevin Moore it would show you a he thinks, Moore said. video to make it easier “If [students] are for you,” he said. learning about the Pythagorean Malvern’s relationship continues Theorem, and they are having a tough with Knewton during this school year time with the Pythagorean Theorem, with Moore’s Algebra II class and one the program decides based off of of Mrs. Diane Giordano’s middle prior knowledge of how the student school classes, according to Moore. is doing to teach [the student] via Malvern has become a developexponents or via geometry with the ment partner with Knewton meaning triangle,” Moore said.

Malverns students helps Knewton by “Our relationship with Malvern giving them feedback from students certainly is special,” Knewton Project and teachers on how to improve the Manager Katia Teran said in an email program, Teran said. interview.

“Malvern students and teachers Talbot first introduced Moore using Knewton.com have provided us to Knewton. Moore then contacted with invaluable feedback of what is Teran to find out more about the working well and what isn’t working program. well within the product,” Teran said.

“Excited about [the opportu- “Such feedback helps us better undernity of working with Malvern], we stand our users, validate assumptions invited Mr. Moore and Mr. Talbot we’ve made, and prioritize future to our headquarters in [New York work.”

City],” Teran said. “During the visit, Knewton is still in its Beta phase we shared the vision of Knewton meeting that the developers are still

L AUSTRALIAN EXCHANGE STUDENTS MARK BOURKE AND WOODY SASSEN / C. WILLIAMS

Cam Williams ’16 CONTRIBUTOR eing 9,864 miles from their home might seem daunting to some. However, the Australian students that visited Malvern Prep for three weeks this fall were able to overcome any fear.

Students Woody Sassen, Mark Bourke, Bradley Jackson, and Jimmy O’Brien traveled from St. Augustine’s College in Sydney Australia to stay with Griffin Delaney ’18, Sam Rose ’17, Tommy Pero ’17, and Luke Stratton ‘17 respectively.

While Malvern’s students just went to visit the Australians this summer for three weeks, the Australian’s trip was more extensive.

Their first stop on their journey was Ireland where they took in the sights and culture of the Irish while attending boarding school there.

Then it was off to the land of the red, white, and blue.

In America they traveled to the cities of New York and Washington D.C. and experienced the culture of both Malvern Prep and the area surrounding Philadelphia.

While they were still here, we were able to sit down with three of them to discuss their experiences.

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W hat is the biggest difference between your school in Australia and Malvern?

Woody Sasson: School in America is a lot more serious.

Mark Bourke: Kids in Australia mess around in school.

Bradley Jackson: The class times in Australia are the same every day.

What’s the best part about America?

WS: Monday Night Football and Wawa.

MB: The American Flags everywhere that gracefully blow even when there’s no wind.

BJ: Not all the food here is nut based so I can eat more because of my nut allergy.

What is your favorite thing to do outside of school?

WS: I love playing basketball with my friends MB: Playing basketball BJ: I like playing on my computer.

W hat is your favorite food in America? Australia?

WB: My favorite food in America is a Chick-Fil-A sandwich. My favorite food in Australia is Hungry Jack’s (Burger King is called Hungry Jack’s in Australia).

MB: A Philadelphia cheesesteak was the best food I had in America. My favorite Australian food has to be crocodile.

BJ: The cup of Crab Fries I got from Chickie’s and Pete’s was the best food I had in America. My favorite dinner that I have at home is scampi.

W hat was the most memorable thing about your time in Ireland?

WS: Father Cuthbert MB: Jimmy breaking a chandelier.

BJ: Seeing the Irish school and living there.

What’s it like to leave your family and get on a plane by yourself for a few weeks?

WS: Easy MB: It was honestly nice to get away for a few weeks.

BJ: I was nervous I would mess up going through customs or miss my flight.

What’s one commonly told lie about Australians?

WS: We don’t all play rugby.

MB: We don’t ride Kangaroos to school.

BJ: Not everyone has the same slang, it differs from state to state.

What’s one thing America should have that Australia does have?

WS: Better beaches and better drinking water.

MB: Frozen coke, kangaroos, and just better animals in general.

BJ: America should have more kangaroos. D

Reporters Meetings every Monday & Friday.

7:45 AM / Duffy 118 Donuts sometimes. All welcome.

> TOBACCO FREE, 1 Magargee said. “It is the correct move by Malvern.”

Director of Christian Service Mr. Larry Legner said that the move to a make Malvern tobacco free was not made to intentionally stop seniors from smoking cigars after graduation. Legner said there is no tradition, because seniors began smoking cigars after graduation sometime in the last five years.

Not every senior wants to be a part of the cigar smoking. “I would not have been partaking in the smoking, so I think [Malvern’s move to a tobacco free campus] is a good thing,” senior Kevin Munyan said.

Last year, campus was mostly tobacco free except in designated sections. “One of the designated areas for smoking, was right next to the Health Room,” Snyder said. “From a modeling standpoint, that probably wasn’t the best option.”

Malvern created a task force of teachers to review the handbook. The task force wanted to eliminate all tobacco use on campus, even though the handbook originally said smoking will still be permitted in designated areas, Snyder said.

The task force consisted of Equipment Manager and Swim Coach Mr. Jay Schiller, Director of Finance and

working out the final bugs of the program, and there is no set timeline for the program to come out of the Beta phase.

Moore praised Knewton’s support team and said that there is someone who is specifically assigned to Malvern to support with any technical problems. He said that the bugs are “very minimal” and that the purpose of the Beta phase now is to test out student input on different interfaces and features.

“Ultimately, I hope that this becomes a way for students to achieve levels content outside of the classroom so that we’re able to focus on deeper learning within the class period,” Moore said. “This also allows for more project-based work in the classroom, since content is being achieved and reached proficiency outside of the classroom.”

Moore said that one of the main advantages of the program is that it allows students to move at their own pace. Advanced students can move at a faster pace and students who need extra help can get it.

Teran said that teachers and students use Knewton a variety of different ways, and their goal of working with Malvern and other schools is to find out how the program can be used best.

Similarly, Moore said how teachers will actually use the program is still being worked out.

“I think now— while we’re in Beta phase— it’s more of a supplemental program. Once it’s out of Beta, this could potentially become a primary source of delivering content,” Moore said.

“Without a doubt, it has been an absolute pleasure getting to work with the Friar family to help us refine our product and bring our vision to life,” Teran said. D

Facilities Mr. Ted Caniglia, Science Teacher Mr. Bob Boyce, Bookkeeper Mrs. Lorri Wallauer, Spanish Teacher Dr. Joan Dlugos, and School Nurse Mrs. Kit McGettigan.

They wanted to make the change so that the students would not have role models that they would see smoking, according to Snyder.

Although the task force met last year, Malvern decided to wait until the beginning of this year before implementing the change so that they would have more time to assess the situation, according to Snyder.

Snyder said feedback from alumni was predominantly in favor of the move, except for a few older alumni.

Snyder expects that if someone is on campus smoking, campus security or another faculty member will confront them and ask them to put it out. She believes that while enforcing the decision will be difficult, it will be successful as long as they get the word out to everyone including those who come on campus for sports events and to see plays.

Signs indicating that Malvern is a tobacco free campus will be added across campus but when or where the signs will be placed has not been determined, Snyder said. D

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October 2015

THE BLACKFRIAR CHRONICLE

SPORTS Intramural program faced with big challenges The intramural program has a plan to overcome obstacles they face this year.

The Malvern Golf team had an exceptional start to the year throughout the month of September, but how have they been faring since then?

Garrett Hallinan ’19 CONTRIBUTOR he golf team started the year with a 3-0 record, and for a previous story in The Blackfriar Chronicle, Head Coach Gary Duda said the team this year was “one of the best teams on paper Malvern has ever had in terms of talent from top to bottom.” After a great start to the year, Malvern has continued to excel.

This year, both the JV and Varsity golf teams have been playing well.

Varsity, led by Head Coach Mr. Duda and captains Jimmy Murray, Nick Miller, and Mike Miller, has won every match besides two. They have a roaring 35-2 overall record, and they’re 25-0 in the Inter-Ac this season.

“This season has been a pleasant surprise for me. Going into the season I did not expect our record to be 25-1", Duda said on October 13.

“Anything can happen in golf, and right now, we are in the driver’s seat.”

They have won four Invitational tournaments; Springside Chestnut Hill’s tournament at Sunnybrook, Haverford’s invitational at Gulph Mills, Episcopal’s tournament at Merion West, and Penn Charter’s

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tournament at Huntington Valley.

Out of league wins include victories over LaSalle, the Hill School, Kiski Prep, located in Pittsburgh, and former state champions St. Joe’s Prep.

“The month of October has been really good for us,” sophomore Matt Davis said. “We are looking to win the Inter-Ac this year, which I believe that we have a good shot at, because mainly of our depth.”

On Monday, October 19, what Davis said was conf irmed. At Plymouth Country Club, where Germantown hosts their invitational, the Friars clinched the Inter-Ac. That day, freshmen Andrew Curran and Matt Civitella posted a 38, three over par, and a 37, two over par, and junior Gavin Sims and senior Marty McGuckin both scored 39, four over par. These 4 scores led the Friars to clinch the Inter-Ac and win their fifth straight invitational.

On October 8th freshman John Updike shot a 33, two under par, in Haverford’s Invitational at Gulph Mills. This was a record setting score for any freshman. John has done this twice now, with the other 33 in a JV match the day before Haverford's Invitational.

On Tuesday, October 13th, sophomore Matt Davis shot a 32, three under par, at Episcopal’s invitational at Merion West. For the second time, Davis was rewarded as the medalist.

“We’re the number one team in the tri-state area. Guys that I were hoping would play well are playing even better than I thought," Duda said.

The JV team, coached by Mr. Joe Redican, has won all but three matches. One of their biggest wins this year was against Haverford, an Inter-Ac rival.

This season, Coach Redican’s JV squad has beaten Radnor, Haverford, Germantown, and Bonner, but did take a loss at Episcopal. The JV’s lowest combined score was a 236 at Gulph Mills, an average score of 39, four over par, per player. Malvern’s JV team has twelve players. Eight of these twelve players get to compete against other schools in the area.

From these eight players, six scores are counted in each nine hole match.

"Coach Redican is awesome,” freshman Kevin Hagan said. "He gives us mental advice on how to play the game." D

Previewing Friar Basketball Young talent and senior experience to highlight this winter’s season.

Jack Walker ’18 will be very team oriented this season, utilizing all the CONTRIBUTOR members of the team.” he 2014-15 Malvern Prep Basketball team is comPowers acknowledges that height is a factor for ing off a shaky season. Last year, the Friars went the Friar team. “But we have talented bigs in Mike 12-14(4-6 in Inter-Ac) in Coach John Harmatuk’s Hollingsworth and Billy Corcoran who will be able to second year as head coach. play with anyone we play,” he said. “We will The team has to replace last year’s conalso try to speed the game up running up tributing seniors Joey Fitzpatrick and Chris “We should not and down the court so teams won't be able Anderson. The Friars will be looking to look out for a to utilize their bigs against us.” underclassmen such as Quinn McCahon single player Powers hopes to continue playing bas’18, Billy Corcoran ’18 and Brady Devereux this year but ketball in college. “Basketball has always ’18 to step up and perform at a high level. rather the 5 been a passion and I would love to continue “I’m excited for the upcoming season,” guys on the playing,” he said.

McCahon said. “We have great leadership court.”

Head Coach John Harmatuk said that in our senior and junior classes.” he is excited about the season. “This is year “I believe that we have a great shot of -Will Powers three and we think the expectation levels winning the Inter-Ac this year,” McCahon are high,” he said. said. “We now are really understanding How does Harmatuk think the season is Coach Tuk’s coaching style and philosophy.” looking so far? “Hard to say,” he said. “Last team Seniors Will Powers, Ryan McNulty, and event was this summer. Basing everything Mike Hollingsworth are expected to be off that event, we look ahead of schedgreat leaders for the team and plan to ule. We looked great defensively.” lead them to success.

“Hopefully tryouts have some Powers is very excited for surprises for us,” Harmatuk his senior year as point guard, added. He is excited about the and his last time to wear the potential of freshman Tygee Malvern jersey. He wants to Leach, who played with the bring the Inter-Ac title back to team in summer.

Malvern and believes it can be I n h is t h i rd y e a r, done by working as a team and Harmatuk expects Malvern to not alone. be back on top in the Inter-Ac “We should not look out for a and grow the basketball commusingle player this year but rather the nity here at Malvern. D 5 guys on the court,” Powers said. “We

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Daniel Malloy ’18 REPORTER his year’s intramural sports committee is facing many obstacles, but they believe they can overcome them with new ideas.

According to the committee, 70 to 80 people have signed up so far this year for intramurals, down from 120 last year. They believe that is mainly because of the new block schedule, an issue they faced last year as well.

"Intramurals has been affected by the new schedule the last 2 years," said Mr. Ostick, faculty moderator of the committee and economics teacher. “Part of the reason is that our only option is to play after school, and with the new schedule getting out at 3:10 we only have a 20 minute window from 3:25 to 3:45 after school.”

To get some more playing time, Ostick said that the committee plans to start playing during community time in the near future. However, there are some obstacles to this happening.

“Kids are supposed to meet with teachers at community time,” Connor Ryan ‘17 said. “If we had games during community time it would be a conflict of scheduling.”

Along with the schedule, another problem was the lack of advertisement

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around the school last year. Last year, intramurals did not have announcements, but the committee is working to get announcements back this year.

Also, Ostick said that they will put signs up across the school to advertise intramural sports.

Ryan said that the intramural sports that usually take place during the year are flag football in the fall, handball in the winter, and basketball in the spring. One sport that may be added this year is volleyball.

“I'm trying to push for volleyball,” senior Pat Finley, another on the committee, said. ¨Let's see if we could make it happen in the spring.”

Another sport that could be added this year is Kan-Jam. KanJam is a frisbee game where you have two cans, a set distance away from each other, and the object of the game is to score points by throwing and deflecting the flying disc and hitting or entering the goal. A team of 2 is opposite each other at each ¨kan.¨ ¨Jimmy Faunce and Christian D’Ascenzo approached me in the summertime and asked me if we could do Kan-Jam,¨ Ostick said. ¨It would happen in the spring as a tournament.” D

Athlete of the Issue: O’Shaan Allison ’18 The sophomore running back has given opposing defenses nightmares with his blazing speed and cut on a dime quickness.

Mike Droogan ’16 SPORTS EDITOR o put Allison’s monster season into perspective, his performance against Episcopal Academy, where he tallied 194 yards and three touchdowns, may not even be his most impressive.

Allison grew up in Norristown, Pennsylvania, where he learned what it takes to excel on a team where most of the other leaders are more experienced.

“I’ve played running back since I was four years old and I was always the youngest on my team,” Allison said. “Since most guys were bigger than me I learned how to run smart.”

Although he started off the season as a backup behind Zac Fernandez ’17, Allison has been able O’SHAAN ALLISON / D. PAPARIELLO to work his way up the depth chart through his stellar play.

“We feed off each other,” Allison said. “I try to make the most out of my carries every time I’m on the field” Allison had high expectations of both the team and himself going into the season.

“My goal for myself is to rush for 1000 yards and my goal for the team

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> PAGE 9

THE BLACKFRIAR CHRONICLE

October 2015

9

Sports OPINION Sixers: “Trust the Process”a fantasy or reality?

For the past several years, the Philadelphia 76ers have been the laughing stock of the NBA, consistently placing near the bottom of the standings; will that ever change?

Henry Malone ’17 centers, they’ve also added solid CONTRIBUTOR players in Robert Covington, Jerami rust the process.

Grant, and the former 8th overall That's what the Sixers fans pick in the 2013 NBA draft, Nik have been told over and over Stauskas. again for the past 3 painful years of Expectations of Malvern stutheir rebuilding stage. dents heading into this season have S a m H i n k i e ’s been higher than previmotto “trust the proous years. Junior Amir cess” has been echoing Will the Sixers Webb said, “They will in our heads ever since still be the def initely be better he became genera l laughing stock than they have been manager of the 76ers this season? before. I can see them a few years ago. Year getting anywhere from after year, he tells us Absolutely.

25-30 wins this year.” this, but will his proEven with Webb’s esticess ever be completed? mation, he still anticiAlthough it may pates 50-60 losses. be difficult to tell, the 76ers have been The 76ers will mostly struggle making painfully slow progress. due to their young and inexperience.

One of the bright spots Hinkie They have talented players, but they has brought to the team is a group of lack the chemistry needed in order to talented, inexperienced young stars; be a quality team and contend for a players ready to show they got game. championship. The only way to solve These stars include Jahlil Okafor and that is with time.

Joel Embiid, two big men which we But our time will come Sixers acquired through high draft picks fans, and when the Sixers are NBA in the 2015 and 2014 NBA Drafts Champions in 2020, we can look back respectively. fondly on the previous seasons forAlso, early during this rebuilding feited in order to get there. According era, we bid farewell to Jrue Holiday, to Hall of Famer Julius Erving, the our All-Star point guard in return for Sixers rebuild plan is a 7 year plan, a high draft pick, which ultimately which began in 2012. Therefore, the was used to acquire another big man goal of contending for a title would in Nerlens Noel. be in the 2018-2019 season. So we’re Currently with three top tier ath- almost halfway there guys, and once letes protecting the paint, the 76ers we do get “there”, the reward will be should see some improvement in their worth it.

Win-Loss record. “I do not think the So will the Sixers still be the 76ers will be as bad this year as they laughing stock this season? have been in previous years,” Junior They absolutely will. So strap in Matthew Wray said. “Okafor is going Sixers fans, because it will be another to be an unstoppable post presence for tank-filled season, and most likely the team.” will be until at least 2018.D In addition to their 3 young

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> ALLISON, 8 is to go undefeated in the Inter-Ac,” Allison said.

He is on pace to achieve both which Allison said he credits to the hard work he put in during the offseason.

“Coach Brady told me I should work out at least three days a week during the offseason, so I worked really hard to improve my speed and strength,” Allison said.

Despite major improvement in both areas Allison attributes the success he’s had so far to his offensive line.

“They are outstanding.” Allison said. “They always know their assignments and open up holes for me to run, without them I wouldn’t be able to do anything.”

Allison hopes the momentum from his game against EA carries over to the homecoming game against Haverford.

“It's gonna be a really big game

for us,” Allison said. “We haven’t beaten them in four years so we’re gonna get after them.” D

Alumnus appointed Yale rowing captain Austin Velte ’12, Captain of the Yale University Lightweight Rowing Team, weighs in on life as a student athlete at an Ivy League school.

Mike Droogan ’16 League school. That being said, Velte SPORTS EDITOR definitely finds balancing academics, ften times, married cou- athletics, and social life challenging. ples look back at their first ”Balancing just academic and encounter and make humor social is hard enough,” Velte said. out it. Austin Velte look backs at his “But throwing in athletics means you first rowing practice and laughs. have to really prioritize what's imporIt was the fall of Velte’s freshman tant to you because you have to make year, the soccer season has come to sacrifices along the lines.” a close, and he is in As an Economics search of a sport for major, Velte knows the winter.

“The best way well that all decisions “My friend Jeremy to earn the come with a cost, and Gonzalez was on the trust of your often times he f inds rowing team and I team and he has to sacrif ice always joked with him coaches is to certain things to stay that I would come to exemplify dedicated to rowing. the first practice,” Velte being a good said. “The whole day I teammate, “For me, I wanted to kept saying I would yourself.” commit the most to show up.”

-Austin Velte my academics and my All of the sudden, team. So at times you by some stroke of luck, lose some of the whole what Velte had thought was just in college experience,” Velte said. jest turned out to be the truth.

At Yale, Velte has found that get“I missed my bus and it just so ting excited about doing his work is happened I had gym that day,” Velte actually rather easy for him. said. “So I decided to go to crew prac“Teachers at Yale are very good at tice and then I just kept coming back pushing me to not just do well on a and eventually fell in love with it.” test but to learn for my own interests As his senior year approached, and for the sake of learning,” Velte Velte knew he wanted to continue in said. “I think this made learning college and narrowed it down to Yale more fun because I got to do what and Princeton because, “they were I was interested in and made the the most competitive lightweight most of what the course had to offer, programs.” instead of slogging through home“I visited Yale one weekend and work just to get to bed or hang out then Princeton the next weekend,” with my friends.”

Velte said. “That following Monday When Velte does have some free I called the coach of Yale and made time, he retreats to the ceramics stumy commitment because I knew dio in the bottom floor of his residenthat’s where I wanted to go.” tial college.

Velte attributes much of his suc“I needed something to balcess in collegiate rowing to Coach ance all the time I spend on athletic Hoffman’s demanding workload. training and practices,” Velte said. “I “A lot of the guys on my team found ceramics was perfect for that weren’t used to the work that was because it was very individual and necessary to college rowing,” Velte personal and quiet.” said. “Whereas I was used to it and As a result of his regimented it some cases we did more work in schedule, Velte said he has learned high school.” the skill it takes to balance life in the Likewise, Velte said Malvern also work force. prepared him well for the rigorous “Especially being a student academics that entail attending an Ivy athlete you have a lot on your plate

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AUSTIN VELTE / YALEBULLDOGS.COM

everyday and being able to sort through your daily schedule will be important later in life whether in a job, or family, or whatever it is I need to balance,” Velte said.

Additionally, Velte has learned the value of hard work and how fruitful it can be.

“I found through rowing,” Velte said. “You can really do anything you wanna do just through hard work and dedication” Velte’s hard work is already producing results.

This past summer Velte, along with Jim Sincavage ‘14 who is now at Princeton, got the chance to represent the U.S. at the U-23 World Championships in Bulgaria in the Lightweight double category. They started off slow, but ended up winning their bracket.

“Being able to represent your country on the world stage was really cool for us,” Velte said.

Velte hopes to carry over this success into his senior year at Yale as a captain.

“The best way to earn the trust of your team and coaches is to exemplify being a good teammate, yourself,”Velte said. “That’s working hard, that’s being dependable, that’s being consistent that’s being there for your team when they need you.” D

Sports reporters needed.

Contact Pat Ferraiolo pferraiolo70@malvernprep.org Mike Droogan mdroogan60@malvernprep.org

Your guide to fall sports Football

Golf

10/24 vs Haverford @ 2:00 PM (Homecoming) 10/31 @ Germantown @ 1:30 PM 11/7 vs Penn Charter @ 7:00 PM 11/14 vs Springside Chestnut Hill Academy @ 1:00 PM 11/25 @ Cardinal O’Hara @ 4:00 PM

10/24 PAISSA Championships @ Chambersburg Country Club @ TBD

Soccer

10/24 vs Pennington High School @ 2:30 PM 10/28 vs Friends’ Central @ 4:00 PM 10/30 @ Episcopal Academy @ 3:45 PM 11/3 @ Germantown Academy @ 3:45 PM 11/5 @ The Haverford School @ 3:45 PM D

10/24 vs The Haverford School @ 2:00 PM (Homecoming) 10/27 @ Springside Chestnut Hill Academy @ 4:00 PM 10/30 @ Episcopal Academy @ 4:00 PM 11/3 @ Germantown Academy @ 3:00 PM 11/6 vs Penn Charter @ 3:00 PM 11/10 @ The Haverford School @ 3:00 PM 11/14 @ Springside Chestnut Hill @ 3:00 PM

Cross Country 10/26 Inter-Ac Championship (Time and Place TBD)

Water Polo

Bold: Important game, according to players interviewed on each team Underlined: Home game

10

October 2015

THE BLACKFRIAR CHRONICLE

MEDIA and TechNOLOGY Fantasy Football brings camaraderie, competition Fantasy football has become more than drafting and adding players. It has become a culture.

Eric McLaughlin ’18 REPORTER t seems like almost everyone at school and around the country is playing fantasy football. It is hard to go on the internet or watch TV without seeing an advertisement for some type of fantasy football website.

Fantasy football is a game where you can draft a team of about sixteen real NFL players and you earn points in fantasy based on how the real-life players perform that week. Usually, leagues have between 10 and 12 people. Drafts may be hosted online or completed offline at one’s house.

According to Fantasy Sports Trade Association, there are an estimated 33 million people who play fantasy football each year.

Fantasy football has become a way of life for some people. The drafts begin from the early weeks of August to the beginning of September. People watch the games every week, hoping for their team to do well. It is a chance for friends to come together and compete with each other.

This has attracted many people to the game. “Getting

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> BASKETBALL JUNKIE, 1 drugs. You never know if you’re going to be that kid that becomes addicted. Once it happens, it’s a tough fight; so why take the chance?”

Moules’ foundation strives to reach out to kids and educate them about drug use, and to teach them good decision making. She believes it is important for students to know that addiction is a disease, not a moral failing.

“We hope to create an awareness of substance use disorders by educating people about the disease in hopes of prevention,” Moules said. “Our ultimate goal is to teach kids and parents about the causes, warning signs, and what to do if there is a problem.”

Moules believes that Herren’s presentation is remarkable and that his message is powerful and inspirational. She thinks that these talks are imperative to help solve a teenage epidemic.

“Education is the key to so many things. Learning about the causes and the science behind the disease of addiction will certainly help people understand,” she said. “Hearing stories like Chris Herren's will help people better understand that this can happen to anyone.”

Chris Herren was born and raised in Fall River, Massachusetts. Growing up, he was innately gifted in the sport of basketball. He was an athletic standout in many sports, but basketball was his favorite.

Entering Durfee High School, Chris was considered one of the top players in the area while also coming from a prominent athletic family: his uncles, father, grandfather, and his older brother all had success playing at the same school.

According to his autobiography, Chris received many offers to play college basketball at prestigious schools, including Kentucky and Duke. Herren decided to attend Boston College. But after his freshman year, he was kicked out of the school due to drug problems, and would later transfer to Fresno State.

He became addicted to alcohol in 1997, followed by cocaine and heroin later that year.

Herren was drafted in 1999 by the Denver Nuggets, but only a year later was traded to the Celtics where he suffered a season-ending injury. After a short period of

Mr. Steve Borish “Overall, I think that it hasn’t changed dramatically. The one feature that I was excited about was the low power mode. However, I’ve noticed that my battery will drain extremely quickly with the new update. Previously, I could use my iPhone without charging for about 12 hours. Now, with the new update I can only use it for about 8-10 hours.”

together with my friends and watching football has to be my favorite part of it,” Phil Kramer ’18 said.

Liam McKnight ‘18 is in a total of four leagues, two of which were drafted online and the other two drafted offline. “I prefer the drafts [completed offline at someone’s house]. You are with your good friends, eating food, and it really gets you excited for the upcoming football season.” McKnight said.

Fantasy football can be very competitive. After each year, the league champ has ultimate bragging rights over the rest of the league. “I love the competitiveness,” Kramer said. “It is fun to play against my good friends and talk about our teams.”

There has also been a recent surge in the amount of daily fantasy leagues. They are leagues where you pay money to draft players each week. You earn money if you score a lot of points that week for how well the players on your team do. Some people prefer to do this because they are not stuck with the same roster for a 17 week season and they have a chance of making money.

However, not that many Malvern students play in these leagues. This is partly because you have to be 18 years or older

time playing overseas, Herren returned to the Celtics.

By this time, his alcohol and drug addiction problems had escalated and he was found unconscious in his car with a needle of heroin in his arm.

Having gone through rehabilitation, Herren has been alcohol and drug free since 2008. He now runs a basketball development program in New England.

Many students read Herren’s book “Basketball Junkie” for English summer reading.

“It’s a tragic story,” English Department Leader Mr. Jay Rogai said. “Herren is someone who had all the talent in the world, as far as basketball is concerned.

He made bad decisions, which set him up for the horrifying struggle.”

“Since there was an opportunity to have a speaker on campus speaking to the community, we thought it would make sense to make ‘Basketball Junkie’ a part of summer reading,” Rogai said.

Students at Malvern have high expectations and are excited for what Herren has to say.

“I am excited to hear a truly inspirational take on life, something that might help me see the real issues and how to avoid them,” junior Cullen Robinson said.

Wuetig and Folan believe it is vital that Malvern does not end the topic of addiction and decision-making with this assembly.

“We are not looking at this event as just a one-anddone deal,” Wuetig said. “We do not want him to come and talk to the students and parents for an hour and never really reflect on it. Mrs. Folan and I have come up with some ideas to continue this conversation long after he has left.”

Wuetig and Folan have arranged for students to return to their homerooms after the assembly to further reflect with each other.

“We want people to be able to focus on the main points they learned earlier,” Wuetig said.

Wuetig is looking forward to the presentation.

“I have heard that [Herren] is real and upfront - and honest, brutally honest,” she said. “I feel like that if this changes the student’s direction in life, even slightly, this would be a success.” D

Sawyer May ’17 “It’s fine. It’s not that big of a difference from iOS 8. Low battery mode is probably my favorite part.”

Jackson Powers ‘19 It sucks. The new multitasking is too confusing. I accidentally close an app that I needed in order to complete assignments.”

Alex Bull ‘20 “It is awesome. I can’t believe technology has advanced so much since I first came to Malvern.”

Nolan Rodgers ‘19 “I like it. It is very user-friendly but it also does get annoying. My battery lasts a max of 5 hours.

Apple needs to find a way to help conserve battery and not use up so much storage.”

FANTASY FOOTBALL IN THE LEARNING COMMONS / S. WARD

to player, and also because you do not get to play against your friends.

The daily leagues are missing what many kids play fantasy football for, the camaraderie. D

Johnny Depp shines in Boston crime drama "Black Mass" Be prepared to watch possibly the best film of 2015; a film that will rescue the career of Johnny Depp.

Patrick Ferraiolo ’17 SPORTS EDITOR lack Mass is one of those movies you know will be an instant classic after only one viewing. It is the Goodfellas of this generation.

The movie, directed by Crazy Heart director Scott Cooper, revolves around the unholy alliance between the FBI and Boston crime lord James "Whitey" Bulger.

After being approached by FBI agent John Connolly, “Whitey” Bulger, played by Johnny Depp, agrees to give information to the FBI about an Italian mafia family in Boston. Only few people know about this alliance, and keeping the secret is imperative for keeping Bulger's street reputation.

But as the movie progresses, you see the transformation of Bulger as he sinks deeper and deeper into madness, and at one point, even goes overboard.

Cooper keeps the audience on its toes as he directs a masterpiece. He capitalizes on his star studded cast of Johnny Depp, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin Bacon, Dakota Johnson, and Joel Edgerton by giving each of them the same amount screen time and equal importance. Every character has meaning and Cooper's ability to tie all the characters together throughout the film makes it easier to understand the complexity of Bulger's alliance.

After multiple box office flops, including Transcendence and Mortdecai, Johnny Depp recreates himself and in essence "becomes" Whitey Bulger. His makeup and low scratchy voice is done to perfection and his portrayal of Bulgur has even received critical acclaim from real-life mobsters.

Depp gives his best performance of his career, proving that he can carry a whole movie as a leading man. After falling off the map in the last few years while doing more quirky movies for teens and kids, Depp retakes his place as a serious actor and has a performance that should earn him an Oscar nomination.

Movie Rate: A+ D

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Apple’s iOS9 dropped in mid-September. We asked some of Malvern’s users what they think.

Alex Furtek ’19 CONTRIBUTOR

THE BLACKFRIAR CHRONICLE

October 2015

11

NEWS Guide to local elections: Republican Edition Everyone follows the Presidential race, but forgets the local races.

Jack McClatchy ’17 NEWS EDITOR his time of the year, busy street corners are covered in signs for local elections.

However, who are the candidates running for local office this year? What are the platforms they’re running on?

Here are profiles of some of the candidates from the Republican Party that we were able to contact.

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State Representative Duane Milne, Ph.D: Running for Reelection Representing Malvern Borough, Willistown, East and West Whiteland, West Pikeland, Charlestown, and Easttown, Dr. Duane Milne is currently in his fifth term in the Pennsylvania State Legislature, and will be running for a sixth in November 2016.

Before becoming a State Representative, Dr. Milne taught at West Chester University, and was an election committeeman in Chester County for 20 years, and for Pennsylvania for 10 years after that.

Milne is taking a hard stance on Gov. Tom Wolf ’s proposed Property Tax Relief Plan, stating that it was a tax shift, and not tax relief. “It is a tax shift that will be done on the backs of many families, including many families here in Chester County,” Milne said in a video on his website.

While again it is too early to say for sure, Milne said his stance on the Governor’s plan will matter in the election. “I have a lot of constituents who are for the plan, but many others who are against it, and many who are undecided,” he said in an interview with the The Blackfriar Chronicle. “We’ll just have to see how it plays out.”

State Representative Warren Kampf: Running for Reelection Running for his third term in November 2016 representing Phoenixville, Norriton and Tredyffrin Township, Representative Warren Kampf co-chairs the House Life Science Committee, as well as on the Appropriations, Liquor Control, Consumer Affairs, and Urban Affairs Committees.

Kampf is the only freshman legislator to cochair a House Committee, and is pushing for a privatization of Pennsylvania’s liquor stores.

“[Privatizing] stores will bring a whole new channel of revenue for the state,” Kampf said. “And today, Pennsylvania could use anything it can get.”

Kampf has also repeatedly opposed the budget plans put forward by Democratic Governor Tom Wolf, because it will result in a $20 million tax increase in the 157th District, which he represents.

“This tax will cripple the 157th District,” Kampf said. “And the people will see little to nothing for it.”

The budget impasse has ramifications in daily life, but a prominent one is that PA school districts have no state funding. They still receive funding from their school district While schools in poorer districts have had to go take out lines of credit for funding, Kampf said that schools in the 157th District have not had to do so.

“Schools in the 157th District, while not having as bad effects as an urban or rural area, are beginning to feel effects of the impasse,” he said.

State Representative Becky Corbin: Running for Reelection Running for her 3rd term representing Pennsylvania’s 157th Legislative District, State Representative Becky Corbin serves on the House Health, Urban Affairs, Liquor Control, and Environmental Resources and Energy Committees.

She is not concerned about reelection at this moment, saying, “I have to help govern a state.

When it comes time to campaign, I’ll do it then.”

Corbin has said that she believes that her stances on liquor privatization and pension reform will be in the voters’ minds, and has pledged not to support any budget proposal from Governor Wolf if it does not touch those two issues.

“Moving the pension system from a defined benefit system to a defined contribution system is much more prudent,” she said. “Private businesses in Pennsylvania made the move 20 years ago, why is the state so far behind?”

Corbin also stressed the importance of local elections. “We have people saying that they are a good voter, and so when we look at their voting records, we see only a vote for president every four years. Local offices like County Commissioner affect your daily life much more than Congress or the President ever could.”

State Senator Jim Rafferty: Running for Attorney General One of the three Republican candidates for Attorney General, and representing Pennsylvania’s 44th Senatorial District since 2003, Jim Rafferty is a well-known name in Harrisburg, chairing the Senate Transportation Committee.

He also co-chairs the Judiciary Committee, and sits on the Appropriations, Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure and Law and Justice Committees.

Before coming to the State Senate, Rafferty worked as a private attorney, and was Deputy Attorney General from 1988-1991.

“I’ve always been known as the law and order guy in the Senate,” Rafferty said. “So I guess people shouldn’t be surprised I’m running for Attorney General.”

The office of Attorney General is currently held

by Democrat Kathleen Kane, who is currently being investigated on charges of perjury and obstructing justice. She is being challenged by Rafferty, State Representative Todd Stephens, and fellow Democrat Jack Stollsteimer.

“I’m looking forward to a fight from Attorney General Kane,” Rafferty said. “She’s a good campaigner, but these scandals are going to be a problem for her.”

As Attorney General, Rafferty says he will fight the growing heroin epidemic in the state, fight sex abuse, and “restore honor to the office”.

Listed are other Republicans running for local offices: • Judy Olson, Mike George, Anne Covey (PA Supreme Court) • Emil Giordano (Superior Court Judge) • Paul Lalley (Judge of the Commonwealth Court) • Allison Bell Royer (Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, 15th Judicial District) • Terence Farrell, Michelle H. Kichline (Chester County Commissioner) • Thomas P. Hogan (Chester County District Attorney) • Carolyn Bunny Welsh (Chester County Sheriff) D

Boehner gone, no replacement in sight The hole left in Republican leadership is proving hard to fill.

Daniel Malloy ’18 Now, the Republican establishment looks to Ways and Means Chair Paul REPORTER Ryan of Wisconsin to be the Speaker. However, Ryan has said that he does not ohn Boehner resigned as Speaker of the House on September 25, opening want to be Speaker, but is “open” to running, according to The Hill. up the role of Speaker.

“Paul Ryan has his ideal job as Chair of House Ways and Means “It’s going to take a very charismatic person who can compromise Committee,” Lappas said. “He is comfortable where he is, and I don’t think and can get people to compromise to do that job,” said Captain he will want to give that up.”

Robert Boyce, Chemistry and Physics teacher.

Not all Republicans want Paul Ryan to be Speaker, how“John Boehner had wanted to step down for the past year,” “It’s going to take ever. The House Freedom Caucus, a group of 36 Tea Party AP Government teacher Mrs. Harriet Lappas said. “The same a very charismatic Republicans, has backed Daniel Webster of Florida for the Tea Party members who put him in power were putting so much person who can position. This endorsement, which was given on October 7, is pressure on him to constantly take a harder line with President compromise and believed to be a reason for McCarthy’s withdrawal, according Obama and the Democrats.” get people to to Politico.

Boehner originally planned on announcing his resignation compromise to do Mrs. Lappas said that some other possible speaker canon November 17, according to CNN, but his meeting with the that job. didates include Jason Chaffetz, a Republican from Utah who Pope inspired him to do it earlier.

-Capt. Robert Boyce Lappas said is more confrontational. Also, Fred Upton, a “The Pope repeatedly called for dialogue and collaboraMichigan Republican, is a possible candidate who Lappas said tion despite differences of opinion,” Mrs. Jessica Kenworthey, is more moderate, so he will face challenges from the right.

Theology teacher, said. “Perhaps Boehner simply felt that a fresh approach was Captain Boyce said that although Republicans didn’t like him all too well, needed to try to unify all the different voices within the Republican party.” the House may realize that Boehner was better than the next Speaker will The Republican leadership originally backed Majority Leader Kevin prove to be.

McCarthy of California to be Speaker, but he dropped from the race on “The devil you know is better than the devil you do not know,” Boyce October 8, saying that the Party needed a fresh face to lead, and that he “was said. “The House may realize that the next speaker is more dictatorial with not the guy”, according to The New York Times. his decisions.” D

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Spain’s Catalan Nationalists win big in regional elections Catalan pro-independence parties won a total majority in the Catalan regional parliament’s elections, winning 72 of the 135 seats.

Ethan Rowley ’18 CONTRIBUTOR The Spanish region of Catalonia has a long history of separatism, and the recent parliamentary elections there are bringing it closer to total independence from Spain.

Two pro-independence parties, Together for Yes (39.6%, 62 seats) and Popular Unity Candidacy (8.2%, 10 seats) now hold 72 of the 135 seats in the Catalan regional parliament, four over the 68 needed to claim a majority, according to the BBC. Before the previous election (in 2012) the Catalan parliament passed a resolution affirming “the right of the people of Catalonia to be able to freely and democratically determine their collective future through a referendum”, according to the Guardian.

“You have a portion of the population that views themselves as something other than strictly Spanish,” said Mrs. Kim Wright, AP Spanish teacher and moderator of the World Affairs Club. “All of Spain is made up of independent sections that came together in the 1500s… some of the areas were later in joining Spain than others, Catalonia was one of the latest to join.”

“The fact that they have their own language as opposed to a dialect, so they have always viewed themselves as a sub-population of Spain in general,” Wright said. “There are Catalans that view themselves as Catalan first and Spanish second.”

The secession debate has also led to the raising of economic concerns were Catalonia to break away from Spain, as Catalonia accounts for one fifth of Spain’s economic output. The president of the Spanish central bank has also stated that Catalan banks would be cut off from the European Central Bank, according to the Telegraph.

“It’s more of an economic concern than anything else,” Wright said. “[Spain’s] unemployment rate is 22.2%,” said Mr. John Ostick, AP Economics teacher. “That is around the same amount of unemployment that we had in the United States in 1933 [during the Great Depression.”

“If you’re unemployed … it means social problems,” Ostick said. “Unemployment is more than an economic [problem], it’s a socioeconomic problem.”

Ostick remarked, “The people are in economic unrest, the people that are pro-pulling away from Spain are saying ‘the economy’s not helping us, we’re unemployed, we could be better off by ourselves.” D

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October 2015

THE BLACKFRIAR CHRONICLE

SPORTS

Friar Life

Middle school athletics brings back no cut rule

A Farewell to College Counselor Ms. Randle

After complaints from parents, a the “no cut” rule is reborn.

Mike Flanagan ’16 CONTRIBUTOR t’s been quite an eventful run at Malvern for Ms. Lauren Randle in her role as Associate Director of College Counseling.

“It’s been a whirlwind...probably the fastest year and a half of my life,” she said.

Randle’s transition to Malvern was no small task. Coming from a large international school in Hong Kong to a private school in the suburbs was a major change in environment.

“I love a challenge, and there is no doubt about it [that] working at an all-boys Catholic school was a challenge for me,” Randle said. “I believe I learn and grow as a college counselor, as an educator, by working with diverse populations, and for me, this was a diverse experience.”

She would be faced with a massive challenge only a few months into her job.

Last March, a student posted comments to a ‘Class of 2015’ Facebook page about Ms. Randle, referencing rape. Four other seniors proceeded to join in with related comments.

“It was a really tough situation.

It was tough for me personally, but

Joe Lister ’21 MIDDLE SCHOOL REPORTER iddle School soccer now has a third team, per the Middle School’s new athletic rule.

“We still have a varsity team. We still have a JV team,” Head of Middle School Mr. Patrick Sillup said. But now the entire sixth grade 3 team is active thanks to a new rule in the Malvern Middle School sports program that forbids cuts.

The conversation about MS sports started in February 2015, stemming from parent complaints, Sillup said.

We want students to feel welcomed, Sillup said. “People are more passionate."

Sillup said he doesn't care about winning records as much as "that sense of community."

"After seeing the number of students that were interested...we wanted to offer all the kids sports,” Athletic Director Mr. Kurt Ruch said. “We went back to the way we used to be.”

“We’ll probably see a difference [once] basketball starts,” he said. “As of right now everyone seems to be happy and enjoying it so far.”

M

“I don’t think it will affect the chances [of winning],” Hans Keirnan ‘21 said. “There’s still gonna be the Varsity and the JV, but they’re gonna have a third team for kids who want to get better at basketball.”

Varsity Soccer Coach Chris DeVido loves the idea and thinks Malvern Middle School is a “safe environment” for kids who have never tried a sport before and that ”we cheer for those type of kids.”

“They have a fun time,” said DeVido. “Even if we make more teams, [it’s an] opportunity that everybody should get.”

“I think this is good,” he said. “It adds in a piece of unity.”

Scott Strathan ’20 disagrees. “It honestly sucks. You’re not gonna get everything you want,” he said.

The Middle School should “start thinking about cuts,” Sidney Mathues ’20 said.

“The pro is that everyone gets playing time,” Tommy Simpson ’21 said. “The cons would be you might lose more games.”

“I think [the policy] is good,” DeVido said. “This year has been highly successful.” D

We sat down with one of Malvern’s best to hear some closing thoughts.

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MLB World Series and Playoff Preview Who will be King of the Hill?

Andre Quintiliani ’18 CONTRIBUTOR s we near the end of yet another long season of Major League Baseball, it seems as though another season is born in October. That, of course, being the postseason, where ten respectable teams battle for the ultimate prize at the end of a 162 game stretch - the World Series trophy.

October air fills a baseball stadium with a sense of magic mixed with hope that seems to determine one team’s final to greatness, or one team’s final destiny to sorrow and anguish. In the late innings of a postseason baseball game, the crisp chilly weather is making its way into the bodies of the fans and the players, while the cold air is howling through the voices of the crowd. It defines the difference between the day-to-day summer play that all teams get to enjoy, and the exciting hard fought fall play that only the strongest teams shall seek.

In this year’s contest, unlike years in the past, there is a band of newcomers who seem ready to take the journey. These teams, consisting of young beasts who are hungry for a championship for their eager city, have marked their goal on the field and have a strong will to fight down to the last strike of the last out of the last inning of each and every game.

The Houston Astros, a team

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who had nearly been named one of the worst franchises in baseball pending their seasonal results this year, finally rose up with their young breakthrough talent and won out a Wild Card berth. Seemingly enough, the reason the Astros stuck out as such a “wow” team to make it to the postseason this year because they had been given the tag of worst team in baseball for not only 2011, but 2012, and 2013.

The Toronto Blue Jays, a team mixed with both veteran mentors, rising superstars, and young talent, ended the longest drought in baseball for a team not reaching the postseason. Yes, the Blue Jays hadn’t been to the playoffs since they beat our Philadelphia Phillies in 1993.

Brady Devereux, varsity pitcher for the Malvern baseball team would be least happy with the Blue Jays doing well in the playoffs, because they beat the Phillies.

Of course, the team all of us are secretly rooting for are the Loveable Losers, or better known as the Chicago Cubs.

The Cubs came out in 2015 with a young swagger that was unable to be touched by other teams. The young spark of chemistry the Cubs exemplified throughout the season make them a great contender for the crown, especially considering they have not won, nor been to the Fall Classic in 108 seasons.

Billy Corcoran, a 2014 All-Inter Ac Baseball player would love to see the Cubs win.

“I truly believe the Cubs are going to take it all this year,” said Corcoran. “I always like to root for an underdog.”

It seems many others are in the same boat as Billy, wanting an underdog to win the World Series.

Will Burgess, Malvern middleinfielder believes in the Blue Jays, because of their many fan bases.

Another point Burgess made was the leadership quality of third baseman for the Texas Rangers Adrian Beltre.

“Although his team was recently knocked out, Beltre is a prime example of a leader,” Burgess said. “He came back for game 5 after suffering a big injury, and even though he lost, he is a great clubhouse leader.”

Burgess’s style in players he roots for is the way each Malvern student should prepare for each day, to go out and become a leader among brothers and teammates. Using star baseball players to become leaders in all aspects of Malvern is important for shaping a great person in society in the future.

Here’s to another great season of baseball, and an even better, more exciting month of October in the hunt to be victorious in the Fall Classic. D

it was a lot tougher for the school, the community, and the students,” Randle said. “That was my very first concern, not about me personally.”

Randle could have chosen to shy away from the issue, but she elected to address it head on.

“I did have a personal role in this.

I did see that I had an opportunity.

And what I felt was an obligation to address the students directly.”

Ms. R and le add ressed t he Malvern community in a chapel service following the incident. During her speech, she made several key points.

She reminded the campus of the importance of respecting all people, as well as defending those being attacked. According to Randle, no one condemned those Facebook comments, and that failure to denounce those hateful words was a problem.

Ms. Randle also emphasized the importance of the adult figures here at Malvern. “There are some amazingly strong women, and men, on this campus that can present big issues,” she said. “I wanted to make sure that was heard and felt.”

Ms. Randle was faced with an unfortunate situation. But her takeaway from Malvern is not focused on that negative moment.

“I don’t think that it was representative of who Malvern is. The love and support I received after, from students, faculty, friends, family, parents--it was overwhelming,” Randle said. “What I took from it was that there is far more love than [there is] any kind of hate or ignorance.”

Ms. Randle’s next position will not be at a high school. “I’m really sad about that, because I love working at a school,” she said. “I love the enthusiasm and energy. There’s just so much going on at a school. That’s going to be the thing I miss the most,” she said. > DINING, 4 Mrs. Diane Kime, Assistant to the Food Service Director, also faces some challenges with the schedule.

Kime said that the students sometimes act too rowdy during their lunch periods.

“I wish that the boys would be more controlled when it comes to lining up,” Kime said. “You have breakfast, you have break, and then you have lunch. I wish they would just take a deep breath, and slow down.

I’ve already gotten run over a couple times this year.”

While the dining services staff has encountered numerous challenges in these past few years, they continue to strive for improvement.

“My goal since I came on was to change our purchase percentage of what we prepare here as compared to what we purchase,” Connelly said.

“Everything is homemade. The soups, the sauces, everything is homemade.

So when [the students] come in, it’s like eating at a restaurant.”

Connelly is no stranger to working in restaurants. Before deciding to work at Malvern, Connelly owned two critically acclaimed five-star

MS. RANDLE / C. BUNN

Instead, her job will involve working with a private company called Bright Horizons. This company in turn will work with other companies to provide college counseling for employees’ children as a benefit.

“College counseling doesn’t exist everywhere,” Randle said. Her new company fills that gap. Instead of working with students from the same institution, Ms. Randle will now be responsible with a range of students from different schools.

Before parting ways with the Malvern community, Ms. Randle offered a few words of advice.

“Everything works out in the end.

It always does,” she said. “You will get into college. Everyone’s fear is that they won’t get into the right college, or they won’t get into the college their parents want them to.”

“My biggest piece of advice is to own it. Take ownership,” she said.

“This is the first major adult decision you’ll make in your life. If you don’t feel like you decided, that you own it, that you’re going to where you will be happiest, how successful can you really be?”

“Be bold, be confident, and do what’s right for you.” D restaurants in Cape May County, New Jersey that operated on a yearround schedule.

“I won a lot of awards, but it was a lot of work,” Connelly said. “Having time off in the summer to spend with my family was an important factor in my decision to come to Malvern.”

In addition to internal changes, there have been some more apparent, external changes to the cafeteria.

Most notable is the added red stripe above the hot bar.

“I just wanted to add some color,” Gray said. “Everything else in the caf is navy blue, and I figured you guys were tired with navy blue, and I decided to go with red.”

The dining staff faces another full year jam-packed with non-stop work, according to Gray and his team.

“Our goals for this year are just to operate smoothly, get a firmer grip on the schedule, and provide better items for the students,” Gray said.

Still, the staff remains optimistic and ready for whatever is to come in the remainder of the year.

“I think everybody’s happy here,” Diane Kime said. “I really do.” D

THE BLACKFRIAR CHRONICLE

October 2015

> WIRELESS, 1

school-approved account.

Many students have expressed their frusEven if the wireless was to change to a diftration for having to install an application in ferent system, changes would not be in effect order to access the wireless network. There has until next year. “We typically do not do [any been a vocal outcry among students who value upgrades] during the school year.” said Norko. their privacy.

“Now that we have started the school year, it In an email addressed to students and fac- is not feasible to change,” Norko said. “It would ulty, Norko said that Meraki does not have have to be next school year.” access to any of these features.

Norko said the change to an applica“We do not ask Meraki to tion-based system is a result of offer any additional services,” feedback.

Norko wrote in the email. “So “The feedback from last year your device and the information was that everyone was tired of contained on your device are not signing in every hour,” Norko tracked or reviewed by Malvern said. “This is the solution.”

Prep or Meraki.”

Some students, like Sayers, Norko said that the intentions don't mind the app. “I’d rather of the application are related to have the app just because it doesn’t security. “What it does is that it affect me,” Sayers said. identifies you, it identifies your However, given the requiredevice, and it verifies that your ments of the new application, -Mr. Terrence Norko device is a device we know about,” other students would prefer to he said. go back to the previous login “The software is capable of doing other situation. things, but we’re not using it and neither is “I would rather log in every time. The passMeraki... it is not enabled,” said Norko. “We word and everything was saved [on my device], can’t change the verbiage of what it says we are it really just took opening up the internet and using it for.” pressing login,” Heisler said. “[It] However, many students still wasn’t that big of a hassle.” remain skeptical. A few students Some students are attempting cited incidents that occurred last other solutions to connect their year as a reason for their suspicion. devices. As a result, many students “I just think that after all of have turned on mobile hotspots in the issues with Facebook and order to get around using the wifi Twitter scandals, and the incion other personal devices such as dents with teachers and students, laptops.

I don't really think that when Most of the reasons students push comes to shove, they won’t create their own hotspots are due try to access the data,” Heisler to some of the disadvantages of said. the existing wifi.

According to the documen“[They] don’t like the idea that tation on Cisco’s website, system someone can go through their managers can choose how users phone just because they signed are signed into the wireless interon to the wifi,” Sayers said. net. These options include requir“People use their hotspots -Mr. Terrence Norko ing users to install an application. only because the wifi is terrible.

However, the documentation The wifi isn’t terrible because peoshows that there are other options to log into ple use their hotspots,” Jhunjhunwala said. the wifi. This includes having users sign in every These user-generated hotspots are discourtime, much like the old system. In addition, aged by the technology department. there is the option of using a Google account, “When a student turns on their phone with which would allow users to sign in once with a the hotspot [enabled], they are sucking up a

"The software is capable of doing other things, but we're not using it and neither is Meraki."

"We have done a lot under the hood in terms of how we are handling traffic... prioritization of traffic that needs to get out versus traffic that is nice to get out."

channel that we are using, and everyone else that students can still access their Google-based gets kicked off,” Norko said. work, even if the network is congested.

These hotspots may further increase conges“We have done a lot under the hood in terms tion. In fact, Norko cited hotspots as one of the of how we are handling traffic,” Norko said. major reasons for teacher Chromecast problems. “Prioritization of traffic that needs to get out, “Students are constantly firing up their hotspots versus traffic that is nice to get out.” and there are only so many channels in the specNorko said this prioritization includes trum,” Norko said.

Google services such as Gmail and Google A few students don’t believe that these hot- Drive. “Other traffic that is not necessarily top spots are to blame. priority will get out with whatever “In Mrs. Geider’s class, [the is left over,” he said.

Chromecast] disconnects 3-4 The IT department has also times a class. There is not one implemented a new web f ilter hotspot open in that room,” exclusively for Chromebooks.

Jhunjhunwala said.

This software, called Securly, is a Regardless, the wif i and cloud-based web filter. This filter Chromecast problems have is on top of the classic wifi filter altered the plans of teachers. for every web-connected device “There has been at least been on campus. one class where the teacher had to The Securly filter blocks more -Mr. Kevin Whitney do something else or work around websites than the original filter. what they had planned because At first, this included social media chromecast wasn’t behaving,” websites such as Facebook and Sayers said.

Twitter. With Chromebooks in the Learning Despite this, Chromecasts will most likely Commons, used frequently by students, many be here to stay. were angry about this change.

“They are far more manageable than the A few weeks after this new filter was discovold way of doing it,” Norko said. ered by students, adjustments have “There’s considerably less hardbeen made to the list of blocked ware that has to be managed from websites. Social media websites a cost and labor standpoint.” are now accessible again, although The new wireless system is sites that were blocked by the old also encrypted. filter are still restricted.

“One of the reasons we got At this time, the Technology rid of [the previous network] was department and other faculty that we were unable to secure the members are calling for patience. connection between your device “A lot of schools and organiand our network,” Norko said. zations have significantly more “Now it is fully encrypted. Your IT people working for them,” data traveling across our netDean of Faculty Coaching and -Pat Sayers work is encrypted end to end,” Development Mr. Kevin Whitney Norko said. “There's no way for said. anybody to get to any of the data “You’ve got three people suptraveling.” porting a network of 750. I believe the industry Norko said that if students and faculty push ratio is something like for every 50 to 75 users, for the previous login-based solution, this does you have one IT person,” Whitney said. “We come at a cost. probably should have ten [people].”

“If we went back to the other solution, the The best way to keep the wifi working? wireless would not be encrypted. There’s no way “Don’t turn on the hotspots. You’re killing the to force the traffic to be encrypted,” he said. network,” Norko said. D With this new upgrade also comes a quality assurance change. This change will ensure

"A lot of other organizations have signicantly more IT people working for them.

"[Students] don’t like the idea that someone can go through their phone just because they signed on to the wifi," ”

> NETFLIX, 2 What is the problem with watching Netflix in study hall or listening to Spotify in Community Time?

I understand that the block on the wifi discourages students from doing it, but odds are that they’re just going to switch off wifi and do it anyway. If watching Netflix in study hall results in a student failing a test, it’s better that students do that in high school and learn how to better manage their time now than have to do it in the future.

High School is supposed to be a place where it is acceptable to make mistakes as long as you learn from them.

By preventing us from making mistakes, Malvern is in effect preventing some students from learning valuable skills.

There are worse consequences in the world than failing a single high school test due to wasted time in study hall.

According to Dean of Faculty Coaching and Development Mr. Kevin Whitney, Malvern’s wifi blocks all websites with certain keywords. It blocks all websites relating to adult content, gambling, and other inappropriate content. State law also requires that private and public schools with free internet access to block websites with these types of content.

While the current filtering system complies with state law, it leaves a large number of useful websites blocked by default. However, a teacher can ask to unblock a website. When this happens, Whitney

makes the call whether or not the website will remain blocked or become unblocked.

Despite how clear the process is for getting a website unblocked for scholastic purposes, it is not clear who is in charge of deciding why websites like Spotify, Netflix, and Twitter are blocked.

I first talked to Mr. Nate Duane from the tech department. He told me that Mr. Whitney makes the call on why these website are blocked. When I asked Mr. Whitney, he told me it’s the tech department’s responsibility.

Whitney speculated that part of the reason why the websites are blocked is because they could potentially take up a lot of bandwidth and are potentially prone to viruses. The actual process to unblock a large quantity of websites under the current system could be very long and difficult, according to Duane. That being said, Malvern should still work up to the goal of having a network that’s able to handle that to further accommodate students.

Students should be allowed to make their own choices about how they use the internet so that they can learn how to use it responsibly in the future. In the long run, this will benefit students and provide another dimension to help complete the Malvern education. If these sites are not unblocked, students will have to pay a lot in data as well as slow down the wifi. D

Students should be allowed to make their own choices about how they use the internet so that they can learn how to use it responsibly.

Aaron Salinas ’16

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October 2015

THE BLACKFRIAR CHRONICLE

FRIAR LIFE

ARTS

Teacher of the Issue: Mr. Jay Rogai

It’s A Wonderful Life for MTS

Mr. Rogai has been teaching here at Malvern for 12 years and has enjoyed every minute.

Chris Abbott ‘16 CONTRIBUTOR he Malvern Theater Society will be tackling subjects of suicide, community, and the meaning of humanity itself for this year’s production of It’s A Wonderful Life.

On opening night, The Duffy Theater will be full of actors and actresses ready to perform in Malvern Theater Society’s production of It’s A Wonderful Life.

Director of the Malvern Theater Society, Dr. James Fry, is eager to incorporate a familiar cornerstone of Malvern’s philosophy into the play. “The play really ties into our school theme of caritas,” Fry said. “It’s the ability to support each other much like we do here on Malvern’s campus.”

Fry is referring to “caritas,” a virtue of Malvern, which means “love” in Latin.

“Hopefully people will walk away and think we all hit rock bottom at one point,” Fry said, “but always remember that they have God and family to pick us back up.”

MTS started in 1975 and is celebrating a milestone this year that reflects on the play chosen for the fall of 2015.

“This is our 40th year anniversary of MTS, so it’s kind of a big deal for us,” Fry said. “We thought it would be good to go back and make some of the classics to celebrate 40 years.”

Ted Holleran ’16 , playing the role of Ernie in the show, is working along with the cast on perfecting the play.

“We get there and Dr. Fry tells us what we need to do that day and we jump into action whether it be working on our character or rehearsing lines,” Holleran said.

Despite the rigorous rehearsals, Holleran said that it hasn’t been hard balancing schoolwork with practice “It hasn’t been difficult,” he said. “When we’re not rehearsing our lines we usually just do homework backstage or in the set shop.”

Set designer Mr. Robert Muntz is in charge of creating all the set pieces and directing the stage crew.

“We have sculpture kids and stage crew kids that have been part of the design and have been working on the set for the past 2 weeks,” Muntz said. “We’re going to work on painting this week.”

Despite the complexity of the storyline, the play’s set is mostly focused around one set according to Mr. Muntz “It’s centered around the bridge that George Bailey

Tommy White ’17 REPORTER nglish Department Leader Mr. Jay Rogai worked in a few different schools after college, but none have been as rewarding as Malvern.

“It has been the longest stay professionally,” Rogai said. “I feel like I have a chance to grow as a professional and I have been challenged every year to improve.”

Rogai first arrived at Malvern during the fall of 2003. He had just come from a two year job at Bonner.

Director of Student Life Dr. Jim Fry was there with him for a year before he came to Malvern. He told Rogai about a job opening at Malvern in the English Department. Rogai applied and was offered the job.

Before he worked at Bonner, Rogai worked as a long-term substitute teacher at Newman High School (before they merged with Goretti) for about a year. He was the third teacher that they had in a month. He ended up working from fall to spring and actually got promoted due to seniority. He accepted the position at Bonner in the fall of 2001.

Prior to Newman, before he knew he wanted to go into English education, Rogai was in the movie and television industry. He loved working in Philadelphia during this time. He never wanted to move away, but he concluded that his profession and location were not compatible.

According to Rogai, the only places he could get very deep into the movie and television industry were in Los Angeles or New York at the time.

But now it is a different story.

“I think that technology has changed to where if you have the drive, and a little bit of understanding, you can probably reach an audience anywhere,” Rogai said.

Rogai did end up getting a job with a production company, but not full time. The company’s main source of income was through commercials.

He did various jobs for the production company, but Rogai determined that he did not want to work in an office.

“Because I had that experience,” Rogai said, “I knew it just wasn’t for me.”

Malvern Theater Society prepares to put on a production that will resonate with the audience.

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MR. ROGAI / J. BENNETT

Mr. Rogai soon realized that he loved English. He loved the aspect reading good books and talking about them with students. “I know that every book may not interest every student, but I can see that some students make connections with things, and that’s really cool to see,” he said.

Mr. Rogai grew up in Havertown, Haverford with two brothers. He always enjoyed playing sports with his brothers, so he was never alone.

Baseball was his passion as a child, so he would always play pickup games with his neighbors. He also enjoyed playing football, basketball, and street hockey.

He attended Annunciation up to the second grade, Colman Neumann from third to eighth grade, and St. Joseph's Preparatory School for high school.

He attended Fordham University a nd g raduated w it h a BA in Communications.

Last spring, Mr. Rogai graduated from Villanova University with his Master’s degree in English.

Rogai remembers Malvern from when he first visited in eighth grade.

One of his favorite parts of the job is that he can go outside and walk across campus, and there is not a defined office space he needs to be in.

“Malvern continues to be a great opportunity, and I’m invested in the success of the school and its students,” Rogai said. “Malvern made my Master’s possible. So professionally, I have had the opportunity to grow.” D

Barbecue comes to @MalvernPrep campus as @friarslantern1 Jimmy’s part of @MPStudCo Spirit Week

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Instagram @mpfriarslantern1

contemplates his life on, the one he’s thinking about jumping off of,” Muntz said. “That is the main thing we’ve been focusing on.”

Muntz’s goal is to create a distinct atmosphere for the set and to make sure the play’s set corresponds to the plot of the story.

“We want to create the mood of Christmas-time by making it dark because the play’s mostly set during the night,” Muntz said. “Realism is the main focus of the set.”

A new matinee show was implemented this year, starting at 3:00 PM on November 7. This is different from previous years’ usual time of 7:00 PM. “The decision came about because there was a night football game scheduled that night,” Fry said. “Having that at the same time as the play could cause some interference with noise and parking, so we decided a matinee was the best option.”

The play’s opening night is November 6 at 7:00 PM, and will run on the 7, the 13, and will close on the night of the 14. Dr. Fry hopes to leave audience members feeling a certain way when they see the play for the first time.

“Family’s there through thick and thin,” Fry said.

“Family’s there to love and support you.” D

Artist of the Issue: Nick Elia ’16 Dummer, Actor, Senior Nick Elia is the artist of the issue.

Jimmy Canuso ’17 ARTS EDITOR ick Elia has actively participated in the Arts program here at Malvern Prep since he came here in 6th grade.

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JC: What’s your favorite thing about Malvern?

NE: Probably the music and arts program here. It’s a great way to use my creative energy. I’ve even started playing the vibes, just to try something new.

JC: What instrument do you play?

NE: I mainly play the drums. I play in the Honors Jazz Improv band.

Twitter @friarslantern1

LOGO DESIGN M. PICHOLA

JC: What made you want to play the drums?

NE: Well I started out in grade school playing the saxophone and the bass, but both of those instruments broke, so I decided to start playing

the drums. I got a teacher, and I took some lessons, and here I am.

JC: What do you plan to do with drums in the future?

NE: I plan to play in a jazz group in college if I can. And then maybe eventually form a group and start playing gigs around wherever I end up.

JC: Is there any specific type of music you like to play?

NE: I like rock, but I’ll do anything from jazz to latin.

JC: Are there any specific colleges you want to go to and play music?

NE: Yes. My top choice right now is Northeastern, and they have a good music program there.

JC: What other things do you do for the Malvern arts program?

NE: I also participate in MTS.

NICK ELIA / N. LI

We’re doing a show right now, It’s a Wonderful Life. I was casted as Uncle Billy, and it’s a big responsibility but I think I can handle it. D

THE BLACKFRIAR CHRONICLE

October 2015

15

PERSPECTIVES

Five Weeks At Nerd Camp A nerd nirvana with real collaboration and free food.

Christopher Bunn ’16 MANAGING EDITOR hen I got the accepta nce pac k et for T he Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Sciences in the mail, I had a bunch of mixed feelings.

I was excited to get away for 5 weeks in the summer. It was pretty much a once in a lifetime opportunity to stay at Carnegie Mellon University and to learn from some of the best faculty and staff in the world.

However, the idea of doing work in the middle of the summer didn’t exactly appeal to me. I was reluctant to do summer reading, much less complete an entire research project and summer courses.

But I decided to take a chance. I filled out all of my paperwork, signed up for as many courses as I could, and waited for June 28th to roll around.

After I came back from my service trip to the Philippines, I had an entire week to pack up prepare myself before I headed to Pittsburgh.

The hardest part of the entire 5 weeks came on the first day when I had to endure the painfully awkward 2-hour square dance. It was super corny, and the reluctance in the room was more than evident. Despite this, it turned out to be the ultimate icebreaker.

Classes started the next day, and they proved to be quite the challenge.

While I expected science, I really

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didn’t expect Discrete Mathematics or Spatial Relativity. With problem sets in hand, I didn’t feel super confident leaving the lecture hall.

As deadlines approached and problem sets grew in size, my nights grew longer. I usually stayed up to two or three in the morning, dreading the 8am lecture.

I quickly became the poster child for collaboration. The other students were the most important part of the experience. Going in, I expected to be surrounded by a bunch of reclusive, antisocial, calculus robots.

I couldn’t have been more happy to be wrong.

Sure, almost everyone there ran track or played an instrument, but it was the most diverse group of students I have ever seen. You had your nerds, but you also had artists, athletes, writers, readers, and people who could actually complete the physics problem sets. We were all united by our common passion for science.

Even though we all worked hard, we played harder. Whether it was super intense scattergory games or the annual No-Talent Show, everyone appreciated the break from the problem sets.

As camp progressed, this social aspect of camp really became important. I could have been on someone’s team for the Goofy Olympics one day and by next week we could be working on Mathematical Finance problems.

PGSS CLASS PHOTO / C. BUNN

Even late nights started to become more bearable. Sure, it became a struggle to stay awake as my sleep schedule became more and more irregular. But the 1am pizza and the conversations with my f loormates made the grogginess worth it.

Our research project was also another point of unity. As we spent hours building and refining our project, our group became immensely, almost unreasonably, proud of what we were doing. Everyone threw themselves into their work, and we

couldn’t have been more proud of the end result.

By the time August 1 rolled around, I was extremely reluctant to go. It was as if I had became a family with 59 other people. I honestly wouldn’t trade the experience and the opportunity for anything else in the world.

Applications for PGSS 2016 should be available on the PGSS Website soon. Last year’s deadline was January 31, 2015. According to the website, academically talented

high school students who are residents of Pennsylvania and are current juniors at the time of the application deadline may apply. Applicants will be expected to demonstrate academic achievement, interest in the sciences and mathematics, and a record of pursuing this interest in activities beyond the classroom.

The program relies on alumni and supporter donations to run each year since the state cut funding to the Pennsylvania Governor’s Schools of Excellence in 2008. D

The “Summer of the Outsider” breathes new life to politics The cold and carbonated truth about the new soda machines.

Ted Holleran ’16 COLUMNIST ednesday, October 21st, 2015, marked the very day that the popular Back to the Future franchise takes us to the future.

A nd w ith the odd screenings of a 26-year-old sequel on a Wednesday night, it brings with it a realization that we are, indeed, living in the world of tomorrow.

The world has changed vastly since when those movies were released in the 1980’s. I’m sure the starkest contrast one would notice if they arrived here through a stainless steel sports car is the development of technology.

We have entire personal computers in our pockets, wireless internet (occasionally), and 3D printers in our Learning Commons.

In most cases, this more developed technology is seen as a good thing. It’s capable of more things, connects more people, and does it all in a shorter amount of time. In one place though, we may have gone too far.

That is the case of the Coca-Cola Freestyle Machine.

Coca-Cola Freestyle Machines, for those blessed enough to be

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unaffected, is the name for those large red bulky boxes that stand in Wawa’s where our dearly departed soda jerks previously stood.

Now, one may be roped into the Freestyle Machines through its perceived sleekness and the frequent marketing that usually accompanies their arrivals in stores. You may notice that the machines are marked with the signature of Pininfarina, the same design company that creates the blueprints for fancy Italian sports cars.

After a few seconds of use on the Freestyle, you soon learn why you’ve never seen a crossover between the sport auto industry and soda machines.

A major selling point that is pointed out is the “over 125” choices offered by the machine. Yes, there are 125 different options to choose from, if you enjoy bizarre fruit-flavored diet ginger ale.

For those of us who prefer a fuller, richer, soda experience, the options of non-diet and caffeinated sodas are much more scarce.

The problems of the machine do not stop there. It is a widely-known fact that soda in different containers has different tastes. Most prefer those

in bottles, those in cans have a noticeably crisper feel than those in bottles, and the taste from soda fountains is always the freshest.

Well, the Freestyle machine does its best to ruin this too, because as the soda comes out of the spigot you can see the syrup separated from the carbonated water.

When I’m about to enjoy myself a nice refreshing soda pop, I do not want to be reminded that my drink of choice consists of only syrup and carbonated water. Seeing this ruins the experience at the soda fountains and makes the soda taste less good.

With traditional soda fountains, the two ingredients mix together before leaving the spicket. All you saw was pure soda coming straight from it’s source. It was still possible to live in ignorant bliss and keep dreaming that all soda is piped right from the factory, where it’s made with love.

The new machines allow no space to keep the dream alive and just slap you right in the face that what you're drinking was not assembled with care and love, but rather consists of two basic ingredients thrown together approximately 2 milliseconds before hitting the bottom of your cup. D

From Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders in the US to Jeremy Corbyn in the UK, people are once again finding candidates they agree with.

Jack McClatchy ’17 is polling at 7%, according to a WORLD NEWS EDITOR new NBC/Wall Street Journal o say this past summer was poll. Scott Walker, largely seen not good for the political as the alternative to Jeb, withestabl ishdrew from the race ment is an underon Sept. 21. Hillary statement. Donald For too long, Clinton is losing in Trump defied the the ordinary New Hampshire to laws of convenvoter has been democratic-socialist t i o n a l p o l it i c s , voting for the Bernie Sanders.

Sanders is a capa“lesser evil.”

But, I don’t see ble foe to Clinton The candidate this as a bad thing. in the polls, going who seems the For far too long, the against the predicleast bad. ordinary voter has tions of every politibeen voting for the cal analyst in town. “ lesser evil.” The T his isn’t candidate who seems unique to the United States, either. the least bad. These outsiders bring In the UK, there was an election forth new ideas and views to the for the leader of the Labour Party, political process, and disenfranand a token candidate from the left chised voters now have a voice in of the party, Parliament Member Sanders, in Trump, in Carson, in Jeremy Corbyn, won with over 59% Fiorina, and in Corbyn. support in a four candidate race, Now, there are people, both according to The Guardian. across the nation and here at The rise of the political out- Malvern, who say that these outsider this past summer has fright- siders do nothing more than make ened the political establishment a mockery of the political process. to its core. The star candidate of While that may or may not be true the Republican Party, Jeb Bush, > PAGE 16

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October 2015

THE BLACKFRIAR CHRONICLE

Whitney and Zbrzeznj tie the knot Newlywed Malvern faculty members Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Whitney explain their journey.

Nick Li responsible modeling [for the students].”

SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Responsibility and professionalism were s. Pam Zbrzeznj, social stud- very important to the two. Before they could ies teacher, became Mrs. Pam begin dating, they had to check the policy to Whitney on September 20, 2015. make sure it was allowed.

She and Mr. Kevin Whitney, “I love my job,” said Mrs. Dean of Faculty Coaching and “It’s always a Whitney. “It is very important Development, were the second challenge when to me and I did not want to couple to ever get married on two people are hurt it.” the Malvern Prep campus. in a romantic In the workplace, the couThe couple first met at relationship ple had to be very professional.

Malvern. The former Ms. Z at the same All interaction had to take joined the teaching staff in workplace. place outside of school hours April of 2013 after the deparYou have and off of school property. ture of a ninth grade social to use good On Saturday, January 29, studies teacher. At the sugjudgement and 2015, Mr. Whitney proposed. gestion of a mutual friend, be responsible.”

Former Ms. Z said yes. she introduced herself to Mr. -Mr. Kevin Whitney The couple chose Whitney. They quickly became Malvern’s chapel as the place friends and the relationship of their ceremony. took off from there.

“Malvern is really special to me. It’s “It’s always a challenge when two people where we first met and where I’ve really are in a romantic relationship at the same grown spiritually and personally,” Mr. workplace,” said Mr. Whitney. “You have to Whitney said. “We love the campus and use good judgement and be responsible. The Malvern just got relicensed to marry and last thing I [wanted] to do was jeopardize the fall sports had a weekend off, so it all

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just came together.”

“The kids all thought for the longest time that I was dating [former teacher] Mr. Pison, but when they found out I wasn’t, everything really changed and everyone got really excited,” Mrs. Whitney said. “They all kept asking me when the big day was going to be, and obviously I was very happy.”

“Malvern teachers and students, especially the teachers, have been very supportive. The teachers came together and threw us a little party and I think that really helped bring people together in the community,” Mr. Whitney said.

Over 20 members of the faculty attended the wedding with their spouses.

“It’s funny when people joke with us,” Mr. Whitney said. “They tell [my wife], couldn’t you have married someone higher up in the alphabet!”

“It’s been awesome. Some of my favorite moments have been when Ms. Z has come into the Learning Commons, and now I hear [students] say, ‘Hi Mrs. Whitney,’” Mr. Whitney said. “It’s different, and really cool, really cool to hear that.” D

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE HAPPY COUPLE

Opinion A student’s view of the ideal Malvern

> OUTSIDER POLITICS, 15

The new Strategic Plan for 2016-2019 encompasses three main ideas: culture, academics, and financial stability. worked in groups. The first group activity was to review a document attended the Strategic Planning drafted as a preliminary vision for Retreat on Monday, October 12 as Malvern in 2020. It was exciting to a reporter, but soon found myself read, even though reading the paper as an active participant. was assigned as homework before the From its onset, I knew this meet- meeting. ing was a unique opportunity for stuAlthough it was only a vision dent input. I was able to formulate and did not represent the new plan my own thoughts of what Malvern at all, my group and I discovered that should look like in the future and “Brotherhood” was never explicitly compare my views to what the fac- cited in this document’s draft. ulty, board of trustees, and alumni With student voice, the group envisioned. was able to get Tr u s t e e M r. a sense for the Strategic Planning Joe Carlini, who is importance of the needs to explicitly chairing the strateseemingly intanaddress brotherhood gic planning comgible brotherhood – not as a sales pitch, mittee, started the at Malvern and but as something retreat by speaking Alum were able to that truly separates about the old strarelive their familial us from other schools. tegic plan and the experiences. new one in develNearly ever y opment. The old plan began in 2011 group referenced a need to more and will end at the end of the 2016 explicitly express brotherhood and school year. not use it as a sales pitch, but rather This plan was deemed “revolu- something that truly separates us tionary” and focused on an abun- from other independent schools. dance of small goals and seven main Considering every individual in the categories: curriculum, personnel, room saw the need for brotherhood identity/marketing, student life, to be explicitly stated speaks to its enrollment, college counseling, and importance in the Malvern Prep financial stability.

Community.

The new plan which will span Whether you realize it or not, the over the next 3 years, on the other entire four years a student spends in hand, is an “evolutionary” plan. the Malvern Upper School is directed Then Mr. Carlini spoke to why at forming a brotherhood which is we were truly there. Why do we need ultimately solidified senior year dura strategic plan to be successful? ing MECO. Beginning Freshmen “Strategic planning allows us to year with the Brotherhood ceremony, set direction and priorities, get eve- a student becomes part of something ryone on the same page, drive align- larger than himself – something ment, simplify decision-making, and he will foster throughout his high communicate the message,” Carlini said. school experience and throughout During the retreat, we mostly life. We may take it for granted, but Tyler Pizzico ’17

CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER

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Brotherhood is alive at Malvern and it creates a nurturing, caring environment that most other schools could never begin to understand.

Later in the day, we split off into different groups. In these new groups, we were assigned an aspect of the plan, once again either academics, financial stability, and culture. I was assigned to a group that focused in on academics.

We were tasked with organizing a presentation about our topic and distributed our ideas into four categories: monitoring effectiveness, number of students vs. quality experience, the use of technology, and balance of innovation and preservation of our core traditions.

No matter what was presented by either of the groups, everything kept coming back to the idea of brotherhood. Whether it was academics and the need to measure the intangible “brotherhood” through EQ (emotional intelligence), or the need to identify brotherhood to attract more interested students for financial stability, or the need to be brotherly and accept people of all cultures, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds.

This is why I feel Brotherhood is a core aspect of Malvern which needs reinforcing in order for Malvern to have its own true identity and separate itself from other independent schools.

In the beginning of the retreat, we had a talk from Father Don Reilly. He said St. Augustine created a climate of unconditional love and friendship and he was never alone.

Since our school was founded by his order, we should imitate his social presence.

Father Reilly mentioned that the “internal teacher” is Jesus Christ.

The “external teachers” are those at Malvern directing us towards him in heaven. St. Augustine said, “Since God dwells within me, he must dwell in all those I encounter. Therefore to find God, I must find Him in my brothers.” Brotherhood is the key to finding Christ and getting into heaven, which is the main goal of a Malvern Prep experience.

The idea of Brotherhood was especially important during my journey in particular.

When I asked my tour guide at Lasalle what is the most important thing there, he said sports.

When I asked the tour guide at Devon what is the most important thing to the kids here, he said their academics.

W hen I asked my Malvern tour guide what is the most important thing for the students here he answered with words still audible to me three years later: “The sense of a brotherhood and a family always looking out for one another.”

I knew Malvern was an elite academic school and nationally ranked for athletics, but after hearing those words, coming to Malvern was the easiest decision of my life. Malvern brotherhood, in my opinion, is stronger than the football team, requires more dedication than academics, and is more durable than any robot we can build and the fortification of this special bond should be the fourth goal of the strategic plan.

Brotherhood is the center of the Malvern experience and if you are not connected with your brothers, you are missing all Malvern has to offer.D

with Donald Trump, it really isn’t for the others. Corbyn is dedicated to changing Prime Minister’s Questions, a weekly event in the UK, to a less “theatrical” process and more “substantial”.

The change of pace in the Prime Minister’s Questions was welcomed by both Prime Minister David Cameron and Labour voters, as Corbyn used crowdsourced questions during the session.

While many political analysts are lamenting the perceived fall of experienced establishment candidates here in the US, they ignore for the moment people who now finally see a candidate they can support. Maybe this time those candidates will get past more than the first caucus or primary.

Those who typically back establishment candidates dismiss these political outsiders, saying that voters are in a “dating” phase with the outsider candidates, and that the establishment candidates will win in the end.

Well, that certainly didn’t happen with Barack Obama, or with Jeremy Corbyn, who tapped into the political frustrations of voters.

That’s why I don’t see these outsider candidates, or the influence their supporters have, going away. No matter what, there will be a block of voters disinterested with the same-old, same-old politics for better or for worse. And there will always be people waiting to capitalize on that frustration. D