Jaynotes | Vol. 40 No. 1 | Fall/Winter 2013

The Magazine of Jesuit High School of New Orleans

VOL. 40 | FALL/WINTER 2013

New Principal, Familiar Face Peter Kernion '90 Begins His First Year as Principal

INSIDE

2013 Alumnus of the Year • Jesuit's Student Militia of the 60s • Thanksgiving Drive Tradition Continues

Jaynotes, the magazine about Jesuit High School of New Orleans, is published twice a year by the Office of Institutional Advancement. Opinions expressed in Jaynotes are those of the individual authors.

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President Rev. Raymond Fitzgerald, S.J. ’76 fitzgerald@jesuitnola.org Director of Institutional Advancement Thomas V. Bagwill II bagwill@jesuitnola.org Director of Communications Pierre DeGruy ’69 Jaynotes Editor degruy@jesuitnola.org Director of Alumni Affairs Mat Grau ’68 grau@jesuitnola.org

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Director of Special Projects Br. William Dardis, S.J. ’58 dardis@jesuitnola.org Creative Director Meghan Weaver weaver@jesuitnola.org Executive Development Coordinator Krista Roeling roeling@jesuitnola.org LEF & Events Coordinator Logan Diano diano@jesuitnola.org

WHAT’S INSIDE

39 ALSO IN THIS ISSUE Cover Story 24 Alumni Service Corps 26 New Faculty 2013 - 2014 27 The Importance of PAG 27 Blue Jay Scholars 29

Phils' Midsummer Night 33 ROTC Shines at Inspection 33 Small Chapel Renovation Plans 38 Medallion Stories 45 The ABCs of Planned Giving 48

IN EVERY ISSUE President’s Message 2 A Glimpse of the Future Where Y’at 8 Blue Jays here, there, & everywhere Bib List 21 Baby Jays In Memoriam 18 Remembering our loved ones Annus Mirabilis 16 Mining the depths of Jesuit’s archives Flying with the Jays 42 The latest achievements in sports Principal’s Corner 40 Observations of Peter Kernion '90

Alumni Events & Social Media Coordinator Wendy Schneider schneider@jesuitnola.org Volunteer Coordinator Marilyn Beauford beauford@jesuitnola.org Articles, photographs, and Where Y'ats may be submitted to degruy@jesuitnola.org, or mailed to: Jaynotes, Jesuit High School 4133 Banks Street New Orleans, LA 70119 Contact info and address changes should be emailed to alumni@jesuitnola.org, or call Jesuit’s alumni office at (504) 483-3838.

ON THE COVER Peter S. Kernion ’90 — a teacher, coach, administrator, and Blue Jay alumnus — began his first year as principal.

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In the 1976 President’s Report, one of the first formal solicitations appears above a list of 12 named scholarships: “We welcome contributions to these or other scholarship funds. It requires approximately $25,000 to fund a scholarship for one boy at Jesuit High School. At this time there are no fully funded scholarships at Jesuit High School.”

The amount of a fully endowed scholarship increased, but only a few times. When Fr. Anthony McGinn, S.J. became president of the school in 1992-93, the cost of an endowed scholarship was $40,000. Fr. McGinn stepped up the marketing of scholarships to raise money for financial aid.

The current cost of a fully endowed

allocated for tuition assistance. During the 2012-13 school year, Jesuit worked with the families of more than 150 students to make a Blue Jay education affordable, giving a total of $669,100 in tuition assistance with an average of $4,373 per student. Tuition for 2012-13 was $7,700; currently, tuition is $7,980.

Very few of the named scholarships are fully endowed with a single lump sum contribution. Most named scholarships achieve this status over time with one or more benefactors regularly making donations. However, the list of partially endowed scholarships also contains numerous dormant funds. These scholarships were started with a small donation, as little as a few hundred dollars,

Hall of Honors and then, for whatever reasons, forgotten.

Some of these scholarships have been dormant for decades.

Now, when a beneficiary decides to create a named scholarship with a partial contribution, there is an understanding that installment donations will be made regularly with the goal of fully endowing the scholarship within a five-year period.

Jesuit will remain flexible and work with its benefactors to accomplish mutual goals.

Handsome plaques for fully endowed scholarships are on display in the Hall of Honors, located on the second floor of the school. There, they shall remain for posterity, as reminders that the generosity of Jesuit’s benefactors enabled many young men to become Blue Jays whose families otherwise could not have afforded this education. This legacy allows the school to maintain its tradition of never refusing admission to a qualified student whose family cannot afford the tuition.

When a scholarship becomes fully endowed, Jesuit hosts a Mass and reception for the benefactors’ family and friends, if they so desire. The receptions are typically held in the Hall of Honors on a Saturday afternoon, preceded by Vigil Mass in the Holy Name of Jesus Chapel (small chapel) located on the second floor of the Banks Street administration building.

Pierre DeGruy ’69 Editor Interested in starting an endowed scholarship at Jesuit? Contact Tom Bagwill, director of institutional advancement, at 504-483-3841, or email: bagwill@jesuitnola.org.

FROM THE EDITOR

scholarship at Jesuit — Dear Blue Jays: $60,000 — has been in In 1927, New Orleans businessman Henry place for some 12 years.

Prevost gave a huge sum of money to Jesuit Jesuit’s board of directors High School. His son, Francis, who was a recently authorized an student at the new Jesuit High School on increase and beginning in Carrollton Avenue, had died tragically in the 2014 fiscal year (July an accident. Prevost was already an ardent 1, 2014), the cost of a new supporter of the educational mission the fully endowed scholarship Jesuits had brought to their new school in will be $75,000.

Mid-City.

Endowing a named Prevost was also a realist — he knew he scholarship at Jesuit High wasn’t going to take his fortune with School has always been him when he died. And so, while he was a unique way to honor still alive and not long after his son died, loved ones, whether he gave away a considerable chunk — they are deceased or alive. Donations $500,000 — to Jesuit on the condition to scholarships are tax deductible. In that it be used to establish financial aid the 2013 fiscal year, Jesuit received scholarships for deserving students from approximately 350 donations totaling financially strapped families. That was a $352,164 to various scholarships. The lot of money (it was actually in various majority of the donations, 216 to be stocks and bonds) some 87 years ago. In exact (amounting to $167,000), were “in today’s dollars, it would be the equivalent memory of ” someone special who had of $6,485,903.95. Portraits of Mr. Prevost recently died. These contributions were and his son, along with an explanation assigned to Jesuit’s “General Scholarship of his gift, are situated near the school’s Fund.”

Carrollton Avenue entrance. Tuition for The remaining $185,000 in donations the 1926-27 school year was $80. were earmarked for several of Jesuit’s 275 The Francis J. Prevost Scholarship was named scholarships; of these some 140 not the first endowed scholarship. Around are fully endowed and 135 are partially 1901, the Marinoni Family established a endowed. Collectively, all scholarship scholarship, believed to be one of the first, donations are pooled to form part of if not the first. Five or six others sprung up Jesuit’s endowment, which is valued in the Jesuit catalogues of the early 1900s. at approximately $24 million. Jesuit’s endowment is actually a diversified Even after Prevost’s gift, the list of portfolio of investments that is managed endowed scholarships at Jesuit remained by professional firms and overseen by the surprisingly short for many years. That school’s board of directors. same short list of scholarships was mentioned in Jesuit’s annual catalogues for A significant portion of the annual income several decades. from the endowment’s investments is

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A Glimpse of the Future 20/20 vision is a desirable thing — just take the word of someone who has worn corrective lenses since age 8.

The year 2020 also now looms in our future. Looking ahead to that year, I find reason for much gratitude. Those who have brought Jesuit to 2013 have set the school on a firm and strong foundation from which to reach for ever-greater heights. Moreover, throughout the last year, literally hundreds of people have served as “corrective lenses,” sharpening and highlighting the important goals for Jesuit as it moves into the next decade of service — and beyond.

Jesuit High School began its process of strategic planning in the fall of 2012. In every respect, the school did so from a position of strength but with the understanding that it is necessary to build well on these strengths so as to enhance the school’s ability to fulfill its mission to form “men of competence, conscience, and compassion” who are “men of faith and men for others.”

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

In September of 2012, Jesuit made email contact with alumni, parents, faculty, parents of alumni, and spouses of alumni, asking them to participate in an online questionnaire.

The survey was intentionally open-ended, asking for what they saw as Jesuit’s three greatest strengths and three greatest needs at this time. In late October and early November of 2012, current parents, local alumni, and local parents of alumni were invited to evening input sessions, which were facilitated by faculty and staff. In May of 2013, the board of directors and the senior staff met for a day-long session to prioritize the most important points in moving forward to 2020.

Five major areas stood out as key strategic points in Jesuit’s mission: Catholic and Jesuit identity, academic excellence, student life, facilities, and finance. Again, the key consideration here is that each of these areas of Jesuit’s life is poised to take advantage of opportunities to build on current strengths. I thus offer brief portraits of Jesuit High School in 2020 and some of the long-range goals to bring the school and its community to these points.

I: As a ministry of the Society of Jesus, Jesuit exists for the greater glory of God and the good of souls.

I suggest to you that as the civil society in which we live is less supportive of Jesuit’s religious mission, it is all the more important for the school to redouble its efforts to foster the following of Christ through all the days of our lives. Faith formation of young men in their adolescent years requires openness on their part to the calls they receive from God, but it also requires both strong support of the school’s structures and solid examples of adults who themselves seek to find and to do God’s will in their own lives.

In 2020, Jesuit High School is as well known for a solid Catholic and Jesuit formation as for any other area of excellence. Key strategic goals include:

• A solid and sequential theology curriculum that highlights the combination of faith and reason • A comprehensive sequence of student retreats that draws its content and spirit from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola • A vibrant liturgical and devotional life that is an ordinary part of the school’s rhythm of the day and year • Chapel facilities that reflect the centrality of faith in Jesuit’s life • A coordinated campus ministry program that oversees and organizes both faculty and student faith formation and leadership • A faculty development program that includes formation in the spiritual foundations of Jesuit education • Student formation for discerning one’s vocation and participating actively in his faith community • Development of habits of service and justice as key elements of one’s faith life • A community that supports its members’ growth in holiness and moral integrity

II: Academic excellence is a key feature of Jesuit’s historic reputation and current reality. I invite you to consider those teachers who touched your lives most profoundly and positively. I suggest that at the heart of this experience was a strong personal bond, whereby you recognized in that teacher someone for whom you, your learning, and your personal growth were important. For more than 450 years, through a lengthy list of curricular and technological changes, Jesuit schools have maintained a focus on the human interactions that lie at the core of a full and integral education.

In 2020, Jesuit High School’s academic life focuses on the personal connections and interactions that are necessary for an excellent education. Key strategic goals include: • Intentional emphasis on the human interactions (student-student and teacher-teacher as well as teacherstudent) at the heart of all teaching and learning • Student mastery of the human skills of listening, communicating, questioning, evaluating, and adapting • Student responsibility for both individual and collaborative learning • A faculty and administration committed to the mission of Jesuit • A faculty and administration committed to ongoing personal and professional development • Systematic exploration of and evaluation of technology and other curricular tools as means to the educational goals of the school • Coordinated information about and preparation for college choice appropriate to class levels

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• Appropriate support for each student to rise to the demands and challenges of a rigorous Jesuit education

III: Student Life: Many of the most important features of Jesuit education take place outside of the classroom.

These activities are essential co-curriculars, drawing from the bonds formed in regular school hours and enriching the personal connections among students, coaches, and moderators. These fields of endeavor are also the “lab,” if you will, practical arenas in which students develop their own individual skills and grow into leaders who are men of competence, conscience, and compassion.

In 2020, Jesuit High School forms its students through a rich combination of coordinated and cooperating segments of student life. Key strategic goals include: • Well-staffed and well-guided sectors of athletics, campus ministry, co-curriculars, discipline, guidance, service programs, student activities, and student development • Alignment of each of these programs with Jesuit’s formational goals for students, teachers, and staff • Mutual support of one another by the various sectors of student life [e.g., service projects and Masses/prayer services by clubs or teams; student leadership in campus ministry and peer guidance support] • Programs for ongoing improvement of each sector of student life [e.g., ProActive Coaching in athletics] • Comprehensive student leadership formation connecting both class levels and co-curricular activities • Outreach to families through all sectors in support of Jesuit’s formational goals for students

In 2020, Jesuit High School’s physical facilities clearly support and advance the religious, academic, and co-curricular elements. Key strategic goals include: • An updated master plan [following on the work of the 1999 master plan] for annual maintenance of and improvements to the physical plant • The 1926 facility upgraded and readied for its centennial; items include [but are not limited to] the following: • Renovation and restoration of Holy Name Chapel [small chapel] • Upgrade of electric and plumbing infrastructure

V: Finance: If there’s no such thing as a free lunch, there is certainly no such thing as a free Jesuit education. The past 150 years have witnessed a powerful combination of the commitment of the Society of Jesus, the generosity of major benefactors, the outstanding annual support of parents and alumni that enables Jesuit currently to charge a tuition that is only 75% of the cost of operations and to work with every family of qualified students in assuring that they will be able to afford to send their sons to Carrollton and Banks. At the same time, though, every improvement — be it in personnel, services, technology, or facilities — adds to the overall cost of operating a school of excellence.

In 2020, Jesuit High School enjoys the financial resources to support and advance its educational and formation mission, to maintain excellent physical facilities, and to ensure an education accessible to all. Key strategic goals include • Moderated rate of tuition increase • Maintained commitment to financial aid for students otherwise unable to attend • Robust financial support of faculty and staff in salaries, benefits, and professional development opportunities • Sufficient annual financial resources for enhancement of Jesuit’s programs for religious formation, academic excellence, and student life • Annual maintenance/upgrade of facilities [$1-1.5 million] • Substantial endowment increase in order to meet the goals listed above • Formation of a formal planned giving program • Expanded invitation of extraordinary giving for endowment

Rev. Raymond Fitzgerald, S.J. ’76 President

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

IV: Facilities: Jesuit’s main facility at Carrollton and Banks is a venerable and vigorous octogenarian that in 2020 will be eyeing its centennial celebration in 2026.

Some of our newer sections of the Mid-City campus (e.g., the 1953 wing) could now qualify for membership in AARP and have seen decades of service on nearly a daily basis. Jesuit’s buildings bespeak a tradition and dignity that honors our past, and this part of the plan aims at ensuring a building that simultaneously reflects a century of service and that shows itself equipped and fit for another century.

• Upgrade and enhancement [including technology infrastructure] of classrooms • Upgrade and enhancement of hallways • Completion of 1999 master plan items for administration/ residence wing [HVAC, window changes] • Climate control and upgrade of gym

Fr. Fitzgerald Addresses Blue Jays About His Illness Fr. Raymond Fitzgerald, S.J. ’76, president of Jesuit High School, announced to the Jesuit Community on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014 that he has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and intends to step down from the president’s office after the conclusion of the 2013-2014 school year.

One day later, Fr. Fitzgerald took to the podium at a special Morning Assembly and spoke directly to the 1,410 Blue Jays gathered.

Fr. Fitzgerald was initially diagnosed last summer with ALS, which is also called Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and it was confirmed in October 2013. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), ALS is a “rapidly progressive and invariably fatal disease that attacks the nerve cells

(neurons) responsible for controlling voluntary muscles.”

He told students that he is doing what he can to slow down the progression of the disease. He is taking a medication and goes to physical therapy, where the exercises are designed to help him maintain as much muscle function as possible.

Fr. Fitzgerald said his immediate plans are to continue serving as president for the remainder of the school year and to remain at Jesuit beyond that “as long as feasible.”

Echoing what he told faculty, staff, and parents, Fr. Fitzgerald said he is open to discussing ALS and the status of his condition with anyone, although he hastened to add that the disease should by no means be the only topic of conversation on the agenda.

Wearing his sense of humor on his sleeve, Father elicited laughter from some students when he suggested that there are a variety of other interesting and instructive items to “chat about — New Orleans restaurants, the care and feeding of zombies, and Greek verbs, to name but three.”

Looking out over the Assembly, Fr. Fitzgerald said he considered himself “blessed” to be able to do his duty because each day, he has the opportunity to serve God and the means of doing so. “Therefore, my good brothers, this morning I desire to offer something to you and to ask something from you,” he said. “To you, I wish to offer my personal witness to two items from the spiritual arsenal of St. Ignatius.”

The first item is found in the introduction to The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius

(Continued on page 47)

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Jim Ryder ’62 Honored as Jesuit High School’s 2013 Alumnus of the Year

James E. “Jim” Ryder, Jr. — a 1962 graduate of Jesuit High School and a CPA whose expertise and wise counsel in complex taxation and estate planning issues have benefited clients as well as numerous charitable organizations — was honored as the school’s 2013 Alumnus of the Year.

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Jim Ryder’s senior photo from the 1962 Blue Jay Yearbook; Ryder (seated, center) is toasted by previous Alumni of the Year at a special dinner in his honor.

The award, formally the F. Edward Hebert Award (in recognition of the legendary U.S. Congressman from Louisiana who himself was a 1920 graduate of Jesuit High School), is the highest of honors at Jesuit High School. It is bestowed annually on one outstanding Blue Jay alumnus whose significant achievements and exemplary service merit this distinctive recognition. Ryder was honored at the alumni Homecoming Mass on Oct. 20, 2013 in the Chapel of the North American Martyrs. Afterwards, he was congratulated by his fellow Blue Jays at a jazz brunch and reception in the Student Commons.

would be the school’s 56th Alumnus of the Year.

“Jim Ryder is a classic example of a person who, first and foremost, seeks to serve others,” said Fr. Raymond Fitzgerald, S.J. ’76, president of Jesuit High School. “He is the embodiment of what it means to be a man of faith and thus a man for others. Jim’s generosity, his wise and prudent counsel, and his positive and encouraging approach constitute someone special, a professional who enhances any group or institution with which he is associated.”

Ryder is a loyal and generous benefactor and steadfast volunteer who has remained faithfully connected to Jesuit almost from the time he graduated.

He is a member of the Class of 1962’s leadership team and works hard to ensure that his fellow Blue Jays remain connected and of service to each other, and to their alma mater. A fixture at Jesuit’s annual Open House in November, Ryder offers a warm smile, a friendly greeting, and advice if asked, to prospective Blue Jays and their families.

As a member of the President’s Advisory Council since 1994, he frequently, though quietly, toils on the fringe of obscurity, providing wise counsel in all sorts of financial matters, especially if it pertains to planned giving, or as Ryder

Ryder admits that he was caught by complete surprise when Fr. Fitzgerald arrived at his office last summer for a meeting, the purpose of which he had assumed revolved around “the ask,” that is, donating to Jesuit. Instead, Fr. Fitzgerald informed Ryder that he

“There are legions of Jesuit alumni, so many ‘men for others,’ who are worthy of this honor,” said Ryder, who is the first graduate of his 1962 class to be named Alumnus of the Year. “Our Alma Mater describes Jesuit as the ‘star of our youthful years,’ and it certainly was that for me. As the lyrics so well demonstrate, Jesuit is and always will be a guiding light ‘through all the years of life.’ The school’s intrinsic values, the discipline, the friendships, and the formation of the attitude of being ‘men for others’ all have been great influences in my life.”

prefers to call it, extraordinary giving.

Ryder is also heavily involved at St. Mary’s Dominican High School, the alma mater of his wife Peggy and their two daughters, Julie and Christy. He is a member of that school’s board of directors and served as its chairman in 2008-2009. In recognition of his devoted service to the all-girls school, Ryder has the distinction of being the only male to whom Dominican has awarded an honorary degree.

In addition to Jesuit and Dominican, Ryder’s call to service has benefitted several non-profit organizations and their governing boards, including Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Louisiana, Christian Health Ministries Foundation, and the Ruth U. Fertel Foundation.

After graduating from Jesuit, Ryder continued his education with the Jesuits at Loyola University, earning a BBA in 1966 and two years later, an MBA. Ryder made the rounds working at five national and local accounting firms in New Orleans, accumulating a wealth of experience that for him served as a catalyst to “go solo.” He opened a private CPA practice in 1982 and five years later, was recognized by Money Magazine as one of the top five CPAs in Louisiana.

Jim and Peggy Ryder have been married 47 years and have six grandchildren.

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Jim and Peggy Ryder are surrounded by children and grandchildren, and relatives and friends following the Homecoming Mass last October at which Fr. Raymond Fitzgerald, S.J. ’76, president of Jesuit High School, presented him with the F. Edward Hebert Award as the 2013 outstanding alumnus. Ryder is Jesuit’s 56th Alumnus of the Year and the first graduate of the Class of 1962 to be so honored.

Although they did not have a son who might have been a third generation legacy at Jesuit High School, the marriages of their two daughters have maintained a connection to the Jesuits.

Julie is married to Blue Jay alumnus Fred Frey ’84, and Christy is married to Dave Patritti, an alumnus of St. Louis University High, a Jesuit high school in that Missouri city.

Traditionally, the Alumnus of the Year delivers three addresses, one to his fellow alumni at the Homecoming Mass, a second one to the students at morning assembly, and the final one to his fellow Alumni of the Year at a special dinner.

In his remarks to previous honorees, Ryder noted the abiding level of excellence at his alma mater: “Through my work at Jesuit, I see that the dedication and skills of the leadership, faculty, and staff, plus the quality of the students, will ensure that the school produces graduates who will uphold the long tradition of excellence for generations to come,” said Ryder. “I would fully expect a graduate from the class of 2014 who might be selected as

Alumnus of the Year in 2035, 2045, or 2065 to be sharing pretty much the same thoughts as mine. Jesuit gave me a lot and it’s only fitting to give back in some way so that others will be able to share what has been an incredible experience.”

Jim Ryder ’62 addressed his fellow Blue Jays at the annual Homecoming Mass on October 20.

Edited selections of his address are presented below.

on the same flight with (former Jesuit president, Father) Tony McGinn (S.J. ’66). We got to talking about what are the similarities between St. Louis and New Orleans. And one of them is that in both cities, when asked where you went to school, the real question is, “Where did you go to high school?” Of course, as alums of Jesuit, we proudly answer Jesuit High School, or just Jesuit.

On Gratitude to Parents…

I thank my mom and dad for pointing me towards Carrollton and Banks at a very early age. My dad is deceased; he was the Class of ’38. My mom is still with us, but was not feeling well enough to be here. One of my earliest memories was going with my dad to see the Jesuit football team led by John Petitbon, the original “Johnny Football.” I really owe my parents a great deal of gratitude for making the sacrifices to put me and my brother, Jerry of the Class of 1968, through Jesuit.

On What Makes Alumni Proud…

One meeting of the President's Advisory Council was devoted to answering a simple question: “What are you most proud of at Jesuit High School?” Of course, there’s no shortage of answers.

You really don’t have to look much further back than the 2012 Alumnus of the Year, Dooky Chase, as a symbol of the very courageous decisions Jesuit made in the early 1960s in the face of a lot of opposition, some of which came from its own constituencies. You can look at the way Jesuit reacted to and recovered from Katrina. The list goes on and on.

On Where You Went to School…

On a trip to St. Louis, I happened to be

(Continued on page 44)

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WHERE Y’AT 1930s

who crave creative ways to spend their leisure time.

John Shea ’51 was honored

with a plaque of appreciation for his dedication and years of service to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, where he is a former director-at-large on the organization’s Archdiocesan Council board of directors.

Ed Merritt ’53 has retired Mike Early ’33 was honored

by WWL-TV at a special ceremony last October at the station on N. Rampart Street where he spent 37 years presiding as general manager. A framed portrait of Mike was unveiled that visitors and guests will see when they enter the station.

Mike retired from WWL in 1998. He is now 97-years-old and still lives in the family home across from City Park.

CLASS OF

1944 SAVE THE DATE

MAY 3

Couples’ Mass, Cocktails, & Dinner

CLASS OF

1949

from the New Orleans law firm Phelps Dunbar.

CLASS OF

1954 SAVE THE DATE

MAY 31

Couples’ Reception

Peter Quirk ’54 is the

executive director of the stewardship development office of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

Gerard Hansen ’57 served 39 years before his retirement last November as an Orleans Parish magistrate judge. As one of the longest-tenured judges in the metro area, if not the state, Jerry had this to

SAVE THE DATE

MAY 2-3

1950s

Vincent Tumminello, Sr. ’50 is having fun teaching Italian in the People Program, a non-profit organization across the river in Algiers for persons 50 and older

Sondra renewed their marriage vows for their 50th wedding anniversary in a ceremony officiated by Jesuit president Fr. Raymond Fitzgerald, S.J. in the school’s Holy Name of Jesus Chapel. Witnessing the occasion were a host of family members, including the couple’s children —Mike, Jr. ’82, Patrick (a ’91 graduate of Jesuit College Prep in Dallas), David, and Karen (an alumnus of Ursuline Academy) — and grandchildren. Their grandsons are third generation Blue Jays. Mike retired in 2005 after a career in technology and banking, which over the years took him and his family to Chicago, Knoxville, Dallas, Tulsa, and Columbus, OH. The couple settled in Fredericksburg, TX, where they are involved in church and civic activities. Mike and Sondra also spend time traveling around the country and the world visiting their children and grandchildren.

They maintain their ties with Jesuit through frequent visits to Dallas and New Orleans.

Charles Heim ’59 is the interim executive director of the Catholic Foundation of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

CLASS OF

1959 say to reporters upon exiting Tulane & Broad: “For a couple months I’m going to do nothing because 39 years is a long time in this building.”

Mike Elvir ’58 and his wife

SAVE THE DATE

MAY 16-17

Stag & Couples’ Receptions

1960s

Thomas Bonner ’60 had

his poem “The Navigator” published in the scholarly journal War, Literature and the Arts, as well as articles about William Faulkner, Kate Chopin, and New Orleans writers published in the likes of Xavier Review and the Mississippi Quarterly. Tom is professor emeritus at Xavier University of Louisiana and a former distinguished visiting professor at the United States Air Force Academy.

Ralph Burns ’61 still

embraces his career as a fine arts photographer. His work was spotlighted in the 2013 summer issue of Louisiana Cultural Vistas Magazine. The spread featured 17 of Ralph’s “New Orleans” photos, images shot in the prehistoric and pre-digital age of the ’70s, a glorious time when using film was de rigueur for the pros. J. Richard Gruber, who wrote the article for Cultural Vistas, observed that Ralph’s images “reflect an awareness of the earlier social documentary photographs of Walker Evans, Ben Shahn, Russell Lee, and Margaret BurkeWhite.” Ralph and his wife Brigid live in Ashville, NC.

James Conway ’62 has

retired after 45 years of practicing law. “I am now proceeding down the path of being a recovering attorney,” he writes (tongue-in-cheek). “I am guardedly optimistic that I will successfully rid myself of

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This Blue Jay Is Poetry in Motion It all started two years ago this coming spring. Every day, as I looked out over the kitchen sink into the overgrown shrubs in a corner of the front yard of our home in Austin, a gorgeous blue jay would swoop in and flit about.

I had come to look forward to this bird’s daily visits when the local transit authority joined the Austin Poetry Society in announcing a contest for brief poems (eight lines or fewer; 50 words maximum). The 20 or so winners would have their creations laminated and decorated, then plastered for six months on the sides of city busses. The poetry, it was hoped, would somehow make commuting by bus a little less tedious.

I had never belonged to this Poetry Society, never knew it existed. But I saw the announcement in the local newspaper and I had nothing to do until my second-halfof-summer mathematics teaching commenced at Austin this self-inflicted addiction.”

Charlie Grey ’62 retired as a prosecutor in the East Baton Rouge district attorney’s office.

Dan Guillory ’62 participated with other historians, poets, essayists, and journalists in composing a response to the Gettysburg Address, using exactly 272 words, the same length as Lincoln’s famous speech 150 years ago last November. He is considered an authority on President Lincoln and his contribution was part of the Gettysburg exhibit at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, IL. Dan also published a new book of poetry, HousePoems, last August.

CLASS OF

1964 SAVE THE DATE

MAY 30-31

Stag & Couples’ Receptions

Cary Kuhlmann ’64 was

honored as the recipient of the Medical Executive Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the American Medical Association. Cary retired last year after 16 years as the executive director of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama. He learned the ropes of his job by serving in a similar previous capacity for 25 years with the Orleans Parish Medical Society.

Andrew Cupit ’64 and his wife Helena are, indeed, a “couple for others.” Andrew

By Stephen B. Rodi ’58 Community College. So, I tried my hand at some short poems, the brevity being a real motivator since over a few hours or two days, one could craft a reasonably finished product. I penned about fifteen such poems.

To my surprise and delight, my efforts produced two winners in the Austin poetry contest. One of my poems, “The Blue Jay,” should delight every Jesuit alumnus.

The Blue Jay The tangled shrub in need of trim, A spider’s net at spring’s green brim Which filters soft the morning light, Serene, awaits my friend's home flight.

He comes, outside my kitchen sash, A blazing streak of blue, a flash, His head held proud, his stare intense, Asserting full his dominance.

I was unable to attend my 55-year reunion with the Class of 1958 in June 2013. But I sent my Blue Jay poem to some classmates as my long distance contribution to the celebration. A couple of classmates responded that I should send it to Jaynotes. And so here it is. is principal of St. Charles Catholic High School in LaPlace, where Hurricane Isaac flooded more than 7,000 homes in September 2012.

When the Cupits heard of the plight of Andrew’s colleague Tricia Lowry — a teacher who also serves as the school’s admissions and special events coordinator — they reached out. Tricia, her husband David, and their six children (ages 6-16) had just begun the slow process of salvaging possessions and making plans to rebuild. The daunting task was made more challenging for two reasons: David Lowry had been diagnosed with kidney cancer two months prior to the hurricane and the large family had no place to live. “(Andrew) said, ‘Come live with us,’” recounted Tricia in a story published last September on Nola.com.

“Rent free, for as long as we needed. (The Cupits) were amazing.” One week after the storm, the Lowrys, kids and all, moved in with the Cupits and remained with their benefactors for more than 10 months while their house was under construction.

The Lowry family moved into their new home in July 2013, except for David who, only weeks earlier, succumbed to his disease.

Arthur Mann ’64 has

joined The Sundmaker Firm, L.L.C. as “of counsel.”

Arthur continues to be actively involved at Jesuit High School, where he serves on the President’s Advisory Council and as chairman of the school’s board of directors.

André Boutte ’67 is

director of operations for

WHERE Y’AT Watson Realty Corporation in Jacksonville, where he has resided since 1989. Military service originally brought André to the Naval Air Station in nearby Mayport. He proudly served his country for 21 years as a Naval officer and aviator before retiring in 1992. André then successfully transitioned to a career in real estate.

Quintin Gustin ’67 has a private psychology practice in Baton Rouge where he remains a staunch supporter of LSU baseball.

CLASS OF

1969 SAVE THE DATE

MARCH 21-22 Stag & Couples’ Receptions

1970s CLASS OF

1974 SAVE THE DATE

APRIL 4

Stag Reception

at St. Joseph School, the only Catholic high school serving Jackson, MS and the surrounding region. Terry leads the school’s journalism program in which students are involved in all phases of publishing a newspaper and yearbook, and maintaining a news web site. St. Joseph’s journalism program is also the only outlet in the Jackson area for students to air live Internet broadcasts of high school football games.

Before his teaching career began, Terry spent more than 26 years in the media business in Mississippi as an award-winning political reporter, syndicated columnist, newspaper editor, and a political and media consultant. He is married to the former Pam Vance of Madison County and they have two children, Camryn and Matthew.

Ron Yager ’79 is the chief

operating officer of the Willwoods Community, which serves the New Orleans metro area with ministries of affordable housing, faith and marriage, TheDailyMass. com, and WLAE-TV. CLASS OF

Michael Lulich ’76 is senior vice-president and commercial relationship manager at First NBC Bank.

Patrick Kehoe ’77 earned a

master of laws in energy and environment, graduating in May 2013 “with distinction” from Tulane University’s School of Law. Patrick’s newest degree is displayed adjacent to his juris doctorate and M.B.A. diplomas awarded in 1984 by Loyola University.

Terry Cassreino ’79 teaches English and journalism

1979 SAVE THE DATE

JUNE 6-7

Stag & Couples’ Receptions

1980s Rodney Lenfant ’80

is director of accounting and financial reporting at Houston-based Atlantica Management (USA), Inc.

Dale Smith ’81 was

appointed in July 2013 as the 12th head of school at

Isidore Newman School in New Orleans. Dale began his tenure at Newman in 1990 teaching math and computer science, eventually transitioning from the classroom to administrative positions of increasing importance. He has served as dean of students, upper school head, and associate head of school. Dale earned a master of science degree in counseling in 2007 from Loyola University. He and his wife Dara have a daughter, Aimee, and a grandson.

Rick Flick ’82 was among a select group of 56 nationwide automobile dealers who were nominated for the 2014 TIME Magazine Dealer of the Year Award. While Rick was not a finalist, just being nominated for the prestigious award was a tribute to his long-standing commitment to community service. As president of the family-owned Banner car dealerships in Mandeville and New Orleans, Rick has consistently made time to become involved in several charitable and nonprofit organizations. He has served on the board of directors for Boys Hope Girls Hope; St. Tammany West Chamber of Commerce; Good Shepherd Nativity Mission School; and the Louise S. Davis Developmental Center.

“I look at the rewards derived from dealership profits as

gifts that should be shared with those that are less fortunate,” said Rick, who at one time entertained a career in corporate banking until his mother asked him to try working for one year only at the family’s auto dealership. “Once the exhaust fumes got into my blood stream, I fell in love with the business and one year turned into 26.” Rick and his wife Tina live in Covington with their two children.

Frank Fugetta ’82 spent

five days last summer hiking 60 miles of the Appalachian Trail with his oldest son’s Boy Scout troop. He admits that he could not have made it without the help of several Blue Jay Scouts as well as his friend Eric Derbes ’83. Frank is a senior vice-president at First NBC Bank in charge of credit administration. He and his wife Margaret have two sons, one of whom is currently a pre-freshman at Jesuit.

Michael North ’82 is the

newest federal magistrate selected by the judges en banc of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The brief announcement by the court noted that his selection is “subject to completion of a standard background check.” Assume that to mean successfully passing the FBI inquiry, which should be no problem for Mike, who

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The Peters Finney, Award Winners Peter Finney, Sr. ’45, a professor emeritus of sorts among New Orleans’ sports writers and journalists, was honored at the New Orleans Saints’ Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony last November with the Joe Gemelli Fleur de Lis Award for his contributions to the betterment of the Saints, which over the decades, filled huge chunks of his newspaper columns in The States-Item and The Times-Picayune.

When John Gilliam ran back the opening kickoff for a touchdown in the Saints’ very first game at Tulane Stadium, Pete Finney told us about it.

When Tom Dempsey kicked his record 63-yard field goal, Pete Finney told us about it. And when the Saints won the Super Bowl after the 2009 season, Pete Finney told us about it.

At the Hall of Fame awards ceremony, Saints president Dennis Lauscha ’87 lauded Pete as “a true icon in sports journalism.” Joining Finney on the dais were two other Blue Jay Finneys, Pete’s son and grandson. Pete’s son is Peter Finney, Jr. ’74, who is executive editor and general manager of the ClarionHerald and a decorated journalist in his own right.

Pete’s grandson is Rev. Peter Finney III ’06, pastor of St. Clement of Rome Church in Metairie, who delivered the invocation and benediction.

Fr. Finney is Peter, Jr.’s son.

A few months before the Saints recognized his father, Clarion editor Finney was

honored by the Catholic Press Association for his “unequaled class, steady encouragement, and enduring grace” in overseeing the writing and editing at a Catholic newspaper. The CPA conferred on Finney its most prestigious honor — the St. Francis de Sales Award.

“The vocation of a Catholic newspaper editor is a difficult one because it requires elite professionalism that stands upon and yet is separate from stout faith,” the CPA said.

“Sadly, many promising editors quickly discover deficiencies in one area or the

other and move on to jobs that better suit their skills.

However, no one in the history of the Catholic press could have better suited the vocation of news editor than Peter Finney. No one can dispute his journalism skill.

His clear, concise and unbiased reporting make his stories and columns the exemplar for professional journalists.”

Five of his Clarion columns merited Peter second place for the Cardinal John P. Foley Award for Excellence in Catholic Journalism. He also brought home a first place award in news writing on an international issue for his report on the Louverture Cleary Catholic School in Haiti.

served as editor-in-chief of the Tulane Law Review and graduated first in his class.

An attorney for the past 15 years in Louisiana, Mike heads to the bench at Poydras and Camp from the CBD law firm of Preis & Roy, P.L.C., where he was engaged in civil litigation and appellate matters. Mike and his wife Terri have two Blue Jay sons — Eric graduated with the Class of 2012 and Jack is a current freshman. The family lives in River Ridge.

Douglas Charles ’83 was named CEO of Capgemini Government Solutions, L.L.C. in January 2013.

Capgemini is one of the world’s foremost providers of consulting, technology, and outsourcing services.

According to the company’s announcement, Doug “will continue to drive strategy and growth for Capgemini with U.S. public sector clients in the areas of unemployment insurance, business information, independent verification and validation, and consulting services.”

CLASS OF

1984 SAVE THE DATE

JUNE 6-7

Stag & Couples’ Receptions

Jay Hawkshead ’85 is the infection control manager at Touro Infirmary where his responsibilities encompass all aspects of healthcareassociated infections, including surveillance, analysis, and reporting; providing consultation and education to the Infirmary’s staff on infection-control policies and practices;

outbreak investigation and control; and development of hospital policies and procedures to ensure infection control standards meet or exceed regulatory agency requirements.

Thomas Kurtz ’85 is

a principal partner with LEO, L.L.C., a Baton Rouge firm specializing in economic development, local government support functions, and community redevelopment initiatives.

Tommy lives in Prairieville with his wife Rachel and their two children, Dylan and Sarah.

Patrick Lemmon ’86 is a violence prevention educator for the State of Oregon’s Health Authority.

Clinton Gary ’87 is

director of marketing at the Atlanta law firm of Arnall Golden Gregory, L.L.P.

Jimmy Treigle ’87 is a

New Orleans-based human resources professional with Pfizer Pharmaceuticals.

Greg LaCour ’88 is the

director of litigation at the law firm of David J. Lukinovich, A.P.L.C., where he works alongside at least four other Blue Jays — Carl Servat ’93, Jim Dalferes ’67, Craig Daste ’05, and owner David Lukinovich ’77. Greg and his wife Yvette live in Metairie with their five children, one of whom is currently a junior Blue Jay at Jesuit.

Lacour

WHERE Y’AT Patrick McNamara ’88 was honored as the ninth recipient of the 2013 Leadership Excellence Award, which recognizes individuals who have made notable contributions towards improving communities in Palm Beach County. A licensed clinical social worker and a passionate advocate of affordable housing, mental health, and disability issues, Patrick is president and CEO of Community Partnership Group, Inc., a non-profit organization which partners with communities in and around Palm Beach to change the odds for children and families facing social, emotional, and financial adversity. Additionally, he is a board member of the National NeighborWorks Association and the Florida Community Loan Fund. Although Patrick, his wife Ana, and their three children — Nick, Emma, and Brea — have lived in Boynton Beach, FL for several years, he is proud to be counted among

those “Who Dat!” Saints fans.

CLASS OF

1989 SAVE THE DATE

JUNE 20-21

Chris Berthaut ’89 is senior

vice-president of IT Infrastructure Operations at Iberia Bank. Chris and his wife Lisa live in Lakeview with their toddler twins, Emma and Elliott.

Chris Cox ’89 started a fresh job at the beginning of the new year — as the top executive assistant to Jefferson Parish’s chief prosecutor, district attorney Paul Connick.

Previously, Chris served four years as CAO of Jefferson Parish and reported directly to parish president John Young.

1990s

Chris Adams ’90 and his

wife Rori served as volunteer co-chairs for the 2013 St. Aloysius Parish Fair in Baton Rouge, a fundraising event for the church, school, and child care center that attracted a crowd of more than 4,000 people. When he was a senior at Carrollton and Banks, Chris was editor of the Jesuit Yearbook. He also donned the mascot uniform of Jayson and proudly flew around athletic events and the Bazaar just like a good Blue Jay should. It turns out those roles have served him well in his professional life as an independent wealth consultant with more than 20 years experience. He and Rori, along with their two children, Nola and Grant, live in Baton Rouge.

Michael D’Antonio ’91 and his wife Jolie were the volunteer co-chairs of St. Anthony Catholic Elementary School’s 2013 Starry Night Gala in Madison, MS. The fundraising event attracts

upwards of 1,000 benefactors from a three-county region. Mike and Jolie’s two children, Michael and John, attend St. Anthony.

Dan Doskey ’92 is the

video production manager for Legal Graphicworks, a boutique litigation and trial support firm in West Palm Beach, FL where he lives with his wife Trisha and their children, Gus and Lily.

Clayton Mazoué ’92 is the medical director at MHM Urgent Care’s River Ridge facility on Jefferson Highway. Clayton is Board Certified in family medicine and a staff member at East Jefferson General Hospital.

MHM and its partners strive to address unmet medical needs created by the shortage of primary care services and the overcrowding of emergency rooms.

David Stringer ’92 is on staff at 7th Air Force in South Korea until the summer

Just Breathe: An Innovative Medical Device from a Team of Cutthroats Nicholas Chedid ’09 is a member of Team Cut-Throat, a group of five biomedical engineering graduates from Tulane University who as seniors developed a modified “laryngeal mask airway.”

The innovation of this LMA device created a level of rare excitement in the medical research community.

Team Cut-Throat’s device provides patients who are undergoing tracheotomy surgery continuous unobstructed ventilation. At the same time, the mask gives surgeons an unobstructed “EZ-View” of the patient’s throat. Similar devices currently on the market can do one or the other, or a little of both.

Nicholas and his teammates won first place for their EZ-View device at a national student design competition sponsored by ASAIO, formally known as the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs.

Team Cut-Throat was awarded a $20,000 grant from the Louisiana Board of Regents to work with Tulane’s

School of Medicine in developing and refining a prototype of the device.

The experience spurred Nicholas and his fellow “Cut-Throats” to seriously consider Chedid, left, with two members of Team Cut-Throat launching a start-up company Photo courtesy of P. Burch, Tulane Publications, 2013 that would oversee the various intricate aspects required to successfully bring such a product to market, including patent registration, conducting clinical trials, seeking FDA approval, and eventually, the mass manufacturing, marketing, and selling of this LMA.

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of 2015. He and his wife Danielle live in South Korea with their three children: Madelyn, Rachel, and Michael. “Korea is great and the children are enjoying life in base family housing where we are in close proximity to other families and kids,” writes David. “All is well, except that a noon Saints game is shown here at 2 a.m. on Monday. Looking forward to getting a little bit closer to home and the Jesuit family.”

completed his third Ironman Florida, this time in 9 hours, 23 minutes, which qualifies him for the 2014 Ironman World Championship in Kona, HI.

Patrick Quigley ’96 is founder, artistic director, and conductor of the choral ensemble Seraphic Fire. He made his debut at the New World Center in South Florida last November, conducting works by Mozart and Bach. Under Patrick’s direction, two of Seraphic Fire’s recordings — Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem and A Seraphic Fire Christmas — were nominated for GRAMMY awards in 2012.

Gerald Gerdes ’93 was

Will Murphy ’94 is

Kevin Bordelon ’98 is

elected president of the Optometry Association of Louisiana (OAL) for a one year term through 2014.

Headquartered in Oakdale, the OAL is a group of statelicensed optometrists, 300 members strong, who deliver primary eye care to their patients. Jerry sees patients at two offices, one in Oakdale and the other in Lafayette, where he and his wife, Cara, make their home.

CLASS OF

1994 SAVE THE DATE

MARCH 28-29 Jim Martin ’94 recently

featured on the cover of the December 2013 issue of Bank Investment Consultant as the #1 bank advisor in

Stan Ripp ’98 was elected

Tommy Harold ’93 is

head coach of the women’s volleyball team at Nicholls State University. Tommy spent the last 10 years coaching Loyola University’s volleyball team, compiling an overall record of 207-113.

Scott Salathe ’93 married

Megan Moss of Lexington, KY on May 24, 2013 and the couple moved into their new home in Louisville. Scott’s clinical psychology practice in Louisville continues to grow steadily. “It's been a good and very busy year,” he writes. “Sorry I missed our 20th reunion, but you can understand why!”

a sales representative for Valeant Pharmaceuticals.

(See Kevin and wife Brittany’s Bib List entry.)

the United States. Not bad for a guy who relocated to Houston post-Katrina and changed careers. He went to work at Wells Fargo Advisors as a senior financial counselor with not a single client. Will hasn’t exactly sat on his thumbs the past seven years, as evidenced by what the magazine noted was the amount of his 2013 AUM (assets under management), $192 million, an increase of $61 million over 2012. Will and his wife Nicole have two children, Madelyn and Billy.

Joe Galbraith ’96 is

Clemson University’s assistant athletic director for communications.

to the board of directors of the Louisiana Restaurant Association. He is the general manager of Generations Hall and Barcadia Bar and Restaurant, both of which are in the New Orleans Warehouse District. Stan and his wife Natalie live in Lakeview with their two sons, Jackson and Harrison.

Justin LeBlanc ’99 and his

wife Katherine have opened Bevi Seafood Company, L.L.C. on Airline Drive in Metairie between Clearview and Transcontinental.

Sporting an unusual moniker that Justin creatively concocted using the first two letters in their childrens’ names —Benjamin and Violet — Bevi is a combination po-boy styled come-as-

you-are restaurant, as well as a retail market offering customers a dazzling array of fresh Louisiana seafood.

Justin was the chef at the Southern Yacht Club for 15 years until he finally decided to chase his dream and become entrepreneur, chef, caterer, party planner, purchasing agent, and chief negotiator and bottle scrubber, simply by opening Bevi’s doors to the public.

Daniel Redmann ’99 has joined the Metairie law firm of Duplass, Zwain, Bourgeois, Pfister & Weinstock, A.P.L.C. as a partner. His expertise is in the fields of property and casualty litigation.

CLASS OF

1999 SAVE THE DATE

MARCH 21-22

2000s Jason Dussel ’00 was

recently promoted to customer support controller for Kongsberg Maritime, Inc. Jason is a member of the leadership team for the Class of 2000.

Matt Ekstrom ’00 is the

chief recruiting officer at HiringSolved, a company whose revolutionary software facilitates the search for companies looking to hire talented people.

Jason Marcell ’00 is an engineer at Apple, Inc. in Silicon Valley.

Stuart Anderson ’01 competed on Jeopardy!

last fall and was crowned champion on three consecutive contest days.

WHERE Y’AT Four Jays Recognized in Gambit Each fall Gambit Weekly profiles 40 young New Orleanians “who have risen to the top of their field or have developed innovative programs and products to make life better.” Four Blue Jays were among those the paper recognized in 2013.

Jason Hemel ’92 is an independent healthcare consultant and the founder of Peristyle Residences, an assisted living facility for seniors. Jason also serves on the boards of two non-profits: A Shared Initiative, Inc., which combats post-Katrina economic distress, and the Mothership Foundation, which stages the annual Bayou Boogaloo Music Festival.

Ted Joyner ’00 and Grant Widmer ’00 are the Generationals, an indie rock duo who have made several albums and videos, many of which were filmed in New Orleans. They sell out national shows and their success has renewed interest in the city’s indy rock scene. The “power- pop duo” is recording their second album for Polyvinyl Records. Generationals is part of the lineup at the BUKU Music & Art Project Festival on Mar.

Giving the right questions for answers earned Stuart $51,601, pre-tax, of course.

Stuart is an Air Force judge advocate general assigned to Aviano Air Base in Italy.

Sean Landry ’01 is an account executive at Windstream Communications, a provider of advanced network communications, including cloud computing and managed services to businesses nationwide. The company is headquartered in Little Rock.

Jason Brown ’02 began a

fellowship in gastroenterology at Emory University in Atlanta. The demands of his medical education prompted Jason to write: “I can clearly remember the dejection I felt while working a night-shift last June at Grady Hospital while my fellow classmates got together in New Orleans for our 10-year reunion.

Luckily, I had my Jaynotes issues to eagerly peruse. I look forward to re-developing my connections with you all and involving Jesuit more closely in my life.”

Congratulations to Jason on his recent engagement.

Christopher Furlow ’02 is pursuing a Ph.D. in school psychology at the University of Southern Mississippi.

His research focus is in verbal behavior, specifically language acquisition in children with autism spectrum disorders. Prior to moving to Hattiesburg for this new endeavor, Chris was a behavioral clinical practitioner for three years with the Marcus Autism Center in Atlanta.

Sean Hardy ’02 is the first assistant golf professional at Stonebridge Golf Club of New Orleans.

Michael Mulé and Millard Mulé, twins from the Class of ’02, are deep into Republican political ventures.

Michael is the president of UPT Strategies, a fullservice communications and marketing firm specializing in Republican political campaigns. Millard is the political director for the South Carolina House of

21-22 in the Warehouse District. The New York Times Style Magazine noted that the two musicians first became friends while dissecting a pig in biology class at Carrollton & Banks.

Max Ortiz ’96 is the general manager and Ted Joyner and Grant Widmer co-proprietor of Root, along with its soon-to-open companion restaurant, Square Root, which in early 2014 was still under construction at 1800 Magazine Street. Ortiz and his business partner, Chef Philip Ortiz, are making plans for ambitious dining at Square Root, which will be a chef’s table restaurant with only two seatings each night and 15-18 courses per dinner.

Representatives Republican Caucus. In August, Millard married Sarah Romero. They met when both were working for a Louisiana Republican congressman. The couple lives in Charleston, SC.

Emanuel Ohlsen ’02 is in traffic/sales at DanGulf Shipping, Inc.

Matthew Barbier ’03 is

a trombonist and founding member of gnarwhallaby, a Los Angeles-based musical quartet that seems to be on the cusp of making it big. gnarwhallaby performed at Carnegie Hall last November and the New York Times proclaimed the group “startlingly versatile.” The quartet took the stage dressed in matching black outfits.

The Times observed that the musicians “murmured and pounced with the spontaneity of free improvisation, yet

Barbier, left, with gnarwhallaby

always conveyed the sense of a firm guiding hand.” gnarwhallaby took shape in 2011 “to revive and perform repertoire composed for the unique instrumentation: clarinet, trombone, cello, and piano.” Watch out and listen for their debut album, Exhibit A, due out any day on Populist Records.

Louis Bartels ’03 is assistant vice-president portfolio manager at IberiaBank Commercial Lending.

Nicholas Hufft ’03 is the

chef/owner of Curbside Gourmet Street Food and the executive chef at Barcadia Bar and Grill in the Warehouse District. Last July, Nick married Jamie Jean Rittiner in Seaside, FL. The couple lives in Lakeview.

Joe Landry, Jr. ’03 is

serving a one-year clerkship in the federal court of U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey ’69 at Poydras and Camp.

Joe is a May 2013 cum laude graduate of Loyola University College of Law where he was a member of

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the Loyola Law Review. In October, he was admitted to practice before the Louisiana State Supreme Court.

Jonathan Meche ’03 recently moved to Houston where he works at Baker Hughes as an account manager overseeing several operators in the Gulf of Mexico.

Reed Poole ’03 is a

prosecutor in the Orleans Parish district attorney’s office. Last October, Reed married Holly Mabry.

Daniel La Vie ’04 is in

his second year of residency in internal medicine at LSU in Baton Rouge.

In March 2013, Daniel married Katherine Wiltz.

CLASS OF

2004 SAVE THE DATE

JUNE 14

Stag Reception

Gregory Agid ’05 is

emerging as one of New Orleans’s premiere clarinetists.

The Gregory Agid Quartet recently released Mystery Blues, Gregory’s debut record, while Off Beat Magazine nominated him as New Orleans’s Best Clarinetist.

After earning a degree in classical clarinet performance from Loyola University, Gregory tried his hand at codirecting the school band at KIPP Central City. However, he soon focused on the world of performance and songwriting. Gregory is currently pursuing a master’s degree at UNO while playing gigs in the jazz club on Frenchman Street.

Ramon Vargas ’05 has

published a book about Loyola University’s 1945 basketball

team that won a national championship. Fight, Grin, and Squarely Play the Game: The 1945 Loyola New Orleans Basketball Championship and Legacy follows the team’s improbable road to the championship while revealing a wealth of human interest stories along the way. The book’s foreword was written by the dean of sports reporters and columnists, Peter Finney, Sr. ’45, who is a contemporary and friend of several of the championship Wolfpack team members. Meanwhile, Ramon jumped ship at The Times-Picayune, where he was an award-winning reporter covering crime and the courts. In doing so, he did a 180 and is currently sports editor at the New Orleans Advocate, where he has a blast covering his new beat — the New Orleans Saints.

Mark Johnson ’07 is an

audio-visual technician at Loyola University and CYO music ministry director for St. Pius X Church. Mark performs music for Masses at St. Pius and also leads a CYO “praise and worship” band.

Paul Hubbell ’09 is a member of the national runner-up mock trial team at Rhodes College in Memphis.

Mock trial is to Rhodes as basketball is to Kentucky. It’s big. Competing against the likes of Harvard, Columbia, Princeton, and Yale, Rhodes has amassed an impressive record since its program was established in 1987: four national championships, four national runners-up finishes, and 27 consecutive national championship appearances.

CLASS OF

2009 SAVE THE DATE

JUNE 14

Stag Reception

2010s

Todd Jacquet ’12 was an

offensive lineman for the Tulane Green Wave football team this past season.

Paul Stanton, Jr. ’12 had

a terrific season with the Harvard football team and has finally stopped running.

The sophomore running back finished the 2013 season third in the Ivy League with 936 yards, second with 17 touchdowns, and fourth with 1,908 all-purpose yards.

His 15 rushing touchdowns rank third most for a single season in Harvard history. In

Stanton Photo Courtesy of Next Level Photography

“The Game” – Harvard vs.

Yale – Paul tied a 98-year-old record when he scored four touchdowns, an achievement that earned him Co-Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week. At the end of the season, Paul was selected to the Second Team AllIvy Offensive Team, one of only two sophomores to receive such recognition.

Harvard concluded the season 9-1 overall and 6-1 in conference play.

Baseball Alums Contribute to Success of New Orleans Boosters

Six players on Jesuit’s 2011 State Championship baseball team were members of the 2013 New Orleans Boosters team, and made contributions to the Boosters’ fourth place finish at last summer’s AAABA tournament in Johnstown, PA. From left are Luke Voiron ’11, Bubby Riley ’11, Brady Williamson ’11, Matt Robért ’12, Jonathan Hess ’12, and Tony Fortier-Benson ’11. All six play college baseball. Luke and Bubby play at North Carolina State; Brady and Tony play at High Point University in North Carolina; Jonathan plays at the University of Alabama; and Matt plays at George Washington University.

16 | FALL/WINTER 2013

When

Student Prefects ANNUS MIRABILIS

Prowled the Hallways

“The sturdy group of enforcers of the ‘Digest of Student Rules’ once again patrolled the school. Neatly attired in their prefect badges, Mr. Postell’s helpers have continually assigned young men to the tortures in Room 107. The prefect’s kindly countenance could be seen almost everywhere, protecting the innocent and punishing the wicked. They deserve congratulations for upholding the rules despite sometimes overwhelming opposition. ” – From the 1966 Blue Jay Yearbook

I

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n the mid-1960s, Jesuit High School sanctioned a curious social experiment that was unique to Carrollton & Banks as it was radical to education. The year 1964 was the dawn of the Student Prefect Program in which approximately 25-30 seniors and 10 juniors were deputized as “prefects of discipline.” Their main purpose was to assist school authorities with tamping down the seeds of revolution and keeping the peace among the restive population of Blue Jays.

Armed with official “PREFECT” badges pinned above their name tags, the campus cops freely roamed the halls, stairwells, cafeteria, and library searching for criminals or potential criminals acting suspiciously. Woe to those Blue Jays who violated the “rules,” including the slightest of peccadilloes — an untucked shirt, shoes lacking a spit-shine, or littering (a grievous offense). The prefects were powerful and had full authority to dish out Penance Hall, or PH (as it is still called), the equivalent of purgatory in Mid-City. The handful of prefects who regularly dispensed PH were feared, loathed, but never disrespected. These were the prefects who belonged to “Hitler’s Youth Corps,” according to the snickering from underclassmen.

prefects of 1965-66 were “noticeably lax in their duties” and “the sword of their authority… has been dull as a wooden knife.” A harsh editorial in the December 1965 issue argued that if the prefects continued to be “useless,” they would “evolve out of existence.”

“It would be easier explaining black holes or other mysteries of the universe than trying to figure out why the powers that be wanted their own Homeland Security network of teenage spies,” writes Wayne Fontana ’69, who admits that, 45 years later, he still doesn’t know what the administration was up to when it anointed him prefect in junior and senior years.

“The prefects now use their powers at their discretion, they are vigilant for infractions of school rules only when the mood strikes — in effect they have become parttime prefects. This all too common convention must be condemned. Let’s remind the prefects that they enjoy not only a privilege to effect discipline when and where they want, but a grave responsibility to invoke their authority whenever they sport the prefect’s badge.

Indeed, the criteria for selecting student prefects remains somewhat of a mystery and the alumni archives are silent on the topic. It most likely was popularity, and Fontana offers this theory: “It probably had to do with the school identifying you as a combination athlete, ROTC-drill guy, extra-curricular junkie, ‘school leader,’ or ‘bad guy,’ who they were trying to control by including on the ‘team.’ I probably qualified for that latter group.”

Fontana remembers it was extremely rare in 1969 for a prefect to actually give PH. Three years earlier, the editors of the student newspaper, The Blue Jay, had filed the same complaint. The paper tipped off the administration that the

“Despite this lackadaisical attitude, however, a few prefects appear quite vigorous in their efforts to detect violations by their particular adversaries and enemies. In doing so they have contrived a nearly impossible notion — prejudiced justice. Here again the student police violate a moral code that we should be able to assume will be observed.

“For a student body to demand more discipline is revolutionary; and yet, we realize that if these deficiencies increase, the student prefects will become discredited in the administration’s eyes, no longer worthy of school respect, and inevitably extinct.

“The solution can only lie with the prefects themselves. We look to them again to produce a caliber of disciplinarian worthy of authority. We ask them to examine their obligations along with their privileges. We ask them to be consistent and reliable. We ask them to take their position seriously and strive for the just accomplishment of its objectives.”

Student prefects were quietly phased out with the graduation of the Class of 1971. The experiment was never tried again, but if it were, would fail miserably. “The peer pressure would be too great on today’s Blue Jays,” suggested Top Abshire, who has been prefect of discipline going on 21 years. “It was a different time, a different era for the student prefects of the ’60s.”

ANNUS MIRABILIS

Fontana, a partner in the law firm of Fontana & Seelman, L.L.P., notes that the prefect membership was spread fairly evenly among the individual senior classes. “Back in the ’60s, we were divided into classes by curriculum and rank with the smartest guys in 4-A and the bottom of the intellectual food chain occupied by those in 4-F. What a guy from 4-F typically got on his SAT exam was drool. I was in 4-B and our class, by far, had more prefects than the other classes because we simply had more bad guys. We always thought we were as smart as 4-A, but able to get jobs other than teaching. Anyway, the 4-A, C, and D classes had decent representation, but I don’t remember any prisoner guards from 4-E. The one and the only prefect from 4-F was Jay Zainey (’69), who it turns out was an appropriate selection because he’s now a federal judge.”

“Such things as a noisy library and a littered school are often traced to them. If their irresponsibility is either escalated or extended, the administration may find cause to dissolve the student militia. Their efficiency regarding all aspects of their obligations has been poor, and the administration of justice by the officers has been partial in both connotations of the word.

IN MEMORIAM The list of deceased members of the Jesuit High School Community represents information received from June 1 – December 31, 2013. For current announcements, check the “In Memoriam” page on Jesuit’s web site. The symbol † indicates the individual is deceased. The symbol * indicates the individual is either a current or a former member of the faculty or staff of Jesuit High School.

ALUMNI… (By Class Year) John F. Vogt, Jr. ’34 Edmund J. Wheelahan ’34 Paul A. Cazaubon, Jr. ’37 Edward P. LaBruyere, Sr. ’37 William J. Guste, Jr. ’38 Roland F. Poche, Jr. ’38 William T. Welsh, Jr. ’38 Charles B. Richard ’41 Kennedy J. Gilly ’42 Julian E. Hotard ’42 Charles C. Jaubert ’42 Thomas D. Wetzel ’42 Rev. J. Neil Jarreau, S.J. ’43 Pierre J. Stouse, Jr. ’43 John L. Bonnett, Jr. ’44 Rayford J. Coates ’44* Joseph H. Duggan III ’45 Michael J. Ruck ’45 Louis J. Hauth ’47 Harry F. Leveque, Jr. ’47 Raymond V. Mancuso, Sr. ’47 John R. May ’47 F. Joseph Padua, Jr. ’47 Salvatore J. Danna ’48 Joseph V. Housey III ’48 Constant G. Marquer, Jr. ’48 Edward L. Dewey III ’49 John J. McGinn ’49 Cecil J. Murphy, Jr. ’49 Roy L. Schutzmann ’49 Andrew A. Arata ’50 John A. Spansel ’52 James H. Anderson, Sr. ’53 Albert J. Guidry, ’53 Albert J. Suarez ’53 E. Wayne Tschirn ’55 Donald R. Pettavino ’56 Henry C. Vosbein, Jr. ’56 Edward P. Comeaux ’57 Thomas F. Burke ’58 Bernard E. Burst, Jr. ’58 Warren F. Chassaniol ’58 Ellis G. George, Jr. ’58 Earl J. Mendola, Jr. ’58 H. Andrew Dawson, Jr. ’59 Jack J. DiLorenzo ’59 Gerald P. Hotard ’59 Armand J. Suarez ’59 Albert J. Winters, Jr. ’59 Charles M. de Gruy ’60 Kenneth W. Fonte ’60 Avery J. Blanchard ’62 A. William Dufrechou, Jr. ’62 John L. Picone, Jr. ’62 Ralph P. Roemershauser ’62 Charles J. Moseley, Jr. ’64

Thomas E. Weiss, Jr. ’69 Michael R. Hamilton ’70 Kip J. Kreutz ’71 Benigno A. Martinez III ’72 John T. Culotta, Sr. ’76 Thomas G. Parenton ’77 René C. Farve ’78 William B. Latham ’79 Robert J. Martin, Jr. ’80 Stephen D. Gammon ’81 David P. Liberto ’88 Christopher A. Turnbull ’90 Byron J. Stewart, Jr. ’03 FACULTY /STAFF...

Rayford J. Coates ’44 (faculty, 1959-1988) William G. D’Aunoy, Sr. (staff, 2009-13) Robert J. Eitel (faculty, 1973-75) Rev. Donald A. Hawkins, S.J. (faculty, 1970-73; 1977-80; 1989-98) WIFE OF… (By Last Name) Robert B. Acomb, Jr. ’47 Gregory J. August ’79 Hamilton O. Barre ’44† Brent R. Bellows ’90 George W. Bennen ’44† Rodolph J. Bourgeois ’46† James N. Breaux ’62 W. Perry Brown ’41† Louis P. Codifer, Jr. ’35† Joseph L. Cull, Jr. ’34† John A. Crutti ’63 Victor E. Dauphin ’48† Robert J. Doskey ’38† John C. Drouilhet, Jr. ’48† John E. Faherty ’53 Maurice J. Farnet, Jr. ’48† Gerard J. Fasullo, Sr. ’51 Gerald P. Fedoroff ’50† Chalon L. Fogarty ’28† George F. Gaudin, Jr. ’39† Harold J. Gilbert ’46† Robert J. Guidry ’54 Werner J. Hagen ’45† Allen H. Heidingsfelder ’37† Gerard H. Hilbert ’42 Gerald A. Hynes ’47 Frank P. Incaprera ’44 Charles G. Jacques, Jr. ’40† Albert P. Keller ’55 Leopold Kleinschmidt ’24† Reuben W. Mayronne, Jr. ’34† John F. McCloskey, Jr. ’48† John C. McGuinness ’30†

Emile L. McMillan ’41† Warren E. Mouledoux ’39† Matthew C. Mount, Sr. ’51† Donald D. O’Neil ’51 Frank J. Randazzo ’57 Lionel A. Scott, Jr. ’39 Hewitte A. Thian ’43† Frank C. Toye ’49† Clarence J. Truxillo ’48† FATHER OF… Bruce A. Bannon ’74 Pat F. Bass III ’87 David L., Jr. ’87, Eric H. ’91, Mark V. ’93, Kevin C. ’94, & Jon A. Beach ’95 Robert G. Bischoff ’77 William B. Boyd ’16 Nicholas B. Braden ’97 David J. Calogero ’75 (stepfather) Paul E. ’85, Norman E. ’89, & David E. Comeaux ’92 Harvey M. Couch ’94 Alexander M. III ’72 & Christopher E. Crighton ’79 John T. Culotta, Jr. ’13 Salvador J. D’Amico, Jr. ’69 Robert M. Deano ’81 Alex C. Deshowitz ’06 (stepfather) E. Peter ’75 & A. Thomas Dewey ’84 Brett J. Dipuma ’14 Scott A. Drewes ’88 Stephen D. Enright, Jr. ’86 John L. ’97 & Christopher L. Eskew ’99 William J. Guste III ’66 Matthew R. ’97 & Todd O. Hamilton ’01 Kristopher J. Heigle ’85 Lawrence M. ’73, Daniel P. ’76, & Brian S. Henling ’77 Michael J. Hernandez ’79 Douglas M. ’94, Stephen J. ’03, & Daniel M. Hoskins ’04 Philip E. III ’83 & Michael S. James ’89 David F. Jaubert ’75† Guilllaume S. Kirsch ’14 Edward P. LaBruyere, Jr. ’62 David M. Leslie ’91 Gerald V. ’86 & Michael J. Lewis ’87 Eric S. Lowry ’96 Earl L., Jr. ’77 & Paul G. Mangin ’80 Joseph M. Maurin ’83†

Bryan P. Melan ’73 Edmond B. Montaldo III ’80 Patrick J. Murphy ’82 John L. Picone III ’91 Thomas J. Richard ’70 John L. Ruck ’78 Danny E. Schellhaas ’83 Jeffrey S. Silbernagel ’79 Stephen C. Simmons ’80 Mark J. ’73 & Paul J. Spansel ’77 Bryan D. Spraberry ’83† J. Paul Stouse ’80 David B. Tregre ’77 David A. Van ’74 George ’88 & Efthimios Vassilas ’96 Ronald W. West II ’91 Thomas D., Jr. ’65 & Shelley A. Wetzel ’70 David B. Willem ’71 Charles J. ’75 & Jack C. Winters ’80 MOTHER OF… Robert W. Barre ’75† Raphael A. Benitez III ’80 Carlo S. Bonura ’59 Brad C. Bordes ’94 John R. Bourgeois ’82 Mark B. Breaux ’95 Michael A. ’72, André J. ’74, & Emile J. Broussard ’76 W. Kirk ’61 & Robert E. Carney ’79 Donald P. Cerise ’69 David P. Cristina ’73 Rene G., Jr. ’72 & Rivet J. Daigre ’75 V. Barry Dauphin ’77 T. George ’64 & William J. Delsa ’73 Thomas J. Donovan III ’63 Walter C. Doskey ’74 John C. III ’84† & Patrick W. Drouilhet ’84 John E. Faherty, Jr. ’83 Ivan P. ’73†, James D. ’78†, & Christopher A. Fedoroff ’81 (stepmother) Richard Q. Flick ’82 Michael J. Fogarty ’58 Joseph P. Franks II ’63 Wayne E. ’47† & John I. Frederic ’58 (stepmother) Charles H. Gaudreau III ’97 Harold J. Gilbert, Jr. ’68†

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Christopher D. Guidry ’80 (stepmother) Gerald T., Jr. ’65, Eric W. ’66, & Karl M. Hennings ’77 Charles F. ’71 & James T. Incaprera ’78 Gary F. Kleinschmidt, Sr. 59† Kenneth L. Lange ’67 Albert O. Lanoix, Jr. ’58 (stepmother) Dale J. ’67 & Wayne M. Martiny ’69† Edwin J. Mazoue, Jr. ’62 Richard L. McCarthy ’64 Dean R. ’78†, Lon L. ’80, & Glen M. McCloskey ’81 James P. Moises ’83 Warren E., Jr. ’67, André J. ’68, Rene J. ’68, John V. ’73, & Guy L. Mouledoux ’78 Matthew C., Jr. ’80 & Sean P. Mount ’83 Stephen M. Pumilia ’72 Thomas J. Rebler, Jr. ’78 Stanley J., Jr. ’59, Thomas J. ’70, & Robert J. Roux ’76 Kenneth B., Jr. ’67, Charles E. ’69, Robert R. ’76, & Jon M. Ruello ’77 Darrel C. Schexnayder ’80 Antonio P. Sevilla ’78 George W. Shuman IV ’79 Richard A. Stringer ’63† Jude H., Jr. ’80, Kevin M. ’82, & Richard C. Trahant ’85 Thomas L. Vance III ’85 Ryan C. Velez ’10 John H. Wise ’69 D. Todd ’75 & Bryan M. Wolff ’82 BROTHER OF… Eugene W. Abadie ’30† William J. Anderson ’47 Thomas C. Arata ’56 Lawrence C. ’65, Gerard D. ’70, & Patrick W. Braud ’73 Bernard E. Burst, Jr. ’58 John J. Culicchia ’83 Christopher C. Dey ’69 Reynaud M. ’71 & André S. Farve ’75 F. Douglas Fonte ’56 Louis H. Fricke ’40 Wallace E. Gammon, Jr. ’75 Gerald S. George ’60 James J. ’38† & Edward J. Gilly ’41† Douglas S. Goodliffe ’67 Msgr. Arthur W. ’32† & Warren Hauth ’38† Paul J., Sr. ’48† & John L. Hernandez ’50 William P. Hindelang, Jr. ’40† Lawrence H. Hoskins ’73

Charles L. Jarreau ’42† Francis L. Jaubert, Jr. ’41† David M. ’69, John F., Jr. ’72†, & Mark D. Latham ’80 Patrick J. Laughlin, Jr. ’44† Ignatius P. ’80 & Salvatore A. Liberto ’90 Edward J. Moseley ’66 John J. Mullen ’90 James G. ’52 & William J. Murphy ’61 O’Neil J. ’73, Patrick J. ’74, Timothy M. ’80, Michael J. ’84, & Kelly L. Parenton ’90 Matthew C. Perret ’81 Travis N. Rauch, Jr. ’44 Louis E. Richard ’41† Joseph V., Jr. ’72 & Keith C. Rodrigue ’79 Ronald J. Roemershauser ’63 Edward C. Seghers ’31† Alfred J. Spansel ’54 Gerald J. Terese ’76 John S. Thiele ’70† Darryl J. Tschirn ’58 Stanhope P. Turnbull, Jr. ’79 David C. ’58 & Robert A. Vosbein ’61 James H. ’37†, George J. ’39†, & Donald C. Wetzel ’46 Rehm T. ’61†, Michael E. ’63, & Brian D. Winters ’70 SISTER OF… Arthur R. ’44 & Robert A. Adams ’58† Bernard J., Jr. ’61 & Broderick A. Bagert, Sr. ’65 G. Dufour Bayle ’51 Byron J. Berteau ’41† Charles A. Bourgeois, Jr. ’49 Clayton J. Charbonnet, Jr. ’63 Charles L. Chassaignac ’57 Stanley J. ’34†, Hubert J. ’35†, William T. ’38†, Gerard F. ’39†, & John M. Coogan ’41† Fred G. D’Aunoy ’33† Rev. Edward J. Dougherty, S.J. ’59 Stephen D. Enright, Jr. ’86 Joseph F. Ernst ’35† Hugh J. Farnet ’45† Charles C., Jr. ’37† & John J. Farrell ’40† Rev. Albert S., S.J. ’29†, Ivan M. ’33†, & Gerard L. Foley ’38† Albert H., Jr. ’53 & Carl C. Hanemann ’61 David M. ’79 & Byron J. Hatrel ’84 Robert R. ’59 & Stephen O. Johns ’65 J. Henry Joubert ’52† Paul W. Juneau, Jr. ’45† Victor G. Lachin, Jr. ’46†

Milton L., Jr. ’38† & Bryce J. LeBlanc, Sr. ’40 J. Dwight LeBlanc, Jr. ’55 George A. Miller, Jr. ’69 Cecil J., Jr. ’49, James G. ’52, & William J. Murphy ’61 Todd M. Nebel ’81† Louis P. Nogues, Jr. ’35† Frederick R. ’58† & Morris C. Schwartz ’64 Rev. Msgr. Arthur T. ’34† & John F. Screen ’34† Raymond, Jr. ’38† & Emile S. Sherrard ’39† SON OF… Paul G. Charbonnet, Jr. ’36† Larry P. Colgan, Sr. ’57 (stepson) Harold S. Dey, Jr. ’40† Pierce E. Goertz, Sr. ’33† Walter C. Hanemann ’23† Carroll P. Lincoln ’39† Robert J. Martin ’55 Benigno A. Martinez, Jr. ’35 Charles W. Murret ’47 William J. Perret ’46 Albert J. Winters, Sr. ’31† DAUGHTER OF… Clayton J. Charbonnet ’38† Albert H. Hanemann, Sr. ’15† Paul P. Hatrel ’52 John L. Kron, Jr. ’31† Joseph E. Leininger ’28† Linus J. Monguillot ’39† Jules J. Mumme, Jr. ’26† Stephen M. Pesce ’97 GRANDFATHER OF… Brian E., Jr. ’07 & Andrew E. Adorno ’10 James M. ’04, Michael N. ’09, & Christopher D. Arruebarrena ’11 Hunter W. Babineaux ’18 Jonathan H. Becnel ’02 Dane A. ’96 & Garrett J. Bono ’99 Nicholas J. Burke ’12 Adam W. Burmaster ’09 Bradley S. ’99 & Patrick S. Carson ’08 John M. Cazabon ’17 James D. Cesario ’04 Connor M. Champion ’07 Andrew R. ’03 & Benjamin L. Chaplain ’08 Peter M. Crowsen ’00 David E. Deruisa ’03 Ara D. Dombourian ’99 Ryker M. Doskey ’11 Christopher M. ’06 & Thomas M. Drewes ’08 Pierre M. Dupleix ’00 Stephen D. Enright III ’15 Leon A. Flettrich IV ’09

Matthew J. ’05 & Ryan P. Flynn ’09 George M., Jr. ’00 & Thomas C. Gilly ’01 Mako C. Giordano ’15 Maxwell M. Grosch ’15 Andrew R. ’03 & John C. Gulotta ’03 William J. IV ’98 & John P. Guste ’00 Russel E. Halsrud III ’92 Kyle S. ’10, Sean R. ’12, & Kory J. Hannan ’14 Ethan A. ’13, Taylor L. ’13, Joseph L. ’14, & Jason L.M. Hauth ’15 Michael T. Hooper, Jr. ’10 Michael H. Horchoff ’06 John R. Illg III ’17 John K. Jackson ’17 Jeffrey M. James ’99 David E. Junker ’06 Anthony D. Kelly ’18 Timothy M. Lala ’09 Robert J. Laviolette IV ’02 Joseph K. Lobrano ’13 Cameron J. Loposser ’10 Lester J. III ’06, Matthew E. ’07, & Jeffrey L. Madere ’12 Brandon M. ’98 & Kyle N. Maitre ’02 John W. Mobley ’18 Edmond B. Montaldo IV ’08 James S. ’10 & Philip T. Murray ’13 R. Robert Nix ’96 Dennis M. Occhipinti ’10 Joseph J. Palermo ’00 (step-grandfather) Blaine M. Perkins ’10 Kyler T. Pisciotta ’16 Jared D. ’12 & Scott M. Prados ’17 Michael J., Jr. ’97, Ashton C. ’01, & Andrew J. Prat ’08 John F. III ’00, David W. ’05, & Gregory S. Prieur ’08 Colin J. Rhode ’10 Michael S. ’02 & Robert D. Ricci ’05 Hunter B. ’15 & Zachary H. Robert ’16 Jules A. Saunee IV ’02 Robert J. Schindler ’06 Parker A. Schmidt ’13 Alexander J. Schneider ’06 Erik M. ’01 & Brett G. Spansel ’14 James E., Jr. ’14, Kyle A. ’15, & Charles C. Szeszycki ’17 Gary J. Toca ’06 Christopher M. Tregre ’10 Benjamin L. ’04 & Andrew G. Triche ’08 Nicholas A. ’04 & Matthew J. Tusa ’10

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Tevis B. IV ’94 & Sean L. Vandergriff ’98 Jacob H. Volpi ’12 Christopher H. Willem ’09 Walter J. Wiltz IV ’03 Louis E. Wyler ’01 GRANDMOTHER OF… Joseph R. Acomb ’11 Grant M. Adolph ’05 Eugene A. Antoine III ’92 Evan M. Arceneaux ’12 Michael ’89 & Richard Barnett ’94 Brad P. Bennen ’08 David J. Bindewald, Jr. ’89 Ian C. Blackburn ’97 Jacob M. Bordelon ’18 (step-grandmother) Steven J. Boulware ’89 Matthew M. Bowman ’04 Christopher P. ’03 & Jimmy J. Brown ’13 Jason M. Brown ’02 Justin P. Cade ’99 Evan M. Carrie ’15 Bradley S. Carson ’99 Jonathan B. Cerise ’98 Charles J. Chatman ’82 Andrew S. Clavin ’11 Ryan L. Comeaux ’99 Thomas E. ’98 & Timothy A. Constant ’01 Marcus W. Curtis ’80 Eric P. ’97 & Andrew J. Cusimano ’99 Joseph D. Cvitanovich ’16 Charles E., Jr. ’13 & Joshua M. de Boisblanc ’15 Bernard A. III ’01 & Joseph C. De Santis ’04 Daniel D. Dehon ’03 Thomas B. ’92, Christopher C. ’99, & Thomas A. Delsa ’18 Patrick H. Denenea ’13 Dustin M. Dillmann ’09 Kenneth J. Domilise ’92 Jack A. Ehrhardt ’18

John P. Faherty ’15 Luke B. Falgoust ’04 Jeffrey M. ’06, Matthew K. ’10, & Christopher J. Farnet ’11 Douglas J. Farrell ’87 Kyle A. Fasullo ’11 John W. ’00 & Stephen T. Finigan ’03 Evan M. Flynn ’15 Joseph V. III ’91 & David H. Franks ’97 Christopher M. ’85, Kevin R. ’86, Keith P. ’90, & Kirk K. Gagnon ’98 Robert M. Guidry ’13 Evans M. ’08 & Brady M. Hadden ’10 Patrick E. Haggerty ’05 Ryan J. ’13 & Justin M. Helm ’15 Cornelius R. Heusel ’18 Michael J. Hickey ’16 Gary J. Hollander III ’16 Nicholas J. ’12 & Philip L. Hourguettes ’17 Jonathan R. Howe ’03 Ben A. Incaprera ’15 Gary F. Kleinschmidt, Jr. ’80 Patrick A. Lagarde ’00 Joseph F. III ’99, Jonathan M. ’02, & Jason J. LaHatte ’15 Adam L. LaHoste ’10 Kristopher L. Martinez ’02 James H. Mason ’18 Jeffrey P. Mauras ’12 Christopher G. ’88, Clayton ’92, & Chad G. Mazoue ’96 Ryan P. McMahon ’14 Sean S. ’06 & Alec E. Melendreras ’10 Justin P. Meunier ’98 Peter D. Michiels ’18 John C. Montgomery ’05 Warren E. III ’94, André J., Jr. ’97, Taylor P. ’01, Jacques A. ’03, & Pierre W. Mouledoux ’04 Matthew C. Mount III ’16 Daniel G. Murphy ’08

Aaron J. Netzhammer ’97 Nathaniel T. Obiol ’04 Richard J. III ’16 & Colin R. Oubre ’18 Gavin P. ’14, Peyton T. ’14, & Garrett M. Pertuit ’17 Robert A. ’91 & Brian L. Porche ’95 Patrick J. Rappold ’15 Sidney H. Raymond ’89 Jeffrey M. ’99, Jeremy M. ’01, James M. ’10, & Joseph M. Reuther ’10 William C. Richard III ’93† Matthew M. ’02, Christopher J. ’06, & Michael N. Riehlmann ’10 Ryan M. Robicheaux ’99 Michael J. Rodriguez ’00 Kevin J. Rosier ’00 Ryan M. Roussel ’07 Kenneth B. III ’05, Michael R. ’09, & Jon M. Ruello ’16 Evan T. ’16 & Peyton C. Ruppert ’16 Zachary A. Sampson ’04 Herbert A. IV ’88 & Gerald A. Schaeffer ’90 Melvin N. Schneider III ’00 Andrew J. ’07 & Benjamin R. Schwehm ’12 Nicholas N. Shuman ’07 Steven P. Sickinger ’03 John C. Skelton ’10 John R. Smestad, Jr. ’92 Ewell M. Smith ’85 Patrick S. Spiers ’17 Jonathan W. Stricks ’01 David C. Stringer ’92 Brett B. Summerville ’98 Douglas A., Jr. ’01 & James W. Swift ’08 Sean Z. Tillery ’13 Christopher E. ’09 & Richard C. Trahant, Jr. ’14 Clifford C. Van Meter ’09 Jerome M. Volk III ’99 Francis G. Weller ’15 Ezekiel J. Wetzel ’93

Howard G. White, Jr. ’87 James W. White, Jr. ’01† David L. Williams, Jr. ’11 Justin P. ’99 & Joshua M. Windham ’01 Matthew J. ’13 & Brandon M. Wolff ’16 Mark W. Woods, Jr. ’14 Kevin E. ’14 & Logan K. Yokum ’16 GRANDSON OF… Paul G. Charbonnet ’13† Edward J. Martin, Sr. ’29† Hilton F. Meunier, Sr. ’37† GRANDDAUGHTER OF… John J. Dardis ’59 George G. Pesce ’63 GREAT-GRANDFATHER OF… Luis E. Balart, Jr. ’13 GREAT-GRANDMOTHER OF… Richard J. Besselman, Jr. ’17 Taylor M. Bologna ’10 Shane J. Delery ’09 Chalon L. ’16 & Ian M. Fogarty ’17 Richard T. Gallagher III ’15 Alexandre P. Raymond ’09 Colby A. ’14 & Parker A. Simoneaux ’17 GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER OF… Harry N. Charbonnet ’36† William J. Dardis ’25† Send information and corrections to Br. William J. Dardis, S.J. ’58: dardis@jesuitnola.org, (504) 4833814. Alumni who live outside the New Orleans metro region are especially encouraged to send information about deceased loved ones.

In Memoriam Fr. Donald Hawkins, S.J. Fr. Donald Hawkins, S.J. whom many knew as a teacher, colleague, or priest, departed this life on the morning of Dec. 30, 2013. He was 67 years of age; he had been a Jesuit for 48 years and a priest for 37 years. He taught at Jesuit High School as a scholastic from 19701973 and again as a priest from 1977-1980, and from 1989-1998. He served in various capacities at Jesuit, including as chairman of the theology department, director of campus ministry, and chaplain.

BIB LIST Betty & David Cambre ’62 on the birth of their grandson, Tate Alexander Self, March 7, 2013. Tate is the great-grandson of the late William Cambre ’29 and the nephew of Clay Cambre ’90, Brandon Cambre ’94, and Colin Cambre ’00.

Dolly & Harry Breaux, Jr. ’69 on the birth of their grandson, Jonah Tripp Lauga, June 28, 2013.

Amy & Spencer Hayman ’70 on the birth of their first grandchild, Bram Alexander Hayman, April 10, 2013.

Rebecca & Bob Angelle ’71 on the birth of their daughter, Eleanor Louise Angelle, June 18, 2013.

Eleanor is the niece of Sidney Angelle ’74.

Yazmin & Charles Incaprera ’71 on the birth of their grandson, Tyce Luke Incaprera, August 1, 2013.

Tyce is the great-grandson of Frank Incaprera ’44 and the nephew of James Incaprera ’78.

Chere & Bill Prados III ’73 on the birth of their grandson, Ryan Jacob Prados, February 14, 2013. Ryan is the great-grandson of Wilfred Prados, Jr. ’48.

Christine & Mickey Parenton ’84 on the birth of their son, Jude Miles Parenton, December 27, 2013. Jude is the nephew of O’Neil Parenton ’73, Pat Parenton ’74, Tim Parenton ’80, Kelly Parenton ’90, and the late Tommy Parenton ’77.

Gigi & Kyle Graffagnini ’91 on the birth of their daughter, Angela Rose Graffagnini, March 14, 2013. Ela is the niece of Todd Graffagnini ’87.

Shawn Ann & Charles Haddad, Jr. ’91 on the birth of their son, Daly Tompson Haddad, January 27, 2013. Daly is the grandson of Charles Haddad ’63.

He is the nephew of O’Neil Parenton ’73, Pat Parenton ’74, Tim Parenton ’80, Mickey Parenton ’84, Kelly Parenton ’90, Stephen Haddad ’96, and the late Tommy Parenton ’77.

Loren & Michael Monahan ’92 on the birth of their third son, Michael Conlan Monahan, November 18, 2013.

Elizabeth & Mark Mansfield ’93 on the birth of their son, William Mansfield, November 1, 2013.

William is the grandson of William

Kelley ’67. He is the nephew of Peter Mansfield ’96 and John Kelley ’98.

Colleen & Scott Spinnato ’93 on the birth of their son, Jett Spinnato, November 6, 2013. Jett is the nephew of Brian Spinnato ’86.

Gina & Jim Martin, Jr. ’94 on the birth of their son, Thomas Finn Martin, September 14, 2013.

Thomas is the grandson of Jim Martin ’68.

Jill & Patrick Passantino ’94 on the birth of their third child, Nathan Passantino, April 13, 2013. Nathan is the great-grandson of the late James P. Turner (1917) and the nephew of Brian Passantino ’87 and Carl Passantino ’96.

Kirsten & Jonathan Kowalski ’95 on the birth of their third child and first daughter, Genevieve Kowalski, January 2, 2014. Genevieve is the niece of Chris Kowalski ’91.

Jessica & David Raborn ’96 on the birth of their third child and first daughter, Janie Elizabeth Raborn, October 18, 2012. Janie is the niece of Joey Raborn ’94.

Cheryl & Scott Radosta ’96 on the birth of their second child and first daughter, Madeline Whitney Radosta, June 18, 2013.

Ginger & Mark LaCour ’97 on the birth of their second child, Caroline Best LaCour, November 19, 2013.

Caroline is the great-granddaughter of the late John Vigo ’41 and the granddaughter of Charles LaCour ’70.

Maria & Eugene Landry ’97 on the birth of their son, Parker Eugene Landry, September 20, 2013.

Kimberly & Ryan Neal ’97 on the birth of their second child and first daughter, Maggie Rae Neal, June 29, 2013. Maggie is the niece of Brian Landry ’94 and Brad Landry ’97.

Shelly & Harris Zeringue ’97 on the birth of their second child and first daughter, Catherine Mary Zeringue, April 17, 2013. Catherine is the niece of Floyd Pitcher ’86 and Aaron Zeringue ’87.

Brittany & Kevin Bordelon ’98 on the birth of their first child, Landon Allan Bordelon, June 24, 2013.

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Sarah & Brandon Briscoe ’98 on the birth of their daughter, Caroline Jane Briscoe, November 8, 2013.

Caroline is the niece of Scott Briscoe ’00, Jeffrey Briscoe ’04, and Kyle Briscoe ’06.

Anne & Matt Orillion ’98 on the birth of their son, Jude Michael Orillion, October 16, 2013. Jude Michael is the nephew of Jonathan Orillion ’01.

Lacey & Gerard Discon III ’99 on the birth of their third son, Brady John Discon, November 19, 2013.

Brady is the great-grandson of John Discon ’50 and the grandson of J. Gary Discon, Jr. ’75. He is the nephew of David Discon ’16.

Linda & Joey Fenasci ’99 on the birth of their son, Joseph Philip Fenasci, December 10, 2013.

Elizabeth & Henry Hefler, Jr. ’99 on the birth of their second child and first son, Henry J. Hefler III, September 5, 2013.

Kristin & Keith Jenkins ’99 on the birth of their second child and first daughter, Kate Audrey Jenkins, May 24, 2013.

Adrina & Andrew Marshall III ’99 on the birth of their third child and first son, Andrew J. Marshall IV, July 22, 2013. Andrew is the nephew of Jacob Garbin ’94 and Jared Vincent ’94.

Amy & Mark Haley ’00 on the birth of their daughter, Katelyn Grace Haley, May 6, 2013. Katelyn is the niece of John Paul Haley, Jr. ’96 and Michael Giardina ’02.

Sara & Julian Hillery III ’00 on the birth of their son, Julian Swoop Hillery IV, April 25, 2013. Swoop is the grandson of Jubi Hillery, Jr. ’76 and the nephew of Will Hillery ’17.

Ashley & Troy Norton ’00 on the birth of their son, Jacob Douglas Norton, June 23, 2013. Jacob is the nephew of Taylor Norton ’98 and Timothy Norton ’06.

Abigail & Stephen Pivach ’00 on the birth of their second child and first daughter, Lucille Frances Pivach, February 20, 2013. Lucille is the granddaughter of George Pivach II ’73 and the niece of John Pivach ’06.

Aimee & Sefton Spangenberg ’00 on the birth of their son, Philip Francis Spangenberg, April 20, 2013. Philip is the great-grandson of Richard Spangenberg ’43.

Elizabeth & Jason Baer ’01 on the birth of their son, Carter Matthew Baer, January 24, 2013.

Katie & Leon Cannizzaro III ’01 on the birth of their son, Leon Andrew Cannizzaro IV, November 19, 2012. Leon is the nephew of Chris Cannizzaro ’03.

Jennifer & Eric Milazzo ’01 on the birth of their triplet daughters — Madeline Rose, Sadie Marie, and Mackenzie Kathryn — September 30, 2013. Madeline, Sadie, and Mackenzie are the granddaughters of Anthony Milazzo, Jr. ’67 and the nieces of Anthony Milazzo III ’96.

Lauren & Parker Schonekas ’01 on the birth of their daughter, Olivia Rae Schonekas, May 4, 2013. Olivia is the niece of Myles Schonekas ’99 and McClain Schonekas ’03.

Katie & Todd Taranto ’01 on the birth of their son, Jackson Ross Taranto, September 28, 2013.

Susan & Mike Foss ’02 on the birth of their first child, Sofia Judy Foss, April 9, 2013. Sofia is the niece of Matt Foss ’90.

Jamie & Nicholas Bertucci ’03 on the birth of their son, Gabriel Emile Bertucci, November 17, 2013.

Gabriel is the great-grandson of the late Emile Bertucci, Jr. ’37 and the grandson of Bryan Bertucci ’68. He is the nephew of Bryan Bertucci ’99, Stephen Bertucci ’01, and Matthew Bertucci ’05.

Megan & Greg Crisler ’03 on the birth of their first child, Caroline Marie Crisler, September 9, 2013.

Caroline is the great-granddaughter of the late Thomas B. Steen ’43 and the niece of Ricky Crisler ’95.

Miranda & Justice Buras ’05 on the birth of their daughter, Cordella Irene Buras, September 23, 2013.

Cordella is the granddaughter of Robert Buras ’74.

Samantha & Greg Stokes ’05 on the birth of their daughter, Madeleine Stokes, October 29, 2013. Madeleine is the niece of Patrick Stokes ’01 and Douglas Stokes ’06.

Info for the Bib List may be sent to Krista Roeling via the web site: www.jesuitnola.org/contact/ alumni-updates, or email: roeling@jesuitnola.org. Parents will receive a pink or blue Jayson bib for their new arrival(s).

C

Invades World War II Museum elebration 2013 featured a new venue, new date, and an army of new attendees.

More than 800 parents, alumni, faculty, and friends (about 300 more than most years) packed the Louisiana Memorial Pavilion at The National WWII Museum on Saturday, Nov. 2 to support Jesuit’s gala/auction, which was co-chaired by Blue Jay parents Nancy Plough and Michelle Lorusso.

“Jesuit Salutes Those Who Have Served” was the appropriate theme of the event and featured images of military veterans projected on a large screen. A battalion of volunteers assisted with the operations, including members of the school’s MCJROTC, student council, and National Honor Society. The volunteers helped welcome guests, some of whom wore their military uniforms.

“We moved Celebration to give our volunteers some breathing room between major events on the Jesuit calendar,” said Fr. Raymond Fitzgerald, S.J., president of Jesuit High School.

Celebration and the Blue Jay Spring Bazaar were held within weeks of each other in March or April. Now they’re separated by seven months. “It took countless hours of planning and hosting two Celebrations in one calendar year to pull this off,” an appreciative Fitzgerald added. “I offer my profound thanks to all those who made this shift possible.”

The sold-out party included entertainment from the Jesuit Jazz Band, the Victory Belles, and the Yat Pack; specialty libations; and delicious delicacies from more than 30 of the city’s finest restaurants. Patrons bid generously at two silent auction tables.

A spirited live auction was once again hosted by Jeremy Reuther ’01, Jesuit’s director of campus ministry. Among the items scooped up at the live auction were the first two official Jesuit High School auto license plates, approved and issued by the State of Louisiana. One license plate displayed “0001” while the second one blared “1847,” the year Jesuit High School was founded.

Clockwise from top left: Jerry ’80 and Nancy Plough and Michelle and Nick Lorusso ’85 with Jesuit president Fr. Raymond Fitzgerald, S.J. ’76. Nancy and Michelle served as co-chairs of the event; Ann Freibert, Catherine Groos, Shannon Daigle, Lacy Glorioso, and Bridget Bond volunteered their time at two silent auction tables positioned in front of a Pullman train car, the museum’s newest exhibit; Steve Pettus, Beth Vargas, Yvette Pettus, and Michael Mentz ’74; The Jesuit Jazz Band, conducted by Mr. Jason Giaccone, thrilled the crowd with a mixture of period pieces and contemporary hits; MCJROTC cadets Evan Flynn and Andrew Liang, both juniors, welcomed guests and assisted with operations; Dressed in his Navy Reserve uniform, Mike Yenni ’94 accepts an invitation to dance from Victory Belle Courtney Boe, wife of Buddy Boe ’03. Photos courtesy of Loupe Photography.

A Douglas C-47 hovers over guests at Celebration.

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Peter Kernion ’90 Talks About His New Role at Jesuit On June 1, 2013, Peter S. Kernion of the Class of 1990 became only the 18th principal of Jesuit High School since the school transitioned in 1925 from the College of the Immaculate Conception.

K

ernion holds an M.Ed. in educational administration from the University of New Orleans. He joined Jesuit’s faculty in 1996 as an English teacher and an assistant coach for the cross country and track teams. Kernion was a runner on the cross country and track teams when he was a student from 1985-1990.

The early years working at Jesuit provided Kernion with a wide range of experience as assistant disciplinarian, academic scheduler, and director of the summer school program.

In 2001, he was named assistant principal of student affairs and assumed significant responsibilities that included preparing and filing annual reports required by professional accrediting agencies, creating and maintaining the master schedule, coordinating various high school athletic eligibility reports, and organizing several aspects of Jesuit’s annual commencement ceremony.

His organizational skills are evident with students’ schedules. In fact, he’s a guru of sorts when it comes to scheduling more than 1,400 students and 110 teachers in six or seven classes that rotate day-to-day in 75 different locations. Chaos and conflicts are always lurking in the stairwells. Easy going and even-

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with the Principal

tempered, Kernion possesses a sharp wit and a healthy sense of humor, undoubtedly shaped by his penchant for the egocentric, often hilarious, and frequently genius comedy of Seinfeld during the program’s nine seasons on television.

When former principal Michael Giambelluca ’82 left to become president of Creighton Preparatory School, a Jesuit high school in Omaha, Kernion applied for the job. A search committee selected him as one of three finalists and in March 2013, Fr. Raymond Fitzgerald, S.J. ’76, president of Jesuit High School, announced the school’s next principal would come from within its own ranks.

“Peter Kernion is a person of high moral character who possesses those quality character traits that one would expect to find in a principal, especially a Jesuit High School principal,” said Fr. Fitzgerald at the time. “His integrity is unquestionable and his judicious approach to solving problems is appreciated. Peter also is a perceptive listener and a team player who embraces an enthusiastic work ethic.”

Kernion faced a formidable task, if not the challenge of his life,

but he was ready. “I am aware that a principal must be able to make decisions that are often tough and may not be popular or well-received by everyone,” he said at the time. “I pray that I will do what is right and best for the school even when those decisions are difficult. Ultimately, the position of principal is not about the individual. It is about the Jesuit High School community — especially our students.”

Kernion and his wife, Amy, have been married 16 years and live in Old Jefferson with their two children, Brennan (age 11) and Catherine (age 9), both of whom attend St. Catherine of Siena School.

In a wide-ranging conversation with alumni director Mat Grau ’68, Kernion talked about his new job and why he applied, his leadership style, the Katrina effect, his administrative team, the role of technology in the future of Jesuit, and his favorite television show.

An edited version of the interview is presented here in Jaynotes.

Jaynotes: Why did you want to be principal?

Peter Kernion: When Mike Giambelluca announced he was moving on and the position became available, I started thinking about my career, my family,

my future. My wife Amy and I had many conversations before I officially applied. My biggest concern was also hers — the time it would take away from our family. We have two children and we very much enjoy doing things together as a family. I did not want to sacrifice all of our family time. I didn’t want to apply for the job until I had fully committed to accepting the position if it were offered.

I know that I have certain gifts that God has given me, ones that I’ve developed over the years. And as strange as it may sound, I felt almost a sense of duty in seeking the job because I was here at this time for a reason. I had something to offer Jesuit, to give back to the school and the community that have meant so much to me.

Any surprises so far?

Yes, the vast number of meetings and activities. Some days I feel all that I do is spend an eternity in meetings, and then bounce from one event to another. I’m getting better at selecting the various meetings, athletic events, and activities that require my attendance. I’m also spreading the wealth by delegating some of those meetings and activities to members of the administrative team. All in all, I have to admit that the good days have far outweighed the challenging ones. I’m finding my stride and feeling more confident every day.

The support team you rely on as principal — explain what that is all about.

(Continued on page 30)

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A Taste of the Vocation to Love

By Danny Fitzpatrick ’09

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)

I

submit that the great Christian labor is to learn to speak these words with St. Paul, to speak them confidently because we have lived the truth they reveal.

Death, of course, need not only apply to the separation of soul from body. To be a Christian is to learn to die to ourselves every day so that Christ may live in us. Any great work demands from us a sort of death. Michelangelo agonized over the creation of the Sistine ceiling, in part at least, because each moment he spent on his frescos was a moment he could never give to anything else. To write a book, to compose a symphony — and greater still, to become a saint — is to give up to a vast array of possibilities in the service of something beyond oneself.

One year in the Alumni Service Corps at Jesuit High School, though not a sufficient condition for greatness or sanctity, is such a death to self.

Left to my own devices, I doubt if I would have found myself teaching eighth graders, making song booklets for Mass, offering spiritual direction to Blue Jays, or discussing Yeats and Melville with (theology department chairman) Dr. (Gerard) Delahoussaye every day at lunch.

Thank God I am not left to my own devices! Of course, these activities aren’t all delights in a pure sense. Preparing class lessons not only takes time; it also demonstrates my own deficiencies as a thinker and as a teacher. Making song booklets involves about three hours in the copy room. And lunch duty in the Traditions Courtyard can mean alternately sweating or shivering.

It is a humbling comfort, though, to think that these sacrifices are made at the request or the command of those wiser and more Christ-like than I, and that I am being formed by the Jesuit High School community, which itself is guided by the love of Christ.

Indeed, none of us can be purely self-shaping. We are always already part of a community which shapes us.

It was love of the City of New Orleans which brought me back after college.

It was the suggestion of Fr. Fitzgerald which led me to consider the ASC program.

It was the example of my grandfather, Clendon Butera ’41,

Inaugural ASC members Danny Fitzpatrick (left) and Taylor Bacques meet in the Traditions Courtyard with Mike Prados ’83, director of the ASC.

About the Alumni Service Corps…

The Alumni Service Corps (ASC) is a special volunteer opportunity available to Jesuit High School graduates to devote one year to their alma mater between completing college and moving on to either graduate school or to a career. It is founded on four Jesuit components: service, community, simplicity, and spirituality. ASC members reside in a Jesuit-owned home near campus.

The first-year ASC members are Taylor Bacques and Danny Fitzpatrick, graduates of the Class of 2009. Fitzpatrick teaches theology to pre-freshmen and works with the Campus Ministry program. Bacques teaches English to prefreshmen and coaches cross-country and track.

which inspired me with a desire to teach.

It is the support of my fellow faculty members which guides me through each day.

It is the excellence of my students which gives me delight in my work.

All of these communal causes shape me, and they are shaped in turn by the will of God, in which the best is always yet to come.

It occurs to me that neither service nor community is possible, in any meaningful sense, without spirituality — not spirituality in any vague or fatuous sense, but as an encounter with the Triune God which engenders in us a threefold capacity for love: love of God, love of self, and love of neighbor.

A year as an ASC member should be ordered toward deepening this love, toward coming to know God, who dwells in the depth of our hearts and grants us the grace to share His love with others.

A calling to spend a year in the service of the Jesuit High School community gives a taste of the vocation to love.

To love is to die, and to die is gain. For our life is Christ, in whom death becomes the door to glory.

Danny Fitzpatrick graduated from the University of Dallas with a degree in philosophy. He is the son of Elizabeth & Daniel Fitzpatrick of New Orleans.

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1,410 Reasons Why PAG Is So Important

By Mark Cousins ’74

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any Jesuit alumni do a “second tour of duty” through Jesuit High School if they have a son.

This second swing through Jesuit has a most different perspective than the one we did as gawky adolescents whose most pressing concerns were getting a date for Homecoming and not getting the difficult physics teacher.

It is the reflection of Jesuit’s effect on one’s life that becomes the focus of this second experience. How did Jesuit mature me? How did Jesuit help me to think? How did the teachings of the Society of Jesus mold and affect my moral compass? How or why did I make such outstanding friends at Jesuit — friends who I understand, who will be friends with me my entire life? How will Jesuit affect and influence my son?

Many of those questions could take a lifetime of soul-searching.

But some of these questions have answers that are easy, and are the result of the fundamental construction of Jesuit’s student body. Certainly as we reflect on our own Jesuit experience, we understand clearly that who our sons mix with for four or five years in a secondary education

environment has a large impact on their formative years and their high school experience, as it did with us. And these relationships they make (and we made) are most powerful learning experiences.

This realization underscores a truth that one of the most important strengths of Jesuit is our sons. The student body of Jesuit is truly heterogeneous and reflective of no special group. This is due in no small part to Jesuit’s reputation and its affordability, a combination that allows a mix of sons of families from many different zip codes in the New Orleans region. Our sons, as we did, make friends with fellow Blue Jays from various and different neighborhoods throughout the metro area. This encourages our sons to develop the social skills to be able to find a common interest, a shared experience, a like language with other boys from backgrounds that may be quite different. And isn’t that one of life’s lessons? In order to live life to its fullest and be successful, don’t we have to get along with people from all different walks of life, no matter what our profession, job, or status is?

If one of the strengths of Jesuit

is the composition of its student body, then this very important aspect must be nurtured and preserved. And it is — through the wonderful generosity of our parents via the Parents’ Annual Giving (PAG) campaign. Jesuit invites parents to participate in this most important event to keep Jesuit’s tuition as affordable as possible. PAG donations are not used for financial aid. The generosity that families extend through the drive has allowed Jesuit to develop a student body that provides our sons with a valuable “education within the education.” The PAG is an important tool to keep the composition of Jesuit’s student body as heterogeneous and as strong as it is.

In closing, thank you. Thank

you for sending your sons to Jesuit. I hope my son had an opportunity to meet yours and interact. If that happened, I am confident they learned from each other and are better people for it. Thank you for donating to the Parents’ Annual Giving drive. Your generosity is important in helping to make Jesuit, in the words of a former Alumnus of the Year, the true “geography of our sons’ maturation.”

That is the significance of PAG. W. Mark Cousins ’74 is the enthusiastic chairman of Jesuit’s 2013-14 PAG drive. He is a veterinarian who specializes in treating cats, hence the name of his business: The Cat Practice. His email is wmc1809@aol.com.

Fifteen New Faculty Members Join Jesuit for 2013 – 2014 School Year Jesuit High School welcomed 15 new faculty members for the 2013 – 2014 school year. Each faculty member brings a wealth of prior experience, from Chicago to Costa Rica, from new teachers to veterans.

The new teachers gathered in St. Ignatius Hall for a photo. Seated from left are Khanh Nguyen, Julio Minsal-Ruiz, S.J., Joseph Chango, Taylor Bacques ’09, Daniel Fitzpatrick ’09, Rolando Lópes Torres, and Divya Anchan. Standing from left are Jay Combe ’83, Rudolph “Rudy” Horvath ’86, Kevin Murphy ’00, Hannah Hanegan, Elizabeth Hoodless, Justin Windham ’99, Paul Dean, and Michael Armelin, Jr.

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For the Blue Jay Band, a Solid Time of Change

The 85-member Blue Jay Marching Band took on a mammoth task of learning and performing one of the most complicated pieces of progressive rock music for its halftime entertainment shows at football games during the 2013 season. The band embraced the music of YES, and specifically, the group’s 1972 album Close to the Edge, considered a quintessential masterpiece by many devotees of progressive rock. YES fans typically cite the album as a “superior” achievement in the band’s long and illustrious career. Interesting then that the Blue Jay Band performed the intricate title song at the District VI Marching Band Assessment Festival held in October at Joe Yenni Stadium in Metairie and marched off the field having earned a “superior” rating.

“Superior” ratings were also awarded to Jesuit’s drum major, senior Quinn Stiller, as well as the band’s auxiliary dance unit featuring the Jayettes. Additionally, the band’s percussion section earned a mark

of “excellence.”

The band is under the direction of Joe Caluda ’79, who is assisted

by Jason Giaccone, both accomplished musicians in their own right.

“Our halftime shows mainly focused on playing the four movements of the title track to that famous YES record, but we also learned the album’s other two songs which we worked into our repertoire,” said Caluda, referring to the epic “And You & I” and “Siberian Khatru.”

Caluda admitted that the 2013 performance at the festival’s competition, not to mention the entertaining halftime shows, was “one of the most ambitious programs we’ve attempted, and I’m extremely proud of our musicians and the young ladies who comprise the Jayettes for having worked tirelessly to perform and perfect such beautiful music.”

Three Blue Jays Earn All-State Band Honors In a separate competition in which thousands of Louisiana students auditioned, a trio of musically gifted Blue Jays was named to the prestigious All-State Band. Senior Richard Williams, left, (baritone) and junior Patrick Fine, center, (trumpet) were selected for the All-State Symphonic Band. Sophomore Jae Kweon (alto sax) made the All-State Concert Band. They were recognized with the additional distinction of having attained academic excellence in their studies at Jesuit.

National Scholars Among Blue Jays The Class of 2014 produced 35 National Merit Semifinalists, three National Achievement Semifinalists, and four National Hispanic Scholars. Two Blue Jay honorees — Sean Stephens and Kevin Yokum — achieved perfect scores of 240. The academic scholars recognized as National Merit Semifinalists had PSAT scores ranging from 210 to 240.

Third row: Reuben Hogan (also a National Achievement Semifinalist), Zhen Huang, Zachary Jones, Eugene Kim, Jordan Lacoste, Taylor Lee, and Abel Lopez (also a National Hispanic Scholar);

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) designates Semifinalists on a state representational basis to ensure that outstanding students from across the country are included in the talent pool. Louisiana’s 207 Semifinalists represent 1% of 16,000.

Jesuit’s 35 honorees represent 17% of the state’s entire allocation.

Fifth row: Thomas Nimmo, Max Perret, Peyton Pertuit, Patrick Russo, Patrick Ryan, and Sean Stephens;

Among the national scholars recognized are, bottom row, from left: National Achievement Semifinalist C.J. Blagrove; National Merit Semifinalists Mark Alvarez (also a National Hispanic Scholar), Grady Burnett, Ian Calamari (also a National Hispanic Scholar), and Stanley Dai; Second row: Patrick Doell, Arthur Dunlap, Joseph Eustis, Christopher Fasone, and Liam Fitzgerald;

Fourth row: Cameron Martinez, Christopher Maurice, Christopher Mire, Matthew Monju, and Benjamin Nettleton;

Top row: Tyler Story, William Thompson, Cullen Walsh, Richard Williams (also a National Achievement Semifinalist), Garrett Wolff, and Kevin Yokum.

Missing the photo were National Merit Semifinalists Keith Collins and Ross Palmer.

View a full list of scholars and the elementary schools they attended by visiting www.jesuitnola.org/national-meritscholars.

New Look for Jesuit's Web Site Visitors to the school's web site on Wednesday, Sept. 18 were among the first to see the newly redesigned pages. After several months of collaboration, testing, and tweaking, the re-designed web site launched, offering visitors a sleek, simplified way to navigate.

Since the site is one of Jesuit's most recognizable and consumed communications tools, it was paramount for the redesign to accommodate a wide range of devices, from desktop computers to tablets to mobile phones. The site features a responsive design, which provides an optimal viewing experience — easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling.

While many beloved site features — Jayson's Wild Photo, daily announcements, alumni feature stories, regularly updated content, and photo galleries, just to name a few — have not changed, there are a number of new features as well. Visitors can now share their favorite Jesuit articles a variety of ways, including email and social media. A new campus map is also available for download or printing (www.jesuitnola.org/campus). In addition, Blue Jay fans

can show their spirit now more than ever with expanded desktop and mobile wall papers (www.jesuitnola.org/jaysons-lagniappe).

When planning for the web site’s re-design, Jesuit was careful to retain the wealth of stories, photos, and features from the original site, which serves as the archives (www.archives.jesuitnola.org).

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(Above left) Kernion is the MCJROTC's honored guest at the annual celebration of the Marine Corps' birthday; (Above right) In the Traditions Courtyard, Peter Kernion greets three members of his administrative team, from left, academic assistant principal Kathy Juhas, director of student affairs Helen Swan, and prefect of discipline Lary "Top" Abshire.

KERNION INTERVIEW (Continued from page 25) The administrative team consists of 11 people — a balanced mix of veteran and young administrators — who meet on a regular basis.

Members of the A-Team are visional and they keep Jesuit pointed in the right direction. I depend on the team to advise me and take on certain responsibilities.

That way, I am able to stay focused on priorities. The team maps out long range projects as well as plans events that are day-to-day and week-to-week.

Is the A-Team different from previous years?

Jesuit’s director of campus ministry, Jeremy Reuther (’02), is a new addition. Matt Orillion (’98) is the new student activities director, and he is part of the team.

Helen Swan, who was director of service projects before she accepted my former job, is also on the team. Helen is now director of student affairs. These three individuals bring new perspectives and plenty of enthusiasm, which is good

for any organization.

Already we see your imprint on Jesuit because it was your decision to add the director of campus ministry to the A-Team.

I felt that it was important to have Jeremy on the team because he represents all facets of campus ministry. We are being more intentional about the spiritual development of our students and improving this aspect of student life.

This is happening as student retreats expand alongside the growth of different religious organizations.

The school is in the midst of an exciting transition with young leadership.

The growth of any school or organization depends on exactly this sort of transition.

We constantly need to make sure that we’re not stagnant.

We have to at least consider imaginative change and look at all ideas with a positive mind and fresh eyes.

Working Alongside Fr. Fitzgerald How essential is it for the

principal and the president to have a close working relationship, in this case, you and Fr. Fitzgerald?

Fr. Fitzgerald is a wise man with great insight into every aspect of Jesuit High School, and he is one of the reasons I wanted to be principal.

The trust factor is vital and we are very comfortable with each other. Our frequent conversations are open and honest. I respect him immensely and greatly admire his wisdom, faith, intellectualism, institutional knowledge, compassion, and his dry sense of humor.

You would expect a priest to be spiritual, and Father’s devotion and love of our students and Jesuit High School are second only to his love and faithfulness to God. Long before Fr. Fitzgerald publicly disclosed that he had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), he confided in you that he was ill and would be stepping down from his job as president sometime this summer. What was your reaction to this?

I was shocked like everyone else. And I was amazed by the way he was handling the situation. Father’s concern is for Jesuit High School, especially our students. My concern is for Fr. Fitzgerald.

I can’t imagine how difficult this is for him. He is a wonderful person, a man of faith who inspires others to place their faith in God — as he is now placing his faith in God during his own difficult time. I am also saddened by the fact that Father will be stepping down as president at the conclusion of this school year. I realize that I am blessed to work with him throughout my first year as principal.

How did your experience in the aftermath of Katrina factor into your decision to seek the job?

A week after Katrina hit, (former Jesuit president) Fr. (Anthony) McGinn (S.J. ’66) asked me to come to Houston to help with scheduling our students at Strake Jesuit. We thought we would have 40-50 students, but 400 showed up to register. We couldn’t put them in with the Strake

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(Above left) Peter Kernion at a Cross Country State Meet in 2012. Becoming principal involved a tradeoff — he had to give up his coaching responsibilities. (Above right) Kernion and his predecessor, Michael Giambelluca ’82, share a laugh in the Traditions Courtyard following a Morning Assembly in 2012. students during the day, so we created from scratch a satellite school that operated basically from 3:30-10 four nights a week. Teachers from Jesuit New Orleans were recruited and I tried my best to bring as many as possible who either had no children or they had older children. I personally knew the burden of leaving family for weeks.

Three weeks after Katrina, Hurricane Rita hit Louisiana and Texas. Almost immediately after the storm, a group of us returned home to start up another satellite school, this one at St. Martin’s Episcopal in Metairie for the many Blue Jays who either never evacuated or had since returned to the area.

The response by Jesuit’s teachers was truly amazing.

We brought to Houston enough teachers to staff a school for 400 Blue Jays.

Setting it all up and working out the myriad of details was exhausting. But I look back on that experience with great fondness. It was during the time that I was in Houston that I came to believe I was capable of doing more. So, yes, the Katrina experience played a key role in my development as an education administrator.

It was tough to leave Strake Jesuit with all that we accomplished to get our satellite in orbit. A tight little community had sprung up and I was enjoying the experience. But I was away from Amy and the kids and setting up the satellite school at St. Martin’s would allow me to be with my family, although I would be working most of the time. We ended up scheduling about 800 students at St. Martin’s, including more than 200 who had been at Strake and saw this as their ticket home.

It was another intensive time of recruiting more of our teachers as some were still evacuated from Katrina.

You’re being modest and you’re holding back. The Houston experience was just the beginning of what you did for Jesuit and its students after Katrina.

What’s the rest of the story?

Working out the logistics at St. Martin’s and scheduling the students proved to be

as difficult as the Strake experience. And then, of course, the students had to be scheduled once more when everyone returned to Carrollton and Banks in January 2006 for the second semester. Three rounds of scheduling on top of the regular one at the start of the school year, something I hope never happens again.

Jesuit in 2024 It’s the year 2024.

Describe Jesuit that will be the result of some of the decisions the administration is making today.

Obviously, technology will continue to change as a tool within the classroom.

Certain aspects of the school that have always been fundamentally important to Jesuit will continue to be meaningful but evolve and perhaps grow and improve. One of the basic objectives of Jesuit is to foster in its students a commitment to doing justice. The service project and even the Thanksgiving drive help students achieve this objective. However, I

would like to see service less compartmentalized and involve many different activities for the entire student body, co-curricular organizations, even alumni.

In other words, I see service as not just completing a single project or delivering baskets at the Thanksgiving drive, but a more integral part of our students’ daily lives.

You mentioned technology, and a hot topic in education is what some people refer to as “one-to-one” — every student with his own iPad or a similar tablet. Will all Blue Jays have a tablet next year?

Jesuit will not be a one-toone school next year. Jesuit High School will always be Jesuit High School. I don’t think Jesuit will ever be labeled an iPad school, but we may be a school whose students happen to use iPads. That could be one of the many tools we will be using in 2024, or even much sooner. We are always looking at what are the best tools to help with instruction and learning, ones that

32 | FALL/WINTER 2013

will enhance the classroom experience. We are careful and deliberate about such issues because we want to be sure we are making the best decisions for our students.

The bottom line: if a tablet is necessary, then students will have them.

You said that "Jesuit will always be Jesuit." Meaning what?

Meaning the basic mission of the school calls us to guide our students to grow in competence, conscience, and compassion to become men of faith and men for others. This encompasses what Jesuit is about. We place a great deal of emphasis on academics and always will. We are interested in the spiritual, social, and academic development of our students, along with their learning the value of helping others. These are important objectives now and they will always be important as long as Jesuit High School exists.

We expect the best of our students and we are here to help them improve and grow for the four or five years they are here. This will not change and that is what I think makes Jesuit Jesuit.

Good Days, Bad Days What’s been your best day on the job?

Finally, an easy question.

The day of our Thanksgiving drive. I have been participating in the drive for years. It is gratifying to stand back and observe the beauty of it all. Everyone is happy to be serving others who are not so fortunate. I don’t

think it’s anything that can be duplicated. I have seen the impact that the drive has on our Blue Jays. It’s an eyeopening experience for many of the younger students who want to be involved every year simply because their first drive had such a profound effect on them.

When is your job not so great?

Since June several Blue Jays have had to deal with the death of one of their parents. It is always a sad and emotionally wrenching time for the student, his family, and his friends. Also, it is never easy informing a student and his parents why their son can no longer attend Jesuit. While I feel terrible, it is a far worse feeling for the student and his parents.

You graduated from Jesuit in 1990. How is Jesuit different today from when you were a student?

I think the emphasis today is on spiritual development, not to say that it didn’t exist way back when. I think that cura personalis, the care for the individual student, is emphasized more. Don’t get me wrong, I had wonderful teachers who definitely cared for me and other students.

I just think there is more of an emphasis on it now. Of course, the various capital projects undertaken over the years at Jesuit have given the campus a different look. We always seem to be renovating something around here.

What teachers, coaches, and administrators were your role models when you were a student here?

Warren Bernard, my cross country coach, was a wonderful man who had an impact on my life. I will never forget my 8th grade year. Fr. Harry Tompson (S.J. ’54) was the president and the principal, and the energy he brought to everything at Jesuit embodied Blue Jay Spirit.

And then there were the great teachers, English teachers such as yourself Mat, who encouraged me to look at poetry and literature in ways that I had never done before.

Tim Powers, who taught me English, is someone I remember fondly.

The Seinfeld Effect You had to give up teaching and coaching when you became principal. How badly do you miss it?

I miss the classroom and teaching English to prefreshmen. I also miss coaching cross country and track which I did for 17 years. Cross country has always been a passion of mine. It was always something that I loved. I enjoyed going to practice, working with young men, and helping them develop and improve their running, and at times other aspects of their lives. That’s something that I miss, not so much the excitement that comes with competing, but the relationships with the runners and their families.

How would you describe your style as an administrator?

Industrious? Look, I’m a hard worker who is not afraid to

roll up my sleeves and get the job done. I think it is important to give people the space they need to feel comfortable doing their jobs. At the same time they need to know I’m here to assist them. I’m a very calm individual. Sometimes I don’t even have a pulse. I think it is important to remain calm, not overreact in tense situations, and then channel that calmness to everyone around so that we can resolve whatever the problem might be. You may have noticed that I like to find humor in the different aspects of daily life, whether here at Jesuit or at home.

Speaking about laughing, you have an affinity for Seinfeld. Any favorite episode?

Probably “the opposite,” which was episode 86 in season 5. George comes to the conclusion that since his life is just not going the way he had hoped it would, he is going to do the opposite of any thought he has.

Suddenly his life begins to flourish, everything goes his way, and life is wonderful.

It makes you wonder, if you did the opposite of what you intended to do, where would you arrive in the end?

Which reminds me of one of my favorite Seinfeld quotes: “Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason.”

Sounds like George.

Wrong, [Jerry] Seinfeld said it in season 2, episode 15, “the baby shower.”

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Phils to Follow Shakespeare Farce with Damn Yankees

T

he Philelectic Society of Jesuit High School presented its fall dramatic production, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, in the auditorium last November, showcasing the acting talents of a large cast, which was complemented by beautiful sets, costumes, and lighting.

“The sheer physical beauty of this show really stood out,” said theology teacher Ted Mahne, who is also chief theater critic for The Times-Picayune and NOLA.com. “The attention to detail of the lush woodland was exquisite, down to the

flowing stream. In addition to the lovely sets, however, was the magic that the cast brought to the delightful comedy.

They delivered the laughs while also finding the beauty in the poetry of Shakespeare’s language.”

The Phils will stage Damn Yankees as its spring musical on April 3-5 and April 11-12. The production features a sizeable cast, lots of catchy tunes, and big musical numbers. Buy your tickets on Jesuit’s web site starting one week prior to opening curtain.

ROTC Cadets Score High at Annual Inspection The 125 cadets in Jesuit’s MCJROTC battalion scored high marks in drill, uniform, and knowledge of the U.S. Marines at their annual inspection. A dozen cadets, from pre-freshmen to seniors, received outstanding ratings. Alpha Company’s First Platoon, commanded by senior Alex Scalco, was selected best in drill. Bravo Company’s Second Platoon, commanded by junior John Grieco, received the highest marks on the personnel inspection.

Jesuit’s MCJROTC Leadership program is under the direction of Lt. Col. Timothy Huete ’76 and Master Gunnery Sgt. J.R. Piseno.

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2013 THANKSGIVING DRIVE TIMELINE

Mrs. Meg Jennings and Mr. Nick Nolfe's homeroom makes a home delivery.

August - October

November 1

November 8

Students begin fund raising within their homerooms, clubs, teams, and organizations.

The drive picks up speed as Thanksgiving Day nears. Some homerooms begin setting goals and tracking the number of non-perishable items they collect.

7:50 a.m. Dan Senentz ’83, 2013 chairman of the Class of 1983 Thanksgiving Drive, addressed Blue Jays at Morning Assembly to officially kick off the annual Thanksgiving Drive.

Some begin collecting non-perishable items to be added to baskets.

Dan Senentz ’83

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2013 THANKSGIVING DRIVE

BLUE JAYS CARRY ON A TRADITION IN ITS 87 TH YEAR

BY KEVIN MURPHY ’00

OF THE MANY EXPERIENCES I HAVE ENJOYED ABOUT MY FIRST SEMESTER BACK

at Jesuit (this time as a faculty member), one is perusing the well-preserved bits of history — old photographs, letter jackets, trophies, and programs — on display throughout the school. One of my favorite photographs may be viewed in the Student Commons. This photo depicts several students on the front steps of the school holding quaint-looking Thanksgiving picnic baskets meant for poor families in the neighborhood. The date at the bottom of the photograph: Fall 1937.

The photo is striking for many reasons, but I think it highlights three themes that stand at the center of both the Thanksgiving Drive and our students’ broader experience at Jesuit: tradition, community, and service. According to school records, the Thanksgiving Drive was at least 10 years old at the time of that photograph, meaning that this

November 26 Alumni launch a class-level appeal dedicated to covering the expense of their portion of the Thanksgiving Drive, which costs between $8,000 and $9,000.

1 p.m. Alumni arrive on campus with a moving truck filled with perishable and non-perishable items to make 180 baskets. Alumni volunteers unload and begin organizing the items.

6 p.m. More alumni and their families make their way to Carrollton and Banks to continue organizing and stuffing baskets.

7 p.m. Members of the Class of 1983 (right) deliver and unload a truckload of enough turkeys for not only the alumni baskets, but also for more than 200 student baskets.

year, when Jesuit students, faculty, staff, and alumni were stocking baskets and delivering them across the city, they were continuing a tradition that is, at a minimum, in its 87th year. Maintaining and building upon its traditions is one of Jesuit’s strengths, a reminder to the boys that they are carrying on the important work done by generations of Blue Jays.

The photograph also highlights the importance of our school community, that the best and most lasting experiences here at Jesuit — the production of a first-class play, an improbable district championship, a religious pilgrimage to World Youth Day — are those we complete together. There is a power in that togetherness that we see each day on campus, at assembly, Mass, pep rallies, in class, and particularly during the Thanksgiving Drive, when the entire Jesuit community comes together to feed needy families in the New Orleans metro area.

What gives this community-wide tradition meaning is its purpose. Over the course of the Thanksgiving Drive’s long history, the Jesuit community has faithfully provided

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bountiful meals at a critically important time to families who otherwise wouldn’t have one. This year, the project reached more than 450 families. Jesuit’s Thanksgiving Drive fed elderly, disabled couples living on meager fixed incomes. It fed single parents struggling to provide for their children. It fed the recently unemployed and the sick.

The drive emphasizes to our students that being a “man for others” extends beyond holding the door for a faculty member or lending your notes to a classmate who has been sick. It reminds them that our Christian obligation to serve others should be focused on the neediest among us. The drive

also provides a sobering reminder that there are many such folks living within blocks of campus, and that our students attend school in one of the poorest cities in the United States.

This year, I have been asked frequently how it feels to be on the other side of it all, to now teach at my alma mater. In many ways, it has been a homecoming, a welcome return to an institution that has been such a positive force in my life.

The primary difference is that as a student I focused almost exclusively on my most immediate challenges: What must I do to earn a respectable grade on tomorrow’s chemistry test?

How are we going to beat Rummel this weekend when their

(Above, left) Freshmen Nikhi Gogineni, Trey Hoard, and Griffin Moulis bring their Thanksgiving baskets to waiting cars for delivery.

(Above, right) Juniors Will Arnold and Daniel Edmund grab some garlic to add to their basket. (Opposite page, left) The school community gathered in the Chapel of the North American Martyrs for the Thanksgiving prayer service. Afterwards,

2013 THANKSGIVING DRIVE TIMELINE

November 27 5:30 a.m. Shopping committees, with homeroom teachers in tow, flood Robért Fresh Market on Robert E. Lee Blvd. to purchase perishable items for their baskets.

While there, they enjoy a shopping discount and a hot breakfast courtesy of the Robért family. Pre-freshmen John Nuttli, Will Shropshire, and Christian de Gracia

7:00 a.m. Back at Carrollton and Banks, Jays in their homerooms head to the cooler to receive a turkey for each family.

7:30 a.m. Homerooms put the final touches on their well-organized baskets.

Freshman Michael Haupt and Ms. Andrea Mika.

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starting pitcher throws nearly 90 mph?

As a faculty member, I face similar immediate challenges, like planning service projects and grading papers, but I’ve also developed a deeper appreciation for the things that will stick with our students long after they graduate — the traditions that make Jesuit what it is, the vibrancy of the Jesuit community, and the school’s commitment to serving those in need.

The Thanksgiving Drive highlights all of these things, and I look forward to working with the Jesuit community to help them grow in 2014 and beyond.

Kevin Murphy ’00 serves as Jesuit’s director of community service with responsibilities of organizing and overseeing students’ participation in the annual Thanksgiving Drive. He also guides Blue Jays in their various volunteer activities and teaches World Geography to pre-freshmen. Murphy attended Villanova University and the University of Wisconsin where he earned a Master of Public Affairs. He and his wife Kerry, along with Brennan, their three year-old son, live in New Orleans.

students left the chapel and took off in all directions across the city to deliver more than 400 baskets to the homes of those who would not otherwise enjoy a Thanksgiving meal. (Above, right) Blue Jay alumni help carry Thanksgiving dinners to cars: Brad Hoerner ’10 (left in background) and from the Class of 2007, from left, Ron Barrios, Mark Johnson, Ian Hoerner, Chris Johnson, William Stoudt, Jeff Schott, Connor Deegan, and Phil Sampognaro. The Class of 2007 adopted 15 families on their own.

8:00 a.m. The Jesuit community gathers in the Chapel of the North American Martyrs for a Thanksgiving Drive prayer service.

Taylor Bacques ’09 helped the students focus with his remarks about the meaning of the drive. Senior Chris Fasone also spoke about how participating in the Thanksgiving drive has affected him.

Taylor Bacques ’09

9:00 a.m. The school yard becomes a hub of activity as homerooms move their baskets to their vehicles for delivery. Delivery committees, accompanied by teachers and perhaps a parent or two, make their way to the neighborhoods of the city to brighten the lives of a few hundred families.

Midday The drive is complete

and students head home to begin their holiday and reflect on their blessings.

Seniors deliver a basket to a grateful family.

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Restoring a Spiritual Legacy Small Chapel Renovation Starts This Summer

esuit enjoys many unique features: an alma mater and fight song composed especially for our school; a mascot, Jayson, designed by a cartoonist of national renown; the athletic legacy of “All the Tricks in ’46.” But another unique element is frequently overlooked: the availability of a beautiful, serene, and reverent place for worship, the Chapel of the Holy Name of Jesus, often referred to as “the small chapel.”

Drawing on the Moresque style of Immaculate Conception Church on Baronne Street, this chapel was originally built downtown in 1901 in memory of Thomas J. Semmes as part of the Jesuit College, as the school was then known. When Jesuit built its high school at Carrollton and Banks in 1925-26, the stained glass, altar, and pews of the Semmes Chapel were reconstructed on site to serve as the Jesuit community’s domestic chapel.

Thus, this chapel provides a tangible link with the school’s origins and also with the larger Society of Jesus through the depiction of Jesuit saints and blesseds. As such, it serves as a key part of pre-freshman theology classes’ introduction to the school and of the Jesuit order.

A visitor to the Holy Name Chapel can find it in use on all school days. It is the site of daily morning Mass (7:15 a.m. Monday – Friday), confessions in Lent and before all major school Masses, Friday Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Jesuit mothers’ rosary group on Wednesday morning, and personal prayer by students, faculty, and staff.

It also serves as an intimate venue for baptisms and small weddings, as well as Masses for various Blue Jay athletic teams, classes, alumni reunions, and scholarship receptions.

The chapel’s art supports its purpose of raising the mind and heart to God. The stained glass of the dome and windows captures the eye and the imagination. Wrought by German

craftsmen in the late 19th century, the glass shows this demanding and impressive art’s full scope. The 147-sq. ft. dome features an intricate pattern of color and design, while the windows’ portraiture reveals remarkable detail and ordered design. The chapel also contains large paintings of the life of Mary, the school’s patroness.

However, these features, more than 100-years-old, now beckon for restoration and preservation to serve Jesuit’s mission of faith formation for another century.

Over the years, the windows have developed cracks and even breakage. The dome stands in need of repair and structural enhancement. The paintings, likewise, have become discolored and require restoration.

As part of a continuing enhancement of its facilities, Jesuit will begin this summer a “100-year renovation” of the Holy Name Chapel. Skilled professional restorers will undertake the task of bringing forth the original beauty of the stained glass and paintings.

The antique pews, which require repair of cracks and restoration of lost parts, will receive care from specialists in this field. Improved lighting will enhance the chapel’s overall effect. And the ceiling and walls, which have experienced moisture damage, will be restored and painted.

Thus, by Christmas of 2014, the work in the Holy Name Chapel should be completed, allowing this holy oasis to continue its noble service as Jesuit’s spiritual heart and soul.

You can become involved in ensuring the chapel’s reverence, beauty, and dignity into the next century. Donations of any amount are welcome to this worthy project, and there are also a number of naming opportunities for the outstanding features of the chapel. For more information, please contact Tom Bagwill at (504) 483-3841 or bagwill@jesuitnola.org.

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“Here We Are!” World Youth Day Pilgrims Embrace Spiritual Awakening

Fr. Raymond Fitzgerald, S.J. celebrates Mass with Jesuit's World Youth Day pilgrims in the ruins of the Trinidad reduction.

canopy of stars was the only light shining down on the 44 tired Blue Jay pilgrims who had gathered for Mass in the ruins of the Trinidad reduction. Our group had just completed a five-mile fairly steep uphill hike through the lush Paraguayan countryside. Our mood was solemn as we sat on the stone floor.

The first reading told of the deliverance of God’s people from oppression in Egypt, as the political leaders tried to destroy the faith of Israel. The detrimental effects of political power on the faith of the Guarani people were evident to us in that ruined Church in Trinidad.

As we reflected on this situation, the homily ended with these triumphal words: “And here we are, gathering in this building to do the very thing it was created to do — to offer worship to God!”

By Jeremy Reuther ’01 The celebrant of the Mass among the ruins was Fr. Raymond Fitzgerald, S.J. ’76, president of Jesuit High School, and a pilgrim himself during our two-week South American journey. The Jesuit pilgrimage to Paraguay and Brazil last July brought together 33 Blue Jay students and their 11 chaperones, including seven faculty and four young alumni. Our spiritual expedition would eventually culminate in Rio de Janeiro, host city of the 14th international World Youth Day. Those words which Fr. Fitzgerald spoke to conclude his outdoor homily rang true for our pilgrim group over and over again during our travels.

We all came to know that the Catholic faith flourishes in the face of adversity because God is with His people, showing them the way. This truth was most evident to us near the end of the

first week, following visits to the reductions of San Cosme, Jesus, and Trinidad.

We arrived at the village of Santá Maria de Fé, a former reduction that is now a cultural heritage site for the Guarani people. There, we listened to a traditional Paraguayan harp concert and learned to make chipa and tereré, staples of Guarani cuisine. We also hiked a local pilgrimage route up a mountain while praying the Stations of the Cross, just as the villagers do on Good Friday.

With Mass and prayer every day, God continuously nourished our group with His presence. The super-abundant cataracts (white-water rapids) of Foz do Iguaco were a fitting symbol for this benevolence of the Father and served as a fitting end to the first week.

(Continued on page 49)

PRINCIPAL'S CORNER

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The New Principal’s Report Peter Kernion ’90 Files a Mid-Year Report About His New Job

Kernion speaks to prospective students and their families at the 2013 Open House.

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A

lmost daily I am asked how things are going and if I am enjoying myself in my new position as principal of Jesuit High School. When this comes up, many ideas run through my mind, especially the challenges that have come with my new job. It would certainly be fairly easy to focus on the headaches created by complaints, road construction, and what at times seems like endless meetings. However, the truth is that there are numerous positive activities taking place within the Jesuit community on a daily basis.

Faculty members continue to find ways to challenge their students and to help them develop both in and out of the classroom. At the start of the school year, teachers worked with and tutored some of our incoming students as they adjusted to the academic rigor of Jesuit. Teachers and administrators are involved in ongoing faculty development that focuses on Ignatian Pedogogy — context, experience, reflection, action, and evaluation.

The fall athletic season was full of excitement. At the football game between Jesuit and Archbishop Rummel, the entire section of student fans stepped up support of our team by moving closer to the end zone in what they fondly referred to as the “Blue Jay Shift.” And in times of defeat, particularly a loss sustained in inclement weather, Blue Jays remained in the stands to show their support and to proudly sing the Alma Mater. Throughout the semester, students were involved in spirited pep rallies, intramurals, big brother-little brother events, and countless other activities.

So, when I pause to reflect on how to respond to that everyday question about my new role as principal, I invariably find myself focusing exclusively on all the positives, which far outweigh the negatives. I am fortunate to work at such a wonderful school where the young men are eager to learn, the faculty’s dedication to teaching is exemplary, the parents and alumni are extremely supportive — giving generously of their time and their contributions — and the president is an outstanding and compassionate leader, a truly remarkable example of how to face adversity with dignity and faith. A new principal could not ask for a better principal/president relationship than the one I have with Father Fitzgerald.

Ultimately, I am blessed because I have the honor to work with 1,410 Blue Jays, all of whom are a joy to watch as they grow and mature, using their special gifts and talents for the Greater Glory of God.

Peter Kernion ’90 Principal

PRINCIPAL'S CORNER

Spiritually, our students are growing through their involvement in nights of reflection, retreats, and the various student ministry opportunities, such as the Sodality and Eucharistic Ministry. An additional Kairos retreat was even scheduled this school year because of the increased interest of our juniors.

Furthermore, the faculty’s annual retreat at the beginning of the second semester always provides an opportunity for teachers to expand and nurture their spiritual growth.

All of this was accomplished as these students continued to grow as men for others. There are many examples of this — from the students who unexpectedly and enthusiastically lent a hand to the volunteers setting up the Christmas Boutique to the sophomores who spent one of their Saturdays engaged in service for the community. One of the most memorable events of the fall should come as no surprise to alumni: Jesuit’s annual Thanksgiving Drive. What a magnificent sight it was to see students, faculty, alumni, and staff all working together to provide 450 families with the bountiful makings for a truly happy Thanksgiving. Jesuit will continue to stress the importance of service as it evolves from just one or two events each year to a much more integral part of their daily lives.

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Swim Team Embraces AMDG

By Brett Dipuma ’14

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.

This motto is everything that our school and its students strive to attain.

Whether by doing homework, taking a test, everyday dealings with others, and even athletics, it is our number one goal.

Over the course of the past year, many things have changed, but one thing that remained the same was the motto.

In the 2013 season, the members of the Jesuit swimming team made it a point to do everything that we do for God’s Greater Glory. Every set we did, every race we swam, it was our goal to do our best for our Lord and Savior.

FLYING WITH THE JAYS FLYING WITH THE JAYS

On the day of the first practice, Coach Bret Hanemann (’85) immediately sat us down and told us that this was going to be a difficult year for us. He told us that Catholic High (Baton Rouge) had a tremendous team that could very well beat us, but we definitely could pull together and win

it all.

After hearing these words, each one of us took it as both a personal challenge and a team challenge to come together to do whatever we could to further God’s glory by means of our swimming.

Our team was hungry for another state championship; alas, it was not in God’s plan for us. I could not have been more proud of what our team accomplished together. This team has been the closest team I have ever seen, and we weren’t riding on rainbows and unicorns all season.

On the first day of school, my dad died. The team came together to support me in my grief. This is a team that is always ready to support anyone and be Men for Others. Later that season we went to state and the result was not what we desired. Instead of falling into despair, we came together. We had no regrets; we did our best.

I know for a fact that the Blue Jay swimmers are going to come back strong next season because all of them have a fire in their belly, a great sense of camaraderie amongst each other, great leadership, and they do whatever they do for the

Junior Francis Plough swims the 100-yard backstroke during the State Championship Meet on Nov. 23, 2013.

Juniors Michael Schwing (left) and Patrick LaCour break with the lead runners at the Cross Country State Championship Meet on Nov. 19, 2013.

Greater Glory of God. Review the Swimming season at www.jesuitnola. org/swimming.

Brett Dipuma of the Class of 2014 is a co-captain of Jesuit’s swimming team.

Cross Country Runs Third — Again Under the direction of a new head coach, the 2013 Blue Jay cross country team won metro and district titles. The squad finished third at the state meet in Natchitoches. When long-time cross country coach Peter Kernion ’90 became principal, Jesuit turned to a familiar face and experienced mentor to guide its program. Rudy Horvath, an alumnus from the Class of 1986, coordinated long distance running at Cabrini High School before agreeing

to return to his alma mater to teach history and coach the Blue Jay cross country team.

At the state meet, the Jays were led by juniors Matthews Vargas, who finished 18th, and Michael Schwing, who was 20th, right behind his teammate.

Horvath was well aware of the formidable obstacles the Jays would encounter at the state meet on the campus of Northwestern State University.

“I’m very proud of our young men and the progress they made throughout the season, and I feel very good about the future of cross country at Jesuit,” said Horvath, adding, “And I’m happy to be home.”

Three Blue Jays were named to the Cross Country AllAcademic Team – seniors Liam Fitzgerald, Patrick Ryan, and Sean Stephens.

Review the Cross Country season at www.jesuitnola. org/cross-country.

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Head Coach Wayde Keiser Tackles 13 Questions About the 2013 Season only increase at kickoff.

From the sidelines, he knows exactly how far to take the verbal whipping he lays on referees whenever they mess up. “It is my nature; I compete,” he explains unapologetically. “I want the best from my players, my staff, myself, and the officials.

My intensity has a way of coming out.”

Finishing the season 6-6 does not tell the whole story. What’s missing?

The way our team battled all year through adversity of injuries and setbacks.

Was this season more remarkable than others concerning the extent and nature of injuries?

There are injuries every season, but 2013 was more than normal. We don’t dwell on it, we get the next guy ready to go. I expect our players to rise to the occasion.

You are always encouraging the team to “play smart.” Which game did the Jays play the smartest?

Both Brother Martin games (which Jesuit won, 20-0, in regular play, and 17-14 in the first week of the playoffs).

You’re known for studying the game “films” (videos) of our opponents. Is there an example of discovering something unexpected in one of those videos and turning it into an advantage?

There are so many examples, from finding a flaw in a team’s punt protection to how a running back cheats up or back when he is getting the ball. So many little things.

When he was hired in 2007, Keiser described his philosophy this way: “I feel that coaching is an extension of the classroom and that coaches should teach student athletes discipline, dedication, commitment, loyalty, and responsibility.”

Has the emphasis on strength and conditioning helped ward off what could have been even more injuries?

Absolutely, I would hate to think what would happen if we did not work hard in our strength and conditioning program.

How many different offensive plays do the Jays bring to a game?

Usually 5-6 runs and 8-10 pass concepts. The difference is they are done out of various formations with motions and tweaks that present the same play, but in a different light.

This is usually done to take advantage of what the defense is giving us.

No one will argue that Keiser’s strictly business, nononsense approach is fueled by an extraordinary level of adrenalin and intensity, which

Best and worst games?

Best was Central Baton Rouge. We had just come off of a tough week, but pulled

What are your “must say” items on the agenda of every pre-game talk you give the players before

How do you handle parents who pressure either you or your staff to give their son more playing time, or they suggest moving him to a different position?

It is very clear from the start that we as a staff do not discuss those issues.

Any thoughts on the socalled “refurbishment” of District 9-5A? That would be the Catholic League. I feel it is “Naturally New Orleans.” Great schools, great competition.

If you could change a current rule governing football, what would it be?

End this select/ non-select issue at the LHSAA. You were the starting center for the Jays in your senior year. Do you have a memorable moment from the 1977 season?

Almost beating St. Aug in Tulane Stadium in front of 20-30,000 people.

You played when Billy Murphy was Jesuit’s head coach. What did he teach you that you are passing down to today’s players?

The idea that we at Jesuit can compete every time we take the field no matter who we line up against. It is because of who we are!

Review the Football season at www.jesuitnola.org/ football.

FLYING WITH THE JAYS

Wayde Keiser ’78 completed his seventh season as head football coach for the Blue Jays, who despite finishing a disappointing 6-6, were an excellent team that consistently turned in high caliber performances.

In compiling a 56-27 overall career record at Jesuit, Keiser has led his teams into the state playoffs each season. The 2007 and 2010 Jesuit teams earned a share of the 10-5A championship. In 2011, Keiser guided the team to an undefeated regular season, notching the District 9-5A title along the way.

Before Keiser immersed himself in the details of preparing the Jays for their next season, he tossed 13 rapid-fire answers to questions about the 2013 season.

together and won a huge game, 17-14.

The worst was the 54-38 playoff loss to St. Augustine. We were not ready to play and that was my fault.

leaving the locker room?

Play every down physically and with intensity. Play with no regrets.

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the advice of Marx, one of my favorite philosophers.

Not Karl Marx, but Groucho, who once said he wouldn’t belong to a club that would have him as a member.

Jim Ryder with Dooky Chase ’67, who was Alumnus I set that of the Year in 2012, and Jim’s brother Jerry Ryder ’68 aside and at the Homecoming Mass. gladly join the club.

On Being a Surrogate…

But also I think it’s fitting The alums really are the that I join as a surrogate for pride of Jesuit High School. all of those “men for others,” So in accepting this award, those alums who are the I will accept it, obviously, living embodiment of the for myself. I’ve eschewed ALUMNUS OF THE YEAR (Continued from page 7)

motto of Jesuit. They will never get a chance to stand here for one simple reason only — there is just too many of them. And at a rate of one per year, we’ll never get around to honoring them all.

On Staying Connected…

Two things I ask you to do that will always keep the Jesuit spirit alive in your own lives. Stay close to each other; the friends you have made at Jesuit will be friends for life; they’ll be there to comfort you in bad times and share with you the good times. Our class of 1962 lost another member two days ago. You don’t know how long you will have your

friends, so keep in touch with them often. The second thing is to stay connected to Jesuit.

Make sure the alumni office has good contact information on you. And get involved.

Look on the school’s web site and volunteer. Be an LEF caller. Be a host at Open House. Help organize Thanksgiving baskets that are delivered by alumni. If you stay connected to each other and Jesuit, when you’re walking up the 18th fairway — no, make that when you’re driving your cart up the 18th fairway — you can always look back and realize the truth of those words in the Fight Song: Blue and White for all the days of life.

Renewal Runs Through 2013 Football Season For the 94th time, Jesuit and Holy Cross battled each other on the gridiron. After five consecutive losses to the Jays, the Tigers came out on top with a successful last second field goal. In keeping with tradition, Jesuit handed over the Golden Football to be housed at Holy Cross, hopefully for only one year.

Legends of the Game: 1963 Jesuit and Holy Cross teams

The 2013 Great American Rivalry was filled with spectacle and celebration, much of it provided by the generous sponsorship of First NBC Bank and CEO Ashton Ryan ’65. This being the 50th anniversary of the only state championship game between the two schools, the 2013 Legends of the Game were members of the 1963 Jesuit and Holy Cross teams honored at halftime. Jesuit alternate captain Bill Barrois ’64 inspired the 2013 football team after practice the day before the big game.

Captain Keefe Hecker ’64 began game day by putting the rivalry in perspective for the 2013 student body at morning assembly.

During pre-game festivities, Jesuit honored Lt. Colonel Brandon Gregoire ’91, USMC, for his distinguished military service. Gregoire has advised Congress, the FBI, and the CIA on counter-terrorism policy.

The fall saw the renewal of another old rivalry between the Blue Jays and Tigers: Jesuit vs. Pensacola. From 1945 to 1966, the two schools met in an annual contest that drew huge crowds of devoted fans. After a 47-year hiatus, the interstate rivalry came to life again when the teams met on September 27 at Tad Gormley Stadium. To celebrate the renewal and reminisce about those past games, Jesuit hosted a pre-game reception for former players of both schools.

Phil Foto ’46, who played in the inaugural game of the series, served as the honorary Blue Jay captain. The Blue Jays beat these Tigers, 28-7.

And when Jesuit football returned to Louisiana’s state capital on Lt. Colonel Brandon Gregoire ’91 (left) was September 20, honored for his distinguished military service.

Blue Jays in Baton Rouge renewed their connection with their alma mater at a pre-game barbecue before enjoying the 17-14 victory over a tough Central High.

In the midst of all this renewal, the best renewal of all was the return of New Orleans’s Catholic League.

The Heart

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of St. Roque Gonzalez “Go and make disciples of all nations.”

— The theme chosen by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI for World Youth Day 2013 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

T

By Jason LaLonde, S.J.

his past summer, I was blessed to be a part of Jesuit High School’s contingent of current students, recent alumni, and chaperones who traveled to South America to participate in this grace-filled pilgrimage. [See related article on page 39.] A pre-pilgrimage excursion to neighboring Paraguay afforded our group an opportunity to learn first-hand about the great missionaries of the past who carried out the charge to “Go and make disciples of all nations” and to be spiritually formed so that we might also become missionaries of the New Evangelization.

advantage, enabling him to communicate freely as he labored in the mission field among the Guaraní people.

As the Jesuits set their sights on converting the peoples of South America to Christianity in the 17th and 18th centuries, they created “reductions,” which were essentially settlements for indigenous people. Among the first heroes of the Jesuit reductions in Paraguay was the indefatigable missionary, priest, and martyr Roque Gonzalez. That his image adorns the front of the 100,000 Guaraní currency bill suggests that Gonzalez is as central to the identity of Paraguay as George Washington or Abraham Lincoln is to the identity of the United States.

It seems that what drove Gonzales to finally enter the Society of Jesus was not only his keen desire to quietly work as a missionary in the reductions, but also a justified fear of the various ecclesial honors and dignitaries that would have certainly propelled him into the glare of publicity. The Jesuits eschewed the limelight, so Gonzales sought refuge by entering the Society of Jesus on May 9, 1609.

A native son of Asunción, Roque Gonzalez was born November 17, 1576. His father Bartolomé was originally from Leon, Spain and had been one of the early colonists of Paraguay. Roque’s brother Francisco was preeminent in the political life of Asunción and would become a great supporter of his younger sibling’s missionary activity.

Roque grew up speaking the Guaraní language alongside his native Spanish and this later proved an immense

In the Society of Jesus, the novitiate is a time when men are formed in the spirituality of St. Ignatius through the exacting experience of the 30-day Spiritual Exercises. It is also a time when men are tested through a series of probations and experiments to determine a man’s aptitude and suitability for active apostolic life. By all measures, Gonzales was given an incredibly difficult novitiate assignment.

Gonzales and Vicente Griffi, an Italian Jesuit, were sent to minister to the savage tribe of the Guaycurú, a seminomadic, warlike people who inhabited the vast and highly inhospitable region to the east of Asunción. Although Gonzales was fluent in Guaraní, this was of little help as the Guaycurú spoke a different language. The aim of the mission was not simply to Christianize this volatile tribe,

MEDALLION STORIES

Moreover, his heart is displayed in the national cathedral of Paraguay in Asunción, where thousands of Paraguayans visit annually to pay homage. Undoubtedly, Gonzales is a beloved figure in the national life and historical memory of the Paraguayan people.

From an early age, Gonzalez desired to be a priest and studied with the Bishop of Asunción. After the Jesuits arrived at the capital, the 12-year-old Gonzales enrolled in their newly opened school. Gonzales initially did not enter the Society of Jesus; rather, he was ordained as a diocesan priest on March 25, 1599, the feast of the Annunciation.

His early missionary work among the Indian peoples near Asunción brought much success, and he was recalled by the bishop to become pastor of the cathedral of Asunción.

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but also to tame the Guaycurú so that the Spanish would have a shortcut for reaching and trading with Perú.

One anecdote reveals the approach that the novice Gonzalez typically took in evangelizing and ministering to the Guaycurú. The leaders of Indian tribes in Paraguay are known as caciques. There was one particularly powerful cacique among the Guaycurú whose daughter had converted to Catholicism and been baptized. When a plague of smallpox struck the tribe, this daughter died. The Guaycurú custom was that a deceased person should never be buried alone: it was necessary that two or three others be killed and buried with her — in this case, young girls. To prevent the taking of innocent lives, Gonzales carried the dead child to the place of burial while he recited the Indian prayers of the ritual. The powerful cacique was so moved by Gonzales’s deference that he became a Christian, as did his wife and family.

MEDALLION STORIES

In this way, Gonzales made much progress with the Guaycurú. Whereas the tribe had formerly terrorized Asunción, Indians now came to town and walked the streets peaceably. Gonzales taught them the basics of agriculture and they began to abandon their semi-nomadic ways. After two years, Gonzales was transferred to the reduction of St. Ignatius, which also flourished under his care and guidance. He laid out the public square, built houses for the Guaraní Indians, founded a school, and built the church. And he taught the essential skills of farming and raising cattle. Primarily, however, he preached and taught catechism in fluent Guaraní.

Gonzalez must have had a way of presenting the Gospel of Jesus Christ that was particularly winsome. Biographers have noted that Gonzales was apparently not a man of letters and not well-suited for preaching in the capital of Asunción. These were times when the faithful wanted men of literary talent who could preach with eloquence.

Gonzales’s eloquence was of another sort. His work among the Guaraní demonstrates a more essential eloquence, a way of speaking from the heart with graciousness, accompanied by sincere and honest gestures. It is this eloquence which truly has the power to win hearts and minds, a capacity for heart-to-heart communication which Gonzalez possessed in spades.

For this reason, biographer C.J. McNaspy, S.J. called Gonzales a “spiritual conquistador” in the sense of conquistar a alguien, to win someone over. Indeed, Gonzalez won people over in many ways: he lived as the Indians lived. He ate the same inferior food that they ate.

When famine came, he endured it with the same resolute determination that they did. When disease descended upon the Guaraní, he was there to nurse them back to health.

In the words of St. Paul, Gonzales became all things to all men in order that he might save some. He was an architect, mason, farmer, infirmarian. And he was very wise in understanding the love of the Guaraní for color, music, and spectacle. He taught using visually appealing liturgies, processions, and catechetical dramas and ballets. Most importantly, he was a pastor of souls and a friend with an abiding love for those in his charge.

After several years at the reduction of St. Ignatius, Gonzales went on to found dozens of additional reductions in what is today Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina. In November 1628, he and Jesuit Fathers Juan del Castillo and Alfonso Rodriguez started a new mission in a place called Caaró. It would be at Caaró where Gonzales laid down his life for his beloved Guaraní.

A local Guaraní magician known as Nezu was envious of the success of the Jesuits. He also resented the Jesuits who had chastised him for having multiple wives. Furthermore, he believed that the Jesuits were destroying the traditional Guaraní way of life. On November 15, 1628, Gonzales had just finished saying Mass, and as he left the chapel, he saw several Guaraní working to set up a bell tower. Gonzales went to help them. As he was bending down to attach the bell to the clapper, one of Nezu’s men rushed him and crushed his skull with a stone hatchet. Gonzales died instantly. Nezu’s men also killed Juan del Castillo and Alfonso Rodriguez.

The bodies of the three priests were thrown into the chapel which was then set on fire. The heart of Roque Gonzalez survived the fire and today is enshrined, along with the weapon that was used to kill him, in the cathedral of Asunción.

Gonzales was beatified in 1934 and canonized a saint on May 16, 1988 by Pope John Paul II. The Church celebrates the feast of St. Roque Gonzales on November 17 (his birthday).

Here was a Jesuit, a saint who truly went and made disciples of all nations.

Jason LaLonde, S.J. is a Jesuit scholastic who currently teaches English and classics at Jesuit High School. Originally from Lakeland, Florida, Jason worked in arts administration and earned an MBA before entering the Society of Jesus in 2007. As a Jesuit, he has worked with Hope House in New Orleans's Irish Channel; the Parish of San Bartolomé in Chalatenagno, El Salvador; the Parish of St. Martin of Tours, the Bronx, NY; and as a crisis pregnancy counselor with Expectant Mother Care in New York City. Most recently, he earned a master's degree in philosophy at Fordham University.

His email is lalonde@jesuitnola.org.

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FR. FITZGERALD (Continued from page 4) and is known as “the first principle and foundation.”

As Father explained to the students, “The purpose of our being here is to praise, reverence, and serve God, our Lord. God gives us the means of doing this each day.

Good or ill health doesn’t enter into it. With the witness of my life, I wish to assure you that this is true.”

The second item is the truth found in the Suscipe, also known as St. Ignatius’s prayer “Take and Receive,” particularly in the closing line: Give me only your love and your grace, and that is enough for me.

Repeating that God has given him abundant blessings in his life, Fr. Fitzgerald added, “Among the greatest of these is sharing these years with you.”

Fr. Fitzgerald smiled at the wonderment reflected in a few astonished faces. “Sainthood is truly how good you are capable of becoming,” he affirmed.

sustained applause. As Blue Jays scattered to their respective classes, many approached Father to shake his hand and wish him well.

Later in the day, at a regular scheduled meeting of the President’s Advisory Council (PAC), Arthur Mann ’64, who is president of Jesuit’s board of directors, recalled a conversation he had with Fr. Fitzgerald not long after the medical diagnosis was confirmed last fall.

“I met with Father to discuss where do we go from here, but I was still trying to comprehend this incredibly sad news,” said Mann. “I remember thinking that here is a priest, and a young priest at “It is true that God that, but also a man never fails to give with human needs. us His love and It made me wonder His grace,” said Fr. if he had a bucket Fitzgerald, who then list. So I asked him told Blue Jays that if he had a bucket he wished to ask list, something he three things of them. wanted to do more “The first is your than anything. help — you have the His response was After Fr. Fitzgerald’s talk at a special Wednesday Morning Assembly on Jan. 15, strength that I will immediate and clear. several students came up to him to shake his hand, show support, and wish increasingly lack.

‘Being president of Second, your prayers him well.

Jesuit High School — something that is my bucket list,’ He paused for a second “And so the longer term future he told me. ‘Every day is new, we can always do for one or two before continuing. will be what it is,” Father another. The third, quite different, challenging, and “Now certainly, you can be concluded. “This day, each one rewarding. This is what I want simply, is being yourselves — yourselves both as you are and entertaining, enlightening, and of us has a task in becoming to do. I want to be with my engaging. But beyond that, I the person that God calls us to family.’ ” as God is forming you to be.” have come to realize that I am be today. Let us now be about Fr. Fitzgerald instructed them privileged to be here at Jesuit this task.”

Read the text of Fr. to “harbor no doubts about at a time when I can stand in Fitzgerald's announcement When the students heard how good you are and can be; the hallway and find myself to faculty, staff, and parents Father impart the usual harbor no doubts about what in the presence of saints, for or watch video of his address words to disperse them, “This a source of encouragement, saints do walk among us in to current Blue Jays at concludes this morning’s joy, and consolation you are greater numbers than one www.jesuitnola.org/about/ Assembly,” they gave him to me.” might suspect.” presidents-message.

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The ABCs of Planned Giving

By Jim Ryder ’62

M mean?

ost loyal donors to Jesuit High School are familiar with the term “planned giving.” But what exactly does it

Very few gifts are completely extemporaneous, and those that might be are usually small in nature — dropping some change in a bucket at Christmas time or a dollar (or two or three) to the homeless at almost any major intersection of the city.

More substantial gifts, such as consistent donations to church collection baskets or annual contributions to one or more of Jesuit’s alumni or parent fund drives (LEF and PAG), have elements of forethought, generosity, and planning.

“Planned Giving” generally means a substantial gift that typically originates from a donor’s accumulated wealth (or an assignment of future wealth to be accumulated), as opposed to current income as the source of a donation. Planned gifts can also be thought of as “extraordinary giving” in that, in most cases, a planned gift augments a donor’s regular pattern of giving.

Planned gifts are the means by which most endowments are built, although they can be used in connection with specific fund raising projects, such as Jesuit’s Home Field Advantage campaign, the funding mechanism that made possible the construction of John Ryan Stadium.

The connotation of planned giving is also rooted in the fact that many of the specialized techniques used require the assistance of experts in the field of law, tax, and financial management.

Planned gifts can be categorized as either immediate or deferred. An immediate planned gift is one in which Jesuit High School receives full and complete ownership and possession of the gift “on the spot.” Gifts of cash, real estate, or appreciated securities are examples of immediate gifts.

because a trust vehicle is used to receive the gift and pay the settler of the trust, and/ or other family members, income from the trust over the lives of the beneficiaries, or for a specific period of years.

With split-interest gifts, Jesuit High School would not receive the full benefit of the gifted property until the termination of the interest of the annuitants or income beneficiaries, as the case may be.

Future articles in Jaynotes will drill down into the details of these and other commonly used planned giving techniques.

In the meantime, the income, estate, and gift tax laws contain many incentives to encourage planned giving. Generally a donor or a testator’s estate would receive a tax deduction for the full fair market value of donated or bequeathed property, or the present value of a deferred gift, calculated using prescribed actuarial factors. Income tax deductions are subject to certain annual limitations, but estate and gift tax deductions are unlimited. There are also some income tax limitations depending upon the type of property that is gifted.

Even though there is a general theme of facilitating giving that permeates the tax laws, the rules can be complex. Or, as they say, the devil is in the details. Thus, it is strongly recommended to always consult with competent advisors before committing to major planned gifts.

Jesuit High School has the resources to provide this counseling as well as to work with a donor’s advisors.

Although there are tax incentives for giving, the principal reason to make a planned gift to Jesuit High School is the donor’s desire to help the school with its mission.

Alumni and parents interested in learning more about a planned gift to Jesuit High School are encouraged to review the “Extraordinary Giving” section of the school’s web site.

A deferred planned gift is one in which the benefit to Jesuit Click “Donate” on the home page (jesuitnola.org) and look comes into full fruition at a future time. The most common of for Extraordinary Giving among the links on the left side. these types are bequests. Other types of deferred gifts, called Those who wish to discuss planned giving may contact Tom split-interest gifts, involve a retained interest by the donor Bagwill, Director of Institutional Advancement, at (504) with the ultimate benefit going to Jesuit High School at the 483-3841, or email bagwill@jesuitnola.org. end of a prescribed period of-time. Examples of these splitJim Ryder ’62 is a CPA in private practice in interest gifts are annuities and charitable remainder trusts.

A gift annuity is an arrangement whereby a sum of money (or property) is given to Jesuit High School in exchange for a contractual obligation by the school to pay an annuity to the donor and/ or other family members (usually the spouse) for life, or for a specific period of years.

A charitable remainder trust is somewhat more complex

New Orleans. He is a longtime member of the President’s Advisory Council at Jesuit as well as a veteran class leader. Last October, Jim was honored as Jesuit’s 2013 Alumnus of the Year. His email address is jryder@jercpa.nocoxmail.com.

ALUMNI HAPPENINGS ELSEWHERE

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Contact for Baton Rouge Jays: Gordy Rush ’86

(225) 963-1231 glrush3@yahoo.com

The Houston Jays are already gearing up for their third annual crawfish boil scheduled for Saturday, May 3 on the campus of Strake Jesuit.

Contact for Houston Jays: Christopher Cola ’93

(713) 301-8128 cwcola@gmail.com

Blue Jays who form the nucleus of the Baton Rouge Alumni Chapter held a lively luncheon meeting last September to start planning their group’s first event. At the meeting were, clockwise from lower left: Victor Gregoire ’86, Kevin Murray ’97, Pat Cuntz ’81, Jesuit advancement director Tom Bagwill, alumni director Mat Grau ’68, Corey Cloninger ’99, Kyle Huber ’09, and Sheldon Perkins ’88. Gordy Rush ’86, who coordinates communication among the Baton Rouge Jays, could not attend the luncheon.

Who Dats from New Orleans teamed up with Saints fans living in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area last September to enjoy a black & gold and blue & white tailgate party on the campus of Jesuit Tampa High School. The Central Florida Jays, led by enthusiastic alumni spanning seven decades, relished the Saints rallying to beat the Buccaneers.

Contact for Central Florida Jays: John Sabatier’86 (727) 871-1408 jsabatier@verizon.net Atlanta Jays… temporarily “iced.”

Contact for Atlanta Jays: Michael Paulhus ’96

(404) 326-3637 paulhus1@comcast.net

WORLD YOUTH DAY (Continued from page 39)

When the pilgrimage arrived in Rio, God continuously showed us the way. However, those first few days in Rio made each of us doubt whether the motto displayed on the Brazilian flag — ordem e progresso — would prove an accurate description of our experiences. There were lengthy waits in long lines to receive our pilgrim packs and confused glances were painted on pilgrim faces when checking into our accommodations, situations that put most everyone on edge.

Then, on the third day in Brazil, we traveled in search of breakfast at our regular assigned catechesis site, which seemed like the Tyre and Sidon of catechesis sites. The pilgrims were about ready to abandon the teaching session and find some reprieve on Copacabana Beach. That’s when our group was surprised to discover that the randomly assigned bishop teaching at our site was none other than Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York. Immediately our spirits were lifted as this spiritual leader of the Church in North America spoke to us with warmth and sincerity.

Similarly, we encountered even more challenges at the food distribution site on the nine- kilometer walk to the papal vigil.

Our group was at a dead-end standstill for several hours, and some of us began to worry that we would not reach the beach in time to secure a spot among 3.2 million people. But after a few creative turns on the dime, we emerged from the people traffic jam and arrived at the vigil site, saying, “Here we are!”

God had provided.

What struck all of us about Pope Francis’s arrival each day to Copacabana Beach — now affectionately dubbed “Popeacabana” — was how much he loved being with people.

Pope Francis radiates joy, and it is precisely this joy that allows each of us as a disciple of Jesus to proclaim, “Here we are!” in the face of any circumstance of life.

It is the joy of the risen Christ, symbolized by the enormous Cristo Redentor statue atop Corcovado overlooking all of Rio

The Blue Jay delegation at World Youth Day was surprised to encounter Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, who had been randomly assigned to teach at the group’s area. He was warm and sincere, and receptive to the various “photo ops.” de Janeiro and seemingly the entire Southern Hemisphere. We were scheduled to depart for home the day after the papal Mass.

But before leaving, we decided to make one last effort to play tourist and visit this remarkable statue. Our previous attempts to tour this “wonder of the world” had eluded us all week. Our perseverance resulted in the ultimate triumph of this Blue Jay pilgrimage, reminding us all that Christ leads the way.

Our job is simply to remember that and respond with confidence: “Here we are!”

Jeremy Reuther ’01 is director of campus ministry at Jesuit High School, where he also teaches theology to seniors. His email is reuther@jesuitnola.org.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Blue Jay Bazaar

Jesuit Golf Classic

Sunday, March 30

Volunteer Thank You Party Friday, April 25

Friday, April 11

Alumni & Seniors’ Commencement Luncheon Friday, May 2

Blue Jay Fishing Rodeo Saturday, June 28