The Lance St. Francis de Sales High School’s Official Student Newspaper Since 1956
VOLUME 49, ISSUE NO. 1
FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, 2004
Spain trip was an eventful one By Enrique Pierce, ‘07 Lance Staff Writer
SFS Students on the Riviera
James Molnar
Eight French students (L to R: back row - James Molnar, Nick Toney, Patrick Stengle, Adam Molnar, Justin VanDemark; front row - Michael DeLaney, Patrick Sholl, and Richard Fernandez) pause for a picture in Monaco on the French Riviera. They spent two days in southern France on the Mediterranean, which was part of their 11-day trip. (See Page 2)
From Dream to Reality By James Molnar, ‘05 Lance Editor-in-Chief
Everyone by now has seen that St. Francis is undergoing major construction and renovation. Speaking with Fr. Olszewski, President of St. Francis, THE LANCE learned the current status of construction and some of the reasoning behind the project. “It’s going along,” Fr. O explained. “They have done a lot of work; [however,] there is still a little bit we need to get finished before school begins. The building is kind of a mess, but we are going to have some mess as we go through the school year with this construction.” Returning students may remember what preceded the mess: noise. With demolition crews, beeping dumpster trucks and bulldozers, and headache-inducing jackhammers, there were plenty of noises that made classes, especially those on the front side of the building, difficult to get through. “I would think that the noise will be far less [now] because last spring there was a lot of demolition going on, and there is really no demolition happening right now. It’s a matter of building things up,” Fr. O ensured. He then cautioned, “Now there will be demolition beginning again in the middle of the fall and next winter, but that will be pretty much in the athletic area of the building. I don’t think the noise will be as bad as it was. You should not hear jackhammers or bulldozers.” Because the site looks like a war zone, there were rumors circulating that a portion of the project, especially in the kitchen/cafeteria area, would not be ready for the start of school and because of it, the opening day of school would have to be pushed back so that the aforementioned area could be completed. What did Fr. O have to say about the rumor? “No. That’s not true. The worst that would happen if they don’t have everything ready to go is that maybe they would have extra pizza days or something.” Fr. Olszewski went on to say that Gladieux Corporation, the company in charge of serving lunch, has to put a great deal of equipment in the kitchen. St. Francis took care of the construction, and it is Gladieux’s job to put in the equipment. Their plan is to be ready when classes begin on August 30. Students would love to hear of a delay in starting school, since extra pizza days are always welcomed.
SFS’s project is following major construction and additions that other area Catholic high schools have had done. For example, Notre Dame Academy had a new gym built recently. THE LANCE asked if this was a reason St. Francis wanted a new gym, etc. “That is a piece of it,” Fr. O explained. “You have to be competitive, and you have to stay with the times, but really we began this whole thing and knew that our fiftieth anniversary was approaching. We got together all of our people and talked and talked [about] what we would love to do to our school, if we could do anything. And that’s how the whole thing really came together… The dream is becoming a reality.” Indeed, the dream is now coming alive, but remember that money is a key factor in determining how much the school can do, for it is a $13 million project. When THE LANCE last checked in April 2004, $7.3 million had been raised. Four months later, $1.1 million has been added to that sum. Fr. O said that there are more potentially “big givers” out there, but they have yet to commit. Now that there is significant progress and a new school year starting, seniors especially want to know where their new lounge will be and when they will be able to walk on their steps, which were demolished last April. Fr. O explained: “Temporarily, we are going to keep the senior area up in the main lobby as it was at the end of last year, but it’s going to be larger and in better shape.” Since the main entrance will not be accessible until the Senior Steps are opened, a temporary wall was put up and that section in front of the wall will be the transitional Senior Lounge, which is, coincidentally, right next to the Dean’s new office, so Seniors: Watch out! “The whole Senior Steps and the new entrance should be installed and ready to go probably around December or the first of the year,” Fr. O continued. “And at that time too, the cafeteria will be finished, and our plan is that the front/northern-most section of the cafeteria, which will fly up two floors and will be glass-fronted, is the senior area. We plan to have it open to the seniors all through the school day. Vending machines will be accessible all through the school day [ as well]. So that will be kind of nice, kind of more collegiate.” ... (Continued on Page 4)
watched craftsmen make swords in Toledo (you’ve heard of Toledo blades?) and special jewelry. In Segovia, they saw a Roman aqueduct and the castle where Christopher Columbus came to ask Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand to finance his trip to the New World. They saw the fortress city of Avila, and toured the University of Salamanca. In Madrid, they visited a bull ring and the soccer stadium. In each place, the travelers tried native foods, and even visited Spanish discos. In each city, the group bought souvenir T-shirts for Ryan, and, in Madrid, they purchased a poster appearing to advertise Ryan as a bullfighter in an upcoming event.
Eighteen students from SFS (with chaperones Mrs. Christine Holliday, Ms. Virginia Shaver, and Mr. Pat Hufford) visited central Spain in late June. The 18 Knights were scheduled to see Madrid, Toledo, Salamanca, Segovia, and Avila on the 9-day trip, and all were looking forward to seeing the museums, bullrings, and restaurants they had head about in Spanish class. The trip over was uneventful. As with many overseas trips, the Knights group flew overnight, so that they arrived in Madrid just as the day was starting. Their first stop was Toledo, where they quickly got used to doing a lot of climbing. Toledo is a city on a hill, which made it a perfect fortress in its early years as a Roman capital. The temperature was in the high 90’s, and all of the students admitted feeling a bit light-headed from the lack of sleep and the high temperatures. For one student, the feeling of queasiness wasn’t due to the long flight or the heat in Toledo. Ryan Mallory began to experience the symptoms of something more serious on the second day of the trip, and called his father, Dr. David Mallory, for advice when he didn’t feel any better. Dr. Mallory advised the chaperones to take Ryan to a hospital, and within an hour of his entering the emergency room, Ryan was undergoing appendectomy surgery. His apChristine Holliday pendix had not burst, but there From L to R: Brian Martin, Alex Zychowicz, was some concern about infecAustin Jasin, Zach Rost, Zach Malosh, Peter tion, and doctors in Our Lady Blank, and Dan McKernan take a moment to mug of Health Hospital decided to for the camera in the lovely city of Segovia. operate immediately, which happened to be at about 1:00 in the morning. The return trip was quite eventful. Airline Ryan spent a day in the Recovery officials in Madrid could not locate their tickRoom, then was moved to a semi-private ets, causing them almost to miss their flight to room. That first day post-operation, he Frankfort. Then, the Frankfort airlines reprewas confined to bed and not allowed to sentatives told the group that their flight was eat or drink anything. The pay television overbooked, and they would have to fly on a was on the wall out of his reach, and the later (12 hours later!) flight. In the end, after room was not air conditioned. He spent three or four security checks, the travelers were a miserable time that first day, but appre- able to fly on their original flight, and met their ciated visits from some of his traveling families and friends at Detroit right on time. companions. By the third day, his mother, Many of the travelers called their trip “a Pat, had flown to Spain to be with him, once-in-a-lifetime-experience” and pledged to and she stayed with Ryan until his re- return when they had more time (and more lease from the hospital a week after the Spanish language skills.) The group toured surgery. with ACIS, a tour company based in Boston. In the meantime, the rest of the tour The group was the 6th SFS group to travel to group continued their trip. They Spain in the last 12 years.
Inside this issue...
2 3 4
- Service Trips -Trip to France - Senior Year: Are we ready?
Upcoming Events... Opening School Football Game at Perrysburg
-FYI: Freshmen
Opening Day of School (8:25 a.m. - 2:45 p.m.)
-Fall Sports Preview -Playing Poker -Get Involved!
“M” Schedule Opening School Liturgy
8.27 8.30 9.08