Moeller Teachers and Counselors: The Leaders in Educating Young Men.

and market web pages for clients ranging from a German countess to a national chain of karate schools. Then came what he calls “an early midlife crisis,” and the recognition that he’d originally wanted to be a high school teacher and writer. He’d started an MA in English at Xavier University with plans to someday teach, but in class heard about an opening at Moeller. “Within a few months of deciding again I was going to be a teacher, Moeller had offered me a contract and home for twenty years,” he said. “Let’s say I strongly believe in providence.”

Mr. Girard’s first book, Tales of the Jersey Devil—a collection of thirteen original stories based on American folklore—was published the same year he joined Moeller. (The publisher later contracted three more Tales of… books.) Shortly after, an educational publisher hired Girard to write a teen-reader adaptation of The Iliad and he was contracted by the Black Library (Warhammer) to write fantasy novels: “None of the Warhammer books ever actually it to print, but I learned a ton while getting close.” These near-misses pushed him back toward his early love of speculative and fantastic fiction. “I’d started writing fiction for fun by the fourth grade,” he said. “Ripoffs of Lord of the Rings, Sword of Shannara, Mary Stewart’s Merlin series, scribbled into notebooks. It was all fantasy stories—elves, orcs, swords. Then I was on to comic books, and I wrote and drew those. Next came my Stephen King phase. My first ‘novel’ was about a teen who turns into Santa Claus and fights monsters. I’m old enough that it was typed on an actual typewriter. I entered my high-school writing competition as a freshman and won first prize—a nice hardback thesaurus, which I still have. I suspected, hoped, writing was in the future. It was, alas, another twenty years before anyone ‘rewarded’ me much again for my fiction. Okay, I got third place as a senior, but…”

Since his return to fiction, Mr. Girard has written and sold more than sixty short stories, appearing in several best-selling anthologies and magazines, including the Stokernominated 2010 anthology Dark Faith, edited by Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon. He was also a winner of the 2004 “Writers of the Future” competition, spending a week in Hollywood working beside top authors and earning a slot in the annual anthology. His debut short-story collection, First Communions, was published by Apex Books in 2016.

In high school, Mr. Girard was a freelance journalist for The Cherry Hill Courier covering local sports events. His first play, an adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle In Time, was produced in 1990. (He is now working on his second.) In 2021, he launched Ellipses Media, which produces content for print, online, theatre, and film, and Ellipses Press, a publishing house for memoirs and social/ political nonfiction. The same year, he founded Tales Of... a quarterly magazine for YA readers, for which he is publisher and editor-in-chief. For five years, he has volunteered at UpSpring, an afterschool program for teens experiencing homelessness, leading workshops in creativity.

“I write because I love to learn and purposely choose projects that offer the chance for me to understand new things. One book had me living in Japan for three weeks. Another had me unexpectedly armed on the US–Mexican border because we were in a cartel-held area,” Mr. Girard remembered.

“People write for different reasons, and in many different forms,” he added. “My aim as writer-inresidence is to help reinforce the skills and fun and power of writing, of the arts. It matters as much now as ever—maybe even more, once robots are doing all our jobs and we’re looking for worthwhile stuff to do with our time and talents. Other teachers promote and teach writing and creativity, but as writerin-residence, that can become my sole focus. To try and get young men interested in sharing words and stories and ideas in whatever form: song, comics, podcasts, film, theatre, editorials—and yeah, even giant epic fantasy novels.”

As writer-in-residence, Mr. Girard has been a guest teacher for Moeller classes including: journalism, art, AP Bio, religion, Moeller’s new Student Run Business, AP Gov, and various English classes. He oversees the Moeller Writing Club, the Squire literary magazine, Project BlueGold-and-Greenlight (a new film competition/program with the AV department), and new school trips to Montana and England built upon immersions into the arts. He hosts a college-essay workshop each fall for seniors needing to tackle the infamous application essays, and arranges for outside writers and creators, from New York Times bestsellers to TV personalities and playwrights, to visit Moeller classrooms.

“For years, I felt like a goof talking about my other job as a professional writer,” he said. “The last thing I wanted was for my students to be rolling their eyes, thinking ‘Oh great, Girard’s gonna start talking about Girard again.’ But the more my writing career grew, the more difficult it became to discuss writing in class without using what I’d done, or was currently doing, or the insight of some other writer I’d just met at some convention, as a reallife example. It was just easier to explain things with genuine examples. And it also showed that English teachers weren’t full of it: what we were teaching in class had real-world applications. So over time, I finally decided it was okay to discuss my own writing experiences more: the good and bad, the nuts and bolts of professional writing in all its many shapes. The writerin-residence idea wasn’t too far behind. And Moeller’s commitment to that idea, to what it represents, is notable and special,” he added “Few of our students will go on to write fiction for a living, but some will write on the side—and one could become the next J.K. Rowling or Hemingway. Meanwhile, many will become journalists and marketing copywriters and digital media producers and entertainers and community leaders. They might end up writing homilies, or legal briefs. And they’re all going to write memos, or technical white papers, business proposals, sales sheets, speeches to give their employees, letters to senators or home associations. And many will become lifetime journalers, or write lyrics for their weekend band, or short scenes for some theatre troupe they joined at age forty. Language and artistic expression is a lifelong craft and journey, and our goal is for Moeller’s students to carry that truth with them as they continue their own life journeys—wherever they may lead.”

Geoff Girard has a BA degree (Washington College) and MA (Miami University) in English literature and an MFA in creative writing (Miami University). He is currently studying journalism at UC.

4.) Freshman Ryan Limbacher won the GMV tournament in Humorous Interpretation, earning him a trip to the state tournament to perform his rendition of “Jerry, The Wizard School Dropout.”

5.) Sophomore Gavin Vaughan qualified for the state tournament in Student Congressional Debate by placing in the top six at the Greater Miami Valley (GMV) Conference meet.

6.) Moeller’s first-ever Duo Interpretation pair of junior Nick Mallow and sophomore Jacob Burkhardt qualified to the state tournament in their category by placing at the GMV Conference meet, earning them an opportunity to perform “Luigi and Mario” in Austintown.

Besides these accolades, Moeller’s team grew in number this season— not only in participants, but with coaches, as English teacher Jonathan Bennett joined the squad as a leader in speech activities. Congratulations to all these young men—not only for representing Moeller so well, but for engaging in such a grueling, meaningful activity that will continue to impact them for the rest of their lives.

Moeller Molecular Modeling Team (MO3):

This team partners with a scientist and learns about a protein being studied in his lab. The team then tells a story of their research using visual aids and a 3D-printed copy of the molecule. This year, they are once again working with Dr. JaiJie Diao from the Department of Cancer Biology at UC Medical School. Their current project centers around human autophagy-related protein #9 (ATG9A), which helps keep cells healthy by assisting in the process of eliminating worn-out organelles and proteins. They presented the ATG9A story at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology’s annual conference March 25–26 in Seattle, WA.

Engineering Club: Led by the charismatic freshman Jake Kalmyer, this club has grown substantially. Anyone who has a passion for finding out how things work, taking things apart, and putting them together has a home here. We take on projects from inside and outside the school. No experience is needed. Meets: M block in 206 (except on College Knowledge days) Moeller Smash Bros. Club: Now in their fifth year, they meet twice a week. The club gatherings are open both to casual players just looking to have some fun along and more serious players looking to compete. A dozen or so regulars attend virtually every meeting, with about the same number dropping in and out at various times. It’s a great opportunity for students to get involved.

Sports Analytics Club: Led by Jim Prugh, this noncompetitive organization uses data to look at all major sports and discuss the numbers behind the games. Who are the best players? The best teams? What trades and draft picks are good or bad? We apply basic statistics to create our own analyses, predict season records, and measure consistency for players in all sports, from football to baseball to soccer. We also learn some of the basic functions in Excel to organize and analyze data. Great for anyone interested in fantasy sports, or just understanding sports in general.

Medical Sciences Club: This club meets once or twice a month and provides speakers and presentations on different facets of the medical field. This club seeks to not only help teach about the work of doctors and premedical studies, but to also show sides of the medical world students never knew existed.

Finance and Investment Club: Led by teacher moderators Melissa Evans and Amanda Ocariz and students Ethan Hawryschuk ’24, Joel Brown ’23, and Henry Brown ’25, this club consists of 40 students competing in a stock market competition and meeting monthly to listen to business speakers. During the 2022-2023 academic year students listened to local business leaders and entrepreneurs, as well as a New York stockbroker and a finance manager. From these businessmen, many of whom are Moeller graduates, the club learned about high school opportunities, college options, future career paths, money management, leadership skills, and what it takes to be an entrepreneur. Moeller’s Finance and Investment Club gave students the opportunity to see options for their financial paths and their career paths.

Stephen Adams / Continued from page 9 that are inclusive and cooperative while also providing a sense of self-validation as students recognize the value of their work. “Doing something good for someone else… helps you to feel better,” Adams suggested.

The Joint Service Partnership of Catholic Highschools that Stephen Adams developed is a group of student leaders them as they move on. The strategy that Adams chose for continuing the coalition will help develop an unintended–but essential–sense of autonomy while it builds executive functioning skills in those who choose to be a part of the coalition. Through his Capstone project, Stephen Adams leaves a legacy here at Moeller–a Marianist legacy that

10th Annual

To purchase a ticket, go to https://moeller.org/23golfouting

Save The Date: Monday, July 17, 2023 Shaker Run Golf Club

President

Marshall Hyzdu ’96

Principal Carl Kremer

Dean of Academics

Christine Brookbank, Ed. D.

Dean of Student Life

Mike Shaffer

Design

Tara Grewe, Communications Director

Editors

Mary Fischer, Director of Advancement

Tara Grewe, Communications Director

Photography

Bruce Crippen, Bruce Crippen Photography

John Martin, John F. Martin Photography

Archbishop Moeller is an all-male, college preparatory school known for being the leaders in educating young men. The nationallyrecognized House System, campus ministry, retreats, exchange programs, cutting-edge technology, and athletic success all make Moeller the best high school in the country.

Catholic. Marianist. Forming our Students into Remarkable Men.