Volume LXXX, Issue XXX
sluh.org/prepnews
St. Louis University High School | Friday, May 13, 2016
Principal John Moran to leave for Cheverus Laughlin will communicate plan by June 30
Rising juniors to have BYOD options next year BY Joseph Reznikov CORE STAFF
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Moran with an inductee at the NHS Induction last month. He is leaving June 30 for Portland, Maine. BY Nolen Doorack and Leo K. Heinz EDITORS
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eachers filed into the Currigan Room Tuesday morning to hear an unexpected announcement: Principal John Moran is returning east to be the new principal at Cheverus High School, a Jesuit school just north of Portland, Maine, after serving Saint Louis U. High for eight years. President David Laugh-
lin gathered faculty for an impromptu meeting to share the news of Moran’s departure from SLUH. He read a statement that would be sent out to SLUH parents and students later that morning. “It’s just about communicating to people and being honest and saying, ‘Here’s where we are.’” said Laughlin. “I let our faculty know what I was sending to parents. … I wanted people to hear it from me personally and not in an
email.” After Laughlin shared the news with the faculty, Moran shared some words. “I would hope some of my emotion showed because this is an emotional decision,” said Moran. “This is very bittersweet. I’m excited about the Cheverus end of this decision, but I’m heartbroken leaving here.” When the Boston native and his wife learned they were pregnant last year, the
photo | Brendan Voigt
idea of moving closer to home became more attractive. Cheverus High School posted the open principal position in early March, and Moran applied. The whole process wrapped up this weekend as Moran was offered the position. Moran told Laughlin on Monday that he was accepting the offer. Along with proximity to Moran’s family and friends,
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An often forgotten tradition, Faculty Foibles rediscovered Raised scholarship money for graduating seniors BY Connor EDITORS
FitzGerald and Ethan McIntyre
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veryone knows about the annual tradition that is Senior Follies, though few know about the faculty version of Follies, which ran for four years during the 1970s. The tradition was born in the spring of 1973 out of a desire by Al Pasqualucci, a faculty member, to raise money for a scholarship fund for a member of the graduating senior class. Later in its existence, Foibles raised money to donate to a charity of their choosing.
continued on page 8 The weekly student newspaper of St. Louis University High School 4970 Oakland Ave. - St. Louis, MO 63110 (314) 531-0330 ext. 2241 online at sluh.org/prepnews prepnews@sluh.org
The poster advertisement from Faculty Foibles 1973.
News
Thank you, faculty! Dougan, Osburg, and Pinné are among the faculty that we remember today in our series of departing faculty members. Thank you for your years of service! Pages 2 and 4 Scholarships
©2016 St. Louis University High School Prep News. No material may be reprinted without the permission of the editors and moderator.
poster | courtesy of Mr. Charlie Busenhart
SLUH Senior Scholarships See the list of accepted scholarships by student. Page 5
News
It’s always fun and games here The SLUH Gaming Design club recently acquired 100 coding licenses with plans for a tower defense game in the 2016-2017 school year. Page 3 Features
“Warsh” your mouth out The idea of a St. Louis accent is explored by teachers, who discuss its possible origins as well as how it compares to other regions’ accents. Page 4
n the second year of SLUH’s new 1:1 technology mandate, rising juniors—the class of 2018—will have the option of using a device other than the iPad they are currently required to have this year. Currently, all members of the class of 2018 are required to have iPads; next year, rising juniors either continue using their iPad or transition to another device if they desire. Director of Educational Technology Andrea Nunziante and Director of Information Technology Jon Dickmann are currently working on a letter that will outline what devices will and will not be allowed for rising juniors. The letter will be sent out over the summer in either the June or July mailing. “(BYOD will) open the door for students to a variety of new learning experiences as well as be a challenge on the teacher to adjust,” said Nunziante. The main guidelines for devices to be acceptable are: the capability of running Google products such as Google Drive and Google Docs, long battery life, the capability of connecting to wifi, at least 32GB of storage space, a protective case, and a minimum screen size of 7 inches. The letter also gives suggestions on what particular devices the technology department thinks students should consider. “I’m really interested to see what students bring,” said Dickmann. “I’m interested to see students having a choice, what they choose to do, and where their comfort level is.” The technology policy for this upcoming school year will work as follows: members of the freshman and sophomore classes will be required to have iPads, while juniors— the class of 2018—will be required to have a device but able to choose which one they would like to use. The following year, seniors will also be
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Sports
Wopo punishes, then prepares Water polo dominates the early rounds of the state tournament, winning 22-1 against Clayton and 20-5 against Parkway North, before preparing for the final four this weekend. Page 10 Sports
Rugby knocks on state title’s door The rugby team hoped to bring home a championship last weekend in the State Tournament, but fell short in the final, losing 17-7 to the Rockhurst Jr. Blues. Page 9
In April survey, substance use down from ’06 results Heightened perception of a problem BY Leo K. Heinz EDITOR IN CHIEF
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fter years of speculation and concern amongst parents, students, and teachers, the results of an April survey on student alcohol and drug use has delivered surprise and some disbelief amongst teachers and students who perceived use to be at higher levels. The survey results show a prominent decrease in student’s alcohol and drug use since 2006. The survey, sent to students in April by Principal John Moran, showed a decrease in student use and abuse across each category— cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs. The results of the survey, “will be used to assess the state of drug, alcohol, and tobacco use by SLUH students,” Moran said in the email to students.
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Nine Greek scholars grab awards in NGE BY Andrew STAFF
Modder
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wenty-two SLUH seniors participated in the National Greek Exam this year, nine of whom will be presented awards this week. Over 2,000 students took part in this nationwide exam. The exam, held in early March, had six different categories that students could choose from, and all SLUH participants took the Beginning Attic Greek exam category.
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Index 2-4 News Feature Crossword 5 Scholarships 6-7
Drugs Survey
8 Feature 9-11 Sports 12
Around the Hallways
Calendar
NEWS Prep News Pinné, S.J., assigned to De Smet, will work in Campus Ministry
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photo | Max Prosperi
President David Laughlin and Pinné during the Mass of Praise and Gratitude. BY Jack STAFF
Schweizer
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fter two years of service, Chris Pinné, S.J., will be leaving St. Louis U. High to work at De Smet. Prior to SLUH, Pinné had been working in the law school at St. Louis University. Upon arriving here, it was decided he would be teaching faith and morality theology classes to juniors. In the classroom, Pinné implemented a unique teaching method of assigning a “class beadle.” “The beadle is the person who writes everything down we did in the class so that we can review it the next day,” said junior Benjamin Adrian, a class beadle himself. Pinné also tried to connect with his students in the classroom with fun stories and genuine conversations with his students about a particular topic.
“He doesn’t necessarily follow the textbook, but he’s always got a funny story to tell, and no matter what the topic is, if people want to talk about problems they have with their religion or struggles in their faith, he’s always willing to talk about it and he’ll never judge you for it,” said junior Luke Sextro, one of Pinné’s students. “He’s open to anything, he’s open to everybody’s comments, and everybody’s opinions.” Around the hallways at SLUH, Pinné has been known for his playful teasing and dry humor. He often gets into tussles with James Page, S.J., the new Jesuit scholastic at SLUH. “I get to hang out with him in the Theology Department. And this past year most of my interactions with him have been a lot of playful teasing, so I’ve really enjoyed that aspect of our relationship,” said Page.
But more than anything, Pinné is known for his loving relationship with the students and faculty at SLUH. In one instance this past year, freshman Mikes Trittler needed a new Bible. His own Bible was falling apart, held together by a duct tape spine. Pinné noticed the Bible’s dire condition when he past by it in the hall. He talked to Trittler and gave him his own hardback Bible. Pinné has also worked to start up the St. Joseph of Armithea Club at SLUH, a tight-knit group of students chosen by Pinné to help bury the poor who have no families. He started the club in Denver but due to different funeral homes burying the poor in St. Louis, Pinné was not able to get the club off ground in time. He’s considering forming the club at De Smet. Preliminary discussion
concerning moving Pinné to De Smet began five to six weeks ago. Shortly after, the Jesuit provincial hand-delivered Pinné a letter informing him of the move. And although Pinné was sad about the decision, he also cherishes that same vow of obedience and missionary work. “Missioning for us means that we don’t just go where we want to go. That we’re missioned to go and bring God’s word to the people we work with. And that doesn’t mean that we have all the answers but it also means to teach about God, but also find out where God already is, to the students and the teachers,” said Pinné. Pinné will be helping in Campus Ministry, spiritual formation of the faculty, and sacramental ministry at De Smet, according to Jim Burshek, S.J., a close friend of Pinné’s. Burshek and the other faculty at De Smet are looking forward to Pinné’s move. “Most of all of almost anyone I know, he’s one of the people who most loved working in the high schools. And a lot of the teachers at De Smet were there as students when he was there as Dean previously,” said Burshek. “The President and another one of our top administrators both just have the greatest admiration for him and were so happy to hear that he was coming because they actually told me he was one of the most important people in their lives when they were students and so they’re looking forward to having him back to do that again for another set of students.” But Pinné’s loving presence will be greatly missed around the SLUH hallways. “Just seeing him the in the hallways just always make
my day a little brighter because he’s always there to put a smile on my face,” said Sextro. “I’m also going to miss the earnestness that he brings to spiritual matters. I know that when he’s speaking about them that he’s putting his entire spirit behind his words.
May 13, 2016
I can feel his spirit whenever he’s talking about these matters. And that is always a tremendous honor to me because I know he’s there for me body and soul and so I’ll miss that. He’s a good guy. He’s like a grandfather figure,” said Page.
photo | Max Prosperi
photo | Nolen Doorack
ABOVE: Pinné serving Mass in the chapel. BELOW: Pinné serving the Eucharist during the Mass of Praise and Gratitude.
Teachers discuss the “St. Louis Accent” BY Jack STAFF
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Schweizer
he St. Louis accent is often overlooked by native St. Louisans, but its unique history plays an influential role in our city’s identity. Accents first developed as humans spread out across the globe, developing different pronunciations as they grew apart. These accents were passed on to their children, from generation to generation. Eventually certain accents could be identified with different regions of the world as entire groups of people began to share common dialects within their own communities. “Language as well as accent are a result of isolations of people. Communities, developing nations, and sometimes if they become segregated off or lose contact with others, they develop their own speech patterns. And that’s the reason you end up with multiple accents,” said history and anthropology teacher Tim O’Neil. “People in that area learn and pick up speech patterns from those
that we hear and from our parents, and so as a result we speak the same way. Sometimes you can lose your accent too if you move around or you can pick up an accent if you’ve moved around, depending upon how old you are.” As people migrated to the United States they came across in tight-knit communities, bringing their accents with them. “Linguistics relating to certain people from certain areas of England, Great Britain, moving to the United States and, by extension, the American accents are derived from those pockets of people. People tended to move in communities, in migration patterns. So either families come over, or they send letters back home ... in other words whole communities end up moving and settling in similar sorts of places,” said O’Neil. Accents became more varied within communities and nations, including the United States, as the upper classes sought to distinguish themselves from the poor. According to O’Neil, accents became a way of ste-
reotyping. “Sociolinguistics is all about the idea of within societies, depending upon your speech patterns, essentially it’s a form of stereotyping. Along with a certain accent there’s a certain assumption that goes along with that. An example of that would be someone who speaks with a deep Southern accent would be viewed as backward or uneducated,” said O’Neil. The St. Louis accent, along with much of the Midwest, is believed by some to be a result from the Northern Cities Vowel Shift. For several decades, University of Pennsylvania professor William Labov has been studying how Americans talk and has theorized that the Midwestern accent is a result of what he calls the “northern city shift.” Labov claims that after the construction of the Erie Canal, workers from the East Coast moved to the Great Lakes, bringing with them different varieties of English that caused a change in the pronunciation of vowels. In an interview with National Public Radio, Labov said
“It’s called the great vowel shift. But long about 1950, the short vowels in Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Rochester, began to move. It’s called the northern city shift. … It’s new and it’s extraordinary, and now the people in that region talk more differently from the rest of the country than ever before.” However, according to English teacher Chuck Hussung, accents from different regions became more widely acceptable once president Jimmy Carter was elected. “Americans became more open to accents when Jimmy Carter became president. Jimmy Carter had an undeniable accent that did not sound like news anchors,” said Hussung. According to Hussung, news anchors at the time usually spoke with a neutral accent not clearly identifiable to any particular region. But during Carter’s presidency, more and more news anchors began speaking with more distinct accents from Brooklyn, Texas, etc., making accents acceptable. “The way I experienced
it, the president had such a strong version of a regional accent, it sort of opened the door to ‘This is okay, maybe we don’t have to overcome our regional identity to speak to the nation.’ Experts can tell you it’s not this way at all, but that’s they way I experienced it.” But the question of whether St. Louis has an accent is indisputable. St. Louis, and everyone for that matter, has an accent. But like the national news reporters, some accents are perceived as more neutral than others. In fact, according to Hussung, news anchors could develop their “neutral” accent in Nebraska, a fellow Midwestern state. French teacher Suzanne Renard compares the strength of an accent to having a fever. “Having an accent is like having a temperature. Everybody has an accent. It’s just our manner of pronouncing. And nobody thinks they have an accent. So to say that you don’t have an accent is like saying you don’t have a temperature, meaning you don’t have a
fever. Everybody has a temperature, even dead people have a temperature. It may not be a fever.” Psychology teacher Tom Kickham knows we have an accent, but wants to believe we don’t based off of pop culture. “When we hear people sing, even when it’s a Brit like Adele, or the Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger, or McCartney, or Lennon, they sing not in an identifiable British way, and they do not sing in a way that we would identify with a Southern part of the United States. They sing as if they’re St. Louisans, I think. So I think the fact that somebody says ‘I have a St. Louis accent’ almost causes me to think that I don’t have an accent, everybody else does.” Some common phrases often heard with the St. Louis accent are words like “warsh” instead of “wash.” Or “fur” instead of “for.” “Farty-far” as opposed to “fourty-four.” Or perhaps “Harrible” instead of “horrible.”
NEWS
May 13, 2016
Prep News
Moran heads to Cheverus High School in Maine Game Design receives (continued from page 1)
Cheverus High School’s Jesuit heritage was a big draw. “A Jesuit school was not quite a non-negotiable, but it was pretty darn close … I’ve come to appreciate and love Jesuit schools and Ignatian spirituality,” said Moran. Cheverus is co-educational and a little less than half of the population of SLUH. “(Cheverus is) a very warm and service-oriented community. The grad at grad terminology is commonly used and understood,” said Moran. “I don’t know if their students chant Cura Personalis in the stands, but they might.” With the news of Moran’s departure so late in the school year, Laughlin is working to hash out a plan and timeline. Leading up to Moran’s departure on June 30, Laughlin will work with the academic administrators and the Board of Trustees to gain clarity of the
process going forward. “We’ve got a team of assistant principals that are very veteran people; they all do all the mechanics of making sure to run the school well, so I’ll be visiting with them,” said Laughlin. “The Board of Trustees, I’ll make sure that our Board of Trustees understands what I’m thinking and I’ll also listen and get feedback from individuals.” Three routes emerge: Laughlin could appoint an interim principal, likely a current assistant principal or other faculty member at large with a larger search process for future process to commence throughout next school year; he could appoint a permanent principal; or he could call a search process to take place over the summer, though it would be shorter than usual. Laughlin said that he did not “want to speculate on that right now” and that he would
“keep people informed as we moved on.” Laughlin approved the hiring of Moran as principal in the spring of 2008 after a search process that had taken place from October 2007 to February of that year. The nearly five-month long process followed after Moran’s predecessor, Mary Schenkenberg, informed Laughlin before the 2007-2008 school year that she would retire at the end of the year. Due to Cheverus beginning its search process in early March, Moran was not selected until last week. “It’s an unusual time for something like this to happen and so it’s important to remember (that) we have a lot of really good people in the community and to do a little dialogue with people and do a little listening and try to be thoughtful about what does that process look like,” Laughlin said.
Laughlin plans to stay in communication with the community and said he would announce the next steps before Moran leaves June 30. “What we hope to have in place for a place like St. Louis U. High is the best possible mission-based, academic leader we can get. And that warrants a process; that is what I did last time: it’s getting input from different constituents, it’s a process of listening and discernment and trying to find the best possible candidate. That will be the process when we talk about the permanent position of principal at St. Louis U. High,” said Laughlin. “Right now, I’m in this moment of saying, ‘How does that look and when do you start that,’” Laughlin said. “When I know that, I will communicate that.”
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ACROSS 1 Lol 5 Zeus’ kind 8 A woodwind instrument 12 What you make meet 13 To make a mistake 14 What does the wolf say? 15 Three-pieced beings 16 Chai, Darjeeling etc. 17 Chicken Embryo 18 This singer gazed a gazeless stare 21 Bareilles: “___ what you want to ___” (Same word twice) 22 ___ crackles and pops 25 Defining factor of a southpaw 28 Number 23’s first name 30 Upper-underwear 31 The egg-layer 32 Name for a little devil or mischievous child 33 R.I.P., last name of 15-Across
36 First name of Rock and Columbus 38 Man of ___ 39 Spanish Abbr. for a woman 40 “The Genius” — musical artist 45 Start your own ___ in this popular war app 48 Group similar to the FBI 49 What children pretend the ground is made of 50 Nickname for a girlfriend and a famous baseball player 51 Famous type of tree 52 Woman sportscaster, ___ Andrews 53 Sweetie Pies’ food type 54 Exclamation said when in trouble 55 Connecticut Ivy league school
name 3 Man-cave centerpiece (Abbr.) 4 The pass to the goal scorer 5 To make a living from check to check (2 words) 6 World’s best selling cookie 7 Synonym for “attracts” (2 words) 8 Kool-aid man’s catchphrase (2 words) 9 Casper’s communication 10 Tootsie-pop mascot 11 Lone ___ Park 19 Independence ___ 20 Disney movie — Monsters ___ 23 Groups in two’s 24 Can be said before the words “truck” and “sweet” 25 Arguably the most intimidating president (Abbr.) DOWN 26 Baseball pitcher’s scoring 1 Mr. Potato ___ stats 2 Freud and Kournikova’s first 27 ___ or fiction?
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BY Charlie REPORTER
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he St. Louis U. High Game Design club, also known as SLUHGaDe, has recently acquired software licenses from the Unity Technologies coding program. Enough licenses have been granted to the club to last them for a year. Normally such licenses would cost $75 a month, but UT added on both iOS and Android development kits, enhancements that cost $75 per kit, that bring the total cost of one license for one month to $225. Through the Unity for Education program, the club acquired 100 of them for free for twelve months, bringing the net value of the grant to $270,000. The program allows designers to collaborate on one single project simultaneously, much like how some classes are using Google Drive. It also allows the programmers to add statistics, and convert whatever project they want to multiple platforms, including mobile devices. This wide collaboration is one of the reasons that the club wanted to get 100 licenses. The licenses are paired with an individual computer. The club wanted every main student usable computer in the school to have one, plus a few extras for club programmers to use. Acquiring the actual licenses was a long process: SLUHGaDe first had to write and submit a letter to the Unity for Education organization explaining the club and its purpose, as well as upcoming plans for the club and what the licenses would be used for. Club co-founder Eric Schnelker then spoke with a Unity representative everyday for two weeks straight working out logistics. They received a reply about one month later and the grant was approved, allowing the team to use its new licenses. SLUHGaDe was started back in mid-November by
sophomores Eric Schnelker and Dominic Pancella. The point of the club is to “provide an environment where designers can collaborate on a single project,” said Schnelker. The club has recently been undergoing a few structural changes, including new forms of communication and cooperation. This is not the first project the club has worked on. When the club was originally founded, the team tried to create an open-world RPG. However this failed, due to a lack of communication and a lack of resources to make a game of that size. The concept was scrapped in mid-February, and since then the club leaders—Pancella, Schnelker, and sophomore Trent Adelmann—have been working to find better ways to make the club work. The Unity licenses were a new development, and these will be able to fix many of the problems that occurred in the early stages of the club. The team has plans to work on a top-down tower defense game, and has been testing the Unity program. They plan to finish a draft for the game by the second quarter of the 2016-17 school year. The tower defense game is not the only plan for the club. The team also plans on having more regular meetings to increase productivity. They hope to raise recruitment by advertising the club more often, specifically at next year’s Activity Fair. They hope to send some members to local design competitions to raise awareness for the club. The big idea the club has is a collaboration with Cor Jesu Academy to form a team between the two schools. Schnelker explained that he has found a common interest in game design at both schools, and is willing to work out the logistics to make this collaboration possible.
SLUH successful in National Greek Exam (continued from page 1)
28 ___ in Black 29 Type of album (Plural) (Abbr.) 31 Common phrase said when surprised (2 words) 34 The hard part of eating popcorn 35 Red, Black, and Mediterranean 36 ___NIUM, popular board game 37 Vehicle with high handlebars 39 Harlem ___ 41 Italian “Goodbye” 42 ___ Croft: Tomb Raider 43 Bad guy’s defining quality 44 Not crazy 45 Channel that plays The Big Bang Theory and Criminal Minds 46 Four letter country that ends in an “S” (_ _ _ S) 47 Famous Disney Monkey
Nine of the SLUH seniors who took the exam are receiving ribbons and certificates for their outstanding work. Six of them earned a Merit award: Michael Bub, Nick Gillam, Chris Harden, Chris Kreienkamp, Justin Martin, and Jack Perryman. They will receive a certificate and a green ribbon for their impressive scores on the exam. The other three seniors— Ian Hurford, Tim Tierney, and Jack Zimmerman—earned High Honors on the exam, and they will be awarded a certificate and a red ribbon. “I thought the fact that nine of the students who took the exam got some kind of award was an excellent showing,” said SLUH Greek teacher Dr. Mary Lee McConaghy, who requires all of her students to take the exam. “Especially since our seniors are away the whole month of Jan-
uary and then they came back and took this exam about five weeks after that.” Unfortunately, only three seniors, the ones who received High Honors, were recognized at the SLUH Senior Awards Ceremony two weeks ago. There was a mistake in scoring, so the six who won the Merit award did not get recognized immediately. “The reason that these students were not recognized earlier was because the exam had a statistician and when they sent the scores, they had the scores correct, but they didn’t have the categories broken down correctly as to who got which awards,” said McConaghy. Once the scores were corrected, all the Merit award winners were awarded their certificates and ribbons for their achievement on the exam.
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NEWS Osburg waves goodbye, retires after 44 years of teaching Prep News
photo | Patrick Conrey, ’14 BY Sam Chechik CORE STAFF
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fter 44 years of teaching—12 of which have been spent at St. Louis U. High—English teacher Barbara Osburg will retire at the end of this school year, ending a career overflowing with exuberant classrooms and insightful commentary. “There’s just no doubt that (the students and teachers are) what bring you back here every day with joy that makes you look forward to the Mondays. This is a remarkable place,” Osburg said. Osburg, after teaching senior American Literature and freshman English for 12 years, has decided to retire and transition into an era of leisure time. “Two years ago was the first August of my life when I wasn’t ready to go back to school. I loved school. I lived for Mondays, and I mourned on Fridays because school was over for two days. I just loved school my whole life,” Osburg said. “That’s the sign—when you’re not yet ready to come
back to school when you’ve always been ready to come back to school.” Besides wanting to relax for the later portion of her life, Osburg also increasingly disliked grading, and she also felt like her references were becoming a bit out of touch with the students. “I could feel more and more, that though I loved the kids and I loved the classroom, I resented the grading, and I resented the lack of leisure in my evenings. It’s that paper load,” Osburg said. “So mostly it was kind of a discernment of ‘How much energy do I have left? Am I still reaching the boys?’ It’s fair to say I’m still reaching the boys, but there are diminishing commonalities. The examples I use for things get fewer and fewer.” Although she also feels like she could have done more at SLUH, like starting a course or a club, she was quite faithful to Monday evening Karen House service trips for four years. When she first arrived at
SLUH, she taught American Literature alongside current English Department chair Steve Missey, and freshman English with fellow English teacher Frank Kovarik. She was also determined to create comprehensive yet exciting lesson plans for her classes, even finishing them early over the summer and switching orders of books to read during the year “because I can’t take changes,” she said. For example, she decided to teach American Literature chronologically instead of thematically. When she taught, Osburg’s teaching style was a succulent mixture of enthusiasm and high standards: “she inspired people with her free-range intellectual enthusiasms—they know no bounds,” according to Missey, and “puts her whole self into it,” according to Kovarik. Her personality overflowed into her teaching style often. “She’s a radiating dynamo of intellectual and emotional engagement that her students plug into and that I think her
colleagues plug into as well, and we charge our batteries off of her—energy and imagination and warmth and love,” Kovarik said, repeating comments he made about Osburg at the Faculty Farewell Dinner on Wednesday night. The relationships with her fellow faculty members and the students is what pushes her to succeed, yet also fosters wonderful times when Osburg is around. Osburg also helped with new teachers coming in, even if she wasn’t their official mentor, like fellow English teacher and fashion expert Sean O’Brien, who came to SLUH six years ago. “(Her style) holds kids accountable,” O’Brien said. “You have to demand a lot of people who have a lot, and you have to push them.” A “constant example in communication” to him and others, Osburg affected O’Brien like the many other SLUH members she’s encountered. “She is so in love with life and experience, so she’s passionate about most everything, and when she believes in something, she sticks with it, yet she’s also so open to new ideas and things and part of it is there’s not a lot of new things to her, but when there are, she’s on it,” he said. “We have very in-depth conversations about human existence. I mean, that’s what literature is so much trying to capture is those moments.” It was the love of her students and colleagues that kept Osburg going each and every day. “There was just this great magic between the staff who are hired and the boys we bring here, and the boys become what that staff has helped form them into, and that staff is improved constantly by interaction with those kind of young men,” Osburg said. “(SLUH) is a magical place because of the people that are here, and the
May 13, 2016
photo | Mr. Matt Sciuto
Obsurg during one of her classes earlier this school year.
people that are here draw people like themselves—in the best ways, and I don’t mean they have the same interests or same personalities—but they have the same basic set of values, which is the formation of people that would like to be in the world they are going to be living in.” Osburg also battles her fellow department colleagues whenever the discussion in the English office comes upon some novel or play, and Osburg is always exploring the deepest routes of interpretation. “She brings a kind of drama and passion to the life of the mind, and it wins people over. It’s inspiring,” Missey said. “She’s quick-witted, and part of that wit is her way of keeping herself humble and grounded. She’s a very warm human being. She’s excited about the communities she’s a part of, and one of the things that makes those communities exciting is that she’s a part of them.” Osburg, the “provocateur,” resists the easy view— “the accepted, commonsensical standard way of looking at things,” as Missey put it—because she wants to understand the ‘why.’ Osburg has been teaching English—and even some other subjects along the way, like algebra—for 44 years, starting at St. Ambrose, an elementary school in Chaffee,
Mo., in 1972, where she taught seventh graders for one year. This was immediately after she received an undergraduate degree in elementary education. She also received her B.A. in Philosophy. While in school to receive her M.A. in English, she taught at Southeastern Missouri State University for two years before moving onto her first high school teaching job at Sullivan High School in Sullivan, Mo., where she stayed for four years. She then moved over to St. Louis University while getting her Ph.D. in American Literature, and she stayed there for three years. At the time, she also taught at Meramec Community College, Harris-Stowe State University, and Forest Park Community College. She finally moved onto Parkway North in 1982, where she stayed for 22 years teaching Honors high schoolers in English. In 2004, SLUH hired her, and after 44 years, she has impacted both students and colleagues at every school she’s taught. “She has this wide-ranging intelligence,” said Missey. “She’s able to, with apparent ease, speak knowledgeably about very particular works of literature and very big historical or philosophical or cultural movements. She’s just dazzling, and she is passionate and funny and bawdy; she’s just fun.”
Dougan retiring after 14 years of counseling SLUH students BY Andrew Pluff and Galen Bacharier CORE STAFF
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fter 14 years of helping St. Louis U. High students take their next steps into college, counselor Dennis Dougan is taking a step away from the educational world and retiring from SLUH. Dougan has been a college counselor for 43 years total, having also served 29 years at Lindbergh High School before coming to SLUH. Although Dougan also taught some business classes at Lindbergh, his main job throughout his 43 years has been helping students land at the right college. “Counseling has always been what I have done,” said Dougan. “I love being able to help students find their right fit for college.” Dougan came to SLUH after leaving the counseling staff at Lindbergh High School and considering retirement. Counselor David Mouldon, who knew Dougan
through his work at Lindbergh and counseling Mouldon’s daughters, alerted him to a job opening at SLUH. “(Dougan) was really helpful as my daughters’ counselor, so I knew he was real good at what he did, ” said Mouldon, laughing. “When I heard he was thinking about retiring … I thought, ‘Ok, I know we’ve got an opening,’ so I encouraged him to apply. Lots of qualified and talented people applied, but he was by far the standout.” Although he was effectively retiring from counseling when he came to SLUH, Dougan says he found the transition much easier than imagined. “It’s the ease of being able to find colleges, that is the big difference,” said Dougan. “You guys are all talented and have good ACT scores so it’s made my job fairly easy.” There are an overwhelming number of colleges in the United States, but that has never been a threat to Dou-
gan; in fact, it has increased the challenge and made him love counseling more. “There are so many schools that the kids can choose from,” said Dougan. “I love visiting a college and thinking ‘This would be perfect for so and so’ and that thinking forces me to get close to my students.” Dougan’s students recognize that desire to be close and to really know them, and they appreciate it. “Mr. Dougan has always been really willing to talk about a ton of colleges and is always just really good about being super friendly and helpful,” said junior Matt Godar. “Choosing a college is a huge decision and Mr. Dougan has made it as painless as it probably could be,” said junior Peter Hennessey. “He’s been very genuinely interested it seems.” Dougan has loved his time at SLUH. “I love the idea of challenging yourself and never
Dougan with English teacher David Callon in the counseling office.
settling,” said Dougan. “I love the idea that you can and should push yourself farther.” Professionally, Dougan has left a mark, especially in the eyes of counseling secretary Renee Lowry, who worked as a college rep at
University of Dayton before coming to SLUH. “Dennis was always quick to really work for his students,” said Lowry. “He would frequently call on behalf of the student and be the first to tell me to call him if I
photo | Mrs. Kathy Chott
needed any more.” “I just love helping kids find their colleges,” said Dougan. “I have always found it rewarding and the students and people around me have always helped it stay easy and fun.”
May 13, 2016
CLASS OF 2016 SCHOLARSHIPS
Abels, Robert: Truman State University - Academic Andrews Jr., Darrell: Saint Louis University - Academic Andrews, Justin: Miami University, Ohio - Athletic Anthony, Benjamin: University of Missouri - Columbia Diversity Balossi, William: University of Missouri - Columbia Bright Flight Barry, Daniel: University of Dayton - Academic Barry, Michael: Saint Louis University - Bright Flight, Academic, Jesuit Basler, Dane: University of Missouri - Columbia - Bright Flight, Academic Bender, Jack: University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa - Academic, Engineering Leadership Bentz, Nicholas: Butler University - Academic, Dean’s Fine Arts Berger, Scott: Miami University, Ohio - Academic Bersett, Jack: University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa - Academic Brende, Evan: Catholic University of America - Music Brennan, Michael: Fontbonne University - Bright Flight, Academic Bricker, James: Truman State University - Academic Brinkman, John: Washington University in St. Louis Bright Flight Brummell, Luke: University of Missouri - Columbia - Academic Scholarship, Eagle Scout Bub, Michael: Fordham University - Academic Butler, Joseph: Spring Hill College - Academic, Athletic, Leadership Caldwell, Samuel: Truman State University - Bright Flight, Academic Cantwell, Jack: Missouri University of Science & Technology - Bright Flight, Academic Cler, Liam: Baylor University - Academic Cooley, Jeffrey: Marquette University - ARMY ROTC, Academic Correa, John: Cornell University - Academic Cross, Adam: University of Alabama- Tuscaloosa- Academic, Engineering Leadership Daues, Paul: Missouri University of Science & Technology - Bright Flight, Academic Davidson, Dustan: Oklahoma State University - Academic, Athletic de Legarreta, Jose: Loyola University - Chicago - Academic, Jesuit, National Merit Dempster, Jack: Loyola Marymount University - Academic, Jesuit Dernlan, Cade: Spring Hill College - Academic, Athletic Dienstbach, Charles: Missouri University of Science & Technology - Bright Flight, Academic Doorack Jr., Christopher: Fordham University - Academic Duggan, Jerome: University of Missouri - Columbia Bright Flight, Academic Durnien, Patrick: De Pauw University - Academic Edmond, Timothy: Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville - Academic Einig, Kyle: University of Missouri - Columbia - Academic Enderle, Patrick: Creighton University - Academic Evans, Aiden: University of Tulsa - National Merit Flood, Patrick: Indiana University - Academic Frederking, Tyler: Saint Louis University - Academic, Jesuit Freeman, Vincent: University of Mississippi - Academic Frein, Matthew: Indiana University - Academic Gallagher, John: Rockhurst University - Bright Flight, Academic Genovese, Peter: Saint Louis University - Bright Flight, Academic Gillan, Nicholas: University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa Academic Gomez, Reynaldo: University of Missouri - Kansas City Bright Flight Grady, John: University of Dayton - Academic Graf, Thomas: University of Dayton - Academic Grieb, Thomas: Saint Louis University - Bright Flight, Academic Gunn, Joseph: Saint Louis University - Bright Flight Hall, Michael: University of Missouri-Columbia - Chick Evans Caddie Scholarship Haman III, George: Missouri University of Science & Technology - Bright Flight, Academic, Athletic Harden, Christopher: George Washington University Academic, Alumni, National Merit Corporate Scholarship Hayes, Michael: Marquette University - Academic, Service, Leadership Heagney, Samuel: Vanderbilt University - Academic
Heinz, Leo: Creighton University - Academic, Leadership Helfrey, Richard: University of Tulsa - Academic Hemken, Austin: University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign - Academic Henke, Benjamin: Rockhurst University - Academic Henty, Jacob: Indiana University - Academic Herbig, William: The University of Alabama - HuntsvilleAcademic, National Merit Hillmeyer, III, Thomas: Marquette University - Academic Hollander, Zachary: University of Mississippi - Academic Hopkins, Ryan: Loyola Marymount University - Academic Horgan, Colin: University of Missouri - Columbia - Bright Flight Hughes, Shawn: The Ohio State University - Athletic Hughes, Stephen: University of Missouri - Columbia Bright Flight, Academic Hurford, Ian: Vanderbilt University - National Merit Isom, Daniel: Northern Illinois University - Athletic Jackson, Daniel: Millikin University - Achievement, Sibling Jackson, David: Millikin University - Achievement, Sibling Scholarships James, Aedan: University of Tulsa - Academic, Theatre Jones, Spencer: Saint Louis University - Bright Flight Juergens, Timothy: Missouri University of Science & Technology - Academic, Vantage Credit Union Scholarship, Neighbors Credit Union Scholarship Kammerer, Lucas: Missouri University of Science & Technology - Bright Flight, Academic, National Merit Corporate Scholarship Keady, Jack: University of Kentucky - Academic, Engineering Kelso, Sean: Saint Louis University - Bright Flight, Academic, Jesuit Kimes, Michael: University of Missouri - Columbia - Academic King, Keaton: University of Missouri - St. Louis - Academic Klarsch, Austin: University of Missouri - Columbia - Academic Komanetsky, Michael: The University of Dayton - Academic Konzen, Jeremy: DePauw University - Academic Kosfeld, Timothy: Saint Louis University - Bright Flight Krause, Michael: McKendree University - Academic, Athletic L’Ecuyer, Michael: Tulane University - Academic Lally, Daniel: Miami University, Ohio - Academic Leahy, James: University of Tulsa - Academic Lesko, Matthew: Saint Louis University - Academic, Jesuit Lindwedel, Salvatore: Saint Louis University - Academic, Jesuit Livingston, Roman: Saint Louis University - Academic, Jesuit Llewellyn, Matthew: University of Missouri - Columbia Academic Lockwood, Stephen: Loyola University - Chicago - Academic, Jesuit Scholarships Long, Brandon: Missouri University of Science & Technology - Academic Longinette, Jacob: University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa Academic, Engineering Leadership Lord, David: Loyola University - Chicago - Academic deVera Ludwig, Grant: Seattle University - Academic, Civilian Marksmanship Program Scholarship MacDonald, John: Loyola University - Chicago - Academic, Jesuit Mallow, Robert: University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa - Academic, Engineering Leadership Martel, William: Rockhurst University - Academic Martin, Justin: Marquette University - Academic, Jesuit Mattingly, Joseph: College of the Holy Cross McCullough, Jadon: Xavier University - Academic McIntyre, Ethan: University of Tulsa - Academic, Crestwood-Sunset Hills Area Chamber of Commerce Scholarship McMurran, Joseph: Rockhurst University - Bright Flight, Academic Messina, Nicholas: Truman State University - Bright Flight, Academic, Service, Leadership, General J. Pershing Society Award Minnick, William: University of Missouri - Columbia Academic Muhammad, Jibril: Saint Louis University - Jesuit, Martin Luther King Scholarships Mulligan, Michael: University of Dayton - Academic Mungenast, Henry: Saint Louis University - Academic, Jesuit
Prep News
5
Naumann, Jeffrey: University of Missouri - Columbia Chick Evans Caddie Scholarship Nester, Matthew: Washington University in St. Louis Bright Flight Niese, Michael: University of Dayton - Academic Nowak, Thomas: University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa - Academic, Engineering Leadership O’Brien, Thomas: University of Missouri - Columbia Bright Flight, Academic O’Linn, Kevin: University of Dayton - Academic O’Malley, John: University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa- Academic Ott, Andrew: University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa - Academic, Engineering Leadership Pasque, Richard: University of Tulsa - Academic Pence, Patrick: Saint Louis University - Academic, Jesuit Perry, Samuel: University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa - Academic, Engineering Leadership Poisson, Samuel: Missouri University of Science & Technology - Bright Flight, Academic Reddy, James: Washington University in St. Louis - Bright Flight Rieke, Derek: University of Missouri - Columbia - Bright Flight Riordan, Sean: Truman State University - Academic Salamon, Dominic: Rockhurst University - Bright Flight, Academic Schaefer, Matthew: Fairfield University - Academic Scheer, Nicholas: Saint Louis University - Academic, Jesuit Schu, Daniel: University of Missouri - Columbia - Bright Flight Schuler, Patrick: Miami University, Ohio - Academic Schulte, Benjamin: University of Illinois - Springfield Academic Schultz, Joseph: Missouri State University - Bright Flight, Academic, Service, Thomas J. Watson Memorial Scholarship Schwartz, Jonah: Tulane University - Academic Sinay, Jack: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities - Academic Smith, Noah: Missouri University of Science & Technology - Academic St. John, Andrew: DePauw University - Academic Stahl, Christopher: Murray State University - Athletic Stephens, Truman: Fordham University - Academic, National Merit Scholarship Storgion, John: University of Tulsa - Academic Strader, Kevin: Loyola University - Chicago - Academic Suddarth, Adam: University of Dayton - Academic Tettamble, Samuel: Saint Louis University - Jesuit Thomallari, Mario: Saint Louis University - Academic, Jesuit Thomas, Andrew: University of Dayton - Academic Thouvenot, Stephen: University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa Academic, Engineering Leadership Tierney, Timothy: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - Academic, National Merit Corporate Scholarship Underwood, Brendan: Saint Louis University - Jesuit, Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Viox, David: University of Tulsa - Academic, Athletic Vogt, Colin: Saint Louis University - Bright Flight Wang, Alex: Washington University in St. Louis - Bright Flight, Academic Warren, Sean: University of Nebraska - Lincoln - Academic, Leadership, Departmental Weeden-Carlock, Elisha: Rockhurst University - Achievement Wilke, John: University of Missouri - Columbia - Bright Flight, Academic Williams, Jonathan: Saint Louis University - Bright Flight, Academic, Jesuit Wilson, Adam: Missouri University of Science & Technology - Academic Wohlstadter, Sean: Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Academic, Robertson Benevolent Fund Scholarship Zetzman, John: University of St. Thomas - Academic, Jesuit Zimmerman, John: University of Kansas - Academic
College Update: Thomas Caputa will be attending the University of Wisconsin - Madison in the fall. All information is as was reported to the Counseling Department by 3 p.m. on Thursday, the day before publication.
6
NEWS Prep News May 13, 2016 After survey on substances, a conversation shifts to help, support, and policy (continued from page 1)
Fourteen percent of students said they had tried cigarette smoking, though the percent increased by grade level with over 34 percent of seniors saying they had tried cigarette smoking. In 2006, 37 percent of the 134 juniors surveyed said they had tried cigarette smoking. The percent of students drinking has also decreased. Seventy percent of students said they had not had a drink of an alcoholic beverage in the past 30 days, though that also presented a disparity between seniors and freshmen. Ninety-one percent of freshmen said they had not; 38 percent of seniors said they had not. In 2006, 49 percent of the juniors said they had not had a drink in the past 30 days; in April 71 percent of juniors answered that way, a significant increase. In 2006, 80 percent of the juniors surveyed said they had used marijuana zero times during the past 30 days; in April, 89.5 percent of juniors answered that way. Overall, the results show that students become more likely to have used alcohol or drugs as they grow older. (A comparison to 2006 cannot be drawn here as only juniors were surveyed then.) In nearly every question, seniors and juniors reported using cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs more often than sophomores and juniors. Similarly, seniors and juniors reported more exposure to alcohol and drugs on campus than sophomores and freshmen. While less than 1 percent of freshmen said they had been offered, sold, or given an illegal drug on school property in the last 12 months, just over 9 percent of seniors responded they had. Nearly 8 percent of freshmen said they had encountered others using illegal drugs or alcohol on campus; nearly 34 percent of seniors said they had. Though the results show an overall decrease in student drug and alcohol use, a few factors could account for that, or cause reason for doubt, including student mistrust of the anonymity of the survey, the form of the survey, and doubts about the purpose of the survey itself. “There are definitely some people who didn’t answer truthfully,” said junior Thomas Leeker, who has spoken to Assistant Principal for Student Life Brock Kesterson a number of times about the issue of student alcohol and drug use and will serve as the STUCO Student Body President next year. “I feel like, unfortunately, some of these numbers should be higher, especially the cigarettes and alcohol ones.” “Yes, I answered the survey honestly, but I know for sure there’s some guys that didn’t,” said junior Daniel Wagner. “I trusted in it being honest, but I did feel kinda threatened by the whole thing, it being addressed to the entire school,” said junior Peyton Myrick. “I think our kids are dutiful. The vast majority of them are answering correctly,” said math and stats teacher Craig Hannick, who compiled the data. “I can’t speak for the whole student body. Just from the people that I talked to they would be like, ‘well (isn’t the administration) going to be able to see my results and what I said?’ Some people still don’t trust it, and I don’t know if that’s a byproduct of a cultural thing that’s going on where people are just like, we’re being watched and everything you say is being recorded. I think some guys were afraid of answering honestly because of that,” said senior Jack
Perryman, who served as STUCO body president this year. While there is doubt whether or not substance use has changed since 2006, the survey did show significant numbers of students using and potentially abusing substances. “The reality is it’s an issue and a problem for teenagers in St. Louis U. High, in St. Louis, and in America, which is where the school is called to; if it’s better or worse, it’s interesting to know. Unless it were zero, it’s not going to change very much from the school’s approach about what we need to be doing,” said Moran. Perception of a problem In the last year, many students and parents have identified a culture problem amongst factions of students here. This culture involves a desire to get high before various events, or to maintain a level of enjoyment. Perhaps nothing brought this to the collective community’s mind more than when, in January, the Prep News ran a story about five students who had been involved in drug-related incidents in the last several weeks of the first semester. One of those students was expelled; the others were given suspensions. At a November Advisory Committee for Student affairs, one parent suggested that over 90 percent of seniors used marijuana. “When you hear the number 90 percent, alarm bells go off. You hope that you can put some mechanism in place where you can figure out what the responses really are. The numbers obviously are not 90 percent. So the question becomes the question we had going into this, how truthful and realistic are the responses that we get here?” said Kesterson. Clearly, the survey shows that the number is not close to 90 percent; 36.6 percent of seniors reported having ever used marijuana. Moran pointed out one clear cultural change since 2006 which can exacerbate the perception of drug culture or changes in student substance use: the advent of social media platforms like Snapchat that can display students using various substances. “What role does social media play in us looking at these behaviors? If I see a Snapchat picture of someone doing something that’s named in that survey, do I think ‘wow, everybody’s doing it?’ Whereas when I didn’t have access to that, it may have been hearsay or conversation in 2006, so that’s one of the questions I ask in that regard.” “The perception of ‘it’s getting worse, it’s getting worse’ may have as much to do with ourselves and our own anxieties as it does about reality,” Moran said. Cultural shifts With four states and Washington, D.C. having legalized marijuana for recreational use, students, teachers, and parents have suspected an increase in usage. A change in student attitude toward the still-illegal drug in Missouri has also been suspected. Other drugs like heroin have gained notoriety for the prevalence among all communities, no matter of race or economic class. “I think pot is seen as a party drug, not even a party drug but I think pot is seen as casual, lowrisk, it’s an easy thing to get a hold of,” Perryman said, speaking about marijuana. “I would say that I’m stunned at stories I hear about how casual and frequent (marijuana use) is, but those are all just anecdotal,” said English teacher Tim Curdt, who worked on the committee in 2006 that wrote the survey. “I think in some ways there’s more worry and
awareness about (marijuana) because of its prevalence, and at the same time there’s this cultural movement to make it Colorado, the legalization movement.” “The whole notion, ten years ago we weren’t talking about heroin, and now that’s a Super Bowl ad about Kirkwood,” Curdt said. “It’s your average middle class suburb, not something on the economic social margins. That’s a bigger problem. You’re seeing macro issues that I don’t think SLU High is immune to.” Why students use A century-old question persists: what leads adolescents to using and abusing substances? Often, reasons are given such as succumbing to peer pressure—to fit into a friend group that drinks or uses marijuana. Other reasons such as depression and anxiety are often given. “When we have something to celebrate, when we have something to grieve, when have a problem that causes us a great deal of distress, many people, many times, we turn to alcohol. So, the backdrop for me, is that as a society we need to find healthier ways just to deal with significant occasions, whether it’s happy ones or difficult ones,” said Bob Poirier, S.J., who has a doctorate in psychology and worked as a clinical psychologist in the early 2000s. “Specifically, what might lead someone to turn to alcohol or to substances is that sometimes, especially if it is difficulty or pain or sorrow, it’s a way of soothing or self medicating,” said Poirier. “Alcohol is a very social thing at this age, it’s something you do when you get together with your friends. If you’re going to watch a game or if you’re going to go out, you honestly I’m not really sure why, it does help you have more fun, I think,” Perryman said. Curdt described adolescents as often suffering from a limited worldview, one in which they perceive the behaviors and patterns of a friend group to be the only way to live. It is hard to imagine a world that is not like the one you’re currently in, he said. “I think it’s something (the desire to use substances) that has always been with us, but I do think the pervasiveness of the expectation that your social world would be dominated by a context of where alcohol is consumed regularly and drugs, marijuana, are there,” he said. “What I think is important is to
make sure and bear witness to the fact that there is a world that exists also of people not (drinking or using drugs). I didn’t believe that when I was younger because what you see is all you think is there. And that’s kind of an adolescent perspective,” he said. Other students use alcohol and drugs to make a statement. “I don’t know that it’s to be a tough guy, for some guys it is. Some guys do it on campus as like, ‘look, I’m making a statement. About the fact that I just don’t care or that you can’t tell me what to do,” Perryman said. ‘Feeling of invincibility’ Another thing that can lead students to continued use of alcohol or drugs is the belief that they can do so without getting caught, that they can
as stronger deterrents. Some say the school should take more dramatic options, like using random drug tests or deploying drug dogs in the school halls and parking lot to ensure students do not use substances on campus or employ breathalyzers to ensure that students do not show up to school or sporting events drunk or high. “I’m offended that people come to games and SLUH activities drunk or high. I think it’s making a statement that you can’t enjoy the brotherhood of SLU High without alcohol or drugs. I don’t know that this would be the right step, but maybe breathalyzing before games. We have them, why don’t we use them?” Perryman said. As far as other deterrent and enforcement methods go, Kesterson
Alcohol is a very social thing at this age, it’s something you do when you get together with your friends.
Senior Jack Perryman
do so in a smart way, in a way that won’t pose any negative effects on their lives. Often, this is the mindset of a mindset, to deny the abuse as a bad thing or have the clarity and distance to identify it as a problem. “I’m not sure it’s a SLUH thing; it might be more amplified at SLUH, that feeling of invincibility or just the cockiness,” said Perryman. “One of the facets of the problem is that guys think they can do it and get away with it and get out scott-free without any harm and that certainly causes problems. I think that increases the frequency with which it is done. I think it’s a problem,” Leeker said. “I sometimes get the sense that at a Jesuit high school, or this Jesuit high school or this Catholic Jesuit high school, students and parents and faculty and staff think that problems in American society are going to be less for us because we’re Catholic or because we’re Jesuit. I don’t think that’s the case. The problems that face us cut across all religious, racial, ethnic, economic groups, and so alcohol problems are going to affect us I believe as much as the rest of American society,” Poirier said. Enforcing and deterring With students using and struggling with drug and alcohol use and abuse, questions are raised about what the school can do to enforce its policies toward those substances and well as policies that could serve
said that the school is “considering” all options and nothing is “off the table,” echoing comments he made at an Advisory Committee meeting in November and in February, after the events of the first semester. “I think the school’s in a hard, interesting place. Of course, you could go as far as drug testing and as not far as amending the policy a bit,” Leeker said. “I believe we’re going to have to go pretty far. I think drug-sniffing dogs would be a good first step.” “If there’s a general feeling of, ‘Well the school doesn’t or can’t enforce any of the rules that it has out there,” I think that’s why schools go to (drug testing). There’s certainly cultural questions when you do that, but I think we’re seeings schools like ours—Rockhurst is the first that comes to mind, Creighton Prep as well—make that switch that may have had some of those same questions and anxieties and have gone successfully to those programs,” said Moran, who has spoken to Rockhurst principal about their drug testing policy and has said they believe “very strongly that it is (effective).” “When you say the term drug testing, everybody freaks out,” Moran said. “And when you read through their policy, you being to realize it’s very geared towards ‘let’s help students.’ It’s not one and done.” Rockhurst, which began its
continued on the following page
About the survey The Prep News approached Assistant Principal for Student Life Brock Kesterson in mid-March seeking his advice about and consent in administering a survey about students’ alcohol and drug use and attitudes toward alcohol and drugs. After several meetings, Kesterson proposed that the survey be sent to the school from the administration. The Prep News editors initially resisted this; we believed students would trust and be inclined to answer more truthfully a survey sent by fellow students, not one sent by an administration who could be perceived to have a conflict of interest in gaining such information about illegal activity. The editors proposed giving the survey on an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper, while the administration favored the online, results-ready method of Survey Monkey. In the end, the administration decided to give the survey, fearing that a survey sent by the Prep News could lead to the perception that the school was not doing anything on the issue of student al-
cohol and drug use. The editors, in the end, were interested in getting responses and data from students on this issue. On the Friday the survey was given, Moran sent the Prep News a link to the results. Later, he sent the raw data. Math teacher and stats teacher Craig Hannick then compiled the data by grade level. 783 of 1031 current students responded, or 76% of the student body. 211 of the current 245 freshmen (86%) responded; 199 of the current 252 sophomores (79%) responded; 190 of the current 175 juniors (69%) responded; and 181 of the current 259 seniors (70%) responded. Principal John Moran emailed the survey to all students at 7:45 on the morning of Friday, April 22. Homeroom teachers allowed students to take the survey on various electronic devices in homeroom that morning. The survey stayed open until activity period, which allowed for students not in homeroom that morning the opportunity to take the survey.
Prep News NEWS 7 School hopes to emphasize desire to help
May 13, 2016
Survey responses Below, the responses to questions from the April survey on student alcohol and drug use. The 2006 survey was sent to 134 juniors only. Those responses are shown in parenthesis. The 2006 survey was part of a larger survey on negative cultural influences in the lead up to an accreditation. Co-chairs English teacher Tim Curdt and former art teacher Mary Whealon led the committee. Craig Hannick oversaw the giving and making of the original survey. During the past 30 days, on how many days did you smoke cigarettes?
0 days 1 or 2 3 to 5 6 to 9 10 to 19 20 to 29 all 30
fr.
soph.
98.6% 0.5 0 0 0.5 0 0.5
98 0.5 0.5 0 0 0.5 0.5
jr.
sr.
94.7 (81) 2.1 (12) 1.1 (1) 1.6 (2) 0 (1) 0 (1) 0.5 (1)
84.5 6.1 2.8 3.3 1.1 2.2 0
During the past 30 days, on how many days did you have at least one drink of an alcoholic beverage? jr. fr. sr. soph. 0 days 1 or 2 3 to 5 6 to 9 10 to 19 20 to 29 all 30
91% 5.7 0.5 0.9 0.5 0.5 0 no response 0.9
76.4 15.1 5 3 0 0 0 0.5
71.6 (49) 11.6 (22) 11.6 (15) 3.7 (9) 0.5 (4) 0.5 (1) 0.5 (0) 0 (0)
38.1 22.1 13.8 14.9 7.2 2.2 1.7 0
During the past 30 days, on how many days did you have 5 or more drinks of alcoholic beverages in a row, that is, within a couple of hours?
0 days 1 or 2 3 to 5 6 to 9 10 to 19 20 to 29 no response
fr.
soph.
94.8% 3.3 0 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5
87.9 5.5 3.5 2 0 0 1
jr.
sr.
81.6 (69) 10.5 (6) 5.8 (7) 1.1 (12) 0 (4) 0.5 (1) 0.5 (0)
53.6 16 13.3 11 4.4 1.7 0
During the past 30 days, how many times did you use marijuana? jr. fr. sr. soph. 0 times 1 or 2 3 to 5 6 to 9 10 to 19 20 to 29 40 or more no response
97.2% 0.9 0.9 0 0 0.5 0.5 0
95 3.5 0 0 0 0 0 1.5
89.5 (80) 4.2 (4) 2.1 (6) 1.1 (4) 1.6 (3) 0 (1) 0.5 (1) 1.1 (0)
79 9.4 4.4 1.1 1.7 2.2 2.2 0
During the past 30 days, how many times did you use drogs other than marijuana? (Heroin, cocaine, methampethamime, LSD, etc.)
0 times 1 or 2 3 or more no response
fr.
soph.
98.6% 0 1 0.5
99 0 1 0
jr.
sr.
98.9 (97) 1.1 (1) 0 (2) 0 (0)
95.6 1.7 2.2 0.6
Have you ever used prescription study drugs that were not prescribed to you (Adderall, Ritalin, Conserta, etc.)?
no yes no response
fr.
soph.
jr.
sr.
97.6% 2.4 0
97.5 1.5 1
93.2 6.8 0
80.7 19.3 0
Have you ever encountered others using illegal drugs or alcohol on campus? no yes no response
fr.
soph.
jr.
sr.
92.4 7.6 0
87.9 11.6 0.5
77.4 22.1 0.5
66.3 33.7 0
Have you discussed the subject of alcohol and drugs during a class at SLUH? no yes no response
fr.
soph.
jr.
sr.
41.2% 58.3 0.5
27.6 72.4 0
30 70 0
18.2 81.8 0
The last three questions were added to the April survey, not asked in 2006. Mr. Craig Hannick compiled the data and sorted it by grade.
(continued from preceding page)
drug testing program in the last few years, has done it “smartly,” Moran said. The goal is not to expel students, but rather to get students the help that they need. Moran said it “may or may not be” the right thing for this school, but the way in which they have done it involves a collaboration and communication on the part of parents, students, teachers, and administrators on the common goal: “to have students that they are protected, safe, healthy, and parents feel the same level of support,” Moran said. “In general, we need deterrents. We’re human,” Moran said. “We’re not in the business of getting students out of the school. We’re in the business of keeping students in the school, so we want as much as possible to have a process that keeps everybody here safe, healthy, alive, legal, everything that comes with it. We need a process that does that. If part of the steps in doing so builds in a deterrent, that’s okay, as long as it’s focused on the larger goal. We’re talking about in the end keeping you guys; how do we set up a system that does that?” Help or discipline? The long-held belief among students is that the school always approaches drug abuse from a discipline or punishment issue. In many ways, this echoes the debate going on in the United States as to whether people struggling with addiction should be treated as criminals or if there should be an approach more focused on rehabilitation. Perhaps there is a way to do both. The school has taken the approach that if students seek help, either by coming forward directly or through a teacher, counselor, or friend, discipline will not be sought. Rather, the school will seek to help the student. If a student is caught, they will be disciplined in the form of a suspension or, perhaps if caught selling or purchasing a drug or alcohol, expulsion. It is unclear if students trust the administration with dealing with their drug abuse issue or if the policy is known, though nearly half of those that responded to the survey said they had read the handbook policy. If they have read the policy, then they would have seen the section that starts, “However, a student coming forward for assistance for a possible problem with drug use (before a reported incident) whether on his own or with the assistance of a responsible adult or one of his concerned peers will be required to have an assessment by a professional counselor.” “I don’t want to assume anybody knows anything at this point, especially the way handbooks are given to you guys now. In that sense we definitely have to be more deliberate in how we communicate and more intentional about getting that information out there,” Assistant Principal for Student Life Brock Kesterson said. Two other forms of help arise that the school can provide: large scale programming and messaging efforts and smaller scale, more individualized counseling. For example, last week, Michael Tayon, ’13, spoke to a group of over 30 seniors about his experiences living with drug and alcohol addiction, including times running from the police and stints in prison. “That’s better than having an expert whose full time job is to go around talking to high school students,” said Poirier, the former clinical psychologist said. “Sometimes if it’s an alumnus and maybe
not that much older with some of the older students here, things like that might work at times.” “Am I naive enough to think we’re going to solve these problems? Of course not. But I do think that we can make some inroads. I do think the education of the community— parents included—students and faculty can be incorporated,” Kesterson said. “There’s lot of things that are done; I don’t know how effective a lot of things are. But I don’t think it’s ever too early to have those stories told from people whose bad choices
Changes past and present After the 2006 survey, the school made some changes to its counseling system and curriculum; two units on alcohol and drugs were added to the mandatory freshman health class. Nearly 70 percent of students said they have discussed drugs and alcohol in a class. Linhares also cited the change in programming that has occurred since 2006. “If you go back to 2006, we used to have sort of an event-driven, high profile, PR approach to talking about drugs and alcohol. Some
In general, we need deterrents. We’re human. Principal John Moran
have made pretty drastic effects on their lives and are willing to come back and share those things,” English teacher Tim Curdt said. “In my opinion as an educator, a worry for kids is that they limit their imagination to what they see in their immediate environment. ‘Well this is just what kids do for fun, this is everywhere, and this is how students have fun, how they relax’ and it turns out when you’re 16 or 17, you have no idea how limited that perspective actually is.” “The things I think we have to look at are how many opportunities are there in a year to message students on things they need to hear, how many times are they hearing out loud what SLUH thinks about drugs, drug abuse, and drinking,” Assistant Principal for Mission Jim Linhares said. “Is it time for us to re-imagine that? Is it time for us to revisit that? Is it time for us to strike new themes? I think it always kind of is. I think that’s a fruitful area for us to discuss.” One of the ways to help students can come through one-on-one intervention. A friend can step up and say something when they see a friend struggling with drug and alcohol use and abuse. That, though, is difficult for several reasons, many acknowledged. Friends struggling with addiction could characteristically deny the addiction and the friendship could be lost. Perryman said that programming that educated students on how to support others and stand up for friends would be a good step. “I think that would be very positive, training our students on how to help their classmates would be really helpful because I think a lot of guys see the problems that their friends have and they want to do something but maybe they’re scared or maybe they don’t know what to do,” Perryman said. “Now that’s a tough order, I realize that, but in a few cases, that might be important, because there are adolescents who are at times dealing with alcohol or a substance that is really endangering their futures,” Poirier said. Poirier pointed out some of the consequences that most high schoolers don’t foresee in high school. Poirier worked at SLU for many years in the mid 2000s before taking a sabbatical and then coming here to work in the counseling and learning resource areas. “The other issue is, and I think we could do more to prepare juniors and seniors for college, I have seen more students at the college level than I want who lose one or two semesters because their partying and their drinking is so interfering with their college life, so it’s expensive. It can be embarrassing,” Poirier said. “It can sometimes lead to not being able to come back to that college. It can lead to low grades for a semester.”
team of people would come in and deliver some dramatic message and I mean dramatic, like people breaking bricks, delivering a kind of circus act feel about drugs and alcohol. In hindsight, I don’t know how super helpful that was,” Linhares said. “I feel better about a culture where I know we’re working at the ground level and I know we have resource people we refer people to,” Linhares said. “The infrastructure at SLUH is a lot better than it was in 2006 in dealing with kids in substance abuse.” Counselors said they often discover alcohol or drug-related issues with students while trying to figure out other issues like sagging grades. “What happens is that they end up here for low grades, behavioral, trouble at home, and then the parent will call or the kid will come in and then it’s like the conversation about the grade leads to ‘what causes this,” counselor and department chair Nina See said. Kesterson has also begun requiring students caught using drugs or alcohol on campus to receive an assessment from a counselor to diagnose larger issues with addiction, if present. Next year, the counseling department will separate college counselors from personal counselors, so that the personal ones might focus more on wellness and mindset issues. “I think so much of the focus on that split has been about college counselors and what’s the role of college counselors; but the reason is very much about the need for personal counselors to be able to have more time to dedicate themselves to these issues, to wellness issues, to mental health issues, to student support issues,” Moran said. “Again we may see in the year ahead with the counselors having a little more time, to do more for health and wellness, we may see more coming from that area, I think also maybe using upperclassmen to do some messaging with freshmen and sophomores, maybe figure out how you would do the messaging with seniors,” Poirier said. After the survey In the end, the survey identified something most people knew, though at lower levels than some expected, with swirling cultural perceptions about increased casualness towards marijuana. “The survey was a good first step; hopefully it can inform some of what we do,” Leeker said. “I find that great news, but that surprises me,” Curdt said. “I don’t think they are dramatically different than they were (in 2006.) I don’t even know what that means,” Kesterson said. “I don’t think things have gotten dramatically worse but they haven’t necessarily gotten better either.”
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Prep News
FEATURE
May 13, 2016
For four years in the ’70s, Faculty Foibles complemented Follies
Original ticket from the 1974 showing of Faculty Foibles.
(continued from page 1)
Charging $1 entry in advance and $1.25 at the door, the $700 in profit from the 1974 show went to three seniors based on three criteria: financial need, positive contribution to school life, and academic performance. The eventual change to donating the profits to a charity spawned out of the growth in number of applicants for the scholarship; the Foi-
archive | Prep News Vol. 38
bles scholarship committee did not want to split the funds too many times. The format of the show was similar to the way Senior Follies is done with skits, song-anddance numbers, and even a few one-liners to start the show. Of the faculty members currently at the school, only five were a part of the show, as either an audience member or an actor. The four former actors were chemistry teacher Charlie Busenhart, at-the-time math teacher Joe Schulte, principal Ralph Houlihan, S.J., and Assistant Principal for Academics Tom Becvar. Science teacher Bill Anderson was a student at the time Faculty Foibles took place. Similar to Follies, some skits light-heartedly addressed problems in the SLUH community as well as current events. When asked about the shows, Becvar and Busenhart each mentioned two skits: “Big Skate” and “HeeHaw Visits SLUH.” The skits ranged from poking fun at aspects of the faculty’s experience of SLUH to parodies of contemporary events. “Big Skate” featured the all-too-familiar long lunch lines and teachers dressed as lunch ladies riding around on roller skates, spilling food and throwing it at people in the cafeteria. Busenhart and Becvar both were lunch ladies … on roller skates. “Students were not getting served fast enough in the lunchroom, so they figured that the only way this would happen would be if the lunch ladies were on roller skates,” said Becvar. “So, of course, many of us had to become lunch ladies on roller skates.” “Hee Haw Visits SLUH” was a parody of the widely popular television variety comedy
show called Hee Haw that ran for 24 years from the late ’60s to the early ’90s. Though these jokes could be lost on the students of today, the students of yesteryear enjoyed the timely references to things happening in the world around them. One such reference that past students enjoyed had to do with the Nixon tapes, in which the SLUH faculty acted out what could’ve happened in the missing 18 minutes. The skit followed Nixon eating a cottage cheese salad, which he spilled on the recorder, resulting in the missing 18 minutes. “It’s a remarkable way to see the faculty in an entirely different light,” said Anderson. “That (the faculty) might actually have a sense of humor and have some talent. It was kind of neat.” Because of a low number of female faculty members in the ’70s, many of the male teachers dressed in drag in order to play roles such as SLUH lunch ladies and Mary Rose Woods, Nixon’s secretary. Foibles ended after the 1978 show. Cast members cite difficulties in putting together skits and having too many last-minute dress rehearsals as reasons that the show eventually ended. Before the show ended in ’78, there were multiple years when the show did not run due to lack of interest and scripts. The Faculty Foibles shows could not have been put together without the hard work of faculty and staff. Scripts were often drafted in handwriting and final scripts were typed with typewriters. “All of us did anything we could. This was not high tech,” said Becvar.
Original typed one-liners, with their hand-written edits for multiple years’ Faculty Foibles shows. These one-liners would happen during the equivalent of the the Senior Follies opening song; the song would pause, and a joke would be told then. Along with the typed scripts, these one-liners had hand-written stage directions, such as where microphones were to be placed, when lights were to change, and when curtains were to close.
The program cover for the 1975 show. The program also had a crossword with the names of faculty involved in the production. This year’s show included the CBS news script sketch, in which President Nixon broke his nose while playing football with his “assistant,” O.J. Simpson.
The program cover of the spring 1978 show. The 1978 production included the esteemed “Hee Haw” sketch that Anderson, Becvar, and Busenhart each remembered as equally timely and hilarious. Far Left: Ralph Houlihan, S.J. as the talking tapestry alongside Busenhart in the 1977 show. In this photo, Busenhart’s character hides behind the “tapestry” so as to avoid the evil vampire, Count SLUH. Left: Then economics teacher Joseph Vitale playing Quasimodo in Faculty Foibles’ inaugural year, 1973. In this photo, Vitale’s character is helping to prepare a lunch in the student cafeteria. photos | Dauphin Yearbook
Editor’s Note: All of the scanned items above along with their explanation was made possible by Busenhart’s preservation of those items and his vivid recollection of the shows.
NEWS
November 21, 2016
Prep News Volume 78, Issue 6
Volume 80, Issue 30
9
May 13, 2016
Track & Field takes Conference for fifth year in a row Lacrosse heads into playoffs BY Jake Lepak REPORTER
L
ast Thursday, the St. Louis U. High Track and Field Team handily won the MCC Team title. SLUH topped their opponents with 161 points; the next best team, CBC, only had 76.5. This is the fifth conference title in a row for the team and 10th in the last 11 years. Going into the meet, head coach Joe Porter and the track team were nervous. For the first time in several years, CBC looked poised to upset the Jr. Bills for the team title. “CBC has been having a great season.” said Porter. “We knew on paper that they were going to look very good going into the meet.” For the week leading up to the meet, the focus on the team was not very good, for Porter was out all week with appendicitis. He was able to return to practice on Wednesday and returned to teaching on Thursday. “We challenged the guys when I came back on Wednesday, telling them we needed a good team day that day because we haven’t really been putting together great full meets the way that we needed to for most of the season,” said
Porter. “We put that as a focus going into the meet and the guys responded very well to that.” The Jr. Bills did more than grant Porter’s request, they exceeded it. The Jr. Bills won 11 out of the 18 possible events and put two in the top three in eight different events. CBC wasn’t at full strength for this meet. One of their top sprinters quit, and their All State two-miler, Reed Sahadevan, had been in a car accident and was not physically able to race. The meet started of with a bang for the Jr. Bills when the 4x800-meter relay team, consisting of junior Roman Lipinski, junior Will Kelly, sophomore Paul Burka, and senior Dustan Davidson, won handily with a time of 8:17. It was the best performance by the relay team this year. The dominating performances did not stop there for SLUH. Soon after, senior Daniel Isom won the 110 hurdles with a time of 15.04, while junior Tony Adams was second with a time of 15.46. Isom also won the 300 hurdles with a time of 40.48, while junior Jaleel Ashford was second with a 41.18 run. A big performer from Thursday’s meet was JV Con-
BY Matt STAFF
D
Junior Andrew Clair (left) and Senior David Jackson at the MCC meet.
ference 800 and 1600 recordholder Davidson, who won the 1600 with a time of 4:30. He then dominated the 800 run with a time of 1:55, winning by almost 10 seconds. The 4x100 relay team of senior Robert Caldwell, Adams, junior Andrew Clair, and Isom won with a time of 43.10. Junior Jayson Ashford won the 400 with a time of 49.61 while Lipinski was second in 50.56.
There was a small scare for the Jr. Bills as Ashford pulled out in pain in the middle of the 200. Fortunately, it was just a cramp in his thigh and he will be able to compete at Districts. Adams finished third with a time of 24.26. Before the 200, Ashford won the 100 in a time of 10.99. Senior Jake Lepak and junior Joe Laughlin finished first and second in the two
BY Jake Swyers REPORTERS
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ith the playoffs starting tomorrow, the Volleybills’ hearts beat fast in anticipation. Confident after a great regular season with only two losses—one to De Smet in three sets and one to Lafayette in two sets—the Volleybills look to dominate at Districts. Unfortunately, with prom the night before, the seniors will be tired. Yet the whole team feels confident about Districts. Junior starting hitter Leo Henken echoed their confidence after a win this week.
BY Sam Rudder & John Zetzman REPORTERS
A
fter an undefeated season in their conference, the St. Louis U High rugby team looked to top it off with a state championship title in Jefferson City. SLUH went into the weekend with high hopes and feeling quite confident about the opportunity at hand, but fell to the KC Jr. Blues on Sunday in the state final. The first matchup of the weekend was against the host of the tournament, Jefferson City High School. Despite being a much smaller team than their opponent, the Jr. Bills kept their calm and started the game off strong with an early score from the team’s leading
scorer, senior Chris Campbell. Although Jeff City’s size initially seemed menacing, it proved later to be their downfall as they were unable to keep up with SLUH’s fastpaced play style, led by junior Luke Sextro. SLUH advanced to the semifinals with the 28-12 victory. In the semifinal game, SLUH was faced with a familiar opponent, Eureka. Earlier in the season, the Jr. Bills had defeated Eureka 34-13 and they looked to have the same outcome. Much like the game against Jefferson City, SLUH came out strong with a try within the first three minutes as senior Henry Mungenast
photo | Mrs. Kathy Chott
mile. Lepak won with a 9:58, which was his first time breaking 10 minutes, while Laughlin finished with 10:10. They crossed the line about 32 seconds before the next person. On the field events side, there were some noteworthy performances. Sophomore Daniel McMurran and senior David Jackson finished second and third in the high
continued on page 10
espite a few obstacles in its path, the St. Louis U. High lacrosse team is optimistic heading into playoffs next week as the No. 2 seed. “We had a good season,” said senior middie Patrick Flood. “I was impressed, because we definitely got better throughout the year.” The Laxbills, posted an in-state regular season record of 7-2, second only to MICDS’ undefeated season. De Smet follows as the third seed, with a record of 6-2, while CBC takes the fourth with a 5-2 record. Last year, SLUH made it to the playoffs as well, as a No. 2 seed following a 10-1 season. But the Bills suffered a deflating 8-7 overtime loss to CBC, resulting in an early exit at semifinals. Perhaps the biggest blemish on the team’s record, CBC’s 7-5 defeat of SLUH earlier this season, proved the Cadets’ recent penchant for delivering heartbreak, as the game coincided with Senior
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Volleyball sets up playoff run
Rugby takes 2nd in State
Senior Chris Campbell in the championship game.
Godar
“We looked so calm out there, and we are not fazed by anything. We are ready for this back-to-back state run,” Henken said. The Volleybills put on a show this week with two huge wins, against Vianney and De Smet. SLUH demolished No. 3-ranked Vianney on Tuesday in two sets, 25-15, 25-13. Head coach Jeff Cheak was very pleased with the team’s large margin of victory. “I loved the way we played. That was the best serving I’ve seen all year, and that is a good team over there,” said Cheak.
Senior Night proved to be a success as the Volleybills calmly rolled over No. 5 De Smet in two sets, 25-18, 25-18, after a beautiful guitar rendition of the national anthem by sophomore hitter Jack McGrail. Senior Alec Keil played a strong game at middle, and seniors David Corley, Shawn Hughes, and George Huhmann excelled as usual. Both Huhmann and Hughes led the team with their ferocious attacking. The highlight of the night was senior Paul Henken’s ap-
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photo | Mr. Guy Sextro
stole the ball and weaved through the defense to score the opening try. Despite a strong start, the Jr. Bills slowed down the momentum as they struggled to put any more points on the board. A penalty kick from both sides made the halftime score 10-3. Much like the first half, Mungenast did it again increasing SLUH’s lead to 173. Eureka struck back with their own try to bring them back into the game with just a few minutes left. Junior Ryan Houghland stripped the ball from Eureka after the kickoff and dished it to fellow junior Henry Herzberg for the final score of the game, making it
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Senior Alec Keil on Senior Night with his parents.
photo | Brendan Voigt
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SPORTS
Prep News
Ultimate falls to Eureka in their last game of the season BY Billy STAFF
Balossi
S
t. Louis U. High’s Ultimate Frisbee season was cut short after an unexpected loss to Eureka on May 1, 15-6. The team ended the season with a record of 2-7 after enduring a difficult run of games. A win at Eureka would have given the team a ticket to the state tournament, but Eureka put up considerable opposition. The game at Eureka highlighted many of the problems the team has been struggling with all season, one of which was that many players prioritize other events over games. “A lot of our starting players were gone, most of the juniors could not make the game,” said junior Chris Thornberry.
For most of the first half the team stuck with Eureka, and neared the end of the half in a 6-6 tie. However, Eureka scored two quick goals before half, exploiting the zone defense the team has adopted to combat its inexperience. Despite the deficit, the team continued to push for goals, though the missing players began to show as many of the players tired. “We could have won the game. We should have won the game, but we just felt exhausted by the second half,” said Thornberry. Despite the score, the squad put in a valiant last effort to turn the game back in SLUH’s favor. “The team was in the hunt for state to the last minute,” said head coach Mark
Bradley. In the end, Eureka ran away with the score, forcing SLUH out of contention for the state tournament. However, the team plans to work hard over the summer to overcome some of the obstacles that cut the season short this year. Recruiting and adding experience to the squad remain the most pressing issues for the team. “Most of our team are playing in a summer league with some other SLUH alumni,” said Thorneberry. “(And) we plan to recruit more players for the start of next season.” “With a strong returning junior class, we look to come back stronger, faster, and better for the 2017 season,” said Bradley.
Volleyball rallies into playoffs
May 13, 2016
Track & Field jumps into State run
Junior Daniel Webster in the Conference meet last Thursday.
(continued from page 9)
jump. Senior Laith Armouti and Jackson finished fourth and fifth in the long jump; junior Sean Hruz won the pole vault. Sophomore Sam Evans got third place in the shot put and seniors Sergio Goodwin and Armouti finished first and second in the triple jump. Tomorrow marks the start of the Jr. Bills’ quest for a state trophy. The team will compete at Northwest High in Southwest Missouri. While the district won’t necessar-
ily be the most competitive, it will give the team a tuneup before an extremely tough sectional meet. “Districts is all about surviving and advancing,” said Porter. “The guys want to give themselves an opportunity to go on to the next level. That’s all we are focused on; it’s getting into the top four and moving on, that’s it. There’s no other focus but that.” For Davidson, who is looking to possibly win individual State titles in the 1600
photo | Mrs. Kathy Chott
and 800, Districts is all about tuning up for a competitive Sectional. “I feel like I am in pretty good shape right now. Districts should be pretty easy and relaxed and Sectionals will be fast with Lafayette guys racing,” said Davidson. “So I’m feeling pretty relaxed going into the postseason, and I’m happy with the shape I’m in right now.”
Water Polo heads to state on Saturday, looks for another title BY Matthew STAFF
T Seniors Shawn Hughes (top) and David Corley (bottom) against De Smet.
(continued from page 9)
pearance in the game. Henken, a starter on last year’s State Championship team and a fan favorite, tore his meniscus this year and has not played at all. He started the game, and De Smet agreed to allow him to serve and earn a free point.
This act of kindness showed just how closely-knit De Smet and SLUH are despite the Jesuit rivalry between the schools. Henken even got to close the second set as he selfsubbed in for Huhmann, who was serving. Henken made his last serve to earn a 100
photo | Brendan Voigt
percent service percentage this year with three serves and three makes. The Volleybills play at SLUH on Saturday at 9 a.m. Their opponent will be determined at a later time from a pool of teams.
Varsity Game Recaps Golf 5/9 The varsity golf team placed second this past Monday at the Class 4 Sectional 1 tournament at Algonquin Golf Club. Chaminade won with a total team score of 304 with three of the top four finishers in the field. SLUH advanced in a fifth golfer tiebreaker over Vianney, Ladue, and Webster Groves, who all had a score of 332.
Country Club in Bolivar, Mo. said junior Sam Bott. “But we on May 16-17. came back and played really well, so we are hoping that continues in the district final.”
Tennis
5/6 SLUH 7 Kirkwood 2
5/12 District Final SLUH 5 Key stat: Due to the Junior Ladue 1 Ring ceremony, seniors on JV, such as Jack Sinay, played in Key stat: All three doubles the match. pairs pulled out wins, as the team avenged an early season 5/10 loss and defeated the Rams to SLUH 5 win the district title. Chaminade 1 Jack Wachter 80 Key stat: In the first match of Key quote: “It was great to Max Twardowski 83 the district tournament, se- grind out the match and get Louie Perotti 84 nior Vinny Bartholomew shut revenge on Laude for beating Michael Rackers 85 out his opponent, winning us last year,” said Bott. Scott Berger 85 6-0, 6-0 Andrew Modder and Jack With the second place finish, Key quote: “We started off Waters contributed reporting. the team advances to the State pretty lazy because we beat tournament at Silo Ridge them pretty well last time,”
Book
wo down and two to go. The SLUH water polo team has won its first two games of the State Championship tournament—defeating Clayton and Parkway North— and hungrily looks forward to the next two games. For the ninth time in the past decade, SLUH earned the No.1 seed for the Missouri District Tournament and a first round bye. This meant that their first game of the 2016 playoffs was against No.17 Clayton. In the highest-scoring game of the season, all 15 healthy field players scored at least one goal. Other achievements included the team racking up 27 steals—a season record—and a hat trick by Mark Franz in the opening 70 seconds of the game. A final score of 22-1 was also their largest goal differential this season. Second up to face the Jr. Bills was No. 8 Parkway North last Tuesday. In what was probably their “sloppiest game of the season,” according to head coach Paul Baudendistel, their lack of defensive urgen-
cy allowed Parkway North to score three times in the opening four minutes. Luckily after the slow start the Jr. Bills’ offense revved up; the score was 20-5 at the end of the first quarter. Before SLUH played keepaway through the fourth quarter, ten different players managed goals, with Franz leading the pack with seven. Seniors Michael Krause and captain Dan Walsh had two goals each. Goalie Mike Harris earned Player of the Game honors by settling things down after North’s early run, compiling ten saves and contributing three assists. With this win, the Jr. Bills advance to the State final four for an amazing 31st consecutive season. The first of the final two games was played last night against No. 5 De Smet. “Ian Normile is definitely their biggest threat,” said Kyle Irvine, “He was First Team all conference, and is definitely a solid player. We’ve all played with him in the club season and know what he can bring to the game. Sophomore Thomas Larson is also some-
one we need to watch out for, he can shoot from the perimeter.” Lindbergh No. 2 and Marquette No. 3 played last night for a place in the championship game. Marquette’s previous implementation of an all-out defense strategy in the last game SLUH played against them is definitely something being anticipated for Saturday. “I don’t think we dealt with their strategy that poorly, it was 8-2 at half,” said Baudendistel “What we didn’t handle well that game was defense. We shouldn’t have given up four goals when they were only playing offense with three people.” This year the team has drawn inspiration from a quote from Mike Zimmer: “There’s four ‘Learns.’ First you learn how to compete. Then you learn how to win. Then you learn how to handle winning. Then you learn how to be a champion.” The first three ‘Learns’ have been done. The only thing left is to be champions.
Water Polo Night Beat The St. Louis U. High Water polo team advanced to the Missouri water polo state championship with a shaky win over De Smet. The Spartans scored first, and held the lead for a couple minutes until SLUH was able to find the back of the net. After a few backand-forth goals, SLUH got back into its regular form, and scored 15 straight to clinch a spot in the championship with a final score of 19-2. Notable scorers were Michael Krause and Mark Franz with four goals each and Chris Kreienkamp, Brandon Trusler and Thomas Nordmann with two tallies apiece. Thomas O’Brien had two assists. The Jr. Bills will face off against Lindbergh in the state championship game at 7:00 pm on Saturday night at St. Peter’s Rec Plex. —Matthew Book and Ryan Neuner contributed reporting
SPORTS
May 13, 2016
Lacrosse heads toward end of season and State
Junior Jack Kelly (18) and senior Michael Hall (16) at prctice this past week.
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Night. “The season had its ups and downs, but I think the lowest valley was definitely the CBC loss. But we’re past the worst of the season,” said senior middie Stephen Olwig. But without a doubt, undefeated MICDS presents the most looming challenge for the Laxbills. Boasting a roster of six Division I committed players, the Rams accounted for SLUH’s other loss earlier in the year. Though the Laxbills lost by a score of 10-8, they stayed with MICDS for the better part of the game, even enjoying a lead at one point. “I think we played de-
cent in that game, turnovers definitely slowed us down, but we’re looking forward to the postseason,” said senior FOGO (faceoff, getoff) Patrick Broughton. “I think if we diminish turnovers and just play our game we could go all the way.” Along with turnovers, another constant plague for the Laxbills was injury. Senior attack Pat Durnien and junior attack Will Farroll—both first line players— suffered-season ending injuries, delivering a hit to the team’s offense. “The injuries were definitely a big blow, but I think we’re starting to recover,” said senior defensemen Anthony
photo | Brendan Voigt
Sansone. “I think we’re starting to power through the injuries. Our other attackmen are really stepping up and rising to the challenge,” said Broughton. Because of their seed, the Laxbills will enjoy a bye in the first round of playoffs, which start early next week. SLUH will most likely play either Thursday, May 19 or Friday, May 20. “We’re going harder in practice, there’s more competition, more running,” said senior midfielder Grant Schenk. “We’re confident.”
Inline Night Beat The JV/C Inline Team won 6-2 against Fort Zumwalt North. The game featured two goals by senior Sam Lindwedel. The game turned ugly when a fight broke out in the second period, leading to ejections. The team came together and kept their cool, pulling away from FZN and scoring five unanswered goals. The team advances to the next game scheduled for tomorrow night, but may be moved due to Prom conflicts. —Ethan McIntyre contributed reporting
Prep News
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Rugby falls to K.C. Jr. Blues (continued from page 9)
22-10 and a ticket to the State Championship the following day. “Both of the games on the first day were sloppy as we made a lot of stupid penalties,” says senior Chris Campbell. “We were lucky to have the outcomes we wanted playing the way we did.” With the sun shining bright, the Jr. Bills arrived at the stadium on Mother’s Day determined to avoid last season’s outcome. Two hours later when the game was about to begin, SLUH walked onto the pitch to face another familiar opponent, the KC Jr. Blues. As the storm clouds rolled in and the teams took their positions, the ball was kicked off and the game began. After 27 minutes of play in the pouring rain with the Jr. Bills in the Blues’ half the majority of the time, the Jr. Blues caught a break and scored the opening points to make it 7-0. After the first half, the Jr. Bills walked off the field down
Rugby gathers after the defeat.
photo | Mr. Guy Sextro
by ten. Although disappointed, the Jr. Bills remained confident as Campbell scored early in the second half to bring SLUH back into the game, but the Jr. Blues scored again and shut out SLUH for the rest of the game. “I’m very proud of the group of young men we had this year,” Said coach Chris Keeven. “Talent and dedication were two things this team didn’t lack. This team helped
build the foundation that is now SLUH rugby. Although we didn’t win State, it was an incredible season.” After the game, representatives from the Missouri Rugby Committee gave out awards to players for their impressive play over the weekend. Junior Luke Sextro was awarded best back in the tournament. Senior Chris Campbell was awarded best forward in the tournament.
Prep News Editor in Chief Leo Heinz News Editors Nolen Doorack Connor FitzGerald Sports Editor Tim Nile Features Editors Sam Heagney Ethan McIntyre Core Staff Galen Bacharier Sam Chechik Cade Dernlan Patrick Enderle John Michael Fitzgerald Nick Messina Charlie Mueth Andrew Pluff Joseph Reznikov
Volume 80, Issue 30
Jack Sinay Staff Billy Balossi Matthew Book Jack Casey Liam Connolly Will Farroll Matt Godar Sam Goedeker Andrew Modder Jack Schweizer Staff Artists Joe Fentress Ian Mulvihill Staff Photographer Brendan Voigt Reporters David Gordon Craig Grzechowiak Jake Lepak
Credits
Charlie McGroarty Thomas Nordmann Ryan Neuner Nick Prainito Sam Rudder Jake Swyers Jack Waters John Zetzman Contributing Artists Jack Bailey Contributing Photographers Mrs. Kathy Chott Patrick Conrey Max Prosperi Mr. Matt Sciuto Mr. Guy Sextro Moderator Mr. Steve Missey
Underclassmen Sports Reports C Baseball SLUH/ CBC Tournament
Key Stat: The Patriots prevailed in the end, but the Jr. Bills did not go down without a fight. Key Quote: “Mental errors led to us beating ourselves. Not the opposition,” said freshman Jack Perry.
5/10 St. Mary’s 0 SLUH 10 Key Stat: Managers Zach Pavlisin and Chris Staley played, Next game: 5/13 vs. Oakville and contributed to the team’s mercy-rule victory by hitting and baserunning. JV Lacrosse Next game: 5/13 @ Vianney
Key Quote: “The seniors came out and were a buzzin’, and really got our team going,” said junior Jack Bailey.
JV Tennis 5/6 SLUH 4 Kirkwood 3 Key stat: The Jr. Billikens ended their season 14-0-1, and on a 13-match winning streak. Key quote: “It was a great end to a really fun season,” said junior Brendan Voigt.
5/9 SLUH 11 Vianney 1 B Baseball Key stat: Junior Jack Bailey had two goals JV Track 5/9 Key Quote: “The boys looked Ladue 2 really good and were a buzz- MCC JV Conference Meet: SLUH 7 in’,” said sophomore Chip Key Stat: Sophomore Daniel Holmes 800-meter: Junior Brad Gale Favazza hit an inside-the-park won first place. home run. 5/11 3200: Freshman Michael DraSLUH 7 belle won first place. 5/10 Chaminade 6 4x800: The team of junior Parkway South 8 Key stat: Sophomore Chip Matt Northcott, sophomore SLUH 7 Holmes went 90% on face-offs Declan Tajkowski, Gale, and
Drabelle took first place. header. Shot put: Junior Jonathan Kroll won first place. JV Water Polo Pole Vault: Junior Danny Knight won first place. 5/9 SLUH 12 JV Inline De Smet 5 Key stat: SLUH dominated 5/6 in the first game of the State SLUH 8 Tournament. Fort Zumwalt West 1 Key quote: “We stalked our Key stat: Senior Tim Juergens prey swift and silently, like pihad a fantastic game with a ranhas,” said sophomore Jack shutout that ended halfway Laux. through the second half. 5/11 5/7 SLUH 9 SLUH 12 Marquette 4 Vianney 4 Key stat: The score was 9-1 at Key stat: Hat tricks by both one point, as the Bills won in seniors John Benben and Ste- an impressive effort. phen Farel handed Vianney Key quote: “They played diftheir only loss this season. ferently, and we had to adapt,” 5/7 said freshman Luke Brawer. SLUH 9 Francis Howell North 2 Next game: Today @ JV State Key stat: Another hat trick Championship vs. Ladue by senior Stephen Farel in the second game of a double
JV Volleyball 5/10 SLUH 1 Vianney 2 Key quote: “It’s sad to see our undefeated record go, but we’re still happy with how well the rest of the season has gone,” said junior Robert Graman. 5/11 SLUH 2 De Smet 0 Key quote: “I was really happy with the way we bounced back after the loss,” said Graman. Nick Prainito, Sam Goedeker, Jack Waters, David Gordon, Ian Mulvihill, Thomas Nordmann, and Matt Godar contributed reporting.
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Prep News Around the Hallways Frankly Sausages, Fuhgeddabodit, and other food trucks gather in Turnaround Last Friday, after the half day had ended and before Junior Ring ceremony, eight food trucks made their way to the turnaround to supply students with a variety of foodstuffs. Trucks from K Bop, MK Rolls and Wraps, Fuhgeddaboudit, Sias Italian Ice, Juice Masters, Wayno’s International Cuisine, Frankly Sausages, and Totally Toasted were present. STUCO moderator Katherine Toussaint ordered and organized the trucks. Up and coming: juniors receive rings and present class banner This past Friday, May 6, the tradition of the class banner signing was continued before the Junior Ring ceremony. The class of 2017 ultimately decided on the motto “In Perpetuum Fratres” which when translated from Latin means “Brothers Into Eternity.” The banner consists of a background of myriad shades of blue felt with the motto in both the English and Latin translations fashioned together to form an infinity symbol. Other aspects of the banner include the usual “SLUH,” “AMDG,” and the class year. The center of the banner features a lit torch that one can interpret to represent both the eternal flame of
YOS
May 13, 2016
Calendar
ended around 10:30 p.m. The dance was coordinated by sophomore class moderator Frank Corley, DJ’d by English teacher John Kavanaugh, and advertised by sophomore class president Jack McGrail, who helped sell t-shirt memorabilia for the dance. Unlike previous years, sophomores were not required to bring a date to the dance, which resulted in a bigger turnout, according to sophomore Eric Schnelker. Sustainabills receive award for third place win After receiving the bronze medal (no, not literally) for the 2015-2016 Green Schools Quest, Missouri’s chapter for the USGBC (United States Green Building Council) sent Green Schools Coordinator Hope Gribble to present the award to three members of Sustainability: senior Michael Hayes, junior Sam Chechik, and sophomore Charlie McGroarty. Moderator Anne Marie Lodholz organized the ceremony for Monday, May 9, and
Friday, May 13
cated Latin scholars and is the last exam of the week, being administered today at noon. Faculty hold end of the year meeting The St. Louis U. High faculty had their end of the year meeting, dinner, and award ceremony Wednesday evening in the Commons. Gifts were presented to staff in their fifth, 10th, and 20th years working at SLUH. Gifts and speeches were also given to retiring faculty members. President David Laughlin gave a speech about the “top ten things you didn’t know about Dr. Moran.” History teacher Tom McCarthy gave a speech about fellow history teacher Bill Brown; English teacher Frank Kovarik gave English teacher Barbara Osburg’s speech; counselor Dave Mouldon gave counselor Dennis Dougan’s speech; Principal John Moran gave Assistant to the Principal Jan Cotter’s speech; and English teacher Terry Quinn gave English teacher Richard Moran’s speech. The ceremony ended around 9:00 p.m. An evening of the arts Chorus teacher Addie Akin wrapped up her first year at SLUH by leading varsity chorus, concert chorus, and zero hour chorus in a concert Thurs-
AP Microeconomics and Latin Exams Baseball District JV Water Polo @ JV Championship Tournament V Tennis @ Team District Tournament V Volleyball @ District Tournament AP Senior Book Buyback Snack—Bosco Sticks Lunch
brotherhood and the Class of 2017’s love for the fire of the SLUH nation. Around 350 students head to night of fun at Sophomore Dance Last Saturday, roughly 200 sophomores and 150 girls gathered in the Si Commons for their annual class dance. The doors opened at 7:30 p.m., and the dance
AP hell weeks are over Today marks the last day of two weeks of AP testing that started Monday, May 2. Nine hundred fifty-three tests in 23 different subjects were administered to 469 individual students. Things kicked off last Monday with Chemistry and Environmental Science exams at 8:00 a.m. The most popular test, World History, was taken by 134 students (almost exclusively sophomores). In contrast, the AP Latin exam was taken by four dedi-
4:15pm B Baseball vs. Oakville @ SLUH Senior Prom
Saturday, May 14
V Track @ District Meet Baseball District V Volleyball District Tournament V Tennis Individual District Tournament
Sunday, May 15 Baseball District
Monday, May 16
(continued from page 1)
dent responses, 50 percent of parents believe that their sons will continue to use his iPad next year, while only 37.3 percent of rising juniors believe they will continue to use their iPads. However, it’s hard to predict what students will do before there is concrete data. “The survey that we just ran should be one of many surveys to come,” said Moran. “It’s too soon to make decisions; we need to live into this for a little while.” “Most likely a number of students will continue to use the iPad because they already have it,” said Dickmann. “But we really don’t have any idea on what those numbers will be at this point. It’s hard to make a conjecture about where the school is headed after this year until we get data from the pilot.” Even though students will be required to have their device with them at all times, it is up to each individual teacher whether they will be used in class—something that is not a change from the current procedure.
Regular Schedule
AP Snack—Chicken Bites Lunch Special—Taco Bar Vegetarian—Macaroni and Cheese V Golf State Tournament Baseball District V Tennis Individual Sectional Tournament
Tuesday, May 17 AP
Regular Schedule
Snack—Mini Tacos
Lunch Special—BBQ Pork Vegetarian—Grilled Veggies V Golf State Tournament V Lacrosse First Round Playoff Game Baseball District V Tennis Individual Sectional Tournament
Wednesday, May 16
Regular Schedule
Snack—Pizza Sticks
Lunch Special—Hand-Breaded Chicken Strips Vegetarian—Black Bean Burger V Lacrosse First Round Playoff Game Baseball District V Tennis Individual Sectional Tournament
Thursday, May 17 AP
day night, where seniors were honored for their commitment to the program during their time here. Seniors Joseph Schultz and Evan Brende sang solos, and the Acapella Club performed the 90’s hit “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” Later on, the freshmen of Fine Arts Survey sang “Seize the Day” before an intermission, which was followed by a dance recital. —Written by Galen Bacharier, Sam Chechik, Jack Sinay, Craig Grzechowiak, Jack Schweizer.
BYOD policy next year leaves out seniors required to bring a device. According to Principal John Moran, the policy has been designed to allow someone to use an iPad for four years or choose a completely different device. “The policy of splitting freshmen and sophomores versus juniors and seniors was one that the Instructional Council crafted when they were out looking in other schools,” said Moran. “There are benefits to both. When (the Instructional Council) looked at us and how we function as a school, their feeling was that everyone having the same (device) was a better match for our freshmen and sophomore curriculums, and the freedom to ‘bring your own’ was something that was more junior/senior.” The recent iPad survey sent to the class of 2018 included a question about whether current sophomores were planning to use their iPad or a different device. Though there were discrepancies between parent and stu-
Special—Shrimp & Fries Vegetarian—Grilled Cheese
11:00am Senior Class Meeting and Lunch
AP
President David Laughlin arrived to be present for the award ceremony. Along with a glass plaque, the Sustainabills received a certificate and a check for $250. For the Quest, they submitted a report and two videos—one informational and one telling the story of SLUH’s project this year, waste reduction.
Regular Schedule
“There are very few teachers in this building that just teach juniors or just teach juniors and seniors,” said Moran. “Students and teachers are doing the same things they’ve always been doing. There aren’t necessarily too many new functions that have entered into the classroom; it’s just the convenience of having the device physically present to do those things.” “It’ll potentially change what the teachers will do in terms of how they structure their class. For the students, it should just be another year of having devices in the classroom,” said Dickmann. All students and parents are encouraged to read the Student Handbook as well as the technology policy in order to understand how to best use the devices under the school’s guidelines. “I believe that going to this level of technology was inevitable,” said Moran. “I’m very encouraged moving forward about the conversation that is happening in terms of technology and formation.”
Regular Schedule
Snack—Cinnamon Rolls
Lunch Special—Domino’s Pizza Vegetarian—Pasta Baseball District V Lacrosse Quarterfinal Playoff Game 6:00pm
Alumni Board Meeting
Friday, May 18 AP
Regular Schedule
Snack—Bosco Sticks
Lunch Special—Steak and Cheese Sandwich Vegetarian—Grilled Cheese Baseball District V Lacrosse Quarterfinal Playoff Game calendar | Liam Connolly
From the PN Vault
Actor Don Murray briefs SLUH students preparing to be extras in Hoodlum Priest. Portions of the film were shot on the grounds of SLUH in 1960. The photo was uncovered by the SLUH Archives team. Murray portrayed former SLUH teacher and administrater Fr. Charles Dismas Clark, S.J. More on the SLUH’s “Hoodlum Priest” can be found in Prep News Volume 80, issue 26.