LIONFOR FORLIFE LIFE| Alumni | Alumni Feature Spotlight AALION
Legacy Family an Active Example of Viatorian Tradition In recent years, Saint Viator High School has come to be known as an institution where faith, tradition, and innovation meet. While some may see it as a marketing phrase, there are plenty of examples in which the sentiment is clearly brought to life. As more and more families with alumni across multiple generations fill our community, the tent poles of faith, tradition, and innovation can be seen across the kitchen table as well as throughout the halls of Saint Viator. Current faculty and students hear about the tradition of Saint Viator. Members of the Trapani family of Arlington Heights helped build it. Dan ’71 and wife Beth Sommers ’77 were students during the formative years of the schools, and each relied on older siblings Greg ’69 and Linda ’67 to help guide them through these new schools. But their commitment to Catholic education didn’t begin in school, it began at home where both sets of parents played a role in strengthening local parishes and leading the drive to build Catholic high schools in the suburbs. Both Dan and Beth’s parents already knew the value of Catholic education having been educated in either a Catholic grade school or high school in the Chicago area. As young couples, and throughout the years, they volunteered countless hours to the formation of the St. Raymond’s parish and school in Mt. Prospect. Bill Sommers, a graduate of St. George High School, had a strong bond with his classmates which added to his interest creating a similar type of secondary Catholic education for his daughters. Bill helped with the original steering committee to plan for Sacred Heart of Mary spending many hours with Mother Loyola and Sister Columba, Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, on the logistics for their first Catholic high school in the Midwest. During those initial years, students didn’t really know they were laying the groundwork for traditions that would live on decades later. “We were so young we didn’t really know what was going on,” said Dan about what those early classes were building. “We just knew we were different.” Dan notes that in those years, the seniors took care of the school. They each took on a little brother in the freshmen class who they looked out for and taught them the ropes of high school. “There was no bullying of the younger kids. It was not acceptable.” Dan and Beth speak reverently about the impact the Saint Viator and Sacred Heart faculty had on their lives, something that took on even more meaning when they saw that impact repeated decades later with their children Sarah (Sullivan) ’08 and Nic ’10. The level of personal commitment by faculty members is what many consider to be the strongest component of the tradition of Saint Viator. During Dan’s sophomore year, he contracted mono and was out of school for weeks. “Br. Larry Lentz made sure I got my lessons and did not let me fall behind,” Dan said. “Fr. Pat Render told my dad I could do anything I want the day I decide I want to do it. As you age, you come to really value what they did, along with awesome educators like Fr. Arnold Perham and Fr. Pat Cahill.”
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From left: Sarah Trapani Sullivan ’08 with her husband Beau and children, Beth Sommers Trapani ’77, Dan Trapani ’71, Nic Trapani ’10, and his wife Christiana.
Beth recalls how teachers fostered her interest in learning, especially across multiple disciplines. “My biggest driver for getting into nursing had to do with the science teachers at Sacred Heart, the way they engaged me and excited me about the field.” But Beth’s experience with her English teachers and their guidance on how to do research also had an impact—allowing her, years later, to combine the skillsets in her role as Senior Manager, Medical Affairs, Medical Information at Baxter International Inc. Disparate career paths but caring guidance from faculty and counselors led both to Marquette University, continuing the pursuit of Catholic education. For Dan, it was a last-minute recommendation from Fr. Fraser, C.S.V. to Dan’s dad to visit Marquette that had him enrolled and on-campus four days later. Interestingly, a few years later, Br. Lentz intervened with another student by encouraging him to pursue his interest in journalism by interning his senior year – with Dan Trapani. When that student, this author, was lost in choosing a college, it was Dan who drove him to Marquette, introduced him to the faculty and had him enrolled and in class shortly thereafter. Alumni looking out for the next group — it’s how things are done. Both credit their high school education for giving them the ability to thrive at Marquette. Each then went on to innovative careers. Dan began working in radio, doing everything that came his way but quickly found his calling in ad sales. In the years that followed, he found himself at the forefront of innovative new markets, blazing a trail for those who would follow, including his daughter Sarah. Flash forward to the 2000’s. Sacred Heart has closed and merged with Saint Viator, and Dan and Beth now have two children enrolled at St. James and are considering high schools. They looked at the outstanding public school in their area, but felt drawn to the combination of academics and faith formation that Saint Viator still offered. “For me, I didn’t have the hallway experiences to go back to,” Beth said. “Sacred Heart was gone but I felt that same strong commitment on behalf of the faculty to educate and impart religious aspects and values and create that same culture I had experienced.”
