Prep News SEEN & HEARD
September 2016 – February 2017
Athletics Football The Prep football team, with its undefeated season and State Championship, received a lot of attention from the media, both locally, regionally and nationally: • The Prep was named the Southeastern Pennsylvania Football Team of the Year by The Philadelphia Inquirer. The team finished ranked #8 in the nation according to the USA Today. The championship was covered by the Inquirer, USA Today, CBSPhilly.com, PhillyVoice.com, 6ABC, CBS3, Comcast SportsNet, Associated Press, among many other publications. • Senior running back D’Andre Swift ’17 was named a US Army All-American. The announcement ceremony held at the Prep, was covered by The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Philadelphia Tribune, 6ABC “Action News” and Fox29 “Ten O’Clock News”. • Swift was also named The Philadelphia Inquirer top football player of the year in Southeastern Pennsylvania and was also a first-team, All-American by MaxPreps. • Swift also played in the North American championship in Orlando with coverage in the USA Today, The Philadelphia Inquirer and MaxPreps. • On National College Letter of Intent Signing Day, seven players committed to play football in college: Jackson Evans, Lehigh; Mack Grey, Duquesne; Terrance Greene, Monmouth; Taron Hampton, Lafayette, James Johnson, Princeton; Carter Lynch, Delaware and D’Andre Swift, Georgia. Their signing day was covered by CBS3 “Eyewitness News,” 6ABC “Action News,” Comcast SportsNet “SportsNet Central,” CBSPhilly.com and PennLive.com. • USAFootball.com posted a wonderful story on the bond between Swift and Head Coach Gabe Infante. The two also appeared on The Comcast Network’s “Breakfast on Broad” morning show. • Coach Infante was the feature story on the 6ABC show, “Visions,” which focuses on Latino culture. Coach Infante, the son of Cuban immigrants, discussed his background and how it influenced the man he is today. He was also included in a story on PhillyVoice.com about the death of Fidel Castro. • Coach Infante was selected as the National Coach of the Year by the US Army Bowl. His award was featured in the USA Today, The Philadelphia Inquirer and CBSPhilly.com. • Quarterback Marquez McCray ’18 was outstanding for the Prep all season…and he credits his mom, Jackie Dull, for his success, according to a feature in PhillyVoice.com.
Basketball • Head Coach Speedy Morris, in his 50th season coaching, won his 700th game. That honor was covered by The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News and the Roxborough Review. • Morris’ amazing career was also the subject of a segment on the “Varsity Voice” show that airs on The Comcast Network and Comcast SportsNet. The segment included interviews with Prep assistant coaches Keith Morris and Randy Monroe, current players Brian Griffin ’17, Matt Hartz ’17, Darius Kinnel ’18 and Kyle Thompson ’18 as well as current Roman Coach Matt Griffin ’07. • Brian Griffin ’17 was featured on “City of Basketball Love” in a story on his family legacy. Brian’s father Tom, brother Tom, uncle John and cousins John ’04 and Matt ’07 played for Speedy: his father and uncle at Roman and brother and cousins at the Prep.
Activities WSJP The WSJP Student Broadcasting Team has received some attention for their fine work this year. • • • •
The WSJP team travelled to California to broadcast the football team’s game in Mission Viejo. A story on their trip, including quotes from Co-President Simon Williams ’18, was featured in the Liberty City Press. Prior to the football game vs. Judge, WSJP was invited to be a part of CBS3 and AMP Radio’s 96.5 FM coverage of the Friday Football Frenzy in advance of the game. The crew got a chance to tour the AMP studios, introduce songs on air and do some promos for the station. They also were featured on the CBS3’s pre-game coverage of the game. WSJP broadcast the football State Championship game on 610AM, its first broadcast over terrestrial radio. 610AM is one of the most historic stations in the US. Two WSJP members, Greg Bradbury ’17 and Williams represented the Prep at the KYW 1060 AM Newsstudies program. Both had :60 second segments aired on KYW.
Cape and Sword • The Cape and Sword Drama Society, under the direction of Tony Braithwaite ’89 performed
Shakespeare in the City Hall Courtyard as part of Mayor Kenney initiative to bring the arts to
public spaces. Current students and alumni participated. The Prep’s performance was featured on
6ABC’s “Action News.”
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Tony Braithwaite ’89, Prep Engagement Specialist and Director of the Cape and Sword Drama
Society, was profiled in the Main Line Today magazine for his amazing work with our students.
610AM High School Sports Show The following Preppers were featured guests on the 610AM High School Sports Show: • 9/26: Kelley Voss and Tom Montvydas ’18 (Swimming) • 10/10: Joe Coyle, Chris Hibbs ’17 and Nolan Sheridan ’17 (Soccer) • 10/17: Randy Monroe (Basketball), Mike O’Neill ’17 (Golf) and Van Henkels ’17 (Rugby) • 10/24: Rev. Steve Surovick, SJ (Mission and Ministry), Jonathan Procopio ’17 (Hockey) • 11/2: Bryan Ghee (Activities Director), Matt Bevilacqua ’18 and Ryan Crenny ’17 (Ultimate Frisbee) • 11/7: Kristin Collins (Bowling) • 11/21: Curt Cockenberg ’71 (Cross Country/Track) and Miles Green ’18 (Track) • 12/5: Joe Falcone ’91 and Colin Scanlon ’17 (Baseball) • 12/12: Howie Brown ’99 (Admissions) • 12/19: Audra Brady (Marketing), Taron Hampton ’17 and Anthony Scott-Naji ‘17 (Football) Dan Avington ‘18 and Simon Williams ‘18 (WSJP)
Academics Election 2016 • •
On Election Day, several Preppers, under the direction of History/Government Teacher Bill Conners ’80, served as poll watchers and were included in a Philly.com blog about the day. On the day after the Presidential election, CBS3 “Eyewitness News” morning show did a live segment of student reactions to the results. Members of the Government class, WSJP and the Hawkeye were included in the segment.
National Merit Semifinalist National Merit Semifinalist Charles Whitman ‘17 was featured in his local newspaper, The Retrospect.
Prep on Wall Street Each year, the Economics class, taught by Leo Vaccaro ’05 takes a trip to New York City to tour the New York Stock Exchange, thanks to Jay Woods ’88, a trader. This year, the Prep students appeared on CNBC and the NYSE Snapchat account.
Chinese New Year The Prep’s Chinese New Year celebration, organized by a team of Prep colleagues led by Mariele Watson (Director of International Programs) was featured on NBC10 “News at 11.”
For links or more information, contact Bill Avington ’90 at bavington@sjprep.org.