sluh.org/prep-news
CHANGES
As
approaches its centennial
On Oakland TV highlights unique stories at SLUH
BY Thomas Juergens and Hendrix Fyvie Core Staff, reporter
This school year at St. Louis University High School, a new student media club, On Oakland TV, was founded. The club plans to produce long-form videos focusing on the unique activities, hobbies, and more of the SLUH community.
The founders of On Oakland TV hope to reimagine SLUH’s student media. SLUH’s video clubs, such as Gadfly, have faced declining interest over time. The founders of On Oakland TV hope to repopularize media-
style clubs, and make them an interesting part of the SLUH community.
“So basically, I had a light bulb moment for (On Oakland). Last year, I was involved with Gadfly, and then I watched as it kind of started to die off,” said On Oakland co-founder senior Mason Morris. “That helped me notice that the rest of SLUH media, at least on the video side, also wasn’t doing so great.”
“I want it to be enjoyable to watch and draw viewers,” said sophomore Steven Gorsuch, a member of On Oakland TV.
While Gadfly focused on com-
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Centennial planning winds down; adjustments made for rainy
BY Daniel Neuner and Finn Rose Core Staff, reporter
Get ready to celebrate a century of history. In time for the monumental St. Louis U. High Backer Centennial celebration on Saturday, students and faculty collaborated to create an engaging online Backer Memorial website tour that includes a comprehensive historical guide to the modern SLUH campus. Moreover, SLUH staff has organized a special billboard along Interstate 64 that promotes the event, and they have begun the sale of brand new limited edition SLUH shoes.
Importantly, the administration has cautiously decided to make the shift to the inclement weather set up of Saturday’s festivities. Contrary to the original plan, which was largely taking place in the upper field by the Oakland lot, most of the event will happen indoors. The large Mass—with Fr. Thomas P. Greene, SJ, provincial of the Jesuit USA Central and Southern Province, as presider—will be moved to the Commons. And unfortunately, the much-anticipated fireworks will be postponed to some later event.
Four dedicated members of the
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/prep-news prepnews@sluh.org
©2024 St. Louis University High School Prep News. No material may be reprinted without the permission of the editors and moderator.
faculty and student body were hard at work over the summer to help prepare for one important piece of the Sept. 28 Backer Centennial: exploring the history of the 100-year-old campus.
Seniors Nuri Guneyli and Theo Agniel, archivist Abbey Metzler, social studies teacher Tim O’Neil, and digital media specialist Will Linhares spent over 40 hours of their free time developing a sleek-looking website for the celebration. The site immerses visitors into the history of SLUH through interactive maps and a stark contrast between modern-day and archival photographs from the past.
The website, which has been live on the Internet for roughly two months, can be accessed through QR codes that were recently installed on walls all around the school. These correspond to 14 detailed modules that explain the historical backstory of specific areas of campus, including the Dill Center, the Robinson Library, and the Danis Field House.
During a meeting in the spring, O’Neil, Metzler, and principal Fr. Matt Stewart, SJ decided that they wanted a self-guided tour, in some form, for the Backer Centennial. After deciding
news Care for Creation Summit SLUH plays a pioneering role in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, hosting the first-ever Care for Creation Summit for over 150 attendees.
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news Spirit Week Preview Although shortened to four days, it’s that time of the year again: Spirit Week has gone fishing with a new theme. Page 2
weather
on the idea of a digital guide, O’Neil enlisted the help of two student volunteers, Agniel and Guneyli, who assisted with the creation of the website over the summer.
The first step in the process of developing the site was to choose an online tool that would provide a platform aligned with the vision of the team. The group envisioned a tour that would provide a visual representation of the school building paired with indepth information about the history.
“I learned about a program called StoryMaps,” said O’Neil. “It was developed by a company that’s a leader in geospatial technology. And we thought that that was how we wanted to do the tour, linking parts of the building to the information on the website.”
The research for the website started in the SLUH archives on Wise Avenue, adjacent to the SLUH Jesuit residence, where the team spent hours poring over letters, news articles, and photos. The team also accessed archival files from Saint Louis University that aided their research process. They specifically looked for information about changes to the building over
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news From the Archive A Prep News piece from 1950 imagines the distant future of 1975. Page 2
sports Football
The Jr. Bills dominate across straight lines, driving the cats crazy with a flurry of points.
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Inside the mind of a crossword creator
BY Jens Istvan Core Staff
If you look on page three of this edition of the PrepNews, you will find the weekly crossword written by Physics teacher Paul Baudendistel. While many readers may relish the thought of completing the crossword and possibly having their photo published in the paper, few seem to wonder about the process or history behind one of the Prep News’ most iconic and notable traditions. Although it might come as a surprise to some students, the weekly crossword is a relatively recent addition given the lengthy history of the paper. The story of the crossword begins only about six
years ago with former PN editor Jacob Sprock ’21, who started the writing the crosswords by himself.
“When (Jacob) was a junior, they wanted to start putting puzzles into the PrepNews,” said Baudendistel. “I had given him some feedback, so he asked if I would write some. There were a couple other students that were helping him but not consistently, so he inspired me to write my first few. After he graduated, it fell to me, which I’m grateful for to have an audience.”
Even less well-known than Sprock’s initial work in the crossword is the mysterious Crossword Club. Although the group was never officially registered as a club by St. Louis U. High, there was a
sports AOTW Kyren can send the football flying! This week’s Athlete of the Week is QB1, Kyren Eleby.
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sports Fantasy Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy football? Read more to find out.
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continued on page 4
entertainment Crossword Clues await up and down this week’s puzzle. Compete for a shoutout in next week’s edition.
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SLUH
on Oakland, Features Editor Leo Hahn takes a dive into the Backer Memorial and its history.
photo | Mason Morris
On Oakland TV mid-meeting.
photo | Courtesy of SLUH Archives
Spirit Week plans set for students to grow brotherhood
BY Lincoln Shorley Core Staff
Next week marks the beginning of one of the most beloved traditions on our campus: Spirit Week. The excitement is growing throughout the student body as they prepare for the numerous events coming next week.
StuCo has created themes and activities for every day that will bring the entire student body together for four days of advancing the brotherhood.
The week will feature the return of some of the biggest, most popular themes from the past, but the merch and general concept is outdoors, with Bills Pro Shop merch created by DEI representative Ryan McKinney.
The week will start on Tuesday, with Studium snacks and a soccer jersey-themed dress down day, marking the beginning of this year’s Spirit Week. StuCo is slightly limited on what they can do on Tuesday compared to years before because of Studium, but they will also have a turnaround turnup at the start of the day and then end with Taco Tuesday at that evening’s soccer game against Parkway South.
“We knew that the ‘100 Years on Oakland’ celebration was gonna be a big thing, so we wanted to try to incorporate Spirit Week around that because we believe that it is a good thing for the school,” said Assistant Principal for Student Life Brock Kesterson. “The problem is, one of those days ends up being a day off because of the centennial celebration too, so we had to just kind of balance those things out, thinking that it was an important thing to do it right around that time.”
On Wednesday, there will be the traditional Switch Bar that features snacks and drinks in the Commons, as well as twin day, and will end with a coffeehouse in the evening. During Activity Period, a hypnotist will make an appearance.
Thursday, the renowned Billiken Bash will make its return, a
Correction:
two and a half hour break to enjoy food trucks and participate in outdoor activities such as bubble soccer and the teacher dunk tank. The theme on this day will be Y2K or 2000s, bringing an old school look to the halls of our building.
Finally, the week will end with a pep rally during Activity Period in the Field House and a tailgate before the football game against the Vianney Griffins. The theme is an outdoors theme, like the spirit week merch. StuCo will also offer SLUHber and Drinks on Drury in the morning to help students have a great start to their Friday.
The members of StuCo have been creating and sharing ideas since their annual retreat this past summer. With the additional use of their weekly meetings, StuCo built their version of Spirit Week, from the big-picture themes to the small events in between, hoping that it is as exciting for the students as they feel that it will be.
“I was just one of 21 voices that were at the StuCo retreat this summer where we started kicking around new ideas, and there are some things that we traditionally do every year,” said StuCo moderator Frank Corley. “Spirit week wouldn’t be Spirit Week without things like the Billy Bash and the switch bar. There’s those certain things we kind of had to do.
“I truly hope that students enjoy these activities that StuCo has worked so hard to provide because it is there to provide a break from the rigorous education we have at SLUH, and to focus on bonding with other Jr. Bills,” said junior class president Harry McGuire. “We want a week where all students can really look forward to the activities we have planned, a time where my classmates can be together enjoying the wonderful tradition of Spirit Week.”
“As Fr. Stewart talked about at Convocation, love is at the center of everything we do here,” said Student Body president Noah Butler. “I hope that our community can rally around our love for this place to really make this week special.”
In last week’s edition, the dancing in the Si Commons was refered to as a ‘Salsa’ when the dance is called a “Son Jarcho,” a folkloric dance from Veracruz, Mexico. The PrepNews apologizes for this mistake.
From the Archive
BY Dan Mulcahy
Editor’sNote:Thefollowingisa University Prep News article from March 17th,1950imagingthe“distantfuture” of 1975. As we reflect on our centennial at the Backer Memorial, we also lookforwardtothepossibilitiesofwhat SaintLouisU.Highcouldbringinits own“distantfuture.”ThankstoArchivistAbbeyMetzlerforthefind.
Shades of H. G. Wells! With a whirring of gears and the muted roar of atomic power, our Time Machine is off, its dials set for some two decades in the future. Easy now—watch out for the Express Highway. Ah, we seem to have arrived safely. All out, now, and remember to put on your rose-colored glasses. It is fall of the year far in the fu-
Care of Creation Summit sparks discussion on sustainabilty in Christian faith
BY Madhavan Anbukumar and Logan Schimweg Staff, reporter
As all good St. Louis U. High students know from Human Geography, sustainability is defined as the use of Earth’s resources in ways that ensure their availability in the future, but also meet the needs of people today.
Last Saturday, the inaugural Care for Creation Summit unfolded at SLUH, drawing around 150 participants from across the St. Louis region. This landmark event, organized by the Laudato Si Commission of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, aimed to inspire attendees to engage in meaningful environmental advocacy for sustainability within their parishes and communities.
“Two years ago, Archbishop Rozanski created a Laudato Si committee, and a group of people were asked to look into it,” said Chair of Global Citizenship and Sustainability Committee and member of the Laudato Si Commission Anne Marie Lodholz. “We created a white paper, which basically asked the diocese to appoint a director and create a council. This year, the bishop, at the request of this committee member, created a Commission.”
The Commission has three main tasks in its inaugural year.
“The first step was to have a summit to get to know each other within the diocese, to educate ourselves about the theology behind Laudato Si, about the theology behind this idea of integral ecology, which is basically how the Pope is articulating in Laudato Si and Laudato Deum that caring for each other and caring for our common home are integrated,” said Lodholz.
According to Lodholz, there is a call for a new “integral ecology,” which seeks to integrate spirituality into the Jesuit mission, caring for each other through economic mechanisms that protect resources—such as investments in green technology, sustainable agriculture practices, and providing support for wind, sun, and water-powered renewable energy sources while transitioning away from fossil fuels—but also protect and caring for other people’s needs.
The Summit represented the first step of the Commission. The day began in the Si Commons with a compelling message from Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski, who emphasized the interconnectedness of caring for creation and caring for the marginalized.
“He, like the Pope, very much links care for the poor and care for creation— they are intertwined,” said Librarian and Assistant Director of Sustainability Lynne Casey.
Dr. Benjamin de Foy from St. Louis
University took the stage with a keynote address on the Beatitudes of caring for creation. Casey noted his enthusiasm for his topic of study.
Following de Foy’s talk, participants engaged in small group discussions that fostered a deeper understanding of various sustainability issues. Being able to hear from other members of the archdiocese and their opinions on the major points of the Laudato Si commission was very important.
“One thing I did take out was from a man sitting at my table from WashU,” said Casey. “We’re all kind of in this bubble, a man from St. Cronan said. St. Cronan’s is a city parish. It’s very, very liberal, very much in line with all of these teachings of Laudato Si. The man said he left his parish somewhere in the suburbs. He said it was too hard to find like-minded people. He’s said, ‘Yeah, but then now there’s nobody in that parish really challenging and bringing these issues to the forefront.’ So, we all need to kind of get out of our bubbles and really get out in the world.”
The day also featured many other prominent speakers, such as Jean Ponzi from the Missouri Botanical Gardens, Mark Etling from St. Louis University, Ken Kresyman from Ameren, and Digital Media Specialist Will Linhares ’10 from SLUH. These speakers were featured in a series of “Francis Talks,” modeled after TED Talks, where the speakers shared brief but impactful presentations. Attendees talked about these topics afterwards, sharing ideas and insights on how to implement sustainable practices in their own communities.
“My favorite part of the summit was being able to hear from several members of the archdiocese about their opinions on the major focal points and what they should be for the Laudato Si Commission,” said sophomore Tucker Hill. “In particular, I liked Meredith Perkins, who talked about the necessity of trees, particularly as society continues to urbanize. I thought it was a really interesting topic given that trees are such a common thing in everyday life and aren’t something I think about all the time especially when it comes to sus-
tainability and ecology.”
Throughout the day, various vendors showcased their initiatives aimed at promoting sustainability. Organizations like EarthWays Center and Sci Story Collective were on hand, providing resources and opportunities for participants to get involved in local environmental efforts.
“The Franciscan Sisters were amazing,” said Casey. “They had this big table with their beautiful bookmarks, and one of the sisters was one of the emcees, because she started this initiative. They do amazing work. They’ve just made it their focus to care for the environment, because that also means we’re caring for the poor and the least among us.”
The day concluded with a prayer led by Hill and students from St. Joseph’s Academy. The prayer was based on a meditation, Tending the Tree of Life, by St. Hildegard of Bingen, a Doctor of the Church known for her deep reverence for nature. The closing moment encapsulated the whole purpose of the Summit: there is a relationship between spirituality and nature, and as humans we must reinforce this belief that nurturing the planet is a sacred act.
“I’ve worked with educators in the field like Katie Lodes from St. Joseph’s Academy, and she’s sort of my counterpart there. She and I have emailed back and forth regularly, but never had a chance to meet in person,” said Lodholz. “So, it was great to have students from St. Joe’s working with Tucker to close us out in prayer and get a chance to meet her in person. It was really wonderful to just see everyone connect and, you know, hear from people both on the parish level and on the university level. To know that our diocese is committed to this was reenergizing for me.”
The organizers plan to build on this year’s success, with plans for a second Summit next September 2025, and they hope the event will serve as a launching point for important discussions.
“We hope to get more students and teachers involved next year,” said Lodholz. “This is just the beginning of our journey together.”
1950 Prep News tries to imagine Backer in ’75
ture as we approach Backer from the neighboring greens ward of Forest Park. The first thing we notice is how time’s expert touch has blended the new additions into a unity with the old, more skillfully than any architect. The mellowing years have added a new dignity to the building, but it is not much changed from the St. Louis U. High we knew in 1950.
Inside, things are not much different, though the cassock of today’s youngest scholastic is beginning to acquire the faint greenish patina of age. Maybe the doors squeak just a trifle more loudly, and maybe the windows are a bit harder to open; and the classrooms—they seem to have known quite a few coats of paint since we left. But the boys of 1975 are throwing erasers with the same zeal as those of our time, though the jalopy they drive to
school is a 1950 Ford.
The jug room of that year is almost identical with ours—still full of innocent youths who somehow have been framed. The scholastic guarding the group has an unfamiliar face, but that’s understandable when we consider that at present—1950–he’s only six years old, and reading a spellingbook with the interest he will one day accord a copy of Xenephon’s anabasis. Next door, in the assistant principal’s office—can it be? It is! Who’d ever have thought that he’d fill that position one day?
As we pass along the corridor on our way to the cage, we notice that the walls are more crowded with class pictures, and we wonder where they’ll be putting them by the time the diamond jubilee rolls around. And now, we’re in the cage, watching the Junior Bills of
the future trot out. They look like worthy successors to the Bills of ’50, and we’re not worrying too much about the Prep of City championships of 1975. As the last of that yet-unborn squad disappears through the door, we leave the cage and stroll through the gym, keeping an eye on the hound hopefuls who hope to take their place among the Varsity cagers in a year or two. Theories of progressive evolution to the contrary, they seem to make and miss about the same proportion of baskets as we did back in these primeval days.
A few minutes later finds us striding toward the Publications Office. As we nod to a one-time classmate who’s long since donned the robe of a Jesuit, we begin to wonder a little—has the room changed in all these years, or does the same suspension of normal time laws still exist in that sanctuary?
As the door opens, our fears are dispelled. The same appalling disorder meets the eye, the same deafening clamor assails the ear. But at least a few out of the madding crowd appear to be working, and the rows of bound volumes in the cabinet seem to indicate that God’s still in His heaven, all’s right with the world—so far as the Prep News is concerned.
Our time and your patience is running out, so we have just time to make a few quick side-trips, which convince us that the Rec Room is still a stop center of student activity and the Bellarmine is still amassing new forensic honors. The Lit Circle is growing daily more intellectual, and the Camera Club is still demanding a new darkroom.
As our time machine sinks slowly in the west, we bid a fond farewell to beautiful Backer—1975 edition.
Linhares speaking at Summit. photo | Anne-Marie Lodholz
PN CROSSWORD: Persistence
ACROSS
1. Org. that honored 53-Across in 1986
6. Trained Luke, he did
10. Out of sig ht
14. Church table
15. Early operating system
16. Water flower
17. What a carved Z may represent
18. One of three squares
19. Craving
20. Quote that could be about a crossword puzzle, part 1
23. Pelican State sch.
24. Key above shift
27. Good _____ / bad _____
30. Quote, part 2
34. Jessica Parker or Michelle Gellar
36. Rock containing gold, e.g.
37. Tool for making holes
38. French loanword meaning bore-
dom
39. “I hear ...”
42. Give 100%
44. Winnie-the-Pooh’s craving
Prep News Credits
Volume 89, Issue 6
“Plans for the four-day weekend?”
Editor in Chief
Micah “Barnes & Noble haul” Doherty
News Editors
Andrew “peaking in high school” Hunt
Lucas “reading The Feminine Mystique (6’2 btw)” Hayden
Sports Editors
Theo “attending the Calculus Party” Agniel
Aiden “everything” Erard
Features Editor
Leo “weeping gently” Hahn
Visual Editor
Jesse “doom scrolling” Heater
Core Staff
Jens “sulking” Istvan
Thomas “raquetballing”
Juergens
Kane “stress eating” Luchun
Otto “parkour” Reitenbach
Patrick “AktivChem” Byrne
Daniel “Dylan v. City of Devon” Neuner
Jacob “Meet of Champions”
Fitzpatrick
Lincoln “building a log cabin” Shorley
Staff
Tristan “Freeburg” Kujawa
Max “synthesis division” Marnatti
Gavin “checking in” Simon
Staff Artists
Colin “2 months of late AP Stats” Schuler
Reporters
Andrew “scoring goals” Chalmers
Finn “SLUH Centennial!” Rose
Logan “bing chillin’” Schimweg
Photographers
Anne-Marie “sustaining” Lodholz
Mason “building the terminator” Morris
Myles “mourning the loss of instructional time” Tatum
Jack “Post” Auer
Moderator
Steve “Wait, it’s four days?” Missey
64. Tease
65. Slim
66. What Boo calls Sully in Monsters, Inc.
DOWN
1. Extra antagonist of Indiana Jones
2. Tons
3. Razor brand
4. Protagonist of “Up”
5. Stalk prey
6. “Dee-lish!”
7. Half of binary code
8. Squares on un calendario
9. “The Oregon Trail” purchase
10. Graduates
11. One corner of a diamond
12. Calc prereq
13. Deli option
21. Yard sale warning
22. Some Missouri S&T graduates
25. HoF Broncos QB John
26. Depend (on)
27. Church laws
45. End of the quote
47. Language suffix
48. Santa’s little helper
49. Neighbor of Bol. and Uru.
50. English channel
53. Speaker of the quote
57. Vicinity
59. Type of school
60. Champing at the bit
61. Type of golf
62. “Top _____ mornin’!”
63. In the vicinity
28. Flamboyance
29. Physicist Wolfgang, of an exclusion principle
31. Poe, Pope, and Pound
32. Gold, en español
33. Cosmetics chain
34. Seamless transition
35. Jewish rabbi when Jesus was born
39. Propose
40. Tall bottle
41. St. Louis to Indianapolis dir.
43. Garage floor stain
46. Muffle
50. Fathered, biblically
51. Favored, biblically
52. Mariah, the Queen of Christmas
Apiece 55. Classic soda brand named for its
bottles
“The Persistence of Memory”
Noun mod.
2016 Olympics host
College Visits
Thursday, September 26
Darthmouth College
Tuesday, October 1
Centre College University of Kentucky
Wednesday, October 2
Lafayette College Kenyon College University of Notre Dame
Thursday, October 3
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology University of Rochester
TEACHERS NEEDED!
If any teachers are interested in getting dunked in the renowned dunk tank during the Billy Bash next week, please email: fcorley@sluh.org.
DRESS DOWNS
Be sure to flaunt your best attire for Spirit Week!
Tuesday, October 1
Jersey
Wednesday, October 2 Twin Day
Thursday, October 3 Y2K
Friday, October 4
The Great Outdoors
Touchdown! Matty “The Mallet” Kleinberg has clutched up another crossword W!
Thursday, September 26
Activity
Tuesday, October 1
Activity Period: Boneless Chicken Homestyle Fresh Lunch: BLTs
Wednesday, October 2
Activity Period: Pretzel & Beer Cheese
Homestyle Fresh Lunch: Chicken Caesar Wrap
Thursday, October 3
Activity Period: Corn Dogs
Homestyle Fresh Lunch: Burnt Ends
Crossword | Paul Baudendistel | criticisms, compliments, and ideas welcome at pbaudendistel@sluh.org
The untold story behind the Prep News’ weekly crossword
(continued from page 1)
Crossword Club table at the Activities Fair several years ago. Unfortunately, this group died out with the Class of ’22.
“There was a group of students who did the crossword puzzles every week,” said Baudendistel, “I know they made ties. I had to request a tie after they had ordered them, but they did manage to get me one.”
Even though Baudendistel was not the creator of the PN crossword, he is most certainly the face of it, having made roughly 120 puzzles for the newspaper so far.
“(My) freshman year here at SLUH, somebody in my homeroom was doing one of the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch crossword puzzles for that day,” said Baudendistel. “I asked him, ‘Why don’t you do that other one?’ He was almost offended, and so then I saw him blow through the other crossword puzzle in just (a few) minutes. Looking back, I was impressed. It was cool, because that was not something that was part of my everyday routine.”
Over time, Baudendistel became more acquainted with these puzzles.
“In college and as a young adult, I dabbled and got used to the rhythm of the New York Times puzzles,” said Baudendistel. “I stopped doing them for a while, and then picked it up again when they came out with the app because that made it much cleaner to do and I didn’t need to have a physical copy of the paper. Now I mostly do the Sunday and Thursday ones. They usually take
me 20 to 25 minutes.”
For most, this is where the fascination with crosswords stops, but Baudendistel takes his love for the puzzle a step further.
“Making puzzles is a hobby where I’m grateful to have any audience because for a while I was making them and didn’t care if anybody else saw it; it was just a mental exercise for me,” said Baudendistel. “Honestly, if one person was doing the puzzle, that would be worth it for me.”
The Prep News is incredibly lucky to have a puzzle maker who enjoys making crosswords because for many, the process may appear long and tedious. To Baudendistel however, it’s just another puzzle. The process is not always simple or linear, but always rewarding.
“Originally I was making them on an Excel spreadsheet, physically clicking boxes and coloring them in, doing all the numbering and all of the theme entries by myself,” Baudendistel said, “Now, some pieces of that are more automated. There’s a website that I use where you just click the boxes that you want blackened out and it does the numbering for you. It will also come up with a suggested fill, that’s not great, but at least it can spur my thinking when I hit a roadblock.”
“Some ideas bear fruit, and others get put off for a later day or will never happen. So that’s what the fun part is, coming up with the theme entries. Start to finish time (for one puzzle) on average is probably 10 hours.”
Although there are no doubts of Baudendistel’s dedication to the crossword, he does not own the puzzle, and the Prep News door is wide open for anyone else willing to submit a puzzle.
“I think Mr. Hannick wrote a couple, Mr. Stickley has talked about publishing, I’m sure the Prep News would say the door is open,” said Baudendistel.
Despite the ferocity of the new ‘X-Word champion’ section of the paper, at the end of the day, the famous PN crossword is just that, a puzzle.
“It’s supposed to be fun,” said Baudendistel, “You get out of it what you put in. I think people should do with them what they want to do. You don’t want to look at it? Don’t look at it. You find it fun to spend five minutes on it and then be done thinking about it? Great. If you find you want to get better at them and you want to look at the answer key along with the puzzle and improve week to week, do that.”
When asked, Baudendistel said that he finds God in puzzles “because God did not work all seven days. The seventh day was the Sabbath. He rested. And I think there’s some intentionality behind the construction of a calendar and that we need downtime. We need time to rest, and not strictly work. I think that’s part of God’s plan for us, that we should have hobbies and pastimes that allow some escape from normal life.”
Emerging from ashes of Gadfly, On Oakland TV tells new stories
(continued from page 1)
edy, creating skits to entertain the SLUH community, On Oakland TV hopes to take on a more documentary-style production, going in-depth on the interests of people in the community whose stories may not be widely known.
“We will try to keep that lightheartedness from Gadfly, but overall we do want to have a more documentary-style approach,” said senior Linus Christian, co-founder of On Oakland TV.
“The way we like to say it is Gadfly has been subsumed into SLUH Student Media. And then we like to say that what we’re doing here with On Oakland TV is a project of SLUH Student Media,” said Morris. “So we also want to use SLUH Student Media, as the wider thing, to also highlight student voices. So if students have a video they’re working on like a capstone project, and they really want to get it out there and have people see it, we want to be the thing that gives them an audience to do that.”
The club will provide an interesting alternative to the Prep News, as while the Prep News fo -
cuses on what is happening currently at SLUH, On Oakland TV will focus on what happens behind the scenes, and provide greater insight into what students may miss.
The first production of the club is about English and band teacher Thomas Curdt’s passion for coffee. This hobby is a unique interest of Curdt’s that adds personality to the SLUH community.
“So this first episode is highlighting Mr. Curdt’s obsession with coffee, which, if you haven’t had Mr. Curdt, or you’re not on Instagram, you may not know about that, and so we’re just bringing some light to that,” said Morris.
“This is something that you wouldn’t expect because he teaches English and Band, so it’s something that we want to highlight,” said Christian.
The episode went into production at the end of last school year, when the club first originated. From there, the group worked to edit the film and release the final product at the start of the school year.
“This has been in production since the end of last year, and that was just because this was the first episode and we were busy,” said Morris.
The club started this year by finishing production on the video. They also began recruiting for their club.
“Then in the beginning of this year there was more organization, getting new people for the club, formalizing the club, recruiting people other than just the three of us for it,” said Morris. “And then, other than that, it was miscellaneous bits of editing it all together.
Centennial celebration grows closer, promises great fun despite rain
(continued from page 1)
time, particularly perspectives from the administration.
“I know in my personal research I was looking for where I could find leaders of the school talking about changes to the building from their perspective. Why did they excavate the basement? What was it like for the Jesuits to live in the J wing?” said Metzler.
Metzler not only uncovered decades-old photographs and sources but also worked on writing accompanying information for the website. Since she began her time at SLUH in January and hadn’t previously known much about the history of the school, it was an exciting learning experience for her.
ambitious plan: to set up an electronic SLUH billboard along Highway 40. In addition to the billboard, on Saturday the Jr. Bill Store will be releasing special edition Puma Clyde Foil sneakers with SLUH branding and colors. For the past month, Jake Jacobs ’81, the mastermind of the shoe release, has been ordering pairs from Puma. He then has customized them with a gold foil Billiken stamped on the heel, blue and white laces, and a gold deubré, with ‘SLUH’ and another Billiken logo painted in blue, on the tongue of the sneakers.
And then we had our big editing night a week ago, last Thursday night.”
“So I had a lot of specific clubs that I wanted to join, but I just stumbled across On Oakland, and my Senior Advisor was the head of it,” said freshman Peter McGroarty. “So I thought it might be fun.”
The first production was shared with SLUH this past Monday.
“The reception has been great. We’ve gotten 147 views in just a day!” said Morris. “I’ve gotten a lot of people telling me we did a good job.”
On Oakland TV will attempt to replicate the policies of Gadfly, in particular the monthly videopolicy. Although Gadfly was unable to reach this goal, On Oakland is optimistic that they will reach this goal.
“We’re aiming for monthlyish,” said Morris. “So we don’t have a solid release schedule, but we’re trying to put one out every month.”
Just after their first release, On Oakland is already working on fresh stories.
“We have a couple that we’re working on. In progress is behind the scenes of the theater. That one is my final project for my documentary film class,” said Morris. “Other than that, it’s stuff like Toby Godat and Valorant, stuff like that.”
With a successful first release and many new episodes to come, On Oakland TV has a bright future.
“We’re aiming to be the 60 Minutes to the Prep News’s CBS, so kind of that interview feature show, versus what’s happening in the raw news,” said Morris.
“We didn’t really know what sources we were going to find in research, which makes it fun, because you never know what you’re going to find,” said Metzler.
This summer saw the group spending much of their time looking for useful information in the crowded archives, with a focus on finding interesting and important information about the Backer Memorial’s history. It also gave a chance for Metzler to dig through parts of the archive that had not been well-organized. For Guneyli and Agniel, a typical day working on the project consisted of a couple hours of discussion followed by work in the archives sifting through boxes of photographs, scanning them, and compiling them for the website.
“It was a very unique experience,” said Guneyli. “Our goal was to find perspectives about SLUH that people who go to the school or went to SLUH in the past should know about but didn’t until now.”
The goal of this project was to create an engaging way for visitors to the centennial celebration to rediscover the SLUH campus and learn about what has led up to the Backer Memorial of 2024. Using a combination of physical and digital elements, the team was able to use its research to inform thousands of visitors about SLUH over the past 100 years.
“It’s kind of cool where you can put yourself in that spot, even as you’re walking around the tour,” said O’Neil.
“In Mr. Kovarik’s ToGodwithGratitudebicentennial book about SLUH, he says it’s so interesting that the last 100 years have been in this building. Every living alumni has walked these halls,” said Metzler. “It’s really cool that we can just walk through and be a part of the history, and now anyone can learn about it while they walk through the halls.”
In order to further market the centennial celebration, SLUH staff and administration followed through on an
“I’m a sneaker guy, and I’ve had a lot of experience with sneaker releases. When Sean Agniel told me about the centennial, I thought this was a good opportunity to get into the footwear side of business at the Jr. Bill Store,” Jacobs said. Only 100 of these limited-edition shoes will be made, and the only method of purchase is via online pre-order, with the option of delivery or pickup at SLUH. At 10 a.m. on Saturday morning, the shoes will go live. But there’s even more to the novelty and mystery of the weekend.
“We will be making a special announcement about the future of SLUH that you won’t want to miss!” revealed a mysterious email from Principal Matt Stewart ’98, SJ and Vice President of Advancement Sean Agniel ’96 last Sunday.
What this means for SLUH will remain unknown until the evening of the celebration on Saturday. But despite the rain shift, the party on Oakland Ave. will still offer its multitude of opportunities. These include getting a “Taste of SLUH” through food from restaurants owned by SLUH alumni and families, attending a live band performance from The Mighty Pines, student jazz band and choir performances, a showing of the St. Louis CITY game, and much more. Saturday will mark a day for the ages, and all are invited to participate, free of charge, in this historic event.
On Oakland TV’s Youtube channel.
Custom shoes being sold for the celebration.
The self-guided online tour of the Backer Memorial created for the Centennial.
photo | Courtesy of Jr. Bill Store
SPORTS
TAKEOVER
Football dominates both sides of ball for 56-14 win vs. Lutheran St. Charles
BY Jake Fitzpatrick and Lincoln Shorley Core Staff
The St. Louis U. High football
team traveled across the Missouri River to face the Lutheran St. Charles Cougars last Friday night. The Jr. Bills started off hot and didn’t relent, dominating the Cougars in a 56-14 win.
Coming off a crushing loss to De Smet the previous week, the Jr. Bills arrived with vengeance in hopes of correcting the mistakes that cost them the game last week.
“It was a game that we knew we had to focus on us and us only,” said head football coach Adam Cruz. “Against De Smet, we felt like we shot ourselves in the foot one too many times. Going into the Lutheran game, we just wanted to make sure we were doing the right things, alignment-wise, executionwise, and in all three phases.”
On the second play of the game, with the Jr. Bills pinned at their own 5-yard line, junior quarterback Kyren Eleby dropped back in a well-protected pocket and launched a bomb to junior Zach Allen, who had left his defender in the dust after a deep post route. Allen caught the ball in stride at the middle of the field and raced for a 95-yard touchdown, setting the tone early.
“This week was the first time they moved me to slot, and I knew before the game that we were going to call that play on the first drive,” said Allen. “I kind of knew that ball was coming to me, so I just went out and made a play.”
After the extra point from senior Christian Ziegler made the score 7-0, the Jr. Bill defense forced three incompletions and swarmed the Lutheran St. Charles ball carrier on third and 15, forcing the Cougars to punt.
A botched snap on the punt allowed the Jr. Bills to set up in striking distance of another score on the 14. After another completion to Allen, Eleby galloped into the end zone untouched thanks to a gaping hole from the O-Line to make it 14-0 SLUH only three minutes into the game.
“We were missing two of our starting offensive line”—Mason Ross and John Kruse—“and Luke Richars really stepped up in his first start. Sam Esswein also played really well on both sides of the ball,” said Cruz.
The defense wasn’t on the field for long after a flock of Jr. Bills swarmed into the Cougars backfield on third and 2, forcing Lutheran St. Charles to punt yet again.
Starting at his own 19, Eleby started right where he left off and found junior running back Jor dan Taylor on a wheel route. Taylor went untouched to the house for an 82-yard touchdown. This put the Jr. Bills up by 21 points with 5:41 still to play in the first quarter.
“It was great to see Jordan ball out,” said Allen. “He has worked really hard in the off season and to see him play so well was great.”
The defensive masterclass for SLUH continued, forcing yet another punt from the Cougars, and the Jr. Bills took over at the Cougars 15-yard line after a shifty 37-yard punt return from senior cornerback and punt returner Matthew Moore.
With great field positioning again, Eleby lobbed it to senior tight end Landon Pace in the back of the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown and a 28-0 lead going into the second quarter.
Eleby had his best game of the season, going 11 for 11 with 271 yards and 4 touchdowns.
The defensive dominance flagged to start the second quar ter as the Cougar offense marched down the field and punched in a touchdown on fourth and 3 to make it 28-7 with 5:54 left to go in the half.
yard carry in which he broke two tackles on his way to the 1-yard line.
From there, the Jr. Bills stayed with the hot hand, giving it to Taylor, who ran it right up the middle pick six.
Moore who took it 25 yards to the Cougars 25-yard line. This punt return added to Moore’s season total of 123 yards with an excellent average of 20.5 yards on punt returns alone.
tius season opener, the Jr. Bills got to watch sophomore quarterback Anthony Bene take the field.
The SLUH offense lined up atlen in the flat who took it to the end zone, but it was called back due to holding, which forced the Jr. Bills to run out the first half
“The competition just wasn’t there. We came out hot and they couldn’t handle it,” said Eleby.
“We felt like this gamemained stout to start the second half with SLUH’s two junior phenoms, Kendall McNutt andoping the Cougar ball carrier and forcing Lutheran St. Charles to punt for the fifth time
McNutt finished the night with four tackles and one tackle for loss, and Harris finished with three tackles, two tackles for loss, and
With the offensive starters staying on the field for one more possession, Eleby found Allen on a screen pass; Allen followed his blockers, taking it 25 yards to the Cougars 15-yard line. Onond and 8, Allen added to the stat sheet with yet another touchdown on a post to the back corner of the end zone, making the score 49-7.
Despite only playing three quarters, Allen accumulated seven receptions for a total of 164 yards
After a touchback, the Jr. Bills danced down the field thanks largely to Taylor. Taylor pummeled the Cougar defense with a 14-yard run up the middle. On the very next play, Taylor followed up with his longest run of the day, a 37-
“I was just in the right place at the right time,” said Harris. “We definitely just have to keep this up and continue to get some turnovers.”
After the Jr. Bill secondary forced three incompletions, the Cougars punt was returned by
“I was really proud of how we performed as a group,” said Allen. “Even though we were missing two of our offensive lineman, we still had a really effective run game and just played as a whole.”
As some of the backups began to come in, junior defensive back Quinn Guthrie leaped into the air and picked the ball off to put the Jr. Bills in scoring position. For the first time since the St. Igna -
On his third pass of the day, with 4:44 left to go in the third quarter, Bene rolled out in the pocket and lofted the ball 33 yards to the back of the end zone where he found senior wide receiver Nick Bendaña who adjusted for the touchdown, making it 55-7 SLUH.
The Cougars then managed to add another touchdown, but the outcome had been settled long ago.
“Defensively, we held them under 150 total yards which is something that we were proud of. We learned though that we can’t take our foot off the gas. We took it off for one series and they went right down and scored. Overall, I was really happy with how we played on the defensive side of the ball,” said Cruz.
From there, the Jr. Bills put in sophomore quarterback Pat Stein, who orchestrated one first down, but then was forced to punt, SLUH’s first punt of the day. The Jr. Bills then held the Cougars scoreless, closing out the game and capturing a 56-14 win.
“We just dominated on all three phases. On special teams, we had six touchbacks which is a credit to José (Rincón) and Christian (Ziegler). We started on their side of the field three times because of great returns by Matt Moore and Harry Holmes. And then offensively, I think we learned how dynamic and special we can be when we execute, whether it’s Zach or Jordan or Landon. We’ve got the playmakers. Now it’s just about executing on both sides of the ball,” said Cruz.
On Friday, the Jr. Bills travel down I-40 to face the 3-1 CBC Cadets, ranked second in the state for Class 5. The Jr. Bills look to keep the momentum from this game, in hopes of upsetting the Cadets.
“As an offensive unit, we just have to stay level headed and do what we need to do,” said Allen. “If we carry the momentum that we had against Lutheran St. Charles, there is no reason that we can’t compete with them. We’re ready to go.”
Junior Keenan Harris (8) takes down a Lutheran St. Charles player.
photos | Vic Lewchenko
Jordan Taylor (9) on a carry (below).
Game Changers
This week, the Prep News is highlighting players who have helped their fall sports team to huge victories. Players in alphabetical order.
Zach Allen
The junior wide receiver is doing the heavy work of filling Ryan Wingo’s spot, and he’s got the stats to back it up. Allen has accumulated 431 yards so far this season on just 22 catches, and that’s not mentioning his four touchdown contributions.
Quarterback Kyren Eleby’s favorite target, Allen will continue to be at the heart of the Jr. Bill offense through his ability to put up big numbers in big games.
Charlie Hill
Charlie “Chuck” Hill can sometimes be known in the halls as the smartest math student in the senior class. However, numbers go out the door and into the pool for this stellar swimmer. When he puts on the goggles, he becomes not only the heart and soul of SLUH Swim and Dive, but a tenacious swimmer in the big meets. Hill holds the school record for the 500 free and hopes to use his “clutch gene” to the Jr. Bill swim team’s advantage this season.
Henry Sanders
When Sanders has the ball, you take a deep breath. With two years of varsity playing time under his belt, the junior is proving to everyone in the St. Louis area that he is the spark for the Jr. Bills offense. Sanders has picked up 3 goals and 2 assists so far this season, the start of a spectacular season for the young kid. Additionally, Sanders became a captain for the Jr. Bill squad as a junior.
Gus Talleur
Since freshman year, Talleur has been a standout runner in an extraordinary group of SLUH cross country runners. His performance at the last Forest Park Cross Country Festival was astounding, as he ran a 15:53.50 5K, putting him as the 11th best runner in SLUH history. Most couldn’t tell that Talleur is SLUH’s three man, as he runs like the best runner for most high school teams. Talleur will use his speed and impressive times to boost the team for the rest of the season.
BY Aiden Erard and Theo Agniel Sports Editors
TAthlete of the Week: Kyren Eleby
he St. Louis U. High football team has found early season leadership under junior quarterback Kyren Eleby, who has led the team to a 2-2 record so far this season. The team has scored an impressive 104 points in only four games, and Eleby has also recently made headlines on large Instagram accounts such as SportsCenter, MaxPreps, and GSV.
Theo Agniel: Let’s get down to the basics. What got you into football? What was that spurring cause that encouraged you to start playing?
Kyren Eleby: Well, I always watched my oldest brother play and he was a quarterback. When I first watched him play, I decided I was gonna play quarterback too. So, when I turned five years old, I was able to join my first football team and my journey just took off from there.
Aiden Erard: We know that you have some chemistry with other guys on the team, like Zach Allen and Keenan Harris, so what has it been like to come to SLUH with those guys? Was that one of the reasons you decided to choose SLUH?
KE: We talked about it at the end of our eighth grade year. We were asking each other where we wanted to go. Some of our other friends wanted to come with us, but unfortunately they weren’t able to attend. The people that did get in, though, were very excited. Playing with Ryan Wingo for two years was awesome. He was able to develop Zach as a receiver and Marco Sansone helped develop me as a quarterback. We’ve finally taken the reins this year and ran with it.
TA: Our varsity team this year has a lot of younger players on it. There are lots of underclassmen and, in a way, that is setting us up for our future. What do you think
the future of this team is going to look like?
KE: Yeah, the future is very bright for us. We’ve got a couple freshmen and a couple sophomores on varsity that are really good. They’re probably going to get some good chances at the end of the season this year and into the season next year. They’re all just learning like we did. Freshman Tyler Kaminsky is a tight end and he’s learning from Landon Pace right now, so his future is definitely bright. He’s already getting good reps this year, so he’s going to be even better in the coming years. We also have some young safeties and young corners that are learning from Matthew Moore. Our O-line is learning from John Kruse who’s phenomenal. All of these young guys have to learn what they can now and apply it for next season. I would say I’m pretty excited for next year.
AE: So, what does your future look like after high school? Do you have any plans of playing in college and are there any schools you want to play for?
KE: After high school, I plan on going to college to play football. I’ve always told people that my dream school is whoever offers me because those are the teams and coaches that really want me. However, if I don’t go to college for football, I will probably go into the business side of things. I’m interested in real estate and things similar to that.
TA: We came into the season facing three extremely good quarterbacks. What have you done to look at what those other quarterbacks are doing, and what have you taken away from them?
KE: What I have taken away is that I just have to compete. Every time we line up, I always think I am the best quarterback on the field, even if the other quarterback has offers. It doesn’t mean anything to me at that moment because I know I’m
capable of doing the same things or better. So, every time I face another quarterback, my goal is just to compete and be the best player on the field.
AE: Recently, you have gotten featured on a lot of massive Instagram accounts and that’s really impressive. We saw you’ve been blowing up on social media and have been getting a lot of attention. What does that mean for you going forward? Do you feel any new pressure to perform well?
KE: A lot of people around me might think that it’s adding pressure, but it hasn’t really had any effect on me. I’m still the same person I was right before I went viral, as they say. It just means I have to perform because a lot of people are watching now. I mean, I had to perform in the past, but now I
have to really be on my A-game. I can’t take any plays because I know there’s always someone watching me.
TA: We have a big game against CBC coming up and they beat De Smet who beat us. What would it mean to the team if you were able to beat CBC and what have you guys been doing to prepare?
KE: We know we’re capable of beating every team in St. Louis this year. We know we can beat De Smet and we know we can definitely beat CBC too. Winning this game would give us a chance to compete for the MCC title. We’ve been watching lots of film on CBC lately and it’s giving us more confidence in our ability to win. We just need to come ready to play.
Fantasy Football Week 4: Starts and Sits
BY Matteo Abbate Staff
While last week’s picks were solid, they could’ve been better. I hit on some big name sits like Travis Kelce, Mike Evans, and D’Andre Swift. Like I predicted, Kelce and Evans killed your fantasy team if you started them, as Kelce put up 7.0 fantasy points and Evans only put up 3.7. My blunders were on Derek Carr (start) and RB Kyren Williams (sit). I guess this was my fault for jumping the gun on the Saints offense and overestimating them, but they really had dominated until Week 3. For Kyren Williams, I had overestimated the Niners defense and thought the game would be over in the first quarter with how many injuries the Rams had, but I guess the Niners are just terrible. Anyways, I promise to be better this week, and still urge you to trust me here because I spend hours of research on these picks. Good luck this week!
(12.5% start) Cole Kmet, Bears, TE: START. Look, I don’t know what happened to Caleb Williams and the Bears on Sunday that he just started to ball out, but I’m all for it if it means more fantasy production. After a slow first couple of weeks, Kmet was able to settle in for 10 receptions for 97 yards on 11 targets. Especially with QB Caleb Williams also settling in, this could be another huge week for the both of them against a very beaten down Rams team. ’Nuff said.
(59.6% start) Anthony Richardson, Colts, QB: SIT. Despite getting off to a hot start, Richardson has been abysmal as of late. He currently leads the league in interceptions thrown with six through three games. These aren’t your typical picks either; these are terrible throws. Absolutely terrible. Enough is enough. Now with a tough matchup against the T.J. Watt and the No. 1 Steelers secondary, this is a no-brainer. Sit ‘em!
(1.2% start) Demario Douglas, Patriots, WR: START. Look, I know you are probably thinking I’m nuts, but hear me out. Douglas is coming off a solid week against Sauce Gardner, where he had 7 receptions for 69 yards on 9 targets. Currently he is QB Jacoby Brissett’s No. 1 receiver, and this week could have more upside than last week. The 49ers have been pretty bad lately, especially in the secondary. Given some good planning on HC Jerod Mayo’s side, this could be another big week for Douglas.
(82.0% start) Josh Jacobs, Packers, RB: SIT. As a Josh Jacobs fantasy manager, I can’t keep putting up with this. It’s the same script every week. He just can’t find the end zone. In Week 2 against the Colts he rushed for 151 yards on 32 attempts and still couldn’t punch it in. Last week against the Titans he averaged 3 yards per carry. Now the Packers will be matched up against a good Vikings team who is currently 6th against the run. Not worth it …
(17.0% start) Mike Gesicki, Bengals, TE: START. Although the Bengals haven’t been great to start the season (again), Burrow and his receivers should be able to build off some momentum from last week despite the loss. How much worse could it get? Gesicki has been on an upward trend so far with his best week coming in Week 2 where he put 7 receptions for 91 yards against the Chiefs. This week, against a Panthers secondary that will focus much of their manpower on Ja’Marr Chase, should be another big week for Gesicki.
(74.5% start) Zay Flowers, Ravens, WR: SIT. Flowers had a regression this past week against the Cowboys, getting only 3 receptions for 20 yards. He seems to struggle against teams with good secondaries. Also, you can’t forget about how the Ravens love to blow leads; I just can’t trust the team as a whole. Lamar will rely on his legs, and I just don’t think it will work against the No. 1 Fantasy defense for the Bills. I’m sitting him.
Eleby scoring a touchdown against Lutheran St. Charles. photo | Myles Tatum
photo | Myles Tatum
photo | Kathy Chott
photo | Kathy Chott
photo | Courtesy of SLUH XC
column | Theo Agniel
Soccer struggles against MCC rivals in CBC tournament; travels west to Jeff City
BY Theo Agniel and Andrew Chalmers Sports Editor, reporter
Over the course of their past four games, the Jr. Bills have fallen five spots to No. 7 in the area rankings following losses to CBC and De Smet. However, with wins against Capital City and Clayton, the Jr. Bill squad has rekindled its scoring touch before their biggest matchup of the season.
CBC
The Jr. Bills struggled to find a rhythm in their three CBC Tournament games against MCC rivals, scoring only one time.
Last Thursday, the Jr. Bills struggled to connect their midfield with their attacking forces, leading them to a heartbreaking 1-0 defeat against CBC.
The Jr. Bill side came out strong, knocking the ball between the center halfs and midfield, a noticeable improvement from their struggle for possession against Kirkwood. However, as they tried to move the ball up the field, their shape became constricted and they weren’t able to give the ball to wingers junior James Barry or senior Caleb Bircher. This led to junior Henry Sanders and sophomore Paddy Byrne to attempt runs through the middle of the field that led SLUH to lose possession.
After a CBC player took down Sanders just outside the box seven minutes into the game, the Jr. Bills found themselves with a golden opportunity. After his previous, thundering free kick attempt against Kirkwood, junior Andrew Wolf couldn’t have been more delighted to have another chance from just outside the box. Wolf’s shot ricocheted off a CBC player’s leg and spun off the post and out of play.
As the first half progressed, the Jr. Bills became more worn out and their passes to forwards tended to be lackadaisical. This pattern led to less possession for SLUH and more opportunities for CBC, who were taking a lot of shots from outside the box. With both teams struggling to create meaningful opportunities, the score at half remained 0-0.
Unlike the first half, the Jr. Bills came into the second half with cold feet, allowing a goal through a deflected shot off a defender from outside the box that scurried to the right of sophomore goalkeeper Cole Chambers. The unfortunate goal gave CBC a small, yet crucial lead.
As a team that has capitalized on other team’s mistakes all season, SLUH felt a little bit of their own poison as CBC sat back for the rest of the
game and went on to win 1-0.
De Smet
After the football team lost to De Smet football, the SLUH soccer team aimed to get revenge for their fellow classmates in the final match of the CBC Tournament last Saturday . Weather was a major factor for each team, as the midday game boasted temperatures climbing up to 94 degrees.
When the game began, the Jr. Bills defense looked stronger than ever, forcing the Spartans to play backwards nearly the whole half. The Jr. Bills were happy with their organization and felt confident until a De Smet cross was played into the box. After deflecting off a SLUH player, the ball rolled slowly to the top of the box where it found a De Smet player who struck it into the top left corner.
After the setback, the Jr. Bills trickled in a few chances from corner kicks and free kicks, but no goal resulted.
With 20 minutes left in the game, the Jr. Bills received an unfortunate foul call in the box, resulting in a De Smet goal to make the game 2-0.
After the second goal, the game became less organized and energetic, with players displaying heavy legs after three games in only three days. The Spartans sat deep the rest of the game and won 2-0.
“I think that the team needs to work on two things: composure and closing out games. We get too frantic once we get into the opponent’s half, leading us to waste away valuable chances,” said senior captain Nick Hammond. “Then, when we get chances, players need to be willing to capitalize and take those shots. As for closing out games, again, we need to be calm and find ways to break down teams when they are playing well.”
Capital City
The Jr. Bills jumped on a bus Monday and rode it all the way down to Jefferson City to play the Cavaliers of Capital City High School. Following struggles in the CBC Tournament, the Jr. Bills were hungry for a victory. They knew this game would not be easy though, as the game last year was a hard fought 1-0 victory.
The game began and the Jr. Bills had a strong first half. They were on the attack nearly the whole half and had many close chances, yet the first half remained scoreless.
The second half started the same way with the Jr. Bills on the front attack. They were quickly awarded a corner kick when junior Andrew Wolf whipped a ball in that bounced onto a Capital City defender’s hand, awarding the Jr. Bills a penalty kick.
XC heads south: Battles extreme conditions in Festus
BY Otto Reitenbach and Tristan Kujawa Core Staff, Staff
The St. Louis U. High Cross Country program traveled south to Festus last Saturday, battling through a difficult course under brutal conditions for a successful meet against top competition.
home the Class 4 State Championship last year and Kirkwood placed in the top 10 in Class 5. A performance like this from the SLUH V2 squad is an incredible result, and a true testament to the Jr. Bills’ impressive team depth.
Junior Henry Sanders then stepped up to the spot as the noise evaporated, putting it firmly into the bottom left corner of the net.
With 30 minutes left to play, the Jr. Bills wanted another goal and stayed on the attack, but the Cavaliers saw a gap in the defense and played a ball down to the right corner. Their winger was able to get in behind the defense and send a cross to the middle of the box that tipped off of Chambers’ hands and found the Cavaliers striker, who put it in the back of the net. With less than 25 minutes to play, the game had heated up.
Despite the setback, the Jr. Bills kept their heads high and looked to find another goal. Many free kicks and corner kicks were taken by the Bills, but all came short of a goal. The Jr. Bills seemed to be knocking on the door until sophomore Javi Vigil won the ball from a defender in the final third and slipped it past the goalie with his left foot. Vigil’s contribution was missed dearly, had missed the past two games against CBC and De Smet due to an injury against Vianney, and his contributions were missed dearly.
“Injuries have affected the team’s playing style because some people are playing a bit out of position. Additionally, injuries have hindered the team from creating chances,” said Hammond.
The Bills were determined to hang on to the lead this time, and despite a close Capital City counterattack with 20 seconds left, the Jr. Bills defeated the Cavaliers 2-1.
Looking Ahead
The team continued its conquest of the Champions league last night against Clayton where they won 1-0. Clayton was the second of three teams the Jr. Bills face in the group stage phase of the Champions league, as they tied Kirkwood 1-1, and are scheduled to play their final group stage match against No. 1 ranked St. Dominic.
After their anticipated matchup, the team returns home for the start of the Jr. Bill Classic tournament, where they take on Parkway South on Tuesday night and Mehlville on Thursday night.
“Going into Saturday, we need to play quality soccer, which means being composed, possessing the ball, and capitalizing on our chances,” said Hammond. “Defensively, I think we’ve been great, but soccer isn’t just a game about defense. If we execute what we have been practicing and focus on our game and what we can control, then I’m sure it’ll be an exciting game.”
In their first year at the Festus Bowles-Wright Invitational, the SLUH Jr. Bills squad showed determination and grit, running hard against two of the premier teams in the St. Louis Area, Kirkwood and Lafayette. In preparation for a difficult meet next week at the Palatine Invitational near Chicago, Illinois, the top 11 runners for the Jr. Bills were withheld from the race, with SLUH racing a “V2” squad instead. Despite missing their usual varsity lineup, SLUH pushed hard and took home third place, with 53 points behind second place Festus and 71 behind the champions Kirkwood.
Junior Tristan Kujawa led the charge for the Jr. Bills, running an ambitious race to take 16th place in a time of 17:52. He went out hard, and he held on despite the day’s taxing conditions.
“Tristan had a very good race,” said head coach Joe Porter. “He stayed in the teens the whole race and was right there with Kirkwood’s 4 and 5 runner as our quote-unquote 12th guy. It really gives us a lot of confidence going into Palatine and Freeburg.”
This course featured several incredibly steep hills, made increasingly more difficult by slippery mud. With the temperature around 85 degrees and high humidity, the conditions were not primed for a fast day.
“It had many hills, each one progressively being higher in elevation and a sharp turn right next to a lake,” said sophomore Nathan Khouri. “During the race, I sighed every time we had to climb up another hill.”
Despite that, the Jr. Bills continued to run impressive races. Khouri (18:01; 18th place) and junior Preston Eash (18:03; 21st) each earned a medal for their efforts. A great run from freshman Warnicke Beatty (18:17) gave him a hard earned PR, the only PR on the day for the Jr. Bills.
“Really, really impressive performance from Warnicke,” said Porter. “ PRing in those conditions is really impressive and shows big things to come from him.”
Sophomore Joe Talleur (18:22) finished out the scoring for the Bills in 32nd, followed quickly behind by fellow sophomore Edmund Reske (18:24) in 33rd. Rounding up the varsity race were seniors Gavin Smith (18:38; 37th place) and Ethan Bognar (18:42; 38th).
These results may not seem impressive at first glance, but this is elite St. Louis competition. Festus brought
“It’s great for that second group to experience varsity style racing like a faster first mile,” said Porter. “To get third out of the 20 teams and to beat some of the usual powerhouses and it’s really impressive. A testament to the guys getting out and going after it.”
Incredible results continued as the program turned focus to the JV race, facing about the same miserable conditions as the varsity race. Due to there not being a freshmen race, the freshmen raced alongside their JV brothers, adding depth to the squad.
From the start, junior Brayden Bussmann and senior Paddy Jones were running right behind two leaders from Kirkwood as they came up the hill and into mile one with a time of 5:37. As they neared the second mile, only Bussmann remained with the two leaders from Kirkwood, and despite being outnumbered, he made his move.
“Right before the two mile mark I opened my stride at the top of the hill and flew past both Kirkwood guys taking first,” said Bussmann. “I booked it down the straightaway while hearing coaches and fans yelling for me. I was pushing really hard to make a large gap.”
With still a third of the race left, Bussmann was uncertain whether his move was defiant enough. It did turn out to be enough for Bussmann, who won in an extremely fast time for this day and course with a 18:12.
“I started pushing really hard again with about 700 meters to go and kicked with about 300 meters,” said Bussmann. “Kirkwood didn’t stand a chance.”
However, Kirkwood definitely stood a chance on the team side placing eight in front of the No. 2 SLUH runner, freshman Gibby Fyvie (19:05).
“Keep in mind that these are Kirkwood’s eighth and ninth guys on their depth chart going up against people like Brayden,” said Porter. “It was a very hot, humid miserable day and for our guys to go out and compete the way they did was very good.”
Rounding out the top 5 were Jones (19:07), freshman Owen Williams (19:09) and junior Brady Vogt (19:12). Overall, this scoring fiuve led SLUH to a second place finish in the JV, and with two freshmen scoring, it is a good sign for the program’s future.
This weekend the program splits with a group of 15 being sent up north to the suburbs of Chicago for the Palatine Meet of Champions. Meanwhile, the rest of the team will head across the river to compete in the Freeburg Invitational and another opportunity to display depth.
The team going over strategy at halftime.
photo | Jack Auer
Nathan Khouri in a varsity race Saturday. photo | Courtesy of SLUH XC
CENTURION
One hundred years at Backer: reflecting on a century of change
BY Leo Hahn Features Editor
The establishment of the FBI, the discovery of King Tut’s tomb, and the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. One hundred years ago these stories plastered newspapers throughout the nation, but in St. Louis those headlines appeared alongside the announcement of a generous donation for the construction of a high school location for St. Louis University. The impact of this donation and others like it continue to shape the history of St. Louis U. High, which is celebrating a century of residency at the Backer Memorial this year.
The Backer Memorial is named after George Backer, an 1896 graduate of St. Louis University who inherited his family’s flour milling partnership and grew to be a successful businessman. He married Swedish immigrant Anna F. Backer in 1876, and both became heavily involved in the parish of St. Francis Xavier Church. After George’s death in 1919 a large portion of his estate was set to be donated to the Missouri Province of Jesuits for education, but Anna Backer had full control over how to distribute that money.
the tornado is told about a freshman at St. Louis University High School,” said a 1927 Post-Dispatch article describing the aftermath. “Who had his Latin Grammar blown to Mount Olive, IL., where it was picked up and returned to him. He is back at his Latin again.”
Anna Backer was quick to show concern for the students, and rapidly began creating plans to reopen the school as quickly as possible. The $150,000 dollars of damage was largely covered by insurance, and SLUH’s classes resumed only 13 days later, on Oct. 12.
In September of 1936 the SLUH community was heartbroken at the loss of Anna Backer, who died in her home at the age of 78 years old. The entire student body and faculty of SLUH attended her funeral at St. Francis Xavier Church. In her will she allotted an additional $500,000 gift to the school, which adjusted for inflation is over $11.2 million dollars today, exceeding her initial gift in 1923.
Later that fall SLUH was visited by future pontiff Pope Pius XII, then known as Cardinal Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli, who was scheduled to visit the school to meet with Anna Backer. In the wake of her death, Pacelli instead
But why put the money towards a high school? Rumors of the time say that an impassioned homily given by Rev. Michael J. O’Connor, SJ, is what inspired her to put the money towards a new high school. In total the donation amounted to $500,000, which amounts to nearly $9.1 million dollars today. This money was used to finance the construction and furnishing of the new Oakland location of SLUH.
“The building has been designed with particular attention to the most modern heating, lighting and ventilating facilities,” said a 1923 newspaper article previewing the construction plans. “It will be three stories high, and the main wing will contain a chapel 70x124 feet, locker rooms, a gymnasium 70x80 feet, with shower baths, a cafeteria 40x120 feet with accommodations for 600 boys at one time, 29 classrooms and a large reference library. The administrative offices of the school will be on the Oakland Avenue side, with the Berthold Avenue frontage will contain the physics, chemistry and biology laboratories and classrooms for the commercial courses. The school is expected to care for 1,200 students. To the west of the building will be a large campus, with a modern athletic field, to include a running track and fields for football and baseball contests.”
From this description it’s clear that many aspects of the Backer Memorial remain as they were intended in 1923, with only a few changes. During the construction, no expense was spared when it came to building materials. Over eighty-eight thousand dollars (a little over $1.5 million dollars in today’s money) was spent on bricks alone, and the original terrazzo flooring was $13,000.
But disaster soon struck. On Sept. 29, 1927 one a series of St. Louis tornadoes ripped through the Oakland Avenue building while classes were in session. The cyclone damaged many of the walls, windows, and skylights, most notably when the roof above the altar was blown away. Thankfully, the sculptures and crucifix sustained minimal damage. No students or teachers were harmed or injured, extremely lucky considering over 80 people died and 500 were injured in the St. Louis area that day. Students, although thankful for their safety, were more happy to see less class time.
“The champion hard luck story of
Hagan, SJ, housed over 30 pool tables, ping pong tables, shuffleboard, and the space for a new game called wall ball.
A smaller space north of the rec room briefly held a boxing ring until SLUH’s rifle program began in 1945. The program has come a long way from simply firing into the dirt walls of the basement, now utilizing Olympic-grade laser targeting systems acquired in early 2024.
In the history of SLUH, the school has often led in the efforts of diversity. This was equally true in 1946 when the school admitted its first African American student eight years before Brown v. Board of Education officially ended segregation in schools nationwide. John Carter attended his sophomore and junior years before leaving the school. The first black student to graduate as a senior was Alphonse Thomas ’50 who transferred to SLUH as a sophomore.
As SLUH entered the middle of the century the issue of space became a big issue among administrators of the time. One of the main issues was the congestion of the original floor plan of the Backer Memorial. Originally the gym/auditorium was located in the center of the building, in the current Media Center and Co-Lab spaces. Something had to be done about the noise of the gym, but also the lack of locker rooms for both home and away teams.
“After four months of eating lunch in the auditorium and reading history in the cafeteria students can now enjoy the virtual luxury of an air-conditioned study area equipped with an acoustical ceiling and rug to cut noise level.”
In 1983 the library was renamed the Robinson Library in honor of Dr. James Robinson, PhD ’32 who served as a history teacher at SLUH for 42 years. Two years before he had won $124,019 in the Illinois lottery and donated a majority to SLUH, establishing five different scholarships.
of this construction elicited controversy from the students.
met with the then principal Rev. William Bowden, SJ, and said a Mass for the student body. He is credited with promising a day off of school to rousing applause from the student body. This tradition continues today by archbishops visiting SLUH.
World War II brought confusion and turmoil to the world, and that was equally true in the halls of the Backer Memorial.
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, both students and faculty members were eager to enlist, while also questioning the place of violence and war in Catholic doctrine. Seniors turning 18 before graduation risked being inducted before earning their diplomas, pushing SLUH to offer special summer classes. The school held two early graduation ceremonies, in 1944 and 1945.
Between 1954 and 1956, construction was completed on a brand new gym, which sat where the Commons sits today. This also added spaces for counseling, an athletics office, a band room, a teacher’s lounge, and of course locker rooms. This space remained unchanged for nearly 60 years, hosting games, pep rallies, and concerts until it was renovated to become the Si Commons in 2011.
In 1968 SLUH employed its first female teacher, Eilene Martini, who taught French for two years. It’s important to note that Martini was not the first female staff member at SLUH, as there had previously been women acting in the roles of secretaries, librarians, record keepers, and financial managers.
In 1970 the beloved tradition of Cashbah was started by the seniors of that year’s graduating class. According to an estimate by Dick Mehan ’70 in a 2020 Prep News article, they raised a total of around $17,000 which was donated to the younger classes for use in their own future events. The scale of the event has risen immeasur-
SLUH students were also vocal in their communities outside of school. In 1945, 14-year-old freshman Joe Morrissey ’48 was invited onto KXOK radio News for Young Americans where he detailed SLUH’s victory in a speech competition and his visit to a press conference of the newly instated President Harry Truman in Independence, Mo. on the way there.
“Well, the newsman said President Truman can really take it,” said Morrissey.
“They fired one question after another at him, but they didn’t ruffle his poise one bit.
When they asked if regulations would go out the window on V-E day he said bluntly ‘let’s wait until V-E day.’”
In 1944, ground broke on the subterranean expansion of the main building, which Rev. Richard R. Rooney, SJ proposed to give students a place to let out pent up energy somewhere that wasn’t the hallways. $25,000 dollars later and SLUH was the location of the largest pool hall in the city, which was later named the Fr. Hagan Rec Room. The space, named after beloved Jesuit teacher Martin “Marty”
ably, with over $1.5 million dollars raised nearly 50 years later in the 2023 Cashbah.
In 1972, money from two Cashbahs, the Backer endowment, and fundraising from StuCo, and the Mother’s and Father’s Clubs was put towards the construction of the brand new Robinson Library.
Located first in the northwest corner of the second floor Backer Memorial, the original library was a focal point of the school. It included a combination of books from the precursors to SLUH, the Gonzaga and Loyola Halls, as well as a tropical fish tank and detailed reference materials to aid students in their research. The library quickly became outdated, limited by poor ventilation and small size which couldn’t be expanded due to its location on the outer edge of the building. Suffice to say the new library was welcomed by many.
“The carpet has been laid, the books shelved, furniture arranged, and now the school has access to a valuable asset - the library,” said a 1972 Prep News article published shortly after the space was opened.
“There was definitely more time in the day and in the year devoted to academics,” said science teacher Bill Anderson ’78. “Class time has declined steadily over the years. There was a greater focus on academic achievement during my time as a student.”
In 1996, then President of SLUH Fr. Robert Costello, SJ, completed the Upholding the Tradition campaign, which raised money to reinstall central air conditioning in the building, and to complete construction on the new Performing Arts Center. This gave SLUH’s acting troupe, the Dauphin Players, its own space for productions, as well as a dedicated dance studio, and rehearsal spaces. In 2005 the theater was dedicated to longtime algebra teacher and theater director Joseph Schulte ’54, who introduced the first acting classes to the student body after fine arts became a graduation requirement.
In 2008 SLUH once again faced the challenge of space. Plans were made to move the existing cafeteria to the 1956 gym while the Danis Field House would be constructed on Berthold Avenue. The construction itself would take two years to complete, and in Fall of 2009 the first game was held in the new space, which could now seat over 1,000 spectators and host three teams at a time.
“We had all school Masses—and the Back To School Mixer—in the gym, which is now the Si Commons,” said college counselor Chris Buerke ’12. “It was terribly sweaty, even back then. The Danis Field House was just an idea for most of my time at SLUH. Construction finished the year after I graduated.”
In 2011, shortly after the construction of the Field House, the Si Commons was constructed in the now unoccupied gymnasium. Changes made included the removal of bleachers, the lowering of the ceiling, and the removal of the southern wall which was replaced entirely with windows. In 2019 the stained glass installation of Mary and Jesus was completed, which provided an appropriate backdrop for the frequent all-school Masses which occur in the Commons to this day. Some parts
“The statue of St. Ignatius that students pass each day on their way into the building used to be where the St. Louis statue now sits,” said psychology teacher Sam Herbig. “I still remember opinion pieces in the Prep News debating whether moving the statue was a good idea, given its iconic former location. To many students, myself included, Ignatius seemed to have simply always been in that location, standing his ground (seemingly) since the Backer Memorial had been established. His presence in the courtyard (and on every piece of promotional material we’d received as prospective students) seemed to represent stability, continuity, and tradition. Moving his statue to a new location seemed, to many, to be an act of rupturing that very tradition which he symbolized.”
The most recent changes to the Backer Memorial have been the 2023-2024 renovation and remodeling of the Chapel, Dill Center, Campus Ministry, as well as the Social Studies, Math, and English offices. This provided additional space for students in the new Co-Lab which now occupies the old campus ministry.
When it comes to the Backer Memorial’s place on Oakland Avenue, it’s important to remember all of the generous gifts and donations that have given life to the mission of education SLUH has to offer. From Anna Backer’s gift 100 years ago to the donations of Dr. Jim Robinson and the Upholding the Tradition campaign, as well as countless others, it’s the benefit of generosity that everyone at SLUH has in common. Future generations of students will no doubt be impacted any less by this continuing generosity.
”I really think the legacy of this particular building, the Backer Memorial, is that Ignatian spirit which is handed on to us here,” said Herbig. “I think that spirit can best be summed up in Ignatius’s words: ‘Lord, teach me to be generous.’ When I was a student, most of us likely could not tell you who Anna Backer was, or why our building was even called the Backer Memorial. Celebrating this centennial has given me a new awareness of who she was and the enormity of her generosity. This building, which has housed and nourished so many sons, is made possible only through an act of radical generosity for the greater glory of God.”
“Students graduate, administrators, coaches, and teachers come and go. Buildings and fields are built, renovated or torn down,” said theology teacher Dick Wehner in a 2009 note to the school. “Since 1818 one thing has remained constant at the U. High: Tradition Never Graduates.”
The original watercolor concept of the Backer Memorial circa 1923.
Seniors gather around the “Senior Smoker” in the 50s.
The wreckage of the chapel after the 1927 tornado.
The SLUH cafeteria in the 1970s.
photos | Courtesy of SLUH Archive