St. Sebastian's Magazine, Fall 2023/Winter 2024

S T. S EBASTIAN’S FALL 2023 / WINTER 2024

MAGAZINE

2023-2024 Board of Trustees Cardinal Seán O’Malley, O.F.M. Cap. Chairman William L. Burke, III P’95,’97,’00,’04, GP’23,’29 Executive Officer, Headmaster James L. Elcock ’77, P’08 President James F. Mooney, III P’18 Vice President Barbara E. Connolly P’1,0’12,’17 Secretary David M. Calabro ’78, P’16 Treasurer Members: Mark H. Carter P’28 Tara B. Ciongoli P’25,’25,’27,’29 Casey M. Condron ‘94, P’23,’24,’28 Devin C. Condron ‘92, P’29,’29 Timothy J. Connelly P’17,’19 Marybeth Connolly P’27 Catherine C. Daniel P’15,’18,‘20 Paul A. D’Attanasio ‘96 Timothy P. Doherty ‘87 P’17 Stephen M. DuFour P’14,’18,’21 Michael R. Frisoli P’17,’19,’21,’22,’26 Dana W. Fulham P’14,’24 Dr. Chris Hahm P’22,’26 Kathleen F. Ix P’22 Susanne C. Joyce P’20,’23,’26 Carolyn M. Lemone P’16,’18 Michael J. Maguire ‘91, P’22,’25 John E. McNamara ‘81, P’14,’18 John A. Piccione ‘76 Dr. Edward T. Ryan P’23 Randall P. Seidl P’17,’19 Michael J. Stanton ‘88, P’20 John D. Suliman ‘03 Robert V. Wallace, Jr. ‘89 P‘25 Stephen P. Ward ‘96, P’24,’25,’27,’29 Andrew A. Wasynczuk P’14,’17,’27 Deneige B. Nash P’23,’25 President, Guild of St. Irene Richard C. Walsh P’22,’24 President, Men’s Association Peter A. Galligan ’74 President, Alumni Association David F. Gately ’73 Trustees Emeritus

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S T. S EBASTIAN’ S M AGAZINE

Assistant Headmaster Michael P. Nerbonne

FEATURES

IN EVERY ISSUE

18 Our Year of Love

2 Headmaster’s Letter 3

Around Campus

10

New Faculty

16

New Trustees

44

25 Years of Service

48

Event Highlights

50

Fine Arts

52

Fall Sports

64

Alumni Events

in Beirut

67

Class Notes

Michael Petro ’13, a Jesuit scholastic, works with migrants and refugees in Beirut, Lebanon

76

In Memoriam

Headmaster Burke delivers his remarks on“Love,” the one-word theme for the academic year

22 A Blessing Beyond Words A special tribute to Bill & Patty Burke, honoring their 34 years of admirable service to St. Sebastian’s

42 Learning from Your Brothers The Peer Education Program creates opportunity for Arrows to discuss important health issues

60 Responding to God’s Call

Headmaster William L. Burke III P’95,’97,’00,’04, GP’23,’29

Director of Advancement Richard F. Arms P’14

Editor and Designer Christine Y. Robertson, Director of Communications Principal Photographer Brett Crawford, Visual Media Coordinator Contributors Allie Colgan, Communications Associate Michael Melley P’18,’22, Director of Alumni & Development Editorial Advisor Michael Deschenes P’28, Director of Library & Information Services

St. Sebastian’s Magazine is published two times a year by the Communications Office.

Correspondence concerning the magazine should be sent to: communications@stsebs.org

Learning from Your Brothers

42

Responding to God’s Call in Beirut

60

St. Sebastian’s School 1191 Greendale Avenue Needham, MA 02492 781.449.5200 www.stsebs.org COVER:

St. Sebastian’s School Mission Statement A Catholic independent school, St. Sebastian’s seeks to engage young men in the pursuit of truth through faith and reason. By embracing Gospel values in an inclusive, nurturing community and by inspiring intellectual excellence in a structured liberal arts curriculum, St. Sebastian’s strives to empower students for success in college and in life. The ideal St. Sebastian’s graduate will be a moral and just person, a gentleman of courage, honor, and wisdom, a life-long learner who continues to grow in his capacity to know, to love, and to serve God and neighbor.

Photographic portrait of Headmaster Bill Burke (photo: Bobby Quillard P’27).

INSIDE COVER: Bill and Patty Burke arrive on St. Sebastian’s campus in 1990.

From the desk of the headmaster

I love you all and I will forever!

Wi llia m L . Bu r k e I II

We were given the gift of time in Sophomore Chapel the other day—20 minutes of unscripted possibility! Story time, I called it. I invited questions. After much time had elapsed in which no hand had gone up, I explained that my wife is a psychologist, so I’ve learned to tolerate very long periods of silence, prompting David Hahm to raise his hand and ask what I was going to miss the most. “You,” I said. “You, David, and everyone else.” The Spirit and the people of our God-centered, student-centered, truly great School fill me with joy, with a powerful sense of purpose, and with all that is good, true, and beautiful.

I want the very best for all students, families, colleagues, trustees, alumni, and friends. I love you all and I will forever! I want you to live long, happy, healthy, holy lives of love and service in this world and eternal joy in the next.

St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross asserts that “the most urgent duty (of an educator) is to open the child’s path to God.” I believe that our wonderful parents and my outstanding colleagues cooperate magnificently and successfully in the great work of opening the path to God for our young scholars. And what an honor and a joy it has been to be so engaged.

In 2002, when illness robbed him of his ability to continue as Board President, Jack Birmingham looked me in the eye and said: “The future of the School is in your hands.”

I didn’t know then and I don’t know now whether that was true, but I am certain of this: I decided to behave as though it were true, and I have not wavered, nor have I lost sight of the truth that it’s the Lord’s work, and it’s all a gift, a gift expressed brilliantly in the first three steps of the twelve-step program: I can’t. God can. So I’ll let Him. And so we go on, cooperating with grace, rightfully giving all the credit to God when things go well, deservedly assuming the responsibility for all that goes awry, seeking to atone for our mistakes, and striving to be better, stronger, more loving, more giving and forgiving today than we were yesterday.

As Commencement approaches each spring, I find myself sharing these words with our prematurely nostalgic seniors: The head knows that it’s time to go, but how our hearts ache that it is so. Believe me, gentlemen: I know how you feel.

I thank and praise all members of the St. Sebastian’s family for all you are and for all you do.

May we forever hold sacred our relationships, and may God continue to bless us all every sacred step of the way.

With love and gratitude,

William L. Burke III Headmaster

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News & Notes from Our School Community FALL 2023 / WINTER 2024 | 3

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Senior Leadership Day

on the Charles

CBS Sportscaster Jim Nantz is interviewed by Headmaster Bill Burke in St. Bartholomew Church during the opening assembly on September 8.

Sportscaster Jim Nantz Encourages Arrows to Believe in Their Dreams

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uring the opening assembly on the first day of school, Friday, September 8, 2023, Headmaster Burke interviewed Jim Nantz, legendary CBS sportscaster and author of our All School Read, Always by My Side: A Father’s Grace and a Sports Journey Unlike Any Other. Headmaster Burke kicked off the interview by asking Nantz to recall what he was like when he was the age of Arrows in the audience. “At the age that you are right now...I had a lot of dreams,” Nantz reminisced. “I knew then exactly what I wanted to do with my life.”

Not only did Nantz have huge dreams when he was young, but so did many of his closest friends. In college, all three of Nantz’s roommates aspired to be professional golfers, and Nantz dreamt of broadcasting for CBS and presenting the green jacket to the winner of The Masters. They believed so strongly in their dreams, that they even practiced the green jacket ceremony in their dorm room. “I really believe that lifting each other up, thinking of the other first, it comes right back at you,” asserted Nantz. “Our dreams were pretty outlandish, and they were never met with ridicule. So as a result, they made me feel like what I wanted to do was going to happen. I like to think that my belief in them helped embolden them to be able to reach their dreams.”

This kind of brotherhood and positive encouragement towards each other, akin to what is taught at St. Sebastian’s, propelled their dreams into reality.

Years after their dorm room rehearsals, all three of Nantz’s roommates became PGA golfers, and one of them, Fred Couples, won The Masters. As fate would have it, Nantz was there to present the green jacket to him.

Nantz stressed the importance of a positive outlook during the interview with Headmaster Burke. He did so as well as throughout his book, in which he recounts his beloved father’s descent into illness during his own rise to success in sports broadcasting. As Nantz says, “goodness always wins.” So, it’s fitting that all the proceeds from his book, which became an instant New York Times Bestseller upon its release, went to the Nantz National Alzheimer’s Center, at the University of Houston—another one of his dreams that came true. Special thanks to Berj Najarian P’24,’25 for helping bring Jim Nantz to St. Sebastian’s.

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Members of the Class of 2024 participated in Senior Leadership Day on August 29, 2023, to kick off their final year at St. Sebastian’s. After being welcomed back to campus by Headmaster Burke, the seniors headed out for an afternoon of activities, including canoeing and hiking. The canoes departed from the school’s new launch site along the Charles River.

That site was the capstone of senior Raif Boit’s Eagle Scout project, which involved designing and building a canoe rack that sits behind the tennis courts, getting permits from the commission, and clearing the path to the river.

“To finally see it used during Senior Leadership Day was really rewarding.

It felt like all that work was paying off, and it was nice to see the thing I put so much effort into finally being used,” shared Raif. It was a beautiful day along the river and on the trails, and a wonderful way to launch senior year for the Class of 2024.

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Victim of Gang & Gun Violence Shares Her Inspiring Story

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n September 22, St. Sebastian’s welcomed Rose Smith, who told her inspirational story of surviving gang and gun violence in Watts, CA. Rose’s story was brought to St. Sebastian’s by the Watts 2 Boston Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports the Los Angeles Police Department by providing resources to underserved youth and victims of crimes.

Julie Mulvey P’17,’21,’26, Founder and President of Watts 2 Boston, introduced Rose and her daughter, Miracle.

Rose Smith (front) with other guests from Rose recounted the day her life Watts, CA, and Julie Mulvey P’17,’21,’26. changed forever in 2007, when she was caught in the crossfire of someone’s argument while bringing groceries into her home. Three months pregnant with her third child, Rose was shot four times—once in her jaw, twice in her left arm, and lastly in her spine, instantly paralyzing her from the waist down. Not only was Rose’s life in jeopardy, but so was the life of her unborn daughter, whom Rose fittingly named Miracle.

Despite all the difficulties she has faced as a result of her circumstances, Rose told the Arrows, “You have to keep going and be grateful for what you have,” noting the most important thing you can do is “give love to everyone.”

LAPD Captain, Ryan Whiteman, then took the podium, encouraging the students to look at their opportunity of education to not just help themselves, but also others. During Q&A, other members of the LAPD shared what it is like to fight against gangs, and Miracle and Cristina, another survivor of gang violence in Watts, spoke about growing up in their challenging community.

Rose and her family still live in Watts, but thanks to LAPD officers and Watts 2 Boston, Miracle is able to receive a Catholic education in a safe neighborhood.

Thank you, Rose, Miracle, and Cristina, for sharing your stories with us and to Julie Mulvey for bringing these strong women here to inspire our community.

Dan Burke ’97, P’29 Speaks at 82nd Founder’s Day In honor of St. Sebastian’s 82nd anniversary, the School community gathered for the Founder’s Day assembly on September 29, 2023. The annual event celebrates St. Sebastian’s first ever day of classes held on September 29, 1941, on Nonantum Hill in Newton. Dan Burke ’97, P’29—Assistant Dean of Students, English teacher, and Head Football Coach—served as this year’s keynote speaker. “As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,” served as the theme for his speech.

The “beginning” included Dan’s earliest memories of St. Sebastian’s when his father, Bill Burke, began his tenure as Headmaster in 1990 and he became an Arrow; the “now” touched upon on his career as a teacher and coach; and “ever shall be” captured the essential qualities of St. Sebastian’s that remain ever constant.

“Time has led to many changes and tremendous growth at St. Sebastian’s, but the essence of what it means to be an Arrow ever shall remain the same.”

—Dan Burke, Assistant Dean of Students

Seven Arrows Recognized as National Scholars Raif Boit ’24 has been named a Semifinalist by the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program. His outstanding performance on the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) places him in the top 1% of those who tested nationally. Seniors Deven Carkner, Rui do Rosario, Chase McCann, Brendan Schmidt, Ye Tian, and Edward Zhang have been named as Commended Students, recognized for their exceptional academic promise by placing among the top 3% of those who entered the 2024 competition.

Congratulations to these Arrows on their tremendous academic achievements!

Dan Burke ’97, P’29 shares his experiences as a student, teacher and coach on Founder’s Day.

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Poet Charles Coe Launches Visiting Writer Series As part of our ongoing commitment to the teaching of writing, St. Sebastian’s launched its Visiting Writer Series on December 1, 2023, by welcoming poet Charles Coe to campus. Coe gave a brief talk to all students in Grades 10, 11, and 12 before visiting English classes to speak with smaller groups about the craft of writing. Coe has written four books of poetry, as well as a novella.

His poetry and prose have appeared in numerous journals and magazines.

In addition to his work as a writer and teacher of writing, Coe has an extensive background as a jazz vocalist and has performed and recorded with numerous musicians throughout New England.

Scilla Andreen, the creator of the Creative Coping Toolkit, an award-winning film and evidencebased mental health education program, stands in front of students in Ward Hall following a presentation and viewing of the film “Like” on Unity Day.

Examining the Impact of Social Media on Unity Day

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n November 3, the St. Sebastian’s community utilized the school’s annual Unity Day to examine the impact of social media on our wellbeing. Thanks to the generosity of the Johnson-McCarthy Wellness Fund, we were able to dedicate the morning to exploring this topic as a community and to consider how we can use social media to best inform, educate, and inspire us to enjoy a more balanced and fulfilled life.

After the Wellness team introduced the program, students and faculty watched the film “Like” together. The movie was followed by remarks from our guest speaker, Scilla Andreen—an award-winning filmmaker, Emmy nominated costume designer, author, co-founder of IndieFlix, and CEO & Founder of Impactful Group, a social good media company. Andreen created the Creative Coping Toolkit (CCT), an award-winning film and evidence-based mental health education program for schools, corporations and government agencies. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Good Morning America and the Today Show.

Following Andreen’s presentation and a Q&A with the audience, the students broke into small groups to discuss all that they learned. The St. Sebastian’s peer educators created a list of topics and members of our senior class, MPA officers, and peer educators led the engaging and thoughtful discussions.

Bringing Shakespeare to Life On December 14, the sophomore English classes congregated in the McCulloch Room for the annual Macbeth Competition.

The students competed for the prize of being the witchiest weird sister, the ghostliest poor player, or the greatest gorylocked Banquo. After several lively performances, the panel of faculty judges awarded first prize to Tiernan Massenburg, Nolan Dunphy, Cameron Steele, and Caden Young. The individual winner was awarded to Wachira Njoroge.

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Honoring Our Veterans The St. Sebastian’s community observed Veterans Day at several events, pausing to honor the courage, dedication and sacrifice of those who have served our nation in the Armed Forces.

Continuing an annual tradition of inviting a veteran to address the school community, St. Sebastian’s hosted Retired Vice Adm. Wally Massenburg P’24,’26, former commander of Naval Air Systems Command, at its Veterans Day Assembly on November 9. In his speech, Massenburg gave insight into the many reasons our veterans have joined the Armed Forces and what makes service special. He shared his own experiences, as well as those of his family members who have served.

During the Pregame Ceremony before the varsity football and soccer games on November 11, the athletes and fans honored alumni, as well as faculty, staff, and former staff, who have served our nation. The Needham VFW provided a Color Guard for the national anthem sung by Derron St. Marie ’24. Fr. John Arens, who served as a Chaplain in the Marine Corps and Navy, and Andrew Maxwell ’06, US Army Captain (Ret.), served as honorary co-captains during the coin toss of the football game.

At the Needham Veterans Day Ceremony, Henry duBose ’24 delivered a wonderful speech that paid tribute to all veterans, including both his parents and other members of his family. He recognized the sacrifice that veterans make, as well as their commitment to our nation, not only through service but what they do as civilians. Ben Goffredo ’24 beautifully sang two songs—the national anthem and “America the Beautiful”—to begin and end the ceremony.

49 Students Inducted into the NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY This fall, 49 St. Sebastian’s students were inducted into the Sr. Evelyn C. Barrett, O.P. Chapter of the National Honor Society. The National Honor Society aims to create an enthusiasm for scholarship, stimulate a desire to render service, promote leadership, and develop character.

CLASS OF 2024 Nicholas A. Adams Adric I. Denis Benjamin R. Stavaridis

CLASS OF 2025

TOP LEFT: Wally Massenburg P’24,’26 speaks during the School’s Veterans Day Assembly; TOP RIGHT: Assistant Headmaster Michael Nerbonne stands with Henry duBose ’24 and Ben Goffredo ’24 at the 2023 Needham Veterans Day Ceremony; BOTTOM: Veterans Joe White ’73 (Navy), Dave Cornish (USMC/former faculty), Fr. John Arens (Marine Corps and Navy Chaplain/ School Chaplain), Andrew Maxwell ’06 (Army), Joe Clark ’07 (Army), Stephen Salomone (Army/ faculty), Julie Duddy (Air Force/faculty), and Bob Souza (Army/former faculty) are recognized during the November 11th varsity football pre-game ceremony to honor Veterans.

Rhys W. Amorosino Donald P. Armstrong III Peter J. Bachiochi Timothy Bollin Cooper J. Bolton Justin P. Bourque Lucas B. Candiotto Connor J. Carroll Declan H. Carroll Kaelan C. Chudzinski Austin Ciongoli Ty Ciongoli Benjamin D. Corbett Lucas C. Cox Connor B. Crane Liam N. Cunjak Matthew E. Doherty Ryan W. Farley Charles R. Hinman Travis A. Hodge Maxim D. Kalinichenko Brendan P. Keaveney Brian M. Keene

Robert R. Keller IV Jack M. Knight Chandler G. McClements Theodore C. McKeigue Benjamin G. Molinsky Jake T. Mulrey Teddy M. Mutryn Avedis B. Najarian Luc J. Olivier Manuel R. Pereira Alexander C. Perkin Jacob A. Pichay Erik J. Saradjian Julian J. Singh Luis E. Sosa Espinal Peter A. Stavaridis Finnegan L. Straub Joseph B. Sullivan Hugh P. Turner Robert W. Wallace Nicholas P. Ward Daniel W. Yang Owen L. Zhang

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Excelling in Debate During the first half of the academic year, our Debate Team participated in three tournaments hosted by St. Sebastian’s, St. Paul’s, and Buckingham, Browne and Nichols.

Our debaters delivered impressive individual and team performances in both the Novice and Advanced Divisions at these competitions against other independent schools, with several team members also serving as judges.

At the novice level, Rohan Ghatge ’28 and Andrew MacDougall ’27 won Speaker Prizes for their individual performances at the St. Sebastian’s Tournament. At St. Paul’s, advanced debaters Raif Boit ’24 and Jonathan Demosthene ’24 earned 1st Place Advanced Affirmative Team honors.

Raif was also named the 1st Place Advanced Individual Speaker in the Tournament, a performance which has earned him a place on the American team which will compete in the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships to be held in Australia in April. Raif’s success continued at the BB&N competition, where he placed 3rd out of 80 speakers in the Advanced Division in the category of Impromptu Speaking. Congratulations to Raif on qualifying for the World Championships and to the entire team for a fantastic fall season!

Assistant Headmaster Michael Nerbonne with debate award winners Raif Boit ’24 and Jonathan Demosthene ’24.

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Arrows Visit Museum of African American History On November 27, Arrows received a private tour of the Museum of African American History from Museum Director Christian Walkes. Accompanied by faculty members Deirdre Rynne Annan and Trevor McLean, the students began their tour in the African Meeting House, the oldest Black Church in the U.S., and concluded in the oldest public school, the Abiel Smith School established for education equality for Black students. Standing on the same floors as Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison, students learned about vital figures in Boston’s history. The visit ended with a stop at the Boston Commons to view Hank Willis Thomas’ “Embrace” sculpture and Augustus Saint-Gauden’s “Shaw Memorial.”

Christian Walkes (front left), Director of the Museum of African American History, and faculty member Trevor McLean (front right) with students at the African American Meeting House.

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Dr. Bruce Culleton P’26 Speaks to Life Sciences Club r. Bruce Culleton P’26 shared his experiences and knowledge in the healthcare field with the Life Sciences Club on December 4.

A trained internal medicine specialist and a nephrologist, Dr. Culleton is currently the CEO of ProKidney, a clinical biotechnology company focusing on cell therapy as a treatment for chronic kidney disease. He spoke to club members about his background, kidney function and failure, and biotechnological treatments. ProKidney is currently researching the ability to take cells from a failing kidney and manufacture them to be re-injected into the patient to see if they can repair damaged tissues and restore kidney function, with the promising potential of reducing or eliminating the need for dialysis or other kidney treatments. Dr. Culleton also emphasized that life sciences, such as medicine and biochemistry, have a reach into many fields, especially engineering, and even finance when investing in biotechnology companies. Therefore, Arrows in the Life Sciences Club are gaining knowledge that will benefit them in a diverse range of fields.

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A Joyful & Musical Christmas Program The St. Sebastian’s Community kicked off Christmas Break on December 15 with a festive Christmas program, celebrating the season with song and scripture.

During the first part of the program, Fr. John Arens provided an opening prayer, students read scripture, and the St. Sebastian’s Schola, Mass Ensemble and Faculty Chorale performed several traditional Christmas pieces, accompanied by guest director Thomas Nunan ’11.

A highlight of the program included a wonderful performance of “Please Come Home for Christmas” by the Faculty Band, which included Kera Wiggin, Stefan Cressotti, Ben Brown, and Karl Grohmann, and selections from The Nutcracker performed by the Chamber Ensemble.

The Jazz/Pop Ensemble picked up the tempo during the second half of the program, performing Christmas classics and pop hits, from “Underneath The Tree,” to a riveting performance of “Christmas Eve / Sarajevo.”

The students and faculty joined in singing “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” always a crowd favorite.

TOP: The Jazz/Pop Ensemble delivers a lively performance; BOTTOM LEFT: Violinists Caleb Casiano ’29, Luke Hiles ’27, and Rohan Ghatge ’28 play selections from The Nutcracker. BOTTOM RIGHT: Students sing Christmas Carols arm in arm.

Robotics Teams Enjoy Intense Day of Competition

Team 133: John Joyce ’27, Liam Gavin ’24, Raif Boit ’24, Jay Liu ’27, and Wright Shinzawa ’27.

Members of the St. Sebastian’s School FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) Robotics Teams traveled to Needham High School on December 9, 2023, to compete in the FIRST Robotics Massachusetts Qualifying tournament against 21 other teams from the area.

Each of the two Arrows teams competed in six preliminary-round matches. Our rookie team, Team 19556, battled their opponents and themselves throughout the day, learning valuable lessons about the strengths and weaknesses of their robot design, going 1-5 in preliminary matches and finishing the day in 18th place.

Our veteran team, Team 133, had a strong showing throughout and demonstrated both an outstanding autonomous operation and a consistent remote-controlled operation. Team 133 finished the preliminary matches with a 5-1 record, won their semifinals matchup, and ultimately lost in the third match of a best-of-three Finals. Their performance qualified them for the state championships in March!

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New Faces

ON CAMPUS St. Sebastian’s is pleased to welcome its newest faculty and staff members, a talented group who are already making an impact on the School community.

JAMES C. DONOVAN ’19 Assistant Director of Alumni Programs A 2023 graduate from Holy Cross with a B.A in History, James is excited to return to the place he called home for six years as a student. At St. Sebastian’s, James was actively involved in community service efforts, clubs, as well as baseball and hockey. He looks forward to connecting with a substantial, supportive, and ever-growing network of Arrows alumni, many of whom he built relationships with while attending St. Sebastian’s. In his free time, James enjoys golfing, fishing, roller blading and watching sports. His younger brother is Ryan Donovan ’23.

MATTHEW E. DUFFY ’07 Athletic Scheduler In his final season as an Arrow, Matt served as captain of the 2007 ISL champion baseball team and was recognized as ISL MVP. He attended the University of Vermont for two years and finished his collegiate career at University of Tennessee. Matt was drafted by the Houston Astros in June 2011 and made his Major League Baseball debut with the team in 2015 after spending some time in the minor leagues. During his seven-year professional career, he also played for the Texas Rangers and the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Nippon Professional Baseball League in Japan. He was inducted into the University of Vermont’s athletic hall of fame in 2018. In addition to his role as Athletic Scheduler, Matt serves as head coach of the varsity baseball team. Outside of working at St Sebastian’s, he spends his free time training baseball players of all ages and coaching youth baseball teams during the summer.

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MATTHEW P. KARPOWICZ ’16 Faculty, Mathematics As captain of the 2015-16 varsity basketball team, Matt became the 12th member of the 1,000-point club as part of a career that included 3x All-ISL and 3x All-New England honors, and a trip to the NEPSAC Class A Quarterfinals. He earned a B.A. in English at Williams College where he was one of nine players in program history to score 1,100 points and grab 600 rebounds as part of a career that included three berths in the Division III NCAA Tournament, highlighted by an appearance in the 2017 Final Four, the 2019 Elite Eight, as well as winning the 2018 NESCAC Championship. After graduating from Williams, Matt spent time in both the D1 and D3 collegiate coaching ranks at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, La Salle University, and Florida Gulf Coast University. In addition to teaching mathematics, he serves as the head coach for varsity basketball and also coaches JV baseball.

ANDREA A. ORTIGOSA DE DOGLIOLI P’27 Faculty, Spanish Before joining the Spanish Department this year, Andrea taught at Xaverian Brothers High School and at Saint John School in Wellesley. Andrea is a native speaker, born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She first came to Massachusetts to earn her MBA from Babson College. She worked in the banking industry before teaching Spanish and has also taught Managerial Accounting at the Catholic University in Argentina, and Religious Education at Saint Paul Church as well as at Saint John School. Andrea lives in Wellesley with her husband, Carlos, and has three children, Cecilia, Ignacio and Nicolas ’27. She loves soccer (huge fan of the Argentina National Team) and is also a Notre Dame football fan.

ANTHONY A. PEREZ ’19 Faculty, English, Religion After graduating from St. Sebastian’s in 2019 and then Dartmouth College in 2023, Anthony has returned to Greendale Avenue to teach Religion and English.

At Dartmouth, he earned a B.A. in Philosophy and minored in Music. He was a percussionist for the Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble and founder of the Dartmouth chapter of the Thomistic Institute— a national organization run by the Dominican Friars that brings speakers to discuss Catholicism on college campuses.

He was also a contributor and editor for the Apologia, a student-run Christian apologetics journal. In addition to teaching, Anthony coaches wrestling, serves as advisor for sophomore chapel speeches and moderator for the AV Club.

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Finance Academy Speaker Series Through fantastic presentations using real-world examples, the Speaker Series gives club members insight into the complex world of finance, from investing to accounting.

Harvard Club of Boston Honors Two of Our School Leaders

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he Harvard Club of Boston’s Thirtieth Annual Prize Book Award Breakfast on October 4, 2023, was a special one for two pillars of the St. Sebastian’s community—Headmaster Bill Burke and Assistant Headmaster Michael Nerbonne.

The breakfast was dedicated to Headmaster Burke, “a great writer, speaker, and teacher who has been molding great writers, speakers and teachers at St. Sebastian’s for 34 years.” Before delivering the keynote speech, Headmaster Burke was introduced

by St. Sebastian’s past parent Paul Brennan P’06,’07, Chair of the Harvard Club of Boston Schools Committee. In addressing the 2023 Harvard Club Prize Book recipients in attendance, including Chase McCann ’24 and Rui do Rosario ’24 (pictured above), Headmaster Burke shared: “It’s a truly great honor to stand before a room full of bright, talented, hardworking, high achieving young scholars and a number of their gifted devoted mentors, and loving parents. You students prove by the evidence of your lives that commitment to excellence is indeed possible and greatly to be preferred. Your devotion to scholarship has a more powerfully positive impact on your peers than you can imagine. You are the beacons of your school communities and the hope of our world.”

Assistant Headmaster Michael Nerbonne was also recognized during the breakfast as a recipient of the 2023 Prize Book Excellence in Teaching Award.

This award is given to outstanding secondary school teachers who inspire curiosity and excellence in students. Congratulations to Mr. Nerbonne on this well-deserved honor.

On October 23, Harry Wheeler presented on his job as Principal at Group One—an award-winning design firm based in Boston that specializes in architectural, interior design, and purchasing services for properties involving hospitality. Wheeler used a typical project, the construction of a new hotel, to explain Group One’s various services. He also provided insight into the analysis behind deciding which projects to take on, sources for funding, and how the multiple players in a project can make a profit.

On November 6, the Finance Academy was honored to host guest speakers from the Boston College Investment Club (BCIC), including, Mike Walsh ’20, Connor Walsh, and Lizzy Spalla, sister of Michael ’24 and Matthew ’28.

Together, they explained how the Boston College Investment Club operates, as well as illustrating how clubs such as this, coupled with their business education, have affected their time at college. Mike, a senior economics major and fellow board member of the BCIC, supported Connor’s advice of being a part of many different extracurriculars, encouraging the club members to “be a sponge.”

On December 11, Peter Eastwood P’24,’28 and David Bresnahan P’21,’25 spoke to club members about the insurance industry. Eastwood serves as the President & Chief Executive Officer of Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance and Bresnahan as Executive Vice President and Global Chief Operating Officer. Their presentation covered how the concept of risk factors into the cost of policies, the wide range of coverage provided by commercial insurance and the crucial role insurance plays in providing companies protection. To conclude the presentation, Eastwood discussed BHSI’s global success and shared valuable life lessons, emphasizing the importance of a company’s culture.

The Finance Academy hosted guest speakers from the Boston College Investment Club, including Mike Walsh ’20, Connor Walsh, and Lizzy Spalla, sister of Michael ’24 and Matthew ’28.

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AROUND CAMPUS

ARROWS OFF CAMPUS

From orientations, to trips and retreats, here are some of the ways Arrows have spent time connecting, learning and reflecting off campus.

Juniors Explore Our Nation’s Capital The Class of 2025 journeyed to Washington, D.C. for the annual junior class trip during Veterans Day weekend. Over the course of three days, they visited inspiring national monuments, impressive museums and historic government buildings, from the Smithsonian Museums to Mount Vernon and the U.S. Capitol. During a visit to Arlington National Cemetery, they took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The trip was a great experience and one these Arrows will never forget.

An Adventurous Orientation There’s nothing that builds camaraderie more than going on an adventure together! The 7th and 8th grade class trips on September 7, 2023, were filled with team building and outdoor games at Hale Reservation and zip-lining and obstacle courses at TreeTop Adventures, helping these Arrows begin to form bonds as classmates, teammates, friends and brothers.

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Senior Retreat on Cape Cod From Sunday, November 12 to Tuesday, November 14, twenty members of the Class of 2024 gathered at the Craigville Retreat Center on the Cape for their senior retreat. Led by Fr. Arens and faculty members, Joe Cressotti, Steve Salomone, Dr. Ryan Patrico, and Chris Lynch, the senior Arrows enjoyed time in reflection, contemplation, prayer, and recreation in the sublime setting of Craigville Beach. As with previous senior classes who have been coming to Craigville for over thirty years, these members of the Class of 2024 will remember this retreat as a highlight of their final year at St. Sebastian’s.

AROUND CAMPUS

Serving

Our Neighbors

I

ntegral to the St. Sebastian’s mission, our Service Program lives the order of the day of loving God, working hard, and taking good care of one another. Below are just a few of the many ways our students have served our neighbors recently.

National Honor Society Hosts Two Successful Drives The St. Sebastian’s community continued its tradition of coming together to make a difference for our neighbors in need at Catholic Charities in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmas. The Thanksgiving Food Drive and the Christmas Warmth Drive were both a huge success, helping to restock shelves for those in need of food in the days following Thanksgiving and keeping our neighbors warm with donations of hundreds of gloves, hats, scarves and socks.

On two occasions this fall, Arrows volunteered at Catholic Charities’ Food Pantry in Dorchester, helping to bag groceries, which the organization then gives out during the week. NHS members helped out on a Saturday in early November as part of their ongoing efforts throughout the year. On November 13, members of the senior class participated in a senior service day, preparing and distributing over 200 bags of food!

Backpack and Christmas Drives Show Love for Our Brothers at San Miguel St. Sebastian’s continued its wonderful and rewarding 17-year partnership with the San Miguel School in Providence with two different initiatives.

Before the start of the school year, the classes of 2026 and 2027 and their parents donated 64 backpacks filled with school supplies for the San Miguel students. On September 7, 2023, several Arrows, along with Assistant Headmaster Michael Nerbonne and dedicated project leader Jennifer Walsh P’22,’24, traveled to San Miguel to deliver the backpacks. Due to the generosity of so many of our students and parents, a donation of $1,500 was also made to the San Miguel Compassionate Care Fund which supports San Miguel students and families.

Thanks to a new Christmas initiative, organized by Marie Carroll P’25,’28 and Katy Wallace P’25, students and parents in the junior and eighth-grade classes collected over 150 gifts for the San Miguel students to give their parents, caregivers or other loved ones for Christmas. On December 1, 2023, 14 members of the junior class helped the San Miguel students to select gifts which were displayed all around their gym, before proceeding to tables where they could select gift bags and wrapping paper and write Christmas cards for their recipients. This was one of several gift drives Arrows and their families contributed to during the Christmas season, with other grades supporting our neighbors in need at St. Pope John Paul II and Cor Unum.

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AROUND CAMPUS

A GLIMPSE

Religion teacher Anthony Perez ’19 takes class outside to the Oratory.

along Greendale Avenue

Will Hulbig ’28 and Ja Bennett ’28 put their balloon cars to the test in science class.

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Connor McDonald ’28 had a blast playing holiday games at the 7th and 8th grade Christmas Olympics.

AROUND CAMPUS

Decker Bannish ’28 wins Grades 7 & 8 “knock-out” basketball tournament. All participants raised funds for the Christmas Drive and donated food for Cram the Van.

Student Council hosted a delicious donut eating competition for Spirit Week.

Faculty members sported inflatable costumes at the annual Monster Mile.

Christian Simmons ’28 works on his ceramic piece in Barrett Ellis’ class.

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Joining the Board Mark H. Carter P’28 Mark and his wife, Samantha, live in Wellesley with their three children.

Their oldest, Brooks, is in the 7th grade. Mark is a member of the management committee and CoHead of the Healthcare Group at TA Associates. He has more than 25 years of experience in the private equity and investment banking industries. Prior to TA Associates, he was employed by Parthenon Capital and Lehman Brothers. Mark is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and has an MBA from Columbia Business School. He currently serves as a board member of the Vanderbilt School of Engineering.

St. Sebastian’s is very fortunate to have an exceptional group of parents, alumni, and friends of the School who give generously of their time and share their wisdom as members of the Board of Trustees. We are pleased to welcome our newest members of the Board.

Paul A. D’Attanasio ’96 Paul and his wife, Karen, are currently living in Japan with their two children.

Paul is the Co-Head of the Tokyo office of Brown Brothers Harriman and Head of Service Delivery Asia. In this role, he focuses on client service, operations, and internal administration. Paul also serves as a Director for Brown Brothers Harriman Securities (Japan) Inc., BBH Investment Services (Japan) Inc., BBH (Hong Kong) Limited, BBH Trustee Service (Hong Kong) Limited, and BBH Business Services (Beijing) Company Limited. In 2000, Paul joined BBH in the Boston office and later moved to New York, ultimately leading all asset-liability management activities for the firm.

Paul is a member of the Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund Alumni Association. He holds a B.A. in English from the College of the Holy Cross and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Marybeth Connolly P’27 Marybeth and her husband, Peter, live in Needham with their three children, Kate (University of Notre Dame), Julia (NCDS ’25) and Ryan ’27. Marybeth is an Investment Director at the Yawkey Foundation, where she helps manage all aspects of the investment portfolio. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2016, she was an Equity Analyst in the Global Investment Research division at Goldman Sachs for seven years. Marybeth also worked in Equity Research at Deutsche Bank and began her professional career at Ernst & Young. She received a B.A. in Economics and Spanish from the University of Notre Dame and an MIA in International Economic Policy from Columbia University. Following her college graduation, Marybeth volunteered for 18 months teaching English in an impoverished community in Buenos Aires. She currently serves on the Finance Council of St. Joseph Parish and is a prior Director of the University of Notre Dame Alumni Club of Boston.

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Deneige B. Nash P’23 ’25 President, Guild of St. Irene Deneige and her husband, Andy, live in Dedham with their two sons, Harrison ’23 and Colby ’25. Deneige has a long connection with St. Sebastian’s, beginning in 1954 when her father, David Barlow ’60, first attended 7th grade. Soon after, her grandmother, Doris Barlow Lanigan, began a 30-year long career in the front office and as an administrative secretary to the Headmaster. Since 2019, Deneige has been a very active volunteer at the School, serving as a Class Representative, a New Parent Representative, Guild Treasurer, Guild Vice-President, and volunteering at many events. She is also involved in many non-profits, specifically the Nantucket Conservation Foundation, the Membership and Tennis Committees at the Nantucket Yacht Club, the Noanett Garden Club in Dedham and The Afternoon Club, a women’s organization founded in 1887. Deneige has a degree in English literature from Vanderbilt University and had a previous professional career in publishing.

Michael J. Stanton ’88, P’20 Michael and his wife, Jessica, live in Wellesley with their two children. Wesley ’20 is a senior at Colby College and Elsie, a 2022 graduate of Dana Hall, is a sophomore at Colby. Michael is a Partner at Arrowstreet Capital in Boston where he is the Head of Business Development and Relationship Management. Prior to that he held business development, consultant relations and management roles at Putnam Investments and Babson Capital Management. He has been an active volunteer in youth sports in Wellesley, serving as Treasurer for Wellesley Youth Lacrosse from 2016—2019. Michael is a 1988 graduate of St. Sebastian’s and 1992 graduate of Colby College. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder. Michael and Jessica have been active members of the St. Sebastian’s community, involved in parent and alumni fundraising activities.

John D. Suliman ’03 John and his wife, Brynne, live in Greenbrae, CA, with their young family. John is Co-Founder of ShapeTX, headquartered in Seattle, WA, with satellite offices in Boston and Marin, TX. ShapeTX is pioneering the field of programmable RNA medicines to repair the genetic causes of diseases. The company has built one of the largest RNA training sets which fuels its generative AI models to design novel RNA editing therapeutics. The ShapeTX platform enables pharma innovators to design treatments across a wide range of diseases, including rare genetic disorders as well as debilitating conditions, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and many more. Prior to founding ShapeTX, John was an investor at Sands Capital Management, where he co-led the launch of Sands Capital Ventures as well as contributed to lifescience investments on the Public Growth team.

John is a graduate of Georgetown University.

ACADEMIC WORKSHOPS

Writing | Debate & Public Speaking Innovation | Math | Biotechnology

Summer 2024

Sessions run from 9am-12pm for either one or two weeks.

Open to all boys entering grades 5–9 These five distinct workshops, run by our experienced St. Sebastian’s faculty, are an enriching learning opportunity for students looking for a challenging and fun summer experience.

For dates and to register:

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OUR YEAR OF

LOVE

September 11, 2023 / Opening remarks for the academic year

BY HEADMASTER WILLIAM L. BURKE III

Good morning. It feels so good to be back here with you just 72 hours after we welcomed and heard from our new friend, Jim Nantz.

Let us take a moment to remember, to honor, and to pray for our brothers and sisters who were murdered, injured, or bereaved 22 years ago today on September 11, 2001, when our nation was attacked. May the deceased rest in heaven and may all the afflicted be comforted by our Lord’s peace, the peace that surpasses all human understanding.

When we gathered here in this Church on that most painful day, I offered these words from Romans 12:21: “Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.” As Jim Nantz shared: Goodness wins. May we forever keep our hearts and minds and souls wide open to God’s grace, may we forever strive to decide for, to exude, and to inspire His goodness, and may we forever seek to uplift every person we meet and every place we grace by loving God, working hard, and taking good care of one another.

I am so happy about the manner in which we embraced and advanced last year’s theme of WISDOM. I choose to begin this year of LOVE with a momentary return to 2005, the year in which we focused our attention on another four-letter word: OPEN. I remember explaining to our community then that I had selected OPEN because it was the word I overheard myself using when trying to help a person struggling with his or her faith life. I found myself saying: “Just be open to the possibility that there is a God who loves you more than you can love.”

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Who among us doesn’t want to be an open-minded, open-hearted person?

Around 53 AD St. Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians, the most well-known chapter of which is 13; it’s the one we frequently hear at weddings. So, as the talk show hosts are wont to say, take a listen: If I speak in tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I am nothing.

St. Paul makes love seem like the most important thing in the universe. And you know why he does that? Because it is!

St. Paul continues by explaining what love is and what love is not: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails? Ever? Is there anything in this world that never, ever fails? Trust scripture. Trust God. Whether in doubt or in full confidence, go forth with love in your heart. God is love.

Love never fails. Be not afraid.

And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. FAITH was our theme in 2020.

HOPE was our theme in 2001. Several years ago, I decided that LOVE would be our theme in my final year of service as your Headmaster.

Why is love the greatest of the three theological virtues? Ralph Waldo Emerson, our 19th century eminent Massachusetts brother, provides an answer in his essay titled “Love”: Love is omnipresent in nature as motive and reward.

Love is our highest word and the synonym of God. Omnipresent: always and everywhere. Love is here in us and among us right now. Omnipresent. Motive: our reason for doing something; that which stirs us to action. Reward: the good things we receive and offer from our right ordered actions, our responses to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. A God-centered, student-centered School, we exist for the glory of God and for our students and their families. The rest of us are here to serve. And the rewards we all seek and devoutly desire are happy, healthy, holy lives of love and service in this world and eternal joy in the next.

Love is our highest word and the synonym of God. Love appears in our Mission Statement:

Wow! Just imagine if one of your teachers were to write the following words about you in a letter of recommendation to colleges: This St. Sebastian’s gentleman scholar is a person of true love. He is patient and kind. He’s not jealous or arrogant. He doesn’t chirp his peers. He’s not self-centered. I’ve never seen him angry. He forgives readily. He’s all about the truth. He protects others. You can trust him with anything. He’s got a tremendously positive attitude; and, no matter how tough the going gets, he never quits.

Your teachers will indeed write such words if you earn them by the manner in which you live your lives. It’s a guarantee. And we know that you all want to be part of something great. You all want to be as wise, as just, as balanced, and as brave as you can be. You all want to fall ever more deeply in love with learning. You may not yet know all of these things about yourself, but we do, and we’re going to help you get there. We’re on your side, and we will be forever.

I offer these excerpts from the last section of St. Paul’s letter: Love never fails…And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

A Catholic independent School, St. Sebastian’s seeks to engage young men in the pursuit of truth through faith and reason.

By embracing gospel values in an inclusive, nurturing community and by inspiring intellectual excellence in a structured liberal arts curriculum, St. Sebastian’s strives to empower students for success in college and in life.

The ideal St. Sebastian’s graduate will be a moral and just person, a gentleman of courage, honor, and wisdom, a life-long learner who continues to grow in his capacity to know, to love, and to serve God and neighbor.

Love is the first word of our order of the day: Love God, work hard, and take good care of one another.

Love is something we promise you and your parents at our Admissions Open House program, when we proclaim that our students will be: Known and loved and called to greatness by great people. And, believe me, my beloved colleagues on our faculty and staff are truly great people. And so are your parents and so are our trustees.

Trustees are intelligent, talented, energetic, deep-thinking, deep-feeling, kind and giving, truly great people of faith and honor who govern our School so magnificently well. Their major duties include hiring and supporting the headmaster, overseeing strategic planning, and assuming ultimate financial responsibility for our School.

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We have with us this morning our outstanding Board of Trustees President, Mr. Jim Elcock ’77 P’08, and our newest trustees, who are engaged in their orientation program. Let us welcome them by standing to express our gratitude to them.

Love is a noun and a verb. Dictionary definitions include: An intense feeling of deep affection, attraction, warm attachment, passion, enthusiasm, devotion—and I really love this one: an unselfish and benevolent concern for the good of another.

Cherish, treasure, hold dear, caress, appreciate, thrive.

Whether in doubt or in full confidence, go forth with love in your heart. God is love. Love never fails. Be not afraid.

—Headmaster William L. Burke III

Sacred scripture is replete with Love.

God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. (1 John 4:15) Love one another. (Romans 13:8) Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. For his love endures forever. (Psalm 118) The love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

(Romans 5:5) No wonder we so often associate love with the heart.

A few hundred years after St. Paul wrote those words to the Romans, St. Augustine asserted: You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.

Judeo-Christian teachings and traditions proclaim that we humans are made in the image and likeness of God who is love, so what’s the problem? If we’re made by love for love, why are people often so cruel to one another? Why is there conflict? Why are there wars?

The answer is that for love to be love it needs to be freely chosen. The good news is that God has gifted us with the freedom to choose. The bad news is that we don’t always choose love. God loved us into the world and wants us to love Him and to love one another. But the choice is ours. We have to choose to let God in, to let His grace fill us.

C.S. Lewis says it best here: Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having.

Free to love. We’re all free to love. We have free access to the two most powerful forces in the universe: God and people of good will through whom our Lord works. And if we choose, we get to be part of that second force.

You were called to be free, but do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in one single command: love your neighbor as yourself.

(Galatians 5:13,14)

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As human beings, we’re subject and prone to error. We make mistakes. We’re all sinners. What do we do when we fail to act as we know we should? What do we do when we hurt someone?

Let me tell you a story. Last year, my wonderful colleague, Mr. Stefan Cressotti, gifted me with this book written by the man who baptized him. Its titled Tales of a Magic Monastery

by Theophane the Monk.

I’m going to read an entire chapter, and you better pay attention because it comes and goes fast, as it’s less than 40 words long. The chapter’s title is: “The Audacity of Humility.”

I walked up to an old, old monk and asked him, “What is the audacity of humility?” This man had never met me before, but do you know what his answer was? “To be the first to say ‘I love you.’”

Audacity: willingness to take bold risks, daring, fearlessness.

Humility: modesty, meekness, grounded, not proud, not arrogant, poor in spirit. To be poor in spirit, by the way, is a truly good thing, for to be poor in spirit is to be totally dependent on God, to embrace the truth that every good thing we have is a gift from God, so we should never brag about anything we achieve in the classroom, in the arts, in athletics, in our social lives. If we’ve been gifted with ability, we’re supposed to develop it and share it with the world.

What, then, could we possibly brag about?

Audacity and humility, boldness and meekness sure don’t seem to go together.

Now let me tell you another story which takes us back almost twenty years. I was walking home from my office one evening, when I encountered one of our teams disembarking the bus that had taken them to and from their game at another school.

I asked the coach how the game had gone. The score was close but we had lost. He added that we had lost in more ways than one. The opposing coach had told him that according to his players, two of our guys had said some things that

shouldn’t have been said. We agreed that we would bring the matter to the Dean of Students in the morning.

Our boys met with the Dean right away the next day and were honest about their offenses. I called the other school’s headmaster, apologized and informed him that the two boys, their coach, and I would be coming to his school after classes to address the team with whom we had competed the day before.

In those days, I drove a big black, imposing, Secret Servicelike Suburban. Our coach rode shotgun and the two boys sat in the back. As we pulled off campus, I told them how important it was to get the words right and I explained that if they used the words “if” or “but” their apologies wouldn’t be real apologies.

The headmaster greeted us and escorted us to the practice site. The players took a knee. Their headmaster spoke, their coach spoke, our coach spoke, and then our two boys spoke. As you know, I listen to a lot of student speeches, and I must tell you that the words our two guys spoke that morning were as good as it gets. Honest, humble, truly contrite words from pure, pure hearts. I was and am so very proud of them. For from the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks. (Matthew 12:34) And then it was my turn: I looked upon the team of boys still taking a knee, indicated our two Arrows, then turned back to the team and said: “I love those two guys. I hate what they did, but I love them.” And, standing above and looking upon our opponents, I said: “And I love all of you. I don’t know you, but I love you, as we’re called to love one another, and no one ever, ever has a right to make another feel less than. As Headmaster, I take full responsibility, so you need to hear from me: I am so terribly sorry.” Handshakes all around.

As we started to pull off campus, one of the boys in the back seat said, “Mr. Burke, I feel so good. I feel like I just went to confession.” I smiled and told them that they would be sitting out the next game and that then this ordeal would be over.

That night I received a call from the other school’s longserving Dean of Students who told me that he didn’t think anything better had ever happened between his school and another school than what had happened on that day.

The next year, our team in that sport won the ISL sportsmanship award voted on by the coaches in the league.

It’s all a gift, you know. Everything we have is a gift from God. Years ago, I prayed, through the intercession of St. Jude, that the Lord would put me in a place where I could best serve Him and my family, and he brought us here in 1990 to be with you, and there’s no place I’d rather be.

The audacity of humility. Bold but grounded. I so often pray as I have this very day: Please, Jesus, be in my heart and on my lips. How otherwise could I have told those boys I didn’t know that I loved them and really mean it?

It’s all a gift. And each of you is a gift. And I love you all. In this year of love, may we strive in earnest to live in love and when we and others fail, may we seek and offer forgiveness, embracing the message of French priest, Jacques Philippe: Forgiveness is the victory of love over evil… only an excess of love will save the world.

And I close with St. John of the Cross: In the twilight of our lives all that will matter is how we have loved.

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SPECIAL TRIBUTE BILL BURKE

A Blessing Beyond Words

In July 1990, St. Sebastian’s welcomed its first lay headmaster, William L. Burke III, a young and devout Catholic, devoted educator, loving husband and father of four boys, to succeed Fr. Charles K. Riepe. Never losing sight of Cardinal O’Connell’s vision, Bill identified from the outset lofty goals for the future of the School and worked tirelessly with the trustees, administration and faculty to achieve them. His visionary leadership led to a crystal-clear mission statement, a strong academic program, a transformed campus, a growing endowment, and so much more. His wife, Patty, has been by his side every step of the way, gracing our community with generosity, joy, and compassion, and two of their sons, Dan ’97 and Matt ’00, serve as devoted members of the faculty. The extraordinary impact of Bill Burke and his family on the School over the past 34 years is difficult to convey in words. Quite simply, St. Sebastian’s has been, and forever will be, blessed.

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SPECIAL TRIBUTE BILL BURKE

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SPECIAL TRIBUTE BILL BURKE

As he prepares to retire after 34 years at the helm as St. Sebastian’s Headmaster, Bill reflects on his remarkable tenure, what he will miss, and what comes next.

Did you grow up thinking you would be an educator?

I had long imagined that I would be a lawyer. My dad, both my grandfathers, and my mother’s two brothers were lawyers. It just felt like the family business, so I started to pursue it when I graduated from Middlebury, taking the law boards while working as a substitute teacher in the Boston City School system. It was 1973-74, the year before busing in Boston, a very turbulent time, and I taught all over the city— at Boston Latin, Dorchester High, the Michelangelo School in the North End, and at a host of other schools. I also landed an afternoon and weekend job that year, working for the Big Brother Association, charged with keeping 50 boys on the waiting list connected to the program. I loved teaching and working with young people, and I loved coaching at hockey camps in the summer months. In August of 1974, I heard from a friend that Holderness School in New Hampshire was looking for a hockey coach, so I drove my banged up ’69 Nova up Route 93 and was offered the job of teaching English, coaching the hockey and baseball teams and running a dormitory. I found myself reading Shakespeare, I mean really, mindfully, soulfully, very closely reading the text so that I could effectively lead a class discussion, and I fell ever more deeply in love with learning—a passion that grows ever stronger. I dropped anchor, staying 12 years. Over the summer months, I earned an MA in English at Boston College.

At a pretty young age, I was named Director of Studies at Holderness, while continuing to teach and coach and run a dormitory. Having arrived as a bachelor and having left a dozen years later with a wife and four sons, I had done a lot of growing up in the mountains. I then served at Canterbury, a Catholic independent school in Connecticut, before being named Headmaster of St. Sebastian’s.

Who are some of the people who influenced you before your arrival at St. Sebastian’s?

(Photo above and on previous page by Bobby Quillard P’27)

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My family, my parents, my grandmother, who had been my first-grade teacher, and a number of teachers, coaches, and priests. When I began working at Holderness School at age 23, I was blessed to serve under Headmaster, Don Hagerman, toward the end of his legendary 26-year career.

Mr. Hagerman and Mr. Ed Cayley, an avuncular Director of College Counseling and a former Headmaster, held advisor meetings in the headmaster’s house every other Tuesday evening for the benefit of any faculty members who wanted to learn from these two eminently wise men about becoming better teachers, better advisors, better dorm parents, et cetera. I gleefully sat at the feet of the masters. I remember thinking at the time: maybe I’ll be a Headmaster some day; why not behave as though I’m in training for the job? I felt as though I was earning a PhD in running a school when only in my twenties. How richly blessed was I!

SPECIAL TRIBUTE BILL BURKE

“It has been an honor and a joy beyond words to articulate and advance our vitally important mission of pursing truth through faith and reason.”

Why was working at an independent school with a Catholic mission important to you?

My Middlebury classmate and eternal soul mate, Mike Ryan, often reminds me that I told him back in the 1980’s that my goal was to be the Headmaster of a Catholic school in Boston. I’m at home in the Catholic Church, that’s where I grew up; it’s where I have always and forever wanted to be. And I truly love Boston, the best city in the world!

To have the opportunity to do what I love in a Catholic school in a geographical region I love was clearly the ideal, an answer to prayers, and it has been an honor and a joy beyond words to articulate and advance our vitally important mission of pursing truth through faith and reason. Every September since 1997, when we opened our new Chapel, I have invited our new students to gaze upon the stained-glass window honoring St. Jude and I tell them that the window is there because I asked that it be put there, and I did so to honor the truth that I had prayed to our Lord through the intercession of St. Jude, this prayer: “Please, Lord, put me in a place where I can best serve you and my family.” On January 12, 1990, when Board of Trustees President and Chairman of the Headmaster Search Committee, Mr. Jack Birmingham ’59, P’84, called to inform me that I would be named Headmaster of St. Sebastian’s, I knew that my prayer had been answered, and these 34 years have been a blessing beyond words.

Is being the Headmaster of St. Sebastian’s what you imagined it would be?

No. Not at all. It’s been way better than I ever could have imagined. Mark Twain asserts that the difference between fact and fiction is that fiction has to make sense. Real life is beyond art, beyond dreams; it’s so much more wonderful than any human could ever conjure up. With a bow to President Lincoln, St. Sebastian’s motivates the better angels of our nature, makes us want to be more wise, just, balanced, and brave, makes us want to throw our hearts and souls into loving God, working hard, taking good care of one another, makes us want to grow ever more fully in faith, hope, and love, makes us want to give the very best parts of ourselves to our students and to all who need us, makes us want to live long, happy, healthy lives of love in service in this world and eternal joy in the next. In our God-centered, student-centered School, our gifted, devoted faculty and our talented, dedicated staff come to know and love and call to greatness the young men entrusted to our care, and we joy in our labors. It’s the Lord’s work, and it’s all a gift!

Did you envision that you would be here until your retirement 34 years later when you accepted the offer in 1990?

When I was named Headmaster, I was 38, about to turn 39.

I remember Jim Cotter ’50, one of the trustees on the Search Committee, asking about my commitment. I responded, “This may sound presumptuous because I haven’t been offered the job, but I want you to know that I’m committed and that I don’t view this opportunity as a stepping-stone. I could see myself staying here ten years.” A decade seemed like an eternity to me at the time. In 1995, when I walked in to meet with a committee of board members for my annual evaluation, Jack Birmingham looked at me and said, “Five years, huh?”

I said, “Yes, I just completed my fifth year.” He said, “Well, congratulations, you’re one fifth of the way through your assignment.” That was just a wonderful vote of confidence.

Of course, as it turned out, five years is closer to one seventh than to one fifth of the way through my assignment. I have loved the job from the start, and I have always had the sense that our School was getting better every year, and the markers were there: an explosion of truly great applicants for admission, the steady flow of gifted teachers, administrators, and staff members, a great many of whom were giving us several years of devoted service, the attraction of invaluable trustees, the ever-growing Alumni Association, success in the arts and athletics, sky high morale, fabulous college matriculation, tremendous fundraising and campus expansion.

We were winning, the game wasn’t over, and we never didn’t want to stop playing. The best was always yet to come, and, God willing, it shall be ever thus.

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SPECIAL TRIBUTE BILL BURKE

“There’s no school on the planet in which we’d rather have our sons and grandsons grow into manhood, as we have neither seen nor heard of another school with such a rich confluence of spiritual depth, academic rigor, excellence in the arts and athletics in a community of joy.”

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SPECIAL TRIBUTE BILL BURKE

God, family, job. How has that made you a better Headmaster?

My father was a successful attorney who raised seven of us, and he was especially proud of having served in World War II. On his gravestone are his name, his birth and death dates, and U.S. Army. I remember walking through our kitchen one day at 11 or 12 years of age, when my father put his hand on my shoulder, stopped me in my tracks, and uttered this non sequitur: “Just remember this: your first commitment is to God, your second is to your family, and your third is to your country.” That moment and those words have never left me. I love God, I love my family, and I love my country.

When I assumed a position of authority, I modified the mantra a bit: “God, family, job.” At our opening faculty meeting every year, I remind my colleagues of our order of priority: God, family, job. I share that they must feel free to observe the high holy days of their faith and that if anyone in their family needs them, they are not allowed to come to work. We will cover for one another. We’re doing mission work here, and we know that we’re blessed to be so engaged.

How has Patty supported you in your role and contributed to this community?

I have served with two Assistant Headmasters at St. Sebastian’s: Jerry Ward for three years, and Mike Nerbonne for 31. And each in his turn, at the end of the day, when we were dealing with a really difficult issue, would tell me that he looked forward to hearing Patty’s take on the matter.

She has been at the heart of the enterprise since before the beginning. Raising four boys in a boys’ school, she has been called to this work. Patty is a great wife, a great mother, a great clinical psychologist, and an extraordinarily wise and loving person of rock-solid values and tremendous faith. She has been with me every step of the way since our first date on September 7, 1973, when I took her to Fenway Park. The Sox beat the Tigers that night. You can look it up.

Guiding me freely and fully, pushing me to do the right thing when I might not have had the brains or the courage to do so on my own, Patty is truly a rich and wonderful blessing to me, to our family, to this world, and to my job.

Your four sons are Arrows, as well as two of your grandsons, with four more waiting in the wings. How has being a father and a grandfather of Arrows added to your experience?

“God, family, job” is the essence of my life. Where does one begin and the other end? ’Tis a joy beyond words! Throughout our first fourteen years here, Patty and I were current parents. Our oldest son, Will, started in the eighth grade in year one, and Dan, Matt, and Sam followed. Dan has been a

member of our faculty since 2002, and Sam didn’t graduate until 2004, so I’ve never been on the job here without a son.

Will’s son, Liam, spent three years with us and graduated last June; Dan’s oldest, Jackson, is in the seventh grade; and our other four grandsons live close by and have their hearts set on becoming Arrows. And there’s no school on the planet in which we’d rather have them grow into manhood, as we have neither seen nor heard of another school with such a rich confluence of spiritual depth, academic rigor, excellence in the arts and athletics in a community of joy.

What has it been like to have two of your sons be on the faculty?

There are days when both Dan and Matt have lunch with me. That reality has made my decision to step down very difficult. All parents want their children to find work that they’re really good at and that they really love. And I get to see the fulfillment of that reality up close in both Dan and Matt. They’re so phenomenally good at teaching and coaching and advising and mentoring young men, and do they ever joy in their labors. It has been said that you’re a success when the people who know you best love you most, and the love that their students and their students’ families and their colleagues have for them is way over the top. I couldn’t be happier for or prouder of them. And the same is true of Will and Sam who are flourishing in their careers and in their lives.

You often jest that you have a one-piece Headmaster suit that zips up the back and comes with a bow tie.

Does it ever feel like you wear that suit 24/7/365?

Yes. It does feel that way. It has been my identity, and I love it. One of the phrases that I’ve shared with the students from the Book of Wisdom is: “For those in power, a rigorous scrutiny impends.” There are expectations and responsibilities that come with the title, and I take them very seriously. My brother and sister Heads of School and I know that we’re nothing special, that we’re just lucky to have our jobs, but we also know that the title means something to others, a truth I’m reminded of when I visit a sick student in the hospital and overhear a parent or grandparent utter in delight, “The Headmaster is here!” Shame on us if we don’t live up to the meaning and demands of the title. So, in some ways, the suit is always on. It’s part of me, and I have to be careful about what I weigh in on and what I don’t weigh in on. How does the Headmaster feel about this Presidential election? That’s not something for the Headmaster to weigh in on. How does the Headmaster feel about the character of our students and the needs of our School? I’ll weigh in on those matters.

So, I guess I’m always thinking about and honored to have the title and all that comes with it.

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SPECIAL TRIBUTE BILL BURKE

From witty one-liners to powerful phrases, you have a way with words. How do you hope your words carry on after you retire?

“Love God, work hard, take good care of one another.”

“Pursuing truth through faith and reason.” “The essence of life is in relationships.” “God, family, job.” “I’ve never met a happy, lazy person.” I think that those phrases are pretty well ingrained. I hope that they all endure and that perhaps the one that they utter the most is: “The essence of life is in relationships.” I hope that lasts forever, especially when you add the words “hold sacred” to it. Because if we hold sacred our relationships with the Lord and with each other, we’re going to live good lives of love and service in this world and participate in our own salvation.

It seems impossible to summarize 34 years of special moments. Can you instead capture those memories in themes?

Handing my sons their diplomas has been such a great honor.

Writing and delivering eulogies for students—one of whom was only an eighth grader—for several alumni, including Bob Zock ’50, trustees John Lawler P’78,’81,’83 and Tom Swan ’60. Father John Arens brought to us the phrase “Grief shared is divided and joy shared is multiplied.” All of the moments that I’m proudest of were on those occasions of joy and grief. In the hard times, we dig deeper here. We open our hearts to God and we close our arms around one another.

In the good times, we lift up our hearts to God—the giver of all good gifts—with shouts of joy, and sing and dance and celebrate as one.

What are your thoughts on our next Head of School, Brendan Sullivan?

It’s time for somebody else to lift high the cross of leadership and I’m just thrilled that it’s Brendan. He helped build the culture that we enjoy today. We’ve worked alongside each other for 30 years. Brendan is a man of great faith and great character strengths. He’s very excited and very focused as he prepares to take on this new role and I’m having a ball working with him. After our weekly staff meeting, he and I meet to talk about running a school. That’s the formal time, but informally, we’re talking all the time. I’ll be rooting for him big time!

Why did you feel like this was the right time to retire?

I always wanted to leave a little too soon rather than stay too long. And you don’t ever know if you stayed too long until you’ve stayed too long. There was real discussion about stepping down when our grandson, Liam, graduated in 2023. Patty and I were getting close to a decision and then Patty said to me one day, “Let’s make sure Liam has his own senior year without any hoopla around our leaving.” And from that moment on, I have felt that I have been given a bonus year, another year in which I get to do this job that I truly love. Maybe that’s the way the Lord set it up; otherwise, perhaps I would have stayed way too long. My grandson, Jackson, was vacillating about whether to repeat seventh grade and wait a year or to come in right away. Once it was clear that I was stepping down at the end of this year, his younger brother, Dillon, said to Jackson, “You should go and have Papi for your Headmaster.” It’s an opportunity that Dillon’s not going to have but he wanted his brother to have it. It’s so sweet and definitely another bonus that I get to share this year with Jackson.

What comes next?

The prayer I prayed that brought me here to St. Sebastian’s is the prayer I’ll pray: Please, Lord put me to place where I can best serve you and my family. I don’t know what form it’s going to take, but I want to be an agent for healthy change, articulating and advancing that which I believe every person in every culture devoutly desires: Freedom, Love, and Unity.

What will you miss the most?

I’ve loved every moment of my 34 years here. I’ll miss everything. I’ll miss the spirit. I’ll miss the people. I’ll miss hearing and commenting on the Chapel speeches. I will miss the games, the plays, the music revues. I’ll miss it all. I’ll miss the hard times. I’ll miss the happy times. I’m blessed to be able to look back on a career that I’ve loved and it’s going to be really hard to say goodbye; I know it will be. I’ll be forever engaged in our great School, just not serving as Headmaster. I feel a sense of completeness as my 50-year independent school career draws to a close. At the same time, I know that there are more battles to be waged and won. Patty and I thank God for all that’s behind us and for all that shall unfold before us.

“I’ve loved every moment of my 34 years here. I’ll miss everything. I’ll miss the spirit. I’ll miss the people. I’ll miss hearing and commenting on the Chapel speeches. I will miss the games, the plays, the music revues. I’ll miss it all.”

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SPECIAL TRIBUTE BILL BURKE

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The Greatest Gift

by Jim Elcock ’77, P’08, President of the Board of Trustees

W

hen reflecting upon all my time spent with Bill Burke and St. Sebastian’s over his 34 years and the extraordinary change that has taken place for the school, for the boys, for the faculty, for the families and for the entire ISL community, I can’t help but be proud.

However, I think the greatest gift that St. Sebastian’s received 34 years ago was when the Board made the bold decision to hire the first lay Headmaster.

We all know what has happened since and not to take anything away from Bill, I think an extraordinary amount of credit really needs to go to his wife, Patty, and their four boys. Knowing that Bill and his family were living on campus and Bill was going home every evening as a loving husband, a wonderful dad, and educator, the school community benefited enormously.

Patty and the four Burke children—Will, Dan, Matt and Sam—all had to walk the walk, talk the talk, and toe the line. They were never out of the spotlight and they never disappointed. They made everyone around them better and they never put themselves first. Patty and the boys supported Bill unconditionally and gave the school a story unlike any other.

I want to thank the entire Burke family for making St. Sebastian’s such a big part of your family. God Bless.

I think the greatest gift that St. Sebastian’s received 34 years ago was when the Board made the bold decision to hire the first lay Headmaster.

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SPECIAL TRIBUTE BILL BURKE

The Real Deal

by David Gately ’73, Trustee Emeritus, President of the Board of Trustees from 2006-2012

M

y first recollection of meeting Bill was at the Alumni Reception in New York in the fall of 1996. Although I shared the initial disappointment of many alumni that the Board could not find another priest to be headmaster, I had heard good things and was anxious to meet him. The school faced many challenges when he took over in 1990, and after listening to him speak, I was very impressed with him and what he had already accomplished. The following day, I met with Bill and Rich Arms for lunch. I remember it quite well.

He took the time to go over his vision for the school and his plans for how to get there. Overwhelmed with how grand the objectives were, I said to him, “Bill, I think that is quite a list of things you want to accomplish. Is it feasible?” And he said, “With all my heart, David, I believe it is, and we need to start right away, and why don’t you help me get it done?” Bill is a very hard person to say no to; he wins you over and you want to help him. And so, I agreed to join the Board of Trustees and that’s how our relationship began.

I was on the Board for a few years when the opportunity arose for me to step up as Board President and I was delighted to do it. Because I had to commute from New Jersey to the meetings, most of the time I stayed with Bill and Patty. I got to see a different, more relaxed side of Bill and I really got to know Patty well. She is a fundamental and indispensable part of who Bill is and what Bill has accomplished. They are a team, and she has given so much to the school over many, many years that I don’t think Bill would’ve been able to do without her full support and involvement. Meanwhile, she has had her own successful career while raising four boys.

The average tenure of a head of school is seven to ten years.

Bill’s been around for almost 34 years. Very few individuals can say that they’ve been head that long and done so well.

What is so special about Bill that allows him to do all the things he’s done for St. Sebastian’s over these years? I would say first and foremost his faith because that is how he is guided. Not only does he live his life based on faith, but he has led the school through his faith as well. It’s contagious, everybody who sees that faith is caught up in it and it’s part of what makes him different.

Secondly, to him, it’s not a job. It’s not a career. It’s a calling and it always has been. It’s a mission for him, one that’s 24 hours, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. I remember after some difficult board meetings, he was off to a hospital to visit

a student, parent, alumnus or former trustee. He would go out of his way to be at the wakes and the funerals of anybody that was part of the extended family of St. Sebastian’s. He never let hours get in the way of what was the right thing to do, which brings me to the next thing—he has what seems like an unlimited amount of energy to be everywhere all the time, every day.

Then there is his vision. He saw what St. Sebastian’s could be long before other people did. I think he can say that he checked off that long, long list of objectives that I heard about in 1996 because he has transformed the school. He has transformed the physical plant, developed a more competitive admissions process, and invested in the professional development of our dedicated faculty. He created a family atmosphere, that it’s not just the students, it’s the parents, the faculty, staff and alumni. And of course, he is an incredible public speaker. He is passionate about what he says and people walk away not only impressed, but wanting to share his beliefs, wanting to share his goals for the school, and wanting to help. The alumni couldn’t be happier; they are very proud of what the school is today.

It’s easy to list what makes Bill so special, but for 34 years, it’s pretty hard to continuously be that person. But he is, and he always has been. I believe that Bill’s selection and his arrival was not a coincidence. I think he was meant to be here, and I think he was meant to accomplish all the things that he accomplished.

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Leading by Example

by Michael Nerbonne, Assistant Headmaster & Dean of Studies

B

ill Burke and I first met in the spring of 1990, just before he became Headmaster of St. Sebastian’s.

Although we all knew the many strengths of the School, we also understood that its next Headmaster would face significant challenges. Bill will be the first to tell you that he inherited a very good school, but most knew that he had his work cut out for him.

Bill’s first goal was to improve the School’s academic program. He saw a need in the area of writing and believed that St. Sebastian’s would best serve its students academically by focusing on writing skills development, especially in the early years. After much deliberation and discussion (It has been said that it is easier to move a graveyard than to change a curriculum!) Bill instituted a unique Writing Program across the School’s curriculum with a focus on the freshman year.

This has translated into greater success with public speaking and debating, and students’ general preparation for the heavy demands of writing in college and beyond. In subsequent years Bill set out to pursue excellence in every academic discipline just as he had done with verbal skills development.

Bill’s ability to articulate the mission of St. Sebastian’s, pursuing truth through faith and reason, has enabled the School to attract and retain an outstanding faculty. His belief in and support of his colleagues on the faculty and staff has been truly inspirational. Under Bill’s leadership, the School pursued several initiatives devoted to the faculty’s ongoing growth and development. Echoing the words of a former trustee and benefactor, Bill likes to refer to these initiatives as an investment in the School’s intellectual capital.

In speaking to prospective students and their parents, Bill always explains the School’s mission as a Catholic independent school which is inclusive and welcoming of all faith traditions. He articulates that we are neither apologetic nor arrogant about our faith, it is just who we are. We have been wonderfully enriched by students and families from many faith traditions because of Bill’s emphasis on the importance of an open, inclusive, nurturing community.

Bill’s spectacular success as an educator and as a Headmaster has sprung from his fundamental belief in the innate goodness of each person he encounters. As a Catholic educator, Bill has embodied the Ignatian ideal of cura personalis, individual attention and care for each student, and his leadership by example has helped others to embrace 32 | ST. SEBASTIAN’S MAGAZINE

“Bill’s spectacular success as an educator and as a Headmaster has sprung from his fundamental belief in the innate goodness of each person he encounters.” that same ideal. Bill gets to know every boy who enrolls at St. Sebastian’s, and he gets to know him very well. He writes a personal letter to each senior on the occasion of his graduation from the School, in most instances beginning a lifelong correspondence. He cheers for them at their games, watches them in their plays and musical performances, stands with them when they grieve the loss of a loved one, and rejoices with them in their triumphs and successes.

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that “an institution is the lengthened shadow of one man.” The only person associated with St. Sebastian’s School who would not say that about Bill Burke is Bill Burke. He would be uncomfortable with so bold a statement, but I believe it to be true. I can only hope and pray that Bill will have many more years of love and devotion in service to his family and community, saecula saeculorum.

SPECIAL TRIBUTE BILL BURKE

A Vision Lit by Love

by Jay Stroud, former Head of School at Tabor Academy; colleague of Bill Burke at Holderness School; former Board President of NEASC and Director of the Commission on Independent Schools

I

t was 1974 when I first met Bill Burke. It would be a few months later before I would meet Patty. Now, some of us in those days were still mumbling our way through various boy and girlfriends, but not Patty and Bill.

They were always one and only. I was the Director of Studies at Holderness in those days, and part of that job included scheduling interviews for prospective faculty members and we’d received a resume that looked pretty good from Middlebury. He was a kid who had at one time or another looked at an English textbook. He had played ice hockey.

He’d worked with the Big Brother Association, and he had some positive recommendations.

So, an interview was duly scheduled, and this kid with very curly hair, no mustache in those days, came in the front door. I don’t know how many interviews I have conducted over the last 50 years, but I’m sure it numbers in the hundreds and I will confess that I do not remember every one of them, but I do remember that one. Bill just didn’t light up the room, he lit it on fire.

The Holderness headmaster, Don Hagerman, had been at the school for 23 years at that point, and when I finished my conversation with this kid, Bill Burke, I motored it over to Don’s office. I was a little out of breath and I said, “Don, I hope your conversation with this kid goes as well as mine just did, because I think we should hire him as in today, because if we don’t, somebody else is going to pick him up. He’s the real deal.”

Of course, Don did not need any prompting from me to make up his mind. And I will say that Don was a man of few words and not given to rash decisions, but he offered Bill a job on the spot.

Over the years, we have spoken on the phone, at Travis Roy hockey games, and a lot of other venues, and we always end up in one form or another, reciting Robert Frost to each other. And we usually come down to people’s assertion that the road less traveled is some sort of argument for nonconformity when it’s really an ironic statement of how easily one path could lead to another.

There’s a reason I still remember my interview with Bill Burke fifty years later. It wasn’t only his good spirits, his energy, or our mutual lifelong affection for Robert Frost. I think it is possible to become a good teacher, a fine coach, and an insightful counselor by study and experience. But I’m not so sure that’s the way one learns to love. What I saw in that interview was that Bill had been loved and that he had a gift of love to pass along. So that’s what Bill and Patty bring with them without pretense or self-consciousness or apology. He and I were kids learning this business side by side, and I can tell you, he was exactly as excessive then as he is now. Excessive good spirits, excessive optimism, excessive vision of what might be. If Bill comes up to you, as he has with me many times, and puts his arm on your shoulder, you feel that you’ve been brought into an embrace of infinitely good company and that has never changed.

There is a phrase that’s used in education these days, and that is transformational leadership. When I was with NEASC, a career that spanned almost 40 years in one form or another, I have either visited the campus or read the self-study reports of almost every one of the 550 accredited independent schools that exist in New England. There is not much in this world that I could say definitively, but I say this definitively, there is no school in New England that has been more transformed by transformational leadership than St. Sebastian’s under Bill and Patty. But I will also say it can be a hard job transforming a school. In practice, it’s mostly unheard of. People talk about it, but it takes decades. I think the work of transforming a school is probably analogous to Thomas Edison’s definition of genius. We all remember it’s 2% inspiration, 98% perspiration.

Transforming a school requires both. For 34 years, Bill provided both the inspiration and the perspiration.

Bobby Kennedy was fond of quoting George Berhard Shaw: “Some men see things as they are and say why; I dream of things that never were and say why not.” Thirty-four years of asking the question, why not? And then, I did the math, 12,410 days every day striving to answer it. If that’s not love, what is?

“There is no school in New England that has been more transformed by transformational leadership than St. Sebastian’s under Bill and Patty.”

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SPECIAL TRIBUTE BILL BURKE

Reflections Various members of the St. Sebastian’s community share their thoughts and remembrances of how Bill Burke has touched this school and their lives.

It has been my honor and privilege to work alongside Bill for nearly 31 years. In the early 90’s, when we began with the New Century Fund Campaign, I learned early on that Bill was ambitious, a visionary, and a real man of action. He had, and still has, lofty goals for the School — including some that many believed were unachievable. Thanks to Bill’s faith and determination, the vast majority of these goals became a reality. No matter how daunting the challenge, Bill never lost faith and he always kept a positive attitude that inspired us all.

With a fully supportive, aspirational, and forward-thinking Board working in tandem with Bill’s vision and dreams, our school prospered and flourished into the beloved institution it is today. This focus and teamwork helped propel St. Sebastian’s through our many successful campaigns over three decades, transforming our campus, and developing a significant endowment. Bill has never wavered in his expectations of success and his vision of what St. Sebastian’s could and would become.

I could not imagine a better or more satisfying career than working at St. Sebastian’s with Bill and our distinguished group of dedicated professionals on the Board. I am so proud of what has been accomplished under Bill’s headmastership. His consistent example and influence of dedication, work ethic, intelligence, ambition, generosity, and compassion, inspired us all as we aim to make St. Sebastian’s better and better each year. Thank you, Bill, for inviting me on this wonderful journey! God bless!

—Rich Arms P’14, Director of Advancement

Bill Burke has provided invaluable leadership that has lifted St. Sebastian’s to the highest levels of faith formation, academic achievement, and personal development for young men. For decades, Bill has embraced this mission with unwavering dedication and commitment, always focused on inspiring the students to strive for the best and to share their gifts with others. Without question, Bill’s always sure and certain guidance of St. Sebastian’s will resonate across generations as the graduates go forth to take their places in the work of the Church and our wider society. God bless, Bill, and we look forward to the next chapter of your life of service on behalf of others.

—Cardinal Seán O’Malley, OFM, Cap.

“Every year I interviewed prospective parents who had attended the Open House and heard Bill’s inspirational address. Invariably, their takeaway from the event was the feeling their son would thrive here.

Their sentiment prompted me to affirm that Bill’s buoyant, caring presence and firmly held family values have shaped the positive, welcoming culture that pervades every corner of our school community, uplifting the boys’ sense of brotherhood as well as the giving spirit shared by faculty, staff, trustees, and parents. As for me, witnessing Bill’s words of loving wisdom and encouragement at graduations, weekly chapels, and everyday personal moments around campus, I saw how he draws out the best in every Arrow, creating a legacy that will continue to bless generations to come.”

—David Cornish, former faculty (2000-2021)

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“What you see is what you get.”

I have used that line a countless number of times when asked, after a first encounter with Bill Burke, “Is that guy for real?” I asked myself the same question during my interview back in August 1994 before I accepted a position at the school. The greatest testament to Bill’s leadership is that he is real, he is authentic, he is one of a kind. He is warm, approachable, wise and strong.

Faith-filled, and faithful to our mission, Bill always puts our students first and sets the standard for devotional leadership. He does not waver from the Faith in times of sorrow, struggle, triumph, or joy. He is loving, intelligent, empathic, and so very charismatic. He uses those skills to connect on a deep level with every student from every background, no matter the triumph or challenge. Bill’s character and leadership is best witnessed at Commencement each May. There is a palpable mutual caring and respect between Bill and our graduates. I am truly blessed to have 30 years of exceptional mentorship and a steadfast friend in Bill.

Bill’s historic legacy as Headmaster is deservedly honored for his moral leadership of a cohesive team of talented faculty, able staff, loyal trustees, and generous donors—all dedicated to our school’s mission.

His advancement of the school’s academic excellence, Catholic identity, endowment wealth, campus beauty, athletic venues and spiritual culture are hallmarks of Bill’s success on all fronts and by any measure.

But Bill’s selection of “Love”, the essential element of “brotherhood”, as his final theme for our daily reflection is a powerful reaffirmation that teaching generations of young men to live their lives committed to Gospel values is—and will forever be—Bill Burke’s most meaningful and lasting contribution to St. Sebastian’s and its brotherhood.

Ever grateful, Bill.

—Senator Paul Kirk ’56, former Trustee

—Brendan Sullivan P’25,’29, Dean of Students

Since 1993, five sons graduated, two sons taught, three grandsons attend St. Seb’s—for 30 years our friendship with Bill Burke makes our family better.

Brimming with talents, Bill’s great gift is discovering and encouraging talents in others. For example, he got our musical sons to perform acapella from the Ritz to Cape Cod. Bill sees the positive in each person. Exuding warmth and kindness, he touches peoples’ hearts with his words of wisdom, in crowded auditoriums or in our living room. Close to God and our blessed Mother, Bill reminds us to stay on the sure path and spread the Good News. Love God, work hard, take good care of one another, what advice is better than that? Infinite thanks, Bill.

Your rosary ring gifts are sure being put to good use.

—John & Patti Keefe P’97,’99,’00,’02,’11, GP’26,’27,’28 former Trustee

“My St. Sebastian’s Class of 1992 was Bill’s second graduating class. In the early years, Bill taught a senior writing class that I was lucky enough to be in, along with most of our hockey team. This was before the launch of the writing program in our curriculum, and one might reason that Bill launched this program after taking stock of our writing skills.

Our senior writing class became the class my friends and I would most look forward to every day and week! Bill was motivating, funny, smart, and inspiring in this class. At the end of the year, we had all, in our own way, improved our writing skills immensely. Most importantly, however, we shared life stories, family struggles, goals, and ambitions as a group through our work.

Years later, as a long-serving Trustee, I am grateful for Bill’s many talents as our head of school and the profound change he has created on our campus and in our community! However, I will still always remember him fondly, in his element, in the classroom as a teacher!”

—Devin Condron ’92, P’29,’29, Trustee

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“Congratulations, Bill, on your outstanding run as Headmaster of St. Sebastian’s School. You are the perfect role model for an aspiring headmaster at an independent boy’s day school. You earned everyone’s respect with your leadership qualities that you displayed daily.

For me personally, it was a privilege to work with you and various trustee committees to develop a masterplan to buildout the campus. It is truly amazing when you look at a set of plans showing what we started with after the move from Newton to Needham, compared to what we have today. What a legacy to your time at St. Sebastian’s.

The following is one of your quotations from Words from the Heart. ‘The head knows it’s time to go, but how the heart aches that it is so.’ Bill, wishing you, Patty and the Burke family the best.”

—Jack Doherty ’62, P’86,’87, GP’17,’25 former Business Manager (1979-2021)

From the moment we first met Bill, he made us feel like we were the only people in the room that mattered. And when events really did matter, Bill was there.

We needed someone to lift us up after the loss of our William (’11); and it was Bill who delivered the eulogy at his funeral. Full of thoughtful prayer, we never wanted Bill to stop.

And when it was time for our son JP (’09) to marry his beloved Caroline, it was Bill who officiated his wedding. The Holy Spirit was in that ceremony! And the celebration went well into the night!

The Judges are forever grateful for the loving and supportive St. Sebastian’s community that Bill and Patty Burke fostered.

Bill, your blessings will always be treasured.

—John & Lynn Judge P’09,’11

Within the moral framework of the St. Sebastian’s education lies the bedrock of a challenging and focused curriculum.

Two courses of study, the Chapel Speaking Program and the Writing Program, have defining and pivotal roles in the life of every student and contributing faculty members.

When Bill Burke was appointed Headmaster and arrived at the school in 1990, he embraced these opportunities and breathed new life and importance into each discipline.

At that time, as President of the Board of Trustees, Jack was focused on the development and implementation of the rigor needed to establish and expand a strong writing program; Bill was the leader to do this! He taught a Senior Writing course his first year, and subsequently the Freshman Writing course over many years. There were team teaching opportunities for the English faculty to work together and, with Bill, as they embraced these classes with true dedication and collaboration.

There has also been a natural connection between the Writing and the Chapel Speaking programs, although one preceded the other. Many times, a student’s written work becomes the nucleus for his public speaking focus and delivery. The community engagement of all students, as individual speakers, offers the unique challenge to express one’s self in a supportive environment and gain confidence in public speaking skills.

Bill’s impact on these two programs has been legendary, but not only for the students. I have been told that he consistently supports his faculty with additional resources for his/her professional growth, and the latitude to experiment and collaborate, with the paramount interest of student and teacher, in mind.

Always a teacher, the faculty witness Bill engage in thoughtful and creative writing and discourse on a daily basis, give attentive, verbal feedback on every chapel speech delivered, and focus on the principles of excellent composition.

—Karen Birmingham P’84, GP’14,’17 member of the Board of Visitors and wife of Jack Birmingham ’59, former Board President and Trustee

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SPECIAL TRIBUTE BILL BURKE

Entering St. Sebastian’s, I first knew Bill (“Mr. Burke” at the time) as someone to be avoided—any missed homework assignment risked a dreaded “headmaster’s study” to finish the work ignominiously under his direct supervision. With time, I learned the opposite to be true—that Bill is a tremendous source of energy, insight, and encouragement for all who share his company. As the leader of a talented and dedicated faculty and staff, a strong but humble channel between the Board of Trustees and the school, and a visionary builder of the St. Sebastian’s community and institution, Bill has served a remarkable range of roles during his tenure.

Deepest thanks, and congratulations on your well-deserved retirement, Bill!

—Wes Mateo ’03 former Trustee, former faculty member

“Some talk of a lay Headmaster prompted Bishop John Boles, a former St. Sebastian’s Headmaster (God Rest Him), to set up a meeting for the father of four young boys and myself for breakfast in Sturbridge.

A young Educator coming north from Canterbury School, and one going west from Seb’s, Bill Burke and I didn’t finish that meeting until after lunch! Making the way back to St. Paul’s in Harvard Square to report to Bishop Boles, I was greeted by “Where have you been?” And I answered, “with the new Headmaster of Seb’s, I think.” Others (God Rest Them) made that decision. A remarkable decision it was for St. Sebastian’s Country Day School which had moved to Needham during Christmas Break 1982-83, in itself, another remarkable decision aided by Msgr. Robert T. Kickham, Pastor of St. Bartholomew’s Parish (May he Rest in Peace). The Lord Who loves us, has guided us again in deciding for Brendan Sullivan, and let us pray in great trust that we will continue to have God’s Grace in all our decision making.”

—Fr. John Arens, Chaplain 38 | ST. SEBASTIAN’S MAGAZINE

“I remember well meeting Bill Burke as a candidate for Headmaster almost 35 years ago and being struck by his intellect, warmth, and faith. My good fortune was to work with Bill for the next three years and witness the energy, vision, and skill he brought to leading the school and furthering its mission as a superb Catholic independent school. In those years and all that followed, Bill proved to be a match made in heaven in a transformative era for St. Sebastian’s. And my lasting personal gift from Bill has been the deep friendship we forged and have maintained through the years for which I’m forever grateful.”

—Jerry Ward Headmaster Emeritus, The Fenn School; former Assistant Headmaster, St. Sebastian’s (1980-1993)

Mr. Burke is the finest leader of an institution I have ever seen. On a tangible level, this sentiment is manifested in the school’s quick ascendance to the top tier of the ISL during his tenure. As for the intangible; my comfort in the community draws from the trust I have in Mr. Burke to guide us through whatever ills face us. For instance, I almost cried out of pride when he denounced white supremacy at my tenth reunion last year. This unprovoked gesture was done in a forthright and genuine manner. He addressed a nationwide issue by unifying the community against hate, with love. I love Mr. Burke and always will.

—Henry Kennedy ’13

“We all know Bill as a loving, smart, kind, unique and dedicated leader and have marveled over and over again how these beautiful attributes continue to manifest in our 3 Arrows. Bill, your faithfulness, enthusiasm, courage, patience, generosity of spirit, thoughtfulness, honor, strength, dependability, humor, and grace were all in some large or small way transmitted to our sons and they, and we, are the better for it. Thank you for more gifts, friendships and blessings than our entire family can count.”

—John & Cathy Daniel P’15,’18,’20, Trustee

SPECIAL TRIBUTE BILL BURKE

“Bill infused the daily life of the School with our Catholic faith. In countless School addresses, hallway conversations, and greetings at drop off, our four sons absorbed Gospel values in every casual conversation with Bill. He taught our sons how to ‘put on the armor of God,’ much as St. Sebastian did in facing Diocletian.

He gave the boys rosary rings and said, ‘Now you’re packing heat!’ Bill’s outstanding record of sending Arrows off to great and appropriate colleges will be surpassed only by the number of souls he helped get to heaven!”

—Doug & Joanie Kingsley P’10,’10,’12,’13 former Trustee / Guild of St. Irene President

When the erudite Samuel Clemens lookalike walked into the Pillar House Restaurant in the spring of 1990 to have lunch and meet with the well-educated, seasoned department chairs of St. Sebastian’s, we knew we were no match for this eager educator-servant. To paraphrase his first statement, he said, “What can I do to help?” That one sentence made it clear that the “interview” was not about him, but about what was best for taking St. Sebastian’s School forward into the future.

To double down on his commitment to serve, he introduced his wife, Patty, and their four sons to the community. It was clear from that moment on that the brotherhood and family of St. Sebastian’s School would be safe, secure and intact under his tutelage. Over the past 34 years, he has not failed to repeat that message and live that mission. Perhaps his headmastership may be summed up in the words found in the Prayer of Oscar Romero: “We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.”

—Meyer Chambers P’10,’14 Director of Music Ministry

Let’s celebrate

Bill and Patty Burke’s 34 years of admirable service to St. Sebastian’s School

Saturday, May 18, 2024 FAIRMONT COPLEY 138 St. James Avenue | Boston, MA

6:00 PM | Cocktail Reception 7:30 PM | Dinner stations & Program Followed by celebration with a live band!

Cost: $200 per person Recent Alumni (2014-2019): $100 per person

www.stsebs.org/celebrate

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SPECIAL TRIBUTE BILL BURKE

Trustees Past and Present Celebrate Bill & Patty Burke

O

n Saturday, January 20, Trustees past and present, joined by members of the Board of Visitors, our administrative team, members of the Burke family, and friends, gathered to honor Bill and Patty Burke for their 34 years of loving service to St. Sebastian’s. The event was hosted at The Newbury (formerly The Ritz), which, in a full circle moment, happened to be the site of the New Century Fund Dinner to celebrate the first major campaign undertaken during Bill’s time as Headmaster.

The evening opened and closed in prayer. The speaking program featured friends and colleagues of Bill dating back to his days at Middlebury College. Following opening remarks from Board President Jim Elcock ’77, P’08, the crowd enjoyed a video roast of Bill by members of the staff and administration, set to the theme of the TV show, “The Office.” Chris Burr, Bill’s Middlebury classmate, shared memories of “Burkey,” from their college days and their life-long friendship. Jay Stroud, former Head of Tabor and a colleague of Bill’s at Holderness School and on the NEASC Board, spoke of Bill’s momentous journey as he rose through the teaching and coaching ranks into an administrator and leader in the New England independent school world. Terry Kennedy P’93,’98, who served on St. Sebastian’s Board when Bill was hired, spoke on behalf of the Trustees from the 1990’s. Terry graciously acknowledged several pillars of the school community from that era, many of whom were on the Search Committee that “delivered the GOAT of headmasters, William L. Burke III.” While many of them have passed on to eternal rest, several were in attendance and continue to serve as stalwart members of the St. Sebastian’s community. Current Trustee Cathy Daniel P’15,’18,’20 remarked on what a welcoming, enthusiastic, and faithful presence Bill has been to St. Sebastian’s families throughout his distinguished tenure.

Following these memorable tributes, Patty thanked numerous friends and mentors for their roles in the Burke family’s St. Sebastian’s journey. In conclusion, Headmaster Burke addressed those assembled, citing the prayer he had prayed to our Lord through the intercession of St. Jude: ““Please, Lord, put me in a place where I can best serve you and my family.” This destination came to be St. Sebastian’s and he has never looked back.

“This evening is our shared destiny—pulled here by Bill, his St. Sebastian’s legacy as well as his 50 years as an independent school teacher, coach, administrator, and headmaster, as well as an incredible husband and dad.

It’s a sense of history, kind of something meant to be, I call it the Hand of God, full of life-long memories and ways in which we’re tied together.” —Patty Burke

SPECIAL TRIBUTE BILL BURKE

TOP TO BOTTOM, LEFT TO RIGHT: Joanie Kingsley P’10,’10,’12,’13, Rebecca and Brendan Sullivan P’25,’29 (2nd from left and far right), and Celeste and Tom Wolfe P’09,’12. n Bill enjoys “The Office” video roast by members of the staff and administration. n Jay Stroud, Bill’s friend and former Head of School at Tabor, speaks about their many connections, from Holderness to the NEASC Board. n Patty Burke shares a heartfelt speech. n Aleece and Brian Strachan P’11,’14 (far left and right) and Krista and Ed Ryan P’23. n Fr. John Arens catches up with Devin Birmingham ’84, P’14,’17. n Trustee Cathy Daniel P’15,’18,’20 reflects on what Bill has meant to St. Sebastian’s families. n Bill embraces past Trustee Terry Kennedy P’93,’98 following his remarks.

Learning from Your Brothers

BY ALLIE COLGAN

Everyone can remember being a young student and looking at upperclassmen as superheroes who have it all together. Whether it’s a pat on the back, a high five, or a nod in the hallway, any kind of acknowledgment from upperclassmen goes a long way to making younger students feel valued and known. If a pat on the back means that much, imagine the influence deep conversations between older and younger Arrows have on promoting healthy attitudes and behaviors.

T

hese deep conversations between Arrows across grade levels are now blossoming more than ever as a result of the Peer Education Program where students discuss important health issues and share meaningful, personal experiences in a way that enhances the St. Sebastian’s brotherhood. This initiative is a component of the school’s Health & Wellness Program, a strategic priority developed by the Board, parents and administration working closely together and supported by the JohnsonMcCarthy Fund. Officially launched in the fall of 2022, the Peer Education Program expands upon St. Sebastian’s goal of inspiring our young men to become ever more fully the best they can be in body, mind, and spirit.

42 | ST. SEBASTIAN’S MAGAZINE

During the sessions, trained upperclassmen, called Peer Educators, act as discussion facilitators who ask young Arrows in seventh and eighth grade questions that resonate specifically with their stage of life, the state of the world, and their generation. Recent topics covered include social media, chirping, gambling, substance abuse, video game addiction, anxiety, exam stress, and more. The topics are selected based on results from surveys taken

by Arrows to assess their perception of health and wellness, as well as feedback from Peer Educators and administrators in terms of what they think would be most relevant to the boys. According to St. Sebastian’s Consulting Psychologist, Dr. Ed Zadravec, “The hope is that when kids think about coming here, they think about more than just the academics and athletics. They also think that this is a

place where they can get the support they need and that asking for help is integral to their learning process. This program really gets at the heart of what it means to be a young person in society now.” To further capitalize on these program benefits, Peer Educators also participate in events around campus such as Food for Thought, a monthly initiative for eighth graders run by Director of Health Services Jen Joyce and Dr. Zadravec. They also played a role in facilitating small-group discussions at Unity Day, a school-wide event that welcomes speakers to St. Sebastian’s.

With a strong desire to provide guidance to younger students, Charlie Bacon ’23 took a lead in helping to shape the Peer Education Program.

“I had little direction or confidence coming into St. Seb’s, and some advice from upperclassmen would have gone

a long way,” he recalled. Along with the group of Peer Educators, Coordinator of the Health & Wellness Program Dave Hinman, Dr. Zadravec, and faculty member Ryan Sanderson ’12 play a critical role in the program. Dr. Zadravec trains Peer Educators to orient them to their role and help them understand how best to facilitate meaningful dialogue about sensitive matters. In addition to training, the wellness team meets twice a month with Peer Educators. The first meeting helps prepare them for upcoming sessions by talking through ideas, brainstorming questions to ask and points to bring up. The second meeting is a debrief after each session about what they learned and what they could have done differently. “The Peer Educators are not experts, they create discussion,” shared Hinman. “Kids often relate to and trust others in their own circumstances more than professionals.

We’re identifying some areas where our students are struggling and finding ways to help them.”

The Peer Educators serve as great role models for underclassmen, but Peer Educator Brendan Schmidt ’24 asserts that it’s a two-way street. “I have appreciated the opportunity to learn from others far younger than me. One topic I really enjoyed discussing was anxiety, and mental health in general.

Being able to relate to the shared experiences of the younger kids was invaluable for me. Showing them that the older juniors and seniors who may seem distant but are actually experiencing the same feelings helped bridge the gap and create a sense of understanding.”

Fellow Peer Educator James Joyce ’24 observed that opening up about himself allowed younger students to feel more open to participating in these sometimes vulnerable sessions. “We learned through experience that sharing our own stories and getting to know the students better allows them to feel more comfortable and share more about themselves,” reflected Joyce.

Whether an Arrow just began his St. Sebastian’s journey or will soon

graduate, being a young person today presents a unique set of challenges.

From Shakespeare to Dostoevsky, our robust classical curriculum exposes students to timeless stories with universal truths that help them make sense of the world and understand their place in it. However, it would be a missed opportunity if we didn’t also value the wisdom and give a spotlight to the lesser-known, yet just as valuable, storytellers who are right at our fingertips. These are the storytellers who you cheer alongside in Henry’s Corner, who you relate to more than anyone, and who might provide you with much-needed insight as you navigate the world together, as brothers.

Showing the younger kids that the older juniors and seniors who may seem distant but are actually experiencing the same feelings helped bridge the gap and create a sense of understanding.

—Brendan Schmidt ’24

TOP LEFT: Peer Educator, James Joyce ’24 leads a small-group discussion about social media during Unity Day. TOP RIGHT: Peer Educators discuss exam stress and how to prepare for exams with Arrows in Grades 7 & 8. BOTTOM: The twelve Peer Educators with the program’s faculty leaders.

Front row from left to right: Dave Hinman, Jack Condron ’24, Quinn Feyler ’24, Brendan Schmidt ’24, Jonathan Demosthene ’24, Jack Foreman ’24, Gianluca Centola ’24. Back row: Ryan Sanderson ’12, Charlie Hinman ’25, Joe Sullivan ’25, Neal Carlson ’24, Liam Field ’24, James Joyce ’24, Chris Thompson ’24, Dr. Ed Zadravec.

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25 years of service

44 | ST. SEBASTIAN’S MAGAZINE

A Master

of the Details

Since joining St. Sebastian’s faculty in the fall of 1998, Michael Deschenes P’28 has worn many hats, often simultaneously and yet always balanced with precision and purpose. In addition to running the library and teaching Latin and computer science classes, the Director of Library and Information Services uses his wide array of skills to manage innumerable tasks and projects, often behind the scenes, that are vital to the success of the school. He juggles it all with a remarkable sense of calm, caring and commitment to St. Sebastian’s mission.

M

ichael credits his parents for working hard to make sure that he and his sister, Danielle, had the best education possible. “Their love and the love of teachers we had along the way, from elementary to high school to college, resulted in my sister and I both becoming teachers ourselves,” he observed. After graduating from the College of the Holy Cross with a B.A. in Classics, Michael worked at Malden Mills, supervising warehousing and distribution at their manufacturing facilities, while taking graduate courses part-time in the Classics at Tufts, earning an M.A. Although he enjoyed the work, he felt called to teaching. With one year under his belt at Westford Academy, Michael interviewed for a Latin teacher position at St. Sebastian’s in the summer of 1998 and the rest is history.

In addition to teaching Latin, Michael also filled the school’s need for a computer teacher and assisted with technology and library support.

At the time, the use of the Internet was exploding, and he recalls the excitement of his advanced computer students who helped to build a small network in the computer labs and library and to launch a simple internal website for the school. While remaining involved in Classics and technology, Michael gradually moved into managing the school’s library operations and academic databases. In his “spare” time, he earned an M.S. in Library and Information Sciences thanks to St. Sebastian’s professional development program.

Those early computer classes evolved into AP Computer Science classes, where today he instructs Arrows on traditional Java programming, Python, and how to creatively address real-world issues using the tools and processes of computation.

OPPOSITE: Michael teaches a lesson during AP Computer Science class. TOP: At the 2015 Commencement ceremony, Michael receives the Joseph P. McDonald Award, given annually to a member of the faculty for outstanding service to the School. BOTTOM: Arrows in the Class of 2022 presented a cake to Michael, featuring his head shot, on the last day of classes for the seniors.

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On top of teaching, running the library, advising, and singing in the St. Sebastian’s Schola, Michael is involved in many different areas of the school, particularly around academics.

“Michael is the guy who makes the place run,” shared Assistant Headmaster Michael Nerbonne. He is the master of organizing schedules, grade reports, and academic awards. He plays a key role in many projects, including steering the NEASC reaccreditation process with English Department Chair Chris Lynch. He travels to conferences and brings home great ideas, policies, and programs. When COVID came along a few years ago, Michael worked tirelessly with his colleagues to find ways to keep things running, whether it was remotely or in-person, so faculty could keep teaching and students could keep learning. “That’s the mark of a good school: when adversity strikes, we rally and we find solutions,” Michael noted.

Troubleshooting a problem and finding at least a temporary fix, if not a long-term solution, is something Michael is known for across campus.

“I like being able to help students and faculty when they encounter an issue and need to brainstorm a solution. My approach has been, stand in the gap 46 | ST. SEBASTIAN’S MAGAZINE

and address the problem.” When it comes to complex computer problems, Michael is the “go-to” guy. Whether it’s a student, teacher, even their family member or former colleague, he will turn from his own work to help someone in the midst of frustration or panic. "What I find incredible about Michael is that he always has time for people,” shared Nerbonne. “It goes on all day long and for him, it’s all service.”

Helping others with their computer issues is just one example of many that demonstrate Michael’s kindness, integrity and reliability. He is also legendary for his attention to detail.

Whether it’s organizing the Classical Association of New England’s annual conference hosted by St. Sebastian’s in 2023 or proofreading every issue of this magazine, he approaches everything he does with the same dedication and diligence. “Michael aims to do the right thing every time,” observed Lynch.

“He cares deeply about the boys who go to school here, and he consistently strives to make St. Sebastian’s a better place.” Sean Albertson, Chair of the Classics Department, reinforces this sentiment: “Michael’s sense of duty demands that he thinks of others before himself. He possesses a loyalty

the Roman philosopher, Seneca, called the sanctissimum bonum—the holiest good—in the human heart.”

The respect and love Michael’s colleagues have for him is mutual. “To love is to serve. Our faculty serve. Our Trustees serve. Our dining staff serve.

Each does so in different and important ways, but at the heart of it all is love for this School, love for the students we are privileged to know, and love for the families who trust us with their sons, to be there for them and to mentor them,” Michael shared during his speech at the Faculty-Trustee Dinner on November 9, where he was honored for his 25 years of service to St. Sebastian’s.

Not only has Michael benefited from being a part of the St. Sebastian’s community, but his family has as well. He and his wife, Mary-Ellen, were married at St. Bartholomew’s by Fr. Arens and Fr. Paris. Their wedding reception was held in Ward Hall, and Rafi DeJesus, beloved member of the dining staff, put his heart and soul into making their wedding cake. All three of his children were baptized in the St. Sebastian’s Chapel. Over the years, when he has attended conferences, through the Professional Development program, or the Summer Sabbatical grant, his family

has been able to go with him. In the fall of 2022, his son Ben became an Arrow, while his daughters Olivia and Alexandra are able to attend a Catholic school near their home. All thanks to the Trustees who decided that the children of faculty should have this opportunity. “These are beautiful gifts that demonstrate how much our Trustees appreciate our faculty and their families, recognizing that by strengthening the teachers, they in turn strengthen this School,” shared Michael.

A wonderful husband, father, colleague and teacher, Michael is guided in everything he does by his deep Christian faith. As Headmaster Bill Burke praised at the FacultyTrustee Dinner, “Michael, by giving so freely and fully of yourself from day one and by exuding and inspiring all that is good, true, and beautiful, you have uplifted us all and have made us a stronger, better place. And we love you for it!” Year after year, from the first day of classes until the last day of final exams, Michael has worked tirelessly to ensure that everything runs like clockwork. He has most certainly earned his spot on the Wall of Honor and we are forever grateful for his countless contributions to our school community over the past 25 years.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Michael with his wife, Mary-Ellen, and children, Ben ’28, Olivia and Alexandra, at the Faculty-Trustee Dinner on November 9, 2023, where he was recognized for his 25 years of service to St. Sebastian’s; Classics Department Chair Sean Albertson gives Michael a congratulatory handshake after delivering remarks about his colleague and friend; Michael and Mary-Ellen are married by Fr. Arens and Fr. Paris in St. Bartholomew’s; the wedding cake made by dining hall staff, Rafi DeJesus; Michael and Mary-Ellen have all three of their children baptized by Fr. Arens in the St. Sebastian’s Chapel.

“What I find incredible about Michael is that he always has time for people. It goes on all day long and for him, it’s all service.”

—Assistant Headmaster Michael Nerbonne

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EVENT HIGHLIGHTS Randall Kennedy P’13,’17 Speaks at First Legal Profession Networking Event

Leadership Society Reception Over 250 parents, alumni, parents of alumni and grandparents gathered under a tent on the West Campus fields for the Leadership Society Reception on September 21. Following a prayer from Fr. John Arens, Board President Jim Elcock ’77, P’08 thanked the attendees for their tremendous support of the School, stating, “As I look around, at this sea of faces, I see so many exceptional stories of generosity and philanthropy.” The evening also included words of gratitude from faculty member Jeff Riemann for the opportunity to earn his master’s at the Bread Loaf School of English, a slideshow of the Burke family across the decades, and heartfelt remarks from Bill and Patty.

On November 7, St. Sebastian’s held its first Legal Profession Networking Event at the CIC in Boston.

Alumni, current parents, and parents of alumni were fortunate to hear Randall Kennedy P’13,’17 address the recent Supreme Court ruling on Affirmative Action in higher institutions. In addition to being the Michael R. Klein professor at Harvard Law School, Kennedy has authored several books and numerous articles relating to law and race. He spoke about Affirmative Action in the context of race at higher institutions and how the recent ruling could affect the next generation of college students. After the lecture, Kennedy opened the floor for an engaging Q & A session moderated by Alex Cook ’91.

26th Annual Boston Business Breakfast On November 21, the extended St. Sebastian’s community gathered for the annual Boston Business Breakfast. Following the closure of the BC Club, the event moved to the Boston Harbor Hotel. Bill Burke served as the keynote speaker at his final breakfast event as Headmaster. Fr. Michael Drea opened with a prayer, and former Trustee, Doug Kingsley P’10,’10,12,’13, introduced Bill and extolled his virtues as a person and as a transformative leader of St. Sebastian’s.

Headmaster Burke took the stage and shared key dates and moments in St. Sebastian’s history including the move from Newton to Needham, the implementation of our mission statement, and more. Board of Trustees President Jim Elcock ’77, P’08 closed out the program by inviting Bill and incoming Head of School, Brendan Sullivan, to the stage, highlighting the strength of our leadership transition.

NEW PARENT DINNER On September 28, parents of new students were welcomed in Ward Hall by faculty members, administrators, and fellow parents at the annual New Parent Dinner. The night began with a cocktail reception, which gave guests a chance to chat with different members of the School community.

Following dinner, new families had the opportunity to hear from student representative Luke Ward ’24, as well as from several of our parents about upcoming events and ways to get involved at St. Sebastian’s.

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Bill Burke delivers the keynote speech at his final Boston Business Breakfast as Headmaster of St. Sebastian’s.

CHRISTMAS AUCTION

Oh What a Night!

L

ove for the St. Sebastian’s community was on display at the Annual Christmas Auction & Dinner. Held at the Omni Boston Hotel at the Seaport on December 2, the evening provided a wonderful opportunity for parents and friends of the School to gather during the Christmas season while supporting St. Sebastian’s and honoring Bill Burke’s 34 years of visionary leadership.

Guild of St. Irene President Deneige Nash P’23,’25 and Auction Co-chairs Liz Grimes P’26 and Lynda Hughes P’26 did a fabulous job of leading a large group of St. Sebastian’s moms to plan, assemble items, decorate and create a festive night. Special thanks to our auctioneers, Joe Amorosino P’25, Scott Mutryn P’25,’26,’28 and Wendy Thurmond P’25,’28,

for keeping the evening lively and on track. Several students were in attendance to help sell raffle tickets and share words of respect and admiration for Headmaster Bill Burke during the live auction. Gianluca Centola ’24 was also on hand to introduce the custom St. Sebastian’s Scrabble board he made in the Innovation Lab. The biggest highlight of the night came when attendees exceeded the goal for the Headmaster Burke Excellence in Teaching Fund during our “Raise the Paddle.” The Fund will support our dedicated faculty.

We are eternally grateful to all those who contributed to making this evening a tremendous success, from the donors, sponsors and advertisers to those who attended and bid.

TOP TO BOTTOM, LEFT TO RIGHT: Patty and Bill Burke react as attendees raise their paddles to exceed the goal for the Headmaster Burke Excellence in Teaching Fund; n Guild of St. Irene President Deneige Nash P’23,’25 (center) stands with Auction Co-chairs Liz Grimes P’26 (left) and Lynda Hughes P’26; n Tim Delay P’26 takes a photo of a remote-controlled cooler, controlled by Luke Ward ’24; n Sarah and Steve Herlihy P'29 and Brian and Caitrin Dunphy P’26 pose for a photo; n Cormac Walsh ’24 speaks about his experience at St. Sebastian’s during the live auction.

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FINE ARTS

AUCTION ARTWORK Ceramics students contributed to St. Sebastian’s Christmas Auction, with one-of-a-kind pieces up for bid, including a lamp by Ryan Connolly ’27 and a bowl by Ryan Sullivan ’27.

During Art Club, Rhett Shevlin ’29 created the beautiful artwork for the 2023 St. Sebastian’s Christmas card, featuring an angel and the word of the year “Love.”

Focusing on the Photography students experiment with different types of cameras, offering Creative Process a completely different experience than shooting digitally.

FROM LEFT: AP Photography students learn how to use 35mm manual film cameras. n David Hockney inspired collage created with one roll of 35mm film; image of Matthias Ogrinc ’25 and created by Brendan Fulham ’25. n An eerily foggy day led to some picture taking, experimenting with two different pin hole cameras outside of the Art Center.

50 | ST. SEBASTIAN’S MAGAZINE

FINE ARTS

THREE SHORTS The Slings & Arrows Players, St. Sebastian’s drama club, delivered

an incredible performance of three shorts on November 3 and 4. “That’s Your Trouble” is about an absurd argument at a bus stop. “The Philadelphia” concerns a young man having not only a bad day but a particularly odd one.

“Balloon Shot” takes place in a prison where one prisoner dares to escape.

The actors and the crew excelled under the guidance of faculty member Mark Rogers. Congratulations to all for a job well done!

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FALL SPORTS Varsity Football Governor’s Academy. After the first

against fellow 2022 ISL co-champion,

BY COACH DAN BURKE

The 2023 Arrows Varsity Football team approached the season with the “11 as 1” motto, knowing that the eleven players on field needed to play as one unit to achieve success. The team stuck together and played well through the majority of the season but also played against some strong competition at the top of the ISL, ultimately finishing with a 4-4 record in the league, with each of the losses coming against winning teams that went on to NEPSAC bowl games. Win or lose, the 2023 Arrows battled hard until the end of every game, led by a small in number but huge in impact Class of 2024 and captains Liam Barbosa ’24, Jack McHugh ’24, Justin Bourque ’25, and Jake Mulrey ’25.

As the season started, the team had a tough game right at the outset 52 | ST. SEBASTIAN’S MAGAZINE

quarter seemed to be playing into the opponent’s style of play, with them grinding out the clock and keeping the score tight, a couple first half takeaways by the defense swung momentum the Arrows’ way and led to passing touchdowns from Ty Ciongoli ’25 to Ace Ciongoli ’25 and Tedy Frisoli ’26.

Taking a 14-0 lead into halftime, the Arrows knew the job was not finished yet and came out in the second half continuing with stifling defense and executing well on offense with touchdowns by Kaelan Chudzinski ’25, George Kelly ’26, and David Hahm ’26 on the way to a 35-7 victory.

After a great opening victory, the Arrows were fired up for their first home game the following week—the first game that hosted their fans on the newly constructed Arrows Rise seating area on the hill. After a ceremony to dedicate the space, the Arrows took the field against Nobles,

with the captains leading the charge showing pride for school and country by bearing the St. Sebastian’s and American flags. After forcing a three and out on Nobles’ first possession, the Arrows scored on their first drive on a Ty to Ace Ciongoli connection near the goal line. Two possessions later, captain running back Justin Bourque ’25 broke through multiple defenders for a 28-yard touchdown run. Continued stout team defense by the Arrows and touchdown receptions

by Isaiah Simmons ’26 and Crosby Thurmond ’25 sent St. Sebastian’s into the locker room with a 28-7 halftime lead. A second half score by George Kelly and a shutout by the defense— led this season by leading tacklers Dominic Funke ’26, Dominic Scioli ’26, Luke Eastwood ’24, and Colin Sullivan ’24—earned the Arrows a second consecutive 35-7 victory.

The Arrows knew that winning all games by that margin would be impossible, and unfortunately, they

FALL SPORTS

hit a rough patch early on in the next game vs. Belmont Hill, spotting them 20 points before getting back into the game. Ultimately, too many mistakes prevented the complete comeback, though, and the Arrows dropped their first of the season. Next up at Homecoming the following week, a retooled Tabor team arrived with a strong offensive attack that had yet to be slowed down. The game started out well when Justin Bourque finished off an eight-play drive on the opening possession with a touchdown run up the middle. Touchdown passes from Ty to Isaiah Simmons and Kaelan Chudzinski and a couple scores from Tabor had the Arrows heading into the locker room at halftime with a 21-14 lead.

Unfortunately, only one more score for St. Sebastian’s in the second half, on an amazing one-handed snag from Tedy Frisoli, was not enough as Tabor won the second half and the game.

After a couple of tough losses, the Arrows knew that those games could have gone the other way and were excited for their home night game the following Friday vs. undefeated Lawrence Academy. The unity of “11

as 1” was evident that night and led to one of the Arrows’ best performances as a team in what so many categorized as just an all-around great high school football game. The environment of the packed crowd of students, parents, and other fans made for an awesome backdrop, and though the Arrows came up just short that week in a three point loss, they battled hard together.

Next, the Arrows traveled to Milton Academy to face a team that the Arrows had not beaten since 2018.

A resilient and motivated team, the Arrows played incredibly well that day, highlighted by George Kelly’s 200 plus yards combined through the air and on the ground and touchdowns by Kelly, Bourque, Frisoli, and Thurmond, resulting in a thrilling 28-23 victory.

When the team traveled to BB&N the following Friday, unfortunately, the momentum did not last as the Arrows were not clicking that day and lost in a lopsided game to dip back below .500 on the season again heading into their final week.

For the final home game of the season, the team and school host Senior Day to honor the seniors in what is

always a special occasion for them and their families. This year in the final game versus Thayer Academy, the school also honored our nation’s leaders and our military alums and faculty on Veterans Day before kickoff. Once the game began, the Arrows jumped out to a quick lead and didn’t relinquish it, finishing with a 35-12 win. Five different Arrows scored touchdowns in the game including Declan Carroll ’25 on the recovery of a blocked punt by Sam Barbosa ’26. Fittingly, the season ended with all nine seniors on the field together for the final defensive plays, finishing off the game and their Seb’s careers as a group.

While they would have preferred to have more wins, the 2023 Arrows football team competed hard and finished the season strong. Additionally, the JV football team went undefeated this season, showing the depth of the program and the promise for future success for the Arrows. After sending the 2024 Arrows football players off with a win in the final game, the returning Arrows are already gearing up for next season.

OPPOSITE: Captains (from left) Liam Barbosa ’24, Justin Bourque ’25, Jake Mulrey ’25, and John McHugh ’24 walk arm-in-arm to the coin toss during the Homecoming game against Tabor Academy on October 14. LEFT TO RIGHT: Isaiah Simmons ’26 makes a catch for a touchdown in a game against Noble & Greenough School; George Kelly ’26 breaks up a pass to a Tabor receiver; Tedy Frisoli ’26 makes a catch and runs in for a touchdown under the lights against Lawrence Academy.

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FALL SPORTS

Varsity Soccer

BY COACH WOODY REDPATH

ISL Record: 11-3-1 (tied for fourth in the league) Overall Record: 13-4-2 Notables: • 8th seed Class A NEPSAC Tournament—second year in a row • 11 Shutouts • The four losses were against NEPSAC Tournament teams • 3 First Team ISL; 1 Honorable Mention ISL • 2 First Team NEPSAC; 2 Honorable Mention NEPSAC • 1 All- State This year had the potential to be special, and it was. The pre-season expectation thrust upon the varsity soccer team was well deserved, but something new. The boys took it upon themselves this season to prove that we weren’t a “one and done” team.

They proved that we belong among the top teams in New England.

The opening weeks of the season saw some fierce competition, including an early match-up against defending New England champs Worcester Academy. Despite putting together a stellar first half performance, the Arrows fell just short to a strong contender for a repeat championship, losing 2-0. Though the loss hurt, the feeling in the locker room remained enthusiastic.

The boys battled tough against New England Class B finalists Nobles, but could not find the result in the end. Senior captain Brendan Schmidt scored the first of his ten ISL goals on the year. A bitter taste, but with the rapid pace at which the season moves along, the boys were quick to wipe 54 | ST. SEBASTIAN’S MAGAZINE

The three varsity soccer captains in action. TOP: Brendan Schmidt ’24 controls the ball around a Brooks’ defender; BOTTOM LEFT: Jack Mulka ’24 volleys the ball; BOTTOM RIGHT: Nick Adams ’24 kicks the ball up field.

the slate clean and focus on the next match against St. Paul’s.

A highlight early on was the bus ride north towards Albany, NY, to take on St. Paul’s in the NXT LVL Showcase. The boys were “on song” throughout the game, starting from the first whistle. Everyone was able to enjoy time on the field and contributed in positive ways, resulting in a 6-0 win.

Described by many as one of the greatest sporting event experiences, the boys beat Rivers 5-4 in a thrilling come-from-behind victory which saw the Arrows overcome not one, but two, two-goal deficits. After conceding two goals within the first 5 minutes of the game, the boys dug in deep to cut the lead to one by the end of the half, which ended 3-2. Unfortunately, Rivers was able to score their fourth

FALL SPORTS

and final goal 7 minutes into the second half on their second penalty kick of the day. Fortunately for St. Sebastian’s, 38 minutes was just enough time to score three more times.

Alex Perkin ’25 scored a hat trick including the winning goal from half field when he intercepted a pass in midfield, and noticing the goalie off his line, struck it sweetly from a distance that cleared the outstretched hand of the Rivers’ goalie for a 5-4 win.

The Arrows secured two more wins, beating BB&N 1-0 and Governor’s 6-0.

Sebastian Martinez-Moule ’26 scored the lone goal against BB&N, while many contributed to our successful match against Governor’s.

The boys fought valiantly against eventual New England champions Milton, holding them to a 1-1 score line until the last three minutes when Milton was able to find some breathing room for a 3-1 victory over the Arrows.

Jack Mulka ’24 had a day of all days against Brooks, scoring all four of the goals in a fantastic 4-0 win.

Becoming somewhat of a tradition, the Arrows hosted Belmont Hill during Homecoming. Brendan Schmidt ’24 opened the scoring early in the second half before Giffin Collins ’26 scored twice more. The back line of senior captains Nick Adams and Kellan Kilmartin, sophomore Finn Noonan and junior Jacob Pichay kept the Sextants at bay despite a late push for an equalizer. St. Sebastian’s secured a 3-2 victory!

After Homecoming, the Arrows had a record of 6-1-2 including a fantastic 3-3 tie against Class A quarterfinalist Philips Andover.

On the final day of the regular season, the St. Sebastian’s seniors stepped out together against a solid Thayer team. Jack Foreman, Rui do Rosario, Deven Carkner, Danny Gillis,

Jack Mulka, Kellan Kilmartin, Nick Adams, and Brendan Schmidt set the stage for a 2-0 victory, thus securing a chance at making the Class A NEPSAC Tournament.

The Arrows were selected as the 8th seed in the NEPSAC Tournament, once again facing off against the number one seed. This time the opponent was the Hoggers of Northfield Mount Hermon. After keeping the undefeated Hoggers scoreless in the first half—and creating a few chances of our own—the boys went down fighting, ultimately losing 3-0 to a talented and athletic team.

On behalf of the team and Coaches Redpath, Moore and Ramlo, we are grateful to everyone who supported the boys this year. Our success is heavily tied to your support, and we can’t thank you enough.

FALL ATHLETIC AWARDS

FOOTBALL

SOCCER

ISL All League Award

ISL All League Award

Kaelan Chudzinski ’25, Ty Ciongoli ’25, Dominic Funke ’26, Jake Mulrey ’25, Marky Walbridge ’26

Kellan Kilmartin ’24, Jack Mulka ’24, Brendan Schmidt ’24

ISL Honorable Mention

JD Munro ’26

The following student-athletes were recognized for their performance during the fall season.

CROSS COUNTRY ISL All League Award Jack Connors ’24, Sebastian Culleton ’26, John Joyce ’27

Coaches Award For the Runner who in his performance, leadership, and example best contributes to the success of the St. Sebastian’s Varsity Cross Country Team.

Jonathan Demosthene ’24

Justin Bourque ’25, Lucas Candiotto ’25, Tedy Frisoli ’26, George Kelly ’26, Isaiah Simmons ’26

Ennis Award Presented to a senior who displays the qualities of commitment, teamwork, and dedication to the football program.

Liam Barbosa ’24, Jack McHugh ’24

Big Hit Award

ISL Honorable Mention Mass. All State Brendan Schmidt ’24

All- NEPSAC Kellan Kilmartin ’24, Brendan Schmidt ’24

Honorable Mention All-NEPSAC Jack Mulka ’24, Nick Adams ’24

Peter Kerr Award

Presented to the player who makes a positive impact on our opponents.

Presented to the soccer player who displays sportsmanship, dedication, and commitment to the soccer program.

Luke Eastwood ’24

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Varsity Cross Country

BY COACH JOSEF CRESSOTTI

On November 10, 2023, the Arrows varsity cross country team made school history by winning the New England Division III Championship for the first time. With a low score of 89 points, the team came out 30 points ahead of second place St. George’s. Senior cocaptain Jack Connors ’24 led the way with a second-place finish at 16:47, followed by third-place finisher John Joyce ’27 at 16:58. Seb Culleton ’26 also put in a fast time of 17:32, good enough for seventh place and a medal.

The week before, the Arrows duplicated their success from the prior season by finishing fifth place at the ISL Championships in Wrentham.

St. Sebastian’s was the only ISL team to have three medalists, with Joyce, Connors, and Culleton finishing 2nd, 10th, and 15th respectively. Joyce was only eight seconds behind the firstplace runner, a remarkable result for a ninth grader. Taylor Holmes ’27 and Chris Thompson ’24 rounded out the top five with times of 18:25 and 18:29.

In total, the team averaged a 17:14 5k, 12 seconds faster than last year.

Despite having only thirteen runners, the Arrows won many races in the regular season, finishing at 9 and 6. St. Sebastian’s lost to Middlesex and Belmont Hill by only a single point and to New England Division II champion Roxbury Latin by only three points. The team won their last six matchups of the year, sweeping quads at Governor’s and Milton.

The Arrows were led this season by captains Connors and Jonathan Demosthene ’24. They were joined by seniors Thompson, Liam Gavin, and Eddie Zhang. Luis Sosa Espinal ’25 ran for the first time as a junior, making substantial improvement throughout the season. Culleton returned to the team as a sophomore, accompanied by Joe Koh ’26 and Cesar Hernandez ’26, both new to the varsity team. With four runners capable of running 5k under 20 minutes, the Arrows possessed a strong freshman class in Joyce, Holmes, Alex Wasynczuk ’27, and Abner Machuca Diaz ’27.

Among the highlights this year was an exciting Homecoming Race at the Rashi School. Joyce and Connors came first and second overall, with Culleton not far off in fourth place.

Sadly, the team was edged out by rival Belmont Hill by a single point. As in

years past, Henry’s Corner came out in force, creating a exciting atmosphere in which to run and spectate. The school is grateful to the Rashi School for lending us its facilities for this occasion.

Joyce, Connors, and Culleton each earned All-ISL honors. Remarkably, Joyce won six of the seven regular season races outright; with his second-place finish at ISL’s, he finished the season as the top ranked runner in the ISL. At New England’s, Connors surpassed Joyce, achieving his best race of the season and finishing his high school career at the top of the Seb’s ladder.

In practice and during races, the Arrows distinguished themselves by their hard work, dedication, and commitment to one another. Despite the inherent difficulty of the sport, the runners never had an off-day. Heat, rain, illness, fatigue: all of these things the Arrows used as “stressors” to make themselves stronger and prime themselves for race day.

Despite losing five strong seniors, the Arrows will be returning a fast crop of runners next year. The team invites new runners to help them defend the New England Championship and compete for an ISL title.

LEFT TO RIGHT: Captain Jack Connors ’24 delivers a strong performance during the Homecoming race; Eddie Zhang ’24 receives high-fives from Henry’s Corner; Captain Jonathan Demosthene ’24 pushes hard to the finish line.

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FALL SPORTS

NEPSTA CHAMPIONS

The varsity cross country team celebrates their NEPSTA Division III New England Cross Country Championship win on November 10.

SUMMER

ATHLETIC CLINICS BASEBALL | BASKETBALL | FLAG FOOTBALL LACROSSE | SOCCER | SQUASH These one-week clinics, run by our experienced St. Sebastian’s faculty-coaches, are designed to sharpen the skills of student-athletes.

Grade-based sessions open to all boys entering grades 3-9 For more information, including dates & rates:

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HOMECOMING Marking an annual rite of fall, St. Sebastian’s celebrated Homecoming on Saturday, October 14. Bringing together our entire community— students, alumni, faculty, parents, and grandparents—Arrows fans across the generations made their way to Greendale Avenue to cheer on our football and soccer teams on a beautiful autumn day.

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he morning kicked off in Martin Hall where Bob Souza’s remarkable 40+ year term of service to St. Sebastian’s was recognized. Players from across the decades came back to pay tribute to a coach who meant so much to all of them. Speaking on behalf of all alumni was Matt Noone ’86, P’19,’22. In a relationship spanning over 40 years, Matt’s relationship with Coach Souza evolved from player to colleague to lifelong friend. He encapsulated Coach Souza in a poignant and personal speech.

Walking through an honor guard of former players, Coach Souza was welcomed to midfield by Headmaster Burke and served as St. Sebastian’s Honorary Captain and took the coin flip. Derron St. Marie ’24, Ben Goffredo ’24 and faculty member Karl Grohmann led the large Homecoming crowd assembled on Arrows Rise in singing the national anthem before the varsity football and soccer games kicked off.

The Arrows faced Tabor in a gridiron battle that went down to the wire, falling 38-28. Over on the soccer field, the Arrows came out victorious in a hotly contested match against rival Belmont Hill, 3-2. It was great seeing so many alumni make their way home to St. Sebastian’s.

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Responding to

God’s Call IN BEIRUT

BY CHRISTINE Y. ROBERTSON

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Where did I meet God today? This is the question

Michael Petro ’13 reflects upon daily as a Jesuit scholastic working with migrants and refugees amid a deepening crisis in Beirut, Lebanon. Inspired by his faith, Petro uses his linguistic and pastoral skills, as well as his background in social science, to serve, advocate for, and empower those who have been displaced and marginalized.

W

hen Petro received his regency assignment—a period of active ministry in the middle of Jesuit formation—he was surprised to learn that he would be headed to Beirut this past September. Working with the Jesuit Refugee Service, his mission is to expand the program offered at a center for migrant workers coming to Lebanon from around the world. In his newly established role as Project Director of the Arrupe Migrant Center (AMC), Petro is building upon the legacy of some American Jesuits who established the center over 30 years ago. With community leaders, he is helping to envision ways to offer critical services— from legal to social—not provided by the Lebanese government, United Nations, or other non-profits in the region. His broader goal is to support migrant communities in developing their own agency so they can organize their own faith groups, organizations, and services.

The people Petro meets in his daily work represent diverse cultures, nationalities and religions. From Syrian and Palestinian refugees who are fleeing violence to domestic workers from the Philippines, Sri Lanka and East Africa, they each land in Lebanon with their own stories. Some arrive by choice, seeking employment to support the families they left behind, and others have been forced to escape to the closest place they could

go, or to wherever they could get a plane ticket. Regardless of their circumstances, most of them fall through the cracks of Lebanon’s social systems while facing great hardships, including difficult working conditions, racism and even serious abuses. Petro’s work involves both a spiritual and practical response to the plight of those he serves: “I begin by listening; bringing the community together to find the points of greatest grace and deepest suffering, hoping to discern the voice of Spirit.”

Every day, Petro channels his energy into finding solutions to people’s problems. He visits the homes of those

who need help, getting to know them and their stories. Parents from Ethiopia and South Sudan who need to find a school that will take their children; an extended family of refugees from Pakistan recovering from terrible persecution because of their Christian faith; a young woman from Sierra Leone who needs a place to deliver her baby.

In increasing numbers, single young women are giving birth in Lebanon to children who are stateless, excluding them from legal protections, health care, and education. “If you’re 23, don’t know how to read, and working a difficult job, you don’t necessarily know how to get to the Ghanaian embassy to get a birth registration and a passport for your child,” noted Petro. “It’s a huge risk and something we’re very concerned about.”

At the community level, Petro creates spaces and opportunities for people to gather. His hope is that there will be a fully functioning migrant center at the end of his regency in 2-3 years. But his greatest joy is strategizing with the migrant communities to develop their own resources and solutions. On Sundays, the migrant worker’s day off,

Communities take turns preparing their own cultural foods and sharing them with the broader Arrupe Migrant Center community during the weekly lunch served after mass on Sundays.

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“Being an Arrow is one of the most important parts of who I am.” the JRS Migrant Center welcomes 500 individuals for mass and hosts a cricket league in the parking lot with over 200 participants. “Cricket is not a sport they play in Lebanon, but this league is phenomenal, organizing tournaments with embassies and troops,” observed Petro. “If I don’t show up to the cricket pitch on Sunday, that’s fine. They don’t need me and that’s exactly what we’re looking for.” His goal for the church in Lebanon is to help migrants have more of a voice.

As a scholar whose education and experiences focused on Latin America, Petro never imagined himself living in the Middle East. Yet, the steps that brought him to this point in his Jesuit formation make him well-suited for this specific assignment. “Looking back, I can see God’s Providence at work, nurturing the skills, desires, and disposition that made me a good fit,” noted Petro. Indeed, this was not his first time living in Lebanon; he had spent most of the prior year in Beirut studying intensive Arabic as part of his First Studies and volunteered at the JRS Migrant Center while he was there. Proficient in five languages, Petro now uses three of them—English,

French, and Arabic—every day. His undergraduate degree in Social Anthropology from Brown University, along with his Master’s in Social Philosophy from Loyola University Chicago, have provided a valuable framework to analyze a whole problem at every layer—social, economic, political, legal—and understand different viewpoints. During the first several years of his Jesuit training, Petro’s pastoral skills flourished through ministering to many different types of communities, from newly released prisoners to the elderly in nursing homes and migrants on the US-Mexico border.

Many of the gifts Petro brings to his work took root while he was a student at St. Sebastian’s: “Being an Arrow is one of the most important parts of who I am.”

Through classes and clubs, he sharpened his skills in critical thinking, writing, public speaking, and leadership. His love of languages grew while conversing with Mr. Nerbonne in German Club on Friday mornings. The freedom to try different activities and start new clubs encouraged an entrepreneurial spirit that he continues to find helpful in a job where it’s often up to him to figure out the plan. Although not clear to him at

LEFT: Michael shares a reflection during the Christmas Eve mass. RIGHT: The people Michael meets in his daily work represent diverse nationalities.

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the time, Petro’s vocation as a priest began while he was at St. Sebastian’s.

“The Chapel gave me a place where I could grow close to God, where I could duck into after school to just sit and pray,” he recalled. Fr. Arens served as a wonderful model of pastoral work.

“Getting to know a priest personally, and to see how God was working through him in beautiful ways, but also through his imperfections, was very important.”

Petro is also grateful for the year he spent teaching Spanish at St. Sebastian’s after graduating from Brown. It was the first place he got to practice the skills he uses regularly in running a humanitarian project in Beirut, from training to designing workshops and mentoring.

“It was especially the really human part of teaching where you’re working with students one-on-one, trying to understand what matters to them and what they’re worried about, that I really loved,” shared Petro. “That relationship work is really at the core of my ministry.

It’s what I do on Sundays when I’ve got a line of people all the way through the center who just want to talk to someone about what’s going on in their life.”

It was following this year of teaching that Petro answered God’s call and entered the Jesuits in 2018. Novitiate, the first step of religious life often described as a “the school of the heart,” is a time where the Jesuit is invited to consider his life story and his response to God’s call. Petro remembers how he felt at the St. Sebastian’s faculty closing dinner, as he was about to begin his journey to becoming a priest, “I very much felt at that moment, and very much feel this way still, that the year of teaching at Seb’s was like I got into the school a little early, I got an extra year for that school of the heart.”

Petro’s heart is clearly one that is open to caring for those who need refuge. A foreigner in a country where the economic and political situation is perilous, and a war is raging next door, Petro is there because it’s where he is needed; it’s where God has called him to be.

Not Just Another

MISSION

It was unlikely that Craig Bourassa ’84 and Dave Cleary ’84 would have foreseen their future, piloting a CH46 mission in Iraq together 20 years after their graduation, but in many ways, their St. Sebastian’s experience prepared them for their service to their country.

T

wo-sport athletes at St. Sebastian’s, Bourassa (basketball and lacrosse) and Cleary (soccer and lacrosse) left Needham for Villanova in the summer of 1984. It was there that they sought out what they considered a true test of their abilities and mettle, pursuing the United States Marine Corps through Platoon Leader Corps and NROTC, two different paths with the same goal. This decision would lead them to Quantico after graduating from Villanova and ultimately to flight school in Pensacola, FL. Completing their flight training in late 1990 and early 1991 meant that they entered active military duty at a heightened time of global military activity, with the US invasion of Iraq. While neither Bourassa nor Cleary were deployed to combat missions at that time, it would foreshadow their future deployments to Iraq following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

After nearly a decade, Cleary left active duty in 1998 and Bourassa in 1999, but both continued to serve as reservists, and were called up in the first wave following September 11. For the period of 2004-2006, their CH46 service units regularly rotated deployments with periodic overlapping stints. CH46 are tactical helicopters primarily tasked with troop transport. On September 21 and again on September 23, 2005, the fates would conspire to put Bourassa and Cleary in the same CH46 helicopter cockpit, inserting an Army airborne battalion, the Blue Devils, into position for an upcoming broad scale operation. When asked what it was like to share such a serious and dangerous mission with a lifelong friend, both Bourassa and Cleary were emphatic that their training took that emotion out of it. Cleary noted, “We were seasoned, highly trained combat pilots. Iraq was a series of boredom followed by extreme chaos and excitement. We were flying

almost every day and used to it.” In Bourassa’s mind, it was “just another flight,” but added, “I did notice that Dave took a lot more of the first pilot time.” Cleary was quick to respond, “Well, I needed to see how well you landed on the first mission!” That said, Cleary admitted, “Every day was exhilaration, but it was really cool to fly a mission like this with a lifelong buddy.”

Looking back on their time at St. Sebastian’s, both Bourassa and Cleary agreed that it played a critical role in their lives and the paths they chose. Bourassa shared, “While my dad’s and brother’s service played a large role in my decision to join the Corps, the St. Sebastian’s culture of academic, physical and spiritual rigor and discipline prepared me for the life I chose as a Marine.” Cleary added, “There is no question that the great comradery at St. Sebastian’s led us to maintain our friendships through college and the Marine Corps.”

Following his retirement from the Marine Corps at the rank of Lt. Colonel in 2013, Bourassa continues to fly as a commercial pilot for United Airlines based out of Tampa, FL. Cleary retired from the Marines in 2016 as a Colonel and is now an Operations Manager for Hampton Products International, a manufacturing company located in Foothill Ranch, CA. Once in, never out. Arrows forever.

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ALUMNI EVENTS

ALUMNI GATHERINGS Visits with Arrows in DC, Philly & NYC

On November 13 and 14, alumni connect with Headmaster Burke and each other in Washington, D.C. (top), Philadelphia (middle), and New York City (bottom).

Thanksgiving Eve Social On Wednesday, November 22, St. Sebastian’s alumni from classes spanning 2005 to 2019 gathered at Laylas in South Boston to kick off the Thanksgiving holiday. Those who attended had the opportunity to meet new Arrows, as well as catch up with friends in what was a great night for all.

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On November 13 and 14, Bill Burke made his final annual visits to New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. as Headmaster. In each location, Bill, Rich Arms, Director of Advancement, and Mike Melley, Director of Alumni & Development, gathered with Arrows alumni looking to enjoy each other’s company and connect with the St. Sebastian’s spirit.

In Washington, D.C., the visit overlapped with the Class of 2025’s junior class trip. Alumni gathered for a reception where they saw a video retrospective of Headmaster Burke’s time at St. Sebastian’s.

Headmaster Burke was proud to present a monogrammed jacket to one of St. Sebastian’s most stalwart and loyal alumni, Gerry Giblin ’51. A constant presence at the Washington, D.C. reception, Gerry anchored the group that spanned the decades right up to the six Class of 2023 alumni who attend college in our nation’s capital. Following the reception, the alumni joined the junior class at their ice cream reception down the hall. Georgetown University freshman, Charlie Hoffman ’23, addressed the Class of 2025, noting how the Order of the Day has served him well in the early days of his college journey and encouraging the juniors to use it as a guide for success. Bill McCarthy ’15, a digital investigation journalist at Agence France-Presse, shared his path from St. Sebastian’s to Duke to journalism. Brandon Peck ’07, Senior VP at Flywheel Government Solutions, described his career as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. and numerous state capitals.

Heading up the coast, Burke and Arms met with a small group of Philadelphia area alumni for lunch at the White Dog Café. In New York City, former trustee Mark O’Friel ’79 once again hosted a reception for a great crowd of the extended St. Sebastian’s family at the Harvard Club. Following the retrospective video, Headmaster Burke addressed the assembled group, thanking Ryan Fitzpatrick ’92 for his service to St. Sebastian’s on the Alumni Board. Headmaster Burke reminded everyone that no matter how far our alumni travel, St. Sebastian’s will always love and need them.

ALUMNI EVENTS

Class of 2023 Yearbook Reception The Class of 2023 returned to campus on November 22, 2023, for the annual Yearbook Reception, where they had the opportunity to catch up over lunch and connect with former faculty. After Fr. Arens opened the event with a blessing for the Class of 2023, Director of Alumni & Development Mike Melley, Class Agent Tommy McAuliffe ’23 and Headmaster Bill Burke addressed the crowd of Arrows gathered in Martin Hall.

The 2023 edition of the yearbook is dedicated to Science Department Chair David Wilbur: “You pushed us beyond our limits in the classroom…On the football field, you were not just a coach, you were a leader who instilled in us values like teamwork, discipline, and perseverance.”

Ryan Williamson, Timmy Weiss, and Peter Hunt scan through their yearbooks at the Class of 2023 Yearbook Reception.

Alumni Share Advice at Arrows Connect Career Night

During the family skate, Bill and Patty Burke joined three of their sons (Dan ’97, Matt ’00 and Sam ’04), three of three of their daughters-inlaw, and five of their grandchildren on the ice.

ALUMNI SPORTS DAY

On Wednesday, January 3, 2024, St. Sebastian’s hosted another installment of its Arrows Connect Career Night series. Five alumni offered valuable advice and shared their career experiences with members of classes 2015-2023. Those on the panel included: Jonathan Consalvo ’05, CEO, DigitalPay; Conor Haughey ’12, VP/Co-Founder, MRP Realty; Edosa Onaiwu ’15, Project Manager, Hobbs Brook Real Estate; Drew Tuckett ’05, Startup Executive/Startup Adviser; and Connor Wiik ’11, Senior Oil Analyst, Hartree Partners. Alex Cook ’91, Chair of the Alumni Board’s Professional Networking Committee, served as the event moderator. Although each alumnus shared a unique career story, a recurring theme between the presentations included the importance of networking and learning a diverse range of skills early in your career.

On Saturday, November 25, St. Sebastian’s alumni participated in Alumni Sports Day, reliving their glory days on the rink, court and field in games of hockey, basketball and ultimate. Immediately after the hockey game, alumni and their families enjoyed a family skate.

Afterwards, the entire group gathered in Martin Hall for lunch and to share stories. A great time was had by all.

Mark your calendars for November 30, 2024, and join us on the rink, courts or fields next year!

Panelists Connor Wiik ’11, Conor Haughey ’12, Edosa Onaiwu ’15, Drew Tuckett ’05, and Jonathan Consalvo ’05, with moderator Alex Cook ’91, during the Arrows Connect Career Night on January 3, 2024.

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ALUMNI EVENTS

ALUMNI

RECEPTION Fr. Arens offered an opening prayer to begin the evening and Alumni Association President Peter Galligan ’74 welcomed alumni back to campus. Peter recognized the fact that alumni in the room attended St. Sebastian’s on both Nonantum Hill and Greendale Avenue, but shared the bond of brotherhood that transcends location.

Following an introduction by Headmaster Burke, Ted Dillon ’06 was named as the 2023 recipient of the Recent Alumni Service Award for his service to St. Sebastian’s as an Alumni Board Member, Class Agent, Reunion Committee Member, and an instrumental member of the Alumni Board’s Professional Networking Committee. Ted addressed the room and emphasized the timeless values and skills that St. Sebastian’s imparted on him during his time at the School.

As technology impacts our society by increasing degrees every day, the

St. Sebastian’s hosted its Alumni Reception on October 26, 2023, bringing Arrows from across eight decades together. During the event, two of our loyal Arrows, Marty Kane ’84, P’22 and Ted Dillon ’06 were honored with alumni awards.

ability to learn, the ability to write, and the ability to communicate are more critical than ever. For Ted, those skills were nurtured at St. Sebastian’s. Ted also called out the Order of the Day, “Love God, work hard, and take good care of one another” and cited this school motto as the reason he gives back to St. Sebastian’s and his community in so many ways. Congratulations to Ted on this well-deserved honor.

The Alumni Service Award was presented to Marty Kane ’84, P’22 for his longstanding contributions to St. Sebastian’s as Class Agent, Guild of St. Irene Christmas Auction auctioneer, Headmaster Scholarship Golf Tournament auctioneer and the founder and host of the Annual Class of 1984 Dougie Fresh Open. Even these many titles don’t fully reflect Marty’s dedication to the Class of 1984 and the St. Sebastian’s community at large. In a sure sign of his high standing in his

LEFT: Ted Dillon ’06 with his wife, Jenn, and parents Brian and Lucy. MIDDLE: Alumni Service Award recipient, Marty Kane ’84, P’22 (in front) with his fellow 1984 classmates. TOP RIGHT: Marty with his son, Martin Kane ’22, wife Amy, and daughter Katherine. BOTTOM RIGHT: Ted with his 2006 classmates, Andrew Conway, Jim Gallagher, and Matt Perry.

66 | ST. SEBASTIAN’S MAGAZINE

class, 13 members of the Class of 1984 were in attendance to honor him. Marty was quick to acknowledge their support for each other over the years and how their brotherhood has endured. Marty also recognized classmate and former Trustee, John DiGiovanni ’84, P’14, for his leadership in the Class of 1984’s annual effort to provide funds for Arrows in need of financial aid. Marty is very proud to share his alumni status with his son, Marty ’22, who is now a sophomore at Tulane University. Congratulations to Marty, an Arrow forever!

CLASS NOTES

St. Sebastian’s Choristers sing the Benediction / WINTER 2024Ceremony. | 67 at theFALL 19462023 Commencement

CLASS NOTES

WHAT’S

NEW? Keep your classmates up to date on your accomplishments, family members, travels, or anything else new in your life.

Send us photos, too!

Submit class notes and photos online at:

stsebs.org/classnotes Deadline for next issue:

JULY 1, 2024

Photos will be published based on quality and available space.

Please be sure to send the highest quality image possible and identify everyone in the photo.

1952

Jim Brosnahan had his memoir, “Justice at Trial: Courtroom Battles and Groundbreaking Cases,” published

by Rowman and Littlefield, covering 60 years of trial practice, including two arguments in front of the US Supreme Court.

1953

John McKinney reports, “Last summer I received a special invitation to revisit Camp Agassiz Village in Maine as one of their oldest former campers (I went there during the early 1940’s including during World War II). It used to be just for newsboys in Boston, but now is coed with a wider reach. I was greeted with cheers from all the campers when I entered the dining hall and spoke to them about how things had changed. (After lunch, we would lie on the big lawn and listen to classical music. Later, we would either be

cowboys or Indians trying to capture one of two forts). I was interviewed by a local news anchor about my thoughts so many years later on what my time at camp meant to me growing up. My grandchildren were so impressed that I was on the 11 o’clock news that night!”

1960

Doc Nelson and his wife, Annabelle, spent September in Spain splitting time between Valencia and Alicante on the Costa Blanca. In Valencia they visited the Catedral Nacional featuring a collection of saintly grottos including the knave of St. Sebastian.

1961

Al Byrne writes: “As an internationally recognized expert on medical cannabis protocols, who has penned dozens of essays and articles concerning those skills, I have published my first book.

For Country and Cannabis, released in

’60 Flashback

’52 LEFT: In the summer of 1998, members of the Class of 1960 gathered at Charles River Country Club for a round of golf. From left to right: Ray Burke, Charlie Callahan (the host), George Donovan, Dave Barlow, Doc Nelson, Steve Brady, Kevin Murphy, Andy Philbin, and Tom Swan (not pictured). Murph shot the lowest score, and a good time was had by all. n RIGHT: Jim Brosnahan ’52 holding a copy of his memoir, “Justice at Trial: Courtroom Battles and Groundbreaking Cases.”

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CLASS NOTES

2023, has met acclaim as an educational and historical remembrance of how and who, by sacrifice, tenacity and sciencebased education, changed the medicinal understanding of how the cannabis plant compounds interact positively with human beings. St. Seb’s plays a role in the story which covers the years from 1967 to 2022. So does my 24 years in the US Navy, my years at Notre Dame, and the malfeasance, duplicity, of the US federal government in their propaganda about the cannabis plant. It’s not all a pleasant story but it is true.”

1963

Cornelius Hurley reports: “I have spent the last two years upending the $1.5 trillion Federal Home Loan Bank system. With great success, I might add.”

1964

Connelly Akstens shares: “Dan Crane, Jerry Delli Priscoli, and I had a grand dinner at Bombay Club in Washington

in November. We were teammates on the New England Championship basketball team of 1964. The teammate bond runs deep...they’re great people.”

1968

Paul Maloof shares, “On December 12, 2023, I got married in a civil ceremony at Alexandria City Circuit Court by Judge Kathleen Uston. My wife is Patty Lee Bearden who is now Patty Lee Maloof. We are very happy to be married to each other.

I recently sold my 5-bedroom home of 33 years on Dewberry Court in McLean, VA, and purchased a four-level, ten-year-old townhouse at 406 N. George Mason Drive., Arlington, VA 22203. The move was challenging but downsizing is good. I retired from my law firm as of December 30, 2022, so now I have tennis matches 5 days a week and time to spend with Patty. We are planning a honeymoon in May 2024.”

MARCH

RECEPTIONS

in Florida If you live in Florida or are looking for a great excuse to head to warmer climates, join us! All members of the St. Sebastian’s community are welcome, including alumni, parents, and grandparents.

March 8 Palm Beach March 11 Naples For more details and to RSVP: > stsebs.org/palmbeach > stsebs.org/naples

’60

’64 ’68

LEFT: Doc ’60 and Annabelle Nelson visit the knave of St. Sebastian at the Catedral Nacional in Valencia, Spain. n MIDDLE: 1964 classmates and basketball teammates Connelly Akstens, Dan Crane, and Jerry Delli Priscoli enjoy dinner together in Washington, D.C. n RIGHT: Paul Maloof ’68 with his wife, Patty Lee.

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CLASS NOTES

ARROWS

CONNECT Looking for an internship, industry contacts, first job, next job, or career advice?

The Arrows Connect network is the place to start.

Arrows Connect is our own networking directory connecting members of the St. Sebastian’s community to each other. Your profile has already been set up by the Alumni Office. Just upload your LinkedIn profile to the site, answer a few short questions and your profile will be complete.

As a member of Arrows Connect, you can access an extensive directory of professionals, find qualified candidates to hire, post job offerings, volunteer to be a mentor, and more.

Register today to make the most of your St. Sebastian’s network!

arrowsconnect.org

70 | ST. SEBASTIAN’S MAGAZINE

Flashback: 1967 Senior Outing Members of the Class of 1967 gathered at Rick Whelan’s Cape House during the Senior Outing. Front row, from left: Fran Connolly, Bill Craffee, Andy DeMambro; second row, from left: Joe Miller, Chip O’Hare, Fred Smith, Jim Connell, Chris Kelly, Tom Quinn, Mike Bucciero; third row, from left: Mark Whittemore, Neil Donahue, Phil Quinn, Gene McAuliffe, Henry Lane, Rick Whelan, Peter Cohn, Phil Tracy, Ed Murray, Richard McDermott, Mark Donahue, Dave Horton, Mike Powers, Henry McCarthy.

STAY CONNECTED Follow us on Instagram @StSebastiansSchool Like us on Facebook /Stsebs Follow us on X (Twitter) @StSebsNeedham Connect with us on LinkedIn St. Sebastian’s School Alumni, connect with us by joining our Facebook Group! facebook.com/groups/stsebastiansschoolalumni

REUNION

2024 MAY 10 & 11

Calling all 4’s and 9’s!

CLASS NOTES

Reserve your seat for Reunion weekend.

Mark your calendar now and help us fill your class table!

If you would like to be involved in the Reunion planning, please contact Mike Melley in the Alumni Office at michael_melley@stsebs.org.

We can’t wait to see you in May!

Register online at:

www.stsebs.org/reunion

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CLASS NOTES

1969

Kevin Duggan writes, “Cindy and I are still enjoying life in Scituate with our five sons close by in Scituate, Marshfield, Duxbury, and Kingston.

We just celebrated our fourteenth grandchild, Brooklyn Mae, on May 10, 2023.”

Save the Date April 4, 2024

St. Sebastian’s 8th annual giving day will take place on Tuesday, April 4.

On Arrows Forever Day, we ask our alumni and other members of the St. Sebastian’s community to give in support of the Annual Fund. We hope you will help us make Arrows Forever Day a success again this year. Every gift counts!

1974

Michael McManama writes, “Our 50th Reunion is coming up in May and we’re hoping to get a great turnout. We will be dedicating our reunion to Fred Steele who we lost in November 1973. Many events are planned for reunion weekend, but the marquee event is the classonly dinner on Friday night, May 10th. Letters with reunion details were mailed in November. The reunion committee could use your help in finding as many classmates as possible. We created some

unbelievable memories during our time on Nonantum Hill. As we all know, the school has changed quite a bit since our time. Over the past several years we have tried to get classmates together for dinner and the turnout has been excellent.

Attendees have included Paul King, Jack O’Doherty, Rob Connors, Kevin White, Ken Chipman, John Mannix, Paul Crowley, Paul Maloney, John Mulroy, Peter Galligan, Kevin White, Bill Ricci, Michael Gwynn, Kevin O’Malley, and Michael McManama.

We have also included the original transfer-portal student athletes— Brian ‘Burkie’ Burke, John ‘Beaver’ Gallagher, Mark ‘Delli-Boy’ Delli Priscolli and Chris ‘Digger’ Diegnan.

We are planning another gettogether for March. If you can attend, please email mmcmanama@comcast. net or peteragalligan@gmail. com. Please send updated contact information. Looking forward to connecting in 2024.”

’74

’69 LEFT: With the arrival of the newest addition last May, Kevin Duggan ’69 is blessed with fourteen grandchildren. n RIGHT: Members of the Class of 1974 met for dinner at Paddy’s Public House on November 8, 2023. Their upcoming 50th Reunion was a major topic of conversation. From left to right: Brian Burke, Kevin O’Malley, John Gallagher, Steve Maskell, Peter Galligan, Kevin White, Mike Gwynn, Mark Delli Priscolli, Mike McManama, and Ken Chipman.

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CLASS NOTES

1978

Tony Reddick writes: “After a 35year career in the Gadsden City School System in Gadsden, Alabama, I elected to retire effective August 31, 2023. I have enjoyed an amazing career as an educator, having taught mathematics, French, Latin, and art, and serving as an assistant football and basketball coach and head basketball coach. I also served in the roles of Assistant Principal, Principal, Coordinator and finally Superintendent of Education for five years. St. Sebastian’s prepared me well! My next journey in life will include the completion of at least five books that I am currently writing or illustrating to go with the two I have already published, and adding to the gallery of artwork I have produced over the years. Mainly, however, I will be spending more quality time with my wife of 39 years, Belinda, and my children, their spouses, and my three beautiful grandchildren. I hope to visit St. Sebastian’s again soon.”

1980

James Comerford shares: “I am pleased the Franklin N. Flaschner Judicial Institute has published the 4th edition of my Massachusetts Motor Vehicle Stops book (2023, 2016, 2011, 2007). The Flaschner Judicial Institute has also published The Law of Homicide in Massachusetts (2016, 2009), which I co-authored with now retired Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Justice John Greaney. I have also co-authored Massachusetts Insurance Law, volume 58 of the Massachusetts Practice series published by Tomson Reuters and updated annually since 2014. Hope everyone in the Class of 1980 is doing well. Retirement for all is around the corner. Best.”

ALUMNI GOLF OUTING May 10, 2024 / 8:00 am Shotgun Start South Shore Country Club, Hingham, MA Open to all St. Sebastian’s alumni Registration and sponsorship information:

www.stsebs.org/alumnigolf

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CLASS NOTES

1987

Joe Griffin reports: “In May of 2022, I was sworn in as a judge in the Boston Municipal Court, and I sit through the city of Boston.”

David Korzeniowski shares good news that he will be broadcasting for Boston’s new professional women’s hockey team for the 2024 season. All games will be live on NESN and the PWHL YouTube channel.

1993

2018

During the NEPSAC Annual Meeting on November 17, Mike Grier was honored as the recipient of the 2023 Martin William Souders Memorial Award. This award is given annually to a graduate of a New England Independent School who made a distinguished record in sports and who has since made a distinguished record in life through high ideals, leadership, and accomplishments.

Mike, who currently serves as General Manager of the San Jose Sharks, has certainly demonstrated these traits during his remarkable career in the NHL as a hockey player, scout, coach, and executive.

2016

Matthew Barron and Pedro de Almeida, co-founders of Cariina, were named to Forbes 2024 “30 Under 30—Education” list, in recognition of their impressive work in the education space. An operations enablement platform, Cariina helps administrators manage transportation, attendance and rostering, afterschool and extracurricular activities, and event management. Matthew and Pedro have empowered over 150 partner schools to create better and more efficient learning environments for the over 30,000 students they serve, with a focus on underserved populations.

Royce Abel married Amy Langemann on August 26, 2023, in Littleton, CO, in a God honoring ceremony. A couple of fellow Arrows were in attendance. Three months earlier, Royce graduated from the Colorado School of Mines with a master’s in mechanical engineering and concentration in energy and thermal systems.

2020

Congratulations to Jayden Struble for making his NHL debut in November 2023 with the Montreal Canadiens. While at St. Sebastian’s, Struble was a standout defenseman, awarded All New England and All ISL, and was chosen by the Canadiens as the 46th pick in the 2019 NHL Draft.

He is the 13th former Arrow to play in the NHL. Go Jayden!

Competitors on the Court,

Arrows forever

TOP: Sam Hinman ’23, Ben Kaczmarek ’21, and Trace Gotham ’20 with David Hinman after a Bates-Colby basketball game on December 9, 2023.

BOTTOM: Lyndel Erold ’21, a junior at Brown University, faced off against Trevor Mullin ’23, a freshman at Yale, on January 9, 2024.

’93

’16 LEFT: Mike Grier ’93, P’22 receives the 2023 Martin William Souders Memorial Award. n RIGHT: Matt Barron ’16 (left) and Pedro de Almeida, co-founders of Cariina, are named to Forbes 2024 “30 Under 30—Education” list.

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CLASS NOTES

’18

’09 ’23

’16 Matthew Maskell ’09 married Courtney Johnson in June 2023 at the St. Mary’s Church, Nantucket. Their reception took place at the White Elephant, where they were joined by fellow 2009 classmates. From left to right: Steve Maskell ’74, Jake Dagdigian ’09, Chris Brown ’09, Tucker Quirk ’09, Matt Maskell ’09, Teddy Downs ’09, Casey Cronin ’09, and Dominic Jancaterino ’09. n Royce Abel '18 married Amy Langemann on August 26, 2023, in Littleton, CO. n On August 18, 2023, Paul Keady ’16 married Charlotte Fletcher at St. Matthew’s in Plymouth, NH. Father Arens officiated the service and eight members of the Class of 2016 were by Paul’s side. From left to right: David Korzeniowski, Jackson Mannix, Matt Eldridge, Paul Canavan, Fr. Arens, Paul Keady, Ryan Colgan, Chris Potvin, Austin O’Shea, and Jack Ragnoni. n Over the summer, members of the Class of 2023 helped out at a Golf for All Autism clinic. From left to right: Will Hansen, Alex Roth, Ryan Fay, Jack Heeney, Sam Hinman, and Golf for All Executive Director, Fred Corcoran ’62.

St. Sebastian’s Magazine online Did you know that St. Sebastian’s Magazine is available online? View the publication, including recent back issues, in a flipbook format at: stsebs.org/magazine

Share your IDEAS for Alumni Profiles Do you know an alumnus you’d like to see profiled in St. Sebastian’s Magazine?

Send your suggestions to our Communications Office at communications@stsebs.org.

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IN MEMORIAM

We extend our deepest sympathy to the families of the graduates and friends of St. Sebastian’s School whose deaths are reported with sorrow.

TRUSTEE EMERITUS / J. Brad Griffith ’58, GP’19 Brad was a member of the Board of Trustees from 1979-2009 and served as President of the Board twice, from 1984-1988 and 2002-2006. In recognition for his outstanding and unwavering dedication to the School, Brad was honored and named Trustee Emeritus in 2009.

Brad passed away peacefully on August 21, 2023. While at St. Sebastian’s, Brad participated in Debate Society all four years, managed the basketball team, and was a member of the Dramatic Society. As his senior yearbook attests, Brad made a lasting impression on the St. Sebastian’s community even in his youth, “Brad will be remembered by all at St. Sebastian’s as one of its most loyal and popular graduates, for Brad is one who is easy to know but hard to forget.”

Brad went on to earn a B.S. in Mathematics from Tufts University. Upon graduating, he enrolled in Officer Candidate School with the U.S. Navy where he achieved the rank of Lieutenant JG and proudly served on the U.S.S. Atka. Following his time in the Navy, Brad discovered his passion for commercial real estate. From 1979 to 2001, he was Co-Founder, Co-Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Leggat McCall Properties. In 2002, Brad founded Griffith Properties LLC, a firm he ran until he retired in 2010.

Throughout his life, Brad believed it was important to give back to the communities and institutions that helped him succeed in life, especially his beloved St. Sebastian’s. He served on the boards of several different types of organizations, from the arts to education and real estate. In 1967, he became involved with the St. Sebastian’s Alumni Association, and he never stopped. Among his countless contributions to the School, he played a lead role in moving the campus from Newton to Needham as Chair of the Long Range Planning Committee, worked closely with Father Riepe to help turn the School around during his first tenure as Board President, and served as Co-Chair of the New Century Fund Campaign Committee, resulting in several enhancements to the campus, including a new headmaster’s residence dedicated as the Griffith House. When his dear friend Jack Birmingham stepped 76 | ST. SEBASTIAN’S MAGAZINE

down as Board President in 2002 due to ailing health, Brad assumed the position for the second time. His devotion to St. Sebastian’s played a crucial role in the School’s survival, renewal and ultimate transformation.

“I had the great privilege of working with Brad during his second term as president. The Board President/Headmaster relationship calls for constant contact and many very long and deep conversations, affording the opportunity to take the measure of the man,” reflected Headmaster Burke. “I came to know full well the truth that his family and friends and business partners have always known; Brad is one of the world’s truly great guys.”

Brad was preceded in death by his wife of 54 years, Patty, in 2019. He is survived by daughters Maura, Marci, Karen, and Kimberly. He loved and adored his nine grandchildren, including Arrow Jack Moffatt ’19. He is also survived by his sister Mary and sister-in-law, Maryellen.

The Griffith House, named for Brad ’58 and Patty Griffith and their family, was formally dedicated as the new headmaster’s residence on September 25, 2003. It stands as a lasting legacy to Brad’s decades of service and devotion to St. Sebastian’s.

IN MEMORIAM

FORMER TRUSTEE

ALUMNI

Joseph F. Carven III ’54, P’96

James P. Allen III ’50 Jim passed away on December 10, 2023, at the age of 91. As an Arrow, Jim excelled in math and science and was involved in choir, debate, baseball, and basketball.

Continuing his academic journey, he earned a B.S. in physics from the College of the Holy Cross and a BSCE from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Over a remarkable 34-year career at Stone and Webster Engineering Corporation, Jim ascended to the positions of assistant engineering manager and chief engineer of the Structural Division. Jim was a dedicated family man and leaves behind his wife, Ginny, and their children, Jay, Karen, Susan, Brian, and Kevin. Jim is also survived by his brother, Rev. Joseph P. Allen, OP ’56.

He was predeceased by his brother Roger ’56.

Joe passed away peacefully on December 3, 2023. He grew up in Belmont and Newton where he made lifelong friends with whom he would share many adventures. While at St. Sebastian’s, Joe excelled in football and basketball and participated as a C.Y.O. Debater for three years. After high school, Joe went on to Georgetown University where he was an honor student and class officer. Joe entered Officer Candidate School after graduating from Georgetown and earned his commission in the US Navy. He was proud of his service to his country, and especially of his time as gunnery officer on the USS Mullinix.

In 1964, Joe earned an MBA from Harvard University and, shortly after, he began his business career with Pfizer International. In the Spring of 1968, he and Maureen, the love of his life, married and began their remarkable 20-year international career, working and living in Kenya, Belgium, South Africa, Korea and France, returning to the Cape on home leave every summer. They raised two wonderful children, Justin ’96 and Kerry, whose lives have been filled with endless love and unforgettable experiences, from the coast of Kenya to the beaches of Cape Cod. One of Joe’s most rewarding endeavors after retiring was working for his son Justin’s company, Greasecar Vegetable Fuel Systems.

Joe was a proud St. Sebastian’s alumnus, father of an Arrow, and husband to Maureen, who worked at the School as an art teacher. Joe dutifully served on the Board of Trustees at St. Sebastian’s from 1988-2005 and was Chair of the Enrollment Committee and Chair of the Building and Grounds Committee.

He also served on several other Board committees including Executive, School Life, Development, and Long-Range Planning committees.

“An intelligent, multi-talented, fun-loving, kind, and giving gentleman of faith and honor, Joe Carven made us want to be better people, and we love him for it,” shared Headmaster Burke. Joe is survived by his wife, Maureen; his children Justin ’96 and Kerry; his precious granddaughters, Demi and Seyi; and his brother Richard Carven, sister Mary MacBey, and brothers Frank and Richard Mutrie.

Peter J. Anzenberger ’71 Peter passed away on July 3, 2023, at the age of 70. At St. Sebastian’s, Peter played hockey and field hockey and participated in dramatics. Peter met the love of his life, Patti, in high school and always loved reciting the number of days, hours, and minutes they were married. Peter is a graduate of Boston College and enjoyed a 31-year career as a General Manager for Packaging Corporation of America.

Peter was a dedicated family man and leaves behind his wife, Patti, and his children, Kerry, Tim, Mary-Kate, Kathleen, and Kevin. He is also survived by his brothers, William, Robert, and Michael, as well as his six grandchildren.

John J. Cooney Jr. ’59 Jack died peacefully in his sleep on July 11, 2023. At St. Sebastian’s, Jack played a variety of sports including baseball, basketball, and golf. Later, Jack attended Georgetown University under the ROTC program and attended one year at Suffolk Law School when the Vietnam War called him to duty in 1965. He was a Captain in the Air Force and stationed in Greece defending US assets in the region. Upon his honorable discharge, he opted out of continuing law school and worked for several advertising firms, specializing in automobiles. His ads helped Lexus sales take off and overcome competition to become the #1 Luxury brand. Jack is survived by a stepdaughter and a stepson; seven nieces and nephews; nineteen grand nephews and nieces; and six great-grand nieces and nephews.

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IN MEMORIAM

Andrew J. DeMambro ’67 Andy passed peacefully on August 5, 2023, at the age of 74. While at St. Sebastian’s, Andy was on the basketball, track, and golf teams. Upon graduating, he studied business at Boston College, which set the foundation for a successful 30-year career in sales management within the electronics industry. Andy lived a life full of love and dedication. Some of his interests included golf, Boston sports, and crafting furniture and heirlooms in his home workshop. Andy was the beloved husband of Dale DeMambro for 50 years, a devoted father to his children Andrew and Jennifer, and a doting Papa to his three grandchildren. Andy also leaves behind his siblings, William ’59, John ’63, and Ann Marie. He was predeceased by his brother Francis ’62.

Thomas G. Furlong ’62 Tom died peacefully on December 22, 2023. During his days as an Arrow, Tom played football, hockey, and baseball. He graduated from Providence College as a commissioned Marine Corps officer with a degree in Economics. From there, he trained for one year at the Marine Base in Quantico, VA, before shipping off to Vietnam in 1967. Tom earned numerous medals of achievement, including the prestigious Presidential Citation. He remained in the Marine Corps for 20 years, served on active duty in Washington, D.C., and later rose to the rank of Colonel. Tom established himself in his civilian career in the transportation industry.

Tom is survived by his wife, Barbara; their children, James and Paige; his five grandchildren; his sisters, Natalie, Jane, and Marcia Fowler; and many beloved nieces and nephews.

Joseph N. Gatto ’95 Joe passed away peacefully on December 22, 2023, after a courageous battle with cancer.

Upon graduating from St. Sebastian’s, Joe pursued a career in law enforcement working for the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department for 20 years. He also worked as an Associate United States Marshall in his later years. Joe was an avid Boston sports fan. He especially loved coaching his son in hockey and football.

You could often find him fishing on the pond or cooking in the kitchen for his family. Joe was a loving father to his son, Joseph Gatto. In addition to his son, Joe is survived by his parents Joseph and Cynthia; his siblings Anthony and Danielle; and his precious nieces and nephews Carmelina, Isabella, and Joseph. He will be remembered in the hearts of all his aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends.

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Richard D. “Moe” Maloney ’56 Moe passed away on December 7, 2023.

During his time at St. Sebastian’s, Moe played baseball and basketball and wrote for The Walrus. After graduating, Moe attended Boston College and then became a teacher at The Morse School in Cambridge for over 30 years. He served the Boston College community as the Head Baseball Coach and then as Assistant Director of the Boston College Neighborhood Center. He was inducted into the Boston College Hall of Fame in 2018 with this inscription: “Coach Moe’s commitment to service and pushing BC student athletes to grow as men and women for others has helped ignite the dreams of many children and young adults throughout the Boston area.” Moe leaves behind his wife Marion; his children Ann, Richard, and Kara; his seven grandchildren; and many cousins, nieces, and nephews.

Peter H. Powell ’52 Peter passed away peacefully on July 24, 2023. At St. Sebastian’s, Peter was Class President, Salutatorian, and excelled on the football field. He attended the College of the Holy Cross and then served in the U.S. Air Force as a Radar Intercept Officer. He had a career of over 60 years at the family company founded by his parents. He will be remembered by many as having an impactful and positive influence on the transportation industry. Peter and his loving wife of 56 years, Suzanne, were avid golfers who most enjoyed playing with their family and cherished friends. Peter leaves behind his children Geoffrey and Steven ’81; his twelve cherished grandchildren including Matthew ’14 and Peter ’18 Pickard; and his ten adoring great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his wife, Suzanne; his children Peter Jr. ’78 and Suzanne; and his siblings Alfred, John, Barbara, and Paul.

Leo J. Winkel Jr. ’56 Leo passed away on July 31, 2023. At St. Sebastian’s, Leo excelled at hockey, football, and baseball. He graduated from Boston College and worked as a sales manager for International Harvester for many years and then spent a decade with Acura.

As a parishioner of the Catholic Church of St. Mary’s in Cherry Hill, NJ, Leo was involved in the Interfaith Homeless Outreach Council and volunteered weekly at the Cherry Hill Food Pantry for almost two decades. Leo was predeceased by his sisters, Mary and Gretchen, and his nephew, John O’Hara. Leo is survived by his loving wife of 60 years, Mary Jane; his children Jane, Susan, Leo, and Heidi; his four grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews including Matthew O’Brien ’75.

IN MEMORIAM

FORMER FACULTY Nancy Fay School Nurse, Secretary Nancy passed away on August 27, 2023, at her most cherished place on Earth—the family cottage on Lake Winnipesaukee.

Nancy was an extraordinarily spiritual woman, active in her faith. Her relationship with Jesus was profound, and her love for Him was evident in everything she did. Nancy attended Saint Mary’s High School in Rutherford, NJ, and pursued her education at Boston College’s School of Nursing. She dedicated herself to pediatric nursing at Boston Children’s Hospital. Later, she became a clinical instructor at Boston Floating Hospital and subsequently served as the school nurse at St. Sebastian’s for several years.

Nancy had a passion for life and an array of interests. She enjoyed pottery, challenging her mind with word games and puzzles, exploring new places through travel, and, most of all, relishing every moment spent with her family. Her legacy of faith, love, and devotion will live on in the hearts of her family and friends. Nancy is survived by her children Wendy, David, and Michael ’89; her siblings, Barbara, Louis, and Keith; her 10 adoring grandchildren; and countless nieces and nephews. Nancy was predeceased by her brother Reed and her loving husband, Jim Fay, with whom she shared 55 beautiful years of marriage.

Dr. Stephen Martin French, Spanish, & History Teacher Stephen died peacefully on October 2, 2023, at the age of 76. Born August 28, 1947, in Udine, Italy, he was the son of John and Elda Martin. A life-long learner, Stephen had an impressive collegiate career, receiving his B.A. from University of Massachusetts, his M.A. from Washington University, and his Ph.D. from Boston College.

Stephen was a serious scholar who was always reading and full of interesting facts. He and his beloved wife, Nancy, had a beautiful marriage of over 50 years.

Stephen was a dedicated member of the St. Sebastian’s faculty and taught students on both the Newton and Needham campuses. Serving the school for over 37 years, Stephen took on a variety of different roles. He taught French for many years until Spanish became the sole modern language offered and switched to teaching Spanish. He also taught Modern European History as part of the History department when needed. In addition to teaching, he coached sailing and ran

the weightlifting program for many years. Stephen will be remembered as a man of many passions and interests. He had a great sense of humor and was quick with puns. He was also a talented trumpet player and loved to cook in his spare time. Stephen is survived by his wife, Nancy.

Paul D. Renfrew Science Teacher Paul passed away on December 17, 2023.

A graduate of Springfield College, He started his career teaching at George School in Pennsylvania, where he met his wife, Sue Ellen. After getting married in 1970 and moving back to Massachusetts, Paul taught at St. Mark’s and St. Sebastian’s where he was a science teacher from 1973-1984. He transitioned into the then-emerging field of computers in the 80’s, working in the education division at Apollo Computer, Hewlett-Packard, and eventually Agilent Technologies. His career ended where it started, working with kids. He worked as an instructional aide at Trottier Middle School with Sue Ellen.

Paul was a devoted parent and grandparent, teaching his kids to ride bikes and drive cars and his grandkids to drive a tractor. He loved hosting his friends at their annual trip with Habitat for Humanity and talking with friends at the Dull Men’s Club. He enjoyed the Pilgrim Church community, attending services with his family, running the children’s Christmas pageant with Sue Ellen, and eventually walking his daughter down the aisle there. He was a deacon, member of the music committee and men’s club, and even had his acting debut in the back of the sanctuary in the movie “Grown Ups.” In addition to his wife, Paul is survived by his children Elizabeth and P. Douglas, and his five grandchildren.

This listing contains deaths reported before December 22, 2023. To see a complete listing of alumni who have passed away within the past 12 months please go to www.stsebs.org/inmemoriam.

To report a death of a St. Sebastian’s alumnus or relative to the Advancement Office, please contact Kelsey Kane at kelsey_kane@stsebs.org.

FALL 2023 / WINTER 2024

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IN MEMORIAM

ALUMNI RELATIVES Kathleen Dunn July 26, 2023 Mother of Patrick ’95 Nancy Feyler May 13, 2023 Grandmother of Gavin ’26, Quinn ’24, and Reece ’28 Paul Field June 15, 2023 Grandfather of Liam ’24 Joseph F. Finn, Jr. September 15, 2023 Father of Chris ’88 and Andrew ’01 Eileen Gillis August 27, 2023 Grandmother of Daniel ’24 Michael Joseph Kickham August 15, 2023 Brother of Penny Reilly P’77, staff John Lynch October 26, 2023 Father of Jim ’83, grandfather of the Lynch boys: John ’05, Ryan ’08, Kevin ’10, Shawn ’15, and Jameson ’21 and the O’Hurley boys: Jack ’04 and Chris ’06 James McGuire October 15, 2023 Grandfather of James ’23 Lorraine Helms Miller July 23, 2023 Wife of Joseph F. Miller, Jr. ’67 Helen Harris-Miller July 12, 2023 Wife of James F. Miller ’68 Gerard “Jerry” Morelli August 26, 2023 Grandfather of Nick ’28 and father of George, faculty member

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Lloyd Mullin December 12, 2023 Father of Stephen ’84, grandfather of Trevor ’23, father-in-law of Justin Harney ’96 Ann Murphy August 6, 2023 Mother of Kyle ’92 Michael L. Neville ’75 May 14, 2024 Father of the late Robert ’49 and nephew of Thomas ’62 Arthur Haig Panosian June 22, 2023 Grandfather of John Esserian ’27 Anne Phelan July 10, 2023 Grandmother of Peter Lipscomb ’28 and Joseph Leto ’28 Marianne Sardone November 23, 2023 Mother of Lee ’88 and Michael ’89 Edward T. M. Tsoi August 19, 2023 Grandfather of Matthew ’25 and father-in-law of Jed Doherty ’86, faculty member Phil Vondrak June 7, 2023 Grandfather of David Ashenuga ’29 Eileen Ward October 11, 2023 Sister of current trustee Stephen ’96, P’24,’25,’27,’29,, sister-in-law of Roberta P’24,’25,’27,’29, aunt of Erik ’09 †, Donovan ’11, Luke ’24, Nicholas ’25, Samuel ’27, Jake ’29, and daughter of Frank (Trustee Emeritus) and Eileen

1962, English classroom

Leaving a

Lasting Legacy St. Sebastian’s planned giving society was founded in the late 1990s and named in honor of the School’s first headmaster, Monsignor Charles D. McInnis, a devoted and beloved leader. The purpose of the Society is to recognize and honor the individuals and families who support St. Sebastian’s by making a gift by will (bequest) or other legacy gift to support the School.

There are many reasons members of our community choose to remember St. Sebastian’s in their estate plans. Some remember our School to say thank you for the education, athletics, and friendships they experienced here, while others are touched by the inclusive, nurturing community that strives to empower students for success in college and in life.

Please consider joining a growing number of alumni, parents and friends who haven chosen to remember St. Sebastian’s with a legacy gift, leaving a lasting impact on the lives of our students, teachers, and alumni community.

For more information about gift planning and including St. Sebastian’s in your estate plans, contact Rich Arms, Director of Advancement, at 781.247.0116 or richard_arms@stsebs.org or visit plannedgiving.stsebs.org.

Monsignor Charles D. McInnis Society

1191 Greendale Avenue Needham, Massachusetts 02492

Nonprofit Org. US Postage PAID Boston, MA Permit No. 19943

At the beginning of the fall season Fr. Arens blesses the varsity soccer team at the Oratory.