V42. Hawkeye Issue X

Vol. 42, I ssue X

The Student Newspaper of St. Joseph's Prep

M arch 10th, 2017

Prep Students SpeakUp! L etter to the Faculty Stir s Conver sation and Talk of Change

By Aidan O?Connor ?17 A few weeks back, on Monday, January 23rd, a letter signed by nine Prep seniors was placed in faculty mailboxes.

The letter addressed the Prep?s academic system, specifically three components.

The letter expressed concern that the Prep is too ?test-centric?, that homework is mostly busywork, and that some teachers are not engaging enough.

Prepper s and other teens unite to discuss issues at M er ion M ercy. Stor y on Page 2.

Catching Up With the Prep Finance Office Money rolls in, money rolls out; but where does it come from and go?

By Joseph Scott ?19 All of the money at the Prep whether it be for basketballs, textbooks, or anything in between - at some point involves the Finance Office. Arguably, department is full of people who have some of the most interesting jobs in the building.

They control and keep track of all of the money that runs through the Prep; however, not many people understand what the Finance Office does.

One of the leaders of the Finance Office is Mrs. Carolyn Ehrlich - the school?s comptroller - who was able to open up to the Hawkeye regarding the ways in which the Prep spends its money.

There are three main sources for funding the school. One is tuition: with roughly 900 students at $22,300 tuition, that would bring in about $20 million - but this is assuming that all students paid full tuition, which is not true. With Financial Aid, scholarships and other discounts, that number comes out to be much less than a full $20 million.

Money from tuition is then supplemented by the Annual Fund. This is a fund that is collected yearly, made up of donations from Prep alumni and other benefactors. Typically, the fund raises upwards of a million dollars.

Mr. Will Dennis, ?01, Prep Fund manager said, ?The way I think of the Prep Fund is it is what ensures that a Prep education is different from anything else. It bridges the gap between just fee for service, like classes and things like that, and a full Prep experience. You?re going to get anything you get anywhere else, but you?ll also get the brotherhood of St. Joe Prep, the Kairos retreats, these flagship programs like Football, like Cape and Sword, like Crew, and they?ll all be at their highest level. As a result of the Prep Fund, the mission of this school is going to be alive in each student so that when they leave they understand what it is to be fully alive as a man for others.?

Another source of money

that goes into the Prep?s budget is from the endowment, which at this point is over $15 million. An endowment is a fixed amount of money from donations that is invested by an investment firm. The Prep then uses the money that is made from the original $15 million, but never touches the $15 million itself. ?An endowment is usually formed out of what people in nonprofit world call ?restricted funds? meaning money that generally cannot be spent, and instead exists in order to ensure the stability and longevity of a charitable or educational institution,? said Mr. Leo Vaccaro, ?05, economics teacher at the Prep. ?Institutions that are older and more prestigious tend to have larger endowments because of the effects of time and interest on these funds. For example, Swarthmore College - being an old institution of higher learning - has an endowment of approximately $1.8 billion.

Harvard might have $35 billion in its endowment.?

Continued on Page 3.

One of the opening lines states: ?The purpose of education should be to provide students with useful information about the world around them, while inspiring them to want to learn more. We

believe that the Prep does not sufficiently meet these requirements?.

It goes on to list several suggestions for addressing these issues. Among them is minimizing the importance of tests in favor of projects, assigning homework that is not so repetitive, and instituting teacher review forms.

Since the letter was not pre-approved by the administration, it was at first removed from all mailboxes.

However, after reviewing it, Mr. Jason Zazyczny ?90 returned the letters to the mailboxes and sent an email to all faculty letting them know that a letter from a group of students had been placed in Continued on Page 3.

New Pr incipal Announced John Petruzzelli has accepted the position of Principal with a start date of July 1, 2017 Special to the Hawkeye After a nation-wide search and months of reading resumes, committee work, and eventually interviews, President Fr. John Swope, S.J. announced Wednesday, March 8th, that John Petruzzelli, currently the principal of Bethlehem Catholic High School, has accepted the position at the Prep.

"I am grateful to the many members of the Prep community who offered their time and counsel in this process," said Swope.

"During his full day on-campus visit, John met with 83 members of our community."

Petruzzelli will return to the Prep, having worked here from 1998 to 2004. He once Petruzzelli at Bethlehem Catholic led our student service graduation, 2014, courtesy of program, and was often Facebook. called "Petro" by students.

2 | News

By M att Phillips '18 On Thursday March 2nd, Prep students travelled to Merion Mercy Academy to take part in an event that has become a hallmark of life at the Prep over the past few years: the SpeakUp! Program. The program was founded in 1992

by Martie Gillin after her son, Bob, passed away from HIV/AIDS complications. Bob, the oldest son of an uppermiddle class Catholic family and graduate of the Haverford School and Georgetown University, is strikingly similar to many students at the Prep.

The SpeakUp! program moderates discussions between students of both public and private schools, but the networking opportunities seem to be most effective in private schools.

Many of the events in the past month have involved multiple schools, typically bringing together students of different genders who attend single- sex schools every day. Major topics covered at these meetings are based in relationships between people of different sexes, and thus SpeakUp! does a great service for private school students in widening students? horizons.

SpeakUp! (cont.)

The night, which brought students and parents from the Prep, Merion, and Sacred Heart under one roof, began with an introduction from Mrs. Gillin.

This introduction was then followed by a brief speech from Ms. Jane Goggin, who organized this specific meeting.

The students were then broken into groups in order to discuss some of the major issues affecting teens today, determined prior to the event. These issues were divided into four groups: Sex, Addiction/Drugs & Alcohol, Mental Health/Stress/Pressure, and the Generation Gap. Assuredly, these topics can easily boil over into arguments or intensely emotional discussions, something of which SpeakUp! is keenly aware. To address this tendency, students and parents are placed into different rooms, allowing for more open discussion. The people at SpeakUp! have found that separating the age groups in such a way allows for more open discussion. In addition, both student and adult leaders in each room, trained in moderating conversations and preventing them from steering into the wrong direction, assist in each small group room. ?SpeakUp! begins a conver-

sation between students and their parents that may not ever be opened on its own. It?s important that honest, open communication exists with adults, and the program helps create that where it doesn?t already exist,? says Joe Scott ?19, a Prep student who took part in the discussions.

It is certainly true that the SpeakUp! program is a blossoming club at the Prep; this was effectively demonstrated by the twenty or thirty Prep students wearing SpeakUp! shirts in school last Thursday.

The inherent goal of SpeakUp!, which is to address the taboo issues that students may be hesitant to discuss with their parents, is certainly an important one. Too many students, especially at highpressure schools, feel misunderstood and overworked. If students feel that they have no one to whom they can turn, they may resort to irrational ways of dealing with their stress. SpeakUp! can play a prime role in helping students channel and discuss their frustrations.

pressed a lot of support for the conversations that took place, but I wonder if anything will actually come out of them,? says Chris Ix ?18, ?For this to actually be effective, it has to stimulate real change. The irony of this entire discussion is that all of these kids will be up until midnight or later doing homework afterward.?

As Chris points out, the fundamental goal of SpeakUp! seems to be to foster a more understanding environment for, and provide more reasonable challenges to, students. The main system that causes these feelings of stress and isolation,

however, is commonly the school system, with parentstudent and student-student relationships being affected by that catalyst. SpeakUp! would be most effective if the discussions between students and parents, which are sponsored by the school to begin with, actually lead to changes in the school system. This, however, is yet to be seen, at least on the local level. Perhaps the continued growth of this club, and of the networks of students it unites, will energize the community into addressing the root cause of the problem, and not only the relationships affected by it.

However, other Prep students questioned if the program is doing enough. ?Adults ex-

Hur tado, Cape and Swor d " I magine No Hunger "

By L iam Scott '17 Mr. Leo Vaccaro this week displayed a prime example of how benefiting those in need is not limited to the confines of simple service or donations. On Thursday, Mr. Vaccaro, along with a trusty band of Cape and Sworders Liam Scott ?17, Mac Riga ?17, Paul Koenig ?18, and Joe Scott ?19, headed to Theatre Horizon in Norristown to see the regional opening run of the brand new play Grand Concourse and to benefit the ?Imagine No Hunger? initiative in the process.

Grand Concourse is a chilling new take on the classic ?Fault

in Our Stars? storyline, layered with commentary on the stigma of mental illness, and shrouded with a coating of focus on the soup kitchen culture in our nation. The entire play takes place in one location on one set over the course of multiple months: a tidy yet scarcely stocked and understaffed soup kitchen.

Following with this theme of serving those in need, the theater, which prides itself on the social justice component of its business model, decided to take charge with the initiative known as ?Imagine No Hunger.? Along with a portion

of proceeds headed toward the ending of homelessness and hunger in our city, the lobby area featured a photography exhibit of Philadelphia?s own homeless population along with many quotes from soup kitchen-goers themselves.

After the show, lead actress Ariella Serur stuck around to speak with the Cape and Sword guys about her experience in the production. ?It?s interesting because many people hate my character and so did I when I began this process,? explains Serur, speaking of Emma, the play?s unlikely protagonist whose deep mental illness

causes her to fail catastrophically, much to the audience?s frustration. Serur continues on to say that she found nirvana with the part when she finally immersed herself in it and began to forget what was to come next so that the reactions were genuine and the heartbreak was real.

Among the most poised actors on the stage was David Bardeen, who played the role of ?Frog? in the production.

Bardeen recently played ?Alf ? in the Walnut Street Theater?s production of Peter and the Starcatcher, which was staged by the Cape and Sword Drama Society last fall. Bardeen?s portrayal of Frog, the recovering alcoholic homeless man who is a regular at the soup kitchen, was nothing short

to his old self, paranoid of a nonexistent CIA agent following him. Bardeen had the incredible ability to fill an older man?s body with the sad innocence of a six year old, and to become the face of the marginalized in our society. It was so unbelievably clear watching Frog sink back down out of his progress to his former state once more that there are many men and women just like him who rely on the gracious help of others to make it in this world.

The 2014 piece is created to address a slew of points of contention in our modern day, including the cycle of poverty, religious vocation, mental illness, cancer treatment, online privacy, relationship fidelity, and homelessness, all covered

"I t was so unbelievably clear watching Frog sink back down out of his progress to his former state once more that there are many men and women just like him who rely on the gracious help of others to make it in this world."

Prep students Liam Scott '17, Paul Koenig '18, Joe Scott '19, and Mac Riga '17 with the star of the show, Ariella Serur. (Photo Credit: Mr. Vaccaro)

of hysterical and heartbreaking. Throughout the course of the play, Frog goes from stealing from the kitchen?s fridge late at night to moving into a shelter with a shower and even securing a secretary job to pull himself out from the streets (spoilers follow). It all comes crashing down, however, when Frog becomes seriously unkempt one day after not taking his medicine and he relapses back

in one single play. At the end, the audience is left feeling gritty, relieved, and somehow astonished that it was all packed so neatly and tightly into an hour-and-forty-five minute play that had such a riveting plotline.

Grand Concourse runs at Theatre Horizon in Norristown until the 26th of February and the run is supporting the ?Imagine No Hunger? initiative.

L etter to the Faculty (cont.) their mailboxes. This all occurred within a few hours of the letters first being delivered.

In the letter the students asked for an opportunity to meet with the administration to discuss the implementation of the ideas. So far, they have met with Mr. Zazyczny, Mrs. Kettinger, and Mr. Dougherty (Director of Human Resources).

While the first meeting dealt in part with the process of sending the letter, it went on to cover the content of it as well.

The plan is to continue with these meeting roughly every other week.

While Mr. Zazyczny did express his hope that in the future students will talk with student council and the administration before sending something like that to the entire faculty, he is committed to hearing their voices on the matter.

In addition, he added that: ?Even if an adult does not agree with the content, the students deserve to be treated with respect?.

One of the students who wrote the letter, Daniel Leonard ?17, said: ?We tried to make the letter as respectful as possible, but I knew that just by writing it we ran the risk of being labeled ?ungrateful? or ?impudent?. The truth is that I have great respect for my teaches and I'm very thankful for the opportunities the Prep has awarded me. I think my

passion for the Prep is what drove me to write about ways we can make it an even better school?.

Daniel explained his motivations as such: ?When I got to the Prep, I felt like something was lacking. I didn't feel the same passion for learning that I had when I was younger -- school became all about the grades and not about the material. For years I wanted to speak up about this and propose ways to bring excitement back into the classroom?.

Overall, the response to the letter was largely positive. Mr. Christian Rupertus, an English teacher at the Prep, expressed his gratitude that ?a group of second semester seniors care enough about this institution to make a good place better for their younger Prep brothers?.

Mr. Rupertus continued saying that this letter is a small piece in a larger puzzle, but that he ?absolutely foresees changes coming?. The school had already begun a conversation about making changes, e.g. the ISM schedule review, but the letter contributed to said conversation. The letter ended with this: ?We understand that the effects of these changes might not be seen until after we graduate, but we care about making the Prep a great learning environment for future generations of students. We look forward to further discussion?.

News | 3

Finance (Cont.)

The next step is to budget for expenses. Now that the money is in the budget of the Prep, where does it go? Much of it goes to salary and benefits for the teachers and staff of the school. The money goes toward not only the salary of the faculty, but also benefits, such as health care.

The next- largest expense is transportation. The cost of 12 buses transporting students to and from school each day in addition to all the transportation needed for activities and athletics. Not having a field next door to our school requires many athletes to be bussed daily for practices and games. Hundreds of thousands of dollars go toward transportation a year. Transportation includes anytime a Prep student is going anywhere for school. All Prep shuttles and Wolfington buses that are used need to be paid for, as do their drivers.

In addition to transportation, building operation is a major expense. It is the necessary expense that makes the building run as it should. All utilities, the electricity, the water and other everyday things come from this budget. Another large expense is Financial Aid. Financial Aid is one of the more important expenses for the Prep, as it opens the doors to plenty of students that might not be able attend the Prep without money discounted from the tuition. It is crucial to the Prep living up to its own ideals of

inclusion.

After financial aid, academics are the next necessary cost. This covers textbooks, lab equipment and other supplies used daily in the classrooms. As a school, this cost is pertinent to the operation, so a large amount of money is set aside yearly for it. After academics, the money goes to any department in the school that does not teach. For instance, the President?s Office, the Principal?s Office, the Dean?s Office, Mission and Ministry, College Counseling, and the other departments that run the school but do not always interact directly with the student body fall under this category, known as Administration.

Money also flows toward extra- curricular budgets.

These budgets are very complicated, as there are two main sections of it. The full budget is then valued and used for an operational reasons by the club. The operational budget is for things that are expected to cost money for the club.

For instance, the football team spends money from its operational budget on new helmets, or footballs every year. These are normal expenses that are necessary for the club and expected during budget planning.

There is, in addition to the operational budget, a capital budget, which covers the capital that cannot be covered in the above budget. The capital budget is used for more unex-

pected, unforeseen costs. For instance, if the football team damaged a machine, and they needed a new one, the money to buy it would come from the capital budget. It covers certain costs that are not routine to the operations of the club.

Some projects come from money beyond the set budget of the Prep. The building renovations, for instance, fall under this category of beyond capital. Something like a renovation requires what?s called a Capital Campaign. It usually takes the form of a multi-year campaign that raises money from donors in order to accomplish such a large goal. It is important to attain a large amount of support during a capital campaign. Construction cannot begin in the proposed renovations, for example, until a portion of the goal is reached. Schools can also choose to borrow money or take a loan to complete Capital Campaigns. As is evident, there are many different, complicated paths that a dollar can take from entering into the Prep to leaving it. All of the paths are decided in budget meetings, around February and March, and proposals that come in year round for changes in spending or budget amounts. Since the Prep, in essence, belongs to each and every one of us in its community, everyone should know the detailed experience, and should know that their money is important to the running of the school.

Talking Sage with M r. M aucher

By Joe Scott '19 Since the beginning of the school year, St. Joe?s Prep has been welcoming a new food provider, Sage Dining Services, to our school. After a whole semester with them, there are many noticeable changes to the food we are getting for lunch, and there are still more to come. Among them are price changes, especially drinks; differences in the amount of waste we produce; monthly $5 meals such as at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Chinese New Year; and the possibilities of a food club or a more interactive experience for students with Sage. The Hawkeye was able to get in touch with Mike Maucher, a Sage employee at The Prep and one of the chefs that makes our food every day, to discuss these changes.

As many have noticed as of late, the prices of drinks has gone up.

This is an unavoidable mark up due to the recent establishment of a Soda Tax in Philadelphia. However, Sage is developing an idea to work through it, without many upticks in cost. With the support of the student body,

Sage could potentially begin making their own sweetened iced tea and lemonade that would not be taxed. Due to the language of the tax, if a sweetened drink is made with sugar in house, and not distributed, the drink cannot be taxed. Therefore, if Sage were to make their own sugary drinks, the prices would not rise for them. ?If the community would back us making our own beverages, and we can make lots of different kinds, we would certainly be able to sell drinks with a lower cost,? says Mr. Maucher on the subject. There are many different routes that could be followed, including

carbonated water with soda syrups, iced teas, and lemonades.

Mr. Maucher is also keen on the idea of a Food Club. ?I spoke with Brian Ghee about it [...] we?d like to get a group together of around 20 to meet bimonthly in the kitchen where myself or one of our other chefs would do a cooking demo.? This club would be a great opportunity for students who are interested in cooking to work in a real kitchen with real chefs on a project they enjoy. ?It could also open up a conversation directly between Sage and the students, so we could more effectively gauge how we?re doing.?

This conversation is a new and unique addition to our cafeteria, and Sage has been using it to lower the amount of waste produced by the school as well as to try to cater more directly to what the students want. Mr. Maucher described a kind of ?algorithm? that is used

by Sage to feel out how to best serve the school. They are on a four week cycle, in which the first week is like a test. They run a few different meals, and gauge how the student body reacts. They record how much they make, how much they sell, the amount of waste, whether or not there was a special bell schedule, everything that could possibly determine how much

food is bought and eaten. This data is then used to decide how much food is made for the rest of the cycle. With this practice in place, there is certainly the minimum amount of waste while still comfortably feeding the Prep community.

As many Prep students know and love, once a month the cycle is interrupted by a special $5 meal day. In the past we have seen Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Chinese New Year themed meals, but the future holds more. In February, we will see a Mardi Gras themed meal, featuring southern dishes and festive decorations. There will be a St. Patrick?s Day Meal in March, with potatoes of all kinds, and other Irish foods.

There are lots of things that set Sage apart from past food providers. There is enhanced communication between them and the student body, which can only increase with time.

Sage wishes to continue this communication moving forward, and these changes have been or will be implemented to ensure just that.

4 | Features

Renovations to Villiger Hall Set to Begin A new project is underway to renovate parts of Villiger Hall, the walkway, and the theater.

By Ryan Breslin '18 It is no secret that the Prep?s administration and the Facilities Operations office have been planning renovations to Villiger Hall for some time. If one were to enter the foyer in the past few months, large posters with images from computer renderings of the new campus could be seen. The renovation encompasses the outdoor entranceway, foyer, theater, library, and classrooms. These changes are slated to take effect this summer and will hopefully be complete by fall 2017.

The most noticeable change planned is that of the outer facade of Villiger Hall. The plans call for the Plaza Lot to be repaved, removing the concentric

rectangles of red and gray pavers, and for a staircase to be added to the side of the building. These stairs will be at an equal height with both the Kelly Fieldhouse entrance and the main entrance of the school.

Adjacent to the parking lot is the pathway that connects the Prep to the faculty and senior parking lots. The path will have several sets of stairs flanked by ramps leading directly to the foyer entrance.

Both sides of the pathway feature retaining walls with planters that separate the path from the Plaza Lot and the courtyard, which will both stay at a lower elevation than the new construction. Also included in this section is the ad-

dition of new fencing and lighting along the walkway.

The foyer will remain the same in structure, but will have new decor and furniture. Most prominently featured is the addition of a large, circular seating area directly in the center of a room traditionally dominated by the desk of security legends Mr. Bob Furth and Mr. Shaun White. Tucked into a corner, it is evident that the Admissions office has made a power move to retake the prime real estate from the College Counseling office. Does this hint at a battleground truce, or does it show the feelings of the administration that getting new students into the Prep is more important than taking care of its current stu-

A rendering of the new design for the "Learning Commons".

dents? One can also catch a glimpse of re- done hallways and staircases that make the space feel bigger and look more open. As is a major theme thus far, the renovation continues to place couches, tables, and other study areas in the revised spaces.

The library will be morphed into the ?Learning Commons,? a place to study and do work.

The entrance will remain on right side of the foyer, but will take on an updated look and feel. This remodel of the McShain library might even hint at a shift towards a digital era of the Prep. The renderings show very little room for physical stacks of books in the new workspace and instead offer a view of more individual and collaborative workspaces.

How the exterior of the school could look after renovations.

Finally, one of the best changes that can be made, the revitalization of the Prep Theater. After a long assembly in

Book Review: Maus

By M ichael K oenig ?19 While walking into the McShain Library this past week, I was drawn towards the table that normally contains books that have a common theme on the book display. At this table, I noticed a book that intrigued me I thought to myself, ?why not look at it?. The book is Maus by Art Spiegelman.

This is not like most books; it is a graphic novel. Not having real experience reading comics or novels of this sort, I was reluctant. I had this common perception that it is not serious or it is just a comic. My original thoughts were just to skim through it and just see why I have heard so much about this book. This, however, was not the case. I was drawn into the intense, true brilliancy

by Art Spiegelman and the story of his father being a Jew

in Poland during Nazi power.

The story was different than any other novel I have ever read. If you are unfamiliar with graphic novels, they depict a story through images and possibly dialogue that is around normal book size. Graphic novels are something different then comics, as they are more serious. This novel in particular won a Pulitzer prize, being one of the first graphic novels to win one.

The images gave me a different awareness of the story.

The depictions were simple but in a good way, they did not draw away from the story and the realness of this book. The book is genius in how the art is laid out. With the use of customs or stereotypes in how certain characters are depicted, he uses the analogy in characters of mice to Jews, Germans to cats and, Americans to dogs.

He also throughout the story uses other similes and metaphors that I would not want to spoil.

It is amazing to reflect on how the journey Spiegelman's father and family went through it. It was a great read and this is coming from someone who does not read for pleasure.

There is a second part to this book that I have not had the pleasure to finish yet, but the library also has it. I truly am going to look at this form of literature differently and actual read for enjoyment; something that I would not consider previously.

You can find Maus I and Maus II and more at the McShain Library. I encourage you to at least try and get out of your comfort zone and not read just this book, but you could also check out any other book!

the space, students can often be heard complaining about the lack of comfort that they experience while there. The existing theater has not been changed since its construction.

Cape & Sword Director, Mr. Tony Braithwaite '89, says that "The Prep theatre is in desperate need of some major love.

We've become the largest activity at the school, but sadly the facility itself is an eyesore that's falling apart. Old, stained carpet; broken seats; whole aisles in disrepair; an antiquated lighting system; houselights that haven't worked for literally decades; a ripped, stained curtain; and a fly space that hasn't worked since 1987; bad ventilation in the dressing rooms; a nearly unusable backstage sink; doors without locks or working hinges; etc. The renovations can't come soon enough."

5 | Features

From the Office of Student Council

By Patr ick Dever '17, President of Student Council This column has updates about the efforts and actions of Student Council. This column will be updated for every issue of The Hawkeye and will serve to inform the student body of what their Student Council is doing.

An upcoming event that students should be excited about is the Merion/Prep mixer. The Merion Mercy student council approached us a few weeks ago to see if they could host a mixer at our school due to their gym being

renovated. This mixer is to raise money for families in Nigeria so that they can build a home. Building home is so important over there because to go to school you need a home address. We thought this sounded like a great idea and the mixer is being held next Friday night (March 10th). The theme is 70?s disco, so get on the dance floor with some tube socks and an afro and let's raise some money for Nigeria! ...

Student Council was given the chance to interview the

last three Principal Nominees a few weeks ago. Being that each candidate has either gone to or worked at the Prep, we stayed focus on topics that we feel our students have concerns about. We discussed innovations to the school, such as new technology, Ignatian Spirituality, and the disconnect between the faculty and students. We as a Student Council have been designing a program to bring all members of our community together. This program would involve teachers and staff going to students? clubs or activities after school. Hopefully

this will help our adult leaders understand what an average student goes through each and everyday. Knowing that a new principal will be here in just a few months, we made it very clear that students need all the help they can get and that this program could enhance student life.

In other news we have recently teamed up with the ?Mainline Student Council Union? which consists of Malvern, Villa, Merion, Notre Dame, Sacred Heart, Devon, and the Haverford School.

After a few meetings and brainstorming sessions, this

coalition has decided that we want to give back to our communities before we are all sent off for college. We have decided that we will be hosting a 5k and the proceeds would go towards a specific charity or foundation. We are still deciding where we want to allocate our earnings, but some of the charities that are in the discussion are Evanfest, SHV (Support Homeless Veterans), and St. Jude Children?s Research Hospital. We hope to see the Prep Family come out in support this spring!

Book Review: The Anatomy of Fascism

By Eleanor Tecosky ?Donald Trump is a Fascist!? I?ve seen and heard this phrase more times than I care to admit since the election.

I?ve maybe even been tempted to use it myself. But I realized that while I had a knee- jerk response to the word Fascism, if asked, I couldn?t have actually told you what Fascism is besides ?Bad?. Everyone seems to be using the word, but almost nobody says what they mean by it. So when I saw The Anatomy of Fascism here in McShain Library, I thought I?d better actually know what I was talking about.

Robert O. Paxton is a World War II historian and professor at Columbia, as well as a respected expert on Fascism.The Anatomy of Fascism is his attempt to make clear, using the historical examples of Mussolini?s Italy and Hitler?s Germany, what we mean when we talk about ?fascism?. So, what is Fascism, according to Paxton?

He explains that historians

have struggled with this question because Fascism does not have an internally consistent set of beliefs. Rather than an intellectual tradition, like Liberalism and Marxism, Fascism is a primal appeal to people?s emotions and desire for power. Fascist politics is simply ?...whatever permitted the new fascist man (and woman) to dominate others, and whatever made the chosen people triumph? (p. 17).

Does this slippery nature mean Fascism is impossible to define?

Not according to Paxton.

Fascism is what happens when liberal democracy fails because citizens no longer have trust or belief in their governmental institutions. A ?strongman? leader emerges who convinces a part of the country that they are a superior, special people, and that they must willingly give up their freedoms in exchange for security against an external enemy that threatens them (sometimes this is an outside nation, often a race/religion, like the Jews in Germany). To

count as Fascism and not tyranny, freedoms must be giving up willingly.

So, could Fascism happen here? Because most people have a knee- jerk response to the word, like me, it could not be Fascism that looks the way it did in 1940. Instead, this new Fascism would ?...call itself something else and draw on fresh symbols [but] perform the same functions of mass mobilization for the reunification, purification, and regeneration of some troubled group? (Paxton, 2004, p.

174). Let?s keep in mind that The Anatomy of Fascism was written way back in 2004.

What would Paxton say now: Is Donald Trump a Fascist?

In fact, Paxton has been asked this exact question as recently as February of last year. Paxton?s answer at the time was that Trump ?draws on Fascist symbols? (Slate, ?Is Donald Trump a Fascist?) but he also identified what he believes to be important differences, particularly with regard to economics and the privatization of formerly public services such as healthcare. But how important are these differences? Is Paxton, smart as he is, simply too timid to say when the shoe fits?

He himself has said that for modern day Fascism ?....the enemy would not necessarily be Jews. An authentically popular American fascism would be pious [?religious?], antiblack, and, since September 11, 2001, anti- Islamic as well? ? (Paxton, 2004, p.

174). Doesn?t this raise some alarms? Paxton?s point is that the study of history might make us miss the present moment if we?re trying to force it into simple parallels with the past, but you could accuse

him of this short- sightedness too. Has his opinion changed since the election?

And if Paxton is right and Trump himself is not exactly a Fascist, he has certainly surrounded himself with figures who do fit the bill. Consider Steve Bannon, one of Trump?s chief strategists, who according the New York Times, is a fan of early Italian Fascist writer Julius Evola, an influence on Benito Mussolini and almost entirely unknown outside of neo- Fascist circles (New York Times, ?Steve Bannon Cited Italian Thinker Who Inspired Fascists?).

Trump might not be a Fascist according to Paxton, but he certainly hasn?t strongly condemned it either. How buddybuddy with a Fascist do you have to be to be a Fascist?

Should YOU read this book? Yes, especially if you disagree with what I?ve written here- - judge for yourself!

Go directly to page 219 for a checklist to see if you think what?s happening fits the bill.

If you like politics, World War II, or you just like getting into arguments, this is the book for you. Get ready to open up a Google tab on your chromebook- - you will have to look things up. Paxton does his best to write in plain English about difficult ideas, but it?s not an easy read. I promise you it?s totally worth it.

You can find The Anatomy of Fascism here in McShain Library or at your local public library.

Features | 6

Getting to K now M r. Ver ghese, S.J.

By James Brenner '18 Q: When did you know that you wanted to become a Jesuit?

A: The short answer is, it was when I was on a retreat when I was a Junior at Georgetown, which is about three years ago now. I went on a 5 day silent retreat, and it was my first experience with the spiritual exercises, and I just had a moment where I felt that Jesus was showing me that the Jesuits would be a way I could serve him at the foot of his cross and serve his people most effectively. That had been a long time coming, I think, but in that moment where I really felt it and I really knew it and I haven?t really looked back since. But my experience I think in Jesuit high school, McQuaid Jesuit in Rochester, and also being at Georgetown really led up to that point of being disposed to the Jesuit charism, serving others, being a contemplative in action, and also just being around happy and joyful Jesuits. That was really, really transformative for me. So, thats kind of the path that I was on. It was all leading up to that but when I was on retreat, everything kind of came together. So then I en-

tered after Georgetown.

my

time

at

Q: How would you compare McQuaid Jesuit to the Prep?

A: Its really similar actually, but the first day I walked in her in November, just to get a sense of what my job would be, I thought I was walking into McQuaid again. It?s a very similar size, all guys, same dress code, and my particular job is helping out with retreats and service projects, We have the same kind of Kairos and similar daily service projects that people can do. So in some ways it?s almost like it?s the exact same place. I think what?s different, particularly about being at the Prep, is that we?re in Philadelphia so there seems to be a little more of a Catholic culture, a lot more students are Catholic, but it?s pretty awesome to see how the Jesuit charism and the development of young men, for and with others, forming minds, souls, hearts and characters; It?s all there. Just in a different city. So I would say it?s deeply similar and I?m really happy to be here and I?m really happy that my time at McQuaid prepared me for being at a school like this.

Q: What do you want to get suit novice working at the high out of being here? What are school, so I have a lot more insome goals you have? teraction with the faculty, adA: Well, first and foremost is ministration, so I?m getting a just serving the students. And sense of a different level of Jeusing the talents I have to do suit high schools and Jesuit the best I can do. For me I was secondary education. So that?s a math major in college, I also really interesting to me to learn did a lot of retreat work and about what?s really going on service work at Georgetown, while the students are taking so I want to bring whatever I classes which was most of my have and whatever treasures life at McQuaid. To learn about that I?ve learned and insights the Development Office, the that I?ve learned in the past Finance office, and to learn into this school and share that. how Mission and Ministry is I?m also teaching Ignatian Way relating to the President and with father Surovick, so bring- the Principal. So I?m getting ing a little sense of interests my feet wet in different areas into guys who might want to of the high school that I didn?t look into their own spirituality really experience at McQuaid. and perhaps even a vocation. And it?s really been fun and I So if I look at my own goals, think one of my favorite in general it?s just to use my things, so far, has been going gifts as a teacher and what I?ve on the Kairos retreat, and seelearned in math, in theology, in ing the way the retreat transIgnatian Spirituality, and as a formed the young guys, the JuJesuit in prayer. Bringing my niors there, just over the course example into mass and into re- of four days. It really opened them up, and it opened me up treats, and also into Service. to as a result, so it really bolQ: Is the Prep what you ex- stered my faith, my energy, and pected it to be coming in to my confirmation in being here. work here?

Q: Who would you say, of all A: Yea, it is in a sense like be- the teachers is the best basketing with the guys, being with ball player, besides yourself? the students. From my experience its a little different in that A: The best basketball player?

I?m now an ?adult? and a Je- Oh, I don?t know. From all the

faculty that I?ve met, I?d have my money on Randy [Monroe], but of all the teachers, I?m gonna go with Scott Murphy. It?s a sore subject right no, because I was actually playing with him when I tore my ACL. Alas, I won?t be able to play in the student-faculty game.

Q: Growing up , and now, what are your favorite sports teams?

A: I actually grew up as a young kid in Connecticut, so there were a lot of Yankees fans, and actually I grew up as a UConn basketball fan, so those would be my two main ones. And obviously having gone to Georgetown, I?m a big Georgetown fan as well. College basketball and baseball are big ones, I like watching the NBA, too. I don?t have a specific team, but I love watching the Warriors play, especially now that they have Durant, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. I lived in San Antonio, so I?m also impartial to the Spurs as well. In the NFL, I?m a big fan of Drew Brees, I like watching the Saints, and again I don?t really have a main team, growing up in Connecticut, I didn?t really have a team. I also enjoy watching volleyball, too. I played volleyball in high school and at Georgetown, so I like a lot of different sports, and I could just watch highlights on Youtube for hours on every different sport.

Q: Would you say you were a good volleyball player?

A: Yeah, actually at McQuaid we won the New York state championship. In Western New York, volleyball is pretty big.

And at Georgetown, I played and was the captain of their club team. So, I got a lot of good training at McQuaid. We had some of the best setters in the country at our high school.

We had a Sophomore setter, a Junior setter, and a Senior setter, who were all on the Junior National Team. So mostly my training at McQuaid has made me a pretty good player, but I?m out of commission now.

So, I was playing with the team on open gyms over in the Multi-Purpose Room, I?ll have to stop for the season, and I?m gonna help coach.

From left to right: Mr. Verghese, Mr. Jerome, Fr. Surovick, Mr. Deitch.

Follow @Haw k eye_SJP on Tw it t er f or Br eak in g New s, St or ies, an d Updat es!

7 | Features

Faculty Gr id

By Andrew Shapiro '19 I f you won the lotter y, what would you do with the money?

M r. M ike Sokolowski '08

M s. Eleanor Tecosky

Buy a house in Give some to charity, Clearwater for Spring the Humane League. training

Brother Bob Car son, S.J.

M r. L eo Vaccaro '05

Give it to the needy

Depends on how much it was. I'd donate the money, and keep 10%.

I f you could have any super power what would it be?

Super speed

The ability to turn the lights off from the other room

To have everybody get an A

Teleportation

I f you could go back in time to meet anyone, who would you meet?

Cicero

Andrea Dworkin

Rosa parks

Lincoln

Who will win the NCAA tour nament?

Anyone except Villanova. Please.

No idea

Villanova

Which tournament?

Amy Fister (University of Memphis), could win the Smallbore Three-Position Rifle championship this Friday. That, and Villanova.

The Hawkeye Staff Editor s-in-Chief

Head Wr iter s

Simon Williams '18

Jon Erdy '17

Mac Riga '17

Robert Calabro ?19

Aidan O'Connor '17

Liam Scott '17

Zachary Carr '19

Nick Palermo '18

Jacob DeAnnuntis '19

News Section Editor

Liam Grugan '19

Thomas Dintino '19

Matt Phillips '18

Joe Scott '19

Andrew Koh '19

Features Section Editor

John Thorell '19

Marco Sammartino ?18

Staff Wr iter s

Nicholas Mattera '19

Spor ts Section Editor

Ryan Breslin '17

Daniel O?Connell ?19

Matthew Brennan '18

Von Hobe '17

Peter Banfe '20

Opinion/Debate Section Editor

Chris Rathke '17

David McCabe '19

Dan Avington ?18

M oder ator

Director of Editor ials

James Brenner '18

Mr. Leo Vaccaro '05

Liam Grugan '19

Will Breslin '18

Enter tainment Section Editor

Nathan Coulibaly ?18

Special Thanks To:

Eamon Gallagher '17

Ronan Egan '18

Mr. Frank Raffa

Business M anager s

John Feehery '18

Riley Herriman '18

David Haddad '18

Liam Gibbons ?18

Matthew McCabe '18

Tim Harris '18

Jonathan Procopio '18

John Thorell '18 David Sakowski '18

Sports | 8

Prep Rugby Tour s To Nor th Carolina, Vir ginia

By Dave M cCabe '19 Every year, the Sophomore, Junior, and Senior Members of the Rugby team travel either nationally or internationally to play matches in places like Ireland, Chile, Tennessee, or this year North Carolina and Virginia.

Five coaches joined the team on the tour: Mr. Tom Dugan

?78, Mr. Tkachuk, Mr. McCloskey ?91, Mr. Rae, and Mr. Craven. The bus ride took over 9 hours and before going on the trip Mr. McCloskey commented, ?It will be a long bus ride, but I am sure the boys will entertain each other with some Karaoke?

The biggest challenge for the Prep?s team was that these

were their first games of the season, while the teams in North Carolina and Virginia have already played about 4 or 5. ?We expect that the kids will be fired up for the first games of the season and that we will compete. The teams we are playing have already had a few games under their belt, but that only means that we will have to rise up even more,? said Mr. McCloskey ?91.

The A-side kicked off their season against the 18th-ranked side in the country, Myers Park while the B-side took on a talented Rocky River RFC side. The B-side lost their opener by a score of 12-47 but the A-side took down their opponents by a score of 50-24.

Van Henkels '17 r uns through the Hampton Heat defense

In past tours, the rugby team has made a tradition of passing around ?Gilbert,? a plush hawk doll to whoever commits a ?tour fine.? This year?s tour

was no exception.

When asked about Gilbert and the ?tour fines? Coach McCloskey replied, ?basically, stupid things people do. Forget their phone in a restaurant, oversleep, be late for the bus? You need to carry Gilbert with you at all times except in games? but, yes, you must carry him before and after games. Most importantly, whenever asked, you must explain to strangers the full story behind Gilbert and why you are carrying him.? Some Gilbert carriers of note include, but are not limited to, Christopher Lamplugh '18 and Aidan Kelly ?18.

After their clashes with the North Carolina teams, the team traveled to Virginia Beach where they were matched up against the Hampton Heat with their A side and their B side.

The Prep?s A side won 41-5,

but the B side lost 12-29; both sides saw some great action.

Since the end of their tour, Prep RFC?s A-side has defeated Conestoga HS, their perrenial rivals and the previous season?s state champions. In their most recent contest, the A-side took their first loss of the season to the #2 side in the country, Xavier High School. The B-side still seeks its first win after a string of tough games against the A-side of Media RFC, the B-side of Xavier and B-side of Cumberland Valley.

Both sides play a visiting Loyola Blakefield team this Friday, March 10th at Brady Field at 11th and Cecil B. Moore. The A-side kicks off at 5:30pm and the B-side follows at 7:00. The team then travels to Maryland to take #47 in the country, Georgetown Prep on Sunday, March 12th.

The 2017 PCL Playoffs: The Showdown for the Ages

By Dan Avington '18 This year?s Catholic League playoffs were some of the best games that the Philadelphia area has seen in quite some time. The Vikings of Archbishop Wood were the eventual victors, but they most certainly did not have an easy path to the first Catholic League title in their history.

The first round of this year?s playoffs pitted #8 seeded Bonner- Prendie against the Eagles of Conwell- Egan, in which the Friars came out with the win due to the balance of scoring between Tymir Cooper, Justin Gans, Dylan Higgins, Ajiri Johnson, and Christian Lane. This regular season, the St. Joe?s Prep Hawks took home a loss against both teams, but despite that, they managed to secure a higher seed and placed out of the first round. The other first round game was Archbishop Carroll vs. the Explorers of La Salle, in which AJ Hoggard, Justin Anderson, and Colin Daly led the way for the Patriots en route to a big W. With those wins, Bonner and Carroll advanced to the quarterfinals and went up against the two best teams in the Catholic League: Neumann- Goretti and Archbishop Wood.

The matchup of Wood and Bonner pitted the Catholic League MVP Collin Gillespie against the Friars, and Wood came away with a 65- 43 win.

The Saints of NeumannGoretti were able to take down Archbishop Carroll behind the 22 points and 21 rebounds of Villanova commit Dhamir Cosby- Roundtree, and the 14 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists from future Kentucky Wildcat Quade Green.

And finally, we arrive at the tightest contest of the Catholic League playoffs: St. Joe?s Prep vs. Roman Catholic. This matchup pitted Wooten Award winner Speedy Morris against his former protege Matt Griffin, now the head coach of the Cahillites. In this quarterfinal game hosted at Philadelphia University, inside a packed stadium containing rowdy Prep and Roman students, the Hawks were unable to secure a spot in the semifinals despite a superb effort from the squad?s three juniors. Kyle Thompson, the team?s leading scorer throughout the season, scored 21 points, and hit tons of free throws down the stretch, even though he was still suffering from a back injury suffered earlier on this season. Croswell added 14 points and 8 rebounds, in addition to strong defense against opposing center Seth Lundy, who has picked up offers from Penn State and Temple since that performance.

Allen Betrand was fabulous in this game, scoring 17 points, and JP Sanders added 12, while freshman Lynn Greer totaled 5 assists as the team?s point guard. Darius Kinnel also had double digits for the Prep, scoring 10 points and tallying six assists, but the Hawks were unable to overcome the Cahillites, eventually taking home a 56-55 loss.

In the final quarterfinal game, it was a matchup of Northeast Philly: the Archbishop Ryan Raiders against the Crusaders of Father Judge.

Ryan took home the huge win in this one behind the 25 points of Latvian forward Matiss Kulackovskis, 14 points from NJIT commit Izaiah Brockington, and 11 points and 7 blocks from Fred Taylor. For Judge,

Marc Rodriguez scored 32 points, which is no surprise considering he is the highest scorer in Father Judge history, but his effort was not enough, as Judge took home the loss by a score of 68-58.

Next up was the semifinals, which pitted Neumann against Roman Catholic, who happen to be the back to back champions of the Catholic League.

Neumann?s stars did not even have to show their prowess, as Noah Warren, Dymir Montague, and Christian Ings led the way for the Saints down the stretch. Seth Lundy scored 20, and Allen Betrand added 19, while Lynn Greer suffered an injury prior to the matchup, and only played a very short time on the court, but the 18 points of Green were just too much for Roman, as they lost 67-56. Meanwhile, Wood took down Ryan 75-66 behind a superb effort from their best

player, Collin Gillespie, who tallied 33 points. Brockington had 31 points for Ryan, and Taylor contributed 8 points, five rebounds, and 3 blocks in his final game as a Raider.

And finally, we reach the biggest game of the season: the Catholic League Championship at the home of Philadelphia basketball, the historic Palestra. Collin Gillespie and his Vikings rallied back from a 15 point hole early, and ended up winning 65-58 to secure their first basketball title ever. Gillespie had 24 points, while Tyree Pickron had 13 and Matt Cerruti added 15. Rounding out the box score for the Vikings was 6?10? center Seth Pinkney with 8 points and four blocks. Quade Green had 18, Noah Warren had 13, and Cosby- Roundtree totaled up 11 rebounds. And with that, the Archbishop Wood Vikings took home the 2016- 17

Catholic League title, mostly because of the phenomenal play from CL MVP and Villanova commit Collin Gillespie. Other key contributors this season for Wood were senior guard Matt Cerruti, Tyree Pickron, a versatile forward who already has a few college offers, Andrew Funk, whose brother Tommy led the Vikings last season and now plays at Army, and Seth Pinkney, who exploded onto the scene this year and emerged as one of the best big men in the league.

Neumann- Goretti also had a great season behind Kentucky commit Quade Green and Villanova commit Dhamir CosbyRoundtree. This was a fantastic year for Catholic League basketball, as Wood, Neumann, Roman, Ryan, Judge, and St. Joe?s Prep all assembled fabulous squads this year. And best of all, next year?s crop appears to be just as good as this one.

9 | Opinion/Debate

Should M idter ms Come Before Chr istmas?

By L iam Gr ugan '19 As discussions surrounding a shifting schedule have come, in recent weeks, into the minds of many of our students, the post- break placement of semester examinations has proven to require greater scrutiny. While from a logical standpoint, more time to study should return higher grades, the reality of the situation tends to stray from this ideal.

Over Christmas, my understanding is that a vast minority of students prepares effectively for exams. Instead, the common ?Prepper? (in this case, a misnomer) attempts to relax with family, all the while fretting over the crushing return to school.

Because exams comprise the cumulative material from the entire semester, too often are students burdened with cramming half of a year into roughly a week and a half.

This Herculean task is often accompanied by an influx of long term assignment duedates, added to regular homework. At this point, the teenager is forced to prioritize studying to preserve a fifth of his grade over sleep, which leads only to further procrastination.

Now, to this, the only response is that ?students need to work on looking ahead in planning their studying,? but at what point must we accept the factor in this attributable to adolescence? Teenage boys, as a species, prefer slacking to getting ahead.

There is no logical reason why this wastefulness occurs with such frequency; it simply does and, time and time again, has proven true. Study habits, though supposedly formed in grade school, too often fail to account for the lack of endurance in the attention span of

teenagers. If the issue were technical, students would be able to overcome it, but, because we draw from such a small pool of motivation, vacationing high school students will never prepare with any order, nor with any effectiveness, for our midterm examinations.

As students, we have a binding contract to our studies, but, I suggest, this should not come at the cost of a restful break.

We need this time to reset our minds, in preparation for an upcoming semester. It is easily likened to hibernation. The time majestic black bears spend cuddlin?it up is the same as that which Preppers spend eating Bugles and playing video games on their cousin?s Playstation: we are alive, but there is no critical thinking fueling our existence.

As any mathematician will attest, a near complete lack of thought can not be shared between both Chemistry and Call of Duty. Most pick the latter, and pray for some relief come the week of exams. If students were able to transition directly from classes to exams, there would be no opportunity to lose the semester?s information in frivolous time-spending.

While exams could and should remain unchanged in their form, students would benefit greatly from decompression ? in place of compression ? over break. Students need relaxation; denying them an opportunity for peace is a crime matched only by spitting from the front seat of a roller coaster. Though placing exams before break may seem unnecessary in discussion, the reality?s potentially gamechanging impact of higher focus on exam grades would cause a ripple effect: carrying the same energy into the start of the second semester.

By M att Phillips '18 I did not ask for this fight.

No, I had already undertaken an article for this week, and was content to let the rest of the Hawkeye meeting play its course, until I heard the foolish rumblings of one Liam Grugan ?19 posing the question: ?Who would ever argue that midterms shouldn?t be before Christmas??

I am one of many students at the Prep who would take issue with such an assumption. The argument that midterms at the Prep should operate in a way that is more comparable to term exams on the college level is one of the oldest complaints in the book, cried out by countless students as they fumble to handle six or seven cumulative exams in the middle of January. Some years, these weeks are more harrowing than others ? I?m looking at you, years when Science and Math are scheduled on the same day.

I?m not here to argue that midterms at the Prep are any semblance of enjoyable ? quite obviously, they?re not.

However, the placement of midterms is strategic, since the faculty recognize their difficulty and want to optimize our performance on such tests.

January, the fifth month of the school year, is devoted almost entirely to the reviewing for and taking of midterms; it is flanked by four months on either side. Every two months is approximately one quarter, each semester has one major break (Christmas and Spring), and thus the amount of time for the First and Second Semesters at the Prep are divided equally.

Moving midterms to December would have severe repercussions, especially for those students who do not often find

themselves exempt from midterms for a semester class.

Looking over the Prep?s academic calendar for the 2016- 17 year, anywhere from two to four weeks could be considered ?midterm season.?

Though there are only two weeks over which the reviewing for and taking of midterms actually takes place, many teachers start their reviews the week prior, and the week directly following midterms is essentially another NT Week, as it takes time for material to be built up and tested again.

Giving midterms in December would mean that this season of midterms, a nearly four week period, would have to begin at the end of November, before students went on Christmas break. Either way, it would involve most of the month of December being used to test students on three months of material. While this reality of being tested on less seems good (and perhaps would be for students who often earn exemptions), the great majority of the Prep community would only suffer from this change. Testing on three months of material in December would mean that final exams tested on some five months of material. The amount of information in some Prep classes is already overwhelming; because of this, many teachers choose to test on Semester I in January, and Semester II in May. This avoids overloading students with all of the material from the year; testing on five months of material would overload students in a similar way.

This begs another relevant question: if midterms, a portion of the year where we are in limbo between Second and Third Quarter, are moved to

December, how would the quarters be structured? The answer seems to be that First and Second Quarter would last about a month and a half, while Third and Fourth Quarter would last two and a half months each. This is not just imbalanced, it?s unfair. Every Prep student knows what it?s like to have held onto an A average for an entire quarter, only to lose it with a quarterly exam or another end- quarter assignment. Making the first two quarters shorter would lower the risk of this happening; however, lengthening the final two quarters (which, on many departmental grading scales, matter more) would lead to greater risk of exemption loss.

Colleges test students before their Winter Break because many colleges operate on a timetable for which this makes sense. Whether operating on a quarterly, trimester or semester schedule, students are typically tested before they go on Winter Break. This break is much longer in college than it is for Prep students, and Winter Break is not an outlier in that sense: less time is spent at college in one year, overall, than is spent in high school. Because of the larger amount of time spent off from school, testing on three months of material makes far more sense on the collegiate level. To be clear: colleges do not, by and large, strive for uneven marking periods, as this is simply unfounded.

Implementing uneven marking periods at the Prep would be similarly unfounded, and it would also have seriously negative effects on the student body in the long- run, despite how grand the idea sounds upon first consideration.

M usical M usings: The Bantams

By Aidan O?Connor ?17 Since its construction in 1888, the Church of the Gesu has been continually graced by hymns, prayers, and renditions of ?Down to the River to Pray?. Within the past few weeks however, The Bantams (comprised of Chris Rathke ?17) have brought a new sound to the Church with their latest music video ?Drive?.

Comprised of the classic Bantams alternative sound with a fresh influx of organ music, the song is one for the ages.

Alex Richey ?17, a friend of Chris?s and member of the Prep band, says: ?Chris?music has really blown up lately.

Seeing this music video was

just a representation of what I already knew: that he puts everything he has into this?.

The talent of the Bantams is also being recognized beyond Bluebell, where they got their humble start. Currently the Bantams are in the top 25 finalists to open for the Radio 104.5 Birthday show. Voting takes place from March 1st through March 12th. The winning band will open for the likes of the Killers and Foster the People. Any person who has a fine taste in music or is just an aficionado of the Church of the Gesu would be bereft if they did not check out this music video.

A still shot from the Bantams's music video "Drive" (available on youtube.com)

Opinion | 10

Devos Unqualifed?

By William Breslin '18

ably.

?Unqualified,? that's the first thing you'll hear from most people when referring to President Trump?s Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. This criticism isn?t undeserved, in fact, it's incredibly deserved as DeVos has never attended a public school herself, sent her children to one, or been involved with public schooling, in any way except as a ?mentor.?

Besides the decimation of public schools in the city, the Public- Charter schools in and around Detroit perform incredibly poorly, with most of these institutions ranking in the bottom 5% of performers throughout the state of Michigan. The idea that this program should be expanded to a national level is frightening.

The fact that she?s never managed any type of bureaucracy is also a cause for concern. In her time as the Chairwoman for the the Michigan Republican Party, her policies on education saw the school system in Detroit fail miser-

Outside of ?the 1%?, the country is divided into two main classes. The majority of people fall into the ?Middle Class? and the remainder fall below the poverty line. Good, well performing, public high schools are the quintessential tool for career success. These schools offer students below

the poverty line an opportunity to break free of the poverty cycle, and succeed, professionally, when they reach adulthood.

Simultaneously, these schools offer middle class students a place to attend, where they are given the opportunity to climb the economic ladder.

By eviscerating these schools, you leave students with a dearth of options, in respect to their education. They can choose to either attend a private school, should they be fortunate enough to have the financial capabilities to afford one, or attend a Public-Charter school, possibly tens of miles away, whose performance may be mediocre, year after year.

Devos? inability to provide coherent answers to the simple questions of senators Bernie Sanders, from Vermont; Elizabeth Warren, from Massachusetts; and Tim Kaine, from Virginia, as well as many more, is also a cause for concern.

Senator Tim Kaine posed a simple question to the Secretary: ?Do you believe in equal accountability for any educational program that receives federal funding??, to which secretary DeVos failed to produce a straightforward yes or no, instead expressing that she ?believes in accountability?, stating that there cannot be equal accountability across all forms of education, from public, to public charter, to private.

Apart from the policies of the unqualified, inexperienced, secretary, there is great controversy on how she was selected for this elite role in our government. Her and her family?s contributions to the republican party, since 2000, exceed $200 million dollars, their contributions to the 115th congress exceed $4 million dollars, and their contributions to the congressmen on the committee responsible for confirming her as secretary of education nearly $1 million dollars.

Senator Sanders summarized this controversy in a question to the Secretary nominee ?Do

you think that if you were not a multi-billionaire, if your family had not made hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions, that you would be sitting here today??. While DeVos answered that she thought she still would be, this begs the question, ?why was she considered, and how was she approved?.

The mere idea that DeVos, who has never held a public office before, would even be considered for the role of Secretary of education, is a frightening one. This pay- to- play precedent, not only epitomizes government corruption, but demeans the qualified, experienced, candidates, president Trump had to choose from.

The nomination of the multi billionaire, DeVos, brings to light one simple warning: when we let our government be corrupted by the one percent, we lose concern for those outside of it. DeVos? lack of public education experience, and the missing years in office, expected by anyone who is going to lead a national department, unless of course that department is the entire country, and the leader is our current president, coupled with a policy that has failed miserably in its implementation throughout Detroit, make Betsy DeVos an exceedingly poor choice for Secretary of Education.

Video Game Review: For Honor

By M ac Riga '17 Last year, I was selected by Ubisoft to participate in a closed Alpha of their upcoming title, For Honor.

With the game releasing last week and my nondisclosure agreement expiring, it seems only fitting to discuss the game.

For Honor is a third-person action fighting game developed by Ubisoft. The game was first announced at E3 (Electronics Entertainment Expo) in 2015, and since that time has been one of Ubisoft?s most eagerly anticipated projects.

The gameplay revolves around teams of four players and waves of weaker, computer controlled minions.

Players choose between one of three factionsKnights,

Released Date: Febr uar y 14, 2017 ESRB Rating: M Aver age L ength: 8 Hour s M etacr itic Score: 79/100 Pr ice: $59.99

Samurai, and Vikings- and play one of four classes within each faction. This does not mean however that there are twelve unique play styles; across the three factions, the classes are more or less the same and play almost identically apart from a few minor differences.

Each faction has a ?well-rounded? class, a ?fast but lightly armored? class, a ?slow but powerful? class, and a ?long rang/spear? class. The classes can be unlocked using in-game currency, and despite there not being much variation between the factions, each class has a distinct and enjoyable style. Despite the wide variety however, no one class feels over powered. This is largely due to For Honor?s unique combat system.

The main gameplay conceit of For Honor is its decidedly more advanced combat.

Players battle by toggling a camera-lock on with enemies, moving with the left joystick, and aiming attacks and blocks with the right joystick. Attacks and guards can be aimed in one of three directions.

The rest is simple: block where your enemy telegraphs and attack where they?re not blocking. This simplistic but unusual system allows for a massive depth and breadth to

the combat and shakes up set conventions in a delightful way.

Mindgames, sharp reflexes, snap decisions based on the speed of your character compared to that of your enemy- all of these elements come into play and make the core gameplay massively addictive and just as fresh on the 100th match as it was on the first.

For Honor?s presentation is nothing to write home about.

Despite being perfectly suited to bright popping visuals and unique character design, Ubisoft leans towards dull, muddy colors and little obvious visual differences in the designs of the characters.

The arenas are very detailed and look great on PC, but with so much attention afforded to the character models themselves by nature of the gameplay, it stands to reason that Ubisoft should have spent more time designing them than the backgrounds.

The soundtrack is almost non-existent with matches occurring in relative silence save some percussion. The voice acting and sound effects are fine, but nothing special.

When I was playing the Alpha build, I encountered an issue wherein I was unable to find any matches at all. Given that the game in that build was

exclusively multiplayer, this proved to be somewhat of an issue.

While I was still able to play against computers, I never in the entire alpha was able to connect to other players. This was a worrying sign with Ubisoft who is notorious for their bad servers and frequently botched online features. Sure enough, with the release of the game, For Honor was riddled with connectivity errors and servers that seemed almost eternally crashed. Many of these issues seem to be resolved at this time, but errors still occur.

For Honor is a fun game to be sure and Ubisoft should be given credit for straying from genre conventions and creating a fun, complex fighting system

with great potential. That said, with a short campaign, a myriad of typical Ubisoft connectivity issues, the necessity to use Uplay on PC, a lack of cross-platform play, dull presentation, and the presence of microtransactions keep this game from living up to the hype it had generated.

For Honor was not the convention shattering release it was anticipated to be, nor was it even a particularly impressive team-based arena fighter. In the end For Honor is a fun distraction before the game-release year begins in earnest, but is certainly not worth the $60 price tag. For Honor is available now on PC, Playstation 4, and Xbox One.

Editor ials L etter to the Editor s M r. Joe Gr iffin, letter to the editor concer ning ?Thanks for the memor ies ? ?

From personal experience I know that producing a high school or college newspaper is a tough job. And producing a good one consistently is an even tougher job. But every once in awhile something wonderful comes along and you know, you just know, that all that work was worthwhile.

I want to thank Micha Delfmann for his reflections about his visit to Philadelphia and the Prep, and I want to thank ?The Hawkeye? staff for printing them.

You will probably never know Micha how you inspired me or how far back you took me in my own reflections. I remembered that I too ?... felt totally on my own? when I sat in the Prep principal?s office in the spring of 1969 for over two hours mixing conversation with cigarette smoke until Fr. Joe Ayd, S.J. offered me a position teaching senior English.

I remembered the summer after my freshman year in college when I was invited to New York City to perform in a variety show at Madison Square Garden on the fourth of July, celebrating Philadelphia as the cradle of independence.

I spent an exciting afternoon during rehearsal swapping sport stories with a dignified, middle-age gentleman, who turned out later that evening to be Walter Cronkite. I also tried to get a date with a very, very pretty young lady, who was a student at the University of Pennsylvania and who turned out later that evening to be Miss America from Ephrata, Pennsylvania. (I didn?t get the date.) I remembered Rise Stevens, a truly beautiful person from the Metropolitan Opera, squeezing my hand after graciously autographing my program. And oh yes! The ?Rockettes? were there too.

Although, they probably weren?t the same ones that were at Donald Trump?s inaugural ball.

But you are right Micha, the most exciting and shocking moment for both of us is the ?Trump Age.? The next time I hear Donald Trump ranting about ?the mess he?s inherited,? I think we should send him your reflections. If that picture of you and Dave McCabe doesn?t cheer him up, nothing will. Thanks again, Micha, and thanks for giving me a deeper appreciation for the famous line in Shakespeare?s play, The Tempest, when Miranda says: ?Oh brave, new world / That has such people in it.?

From the Editing Staff: I s The Demand on Students Too Great?

As the fourth quarter comes into view, we at the Hawkeye have decided to address an issue present in the minds of all Prep students: homework. With workloads essentially relying on the integrity of the teacher, we have concluded that ?excessive homework? is circumstantial. Because of this, students, with varying activities and courses, seem to be divided evenly on the topic.

About schoolwork, Editor in Chief, Jon Erdy ?17, who is involved with multiple other programs (such as the rugby team), states that ?every Prep student has experienced the workload that comes with the rigor of his school curriculum.?

He goes on to say that balancing such difficulty enables students to ?derive a satisfaction in knowing they were up to the challenge.?

News Section Editor, Matt Phillips ?18, would agree.

Phillips has a strong presence onstage, but also spends his time with other extracurricular activity.

He cites the ?difficulty of the school? as ?part of the unique Prep experience.? He does, however, recognize that, when teachers give assignments, ?there is a certain boundary that should avoid being crossed, and some Prep teachers completely ignore that boundary in favor of busy work.? He concludes with the notion that ?the covenant between the student and the teacher requires a student who is willing to challenge himself, but also a teacher who has realistic expectations.? Perhaps it is this

same disconnect that moves David McCabe ?19 and Marco Sammartino ?18 to oppose.

McCabe says that ?with most students taking 7 challenging classes, they can easily fall behind in the work that piles up quickly.?

He admits that, when observed on a given night, ?when it all adds up it?s equal,? but he blames the size and form of larger, more challenging assignments, often coming from ?that most difficult class,? for feelings of excessiveness: ?It should be used to reinforce what was just learned in the classroom that day, instead of students teaching themselves at home.?

Sammartino adds that ?it is important to remember that many of us are balancing a social life, athletics, and clubs all at the same time.? He closes saying that he does not ?think it would be a bad thing if the amount of homework being given were reduced, even only a little bit.?Though the issue may be polarizing, as so many of us have shifting schedules, each interviewee admits to the necessity of the workload; on the other hand, each agrees that the system for assigning homework tends to be flawed. This issue, relevant only to the student, can be addressed by discussing study habits with other students, counselors, parents, and even teachers. While a mandatory change in workload may seem unlikely, it is important for us to maintain our lives both in and out of school.

11 | Opinion

The M ilo Yiannopolous Case: Hate Speech vs.

Free Speech

By M r Stephen Oldham, Religious Studies Depar tment After reading the article in the Feb.9th Hawkeye describing the case of Milo Yiannoupoulos (an editor at Breitbart news and college lecturer, Tom Ciccotta(Prep class of ?13 and contributor for Breitbart news) and the oppositional reactions on college campuses by certain faculty and student organizations; I began to reflect on the guiding principles of an Ignatian inspired education as is conveyed to Prep students throughout their time here.

How can the core principles of the ?grad to grad? (loving, religious, open to growth, intellectually competent and committed to doing justice) illuminate the vexing conflict of Free Speech protected under the First Amendment and the obligation of schools to provide a safe place for students to engage in academic and scholarly debate without the fear of targeted harassment, slander and defamation of character based on gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, ethnicity, political views, etc.

Honestly, I am quite conflicted by this issue. There is nothing new in this debate which continues to arise throughout the history of ?liberal? education: the Red Scare of the 1950?s targeting speech deemed contrary to mainstream definitions of patriotism and capitalism as a danger to our democracy; and my memories on the campus of Georgetown University during the Vietnam War fearing being targeted by the ?truth? police because of my membership in the Reserved Officers Training Corps. I then went home to West Point and hearing military friends of my parents disparaging all legitimate, peace protests as ?antiAmerican.? Would West Point ever invite pacifists or conscientious objectors to speak on campus critical of particular wars or war itself as a rational means to long term resolution of conflicts? One summer at West Point as I applied for a job cutting the grass of the parade grounds, I had to sign a document that I

have never belonged to a long list of ?anti-American? organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union.

There is no question that our republic has always been divided by race, religion, political views, sex/gender, and ethnicity. Only now it is more public and partisan given the variety of media outlets and current political rhetoric.

Under stress, people tend to divide along rigid dualistic boundaries fueled by the adrenaline rush of our more primitive brain- the amygdala.

Us vs. Them. Civility, respect for diversity and our common humanity become lost as our more analytical pre-frontal cortex is put to sleep. Our culture currently seems to encourage this ?win at all cost? approach to debates and life itself. Where is the impetus for a lively debate on issues rooted in the search for Truth and emphasizing our common humanity with respect and tolerance? It is important for each of us to form/inform our conscience to the best of our abilities acknowledging our limitations to know the Truth fully. We are not called to perfection; but we are called to compassion, empathy, and love.

I cannot speak directly to the issues faced by our Prep alum, Tom Ciccotta, on the campus of Bucknell without a full investigation of the facts involved in the decision to censure him. But, I have read numerous articles investigating the incendiary speech and tactics, used by Mr. Yiannopoulos, in which he has singled out individual students using a ?target cam?, projected their images on a big screen without their permission and then incited other students to engage in insults, harassment and ridicule.

Is this truly ?free? speech based on the moral principles taught at the Prep? Is it loving, intellectually competent, committed to social justice/human rights, open to human growth, religiously based on the virtues of respect, option for the poor, vulnerable and marginalized? Is Mr. Yiannopoulos fostering a healthy climate of respectful debate on the issues based on scholarly content and open to

diverse responses? I read that Mr. Yiannopoulos was permanently banned from Twitter. Why? He has been criticized for naming the ?Black Lives Matter? movement a ?terrorist? organization of black supremacists. He lambasted the ?rape culture? on campuses as a feminist attack on masculinity. He singled out a transgender student on the target cam for ridicule which led to the student leaving the University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee feeling unprotected by the institution.

The list goes on and on. I recommend that interested readers read the Jan. 2017 letter signed by one hundred faculty members at the University of California at Berkeley in which they offered rational arguments and examples for urging Chancellor Dirks not to allow Mr. Yiannopoulos to speak on the campus in February, 2017.

Free Speech is not Hate Speech was their claim. You cannot yell ?fire? in a crowded theater. You cannot slander others, etc. Balancing individual rights with the common good is the challenge.

In conclusion, St. Joseph?s Prep School grad to grad principles can help guide us with these vexing issues. How do we encourage legitimate free speech while also protecting our students, faculty and staff from being the targets of slander, insults, harassment and character defamation based on sexual orientation, gender, religion, politics, ethnicity, economic class, immigrant status, etc.

Are we loving, open to genuine human growth, loving, spiritually based on the inclusive teachings of Jesus, and committed to doing justice in a non-violent manner especially showing concern for the ?least? of our brothers and sisters? We are challenged to ?set the world afire?. The fire of love, compassion and justice, not the fire of misogyny, racism, manifest destiny and the rest of these destructive ?sins.? Let us do an early Lenten moral inventory and not get caught up in the chaotic meanness of our culture.

Want to write into the Hawkeye? Contact Liam Grugan '19 for details.

Th is Week On Tw it t er

By Jon Er dy '17

Upcom in g Even t s at t h e Pr ep

By Aidan O'Con n or '17

Thur sday, M arch 9th

Tuesday, M arch 14th

Satur day, M arch 18th

Tuesday, M arch 21st

Mothers' Club Fashion Show

Prep Community Life Meeting

Tennis Battle in the Burgh

Kairos 155 Begins

Satur day. M arch 10th

Thur sday, M arch 16th

Baseball vs. St. Peter's Prep

Montserrat III

Dress Down Day

Sunday, M arch 19th

Father-Son Service Project

Quarter 3 Ends

Saint Joseph's Day

Fr iday, M arch 17th St. Patrick's Day

Crew - 1st Flick Regatta

Spring Sport Mass (1 Hour Delay)

M onday, M arch 20th

Tennis vs. Central

No School

Sunday, M arch 11th Daylight Savings Times Begins

Wednesday, M arch 22nd Tennis vs. Cardinal O'Hara Baseball vs. Malvern Prep

Follow @SJPr ep_Spor t s on Tw it t er f or Scor e Updat es an d Gam e Resu lt s