The Student Newspaper of St. Joseph's Prep
Vol. 47, I ssue V
1733 West Gir ar d Ave. Philadelphia, PA, 19130
M arch 4, 2022
2 | SI X WORD MEMOI R | The Hawkeye | Friday, March 4, 2022
Table of Contents
M r. Pinto, M ichael Doyle, M r. Cockenber g : 4-5 M r. Conner s, M s. Ryan: 9
M s. Becker, Yixiu L in, M s. Castagno: 6-7
Oliver Ricciar delli, Andrew M izger d: 10
M emoir Collage: 8
The Hawkeye's Fir st Ar tboar d: 11
A Note from Caleb Datto '22 A project founded by SMITH Magazine, an online storytelling magazine, six-word memoirs are a way to tell your personal story. When we sent out the survey to members of the Prep community, we didn?t know what to expect with the responses. We at The Hawkeye fell in love with your personal stories and wanted to further explore and share them with our readers. As you flip through this special issue of The Hawkeye, you?ll notice that there are no articles about the Prep?s COVID response, meeting a new faculty member, or the latest big album release. These are the 85 six word memoirs of your peers, teachers, staff, and people you thought you knew. We?ve selected ten of our favorite six word memoirs and tasked The Hawkeye staff with understanding the stories behind these memoirs. You might be surprised to learn about a teacher?s near death experience, a peer?s incredible way of viewing friendship, and one student?s perspective that he developed during an intercontinental move. We proudly present to you the first ever Six Word Memoir Issue of The Hawkeye. A special thanks to The Hawk Newspaper of St. Joseph's University and Ms. Kelly McGlynn for inspiring this special issue.
- Caleb Datto ?22, Features Editor
The Hawkeye Staff of 2021-2022 St. Joseph's Prepar ator y School 1733 West Gir ar d Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19130 Editor s-in-Chief
Opinion-Debate Editor
Jack Gallagher '23
Jackson Maguire '24
Murphy Bonner '22
Daniel Deeney '22
Ian Gomez '23
Joseph Mancini '24
Kieran Hicks '23
Antoine Robinson '24
Spor ts Editor
Drew Kampf '23
Quinn Holden '25
Brendan Dougherty '23
Max Nast '23
Stephen Cain '22 Robert Woltjen '22
Junior M anaging Editor s
Zach Reagan '23
M oder ator s
Luke Gallagher '23
Staff Wr iter s
Michael Robak '23
Mr. Leo Vaccaro '05
Liam Holden '23
Jared Alicea '22
Anthony Salvato '23
Mr. Kevin Kearney '06
Nicholas Bedrossian '22
Wolfgang Wahl '23
News Editor
Eamon Coffey '22
CJ Weipz '23
Aiden Anderson '22
Joseph Kriz '22
Andrew Wenger '23
Nate Murawski '22
Aidan Williams '23
Features Editor
Andrew Sergovic '22
Jake Wisniewski '23
Caleb Datto '22
Aiden Vallecillo '22
Peter Bae '24
Sean Angelucci '23
Matteo DeJesse '24
Enter tainment Editor
Ted Antczak '23
Conor Flaherty '24
Daniel Law '23
James Baker '23
Max Kline '24
Colin Birkmire '23
Isaiah Littlejohn '24
Brendan Currier '23
Aidan Lynch '24
I f you are interested in contr ibuting mater ials to The Hawkeye, contact an editor or our email (below) to submit an ar ticle, photogr aph, or to wr ite a letter to the editor. L etter s should not exceed 600 wor ds. hawkeye@sj prep.or g
All mater ials pr inted by The Hawkeye are intended to both enter tain and infor m the Prep community as well as cultivate an environment that gener ates meaningful and productive discussion. The opinions and beliefs expressed in the adver tisements and ar ticles in this publication do not necessar ily reflect the values or mission of The Hawkeye Student Newspaper or St. Joe's Prep.
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SI X WORD MEMOI R | 3
The Hawkeye's 6 Wor d M emoir s
Mur p hy Bonn e r '2 2
S t ep he n Ca in '2 2
Bobby Wolt j e n '2 2
L uke G a lla g he r '2 3
L ia m Hold e n '2 3
Co-Editor-in-Chief
Co-Editor-in-Chief
Co-Editor-in-Chief
Co- Junior Managing Editor
Co- Junior Managing Editor
Aid e n An d e r son '2 2
Ca leb D a t t o '2 2
D a n L a w '2 3
D a n D e e ney '2 2
Br e n d a n D oug he r t y '2 3
News Editor
Features Editor
Entertainment Editor
Opinion/Debate Editor
Sports Editor
Leo Vaccaro '05
Kevin Kearney '06
"History, work, thought, action, and joy" Murphy Bonner '22
"Slowly conquering a haunting blank page" Moderator
Bobby Woltjen '22
"Believe your f lyness, conquer your shyness"
Luke Gallagher '23
Liam Holden '23
"Seek discomf ort in all you do"
"Small gestures leave the biggest impact."
Ke vin Ke a r ney '0 6
Moderator
Stephen Cain '22
"Laughing, Driving, Rucking, Punning, Questioning"
Caleb Datto '22
L e o Va c c a r o '0 5
Aiden Anderson '22
"Man, I'm just hanging in there."
Dan Law '23
"Damn Daniel, back at it again?"
"Forever looking out every last window"
"Records spin, just like my head"
Dan Deeney '22
"Improvisation is my approach to lif e."
Brendan Dougherty '23
"Running in circles without a rest."
4 | SI X WORD MEMOI R | The Hawkeye | Friday, March 4, 2022
Near ly Died, Conver sion, B By M ur phy Bonner '22 Mr. Dino Pinto: ?So what?s the story about? I kind of look at my life as being a first half and then a second half and so the ?almost died? is a reference to shortly after my highMr. Dino Pinto school graduation. I got in a really bad car accident where I suffered multiple injuries, burns, and was hospitalized for 2 months. And I think that I was kind of on this path of not probably making good decisions in my life. So that was the 'first act' and then the accident happened and as a result of that I started to rethink who I was, who I wanted to be, what I wanted to do with my life and so there was this process of conversion - not just faith-wise [though] I definitely became stronger in my faith but it was also a conversion of attitude, thought - kind of recentering myself. As a result of that tragedy, so to speak, which kind of led to this conversion, I started living a more authentic life. So I think prior to that I was just operating under the program of ?What am I supposed to do? Go to college, go into business, and have this career and get married and blah blah blah.? So the accident happened and it kind of brought me to a place of really thinking deeply of where I am called and who I am called to be and to live a more authentic life. So that?s what inspired [the six word memoir].?
M ur phy Bonner : Was the accident between going to high school and going to college? P: ?It happened in early July, July 3rd. I had graduated at the end of June and that August I was going to the University of South Carolina for college. That was the plan. I had all my classes selected, my roommate, everything. I had been down for orientation [because] they actually did orientation before you went back to school. I had orientation in June so I was already set. I had gotten into the accident and so obviously [going to South Carolina] didn?t happen. So I spent two years in the hospital: surgery, rehabilitating, going part time to college at a local community college just to get some credits. And then two years later, in the fall of ?93, [the accident] was the summer of ?91, I enrolled in Saint Joe?s University. I went from a big public school to a small, private Catholic school. And that was very profound - even that shift, just my desires and my priorities shifted greatly. I was going to college for the wrong reasons.
Mr. Dino Pinto (middle in left image and second from left in right image) is the founder and head coach of the Prep's varsity Mountain Biking Team, a sport he found a passion for after a life-altering car accident.
I wanted to have fun and go to a big school with a big football program and parties. That was what the appeal of South Carolina was for me. It wasn?t so much the education. So I was like ?I want to be serious about this now.??
Were you Catholic before going to Saint Joe?s? P: ?Very nominal. Christmas, Easter kind of thing. Not really. But I had this really interesting experience about Saint Joe?s. I didn?t really know much about it and I lived in South Jersey and went to public schools and I was on my way to a doctor?s appointment on City Avenue and I drove by Saint Joe?s and - my mom was driving the car - and I got this feeling. It was very, very bizarre. It was like ?this is where you need to go to school.? It just kind of came over me and I turned to my mom and was like ?I
think this is where I am going to go to school.? And then I applied, interviewed with the admissions counselor, started that fall of ?93 there, and never looked back. Jesuit grad school and teaching at Jesuit schools and working in mission and ministry at Jesuit schools. I did not know what a Jesuit was. Before going to Saint Joe?s you could have asked me what I thought a Jesuit was and I would have said another Christian denomination. I had no idea what it meant. No clue. I had no clue when I said I was going to go [to Saint Joe?s]. It was just this gut thing.?
M : Did you say you were in the hospital for 2 year s? P: ?2 years. I had to take 2 years. I had dozens of surgeries. Plastic surgeries, reconstructive surgery in my knee and my hip, broken collarbone, a lot of stuff. I took 2 years on and off getting surgeries. I wound up accumulating about a year of credits at the community college, taking a couple of classes a semester. About 1 or
2 is all I could take because I would have other stuff going on like surgeries and different things. So when I started in the fall of ?93 I had one year of coursework under my belt. At the start [of college] I also made it a priority to not let [the accident] ever hold me back. I rode my bike across the country. That was also the ?started living? aspect because I never would have done that if I didn't have the accident. In a weird way, I was less physically capable to ride a bike after the accident but I never would have done it if that hadn?t happened to me. It was almost like I was going to take every opportunity and every challenge that came to me.? Had you ever gone bike r iding like that before the accident? P: ?No, no. I went to Saint Joe?s and I still was on track to do business but I was taking all of these theology and philosophy courses and was really enjoying it and realized I liked that more than my business classes. When I graduated college I started working in business but I was like ?I am not feeling this.? That ?conversion? was ongoing and it was gradual. It wasn?t just this instant thing. It wasn?t just the accident. It was Saint Joe?s and yet I was still holding onto that old [way of thinking]. But it was slowly seeping its way in, this authenticity. So my buddy is like ?Yeah I?m riding my bike across the country? and I said ?Yeah that sounds like a really good idea.? So there?s a lot to it, I was seeing a Jesuit for spiritual direction at that time and I had just graduated from college and I realized ?I think I want to be a teacher? and I even considered the Jesuits at that time. So I quit my job, road cross country with this group of Habitat for Humanity, and then from there I went to the Red Cloud School. I thought I?d be there for a year and wound up there for three years and wasn?t sure if I would just do a volunteer year and kind of go back to my old life in business but I wound up staying there, getting my Master?s degree and continued in education from that point forward.?
So dur ing this time after gr aduating were you searching for what is next? P: ?Yeah. I knew that I couldn't [work in business forever]. There was something itching inside of me that I needed to scratch. Teaching was it. I felt that this is what I am supposed to be doing. So I wound up going to Creighton University while I was teaching at Red Cloud, did my Master?s degree there and then taught for three years at Red Cloud. I went back to Saint Joe?s, worked in Mission and Ministry there in retreats, and then eventually made my way back to high school because I wanted to be teaching in high school.? Did you ever think teaching would be something you would be doing while you were in high school or college? P: ?High school? No. College? I think it was something that I [thought] would be really awesome but it?s not in the cards. I don?t know why. For whatever reason, I thought, ?I can?t be a teacher.? I was conditioned to go into business. Family of immigrants, small business owners: that was the path that was laid out for me and I think I just followed it and didn?t give it much thought. I started to really pay attention, discerning what I might be called to be. It definitely didn?t cross my mind in high school. I think my high school teachers would be shocked if they knew I was teaching high school today. I wasn?t your prototypical student who turns out to be a teacher.? M : Does that date, July 3r d, the day of the accident, mean something when it comes up on the calendar to you? P: ?I think last year was the first year that I didn?t remember it. I forgot. My aunt texts me every July 3rd. She never forgets it. She texted me at 10 o?clock that night [last year]
and I had gone the whole day and not really even thought about it. It was probably scarier for my family than it was for me because I was so out of it when the accident first happened. They told my family ?We don?t know if he?s going to make it?because I had about 40% of my body covered in 3rd degree burns. I caught on fire, I climbed out of the sunroof of my car. Luckily, the accident happened in front of somebody?s house. A guy came out, put me out with a fire extinguisher, and they medevaced me to Cooper Hospital and the next day I went to Crozer-Chester Medical Center to their burn unit. As many injuries I had, the concern was the burns because when you have that many burns you can die of infection. Your epidermis keeps stuff from getting in and the concern with burn victims is they usually die of infection when it gets to that level. They had to take me to this really sterile facility that I was put in and spent about 2 months there.? Were you shut off from your family and other s dur ing those 2 months? P: ?For the first part of it, yeah. Then eventually they would allow people in but I was so sedated I don?t really remember that first part of my time. I didn?t really know what was going on. My family was waiting to hear what would be the results of all of this.? Dur ing the rehabilitation, was faith ever impor tant or did it come up for you on that long road? P: ?Yeah, that?s kind of where it started. I wouldn?t say I was very religious prior to the accident and I remember one day just being in the hospital picking up the Bible and starting reading it and was like ?I?m going to read this cover to cover.? I honestly didn?t get very far but just that act of picking it up and sitting with it and contemplating some of the stories was this initiation. My time at Saint Joe?s with my coursework with theology and philosophy really pulled me in. I was pulled in more from that intellectual tradition, studying these philosophers and theologians. I remember thinking to myself ?If these really smart people who I am reading have been grappling with questions that I just kind of dismissed [by saying] 'that can?t be true, that can?t make any sense.'? I was reading people who were framing these questions in a really deep way, in an intellectual way, in a way that made
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SI X WORD MEMOI R | 5
Began to L ive: M r. Dino Pinto sense to me. So I started to be drawn in through reason. I started to be drawn in through reason and there the expression of faith started to happen.? Your stor y is so inter esting because of its gr adual nature that kind of upends what we usually think about neardeath exper iences. P: ?It?s a recalibration. When you face death, it really makes you ask 'What does it mean to live?' It?s almost like I got a second chance, so what am I going to do with it? I couldn't have kept doing what I was doing. I didn?t go to a school that taught me to think about things critically. I wasn?t given this kind of critical grappling with commitment to justice, being a man for others, thinking about yourself and your place in the world. There wasn?t that piece. When you have a second chance like that you are like, ?What am I doing? Why am I doing what I am doing? Who am I doing it for?? It really made me think about what mark I want to leave on the world. When I do die, I want to know I was living the life I was meant to live. I was living an authentic life. I was being true to myself. I think that?s the thing. I was never being true to myself but no one even taught me to ask that question. So this process of conversion, it was emo-
tional, it was spiritual, it was religious, it was intellectual, it was a conversion of attitude, it was a conversion of realizing that I have a place in this world, that maybe I can do a little bit of good. I can make an impact and [I asked myself] ?What is that impact that I can make??For me, when you face death, how much [money] I was going to be making became less important. The prestige of the job be-
ing?, conversion happened. It?s change. I hope I?m not going to be the same person in ten years that I am today. I?m certainly not the same person I was ten years ago. Perspectives widen, understandings deepen, you become a father [and] it gives you certain insight, you become a husband [and] it gives you certain insight. You teach more and more students and hear their stories and it gives you
comes less important. All of those things that you think are important, when you face death, you realize ?Who is it important to???
more insight. That?s all part of living. I don?t ever want to go through the motions again. I feel like I haven't been going through the motions kind of since I entered Saint Joe?s. I left that way of living - floating through life.?
Do you see that conver sion as ongoing for your self? P: ?Yeah, I didn?t say ?lived? [in my memoir]. The conversion and the living are so tied together. I am kind of always in pursuit of being better, learning more, understanding more. It?s the journey that makes it exciting. Even as a teacher I feel I have so much more to grow. As a Christian I still have so much more to grow - as a father, as a husband. I say this to my kids all the time - this idea of being a slightly better version today of the person you were yesterday. It?s continual. With that ?liv-
I s there anything you would want people to take away from this stor y or know from your exper ience? P: ?The bigger questions, for me as a teacher, that I always want students to ask is ?Who is God inviting me to be?? and ?Are you being your most authentic self?? You might not know what that means but just [by] asking those two questions those things get revealed to a person through time. Maybe that can inspire someone. I hope students don?t wait
for a second chance because not everybody gets one. So maybe by just hearing about what I decided to do with my second chance it will inspire others to think about what they want to do with the chances that they have. I got on a bike [with Habitat for Humanity and] I had no idea. I literally had no idea not just metaphorically [but] literally had no idea where I was going. I said ?What am I doing??I was getting on a bike, pedaling to the Pacific Ocean, and I don?t know what I am going to come into contact with, who I am going to come into contact with. I am going to this reservation. I have no idea if I can even do this, if I?ll be good at it. Who will I be living with? Where am I going to be? This was before you had access to smartphones and all of that so when I was on the bike it was literally every once in a while when I found a payphone I would make a call home. I was just [thinking] ?If I don?t do this I?ll never forgive myself ? because it was like God was basically shaking me and saying ?You have got to go do this.?That?s what it felt like. A year turned into three and a degree in a completely different field. That was in ?93 so it's been about thirty years. You start thinking ?What do I have to lose? I almost died.?I think I was just living scared. I didn?t want to be a failure, I didn't
want to mess up, I wanted to be successful, I wanted to make my parents proud. Those are all good things but they can also scare you into doing what you?re not supposed to be doing. So I was like, ?I don?t care. Who cares anymore. I don?t care what society says about me if I don?t drive this car or I don?t have this job.? It just doesn?t matter. I cared too much about how I looked on the outside prior. I was a very immature high school kid. I wasn?t really thinking deeply. I was thinking very superficially. Maybe I would have come around, but my life would have never ended up like this if I didn?t have the accident. It?s kind of weird to say - I?m not glad it happened because no one can ever be glad to go through something like that but I also can?t imagine who I would be without it because it fundamentally shaped who I am. There was me before the accident and me after the accident. They are two different people in a way. I don?t know who I would be - I?m almost scared to imagine who I would be. I?ll take the discomfort, I?ll take the pain, I?ll take the scars because to me the trade is worth it. I?m very much at peace and content and I get to go to a job that I love and raise a family that I love and be with a person that I love and find real joy and pleasure in the simplicity of life.?
M isanthropic Realist, Coder, and L ogical Catholic: M ichael Doyle '25 By Daniel Deeney ?22 Prepper, violinist, tech whiz, man of faith, deep thinker: these are but a few of the words one could employ to describe Michael Doyle ?25. Doyle differs from others in selecting the six words of his memoir; rather than honing in on one experience, he touches on three varied aspects of his personality: misanthropic realist, coder, and logical Catholic. As for the first part of his memoir, ?Misanthropic real-
so some people consider me a misanthrope. I consider myself a realist, so I kind of just combined them.? This approach guides Doyle in his faith, which is why he specifies his brand of Catholicism as ?logical.?
Doyle (pictured above) enjoys both religion and tech.
ist?, Doyle says, ?I like to paint things how they are. A lot of reality is objectively negative,
?If we?re talking about the existence of God, then I try to debate in a more logical way. I don?t try to use physical evidence to support my claim. I try to use logic and reason, thinking.?
Doyle?s more logic- driven spirituality has put him at odds with others before. ?A lot of the time, humans in general need to see hard evidence in order to believe something, and that?s obviously completely reasonable. But at a certain point, you can?t have evidence for everything, so that?s why I let logic dominate a lot of it.? Coding is perhaps the least controversial of the three sections of Doyle?s memoir, but it
nonetheless constitutes a major component of his identity. He?s been working with Scratch since he was eight years old, graduating to more difficult programming languages at the age of ten or eleven. After high school and college, Doyle plans to work in computer science. Settling on a career path as a freshman is a mark of a great deal of maturity, but then again, Doyle is precocious in many aspects of his life.
Oppor tunity is not a L engthy Visitor : M r. Cur tis Cockenber g '71 By Brendan Dougher ty ?23 I was lucky enough to interview my own cross country and track coach, Mr. Curtis Cockenberg ?71, about his sixMr. word memoir Cockenberg
response: ?Opportunity is not a lengthy visitor.? When I asked Coach Cockenberg what he had in mind when writing his memoir, he said, ?You always have to be ready when your opportunity comes up.? He followed this statement
with a couple of examples. First, he said, ?Take a [basketball player] sitting on the bench. If he?s not ready to get in there, he may never get that chance again if the guy isn?t ready for primetime.? The takeaway from this example is, specifically in the world of sports, to always be
mentally ready to contribute at the necessary time. Coach also said, ?You never know the time when your opportunity or one last shot is going to come, and in some cases, if you?re not ready for it, it may pass right by.? Coach proceeded to give an-
other analogy, this time referring to the dropped interception by San Francisco 49ers safety Jaquiski Tartt in the NFC Championship game, explaining how he didn?t get another opportunity to make up for his mistake in the game.
6 | SI X WORD MEMOI R | The Hawkeye | Friday, March 4, 2022
Holding Onto JOY Through L ife's Cur veballs: M s. Caroline Becker By I saiah L ittlej ohn ?24
(Photos: St. Joseph's Prep)
Eighteen months?the time where toddlers begin to walk, learn basic phrases, and in some cases, fall out windows in Charlottesville, Virginia. Ms. Caroline Becker, currently a religion teacher at the Prep, who recently joined us Preppers amid the COVID crisis, chuckled over this startling event in her life during our interview via Google Meet.
Becker?s story begins at age eight. She leaves behind her friends, neighborhood community, the Girl Scouts, and ballet group in Princeton, New Jersey to fly halfway around the world to Singapore, where she would spend the next eight years of her life (August 1987June 1995). Upset about the move and the life she would be leaving behind, Becker found JOY in the new adventure her family would be embarking on. She and her family eventually moved back to the US and Becker would attend 11th and 12th grade in America. But Becker?s time in Singapore instilled in her the value of Asian culture. ?I found the joy. I [watched as] a lot of people spoke Chinese, so I wanted to start speaking it, so [when] I moved back overseas I continued to learn Chinese,? said Becker. She had already begun taking lessons in the 4th grade (with a private tutor), middle school, and early high school in Singapore. Additionally, this experience led Becker to her Asian and Middle Eastern major in college and gave her the confidence to move to China afterward. While traveling was a curveball in Becker?s life, death also reared its ugly head, causing her to hold onto JOY amidst tragedy a bit tighter. During the Summer of 1998, Becker?s freshman year of college, she was on a family vacation in Northwest Arkansas, having a blast. The trip was soon interrupted by a boating accident that took the life of her ?BFC? (Best Cousin
(Photo: Ms. Caroline Becker)
?I just wanted to look out the window and see all the noise from the party going on next door,? Becker said. ?The big bummer was that I canceled the family camping trip that weekend, but in all seriousness, I was very fortunate.? Since childhood, Becker has been attracted to the sense of JOY and happiness. Subsequently, she has continued to keep this warmth in her heart, allowing her to face life?s curveballs armed with a smile.
Ms. Becker (pictured above middle front) poses with her three children Samuel, Luke, and Hosanna (from right to left).
Friend) Kristen, and her aunt, Kristen?s mother. During this time, Becker attended two funerals: one in Arkansas, and another in Michigan, Kristen?s hometown. Kristen was set to go on a mission trip later that summer, with the ultimate goal of one day becoming a doctor. Her mother had also recently decided to return to school and get her Master?s in teaching. Becker was now left with the sobering questions, ?Why did something so wonderful become so terrible, and why did these people who were doing great things had to die?? Several years later, Becker and her family were able to return to Arkansas for another vacation and encounter comfort in the memories of their lost loved ones. ?[Now] I still can be confronted with that loss, but can find joy in the memories that we did share; and ultimately, can find joy [in] having greater purpose and intentionality with my life knowing that it could be taken away at any time.? Becker has also suffered the loss of four children through miscarriage. Throughout 10 years, she had become pregnant 7 times, which resulted in 3 healthy children?Samuel, Luke, and Hosanna?all of whom were ?an easy- going pregnancy.? Each lost child was purposely named by Becker to mean different things about each journey
through individual pregnancies: Benjamin, named after the youngest of Jacob?s children in the Book of Exodus; Mishael, a martyr who died for his love of God in the Book of Daniel; Zoe, a Greek name meaning ?life?; and Christina, a tribute to Jesus Christ.
dent, Becker had been thrown a curveball when Mr. Becker had a ruptured appendix that was left unnoticed until it required emergency surgery. This ailment led to postoperative visits and further hospitalization. Simultaneously, Becker was ?very pregnant? with her third child: Hosanna.
Each ultrasound is featured on the wall of her home office, When the chaos subsided at where most of her Zoom classthe time, she was thankful not rooms took place last year (into be a widow, and also ulticluding this virtual interview). mately grateful for the five ?You hope you can conceive more years she got to live with and [if] you do it's wonderful her husband. Mr. Becker?s reand it's great? then all of a cent death due to sepsis is sussudden somepected to be a bything happens ?Why did something so product of the and it doesn?t wonderful become so prior rupture, refeel right, and terrible, and why did sulting in a bile your body leakage that was loses a child these people who were left undetected and it's totally doing great things had and later resulted out of your in his death. to die?? control.? Becker was looking for JOY Becker continues, ?It's a very during the aftermath of her alone feeling that?s very, very husband? s loss and found herpainful but also very holy. self thinking about life without Knowing that I was given the Mr. Becker around. She was opportunity to bear a child for now a single mother with new however long [allowed me to] responsibilities. Despite this understand [my womb]? as a hardship, Ms. Becker did find grace to a child that wasn't able JOY. She found JOY in the fact to be sustained.? Finding JOY that her husband loved Jesus, through this got Becker and he now dwells in the hands through. of God. She found JOY in the Lastly, Becker had recently fact that she got to be an active suffered the loss of her husparticipant in the Orthodox band, Tim, on September 22, tradition of the burial for her 2018, to sepsis. This occurred husband?s funeral, and that she only three years after their had friends like Mrs. San move to Philadelphia, to be Chirico, another religion closer to his side of the family. teacher at the Prep, and her husband to help her during this Five years before this inci-
process. She found JOY in the children she does have, and the time she gets to spend with them. Against all odds, Ms. Becker found and continues to find JOY. And through her pain, she has learned to be less independent and more open to help; allowing her to find more JOY in life through community, and family. Becker has this message to all who will have or have had curveballs thrown at them in life: ?I would say to anyone in the community who's had a curveball or many curveballs thrown into their life that life is hard. Terrible things happen to you, to the world, and to people, but that doesn't mean that that's the final answer or that has to be the only thing in life. There can be JOY, and the PURSUIT OF JOY is a noble and beautiful thing. I think it is certainly found in community and with other people, and sometimes that JOY is found in the bond of common suffering: the loss of a friend, family member, common injury, common illness, you name it. Don't be alone. PURSUE JOY.? Ms. Becker teaches us all by sharing her story that there is no shame in hurt, but there is UNITY and most importantly JOY.
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SI X WORD MEMOI R | 7
? ? ? ? ? ? : Yixiu L in '23 By Daniel Deeney ?22
grow out of it into the light??
You may know Yixiu Lin ?23 for his eccentric fistbumps or for his infectious laugh. Most, however, know him for his extraordinary musical skills.
Lin sees himself in this lotus flower. Having moved from China and having resettled first in Los Angeles and later in Philadelphia, aiming to study at some of the foremost conservatories in the world such as The Curtis Institute of Music here in Philadelphia and The Juilliard School in New York City, Lin has dealt with considerable obstacles.
A classically- trained pianist, Lin spends hours each day practicing and honing his craft. Moreover, he has a number of piano students, providing both at-home lessons and lectures at conservatories. Lin?s life is certainly unique among Prep students, as is his six- word memoir: ?? ? ? ? ? ? .?
?Every day I spend six, seven hours practicing everything, getting as detailed as I can with my repertoire, and I face a lot of struggles. It?s not necessarily easy to be judged or to be criticized for all these details in classical music; therefore, there are a lot of depressing days for me. However, it?s about how I can overcome that and how I can understand that this is all a part of the journey to get better. And that?s how I can survive in this world.?
Lin?s memoir comes from a poem composed during the Song Dynasty, one that all students in China, Lin?s home country, learn at one point or another. It roughly translates to, ?Out of silt and not stained.? According to Lin, the excerpt is about a lotus whose petals are pristine despite having grown out of dirt. ?We can apply that to a realworld situation in which people are born into darkness. However, after a person faces all this darkness, what kind of
Yixiu Lin '23 (pictured above) practicing his piano skills.
person are they going to be?? Lin commented. ?Are they go-
ing to become a part of the darkness, or are they going to
merable hours of practice and scrupulous attention to detail that go unseen by us audience members. Next time you pass by Lin in the hallway, offer him a fistbump. He might catch you off guard by taking your hand in his and giving it a good squeeze, but maybe the gesture will get you a lesson or two with one of the most promising classical pianists of our generation.
A lotus cannot flourish without soil. In much the same way, Yixiu Lin cannot perform at his best without the innu-
One Event Changes Your L ife Completely: M s. L isann Castagno By L uke Gallagher ?23
volunteered a lot at various organizations dealing with handicapped people or Down?s syndrome so my kids and I are very comfortable being around mentally, as well as physically, handicapped people. I think this sort of decided where I would be as an adult and where my passions lied ? what I wanted to work with and who I wanted to work with.
What do the wor ds ?One event changes your life completely? mean to you? When I was in 6th grade, my brother fell from gym bars at Abington High School and broke his neck. That kind of changed the trajectory of my whole family because obviously a lot changed. My whole family had to adjust to my oldest brother, who was a star basketball player and everything, who now couldn?t even walk. He had to teach himself to walk again because his hands were stuck. For me, as soon as I heard about the six word memoirs, these were the words that immediately popped into my head. I feel like these words are words that can be applicable to plenty of other things ? 9/11, COVID, and plenty of other events that have changed the world ? but, for me, this is what these words mean.
What is the most impor tant lesson you can take away from this exper ience? Life can change in an instant, but who you are is how you react to that change. Seeing my brother, a star basketball player, lose this part of his life showed me how we can rise above, how we can adapt, and how we are all resilient. I would say that resilience is character, in a way. I s there anything else you would like for people to know about your memoir ?
How has your brother ?s accident shaped you as a per son today? I think because I was young when my brother became handicapped, that sort of primed me for always wanting to help handicapped people and understand them. The one
thing that I noticed after my brother first got hurt and was in a wheelchair was that he did not like people staring at him. He was sixteen when it happened ? imagine being sixteen
and in a wheelchair and having everyone staring at you. He really did not like that. I can remember when my own children were young. It
was a lesson I taught them early on that you don?t stare at people. You can certainly talk to them and find out about them but you don?t stare. As a family, we have consequently
This is a memoir that can be applicable to a lot of different people and a lot of different scenarios. For me, this was just one snippet of my life that I felt dealt with these words the most.
8 | SI X WORD MEMOI R | The Hawkeye | Friday, March 4, 2022
What is Your Six Wor d M emoir ? M ade by Quinn Holden '25
The Hawkeye | Friday, March 4, 2022 |
SI X WORD MEMOI R | 9
Sometimes Good Enough is Good Enough: M r. Bill Conner s '80 By L uke Gallagher ?23 What do the wor ds ?Sometimes good enough is good enough? mean to you? As I have gotten older, I have found myself saying this more frequently to my students. Part of it is that, at a place like the Prep, there are a lot of kids who are high- powered students, goal setters, goal achievers, and people who feel that nothing less than perfection is acceptable. Part of that is what makes us who we are, but, at the same time, not every kid at this school ? who should be at this school ? is able to do this. I think sometimes, guys put so much pressure on themselves that it can begin to have a negative impact on them and can begin to erode their confidence. Just because you don?t have a 100 A+ average doesn?t mean this isn?t the right place for you. I think at this time in a young man?s life, it is important to take a step back and have a little perspective. While it feels to me that this goes against what we as teachers should be telling our students, sometimes doing ?ok? is perfectly fine. What is one exper ience in your life that has embodied these wor ds to you? I have a good friend who I grew up with. We often took trips together and went out to the city for lunch and, for this guy who was first in his class in law school, nothing was ever good enough. If we were sitting at a nice restaurant, having a nice conversation, it was always ?I wonder what?s going on at that other place over there.? In reality, the food was great where we were, it wasn?t crowded, we were able to have a nice conversation ? why would we leave?! Because there might be somewhere else we could be that is better. Picture yourself on vacation traveling through Europe and
climbing in the Alps. You just found a nice spot in the shade to sit down at and unpack your lunch. The view is surreal, the sandwich is great, and you are happy to be in the company of friends and family. I think for some people, there is this drive that says ?Yeah, this is okay but up there is going to be so much better.? Nothing is ever good enough. I think that view, that attitude, that philosophy of life, while on the one hand could mean someone is driven to success, I think it represents someone who is unable to appreciate the nice, simple things in life because they?re always looking for the next thing and, in turn, are missing out on the beauty right in front of them. Life has lots of beautiful views. It has lots of places that really are ?good enough.? Take it all in. There is nothing better. To some, it may sound like ?Slacker McLazy?, but I think it is more than that. We need to be able to enjoy what we have right in front of us rather than worrying about what?s ?over there? because, in reality, what we have right in front of us is likely going to be good enough ? maybe even better than good
enough. Instead of being distracted by this drive for the best or this drive for excellences, it?s the opportunity to just enjoy the company that you?re in now. Sometimes, even at a place like the Prep, the ?magis? does not have to and should not always have to be the end goal. There?s always a temptation to think about what could be a better use of my time or what else I could be doing right now but I think what you?re doing when you do this is missing out on the true beauty of life ? its hidden beauties: the chance to have this conversation, to find the joy in this moment, and to be grateful for this day. We don?t need to always be anticipating a ?more joyful? moment around the corner, over the bend, or in two minutes because, by doing so, we are missing out on the joy already in front of us. It?s about being in the moment and being grateful, acknowledging that life is pretty good. Though there are a dozen other things I could be doing right now, I would be giving this up. I will never be sitting here having this conversation ever again. I think it?s important to relish
that ? sometimes good enough really is good enough.
New Orleans, bought a house in New Orleans, and raised kids in New Orleans.
What do you feel is most impor tant for Prep students to take away from this?
For me, this is sort of tied to that same lesson ? make the best of the path that you are on and enjoy it. I often think of Robert Frost?s poem about the road less traveled and the two paths diverging in the woods. Which path will you take? I think it?s not so much about picking the ?right? path because either of the paths could probably be the ?right? path. In life, there will likely be a dozen paths that will all allow you to flourish but you can?t pick all twelve. As you stand there and the path cuts into twelve different directions, it?s not so much picking the ?right? path, because they all could lead to wonderful lives. It?s about making the most of the path that you do choose and getting out of your head that there could have been a ?better path? out there. There is not necessarily one best path for any of us. You will all be fine. You are all on a good path. Make the most of the path that you are on: your right path. Sometimes good enough is good enough.
Be in the moment. Enjoy the moment. Often, guys in college will come back to the Prep over their Thanksgiving break to wander the halls and say ?Hi? to past teachers. Sometimes there are guys who come back and just really don?t like the school that they are at. I think that sometimes, you just need to let things soak in and stick it out a little bit. I think of a former student of mine who came home from New Orleans over Christmas and said he was done with college. He hated his school and didn?t even want to go back. His parents, of course, said he was going back. They had already paid the tuition so he was finishing the year and they could talk about changes come May. By the time spring rolls around, he loves it. He loved it so much that, after graduating, he stayed in New Orleans and has been living there for the past thirty years. He graduated in New Orleans, got married in
M y L ife is a Dar k Comedy: M s. L eslie Ryan By Andrew Ser govic '22 The dark comedy of my life traces all the way back to my birth at Chestnut Hill Hospital. The three-day scene was akin to a slapstick comedy. Such buffoonery has followed me ever since, reminding me to laugh, even during the most desolate and challenging of times.
10 | SI X WORD MEMOI R | The Hawkeye | Friday, March 4, 2022
Being Sick and Still Pushing Through: Oliver Ricciar delli '22 What do you mean that you?ve pushed through?
By Aiden Ander son ?22 Why is this your six wor d memoir ?
Getting stuff done and not using my sickness as an excuse anymore is what I mean. For a long time my mentality was just that ?I'll do it later?. Part of being sick and missing so much school was an attitude issue. I didn?t realize that I wouldn?t be able to do so many things. Now, I realize that I can be sick and still get things done.
For a lot of reasons, being sick defined high school for me. My sickness was partially physical, but mostly mental. I?ve thrown up a few times in school this year already, but managed to stay in school. So yeah, health issues have been the main thing for me in high school - I even wrote my college essay about my experience with my illness.
What was the sickness? I had a tick- borne disease
(Photo: Aiden Anderson '22)
But, I don?t think I would have been able to do some of the things I?ve done had I not been sick. For example, I helped change ultimate frisbee into becoming a varsity sport and set up a huge intramural frisbee league. I think the saying that ?pain builds character? is true. And I?ve been through a lot, so if I hadn?t gone through the problems with sickness then I wouldn?t be the same person that I am today. I had a 3.3 GPA Freshman year, and now last year I had a 3.9 GPA with 3 AP classes. Overall, I was completely different before and after being sick.
What was it like going to online school and then retur ning to the Prep?
Oliver Ricciardelli '22 (pictured above) has battled with a tick-borne disease and thyroid issues for the entirety of his SJP experience. But, with strength and toughness, he has managed to persevere.
from a bacteria called bartonella, along with some problems, including a thyroid issue. Plus my diet was, and still is, pretty terrible. From bartonella, my main symptoms
during freshman year were fatigue, headaches, and stomach issues. And now, it?s mainly still stomach issues.
In my Sophomore year, I started out and missed eight of the first sixteen days and was told by the Prep administration that they could not support me. I eventually ended up in cyberschool towards the end of October. In cyberschool, all of my work was due at the end of the quarter. I spent most of my time not doing anything and just playing video games. When I finally returned to the Prep in my Junior year, I don?t think I would have made it through the year if we weren?t hybrid. I was able to be sick and still be in class and this saved me; I just didn't
have the physical stamina to come to class. So coming back last year, I was super proud of myself every time I got something done. For the most part, coming back was pretty hard because my health is so intertwined with my mental health. Although, knowing that Brother Carson and my teacher would help me no matter what made the process of returning easier. How has this exper ience changed you? Being sick has changed me fundamentally. The way I motivate myself is by thinking about being sick. I think about my past experiences, how I felt, and how I didn?t want to do anything, and how I don?t want to be at that point again. I want to get my stuff done and do the things I want to do. Also, I think that my perception of pain has changed. Most people in Western society are terrified of pain and there?s a lack of resilience in our generation. In the past, I would stop if there was any sort of struggle. But now I persevere.
Fr iends, The Unspoken Serotonin of L ife: Andrew M izger d '22 By Caleb Datto ?22
and peace?
What does this quote mean to you?
It?s the little things: just talking to me, texting to ask how I?m doing, inviting me out to dinner or to do stuff. It all means so much to me now because I never had it until recently. The little things demonstrate how much people care and knowing that helps me a lot.
Friends are the people that make others happy and we get so much joy from them in our lives, but I don?t think that people realize the joy that they provide us at times.
I think it's because of what we think is joyful. We always try to find joy in life, always searching for it, and sometimes we just don?t see what is right in front of us. We are always laughing with our friends, joking with our friends, but I don?t think we really appreciate how important they are because we have a tendency to look for something else. Why was this the memoir that you wanted to share with the community? I started to realize after so much adversity that I had been through in life how lucky I was at points to have friends be-
(Photo: thoughtcatalog.com)
Why do you think that we sometimes have a har d time realizing the j oy that our fr iends give us?
cause at other times I went through adversity without friends. Having friends is a source of serotonin or happiness in my life today. Growing, meeting new people, and learning about new people
made me appreciate those in my life.
"Friends are the serotonin of life that we don?t always notice."
With friends, I have grown into a happier and better version of myself as well. Friends have allowed me to grow and appreciate myself as
I grow in appreciating them. Friends are the serotonin of life that we don?t always notice. My main point is that friends are right in front of us. Letting them in can be difficult, but there are people who love us all around us. What do your fr iends do to make you feel this serotonin
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