The BlazerVOL. CXV No. 8 Loyola School 980 Park Avenue New York NY May 2017 Fiat Veritas

As our four years at Loyola come to a close, the senior class reflects on our wonderful Loyola experience. It has been four years of highs and lows, but facing the next chap-ter of our lives, we fondly remember our time on 83rd and Park. At the admis-sions events preced-ing our entry into Loyola, Mr. Rotman and Ms. Imbelli ex-tolled the sense of community. Though it might have sound-ed cliché at the time, this community has since become the highlight of our four years at Loyola. From our class re-treats to our service trips, the class of 2017 has developed an undeniable close-ness with and empa-thy for one another. Extracurricu-larly, our class has delved into a wide array of activities within the school community. From seniors like Lily Keller, Bryanna Gei-ger and Rainbow Pan who dedicate them-selves to Brownbag-gers on a weekly ba-sis, to our yearbook editor, Filippo Ravi-oli, our class has ben-efitted greatly from the extracurricular resources Loyola has

to offer. Particularly in our senior year, we have started craft-ing the next genera-tion of activities at Loyola through the creation clubs like the Respect club by Caroline Vinci, and Diversity Week, spearheaded by Ari-elle Brutus. On the sports field, we have been fortunate enough to participate in a va-riety of athletic pur-suits. Specifically, the girls varsity bas-ketball team has en-joyed years of suc-cess and unparalleled entertainment under the leadership of se-niors like Summer, Willow, Tori, and Ita. Similarly, the Girls Volleyball team has thrived under the supervision of Tori and Georgia, each of whom have been on the team since their freshman years. The Boys Varsity basket-ball team has also achieved success with captain Liam Tobin at the helm. We've found fulfill-ment on the links as well, which seniors McKenzie Lawson and Arthur Perry contributing to the team over the past few record-breaking seasons. On and off of the stage, the class of 2017 has proved

ourselves to be art-ists, musicians, and dramatists. These members have been notable Loyola Play-ers: Worth Loomis, Anthony Scarang-ello, and Siobhan Ki-ernan. Academically, our class has worked towards the grad at grad of becoming more excellent. No-tably, seniors Filip-po Ravalli, Bryanna Geiger, and Liam Clark have received recognition for their various foreign lan-guage achievements. Also of note, Franc-esca Marini Fichera

Senior Farewellby Francesca Marini Fichera ‘17 and Alexander Parson‘17

and Sander Parson have achieved First Honors for every Se-mester since Fresh-man year as well as National Merit Rec-ognition. As aca-demic leaders, our grade was the first to fill the Peer tutor-ing leadership roles, with Jack Crosby, Siobhan Kiernan, and Francesca Mari-ni Fichera serving as our new student coordina-tors. In the bigger picture, we know that these achieve-ments wouldn't have been possible with-

out the help and sup-port of Loyola’s fac-ulty. As this chapter draws to a close, we hope we will have left the Loyola com-munity with a last-ing impact. We leave with this poem,“Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.”

A big Blazer thank-you to Frances Barranco, who worked tirelessly behind the scenes as Editor-in-Chief to get out the

monthly newspaper.

The Blazer

Loyola School980 Park Avenue

New York, NY 10028(212) 288-3522

www.loyolanyc.orgFAX: (212) 861-1021

The Blazer is the official newspaper of Loyola School, produced and published by the students of the school

for the Loyola School Community.

President -------------------------------- Mr. Tony Oroszlany Principal----------------------------------Dr. Kristin Ross Dean of Academics---------------------Ms. Samantha Lehn Dean of Students------------------------Ms. Kristin Cupillari Editors-in-Chief------------------------------ Molly Martin \ Production Editor----------------------------- Emily Knapp Sports Editor----------------------------------- Lauryn May Moderator-------------------------------------- Dr. Robert Meade

Students are encouraged to contribute to the school newspaper anytimeby sending their articles to: 18mmartin@loyolanyc.org.

Students should be aware that their contributions, if printed, may be edited to fit the available column space of The Blazer. Content may also

be edited to conform to newspaper norms.

The staff of The Blazer holds monthly meetings to plan upcoming is-sues. Students are strongly advised to attend these meetings to get a sense of what articles need to be written. We are most in need of

straight-reporting articles about school life. We are least in need of edi-torials or other opinion pieces.

Articles of general interest not specifically related to school life will also be considered but will be printed at the discretion of the staff. Such

articles include, but are not limited to, movie reviews, book reviews. horoscopes, editorials, and humor. All decisions made by the staff re-

garding the suitability of an article are final.

Beauty and the Beastby Dylan Bousquette ‘20

Remakes of movies are far too often weak attempts at revitalizing great movies that had their time in the sun. These films are used as cash cows and of-ten ruin the memory of the original mov-ie. When Disney be-gan restarting mov-ies and franchises like Maleficent and Star Wars, I feared that these movies too would fall victim to the all too easy trap of becoming a trashy unintelligent remake of a once great mov-ie. Disney have been working hard and making sure to hon-or the original movie whilst also adding a fresh new compo-nent to the story. Beauty and the Beast was such a huge success, both in quality, and in the

box office. ` The movie follows the well known plot of an odd young girl who trad-ed her life in recom-pense of her father's. She then falls in love with her captor and fights to protect him from the wrath of an angry mob. However this movie adds so much to the story, from a better under-standing of Belle’s childhood to a more in depth look at how the characters de-velop throughout the story. One moment in particular that was completely original and interesting was a time when the beast took belle to her childhood home via magic and she, and the viewers, learned of why she had no mother. Moments

like these are what make up great mov-ies. This is not to say that Beauty and the Beast was with-out any fault. The use of animation throughout the mov-ie made some scenes which could’ve con-veyed wonder con-vey dizziness and nausea. Other than that the only prob-lem with the movie was the plot, which is too much of a classic to ruin with mentions of Stock-holm Syndrom and Beastiality. Overall this movie is a fresh look at a classic Disney film which gives viewers a deeper un-derstanding of the characters and plot. I encourage everyone to see Beauty and the Beast.

Spring Concertby Elizabeth Nacion ‘19

This year's spring concert, held on Wednesday, April 26th, was full of classic songs from movies and musi-cals! It was directed by our very own Mr. D'alessio, with ar-rangements from Mr. Phillips, who worked with Mr. D'alessio to make each of these songs reach their full potential both vocally and instrumentally. Since the freshmen didn't fulfill the tradition of sing-ing at the Christmas concert, they sang at the spring concert instead! They sang Elton John's rendi-tion of "The Circle of Life", originally from the Lion King, with lots of liveliness and energy. The orches-tra put together two great versions of "To-night, Tonight", from West Side Story, and a mashup of songs from the very popular

musical, Wicked. The Chorus sang "Beautyand the Beast", from the newly remas-tered movie itself, and "What I Did For Love", from A Cho-rus Line. This number included two amaz-ing sophomore solo-ists, Daniela Pierro and Analisa Pisano. The Loyola A Cappella group split up into girls and boys for this concert, and the three A Cafellas sang "Fugue for Tin-horns", from Guys and Dolls, while the ladies sang "If You Believe", from the Wiz. Loyola's first rock band included Christian Conte on drums, Aidan Hen-egar playing piano, Christian Louca on guitar and vocals, Joe Ugarte on guitar, and Steven Morris on bass. For their second time performing as a

band, they jammed out to "Purple Rain" by Prince, and "Live and Let Die", by Paul and Linda McCart-ney. The Jazz En-semble put together yet another stellar performance this con-cert, as they played the overture from Je-sus Christ Superstar and "If I Were a Bell" from Guys and Dolls. These numbers in-cluded awesome solos from Amaya Cheek, Brij Gautam, Christian Louca, and Anthony Scarangello. All the ensem-bles performed one last song, "Seasons of Love" from Rent, with sophomore Eliz-abeth Nacion singing a solo. Congratula-tions to everyone who was part of the spring concert and thank you to every-one who made the night possible!

Courtesty of movies. disneyco.uk

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Farewell, Dr. Ross Cully, Ms.Coop and Ms.Lehnby Samantha O’Donoghue ‘17

It is hard to be-lieve that the school year is coming to an end, and as we head into the final weeks, there are some people Loyola needs to wish farewell. As one door closes, another one opens. Loyola opened its doors to the senior class four years ago, and now we have to close them behind us. Walking out with us are Dr. Ross Cully, Ms. Coop, and Ms. Lehn, and they will be missed, but each one of them has made a unique impact on the Loyola commu-nity. All three of these women have not only proved that they can be educa-tors, but they have also shown that they wanted to teach and help make students stronger, wiser, and ready for the world through their contrib-tion in and outside the classroom. T h r o u g h YSOP, working with the Senior Social Dancers, cheering on the sports teams at the games, and sim-ply greeting us with a hello and a smile, they have played ac-tive roles, making high school unforget-table. I have had theprivilege of inter-viewing all three of them, and I have learned more about them as a result. Their answers clearly show that they have each been impacted by Loyola and they will miss it here. When I asked each of them if they would come visit Loyola, they each confidently said "of course!" Even though they are leaving Loyola, Dr. Ross Cully, Ms. Coop, and Ms. Lehn are stay-ing within the Jesuit

network. The Jesuit tradition is important to all three of these educators, and this is evident in the amount of years that they have been at Loyola, as well as the fact that their next place-ments will be at Jesuit schools. Dr. Ross Cully and Ms. Lehn have both been at Loyola for three years, and Ms. Coop has been here for eighteen years altogether, even though she temporar-ily left after her first eight years. Ms. Lehn has been a teacher and department chair for eleven years, and Dr. Ross Cully has been a Jesuit educator for eighteen years. She just accepted the po-sition as the Director of Research Develop-ment and Global Ini-tiatives with the Je-suit School Network, which she will begin in October. She described her position as "one who is charged with thinking about the fu-ture of Jesuit educa-tion." Ms. Coop will be the Assistant Prin-cipal at Scranton Pre-paratory High School, and Ms. Lehn will be the Assistant Princi-pal for Academics at Regis. When I asked them how they have developed as teach-ers and people during their time at Loyola, each of them men-tioned that their ex-periences at Loyola have prepared them for their new jobs. They all share the noble trait of wanting to bet-ter themselves every day, just like the stu-dents are all trying to improve. Ms. Lehn talk-ed about how sheimproved through the influence of the Grad at Grad charac-

teristics: "I think I’ve learned how tobetter have challeng-ing conversations. This may come as a surprise, but I can be tough at times. I’ve really appreciated the integration of the Grad at Grad into the life of Loyola. I havechallenged myself to continue to grow in these five areas as well. Loyola has probably influencedmy loving side the most- small steps are still steps. I even gave a loving Grad at Grad talk! I definitely bet-ter understand how the 5 characteristics, I mean 6!, work to-gether in harmony." The aspect of community is very important to all three of these administra-tors. I asked Ms. Lehn why she came to Loyola, she said that "Loyola was in the Jesuit fam-ily which I love andwas very clearly a wonderful commu-nity." In fact, the community is what she will miss about Loyola. Ms. Coop's new school is not quite as small as Loyola is, as there are 775 students there, but she said that she wants to “incorporate the sense of commu-nity that she felt at Loyola into Scranton Prep despite the large population.” Dr. Ross Cully said that she equally benefitted from the relationships that she formed with the Loyola students and their families, as she loves working with kids and young peo-ple, as well as her col-leagues. She said that "Loyola is such aclose knit commu-nity that you really feel welcomed here. Everyone is expected to play a role here." I asked the teach-ers about their best

memories at Loyola, they each hesitated in their responses be-cause they have had so many good memo-ries. Dr. Ross Cully said that she loved her first Sports Night two years ago, as "Loyola really came alive." She also loves the time of Graduation, especially the cer-emony. Getting mar-ried in the Church of Saint Ignatius Loyola was really special for her, because her fam-ily, both blood and Loyola, were there with her, and she said that it was nice hav-ing students as her al-ter servers. Ms.Coop's fa-vorite memories are "the laughter, retreats and service trips." She also brought up afunny memory, which she said her colleagues would remember, of her first Loyola Kairos in Scranton, where it was her first time driving in the city, and she had to drive the school van, which resulted in laughter. Ms. Lehn had also a few memories: "I’ve really enjoyed my senior precalcu-lus class this year. They’re awesome. I think my best memo-ries are the ones with lots of camaraderie, spirit, and joy- spirit week, big games, ran-dom lunches in Ms. Gilfillan’s office, see-ing a student make it off the probation list after a long struggle. I’m sure that triple overtime sports night ranks close to the top of the list." One of the best parts of this in-terview experience for me was that I learned manyimportant life lessons through their respons-es. They talked about how many faculty members at Loyola are their mentors, and

their examples were what drew them to-wards Loyola in the beginning. They also taught me that if you are open to life's pos-sibilities, then there is so much you can do, and sometimes it is not what you are ex-pecting, and because each of these teachers were open- minded, they wound up be-ing able to come to Loyola and change it for the better. Dr. Ross Cul-ly was originally an English teacher and a counselor before she became the Principal at Loyola. Ms. Lehn was inspired by women at her previous schools whose roles werethe Academic Dean. Finally, Ms. Coop wanted to be a dancer at first. She went to NYU fordance, and she was never expecting to become a teacher un-til she realized that she missed helping people, as she once worked with adults who had learning challenges, but when she took up dancing, she couldn't do that as much. That was when she decided to become a teacher. Each one of these women love teaching, and they want to grow and nurture their passion to the best of their abilities. They said they will use the tools that they have learned at Loyola and bring them to their new placements and just to better themselves as people in general. Each woman in-spired me because that they did not call teaching their job rather, something that they were called to do. Ms. Lehn called it a "vocation." Ms. Coop brought up the idea that life is not always going to be easy, and teaching ge-

ometry has helped her to demonstrate that to her students. She wanted them to "be-come more comfort-able being uncom-fortable." In that way, we can solve prob-lems, because they all have solutions--we just have to use dif-ferent strategies to overcome them. Dr. Ross Cully included that she wants to encour-age students to not keep their education to themselves but to share it with others and the world. It is something we should consider, because none of these teachers kept their education to them-selves, which is why we were able to bene-fit from their lessons. Loyola is a better place as a result of their contributions. Due to their contri-butions to the theater program, I believe that it is appropriate to allude to the play Wicked. There is a song called "For Good," which says: "I've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we must learn and we are led to those who help us most to grow if we let them, and we help them in return. Well I don't know if I believe that's true, but be-cause Iknew you, I have been changed for good." Because of what you brought to Loyola during everyday of your time here, it is clear that we have all been changed for the better. Thank you for all you've done for Loyola. We wish you all the best for the future.We hope you know that no matter where you go, you also always have a home at Loyola.

The Knightly NewsSports Section

Put Me In, Coach! by Emma Himes ‘17

As a final way to push being open to growth at Loyola, I decided to try out softball. I've never played before but I figured what's the harm and decided to embark on a new journey in life. I've played basketball and soc-cer before so I have some sort experi-ence with sports but softball was un-charted territory. I picked up a borrowed mitt for the first time during the eighth period before try-

outs and found I had enough ability to at least throw a reasonable distance due to my past in basketball, but my nerves failed to be calmed. With-in the first week of tryouts I managed to get hit in theface twice. This was through no fault of my partners but I had merely forgot-ten how to catch a ball. I powered through, with the help of my trusty ice pack, to make it to the first game of

the season, where by some mistake I was put in as a starter. Standing on the field, I felt a type of detachment from the world around me. This was nogame of basketball, there was too much silence for that. Not enough constant movement. While Iwas part of a team, I felt very much alone. It's very much an individu-al sport. If the ball flies to you, you go catch it. When the

ball flies at you, you have to hit it. As I spiraled into the deep dark abyss of my thoughts, a grounder came right towards me. Well, not exactly towards me I had to run a very long dis-tance which then delayed the pass which wasn't great, but I tried my best. Going up to bat was another fright-ening ordeal as I had only practiced batting once before so I felt wildly un-prepared. I managed to

get a walk which concluded my first game at Loyola. We ended up los-ing that game and with that went my confidence. Practiced contin-ued and I saw my teammates grow in their skills and in their attitude. Softball I be-gan to see was ac-tually a team sport, and seeing my teammates work hard and support each other made softball a sport I would look for-ward to.

I played one final game and went from landing on first to making it to third twice. I didn't play per-fect, but my team worked hard and we ended up win-ning. As we move into the finals, I know I will miss practicing with everyone, and lis-tening to music on the bus and cheer-ing on the bench. I even think I'll miss that feeling of be-ing alone on the field, waiting for the next play.

They Have Drive!by Molly Maresca ‘19

Captain Farewellby Lucinda McClune ‘18

L o y o l a ’ s baseball team has knuckled down for a busy and hec-tic schedule this season, beginning with a trip to Flor-ida over spring break, where they were challenged with playing against a profes-sional Canadian team. On their re-turn to New York, the season began in full swing with games against UNIS, Brown-ing, Trevor Day, Calhoun, and Co-

lumbia. The boys have put in a huge effort this season, with hard work and enthusiasm showcased by each boy on the team. The team has been led by Bernard Witek, baseball captain and student presi-dent. His determi-nation, spirit, and eagerness to suc-ceed has propelled the team to a suc-cessful season. As Trooper Thornton, mem-

ber of the base-ball team, says of his captain, ‘He’s a positive lead-er who teaches through action rather than words. He’s done a great job offensively, defensively, and at pitching. He has been an integral part of our team and has taught me the ropes of base-ball’. Bernard will be missed on the baseball team as he leaves Loyola to commence his college education.

The Loyola Golf Knights have had a tough sea-son so far, with three consecutive loses and not one win. Their most recent loss was to Columbia Prep, the number one team in the NY-CAL, 191 to 150. N o n e t h e -less, the knights have displayed serious effort and enthusiasm. This

is evident in their steadily decreas-ing overall score, which was 199 af-ter the first match and has lessenedsince to 191. Some amaz-ing individual shots should also not be discounted. For exam-ple, John Pohmer '18 was within two feet away from a hole in one, while Micheal McCor-mick '18 chipped

into the hole. Will Miller 19' has truly led the team, however, and carded an im-pressive 43 in the round against Co-lumbia. The team looks forward to its matches this coming week, which will put them head to head with Staten Is-land Academy as well as Browning School twice!

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