by Tommy Napoli ’17

Thanks to a very generous alumnus donation, the annual toy drive run by our Student Senate has been renamed to the Shirish Patel Christmas Toy Drive. Mr. Rakesh “Rocky” Patel was a graduate of St. Ignatius of the Class of 1996 and has taken the initiative of donating $2,000 annually to our toy drive for ten years. The money will be used to cover the expenses of buying Santa suits, gift wrapping, and photos. This charitable gift takes a burden off the Student Senate and allows members participating in the toy drive to better experience the joy of giving to those who need it.

Mr. Patel’s father, Shirish, always supported service during Rocky’s time at St. Ignatius, especially the toy drive. After receiving a heart transplant, Shirish Patel even greater exemplified the spirit of the Prayer for Generosity. He truly knew what it meant “To Give and not to Count the Cost.” He lived to help others achieve their goals. He was a great man, and his son has done a wonderful job of honoring him through this gift to the school. Mr. Kelley, an organizer of the toy drive and Student Senate Moderator, informed me that, “He came to us with this donation.” When speaking of the gift, he expressed that the donation was, “incredibly kind of him.”

This year’s toy drive will take place on December 18th. The Student Senate will go to grade schools around the area to visit kids from Pre-K to Second grade to make sure most still believe in Santa. They will be given gifts and will be able to enjoy drinks as they open them. The toys will be collected from homerooms starting December 9th, and they will go to over 800 school children. Each homeroom is assigned a boy or girl and an age group to buy for. Any toys that are left over from the drive will be given to orphanages or charities. The drive, along with other Christmas events, will be displayed on banners throughout the campus this year.

Both Shirish and Rocky Patel personify what it means to be “Men for Others.” They provide a great example of something that we as students strive for. Their lasting impact on the toy drive is truly appreciated.

by Justin Adler ‘18

While St. Ignatius and many other schools in the United States have implemented the AP program, the International Baccalaureate, or IB program, has recently emerged as competition to the Advanced Placement program. The two programs each allow students from around the world to earn college credits and display their intellectual abilities through rigorous curricula. Along with this, the students involved in each program are required to take year-end examinations that assess their knowledge from the courses throughout the school year. One major distinction between the two programs is the fact that the AP curriculum was designed for American students, while the IB curriculum was designed for International students.

Longtime AP United States History teacher Mr. Mark Pecot ‘91 compares Advanced Placement courses and the IB program as a freeway versus a train. “In the AP program, students can get on the freeway any time. If they’re ready for a challenge as freshman or sophomores, we have courses they can take. But if they aren’t ready to take on college work until their junior or sophomore year, they can hop in then.” In other words, the AP program gives a student the flexibility to choose an AP course based on his strengths. The student can opt to take an individual course at any time in their academic career. In the IB program, however, once a student chooses to participate, he must take all of the required courses in order to gain his IB diploma. “It’s like a train,” says Pecot. “If you don’t get on board your freshman year, you can’t participate in the program. The train has left the station and you’re not on it.” Because of AP’s greater flexibility, about 70% of St. Ignatius students take at least one AP course before they graduate.

Another contrast between AP and IB lies in their curriculums and examinations. AP students have the ability to choose their advanced courses, and are assessed on their competency at the end of each school year. On the other hand, IB students take a series of classes with the intent of gaining their IB diploma. To do this, they must follow a comprehensive curriculum that entails year end testing as well as a thesis incorporating all that they have learned throughout their four years.

The AP and IB programs each offer schools the opportunity to expose their students to challenging course loads while also giving them the ability to earn college credits. As the two programs have different curriculum plans, they share a common goal that involves training students to succeed on college campuses. Because of this, both the AP and IB programs are acknowledged for enriching the intellectual abilities of students from around the world.

by Collin Kelly ‘17

This year, big changes were made to the school’s curriculum. The changes affect a wide variety of subjects and every grade in the school.

One big change occurred in the physical education department. For physical education class, one semester accounts for one quarter of a credit, while, in all other courses, one semester accounts for half of a credit. Principal Bradesca, Vice Principal Gavin, and the curriculum board changed the structure of the physical education curriculum in order to meet state requirements. “In order to get half of a credit, the state minimum, you have to complete two semesters. So to satisfy the state requirements, we brought it back to freshman year and kept it at sophmore year,” Mr. Gavin said. But don’t worry, those who have already endured a semester of physical education with Mr. Michals won’t have to take physical education again. According to Mr. Gavin, “It is just going to affect sophomores and juniors. We are still weighing different options. Every kid is not going to have to take another P.E. class.”

Another change to the curriculum involves the fine arts department. Oral Interpretation will now be a junior course. Although the class was a freshman year staple, this change was made with the intent to make the course more comfortable and enjoyable for students. They will be more comfortable speaking in front of classmates who they have gotten to know over two years here.

Also, next year Environmental Science will be coming to Ignatius next year. The course will be available as fourth year option to seniors who would like to take a fourth year of science.

St. Ignatius has also been approved to begin an AP Capstone program, a major achievement for the school. The school was only one of eight schools in the state to be approved this year. The administration is looking into beginning this program in the upcoming school year. “The idea behind AP Capstone is two courses: One year of AP Seminar and one year of AP Research. It is a cross-curricular, collaborative course that can be paired with other AP courses. You do group work and you have to present and defend ideas,” Mr. Gavin noted.

Many of these changes will be implemented into the curriculum in the next few years. Keep an eye out for them while filling out your course request sheets this fall.

by Tommy Napoli ‘17

Recently, the Admissions Department has announced that a renewable merit based scholarship will take effect for the incoming class of 2020. Previously, the merit based scholarship was a fixed amount of money taken off of the cost of tuition just for freshman year. This scholarship was awarded to students who received a 93% or higher on the entrance exam. Students who scored from a 93% to a 96% on the exam received $1000 off of their tuition that year, and students who scored a 97% or higher received $3000 off.

The new program will award students who score from 93% to 96% $2000 off tuition every year until graduation. Those who score a 97% or higher on the exam will receive $5000 off annually. In order to maintain these scholarships, students must have a GPA of 3.5 or higher throughout their academic career here, and they must be in good disciplinary standing.

Much of the funding for this initiative came from private donors. The school had been looking into the program for a while, but now there are enough resources to get things moving. It is important to note that none of this money will be taken from financial aid opportunities or other departments.

This policy is not retroactive, which may be upsetting to those who received the original scholarship. Mr. O’Rourke, Admissions Director, stated that it was hard enough to get the funding to start next year, let alone for previous classes. He mentioned that people were bothered when the original program came out, but that there’s a first year for everything.

When asked about the goal of the scholarship, Mr. O’Rourke had this to say: “We want to be known as the top academic school in Ohio.” Saint Ignatius wants to make the most appealing offer possible to applicants in order to encourage a more competitive field to apply. A benefit of a more selective class would be a possible increase in test scores. The school would be more likely to continue getting large numbers of National Merit Scholars, and our average test scores on other exams may also rise.

Thanks to generous alumni and the Admissions Department, Saint Ignatius can continue to be one of the top academic schools in the state by providing better opportunities for future wildcats.

by Joe Rosalina ‘17 and Owen Miklos ‘16

If there were a pantheon of high school cafeterias, the Rade Dining Hall would have ascended into that esteemed group long ago. It is unlikely that many other schools nationwide have such a diverse assemblage of food items; the buffets of inedible slop gracing the trays of thousands of students nationwide are nowhere to be found at Saint Ignatius, where hot meals, iced coffees, and fresh pastries are par for the course.

The addition of a salad bar in 2013 fulfilled the demand for a healthy option in a cafeteria where the proportion of healthy foods to junk was — and still remains — hopelessly lopsided in favor of the latter.

On an average morning, your average Ignatian has his choice of donuts, breakfast sandwiches, and toaster pancakes to satisfy a morning hunger pang. Come third period he has the new options of soft pretzels and gooey cookies to add to his pallette, and the day’s first pizzas — all three types — have been set out for early consumption. When our friend reaches the counter, he’s hit with sensory overload as he tries to process all of the chocolate bars, chips, pastries, and candy that sit, over flowing, from the aluminum buckets that they’ve been corralled into. Unable to help himself, Joe Fabeetz ‘18 grabs a Reese’s and a bag of Mesquite BBQ Dirty Chips before checking out and heading to his next class.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the disconnect here, but the question is: Is it all just a product of today’s day and age, or is there an intelligence beneath it all, driving the health initiative on a slightly more circuitous route, but on a road to wellness nonetheless?
More of the latter, so it seems:

“We’re trying to do an even balance because we are trying to give you boys a choice,” said Mrs. Marianna Burgess of Campus Dining. “We want to create an environment where no one is telling you what to eat, and where you can come up and get some great food.”

While the salad bar continues to make waves across campus, it would seem that many students are looking for options elsewhere. Seniors nostalgic for the days of fruit nuggets and Brookside chocolate-covered berries point to those and other items from Rade’s past that have dropped off the racks. Overall, though, sentiment for the present condition of the cafeteria is high.

When asked about his opinion of the recent cafeteria changes, Mike Vallee ‘16 gave his seal of approval: “Sushi is bomb.”