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The Decline of the Friday

By Aidan Oliss ’23

Every week students and staff look forward to Friday and most consider it the best day of the week on campus but what happened to this day and how do students now perceive Fridays on campus?  The popularity of Friday has always been prominent because of the exciting events that occur and the marking of the beginning of the weekend. However, and unexpectedly, many of the popular events that were exclusive to Fridays have been removed and nearly forgotten. These include the famous polo Fridays and games that related to the music theme during the switching times.

These games offered rewards and a fun and competitive challenge to students and their desire to win. This unique style and engaging opportunities Saint Ignatius offered each Friday helped make the repetition of attending school and repeating a similar process for each day less tedious and more eventful. This allowed for a more enjoyable experience for students. Not only was this a fun experience for students, but it also made preparing for school easier and more comfortable. To further elaborate on this, I gathered opinions from three students on the topic of Friday polos and the music theme game.

The first student stated, “Polo Friday was awesome!” and another student said, “I think the removal of polo Friday’s was a little bit odd if I’m being honest.” While the recurring aspect of polo Fridays has disappeared, the ability to achieve one is still present. This gave students hope and determination, however, the last student expressed the apparent difficulty in achieving another polo Friday that was presented by Mr. Franzinger to the students. The student insisted, “I think the new requirements to get a polo Friday this year are absurdly challenging.”

These requirements indicated by Mr. Franzinger are an attempt to make the school a healthier and cleaner environment. Although, the requirements, while instinctively a good idea, are unrealistic and nearly unachievable under the vastly different behavioral patterns of the hundreds of students. It is simply unreasonable to insist that an entire body of students can and will in accordance, follow such expectations in order to achieve only one polo Friday.

While polo Fridays are greatly admired, it is not significant enough to such a large population of students for each of their behavioral patterns to be changed in order to achieve this. Notably, failure for a small group of students to participate in this attempt will nevertheless result in failure for all students as a whole in their attempt. While we may not be able to experience the same feeling polo Fridays used to convey, we can still make an effort to regain a partially and likely temporary feeling polo Fridays used to have by working towards following the necessary guidelines. Even though the actions required may be difficult to achieve for the entire student body, it is still important that we attempt to work towards this. 

Just How Effective is the Formation Period for Club Participation?

By Kelly Coleman ’23

This year has seen many changes to life at Ignatius, not least among them the implementation of the new formation period. The new period, implemented alongside numerous changes as part of the new schedule, was chiefly created in order to make participation in extracurricular activities easier by allowing students time during the day to attend them. Now, with nearly two months of the school year passed, the question at the forefront of everyone’s minds is: Just how effective is the formation period really?

In an email interview regarding the formation period, Mr. Brian Martin, Assistant Principal For Student Life, observed that “based on conversations I’ve had with students and especially club moderators, there definitely seems to be an uptick in involvement early in the school year, particularly among freshmen and sophomores.”

The new period owes some of its success to the flexibility it offers to clubs in scheduling for both the students and moderators, according to Mr. Martin: “I was recently reading the daily announcements and noticed that seven activities were advertising meetings during the Formation Period, and eight were meeting after school. In our previous schedule, all 15 of those would have been in conflict with one another, so it’s pretty plain to see that the new schedule is opening up some new doors for students and reducing the number of potential conflicts.”

Mr. Martin attributes the success of the new period in no small part to the efforts of club moderators and student leaders in being proactive in getting younger students involved and situated in extracurriculars. He explained, “The earlier [students] can help guys find a home with an activity, the more likely those guys are to become future student leaders themselves.”

When asked about any future changes to the period, Mr. Martin had this to say: “There’s no such thing as a perfect schedule, and no schedule can ever remove all of these barriers to participation. We do have to keep reminding ourselves of that. So, I think it’s a little premature to start talking about changes to the schedule already… But I can tell you that Dr. Fior and his team are totally committed to providing a schedule that best balances the potential for academic excellence with an emphasis on student well-being and community building. So if there’s a better way to engage students in the future, we’ll leave no stone unturned.”  

This early insight indicates that the formation period is enabling students to get more involved. The school will continue observing whether the period is serving its purpose and if any changes are needed to improve participation. For now, students should remember to take advantage of the formation period and get involved.

Squid Game Review: Entertaining and Thought-Provoking

By Young Kim ’23

The new Netflix show, Squid Game, has taken the world by storm. According to Netflix, as of the time of this review, 142 million accounts have watched Squid Game, making it the most popular Netflix original series of all time by over 50 million accounts. It has been and will still be the talk of social media for the foreseeable future. Things the audience may have missed, various theories, and talks of a season 2 have the audience captivated ever after completing the show. While this is impressive, it is also 100% deserved. Squid Game is a masterpiece show filled with drama, action, high emotions, plot twists, symbolism, occasional humor, and most importantly, it is something that alludes to the problems of modern society. 

The basic premise of Squid Game is that 456 people with massive debts are invited to participate in a “game” with no additional details initially explained, and with money offered as a reward for winning. The “game” itself is a bizarre oxymoron-a series of six games, all Korean children’s games, but being eliminated from the game means death. As a result, we are able to witness what happens when the bottom of society are forced to compete against each other. We will come to know the characters, their backstories, their reasons for being in the game, and see how they develop from being in such a horrifying ordeal. Themes of immigration, honor, family, friends, loyalty, conspiracy, social inequality are always present in the decisions the contestants must make. Coupled with a great story line filled with plot twists, Squid Game will always have you at the edge of your seat. 

Squid Game was also created and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk, to highlight what he believed is a growing issue in South Korea, the increasing wealth gap between the rich and the poor due to a “beastly” capitalistic society. By creating a premise of a simple game, the audience is able to focus more on the characters, people who we may remind us of someone we know or know of, and also to highlight what the bottom of society are willing to do for money. Juggling this complex issue, and not to mention the brilliant acting, a very fitting soundtrack, the captivating art and set design, and a flow which allows the show go from disturbing situations to black comedy and vice versa, Squid Game is a masterpiece which integrates all of these elements into something extremely entertaining but also thought provoking. My only complaint would be that there is sometimes too much unnecessary violence, which is a subjective matter.

If you haven’t watched Squid Game already, I highly recommend you do so whenever you have time. Not only is it incredibly entertaining, spoilers are already making their rounds across social media, and it is only a matter of time before it is considered socially acceptable to openly reference clear spoilers from the show. 

All in all, I would rate Squid Game a 9.5/10.

Cleveland Chooses Its Next Mayor

By Terry McCafferty ’22

For the first time in sixteen years, there is a competitive race for the next mayor of the City of Cleveland. The two final candidates Councilman Kevin Kelley, the current president of Cleveland City Council, and Mr. Justin Bibb, a non-profit executive, both participated in wide-ranging interviews with The Eye in which they discussed everything from how their election would impact Saint Ignatius High School to the Cleveland Scholarship Program to issues related to the Labre community that the school works to serve.

Kelley introduced himself as a husband and father of five daughters. A graduate of Saint Edward High School and Marquette University, Kelley has spent 15 years as a social worker and 16 years on Cleveland City Council, 8 of those years as its president. As a social worker, he said he “worked with a lot of our community reentry type programs [with] people coming from the criminal justice system trying to get people a path to live in the community instead of living in the criminal justice system. The last position I had was working at Recovery Resources, with this population of mental health consumers stuck in the criminal justice system. [I would work] with the judge and probation to find a path forward.”

Bibb introduced himself as a 34-year-old “millennial running to be the next mayor of Cleveland.” Calling to mind his roots in the southeast side of the city, Bibb said he was the son of a cop and a firefighter. “Before running for office, I spent time as the Vice President of Corporate Strategy and KeyBank, I currently serve as the Chief Strategy Officer at Urbanova, a national nonprofit. I’ve also spent time at Global Cities at Gallup advising mayors across the city,” Bibb said.

Because he is a young person, Bibb said that as mayor he will “have a unique view on what our generation wants to see in the next mayor.” For example, he indicated that he cares about what “we can do a better job of attracting the next generation of talent and retaining that talent in Cleveland.” With the entire region determined by the future of the city, Bibb wants “to make Cleveland a destination for you guys when you graduate high school.”

Kelley also spoke of Cleveland as an “economic engine of the region” which “affects every resident of Northeast Ohio.” In analyzing the state of the regional economy, Kelley said, “We’re coming out of two recessions in ten years. We are faced with an economy we’ve never been faced with before. We have a situation where those who were already struggling before COVID got hit the hardest, and if you look at this so-called recovery, the people that are recovering are generally people at the higher end of the economic spectrum, people that have professional degrees, they’re doing okay. It’s women, it’s people of color, it’s people that work in hospitality that are the folks still struggling.”

Through the lens of Saint Ignatius’ Labre Ministry to the Homeless, both candidates were asked about what actions they would take as mayor to address problems related to shelters and housing that impact people who are struggling on and off of the streets. Bibb replied that he would “call for a greater role of the city to tackle our homeless issue with the county. We should be exploring a kind of housing first policy that you see in cities like Houston and San Diego.”

Kelley replied, “The biggest problem to me with the shelters is the hours that they keep. It’s very difficult to get there before doors close and then you need to be out really, really early in the morning when the cold and the elements are still there.” He went on to say that, “We have taken giant steps forward in establishing public supportive housing. The real difficult people that, if you’ve gone out, you’ve seen them. There are those that don’t want the help and this is really where we’re stuck.” Kelley said that Cleveland Metropolitan Housing is a good actor and that there are a few nonprofits that do a decent job, but there are not that many people providing low-income housing because it’s expensive and hard to do. “There’s got to be a different solution,” Kelley says, whether it is repurposing vacant abandoned homes from our existing housing stock or something else entirely.

Both candidates were educated at Catholic high schools in Northeast Ohio and Kelley, who also went to a Jesuit college, worked in the Jesuit Volunteer Corp at the West Side Catholic Center. It was during that time where he met his wife. Reflecting upon his time there, Kelley said that it helped him see and understand the struggles that people were going through.

“It kind of creates a lens that you look through things at,” Kelley said. “When I was a young person, you know, I struggled as well. My father passed away. We lost our family home. We’d been on public assistance. So being able to have that lens and when you see somebody that’s in a tough spot, not judging them” is important to Kelley.

Eventually, he says he felt called to do more through public service. “I learned something at a certain point, a light bulb went on, that the real decisions were being made above me,” Kelley said. A big part of that is what programs get funded and which ones do not, decisions which, Kelley says, someone at some level has to make.

Bibb also talked about the impact that a Catholic High School education had on him, saying, “I really enjoyed my time at a Catholic High School. It really rooted me in community service and my faith. I remember taking a liberation theology class and learning about the sacrifice of Oscar Romero and other amazing Catholic leaders who have been on the front line and social justice and it’s that inspiration that I continue to have in this race to be the next mayor.”

An issue related to private education which both candidates were asked about is The Cleveland Scholarship Program which gives families with incomes less than 200% of the federal poverty line a $7,500 education voucher. Opponents say it drains money from already struggling public schools while others would say that it gives lower and middle-income students the opportunity to attend schools like Saint Ignatius, an opportunity that they otherwise might not have. Kelley voiced support for the position of the Supreme Court that it is constitutional, but he said that a balance has to be struck so that money is not drained from public schools. He does not want the program to expand for that reason, but he also does not want the program to be eliminated because of the schools, parishes, and communities that rely on it.

Bibb first answered by directing the focus away from the voucher program toward for-profit charter schools saying, “I would say we need greater accountability in this state to crack down on for-profit charters that prey on public schools. However, it’s important that parents and families have choice and I want to create an environment in Cleveland where we have competitive public schools for all of our families to trust.” When asked again specifically about the voucher (which many Cleveland students at Saint Ignatius use), he said, “I think that we need greater scrutiny around those types of programs to ensure that it doesn’t undermine public schools in Cleveland.”

Throughout the interview, Kelley gave in-depth answers displaying his extensive knowledge of the city operations and presented himself as one who much prefers the hard, often unrecognized and unostentatious, work of governing rather than campaigning. Bibb, on the other hand, both in the interview and throughout his campaign more generally, has embraced rhetoric of promise, vision, and hope to present himself as a transformational leader with the urgency to bring the city into a new era of governance.

I asked each of the candidates about the weaknesses they have framed each other of having for Kelley, his experience in the status-quo, and for Bibb, his lack of experience in elected office. Kelley said, “if I were my opponent, I would say the same thing because they don’t have anything else. So of course they’re going to come up with something.” Kelley also pointed to the work that he has done on council including starting Lead Safe, putting in place an eviction prevention program through CHN Housing Partners, and establishing the right to counsel for indigent defenders, to say that he has experience in getting things done.

Bibb on the other hand pointed to his endorsements from Senator Sherrod Brown, the Plain Dealer, Crain’s Cleveland Business, and prominent clergy as evidence that he is prepared for the job. “Although this is my first time running for public office,” he added, “I have a broad base of experience working in county government, working on Capitol Hill, working at some of those prominent companies in the country, at KeyBank and Gallup. And then I’ve had a number of significant board leadership positions including being on the boards of RTA, Destination Cleveland, and also serving as a Co-Chair of Teach for America, for Ohio. So I think my experience speaks for itself.”

When asked for final thoughts, both candidates closed with calls for young people to get involved in politics. Bibb said, “Even though you might be young, get involved early in politics. I got my start working on the John Kerry for president campaign in 2004.” Kelley likewise said, “I would tell people your first absolute step towards exerting any power that you have as a part of this great democracy is to vote. I would encourage everybody, it is getting increasingly hard to get good people to choose, to run for office. If you feel it’s a calling in any way, then please do it because the bench is very, very shallow right now.”

The Cleveland mayoral race is only one of the numerous local races in Northeast Ohio including a number of competitive Cleveland City Council races. When asked about those races, Kelley said “I’m going to need a strong council to get through. The obvious [races] that I’m watching are Wards Four, Seven, and Thirteen, because those are open seats.” Bibb replied that “Honestly, I’m really interested to see how the council president race shapes up.” He declined to share additional details on how he hoped it would.

Before the Mayoral Primary, in which the original field of seven candidates was narrowed down to two, The Eye did a survey of student support in a non-scientific, voluntary response poll. Bibb and Kelley finished first and second respectively, as they did in the actual mayoral primary.

On November 2nd, Cleveland once again will go to the polls and decide which one of these two candidates will be the one to lead the city into the future.

Do You Really Want to be Found by this Film?

By Nathan Krugman ‘22

Released on September 24th and met with scathing reviews from critics and large sections of the general public, Dear Evan Hansen adapts the Tony-winning musical of the same name for the silver screen. 

The main criticism seen for years concerning the stage version, and now the film, is that Evan, the titular character, acts in a way that is very clearly morally wrong, but the plot seems to want the audience to sympathize with him instead of criticize him. The film only worsened this issue as the decision was made to cut “Good For You,” which served as a voice of this criticism of the character in the stage musical. Additionally, other cuts, like “Disappear,” and changes, like the reworking of the finale, lessen the emotional impact and journey of the piece. 

However, the addition of “The Anonymous Ones” and its reprise was a great decision that provides much needed development for the supporting character Alana that is severely lacking in the stage version. Plus, the supporting cast deserves nothing less than absolute praise for their performances as they are the ones that carry the film.

The biggest flaw of the film though is the almost 30 year old man tasked with playing a 17 year old boy: Ben Platt. Platt looks horrendous with what must be the most powder ever worn unironically and a hairstyle that looks so fake, you’ll be shocked to learn that it’s natural. There are plenty of moments where the audience is taken out of an emotional experience with just a cut to Platt’s face. This terrible casting decision is only made more egregious when one considers the plethora of young actors currently in the role on stage that would have translated beautifully to the screen. 

Overall, the film has its drawbacks, but with strong additions and support performances, it has potential — potential that is quickly destroyed by Platt’s casting. 

6/10

Mask Mandate Returns to Saint Ignatius

By Terry McCafferty ’22 and Nathan Kuczmarski ’22

On September 20th, after beginning the school year with a mask optional policy, Saint Ignatius High School moved back to a mask mandate, a decision that came as a relief for some members of the community and outrage for others. After an initial wave of backlash from a few adamant advocates for a mask-optional policy largely died down, masks have once again become a more-or-less accepted reality at school.

According to the letter from Principal Dr. Fior announcing the change, the decision was made based on a “recent strong advisory letter from the Cuyahoga County Board of Health and the expert recommendations from our medical advisors.” The letter also described wearing masks as an act of “living our motto of men and women for others.” However, especially in the early days of the mandate, this logic was seen as insufficient by some parents and students.

While the majority of students abided by the new rule, some needed reminders from teachers, and a small number were steadfast in their refusal to comply. Perhaps the strongest reaction to the mandate, however, was not from a student at all, but from a parent: Mr. John Bitzan ‘82.

Screenshot of online petition in favor of a mask-optional policy.

On the first day of the mandate, he passed out letters to people on campus which expressed frustration that parents “the consumers” are “never consulted” and “not heard.” In the letter, he called upon parents to sign a petition to make masks optional, boycott discretionary donations to the school, request a parental forum, and email him to discuss further action. At the time of this article being written, the petition, which anyone online can sign, has 500 signatures.

His letter also questioned the efficacy of masks saying “the virus can pass through the pores of a mask very easily. In fact, to put it in perspective, if the virus was a mosquito, the mask pores would be a chain linked fence, only the openings in the chain links would be 14 yards diameter! Would a mosquito have any trouble passing through a fence that had 14-yard holes in it?” Dr. Robert Salata M.D., one of the medical professionals from University Hospital advising the school, refuted this point saying “masks have been shown repeatedly to be protective, not only to the individual but to others in terms of the virus.”

In a statement to The Eye, Bitzan clarified that his “current concern with the administration’s mask mandate has nothing to do with Covid. Nothing. Covid, and intellectually rigorous Covid mitigation strategies, are a discussion for another day.” He went on to cite the administration’s past statement that “the decision whether or not to wear a mask inside is best made by parents in discussion with their sons” and say that “What matters is the families that were acknowledged by the administration as the best group to make mask decisions had that right torn from them without explanation. That right belongs with the families as originally, and correctly, stated by the administration on 12 August.”

Before the reinstatement of masks, The Eye conducted a non-scientific poll on the school’s mask policy which was online and opt-in. Among the students who took the poll, only 13.8% selected the option that masks should be mandatory and a majority, 52.1%, said that masks should always be optional, even in large gatherings. The poll did not take into account the degree to which students cared about the issue, but regardless it is still evidence that students may generally prefer a mask optional policy. Dr. Fior did acknowledge this sentiment saying, “We understand that wearing a mask is an inconvenience and something we would all prefer to avoid.”

Poll conducted by The Eye on the mask policy at SIHS.

While student opinion might support one policy, the opinions of the medical professionals with which the school consults favor a different approach. In an interview with Dr. Joan Zoltanski M.D. and Dr. Salata both of University Hospital, it was revealed that the professional advice for the school all along had been to have a mask mandate. However, Dr. Zoltanski said that the administration has “been very thoughtful and working extremely hard to balance education, mental health, and safety, and that is not easy to do, especially with all the changes.” Dr. Salata also spoke to the broader dynamic of the issue saying, “this is really a balance between public health and the individual. My opinion is that the public health issues and the devastation that this virus has brought upon us in terms of deaths and cases is such that in this regard, the public health side wins out.”

Even for the most staunch opponents of the mask mandate, all hope for a policy change has not been lost. Dr. Salata pointed out that “as we get more people vaccinated, that race that I spoke about before, I think we can anticipate that eventually, we’ll tame this virus.” With that advice, some might conclude that the best course of action for those wishing an end to the mask mandate at Saint Ignatius High School is not petitioning administrators or withholding donations from the school but instead encouraging as many people as possible to get the vaccine.

In the announcement of the return of the mandate, Dr. Fior even said, “We will reevaluate our mask policy near the end of October when medical experts predict a decrease in cases across the country, our state, and local community.” Nonetheless, until then, the mask mandate seems set to remain.

Page one of letter from Dr. Fior announcing return of mask mandate.
Page two of letter from Dr. Fior announcing return of mask mandate.
Page one of letter distributed on campus by Mr. Bitzan.
Page two of letter distributed on campus by Mr. Bitzan.
Page one of Mr. Bitzan statement for The Eye.
Page two of Mr. Bitzan statement for The Eye.

Letter to The Editor: “Parents, Stay Out of Student Business”

Dear Editor:

After a recent letter from a parent of Saint Ignatius High School started circulating online about the new mask mandate at school, I thought it important to share a student perspective on the matter.

My request is this: parents, stay out of student business. Although I would guess the majority of students are not in favor of a mask mandate at Saint Ignatius, I would venture to say that most also do not care whether the school asks one to be in effect or not. The general reaction I received from the inside when the mask mandate was announced was an eye roll, a sigh, and a hopeful comment that maybe next semester we will be back to normal. Further, the students would much rather wear masks than go back to online school. I find that the majority of parents who complain about mask rules in local schools do not ask their children for their opinion, but instead go over their head to complain about something that does not directly affect that parent. Although you may get kicked off campus for refusing to wear a mask when you visit, a mask mandate does not directly affect any parents of Saint Ignatius High School. It is not any parent’s place to berate the principal, president, or any faculty, staff, or students of Saint Ignatius with false facts, because of hurt feelings, or because they think a change to the dress code is changing their ability to “provide for the health and well being of [their] children.” I find it simply absurd that you think this impairs your ability to keep your child healthy. I implore you parents, leave the communication to the students and the administration. Open lines of communication between students and administrators are present. The school does a phenomenal job educating your sons to be self-sufficient and make decisions for themselves. The issue in this situation is not the school but the parents who write in. Allow your children to petition the school themselves if they feel so obliged, but please stay out of business that does not affect you.

Parents are not “customers” of the school, but patrons who share the school’s goal of giving your child the best possible set up for a successful life. If the school believes that includes a mask mandate, then I trust and stand behind that. Even if the school and parents had a “supplier-consumer” relationship, the supplier does not answer to the consumer except in delivering on promises, and the consumer does not have a say in the moral standpoint of the company. In any case, Dr. Fior has promised numerous times that his job is to advocate for the student in all cases, and I firmly believe and trust that he is doing so.

Although Saint Ignatius is an institution of “pedagogy,” the administration is backed by a group of doctors and researchers from University Hospitals, an organization I think you’ll agree is one of “epidemiology,” advising them on health matters. Further, the school is in fact an institution of learning, often encouraging students to do their own research. As an institution of learning, it is important for the school, my classmates, and myself to examine the facts objectively. The school has done their part in honest, factual research. Parents would do well to follow this institution that they “strongly love” by doing the same.

Finally, the anecdotal statistics provided about mental health intrigue me. I do not know what the goal was in including such statistics, but I must say, the mask mandate is not taking away from any Saint Ignatius experience or the constant strive for excellence the school commits itself to. The school is not diverting resources away from things like mental health crises for this to happen, and the school cannot help its students with driving. Regardless of how prevalent these issues are in comparison to COVID-19, the school is protecting the students against what it knows it can, which includes COVID-19 as well as mental health issues.

Sincerely,
Sean Uhran ‘22

The Best BBQ in Cleveland? Ohio City Barbecue Review

By Christian Durny ’23 and Hans Engel ’23

Nestled in between a neighborhood and cultural gardens on Lorain, Ohio City BBQ seeks to provide customers with a classic experience not typical of the more alternative Ohio City norm. The building’s walls are plastered in early rock-and-roll memorabilia–something noticeable right upon entry. For now, the restaurant is carry out only; no indoor seating which includes an apparent lack of bathrooms. The menu is decently sized, and includes all the items you would typically expect. The service at Ohio city BBQ was exemplary to say the least. Our food came fast and the workers were incredibly nice. The food was moderate in cost: sandwiches were $8-$11, half a slab of ribs was $13, and platters were about 20. While this is somewhat typical, we thought the bang to buck ratio was simply too low.

A large part of BBQ is made up of the sides such as baked beans, mac and cheese, coleslaw, corn bread, and much more. The sides we got at Ohio City BBQ were an insult to the notion of sides themselves. We both agreed that the St. Ignatius cafeteria Mac, and even some well made Kraft mac and cheese, were far better than the mess in front of us. The coleslaw was the equivalent to any supermarket shelf coleslaw, disappointing us as well. The sides were the least “bang for your buck” out of the whole meal at $2 or $3 an item.

Sides are important, but the main course of barbecue, the meat, is what really matters. Barbeque meat itself could very well be considered an art form. Meats must be given a proper rub, seasoned, smoked for hours upon hours at just the right temperature and be tended to regularly. The bounty for this particularly strenuous task is a tender cut of meat with overflowing juices that tastes like a fatty, smoky-sweet explosion among contact with your mouth. After our kabosh with our sides, we were not too enthusiastic about the meat but found ourselves pleasantly surprised with what was in front of us. The meats were juicy and tender, and the flavor was further supported by the sauce, our favorite part of the whole meal. We were provided both a spicy barbecue sauce, and a more typical medium sauce, both of which were incredible. Finally, we tried a Cleveland classic: The Polish Boy, which ended up being a delightful mess of barbeque sauce, fries, dog, and coleslaw.

Overall, if you want some quick barbeque, that also happens to have great flavor thanks to the sauce, then Ohio City BBQ is the place to be. If you would like a full meal, complete with great sides then perhaps elsewhere is your best option, but do not let that get your spirits down. While the entire place as a whole, we rated in the 7’s on a ten point scale. We now know the strengths and weak points of Ohio City BBQ. If you go in, and order a pulled pork sandwich, or any meat with sauce on it, your experience could be in the high 8’s or even the 9’s. So our recommendation is, if you are craving Barbecue and meat, give Ohio City BBQ a try.

Relocation of Offices in Loyola Hall

By Aidan Oliss ’23

While roaming through Loyola Hall you may have noticed the disappearance of many of the prominent offices which were once located there. You may have even asked yourself where, when, and why these offices have moved. The answers to these questions are more complex than you might think. This change was necessary to improve the quality, presence, and effectiveness of the offices that have moved, and also to create a more efficient and organized environment.

With these changes, new students and visitors will have an easier time navigating through the campus. Moreover, Campus Ministry and Theology, offices with similar missions, are brought together by the change so they can collaborate easier and more effectively to achieve the school’s goals of faith formation and social justice. The faculty and staff working within these offices can expect a much cleaner and newly remodeled atmosphere which will promote a better work life for them. 

The people within these new offices approve. The spirit ambassador from the Wildcat Team Shop, for example, described the Team Shop as “loving the new area and the more space.” Although she acknowledged the move is challenging, she said it has not negatively affected them. Instead, she explained that the move has been positive because the change of scenery has kept the store a happy place and offers more opportunities for students to congregate during the activities period. Mr. Martin, the Assistant Principal for Student Life, also described the move as positive, stating that the move has made it easier for Theology and Campus Ministry to collaborate and has allowed for increased productivity.

However, what will happen with the area leftover in Loyola Hall? 

To find out, we asked Mr. Pacetti. He described the future construction and renovation of this area, stating that it would be a place where “faith, service, and justice efforts can come together under one roof” and also “there will be great collaboration opportunities and in faith promotion and justice institutions… This is a major investment into really empowering our students in our mission.”  Mr. Pacetti also shared some images of what will be the new area on the first floor of Loyola Hall that, he says, will likely become reality by January 2022. 

Well-developed office and campus space is key to having an appealing and welcoming campus. The campus is, after all, a second home to students, faculty, and staff. Improved surroundings could even inspire students to want to make their own positive changes. As you continue on throughout your day consider ways you might be able to make Saint Ignatius better and more welcoming for others. This potential for change goes beyond molding physical changes to the campus but also extends to finding new ways to grow, mature, and change as we seek to better serve as men for others. 

New Schedule is a Change for the Worse

By Joey Gerome ’23

I’m sure the administration looked at several ways to organize our days when they decided to move away from the nine period day, but the schedule they chose is inadequate. I can’t say I hate the new schedule, hate is a too strong a word. But I very much wish it was different. 

The obvious flaw with the new schedule is that it is difficult to know what classes are at what time since it changes every day⁠—a system known as the serpentine. I’ve actually gone to the wrong classroom at the wrong time twice already. Maybe I’m just stupid, but I’d be willing to bet I’m not the only one. Depending how far that puts you from the right class, you could still be late even with the ten minute class change. I’ve been going to the school for three years and I still managed to mess this up. I can’t even imagine how hard it must be for the freshman, and even for the sophomores who haven’t had a “normal” semester at Ignatius.

I liked having the same classes at the same time each day. It felt like there was more structure to the day that way. It’s human nature to like structure; no society can function well under anarchy, even our campus society. Last year I had math first period, and I suck at math, but I still preferred having that to count on to start off every day. Everyone has that one class that they find difficult, or they just don’t like. It used to be that you could tell yourself: “If I can just get through that class, then the rest of the day will be better.” Now, you don’t get that feeling of a little accomplishment each day that you made it. That terrible class can jump up and get you at any random time during the day.

The schedule makes planning for things after school unnecessarily difficult. During the A-B schedules last year, two days a week I had a block of classes that was a little lighter in terms of homework and time. I understand the nine period day is probably gone for good, but there are other ways to do four period days. If every Monday was the same, and every Tuesday was the same, and so on, somewhere in the week there would be lighter days. When you want to volunteer somewhere after school, or if you have a job, planning your hours for those lighter work nights really helped. If you were scheduled on a heavy night, at least you knew you could catch up the next night. Now you can never tell what your night is going to look like.

The one thing I think everyone loves about this new schedule is that clubs can meet at lunch. It was really hard for kids who played sports to be able to join things when all the clubs met at the end of the day, so this is a big improvement. I have noticed attendance is rising in the clubs I belong to. The only flaw is the mandatory advisory period. I really like my advisor and the kids that I’m with, but we’re six weeks into the year and I’ve had to leave a club meeting early on both days every week to go to advisory. On the days I don’t have to leave, the meetings I could stay for still had to stop halfway through because a bunch of other kids had to go to advisory. It kind of defeats the point of having a common period for extracurriculars if a mandatory class is taking out half of it. 

I’m a junior and this is my fifth schedule in three years. We had nine periods, then online, then half days, then four periods every other day, and now this. I’m not advocating for a sixth schedule, just a few tweaks to this one. Maybe drop the serpentine and look at options with more consistent structure. Maybe rework the advisory to be at a different time in the day, or just one day a week where everyone has it at the same time so we aren’t missing things. Just a little consistency would be great.

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About The Eye

The Eye is the student-led publication of Saint Ignatius High School.

Editors-in-Chief: Kelly Coleman '23, Young Kim '23 & Aidan Oliss '23