fall. Father Manny also reminded the students of the importance of joining the choir in song as a way of uniting the school in the Mass.

After the Gospel reading, Father Jim Heuser delivered his sermon to the students of Don Bosco Prep, in which he encouraged the boys to stay faithful to their most important goal at Don Bosco Prep - to strengthen their faith. Father Jim warned the students not solely to excel in areas of academics and athletics, but also to grow in their spirituality and morality. He reminded the students to always contribute to Saint John Bosco’s mission of making every one of his oratories a home, a school, a playground, and a church.

One important occasion in the Mass of the Holy Spirit was the induction and blessing of the new Don Bosco Prep Eucharistic Ministers. Having completed

training in becom-ing Eucharistic Ministers at the end of their junior year, the boys were given their pins indicating their status as Eucharistic Ministers and were blessed with holy water. Over twenty new seniors received blessings from the priests presiding over the Mass and were empowered with the ability to serve the Don Bosco Prep community through distributing the sacrament of the Eucharist. Serving as Eucharistic Ministers is one of the most promi-nent options which the Don Bosco Prep community has offered to its students as a way of getting stu-dents involved in the spiritual and religious aspects of Don Bosco Prep. Each year, the introduction of new Eucharistic Ministers serves as a transition for the new seniors into their role as examples of excel-lence in academics, athletics, and morality to the younger students.

As usual, this year’s Mass featured the service of students in altar serving, orchestra and choir, lectoring, and Eucharisitc Ministry. Altar boys from every grade helped to prepare the altar and assist the priests throughout the Mass. One of Don Bosco’s finest examples of service in the Mass is the consistent performance of the orchestra and choir. The orchestra, which consists of a variety

of instruments including violins, cellos, and double basses, was instructed by Mr. Gary Cecere, the school’s band and music teacher. Also, Mrs. Cecere led the chorus in their songs throughout the Mass. From the Mass response solo by Eric Cole to the traditional closing tune of “Friend of the Young and the Poor,” the chorus yet again displayed its commitment to making the Mass the consummate spiritual experience at Don Bosco Prep. Also, lectors such as Senior Albert Wunsch served the Mass by reading from Scripture and reading the Prayers of the Faithful.

The celebration of the Mass of The Holy Spirit marked the arrival of the new school year and served as a Mass of thanksgiving for

the blessing every students has to attend Don Bosco Prep. When Principal Stanc-zak dismissed the boys to their homerooms at the end of the Mass, the students of Don Bosco Prep left the gym being urged to start a new year with the proper inten-tions and the spirit of service and good character that Saint John Bosco encouraged. The Mass was a chance for the students of Don Bosco Prep to join together and celebrate the coming of a new year when every students has a chance to strive to “do the or-dinary things in life extraor-dinarily well.”

By Owen Lane ‘14

On September 7th, 2012, the Don Bosco Pre-paratory High School community began its new school year as it always does, with a celebration of the Mass. This Mass, formally known as the Mass of the Holy Spirit, was celebrated in the school gym and was offered as a supplication for the Holy Spirit to guide Don Bosco and its students through another year and to spark in the new students the spirit of Christian morality and Salesian service to which Saint John Bosco was committed. The main celebrant of the Mass was Director Father Jim Heu-ser, assisted by Father Jack Janko, Father Manuel Gallo,

and Father Jim Cerbone. Father Jim was also assisted by the newest addition to the Don Bosco Prep Salesian com-munity, Father Jim Mulloy.

Before the Mass, Principal John Stanczak ad-dressed the student body, reminding them of the impor-tance of the Mass and what its celebration meant to Don Bosco. After stressing how important it is for Don Bosco Prep to come together to wor-ship God as a community, Mr. Stanczak gave the podium to Youth Ministry Director Father Manuel Gallo. Father Manny reminded the students to be attentive to the responses during the Mass and to remember to respond with the new Mass responses, which were enacted last

DON BOSCO PREPARATORY HIGH SCHOOL

492 N. Franklin Turnpike Ramsey, New Jersey 07446 Volume 11, Issue 1 DECEMBER 2012

IRONMANMass of the Holy Spirit

Father Jim Celebrates Opening School Liturgy

2 - Don Bosco Prep Features December 2012

Welcome to Our HomeNew Faces at the PreP

By David Rameau’13 and Michael Mackey’14

Keeping with the trend set by the last few years, the Don Bosco Prep staff’s lineup has undergone tremen-dous changes. This year the school has a total of 12 new and returning faculty members, many of whom are now working as full-time teachers. The most striking additions have been made in the Theology, English, and Mathemat-ics Departments, which gained eight teachers at the start of this year.

Fr.JamesMulloyisthefirstadditiontotheTheology Department and will be teaching the Juniors. Despite growing up in Merrillville, Indiana, Fr. Mulloy supports Chicago sports teams. After teaching in the public school system, Fr. Mulloy joined the Salesians to teach architecture and theology at a Salesian high school in Massachusetts for 13 years. Outside of school, Fr. Mulloy enjoys the outdoors and all of the activities that it has to offer. In addition to our stellar football team, Fr. Mulloy is impressed by the courteous and well-spoken students at Don Bosco Prep.

The Theology Department is also being supple-mented by Fr. James Cerbone SDB, who has again returned to the Don Bosco Prep family. In 1972, imme-diately after graduating from Don Bosco College, and havingreceivedanundergraduateeducationatPontificalCollege Josephine, he began working at Don Bosco as a Senior Theology teacher. Since then, he has also taught Ameri-can History and English Lit-erature, and he has also been a moderator for the Drama Club, Bowling Team, and National Honor Society. Fr. Cerbone served as the Chaplain of Manhattan College for 9 years, where he interacted directly with students who intended to major in Theology. He was frequently involved in service trips for foreign nations such as Egypt, South Africa, Costa Rica, and Australia. When he returned to our school in 2007, he suffered a series of acci-dents which severely damaged his back. Now, after endur-ing several back surgeries for hisstenosis,heisinthefinalstages of recuperation and has decided that even though he still cannot stand, he will re-turn to doing the job he loves.

The third addition to the roster of Theology teach-ers is Mr. Andrew Prickel, an energetic and charismatic young man from the Midwest. GrowingupinthequietruralfieldsofIndiana,heisaself- titled “country boy”, who had a rocky start adjust-ing to the relatively fast paced lifestyle of suburban New Jersey. Mr. Prickel describes his early life on the farm as uneventful, but has fond memories of the faith that was instilled in him during those long nights on the range. This strong Catholic upbringing led him to Franciscan University where he received a degree in Theology, then to Syracuse, New York, where he spent the following few years working as a youth minister. Immediately before he was hired at Don Bosco Prep, Mr. Prickel worked as a publicspeakerforhighschoolretreats,workingfirst-handwith troubled youths to help turn them away from the temptations that plague our society. He is incredibly pas-sionate about his faith and feels that everywhere he goes God is calling him to serve youth. Despite his experience, Mr. Prickel was astounded by the passionate zeal that his students showed for learning their faith.

The last, but certainly not least, addition to the Theology Department is Mr. Daniel Pulido, who is also afirst-yearLatinteacheratDonBosco.Mr.PulidowasbornandraisedinPlainsfield,NewJersey,andattendedPlainsfieldHigh.Aftergraduating,heattendedSetonHall

University, where he received a BS in Theology and is now working towards his Masters in Biblical Studies. Do not be fooled by the seemingly limited range of Mr. Pulido’s achievements. After spending some time at a seminary, he worked tirelessly traveling as an Adult Catechumen for Neocatechumenate, which is an organization that helps pro-videforfledglingChristiancommunitiesinpoor,hostilenations.Duringhistravels,heworkedinIsrael,Cyprus,andthePacificIslands,includingGuam,Saipan,HawaiiandtheGilbertIslands.Mr.PulidoisalsofluentinLatin,Spanish,and Italian and has a working knowledge of Greek and Hebrew. When asked, Mr. Pulido stated that his faith was being nurtured enough by the environment of our school and that he had no imminent plans to return to the seminary. His favorite aspect, by far, of teaching at Don Bosco Prep is the camaraderie and sense of belonging shared by the students and faculty.

This year, the Freshman Composition and Literature Honors classes are being taught by Ms. Adriane Petro-celli and several Junior and Senior English classes by Mr. Christopher Novak . An avid reader, Ms Petrocelli, gradu-ated from Ramapo College. Raised Catholic, Ms. Petrocelli truly enjoys the oneness that she feels with her faith at our school. Her favorite aspect about teaching her students is being able to mold the impressionable Freshmen, who have just entered the school, into upright and knowledgeable students that Don Bosco himself would be proud of. Before Mr. Novak came to Don Bosco Prep, he was a waiter, a student at St. Bonaventure University and a teacher at Tappan Zee High School. While attending St. Bonaventure, Mr. Novak was inspired to become a teacher because of his in-volvement in tutoring other students and his admiration of how his teachers were able to have a direct impact on their students’ lives. Mr. Novak is impressed by his dedicated students and his distinguished colleagues. Aside from reading and writing, Mr. Novak enjoys watching the Yankees and playing an occasional round of golf.

TheMathematicsDepartmenthasgreatlybenefittedfromtheadditionoftwonewmembers:Mrs.Seward,a Sophomore Geometry teacher, and Ms. Lucas, the Junior Pre-Calculus teacher. During her childhood in Bergen County, Ms. Lucas knew she was destined to become a math teacher. After studying Secondary Teaching of Mathe-maticsattheCollegeofSt.ThomasAquinas,Ms.Lucasfirstworkedatalawfirm,thenadaycarecenter.Shetransi-tionedtomiddleschool,andnowDonBoscoPrephaswelcomedhertojoinitsdistinguishedfaculty.Ms.Lucasfindsthe spirit of the Don Bosco community the most pleasant part of her experience. Like many other locals, Ms. Lucas is an avid Yankees fan and enjoys traveling in her spare time. Mrs. Seward was also inspired to become a Mathematics teacher in her childhood. She credits this inspiration to several strong female Mathematics teachers that she had as a

child. Following her passion, she attended Purchase College and received many degrees in both Mathematics and Physics. She enjoys solving problems exploring numbers in her spare time and tries her very best to impart this mathematically adventurous mindset to her students.

The Social Studies Depart-ment has been enhanced by the addition of Mr. Stephen Meunsch, who now teaches Sociology, Psychology and History. After growing up in Rochester, NY, Mr. Muensch graduated from Drew Univer-sity and is currently work-ing on his graduate degree in Social Studies Education at Rutgers. Prior to becom-ing a Social Studies teacher, Mr. Muensch spent 20 years in industry selling furniture, technologyandfinancialservices. He even sold dic-tionaries door-to-door in New York City. Mr. Muensch has traveled frequently and was in Germany during the fall of the

Berlin Wall. But, of all of Mr. Muensch’s adventures, his experience as an exchange student in Peru has been the most influential.Mr.Muenschwassoinspiredbythisexperiencethatheisintheprocessofpublishingabookonthetruestories of foreign exchange students. Aside from teaching Social Studies, Mr. Muensch is a dedicated sports fanatic. He coaches a host of children’s sports, including soccer, basketball, lacrosse and baseball, and he actually plays soccer himself.Mr.Muenschfindshisjobfulfillingbecauseteachingenrichesstudents,andheisafirmbelieverinthedailytransfusion of Christian values.

Andrew Lascari, who originally worked as a side-by-side with Coach Greg Toal and the Don Bosco Prep Varsity Football team, is now our newest Physical Education teacher. An Academic All-American from Pequannock High School, he originally attended Portland State and soon transferred to Columbia University, where he received his Masters Degree. He originally intended to become a dentist, but after realizing his talent, he decided to dedicate his life to football. He originally only decided to teach Physical Education out of respect for the school, but now believes that the last few months have had a serious impact on him. He is truly amazed by the tremendous character and high work ethic of the student body, and believes that he will remain with the school for years to come.

Notalloftherecentadditionstothestaffwereteachers,though.UponenteringthemainofficeinDeSalesHall or calling the school, you will be greeted by the school’s new receptionist, Mrs. Janet Hartman. Mrs. Hartman, who hails from Washington Township, is a graduate of both Farleigh Dickinson and Montclair State University, where shereceivedherparalegalcertificationandBSinBusiness,respectively.Althoughshehadoriginallybecomeinter-ested in working for the school because many of her family members had attended, she has grown to love her daily interactions with the student body and has become an irreplaceable member of our staff.

These new teachers and staff members have brought a variety of backgrounds and experiences which con-tinue to make the Don Bosco Prep experience truly unique. WELCOME TO OUR HOME!

The Don Bosco Prep Guidance Department is now utilizing the Naviance website for all students this year. The website is working in conjunction with the Common App website, which is useful to Seniors who utilize the Common App to apply to colleges. The convenience of being able to see one’s colleges, transcripts, and standardized test scores on the Naviance website makes it easy for the students to simply transfer the information to the Common App. As Mr. Delucci, the Head of the Guidance Department, stated, “Naviance can be a big help, especially for Freshmen in exploring personality types and career choices. It can also relieve some of the stress from the col-lege application process.”

Some new faces have been added to the Don Bosco Prep Guidance Department this year. In addition to Mrs. Lawlor, Dr. Scanlon, Mrs. Rando, Ms. Manicone and Mr. Delucci, Don Bosco has welcomed Mrs. Hollenbaugh and Ms. Zaremba. Mrs. Hollenbaugh was, of course, a vital part of the Don Bosco Prep History Department last year when she taught AP Psychology, Sociology, and US History. She recently achieved her Master’s degree in Guidance, and is prepared to scrupu-lously dedicate herself to helping students to choose the right classes and offer advice for students

as they mature into “Ironmen”. A second addition to the Guidance Department is Ms. Zaremba, who was added to the Guidance team to alleviate some of the burden on seniors applying to col-lege. Ms. Zaremba is committed to helping the members of the Senior class achieve their goals, and guide them in their path to college. As she indicated, “I am looking forward to an exciting and busy school year assisting the Juniors and Seniors, and guiding them in their post high school plans.” Ms. Zaremba will prove be a very valuable asset to our school with her years of prior expe-rience in college admissions offices at Seton Hall University and Tufts University.

All of the changes initiated by the Don Bosco Prep Guidance Department are designed to ease the college admissions process for all students and their parents. This difficult process will be a little less stressful thanks to the dedicated and reliable Don Bosco Prep guidance counselors.

December 2012 Features Don Bosco Prep - 3

Changes in the DBP Guidance DepartmentNew Personnel, New Programs, and Introduction of the Naviance System

By Joseph Luongo ‘13

As we enter the 2012-2013 school year, there have been many notable changes in the Don Bosco Prep Guidance Department. These changes will prove beneficial not only for pres-ent seniors who are in the process of applying to college, but also for future students as they move through the process of selecting and ap-plying to colleges.

Some of the Guidance Department’s new strategies are workshops and programs, which take place after school, to keep students and parents informed of the changes that occur in the college application process. One work-shop the Guidance Department sponsored was the College Financial Aid Workshop, which took place on October 3rd. The workshop presented the benefits of applying for financial aid to colleges. The Guidance Department also supports college essay workshops after school, in which various Don Bosco English teachers critique seniors’ college essays. The Guidance Department held its annual Freshman Guidance Night on November 3rd and will host it annual Junior Guidance Night onJanuary 14th. These information sessions allow Freshmen and Ju-niors, as well as their parents, to learn about the requirements of the colleges they be interested in.

There will also be a College Fair in the spring of 2013 for Juniors who will be looking forward to applying to college next year. For Seniors who are still dubious about their col-lege choices, the Guidance Department is also sponsoring both day trips and overnight trips to different colleges in New England and in the Pennsylvania/Maryland areas. These tours are useful in giving Don Bosco students a new perspective on various colleges of interest. In addition, during the fall, the Guidance Depart-ment organizes daily visits by college admis-sions representatives to Don Bosco Prep. These visits are announced each day in the morning and afternoon, as well as being posted on the Naviance website.

Football Field Renovation

4 - Don Bosco Prep Fall Sports December 2012

DBP FootBall StayS Strong in another Winning SeaSon

Ironmen Triumph Over St. Aquinas & Alta

By Michael Lowther ‘14

The Don Bosco Prep Varsity Football team had yet another win-ning season this fall just as expected. However, the winning record was not as rewarding this year as in years past. For the first time in six years, the Ironmen of Don Bosco were not celebrating on the field at

MetLife Stadium on a cold December night. This season proved to come down solely to special teams, which both helped us as well as hurt us.

The Ironmen started out their season in An-napolis, Maryland, where they faced their opponent, Gilman High School. The game was a defensive bat-tle in which neither team’s offense was able to easily reach the end zone, until Gilman scored a heartbreaker with a little over 8 minutes left in the game. This made the score 13-,6 and the Ironmen’s offense was never able to retaliate. This loss broke Bosco’s 46- game winning streak, dating back to September 13, 2008 to St. Xavier of Ohio. Many people questioned the Ironmen at this point and they were receiving a lot of criticism.

The Ironmen were now more determined than ever to quiet all of their critics the next game against national powerhouse, St. Thomas Aquinas on ESPN2. Defense was once again a factor in this heavyweight battle, but special teams defined the game as Bosco blocked and recovered two punts resulting in a total of 10 points. This proved to be the differ-ence as Bosco continued on to a 20-10 victory on national television. Although this was a huge win, some still questioned the team’s offensive punch.

In the next game, all of the critics were muted, as Don Bosco rolled over in-state contender De-Paul Catholic 62-14. The defense shone again in this game as the defensive players returned three interceptions for touchdowns. This in-state game served almost as a tune-up game as the Ironmen headed to Utah where Bosco faced-off against Alta High School. The Iron-men eased to a victory in Salt Lake City, improving the team’s all-time out-of-state record to 19 wins and 2 losses. This game concluded Don Bosco’s out-of-state games for the season.

The remainder of the season consisted essentially of in-state games, includ-ing contests against rivals Bergen Catho-lic, Paramus Catholic, and St. Joseph Re-gional. After rolling over Fair Lawn with a 44-0 shutout, the Ironmen faced their first true test within the borders of New Jersey. This tilt was against Para-mus Catholic,

a game that was circled on both the Ironmen’s and the Paladins’ calendars at the begin-ning of the year. There was a lot of hype going into this game as Jabrill Peppers was set to face his former school after transferring in the Spring. Many predicted Paramus

Catholic’s offense would run up the score against Bosco with its run game, but it was the Ironmen’s run game that truly shone as Junior running back Eli-jah Ibitokun-Hanks had 30 carries for a total of 171 yards and 3 touchdowns. The stalwart defense of Don Bosco held Paramus Catholic’s running back Peppers to just 17 yards on seven car-ries and one reception for six yards.

This win had Bosco going into the Bergen Catho-lic game with great momentum. As always, the Bosco-Bergen rivalry lived up to its potential with another thrilling win by the Ironmen. The win came through the hero-ics of Sophomore defensive back, Daivon Ellison. Ellison recovered a fumble off a punt return late in the fourth quarter that set up a 24-yard go-ahead

field goal that helped Bosco win. After this thrilling victory, Bosco continued to outplay its opponents, defeating Hackensack 42-8 in the last game of the regular season and St. Augustine in the first round of the State playoffs by a score of 42-14.

The next game was a non-league game against old rival, St. Joseph Regional, on a beautiful Thanksgiving Day. The Ironmen did not display their best effort in front of a crowd of 6,000 in Ramsey. The Green Knights’ defense proved to be a force on the field, holding Bosco to only 10 points while Joe’s offense did its job. The final score was 20-10, St. Joseph Regional. This loss snapped the Ironmen’s 61- game win streak against New Jersey competitors. It was a devastating loss that seemed to carry over to the next week when Bosco faced off against Bergen Catholic in the Non-Public, Group 4 Semifinals. In this crucial game, special teams and turnovers were the deciding factors, as Bosco turned over the ball twice on kickoffs in the first quarter. These miscues led to a 21-point lead for the Crusader,s and the Ironmen were never able to

recover. The final score was 28-14, ending Don Bosco Prep’s season.

Don Bosco Football continues to be an outstanding tradition for the students, families, faculty and the very loyal alumni who love to come back to watch their favor-ite team play football. We recorded another solid season into the Don Bosco books and the hard work will continue as we set our sights to reclaim the State Championship title that solely belongs to the Don Bosco Ironmen.

December 2012 Fall Sports Don Bosco Prep - 5

DON BOSCO X-COUNTRY TEAM

A Challenging and Rewarding SeasonBy Eric Cole ’14 and Anthony Delzotto’13

After the Don Bosco Prep Cross-Country team finished its pre-season meeting in the DeSales Lecture

Hall, the team members had their goals set for the up-coming season. Both Head Coach Kevin Kilduff, As-sistant Coach Rob DeCarlo, as well as new coaches and recent Don Bosco Prep graduates Steve Comanto and Steve Flanagan, agreed that the Don Bosco Prep Cross-Country team had yet another solid shot at earning a prestigious trip to Portland, Oregon for the famed Nike Cross Nationals Champion-

ship. But due to the graduation of nearly the entire Varsity squad last year, Juniors Kyle Levermore and Mike Higgins are now the only team members with Var-sity experience. Lone Senior Mike Flanagan, who had

been training with the top seven for a while, took the role as Captain of the team. Com-prised primarily of inex-perienced runners such as Juniors Adam and Kevin Ramos

and Jack Costello, the Ironmen believed that they would be spending the season rebuilding their team. However, when the Cross-Coun-try team won the season-opening Warwick Wave Mania Championship, a highly competitive meet of teams from across

New Jersey and New York, many changed their opinions of the Iron-men. In the words of Coach Kevin Kilduff, “After that race, I actually thought we had a chance of doing this.” It did not take long for the Iron-men to prove their worth as a team. At the prestigious

Manhattan Invitational Eastern Championship race, the pack of seven runners placed a credible 3rd, only behind

defending National Champions Christian Brothers Academy and this year’s Penn-sylvania State Champion team Westchester Henderson High School. The Ironmen were showing to the cross-country world that they could not only perform at a high level, but also do so with an inexperienced Varsity team. Juniors Kyle Levermore and Michael Higgins led the way, closely followed by Rob Townsend, Adam and Kevin Ramos and Schan Lartigue, who began the season as merely a Junior Varsity runner. When championship season time arrived, the Ironmen maintained their run for the title

by dominating the Bergen Group Meet of Champions, and later the Bergen Meet of Champions, in which the Ironmen seized the first four places in the race, which included the greatest runners from Bergen County. But when Hurricane Sandy swept through New Jersey, disrupting the second half of the championship season, the Ironmen had to make a tough decision that would prove to make or break their run. Putting their faith in their summer training, the decision was to run a total of three critical races in a single week, an extraordinarily difficult task that would place much stress on any runner. The dedication and pride of the Ironmen were put to the test as the runners prepared for the challenge of their cross-country season. After placing second in the State Group Meet, the Ironmen finished a rather disappointing 5th in the State

Meet of Champions at Holmdel Park. However, putting the pressure and thoughts of quitting behind them, the team put their best foot forward in the following weeks of training for the Northeast Regional Championship, the qualifying race for Nike Cross Nationals run at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls, NY. Finishing in 4th place at the 2012 Nike Cross Regional Championships – Northeast, the Ironmen overcame many odds and ran a very impressive race, despite the massive challenge of running three races in one week. The team had nearly achieved its goal of running in the Nike Cross Nationals at Oregon, having not lived up to the standards

required to qualify from the Northeast Region, arguably the most competi-tive region of high school cross-coun-try in the United States. However, the Ironmen are not discouraged. They will continue to apply themselves and train through the winter, spring, and summer seasons in preparation for the 2013 cross-country season. A team almost exclusively composed of Juniors, Don Bosco Prep will build upon these runners’ experience, training through the upcoming seasons for their Senior year, when the Ironmen can see the results of their hard work and test them-selves to their limits.

6 - Don Bosco Prep Fall Sports December 2012

Don Bosco Prep SOCCER

11 Wins, including post-season Tournament VictoriesBy Brendan Bisset ‘14 and Liam Hodges ‘14 The Don Bosco Prep Varsity Soccer team finished the year with 11 wins, 7 losses, and 2 ties. This record may not look amazing, but after losing in the first round

of both the State and County tournaments last year, the 2012 season was very successful. This year, the Ironmen played a very tough schedule, with teams like DePaul Catholic, Bergen Catholic, Seton Hall Prep, and St. Peter’s Prep. These teams made up the #2, #3, #4, and #5 rankings in the State tournament. Senior Captains John Toher, Matt Beier, and Zach Madison led the Don Bosco Prep Varsity Soccer team.

In the middle of the season, the team traveled to Delbarton to compete in a nationally recognized high school invitational soccer tournament. The tournament was comprised of Don Bosco, Chami-nade High School (Long Island, New York), Gonzaga

College High School (Washington D.C.), and Delbarton (Morristown, New Jersey). The first team the Ironmen played was Chaminade. This Long Island team turned out to be a tough opponent and beat Bosco 3-1. The next op-ponent the Ironmen faced was the #6 team in the nation at the time, Gonzaga College High School. This was an especially tough game, which turned out to be a 4-0 loss for the Bosco soccer team. This tournament may have looked like a failure to an outsider, but to the soccer team, it was a bonding experience. After the tournament, the team came together as one and produced a great end-of-the-season result.

Going into the Bergen County Soccer Tourna-ment, the team was focused and ready to make a name for itself. The first team Bosco played was Dumont, and the Ironmen beat them 5-1. Bosco played Northern High-lands played in the second round of the tournament. This

game was very important for Bosco because the Ironmen had lost to North-ern Highlands in one of their first scrimmages. This game proved Bosco’s progress from the beginning to the end of the season. The team played very well in this game and came out on top of Northern Highlands 1-0. In the semi-final of the County Tournament, Bosco played in a rivalry game against Bergen Catholic. Al-though Bosco dominated for the majority of the game, they lost 2-1.

While this loss may have been detrimental to any other team, it was just a bump in the road for the mentally strong Don Bosco soccer team, which went into the State Tournament well prepared. The first opponent the Iron-men faced was St. Joseph Regional High School from Montvale, NJ. In this game, Bosco won 1-0. In the second round of the State Tournament, Bosco was set to play a very tough St. Peter’s team which was ranked number two in the state. Bosco outplayed St. Peters the whole game in regulation time, but could not find the back of the net. In the first half of overtime, St. Peter’s scored on a free kick, which was its first and only shot on goal.

The Junior Varsity squad was led this year by Captains Mark LoBue and Kyle McPhail. One of the JV team’s

most difficult games of the regular season was against Saint Benedict’s. The soccer program at St. Benedict’s is na-tionally ranked and having lost to them 5-0 previously, many of the Don Bosco players were discouraged on their ride down to Newark. Playing under the pressure of having to redeem themselves from last year, the JV team scored a goal to take the lead. After the first half ended 1-0 in favor of the Ironmen, the team could only hope to defend its lead and wait for the second half to be over. However, St. Benedict’s scored a goal, tying the game up at 1-1. When all of the Ironmen’s great work seemed anti-climactic in the face of an imminent tie, Captain Kyle McPhail scored an amazing goal, chipping the ball over not only 3 defenders but also the goal keeper, locking the game up at 2-1. This win confirmed the JV team’s status as an elite force in New Jersey.

After a superb regular season, the team was granted the #1 seed in the Bergen County Tournament. After beating Bergen Tech, their rivals to whom they lost in the first round of the Tournament last year, they

played Indian Hills. Indian Hills was the weaker team and Don Bosco won 3-0. This led to the quarter finals where Don Bosco played Northern Highlands. This match would not only prove that Don Bosco improved from the first time when they played them in a friendly preseason scrimmage, but would also put them in the County Finals. Beating Northern Highlands by a surprising 3-0 margin, the Don Bosco JV team felt unbeatable. Not letting up a single goal throughout the entire County Tournament, the team felt as if nothing stood in its way. Then, the unex-pected occurred. Hurricane Sandy interfered with training for the week and the date of the game. In the Finals of the County Tournament, the score went quickly to 2-0 in favor of Ra-mapo by the end of the first half. When the final whistle blew, Don Bosco failed to complete its mission, losing 4-1 to Ramapo. Despite a traumatic upset to conclude the season, the Don Bosco JV team stated a point defeating St. Benedicts 2-1 on their home turf.

December 2012 Features Don Bosco Prep - 7

By Andrew Dawd ‘13 While the students of Don Bosco Prep were enjoying their well-deserved vacation, some of the faculty at the Prep remained hard at work throughout the entire summer. Bosco introduced its new “Summer Enrichment Program”, which offered a variety of fun and educational courses to

students entering the 7th and 8th grades. Mr. George Mihalik, the Director of Admissions at Don Bosco Prep and the main organizer of this new program, noted that its main purpose was “to engage students’ curiosity and to build essential skills needed to succeed in high school and beyond.” Concerning the need for this program, Mr. Mihalik explained that he, and many other faculty members,

felt that the preparation of possible freshman was crucial. He explained that because students come from a variety of different schools, there is no guarantee that they are necessarily ready for high school. Therefore, the Summer Enrichment Program was introduced not only to allow younger students to experience how real classes feel, but also to provide them the opportunity to get to know the high school atmosphere. Mr. Mihalik further explained that this program was a great way to introduce younger students to Don Bosco Prep. In addition, the Summer Enrichment Pro-gram coincided with Bosco’s sports camps, which meant that the students who enrolled were able to spend time in the classroom and time outside: after reviewing a few Math and English techniques, the students were then

able to enjoy the rest of their afternoon playing foot-ball or soccer.

As for the academic component of the Summer Enrichment Program, several COOP prep classes were offered in Mathematics and English to familiar-ize students with the material covered in this important exam. Furthermore, Mr. Campbell, Don Bosco Prep’s

Math Department Chairman, taught the math courses while Ms. Mazella taught the English cours-es, proving just how dedicated the teachers are at the Prep. Several other courses were offered at this program, including Creative Writing, Visual Media Today, Exploring the Sciences, and even a Robotics class. Mr. Mihalik stated that the popularity of each class would decide whether or not it might be introduced into the actual Bosco curriculum. In total, Moreover, 35 7th graders and 15 incoming freshman participated in the Summer Enrichment Program..

In addition to the summer courses, Don Bosco Prep also held a number of Open Houses, but with a format that proved to be dif-ferent from that of past years. Indeed, according to Mr. Mihalik, there was much more partici-pation from every-body in the Don Bosco community, including teachers, administrators, and even students, and many more class-rooms were used for these Open Houses, which allowed teachers to utilize the new Smart

boards. All in all, over 560 8th graders attended these Open Houses, a turnout that was simply surprising. Furthermore, Open Houses are going to be offered in the spring, directed at 6th and 7th graders as opposed to just 8th graders in order to grab the attention of these students earlier.

WhenaskedforfinalcommentsabouttheSummerEnrichmentProgramandtheOpenHouses, Mr. Mihalik replied: “Without a doubt, they were a success.” Surprisingly enough, although it has only been a few months since these activities have taken place, Mr. Mihalik has already been diligently planning for next summer’s activities!

Busy year-roundDon Bosco PreP offers summer enrichment Program anD oPen houses throughout the summer

By Christopher Lengua ‘14

The best Don Bosco Prep has to offer was on display at the Academic and Service Awards Ceremony this past September. Not only do the awards honor the top academic students in the school, but also the students who have shown excellence in the areas of community and spiritual service.

The talented String Orchestra, under the direc-tion of Mr. Gaetano Cecere, created an ambiance for the evening as guests were arriving until the award recipients processed into the auditorium. National Honor Society President Chris D’Amico congratulated all the award recipients in his opening remarks. In typical Don Bosco Prep fashion, Father James Heuser followed with an in-vocative opening prayer to the full auditorium.

Chris D’Amico and Father James Heuser’s remarks, along with the Orchestra’s rendition of the Na-tional Anthem set the stage for the plethora of awards given during the ceremony. Ms. Daniela Sepulveda, who is World Language Department Chairperson, presented the lan-guageawardsinallfivelanguagesoffered at the school. After the language awards was William Martorano’s performance of Antonio Caldara’s “Alma del Core” – Italian for “Soul of My Heart”. William’s performance elicited one of the most robust applauses of the night from the audience. The performance was truly impressive and was a quintes-sential example of the amazing diversity of talent Don Bosco has to offer.

Following William Martorano’s performance, Mathematics Department Chairperson Mr. Campbell and English Department Chairperson Mr. O’Connor presented the awards for their respective subjects. Both Mr. Camp-bell and Mr. O’Connor kept the crowd entertained with their wittily risible remarks pertaining to the idiosyncra-

sies of the two renowned teachers.

By far, the presentation of the Service Awards was the most eye-opening part of the ceremony. Father Manuel Gallo, the Youth Ministry Director at Don Bosco, talked in depth about the school’s mission trip to Nicaragua last year, describing in graphic detail the destitute poverty throughout the impoverished nation. The audience was also able to see a video presentation that was created by Mr. Michael McLean, who went on the mission trip to Nicaragua. Thanks to Mr. McLean’s ability to communicate in Spanish, he was able tointeractwiththelocalpeoplehewasfilming-thevideoshowed young children who have now become accustomed todiggingthroughgarbagetofindfoodandwater.Afterthevideo, Father Manuel informed the audience about the school’s promise to a little girl that Bosco volunteers would build a house for her the next time they visited. The school is continuing to raise money to support the cause, and it

will be interesting to hear from Father Manny after the trip to Nicaragua this upcoming February.

Br. Minh Dang presented the Theology awards, Mr. Kevin Kilduff presented the Science awards, and Mr. Gary Cecere presented the Fine Arts awards. After those awards were presented, Charlie Mezini performed “Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23” by Frederic Chopin. Mezini did an outstanding job performing the piece and elicited animated ap-plause from the crowd. After Charlie’s piano solo, Mr. Christopher Trzepinska and Mr. Mark Siemon presented the Social Studies and Technology awards, respectively. These awards were given to the students who showed superiority in the Prep’s history and com-puter classes.

Finally, Christopher D’Amico presented the General Excellence Awards. These awards are given out to the top three students in each grade. For the Class of 2015, the Bronze Award went to Alexan-der Flores, the Silver Award went to Anthony DePinho, and the Gold Award went to Matthew Barker. For the Class of 2014, the Bronze Award went to Joseph Pellicano, the Silver Award went to Kevin Quimbo, and the Gold Award went to Steven Seeberger. For the Class of 2013, the Bronze Award went to National Merit Semi-Finalist Corey Meyer, the Silver Award went to Michael Sielski, and the Gold Award went to Daniel Jacobini.

The concluding remarks were made by Principal John Stanczak, who commended the students on their exceptional work. He reminded the parents that it is not easy excelling at Don Bosco due to the school’s de-manding standards and students’ rigorous schedules. Finally, Mr. Stanczak told the audience that, although academic achievement does not receive publicity, it is as important and worthy of praise as anything else done at Don Bosco Prep.

AcAdemic And Service AwArdS

Villanova, Princeton, and Carnegie Mellon, because of their excellence in the fields of engineering and computer sci-ence.

If you believe that simply being a member of the club is time-consuming, imagine what it would be like running this club! However, Ken Fedor, class of 2015, his risen to the challenge of leading Don Bosco’s Computer Club to greater heights. Fedor’s main goals for this year for the members of the club include, “to give a general concept of com-putations skills to the club, [to have] members be able to program on their own and possibly make revenues [from an application or program] and generate a small company, and also for college help, to get kids on track to attend a good college.” The sophomore found the CS50x course as an excellent resource for the club, and will also help organize the field trips in the coming months.

On a final note, Don Bosco’s Computer Club will affect dedicated student further than just high school. Within the past few decades, computers have remained one of the best possible career options in the world. Joel Adams, a profes-sor of computer science, released a report that suggests a very bright future for anyone choosing a computer career.

In his report, “The Market for Computing Careers”, The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (USBLS) is projecting more than four times as many new jobs in computing than in all the other areas of engineering combined, and the number of new jobs per year is double the number of computing graduates each year. Also, The USBLS predicts that computing will be one of the fastest growing professions for the foreseeable future with nearly 3/4 of the new science or engineer-ing jobs being computing related.

With those facts, one cannot deny that computers are one of the best career options. To write software and make computers run, one will need to understand how to code and program in order to do their job. In that case, why not start early? That is the goal of Computer Club this year: to begin learning vital skills for a career that will be in high demand for the foresee-able future, and to have fun messing around with com-puters.

By Matthew Barker ‘15 and Shawn Diertl ‘15

The 2012 Don Bosco Computer Club is off to an ambitious start this year. With bigger and better goals than those in the previous year, members will be learn-ing an array of programming languages, such as Python, Ruby, Objective-C, and others. Using these skills, the Club plans on creating programs and applications, such as a new social networking website and iOS applications for the popular App Store.

Possibly one of the more exciting aspects of the Club is how they will be learning these programming skills. Dubbed as “The Future of Online Education”, edX is an organization that is currently working with a number of top-quality colleges to bring courses online for use anytime and anywhere. These colleges include MIT, Harvard, UC-Berkeley, and the University of Texas System. Not only limited to college students, millions of people can also partake in these online programs.

The course in question that these future pro-grammers are taking is Harvard CS50x: Introduction to Computer Science and Programming. Created by Harvard, this course is taught in a lecture format through videos posted online. Students may watch the videos

live, or consume them at their own leisure. According to the site, it requires approximately 12 hours of work per week. Aside from that, assignments, quizzes, and tests are assigned on a regular basis. And on top of that, students are expected to take two midterm exams and a final! All of these are then cumulated into a final grade, which war-rants a certificate if the student has passed with a 55 or higher. Clearly, this is a high caliber after school activity that one would want to put on a college resume.

Aside from learning programming and build-ing applications and websites, Bosco’s Computer Club has some exciting field trips on their agenda. One such trip will be to MIT as well as other possibilities such as

8 - Don Bosco Prep Activities December 2012

Have Programmers - Will Code2012 Don Bosco computer cluB moves in a new Direction

IRONMAN Newspaper Don Bosco Preparatory 492 N. Franklin Tpke. Ramsey, NJ 07446 2012-2013 Director Fr. Jim Heuser, SDB Principal Mr. John Stanczak IRONMAN Newspaper Don Bosco Preparatory 492 N. Franklin Tpke. Ramsey, NJ 07446 2012-2013 Director Fr. Jim Heuser, SDB Principal Mr. John Stanczak

STAFF

Editors-in-ChiefMatt Barker Owen Lane Sean Weir Komail Jafri Andrew Dawd David Rameau

WritersEric Cole Micahel Mackay Joseph Chung Anthony Delzotto Marko Begonja Anthony JorgeDylan Herina Chris Lengua Timothy Marcotte Justin DeVuono Devin McEnroe Nick Caputo

Liam Hodges Brendan Bissett Ryan Touhey Shawn Diertl Joseph Luongo Albert Wunsch

Photographer Brian Dorsey Moderator Mr. Paul O’Connor