St. Sebastian’s School

The WALRUSThe time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things:Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings. - Lewis Carroll

December 2011Vol LXV, No. 3

NEWS SPORTS

Does Not Appear in Photo:

Chris Paul in a Celtics Uniform

Who are the School’s Best Dressed?Page 3

Senior Class Honors the DeanBy Patrick Ciapciak ‘12

Prospective Sebs’ Students Attend Curriculum Night

By John Donovan ‘12The Admission’s Curriculum

Night was a great success. Prospec-tive families got a fantastic insight into the academic strength of St. Sebastian’s. The night began with a small address from Mr. Burke, in which he welcomed the families, en-couraging them to enjoy the evening and to learn from the experienced faculty and talented students. After he concluded his opening remarks Quandel Johnson ’12 (drums), Marlon Matthew’s ’14 (vocals), Joe Kerwin ’15 (Guitar), and Kevin Patterson ’13 (Pia-no) performed a wonderful rendition of Chuck Berry’s “Run Run Rudolph”. Their concert was well received and gave the parents and prospective students an extraordinary insight into the musical/performing talent that exists beyond the academic and athletic strengths. From there, the large group of families was divided into four large groups. Once these groups were separated, each one was sent to a specific discipline to learn the details of the core subjects (Scientific Inquiry, Mathematical Reasoning, Writing & Speaking, and Faith & Reason). In the Scientific Inquiry area, the families first heard a speech from Mr. Wilbur, in which he discussed the general structure of Science Department and also about the new

building being constructed outside. From their families were allowed to explore the two physics labs and biology lab. In each room, several demonstrations were on display. For example in the upper school physics lab, the largest attraction was the Robotics team’s impressively con-structed robot. Will Barnard ’12 and Gus Gordon ’12 demonstrated some of the robots basic functions, includ-ing the 6ft tall scissor lift and the zip-tie conveyor belt. Other displays included Simple Harmonic Motion systems, the mousetrap car project, and Motion Censor games. In the second physics lab, Middle school science was showing the type of ex-periments most incoming students should expect to conduct in their early science classes. Also, the Lego Robotics team was exemplifying how even seventh and eighth grad-ers can get involved in advanced robotics and get introduced to engi-neering, an opportunity that doesn’t exist at many schools. In the bio-lab, the Chemistry and Biology depart-ments performed many hands on experiments, which illustrated the power and beauty of mixing various compounds. In the “Mathematical Reasoning” part of the night, Mr. Rest (Chair of the Mathematics Department) discussed the progres-

sion for students along with the rigor and intensity of each course, at the same time lauding the accomplished Mathematics faculty and their skillful teaching style. After which, Connor Wiik ’11, Sean Frazzette ’12, Nikhil Basavappa ’13, and CJ Santosuosso ‘15 all made speeches about their experience with Mathematics at St. Sebastian’s, echoing many of the themes touched on by Mr. Rest. In the “Faith and Reason” section, students such as Chris Nadeau ’12 discussed their religious experiences at St. Sebastian’s. They praised the great opportunities for faith exploration through class retreats, service trips, and religion course. Finally, Andrew Vandini ’12, Jake O’Malley ’10, and Mr. Chris Lynch (chair of the English and Writ-ing department) professed to the prospective families the emphasis placed on writing at St. Sebastian’s. They said that through Chapel Speeches, Freshman Writing, and Literature courses, the St. Sebastian student’s writing skill would be honed and refined. Ultimately, the night was a lot of fun for all who participated and proved to be extremely useful to all families trying to make a choice on where to send their son to school next fall.

Every senior class in the history of St. Sebastian’s has made a lasting impression on their school through the annual Class Gift. So whether it’s a small wooden bench now outside the Athletic Building (Class of 1954), a tall brick clock-tower (Class of 1994), or a stone wall welcoming all visitors to the school at the corner of Greendale and Great Plain Ave (Class of 2009), class gifts will traditionally help the school look more beautiful and its students happier. And so after months of intense debate about how this se-nior class can honor the school that has so lovingly raised and educated them, Mr. Rich Arms and the Senior Class Gift Committee has narrowed down their options down to one most supreme idea. But before I announce what this year’s class gift will be, I’m sure everyone would like to know which ideas fell short in the selection process. One idea was to start an endowment fund under our name—but let’s be honest with ourselves, that’s pretty boring for a senior class gift. Most others had to do with the new Richard J. Palmac-cio Science and Math Building, which we have all seen under con-struction in the past year and won-dered with wide gazing eyes how wonderful it will be to finally frolic down those open hallways when it opens in February/March/April 2012. One idea concerned the courtyard-esque area seen from the windows of the upper library. Here, between the current math/library wing and the new Science Building, was envisioned beautiful landscaping, meandering pathways, and pleasant benches to sit upon as we students study in the open air. I can see why this idea was promptly dropped, for us students never study by ourselves or outside. Also, every time it rains, this area floods considerably in a reenactment of The Great Flood that Noah had to endure, forcing the construction workers to build tiny arks of their own or face the knee-

deep mud. Another idea was, in the spirit of John “Gus” Gordon, to build an underground tunnel connect-ing the Palmaccio Science and Math Building with the Athletic Center. You may be thinking, “Why from the Sci-ence Building, why not the Academic Building in general?” Good question, the answer is that the Academic Building has many straight outlets to the other side of the street, but the Science Building will be that much further and you will have to take a twistier path full of distractions. To support my point, just imagine you are Matt Fechtelkotter studiously recording one of his many Physics drops in the rotunda when all of a sudden you look at your watch and lo and behold you have just five min-utes until your football/basketball/la-crosse game starts. You immediately enter the underground tunnel and within seconds you enter the locker rooms through a back door. Creepy? Yes. Efficient? Yes indeed. But enough nonsense, it is time to reveal what the 2012 Class Gift actually is. As we all know, the study space in the Library will be doubled with the addition of the new Science Building. An area (not neces-sarily a room because it will be open on one side) will be designated as an “Open Study Space” and will include three circular tables with comfortable chairs. In this room, there will also be a couple of small square tables designated for Chess games, as they will have only two chairs facing each other. As stated earlier, one side of this room will be open, as the area is actually a continuation of the short hallway that will connect the upper library with the Science Building. Two other sides will border other new rooms, such as the Silent Reading Room (which we all know will not be very silent), the Seminar Room, and one of many Math/Science Computer Labs. The final wall will have tall wooden bookshelves much like the one in the existing lower library, and will be filled with scholarly books we will never read, but it will look nice. Also on this wall will be some sort of commemoration that this area

was the Class of 2012’s gift to the school. All seniors and their parents received a letter explaining all this information, and enclosed was a blueprint of the second floor of the library showing where the room is located and what furniture would be included. Also stated in the letter was that the Senior Gift Committee is aiming to raise $450,000 for the gift, and is asking for 100% participation from senior parents. So whether it’s $25 or $25,000, senior parents are encour-aged to give what they can. Some of you may be won-dering, “Why is this year’s class gift a room that would have still been built in the new Science Building even if the seniors hadn’t decided they would donate it?” This is a valid point, but from what I can tell the cost of this room as a whole will be deduced from the cost of the Science Building and therefore be less of a burden to the School. Also, because this class’ parents have al-ready donated so much to the new Building, the Committee decided to not build a separate monument like previous classes.

One morning just a few weeks ago, during the senior class meeting, Class President Kevin Dillon called in the faculty member whom we wanted to honor the room with. That man was Mr. Mi-chael Nerbonne—Dean of Studies, Assistant Headmaster, and our fa-vorite faculty member. Whether it’s in Greek class, talking in the library, or traveling for a Debate tourna-ment, we have all felt his warm and guiding presence. It was this class that decided there was no other faculty member who deserved this room more than Mr. Nerbonne. And so on the wall of the room with the bookcases, there will likely be a photo of the entire Senior Class with Mr. Nerbonne in the middle. The official name for this room has not yet been decided, but it will probably be nicknamed the “Nerbaleum.”

Mrs. Supple speaks to all the parents and students that attended this year’s St. Seb’s auction

Auction Shows Generosity Joe Dudley ‘12

On Saturday December 3rd the Guild of St. Irene and the Men’s Association held the annual St. Sebastian’s auction. The event was held at the Seaport Boston Hotel. Dressed to the nines, over 400 parents attended the auction, and bidding on various items, with all the proceeds donated towards the school. The auction was set up in three parts. First was the silent auc-tion with hors d’oeuvre, next came a sit down dinner in the dinning hall, and was followed last by the thrill-ing live auction. All together, each part played a role in creating the auction into a special evening, and one, for those who attended, will not soon forget.

The silent auction was by far the most social part of the evening. As people bid on items, everyone conversed in an open set-ting, while munching on the start-ers which were being served. The silent auction contained everything from tickets to the biggest sport-ing events to personal ice time with varsity hockey coach Mr. McCann. One of the most bid on items was a custom St. Sebastian’s pub table and chair, which featured a close race with many bidders attempting to sneak in last minute for surprise vic-tory. And other parents could only look on with envy as the Petro family came away with the hot yoga class. There were over 200 items being bid on during the silent auction, and it was obvious that people were in a generous mood that night, for very few items were left unwanted.

Flickering the lights was the signal that the silent auction was over, and that dinner was about to begin. As parents filed in to dine

with their friends, student volun-teers, Guild members, and members of the St. Sebastian’s faculty and administration headed to the com-puter room to work. Their job was to input all of the winning bids dur-ing the silent auction and double check each one to make sure that the proper price was put in. As they worked, parents enjoyed a chicken dinner with tortellini in an Alfredo sauce. After everyone had their fill, and the workers were done in the computer room, the main event be-gan: the live auction.

The live auction works as any movie or television show has portrayed it—the auctioneer stands up on a podium makes jokes and talks very fast, and those participat-ing in the auction raise paddles for their bid. In addition to the normal style of the auction, there were also students posted around the room with flashlights similar to those used to help airplanes land. The students would wave their flashlight around if someone had a bid, but the auc-tioneer did not see it. Fathers were also posted with the students to write down the winning bids for each item. The students, after some-thing was won, would then run the sheets down to the computer room, where some stayed back to repeat the process done for the silent auc-tion.

During the live auction, there were many great bidding bat-tles brought up through the spirit of generosity which had been grow-ing larger and larger since the silent auction. One which was especially memorable was for the custom Ar-rows golf cart. Mr. Kingsley fought off the toughest bidders, and con-tinuously raised the price to new heights. He really wanted that golf

cart, and no one was going to stop him. During the bid, he received applause for his generosity, and his goodwill did not go unrewarded, for in the end, he came away with the golf cart. Another example of goodwill and generosity was during the 1,000 dollar donation: where ev-eryone who held up a paddle would donate 1,000 dollars. The sheet of paper of which the fathers filled out who was donating had 35 slots for names, and the donators easily sur-passed that, almost amounting to 50 people donating to the school. There were also several more parents who donated 500 and 250 dollars.

On behalf of the students of St. Sebastian’s, I would like to thank all those involved in the auc-tion. To those who helped run it: you did a wonderful job, and the auction ran smoothly, creating an enjoyable evening for all of those in-volved. And to all those parents who attended and bid on items: thank you for your generosity in donating to the school. Although it is the stu-dents who make up St. Sebastian’s, it is the parents who spend their hard earned money who really make the school one of the best. And to those who donated their items: I know that many of you gave up your own vaca-tions and sporting tickets to help out the auction, and if it were not for you doing that, there would not be much of an auction at all. Last to all the stu-dents who helped out, although you could have just as easily not done it, you decided to help out, and it is that spirit, which we value so much. It is safe to say that this year’s auction was a success. And moving forward, hopefully everyone will realize how great this auction was and use this experience to make next year’s auc-tion even better.

Matt Rocco ‘15 speaks to prospective students for next year at the annual Curriculum Night

Hockey Team Rolls To Fast StartPage 8

THE WALRUSPage 2 December 2011

The WalrusA St. Sebastian’s Publication

The Walrus is the official student newspaper of St. Sebastian’s School. The Walrus seeks to provide news and entertainment for the St. Sebastian’s community, as well as to provide an open forum for students to offer opinions on issues related to world, na-tional, and school affairs. The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect opin-ions of the faculty advisors or senior editors of The Walrus or of St. Sebastian’s School. Correspondence to The Walrus should be addressed to The Walrus, c/o St. Sebas-tian’s School, 1191 Greendale Avenue, Needham, MA, 02492. Senior Editors and produc-tion staff reserve the right to reject, edit, or admit any or all submissions. To submit an article, email it to walruseditor@gmail.com.

Senior Editors: Peter Cimini ‘12, Sean Frazzette ‘12, Chris Nadeau ‘12, Chris Stadtler ‘12

Apprentice Editors: PABs and BODs of the World

CONTRIBUTORS: Chris Reilly ‘13, Shane MacDonald ‘14, Colin Connolly ‘15, John Ryan ‘15, Kevin Patterson ‘13, Danny Higgins ‘15, Will Kenney ‘14, Mike Petro ‘13, Peter Dematteo ‘13, Mike Haley ‘13, Jack Goldman ‘14, Chris Callahan ‘14, Vaughn Gendron ‘14, Cam Kelly ‘14, Kevin Murray ‘14, John Bartlett ‘14, Mark Lane ‘12, James O’Leary ‘13, Pat Rivard ‘14, Michael Hoff ‘13, Brandon Jones ‘14, Billy McCarthy ‘15, Jimmy Mitchell ‘15, Jay Daukas ‘14, David Abelson ‘14, Christian Kelly ‘15, John Real ‘13, John Cheever ‘12, Matt Donovan ‘13, Kevin Ginns ‘14, Ryan Sanderson ‘12, Mickey Adams ‘13, C. J. Santosuosso ‘15, Peter Breslin ‘13, Ryan Wolfsberg ‘13, Kenny Vallace ‘15

Editors Emeritus: Edmund Murphy, Dillon Ecclesine, Tom Hoff, Alex Spear, Tom Keefe

Faculty Advisor: Mr. Dan Drummond

“What’s the opposite of Oatmeal?” - Jamie Hilton in Mr. Nunan’s Western Philosophy Class

“The Secret Six is like the Island of Misfit Toys.” - Mr. Nerbonne

“That thing’s not a cannibal; it can’t eat a human.” - Mark Cunningham, after seeing the World’s Largest Insect

“Think about all those wicked weird kids at college. I’m way above them.” - Kevin Wolfe, when asked if he would fit in at college

“Shout out to Janet!” - Danny Conley in his announce- ment filling in for El Pres

“Someone tell #3 he’s too short to play free safety.” - A comment on a YouTube Video

showing a BB&N touchdown against Sebs

QUOTES of the MONTH

Head Writers: John Donovan ‘12, Joe Dudley ‘12, Matt Fechtelkotter ‘12, Tyler Sweeney ‘12, Kevin Wolfe ‘12, Bobby Wright ‘12

Above is William Shakespeare, not Julian Matra, but the two are often compared favorably

Matra: Back-to-Back Bard CupBy Sean Frazzette ‘12

Senior Editor The evening light lay betwixt the window and thy desk, Master Rogers, as the contestants strutted and fret their hours, or minutes rather, upon the stage. Wherefore was the competition held, thy shall ask? ‘T’was present in the art hall—the legendary room of exemplary skill and honor, a word of mysterious air, sought by all and achieved by few, lasting longer than death, but preventing thy death of he who achieves it. The contest was of rhetoric. The speech was of William. And the Winner, the holder of glory and fame, of abstract and concrete brilliance, was of eleventh grade. Julian Matra’13 was his name, and close behind lay Zachary Cham-bers ‘14. The race was run and the fight was fought, and when thy light broke and thy dust settled, these two lay victorious in an unequal manner, first and second. And so the competition was a struggle. Many cometh but few leaveth with any sense of pride or honor. Yours truly took his time upon the stage but left with a dearth of feeling. From Macbeth I spoke, but of Macbeth I did not. I lacked the vengeful emotion, or lack thereof, of the murderous king. Many wandered their way from Master Drummond’s and asked the judges, to be or not to be? Yet the judges clearly judged the latter, and these men left as quickly as they came. And so the only left were the aforementioned victors, and Patrick McGowan ’14. McGowan fought valiantly, or at least gossip told me so, but he was left out of the dynamic duo. And so, thy winners were the men mentioned: Matra,

reigning champion of oratory skill, and Chambers, a junior high cham-pion of up-and-coming ranks. Alright, so that did not turn out very well, but I hope the readers got the picture. On Tuesday, Decem-ber 6, 2011, a few members of the St. Sebastian’s community ventured their way to Mr. Rodger’s room for the annual Shakespeare Contest. In front of a panel of five daunting judges, these men spoke the words of the greatest of all bards. First, there was Mr. Rodgers. An actor and director in his own right, as well as a master of the English language, he watched and judged many of the men who also perform for him annually. Second, there was Ms. Carroll: the wonderful photography teacher and co-director. Third, was Mr. Deschenes: a man of scholarly intellect, skilled in much more than just programming and Latin. Fourth was Mr. Drummond. He stood in watch, surely with his epic complete works of Shakespeare, annotated and all, fully in mind. And fifth was Headmaster Burke him-self. A gentleman and a scholar, Mr. Burke both inspired greatness for the competitors and offered a symbol of nervousness, as no one wants to embarrass himself in front of the man in charge. So with this panel of five, each contestant offered their own monologue, each of at most twenty lines. From humorous to dramatic, theatric to stoic, the monologues were offered up as a respectful salute to the writer who has inspired many. Of course, I must give credit where it is due: Julian Matra brought home his second straight champion-ship belt. As school champion, he proceeds to the next round, as he must compete with the best of the

state. I unfortunately do not know what monologue he (assumingly) brilliantly performed, as the doors are locked to all but the judges. But surely he was terrific. As a part of his prize, he must now learn a sonnet for the next stages, to prove his Shakespearean superiority. In this round, he will be challenged by the best of the best in the Shakespeare recitation business. There will be people from all over the state with lines memorized from anything from Love’s Labour’s Lost to Hamlet to The Tempest. Many of the monologues may be obscure passages from the least known Shakespearean trag-edies. Others may be the noblest of soliloquies from histories we all know and moderately love. Regard-less of the fame of the speeches, it can be assured that they all will be performed with vigor and enthusi-asm that marks a truly great actor. Let us all root and cheer for our fellow Arrow, as he can hopefully go even further than he did last year and further than anyone in Seb’s history. In conclusion, I must urge everyone—even those not interested in theatre (spelt correctly here, with the proper –re ending—to consider participating next year. It is a fulfilling way to both pay respects to a man who has done more for the English language than any other author or playwright, as well as simply try an art you may not be accustomed to. Give it a shot, and you may find a love in performance or the bard himself. Although I will not be at Seb’s next year, I hope I will learn that many more students participated (and not just because of the extra-credit Mr. Drummond may offer)School Thrives in Holiday Sprit

By Kenny Vallace ‘15 As the winter months role around, many of us find ourselves scrambling around, trying to get our Christmas shopping complete, our Thanksgiving dinner on the table, or just keep ourselves warm. However, not all people in our community are able to afford these tasks that have become such a constant in our lives. For this reason our Sebs community has been working hard as a whole to help make an impact on less fortu-nate peoples holiday seasons this year. The National Honor Society this fall put together a collection for various food items for less fortunate peoples thanksgivings. This drive was a great success and many items were amassed in each individual box, lo-cated in every classroom. Many class-es embraced in competition against other classes to see who could col-lect more, and the competitive spirit, brought great results to this drive. To learn a little more about the drive, I asked Sean Frazzette, the president of the National Honor Society, a few questions regarding it; I first asked him, what the purpose of the drive was, he said, “ To collect a bunch of food for Brothers Keeper, for home-less people.” I then asked him why he was taking part in this drive, he said, “ To be a caring individual and give back to the community.” This idea of being a caring individual and giving back to the community is the central goal for all our efforts to help the needy this holiday season. Also, as Mr. Chambers mentioned in corpo-rate chapel, we thank the staff and faculty for donating their time and money to help out the food drive. All their hard work and donations went very unnoticed, but are still much appreciated.

To go along with the food drive, MPA held the 2nd annual Hazel’s for Hunger Run. This run consisted of a one-mile race wrap-ping around the school’s fields. Hazels’ Bakery and Sebs families donated many cakes and cup cakes. Among these were cakes were, Sebs picture cakes and a United States cake, made for the victor, Mike Haley ‘13. Over sixty students and faculty – Mr. Laurence – ran and competed for assorted cakes. The highlight of the day was the amount of canned goods that were collected to help with the Thanksgiving food drive.Another food oriented drive was the Feeding Frenzy, run by John Dono-van ’12. Before school every day for a week,he had a small box taking money donations to help buy food and meals for the destitute families in Lawrence. For every one-dollar raised a meal was provided for one person. To attract people to donate, John and Joe Dudley ’12 wore full body, skin tight, blue suits, with tuxedoes over them. This drive was a great success and every single dollar donated was a huge help. Another drive that has been a popular one around the school for at least three years now is the blanket drive. I interviewed Pat Rivard ‘14, aka “Blanket Boy,” about the blanket drive he is running this Christmas season. I first asked him the purpose of the drive, he said, “ To help Boston’s homeless in the cold winter months.” Then I asked him why he was help-ing run this drive, he said, “ I saw the struggles of people around us so close to home.” This is a very power-ful thought,and it’s hard to grasp the idea that so many people will have to spend the winter on the streets in the cold so close to home. However, this is what empowers us to act and help make a difference in our community.

Pat also informed me that, “The St. Vincent DePaul’s Society distributes the blankets from the Boston Public Library.” For every blanket collected in this drive, the donorreceives a raffle ticket, for a raffle that will be drawn soon. The winner will receive Bruins tickets, and this is another great reason why everyone in the Sebs community should donate a blanket. Furthermore, a few weeks ago, Pat’s Sophomore class traveled to Catholic Charities in Dorchester. There they helpedprepare bags of food for peoples Thanksgivings. They prepared 5,000 bags of food, which were then distributed to many needy families in the Boston area. The sophomores spent nearly a whole school day, tossing and passing hundred pound bags of Potatoes. Their hard work embodies our school motto to “Love god, work hard, and take good care of one another,” and they represented our school in great fashion. Last but not least the Christ-mas warmth drive, run by the nation-al honor society is another drive our Sebs community has participated in. This drive like the blanket drive gives warm clothes to those in need for the harsh winter months. As I have been looking around the classrooms I noticed that many of the boxes are mostly empty. I encourage students to donate new clothes such as mit-tens, hats, and coats and help the less fortunate. The drive continues until December 15 and is concluded at the Latin Mass. As the Christmas season seems to extend further and further into November, our community calls for our efforts to extend. Our school has done a great job in doing so, and I thank all who have participated, and I encourage anyone who hasn’t to participate as well.

THE WALRUSDecember 2011 Page 3

Elder Vandini, Seniors Lead School in Sartorial Style

By Kenny Chen ‘13 “The finest clothing made is a person’s skin, but, of course, society demands something more than this”-Mark Twain. Every com-munity has a unique trend with regard to clothing, and even in a school where there is a dress code, fashion can still bloom forth from a variety of individuals. To pinpoint the fashion trends of St Sebastian’s students, I asked three questions to a variety of individuals. Firstly, what is the most important item of cloth-ing to you and why? Secondly, if I asked you to name the best dressed or worst dressed student or teacher in the school, who comes to mind first? Thirdly, what is the most im-pressive or important color to wear for you? For each of these three questions, the answers (and reac-tions to the questions) I received varied greatly. Firstly, let’s take a look at Little Ike. I wanted to know what he considered was the secret spice, the extra bonus, that made him the cute kid that he professed in his chapel speech for the last three years. Now, when I asked him what the most important item of clothing was to him, he paused for a moment. I was expecting some item such as a pom-pom hat, but instead this is was what I got: “I think it would be pants. You know what I’m trying to get at.” A rather candid but good response to the first question, this answer shows us a crucial element in our everyday attire. The meaning of Ike’s response still lies in ambigu-ous shadows, however. In response to the important color of cloth-ing question, Ike noted that black matches with anything. In all seri-ousness I cannot disagree at all with this statement. Black just feels more professional in my opinion, whereas white is just bland and awful especially if one wears undershirts that are not white or have words on them. In my next group of polls, I received a variety of realistic answers. When I asked Peter Breslin

the first question, his immediate response was, “The most important items of clothing are ties and socks because they are cheap.” Peter must get some pretty heavy discounts some way or another. For the bright-ly dressed student, Peter nominated Andrew Vandini. For the worst dressed student, he nominated Matt Vandini. While Ryan Schnoor, who I was interviewing at the same time, burst into high emotions in telling Peter that ties were not cheap, Ryan also agreed that ties were important because “they show your character.” I cannot disagree. One certainly can tell a lot about a person by the com-plexity of the tie or by the neatness/messiness of the tie knot. Throughout the previous week, I also collected some answers in the library and hallways. Cole Eden says that the most important item of clothing is your kiss cover. I just stared with a blank look until he said it was your hand; hence, Cole embodies the principle that “the fin-est clothing made is a person’s skin” professed by Twain. Also, Joey Gua-rino’s answered that the most im-portant item of clothing was pants yet again. Joey Guarino, acting in the same manner as Little Ike, de-cided to politely to leave it at that; in addition, James O’Leary also stated that pants were important because “they are a necessity.” O’Leary noted that Headmaster Burke and Mr. Ner-bonne are the best dressed individ-uals in the community while Thad-deus Kennedy “got no style.” Other notable responses included Chris Rodowicz’s reply that Headmaster Burke is the best dressed individual and that Mike Hoff is on the messy side because “his shirt is always un-tucked, and his tie is wicked loose.” Not even loose—wicked loose. Seriously though, don’t worry Hoff, you have great examples around you to climb your way up the ladder. Ironically, Teddy stated that Andrew Vandini “tries too hard” and “looks at magazines too often.” While I believe that the opinions of the juniors are impor-tant in reflecting the ideas of the

student body, I certainly cannot deny that the seniors play the great-est role in setting the standard of dressing for the student body. As he believes that the suit is the most important piece of clothing and that belts are extremely important (“without one you lose the entire look you’re going for”), Kevin Wolfe also praises Andrew Vandini as a shining example of what to wear: “Vandini claims he’s the next Scott Disick and most in the senior class agree that he’s the school’s best dressed student; on the other end of the spectrum, Jarrod Dillon is always very poorly dressed, both in and out of his school apparel, so don’t wear whatever he does. RD also falls under this category.” Andrew Vandini’s doctrines follow: “I’m not so sure that there is one particular aspect of one’s attire that is the most important, but each piece of the outfit needs to work in accor-dance with each other; however, Mr.Nerbonne says, ‘Every classy man needs a watch.’ Also, some white collared shirts are great. My favorite dark color would be black and my favorite light color would be blue or green. It’s the pattern and the tie that makes all the difference though. Models would definitely be Mr. Nerbonne and Mr. McCann for teachers because of their great suits. Student models would be Kevin Dil-lion, master of the hiking boot look (and business after hours), Wolfey, master of Euro style, Fish, master of the sweater and timepiece, and Haughey, master of the suit and shirts. My brother is of the ‘I don’t care’ group where he wears what-ever whenever...sloppy. Last thing: just gotta go big with your style, and think of every day as GQ day.” Our community is always in demand for more fashionable styles, which may differ between individuals, and based on the polls, I believe that the most accurate conclusion is that Andrew Van-dini clearly is the master of fashion whereas Matt Vandini needs to start stepping up his game to catch up to the legend.

This is the real Scott Disick, but @TheNextScottD is probably our school’s best dressed

Strange Weather Confuses All Every year, by the time December rolls around, most of us are usually sick and tired of shovel-ing snow and you have probably already quarreled with your friendly neighborhood snowplow guy, who just so happens to always complete-ly neglect your well-marked drive-way and decimate half your lawn…but this year is different. Why, you might ask? I have no clue. Maybe the gossip amongst the clouds is that snow is SO last year, or maybe the ozone layer lost a bet to the sun and has to do whatever he says for a few months, or just maybe Mother Nature finally bought some flake-fighting Garnier Fructis. But the motive isn’t important, and neither is the culprit. The bottom line is that I, presumably along with many oth-ers, am starting to freak out a little bit.

These statistics, consider-ing the average temperature in Boston in November is just 43.7 degrees, are mind-boggling. The lyric from the famous holiday jingle Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!, “And the weather outside is frightful”, is that way for a reason. Right now, however, the weather outside is noticeably lacking fright, and most of us humans are unsure of how to handle this. The only creatures more confused about the odd warmth than us are the moths. These rather stupid creatures usu-ally hatch from the warmth…IN THE SPRING. They emerge from their cocoon, ready for some nice weather and flowers. However,

they were fooled by this heat in the doorway of winter, and to say the least, they’re probably disheartened, but I can’t say they’ll be missed when they miserably perish; their driveway loitering was starting to get pretty aggravating.

Anyway, almost everyone has a winter ritual that they begin once it’s cold enough to start. I per-sonally break out my flannel feety pajamas the second the thought of snow comes to mind (which is usually around September 9th, but that’s beside the point), but now, they’re dormant in the bottom drawer of my dresser, longing to be worn. And I long to wear them, but if it’s not meant to be, it’s not meant to be. I guess I can’t complain about this uncharacteristically dry and hot November, though. I’m actually pretty happy about it because it means less shoveling, which is less work, which is good. But still, I know I’m not the only one that finds turn-ing DOWN your AC in November to be absurd. So yes, the absence of shoveling 12 inches of snow is nice, but it’s precisely those 12 inches that trigger two words that are said frequently separately, but when combined can put a smile on any students face: “snow” and “day”.

St. Sebastian’s, along with most private schools, has a reputa-tion of having many snow days. Public school attendees call it being wimpy; I call it being resourceful. While private schools are quick to pull the trigger, it’s even wimpy for us to call off school when there isn’t a single speck of snow on the

ground. So when is the next snow day, or should I say, when at least is the first day with snow? You know things aren’t looking good when you ask Mr. P when the next snow day will be and he just shrugs. I even tried calling Newscenter 5, but I got their voicemail. Now the ques-tion is, when even the top weather sources—Newscenter 5’s Storm Team 5 and Mr. P—are perplexed about the weather, who do you turn to next? My answer to this question was to go to the next-best master of the seasons, a man who has some serious weather predicting under his belt: Punxsutawney Phil.

I soon realized that I would have trouble speaking to Phil…it’s quite a drive to Punxsutawney. Because I can’t talk to Phil myself, I decided that I would just have to play the role of Phil. So on Decem-ber 2nd, I woke up, hopped out of bed, and didn’t see my shadow, so winter must be just around the cor-ner! Get your shovels, snow pants, sleds, and hats ready everybody, because these weather shenanigans can’t last forever. Back in Septem-ber, no one would’ve thought that they would be desperately hoping for a severe blizzard or praying for a day under 40 degrees, but we should still enjoy this while it lasts. We’ll soon begin our annual journey of cold, cold, and more cold, with many blankets and countless mugs of hot chocolate along the way. Mother Nature must think she’s quite the jokester right about now, but even the funniest of jokes get old.

Senior Class Meeting:Who’s Beatin’ Eaton?

By Chris Nadeau ‘12Senior Editor

Somehow every Tuesday morning the members of the senior class experience less traffic, have miraculous recovery from sickness, and find functioning alarm clocks. It is not a coincidence that such a pat-tern has formed, but rather I believe that the quality of the senior class meetings has been the impetus for such uncanny attendance on Tues-day mornings.

The rest of the student body would be remiss if they do not get a chance to experience a class meeting like the current senior class’ meetings. I would now like to take the time to share the different facets our senior class meetings that make the time so memorable. Over the past few years the weekly class meeting for the class of 2012 has developed into a great combination of informa-tion and comedy. It a time where we can get announcements from various teachers and faculty, and also the weekly lowdown from Mr. Sullivan or Mr. Burke. These teacher announcements probably take place in all grades, but the student announcements are what make our class unique. This section of our class meeting is very comparable to one of Patrick McLaughlin’s Monday morning presidential addresses. It is 75% humor and then the last 25% has to be actual information. The funny announcements are not strictly made for humor, but they are actual ideas that could possibly come to fruition. This year especial-ly, genuinely good ideas have been brought forth. The following ideas would make up a “greatest hits” list for our class meetings over the years. First, freshman year, as a class,

Secret Santa and also a class pet, either a ferret or a hamster, which rotate week by week at a different class member’s home. I think both ideas are great, but one is clearly more likely to happen than the other. But who knows, we might just have to put both up to a vote. And there is no such thing as a normal vote in our class. Whenever something needs to be decided, the Clap O’ Meter must be brought out. Whether it is where to have prom, what to do for a class trip, or what type of pet to get to for our class, instead of writing our opinion on a sheet of paper and counting the votes, we just present all of the options for a given issue and then whichever option gets the loudest applause wins. It works every time. Finally, what makes our class meetings so special is Mr. Eaton. He’s the perfect teacher for our class. He can handle our antics longer than most people would be able to, and always knows when it is time to get serious. He has been more than loyal and he deserves a lot of credit for all the time he has given to class. He is also one of the most generous individuals during our weekly charitable collection. He is consistently the highest donors and every week we see if anyone can give more than Mr. Eaton in this section of our class meeting called “Who’s Beatin’ Eaton?” Rarely is someone able to beat Mr. Eaton’s donation.

My advice to the students in grades seven though eleven is to make class meeting something that your grade looks forward to attending. Do not let the barrage of announcements that are presented take away from the laughs and memories that can be made during these meetings.

we tried to enter our class modera-tor, Mr. Eaton, onto the show Sox Appeal. It was a show that matched Red Sox fans with one another for a blind date during a Sox game. Mr. Eaton was still single at the time and an enormous Red Sox fan, so it only seemed logical that he try to get on the show. Unfortunately, he would not provide his social security number amongst other classified information that restricted us from submitting his application. Then sophomore year, our class president Kevin Dillon organized a weekly art competition, where anyone in the class could create a piece of artwork and then as a class we would vote on which was best. The winner received a large box of Shark Bites (yes, the gummy candy). However, I am pretty sure that this competi-tion only lasted one or two weeks, since Kevin eventually ran out of Shark Bites. Finally, junior and thus far through senior year have taken the ideas to a new level. Many of you will recall GQ day, which has taken place the last two years. It’s a day where everyone is encouraged to dress with semi-formal style like the men featured in the magazine Gentleman’s Quarterly (GQ). This day was a hit in our class, and during the class meeting on GQ day, Mc-Cullough Room transformed into a runway for our class’ great style. The term GQ really seemed to catch on around school. Somehow the name of a men’s periodical developed into an adjective. On GQ day you could someone complimenting someone for his cloths saying, “That’s so GQ!” Hopefully this tradition continues in years to come. There is currently a lot in the works right now for our senior class meetings. Our class rep-resentatives in the student council are trying to organize a class wide

Is this next for the East Coast? We cannot actually tell what’s been going on with the weather

MPA Ventures to Philly Christmas break is fast upon us, and as always, it brings a flurry of stresses. Tests are piling up, teach-ers are assigning last minute papers, and Juniors are packing the Physics labs to perfect their mousetrap cars. Yet, as the majority of the school is wrapped up in determining the best way to resolve their academic prob-lems a small group of students and faculty spent the first days of Decem-ber thinking and talking about the issues facing us all. Under the guid-ance of Mr. Keefe and Miss Rynne a group of young men representing MPA journeyed to Philadelphia with about 1,500 other students from around the country to participate in the annual Student Diversity Leader-ship Conference (SLDC). Sponsored by the National Association of Independent Schools, the conference focuses on “self-reflecting, forming allies, and building community” by helping students understand multi-cultural communication and social justice. Talking with any of the stu-dents who attended, it is easy to find the success that the conference had.

It left quite a mark on the attendees and to see that look no farther than Ike Okwerekwu. His friend list on Facebook shot up from a simple 725 friends to 782. And he’s “still getting friend requests”. Impressive. The benefits did however, extend beyond the empirical. He also noted that it was a chance for students to be open and honest about issues facing their communities, and it was these discussions that facilitated the friendships made. “We only knew each other for two days, and people

were crying when they had to leave. They wanted to stay there forever.” Quandel Johnson had an equally glowing description: “It was the most diverse, open, and non judg-mental place I’ve been in... I wish it was something everybody could experience.” It’s no question that honesty would thrive in such an environment, and I am sure that we will see the effects of this confer-ence making themselves felt though the skills our young men learned there.

By Chris Wolpe ‘16

By Mike Petro ‘13

Philadelphia was the backdrop for the students who represented Sebs’

THE WALRUSPage 4 December 2011

COMPETE FOR PRIZES HERE!

2. Where’s the Walrus? “Where’s the Walrus?” is a new challenge. A stuffed Walrus will be hidden on campus December 11th. Use the clue below to find him in or around our school.

Hint: The Apple doesn’t Fall from La Mancha

To compete for a $10 iTunes Gift card in this month’s “Where’s the Walrus Competi-tion”, return the stuffed animal Walrus to Room 215, when Mr. Drummond is pres-ent. Disclaimer: DO NOT go through other’s personal belongings or space (or any part of the school that’s off limits), as the Walrus will not be hidden there.

A picture of the coveted “Wally the Walrus”

Here are three fun facts about the mystery teacher:

1. This teacher loves to play flag football.

2. He or She has never been on ice skates before.

3. Wednesday is his or her favorite lunch day.

4. He or she ironically has never been to Italy.

ARE YOU SMART ENOUGH FOR A PRIZE?

If you think you are right, fill out the sentence below and turn it into the Walrus box into Mr. Drummond’s room, Room 215. A drawing will be held in January to determine the winner of a candy prize.I, __________________________________________________, think the Feature Teacher for December’s Walrus is _________________________________________.

1. NAME THAT TEACHER Competition

By Mark Lane ‘12 The Sitter, directed by David Gordon Green (Director of Pineapple Express), goes where movies like Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead and Adventures in Babysitting would never go. Jonah Hill (Superbad, Moneyball) stars in this raunchy comedy as an irrespon-sible college dropout named Noah Griffith, who is roped into babysit-ting for his mom’s friend. Noah has no idea of what to expect, with no babysitting experience or a love for children in general. However, Noah certainly did not expect to have to babysit three of the strangest and wildest kids on the planet. The first kid Noah encounters is the oldest son Slater, played by Max Records (Where the Wild Things Are) Slater is a shy 14 year old, who is an advent watcher

of tennis and gymnastics and prone to anxiety attacks. Then there is the daughter Blithe (Landry Bender), who can only be described as a diva in training. Blithe’s goal in life is to become a celebrity by any means necessary, and once she’s famous she wants to release her own line of perfumes. Then last but certainly not least is Rodrigo (Kevin Hernandez) an adopted boy from El Salvador. Ro-drigo is by far the most troublesome of them all, with his love for fireworks and explosions, and his random disappearances. Needless to say after five minutes with these three children Noah quickly realizes he is in over his head. Of course things only go from bad to worse when Noah makes the horrible decision of taking the children to a party on the other side of the city, while still getting them back home before their bed-

time at 1 in the morning (which no-body seems to question as strange bedtime for a group of 13 year olds). The antics that take place between Noah meeting the kids and when he takes them home are all hilarious and extremely raunchy. Interestingly enough however, there is a point in the movie where the movie decides to add an emotional element to the otherwise hectic events. Despite the crazy shenanigans that the kids put Noah through, and sometimes the shenanigans Noah puts the kids through there are a few bonding moments that actually have a viable message to them while still manag-ing a small aspect humor. Through-out the movie there is a transfor-mation in which Noah goes from irresponsible adult to a responsible mentor for the three troublemakers he takes care of. Overall the movie proves to be very funny and over the top, but still manages to have a lighthearted emotional element to it. Unfortunately, this leads to my only complaint with the movie. If you are excepting this movie to be extremely hilarious all through-out the movie, then this is not the movie for you. This movie proves to be more of a parody then a movie designed for non stop laughing. The movie pays homage to mov-ies famous babysitter movies like Adventures in Babysitting, and uses films like that as a building block from which it can go even further with its jokes. Overall, this movie is geared more towards viewers who have seen movies like Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead and have wished that the movie was more outrageous than it was cute and lighthearted. The best way to describe this movie is Adventures in Babysitting with a Superbad twist. Overall I give this movie a solid four out of five sharks. It’s not exactly a movie for everyone, and it’s certainly not a movie you should bring your children to, but it is a movie that is great for a good laugh and surprisingly some good wisdom. Side note if you’re a fan of old school Hip Hop you’re going to love the soundtrack to this movie. There some Slick Rick, and classic Biz Markie.

“The Sitter” staring Jonah Hill as an ill-fated baby-sitter

Captain Dillon Talks SquashBy Danny Higgins ‘15

and Charlie Gordon ‘15Over the past few years,

the squash team catapulted to new heights at St. Seb’s. More and more student athletes join the team every winter. Captain, Kevin Dillon expects to lead the squash team to a successful season. Coaches Moore and Beilin have strong beliefs that this season will be the best that Seb’s squash has accomplished in years. Leadership and hard work will be the main factors leading to the team’s success. We asked Kevin Dillon some important questions about this year’s team:

Q: Who are the top players on the team this season?

A: The top players are Matt Bell, Andrew Bono, obviously myself, and Danny Conley.

Q: How do you feel about the new addition of Mr. Beilin?

A: Mr. B is the best. He has us work-ing out in the gym every day and brings a “reach for the stars” attitude for the team. My only complaint about Mr. B is that we are not al-lowed to bring root bear or cream soda to practice.

Q: What are your goals for the up-coming season?

A: Our main goal for this season is to win the league. And by league I mean the seventh and eighth grade teams of the ISL.

Q: Who is your biggest rival for the upcoming season?

A: Our biggest rival must be the Milton Academy sixth grade team. The have some real hardos, and its time we put them in their place. We are looking to get revenge on them

after last year’s match.

Q: Did the team do any pre-season training?

A: Yes. Mr. Beilintook us to the top of Blue Hill Mountain. When we got up there he ran away and took the mini bus back to school. It was then our job to find our way back to Seb’s from the top of the mountain.

Q: What does squash need to be-come a bigger sport at Seb’s?

A: Squash needs courts. We have the talent, but to become a member of the ISL we need courts to compete. I guess that will be our next mission drive.

Clearly the squash team has the skill and motivation, but to truly excel in the ISL, they need help. Let’s get Henry’s Corner out on the courts to support them.

Skiing Aims for ISL’s BestBy Kevin Wolfe ‘12

It’s December and the temperature is rapidly falling. The hockey team was picked a long time ago, so it has been peacoat season for a while now. Basketball, wrestling, and squash are also all underway in their seasons. I knew it was winter when I stepped into the rink last Saturday and joined Henry’s corner at Milton Academy. There was something in the air that day, it was tangible, and the hockey team dominated Milton by several goals. Continuing this winter spirit, the ski team will be out the mountain again when the New Year and snow arrive. The ski team has an inter-esting story of growth. We’ve come a long way since a few years ago, and we are varsity recognized by the ISL. Two years ago, after a long his-tory as a club sport, the ISL granted us varsity status and the eligibility to compete in its elite league. For those that are not familiar with the team, our level of competition has only been increasing each year. As a club sport, we proved our abilities in the Ski East league, competing against such powerhouses like BC High. If it weren’t for our efforts in the seasons before our ISL status was granted, we would have never

fall and finish quickly. Both types of courses require great athleticism to compete in, just look at an Olympic skier race on one of these. As to our team, we no longer have these great skiers, but we hope to make up for their absence by improving our own abilities. We typically race seven skiers in the varsity slots. I’m looking for a big step up from our younger team members, Richard Arms, Henry Finnegan, and Alex Walsh. They’re young guys, but I hope they meet the challenge ahead of them and help make our team the best it can be. I’m also looking for them to assume their leadership roles after this season, as they will continue our work when the seniors leave. As for our varsity slots, we’re looking for strong performances from the aforementioned, me, Patrick Ciap-cak, and James Astrue. This is sub-ject to change, however, as we have many on our team who are quite ca-pable of racing at this level. Also, we are still looking for more skiers, so to all grades, if you have any interest, please come talk to me and or join the team. We race at Nashoba Valley on Wednesday’s, it’s great competi-tion, and I’m hoping to see Henry’s make the trip and support us out there a lot this season.

achieved this recognition. I’m proud to be part of a team that has made such impressive gains.Hopefully I’ve captivated some interest at this point in the article, to the point at which my readers want to know how we look for the upcoming season. We certainly have some adversity to overcome if we wish to be successful in the ISL this year. With the departure of last year’s captains Nick Chappel and Will Vietze, we have certainly lost possibly the best talent that the team has ever seen. Nick and Will both consistently finished top five in the ISL races, and I believe they finished top 10 in both the Giant Slalom and Slalom races at New Englands. Many of you probably don’t know these terms I just used. I’ll add some explanation. Giant Slalom consists of a gated course, with the gates spread about 30 feet apart from each other. The racer must round the gates as effectively as possible in order to reach the finish line in the least amount time. Giant slalom is run much faster than slalom, a course in which the gates are closer together, and the racer must balance speed with the limita-tions of the course in order to not

Swimming Hopes for SuccessBy Jack Adams ‘15and Cam Kelly ‘14

The 2011-12 St. Sebastian’s Swim Team has been compared to the ’96 Chicago Bulls. Other people have chosen to compare us to the ’11 Cleveland Cavaliers. The swimmers on the team like to view ourselves as the ’92 Dream Team. Mr. Jenkins is the likes of Phil Jackson and Ms. Callini is Eric Spolstra (Miami Heat coach). In the offseason we lost many swimmers due to college. Among them were our tri-captains Will Adams, Sean Sullivan, and Alex Hunnewell. Other seniors lost were Paul Lee, John Barack, and Charlie Callanan. The most missed senior due to his locker-room shenanigans and race-day Sharpie tattoos will be Lou Heck. Despite these many losses the team was able to rebound and find multiple new replace-ments. The two most important are our captains Matt Vandini, aka “Top Dawg”, and Cam Kelly, aka “Key to Happiness”. The team has also appointed Jack Adams as the new Will Adams. Two upperclassmen, MJ Muldowney and Matt Fachetti, offer some wisdom and insight, into the aspect of life. Ian Kelly, Will Supple, and Peter Fantozzi, return-

ing swimmers, have the potential to swim in the prestigious 500 freestyle and 100 butterfly this year. More people who have joined the team are 9th graders Ryan Lee, Matt Rocco and 7th grader Michael Capone who offers new blood for the 100 breaststroke, which we have conceded in the past few years. One of the most anticipated parts of this year is the “Decision Part 2”. Will Greg DeMatteo swim for his school or will he leave for a club team? Many of us are pretty sure he flips a coin and decides whether to come or not. His presence is much appreciated when there. On December 7th, the team opened its season at home, Dana Hall, against the top opponent in the league, Portsmouth Abbey. We have never lost to Portsmouth in the regular season, but the team did not seem as enthusiastic as years in the past. One of the contribut-ing factors in this was that because Portsmouth has a very intimidat-ing cheer during which they slap the water and scream, almost as intimidating as the New Zealand All Blacks and their haka war dance. At the start of the meet Portsmouth took an early lead with 1st in the 200 medley relay. Seb’s was able to fight back with Greg winning the 100 fly and 50 free, Jack winning the

100 free and 100 back, Will win-ning the 500 free and Cam finishing second in that race. Also MJ, Matt Vandini, Matt Fachetti, Matt Rocco, Ryan, Michael, and Ian contributed key points that brought us closer to Portsmouth. In many peoples’ eyes, the most exciting part was the 200 free relay. In a tight battle was Portsmouth A relay and Seb’s A relay, made up of Matt Vandini, Mi-chael, Will, and Jack. Going into the last leg, Jack was down 3 seconds and as some people would say, “he put da team on his back.” Jack was able to fight back and win 1st for the relay. However our efforts were to no avail, as Portsmouth ended as the victor in this meet, with the final score of Sebs-79 Portsmouth-93. The races were very encouraging to the swimmers and coaches, because we have improved drastically in the past few weeks and are willing to put forth the effort to become bet-ter. On December 9, Seb’s races a new Bancroft team and is looking to get a win in their back pocket. Great things are expected, so we must push through and deliver. New members are always excepted, and if making the varsity hockey team didn’t happen for you, the swim bus is always looking for more seats to fill.

St. Sebastian’s swim team has been one of the most consistent teams in recent memory

Movies with Shark

THE WALRUSDecember 2011 Page 5

St. SebS

RaRe

QueStionnaiRe

Grade Favorite Lunch Twitter or

Facebook

Best

Christmas Movie

View on NBA after lockout?

Teacher you’d take

home at Xmas

7:

R.J. MurphyFry Day Facebook Never Seen One No Mr. Weihman

8:Matt

KarpowiczGrilled Cheese and

Tomato SoupFacebook Elf Everyone is still

just as richMr. Shea

9:

Chris WolpeChicken Wraps, those

are beautifulTwitter is stupid I don’t watch

Xmas movies

I didn’t watch the NBA in the first

placeWho’s a good

teacher?

10:

Pat McGowanChicken Patties The Book Home Alone I It was bad

anywaysMr. Kittler

11:

Matt Vandini (Small)

Grilled Cheese Day Definitely Facebook

Christmas with the Kranks

NBA stinks...on ice

Mr. Dr. Martin

12:

John DonovanRoot Beer Float day Twitter The Year Without

a Santa ClausDoesn’t affect my

lifeMr. Wu

Secret Six Reveal ThemselvesBy Chris Stadtler ‘12

Senior EditorSt. Sebastian’s prides itself on its myriad of clubs throughout the school. Most clubs have a demo-craticly elected leadership or a single class moderator, however one club’s heirarchy seperates itself from the rest: The History Club. The History Club shows historical movies once a month, like Apollo 13 and Forest Gump to its members. One of the more simpler clubs in the school, The History Club is ran by The Secret Six, a group of six St. Sebastian students. Who are these six? What are they? Good questions. My research began with an investigation into the number 6. The number 6 was first discovered long ago. Soon it became one of the more impressive numbers and ushered in trillions of numbers greater then six. The number six is only preceded in importance by that which preceded it: 1, 2, 3, 4, and of course 5. Upon discovering this through some quick algerbra I looked into these 5 numbers, who know 6 better then anyone. To do so, I examined the greatest groups of these numbers, under the precedent that the Secret Six must have garnered its inspiration from the groups that came before them.

The following groups are in order of strength, given their numeric values. The greatest group of one and of all is without a doubt Superman. Faster then a speeding bullet, a man of steel and beloved from seven year olds to Jerry Seinfeld, Superman is simply the greatest group of one to have ever existed. Greatest group of two: Deschenes and Nerbonne. Nerbonne, the brains of the opera-tion, and Deschenes, who brings the seltzer, have ruled over the library for enternity. Third is the group of God. The most versatile of all groups, God has tri-times the power with The Holy Spirit, God and Jesus in a single package. Groups of four and five, however, are much more difficult to come to. While great teams such as, the Seinfeld Cast and the Kitchen Staff have existed, they are hardly the rule, rather excep-tions. This truth makes the existence The Secret Six all the more fascinat-ing and questionable. To garner more informa-tion I consulted Terry O’Connor, who professed his membership in the Se-cret Six. Quickly, the ball got rolling. With E.L.E.E.T. in my back pocket, I successfully learned everything to know about The Secret Six. Terry cracked easily and truly displayed his character when the chips are down. My first question was what is The Secret Six? Expecting a fight I

braced myself to bombard him with sneaky questions, but Terry quickly took the secret out of Secret Six. In a condensed form the following is what I learned. First, The Secret Six has 6-7 members: Patrick Ciapciak ‘12, Patrick McLaughlin ‘12, Michael Muldowney ‘12, Terry O’Connor ‘12, Sam Hodgson ‘12, Benjamin Thai ‘12 and sometimes Conor Chabot ‘11. Together these titans of industry rules over an expanisive movie selection with an iron fist, ruth-lessly demeaning classic movies like School of Rock and Terry’s favorite Confessions of a Shopaholic. One might be wondering how this team of people was assembled. It includes a Football Captain, School President and MPA Treasuser. The Truth is, however, that all of these people gained entry by simply ask-ing to be apart of the group. Despite the lack of a democratic process, the seniors in the group truly due represent a wide range of people throughout the community and successfully run the History Club in conjunction with Mr. Cleary. The true origin of their name roots from the original Secret Six, a dedicated group of emancipa-tors who donated money to John Brown in an attempt to end slavery. All of The Secret Six are passionate about history and are working hard to improve the History Club.

Christmas: The Forgotten Meaning of the Holiday?

By Jack Goldman ‘14and Christian Kelly ‘14

Christmas. It has lost its meaning over the years. Some peo-ple like to blame the corporations. Others feel that they need to blame the general materialism of human-ity, or at least Western society. Oth-ers don’t care and like to talk about how the youth of America is going to be really fat and won’t be able to actually speak to each other live since they will feel that it is easier to just stay home and do everything through webcams. Perhaps our language will diminish to the point where it sounds like the unintelligi-ble grunts of sweaty apes. It will be like WALL-E. Jack and I blame you. Let me explain while Jack chimes in with parentheses. Whatever the cause may be of the superficiality of the holi-day season, though, it still remains true that Christmas has become a tool for the big evil corporations to get grown adults to blow a quarter of their year’s salary on Xbox 360s and computers (or Playstation 3’s, those are more expensive when compared to Xboxes that aren’t special edition ones). Seriously, just look at it like you have everything laid out in front of you (or you’re about to eat it; whatever floats your boat): people go through tons of stress and pain (I’m sure someone was martyred on Black Friday) to buy gifts for people that they might see only once a year and don’t really care about in the first place. Oh, and Jesus fits somewhere in there too. The real problem is the fact that people spend too much of

their money on useless knick-knacks and toys that further facilitate lazi-ness and slacking off. Maybe if we gave items that had some value aside from entertainment, we could fix a few of America’s problems. As we all know, America is having a huge problem with educa-tion. The price of a college educa-tion is inflating and America’s status as an intelligent, educated country falls every year (not everyone wants to go to ITT Tech). This needs to be fixed and can be fixed, with Christ-mas. Instead of buying every male you know a copy of the newest Call of Duty game (I would appreciate that though), why not buy them a Calculus textbook, or an encyclo-pedia? Eventually people’s per-sonal lives will become so dull and dreary due to a lack of electronic entertainment that they may resort to reading in their free time. Plus, even if they don’t use the books you buy them, at least they look more intelligent having a house full of books(Kindles and iPads don’t count, so don’t be that guy). You could help prevent crime too (by being in the police force). Why not buy people security cameras and stream the footage it takes to the FBI or even your local police station (or you could do that)? Sure, maybe a bit overbear-ing. Sure, maybe a violation of people’s rights, but hey, how could it hurt (million dollar lawsuits and prison didn’t hurt anyone)? Christmas can also solve its own problem of being occupied by rampant consumerism. Once again, instead of buying people you barely know Steve Jobs’ biography

or the first season of Modern Family, we could resort to more helpful alternatives. Why not give people the Bible for Christmas? Seriously, there are millions of Bibles in print and people literally just give them away. Plus, you don’t even have to give people the full Bible. You could just e-mail them the book of Eccle-siastes. That’s cost effective and it’s beneficial to society. So when you go Christmas shopping for your sixteenth cousin who lives in New Zealand who you haven’t seen since your date of birth when he came to see you, keep our words in mind. Remember that Christmas was not originally meant to be the day you finally get that new Wii and The Beatles Rock Band, it was meant to be the day where the entire Christian population cel-ebrated the birth of the Son of God. So Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and remember that Christmas isn’t just about the joy videogames where you kill people over and over again bring or the satisfaction reading a great book will give you, but it’s also about remembering that Christmas is a day of the Lord, meant to be celebrated in honor of the Son of God. God Bless.

Despite common belief, this is not the purpose of Christmas

College Football, BCS Offers Exciting Finish to Fall Season

By Ryan Lee ‘15 Every year, college football is full of upsets and crazy finishes, but this year, that state proved itself more often than not. After the long road that was the college football season, Bowl-mania begins. The of-ten disputed BCS system still reigns supreme in deciding bowls, and this year, it again proved its controver-sial decision making. There were snubs galore, as deserving teams were left out of high level games they deserved to be in. First, the Oklahoma State Cowboys were very misfortunate in the computer based rankings; as they missed out a rank-ing of number two and a chance to play in the National Championship game. Next, another major snub was the Kansas State Wildcats. KSU only lost to two top ten teams this season, one of them being Okla-homa State. Personally, I believe Kansas State deserves a bid in the BCs above Virginia Tech or Michigan. Finally, there is one more snubbed team that is neglected year in and year out. This team is Boise State. The only way the Broncos ever get noticed is to complete an unblem-ished season, something that has become increasingly difficult in col-lege football. Boise State may not have as strong a schedule as teams who play in a major conference, but they are still more deserving than many teams that made it to one of the major bowls. As for the actual bowl games, there are many matchups that interest me. One of the games that will be excellent, but has not been talked about much, is the Out-back Bowl. This game pits runners-

up in their respective conferences against each other. Look for this game to be a shootout between Michigan State and Georgia, with the Bulldogs eventually coming out on top under the leadership of quarterback Aaron Murray. The Cot-ton Bowl this year may be the most exciting game that is not part of the BCS. The Cotton Bowl matches up two teams deserving to be in higher level bowls in Arkansas and Kansas State. With Arkansas nearly in the National Championship hunt earlier this season, a matchup with Kansas State may feel like a consolation prize. I do expect the Razorbacks to outperform their opponents, but if the game is viewed is an easy win, Arkansas will have their bells rung on gameday, as the Wildcats have been playing with a chip on their shoulder all season long. Next, the world famous Rose Bowl should excite the nation. The matchup of Wisconsin and Oregon should be a great one, as both have high octane offenses. Expect Oregon’s big–game experience (Last year’s National Championship game and a loss to LSU week one) to help them in this case. The Ducks know how to lose big games, but I do not see a possibility in which Oregon does not shred the Wisconsin defense and win the annual game at the Rose Bowl. The next two games of the BCS are full of teams I believe, do not deserve their spots. The matchup of West Virginia and Clemson will not be close in my opinion. Clemson’s offense is one of the best in the nation, and the West Virginia defense has not proven itself, as the unit gave up 49 points to a poor Syracuse team earlier this

season. Clemson will win big. The Sugar Bowl this year is full of teams that don’t belong. Virginia Tech vs. Michigan should be a great game, but not deserving of a BCS game. Michigan Quarterback Denard Robinson has found a groove in the past few games, and expect that to continue, as he will do enough to lead his team to victory. The game, however, will be close. The most intriguing matchup in the BCS this year is the Fiesta Bowl, as Stanford plays Oklahoma State. Two of the best quarterbacks in the country go at it in this game, but they will not be the reason for the outcome of the game. Plain and simple, Justin Blackmon is a beast. Blackmon is the best receiver in the nation and Stanford has no cornerbacks skilled enough to cover him. Stanford quarterback and Heisman runner-up Andrew Luck will try his best to keep the Cardinal in the game, but Oklahoma State. quarterback Bran-don Weeden has the best target on the field, and it will show. In a close one, the Cowboys prove they should be the ones playing for the crystal football. Finally, the big one. Ala-bama vs. Louisiana State University: The Rematch. This time, the game is played at a different venue, but the result will be the same. Expect LSU kick returner Tryann Mathieu to work his magic and run back a punt or kick. This game will not be as close as the previous, but it will still be greatly entertaining. Expect a one touchdown victory for LSU, and their second national champi-onship under Les Miles. These are the games to truly look out for, but if you are a true college football fan, you can just watch them all.

LSU looks to cap off their undefeated regular season with another win over Alabama

THE WALRUSPage 6 December 2011

POINT and COUNTERPOINT Exams Before! Exams After!

By Michael Haley ‘13

It’s getting to be that time of year again, St. Seb’s. That’s right, Christmas break is only days away, and while you can look forward to 2 weeks off from school and, of course, Christmas day and PRES-ENTS! But it’s not really all fun and games. Most of you know the feel-ing. It’s December 26, and you are stuck with nothing to do. Sitting at home, you might enjoy your Christ-mas presents and free time, but inevitably you will realize that ex-ams are less than 3 weeks away. Of course, you really should study, and you probably do not have anything better to do, but yet you still resist it. And thus the problem presents itself; Why do mid-term exams have to be held AFTER Christmas break. Why not BEFORE Christmas break? Unfortunately, the Seb’s brass has presented no solution to the problem. But I am here to argue that mid-term exams should be before break, for the benefits are enormous for both students and also the fac-ulty, who want to see us do our very best. The first, and most obvious reason, for holding exams before break is the issue they present to students over the holiday break. Holiday break is an extremely vital point in the school year; it is a vital break to the students, so that they can refuel and recharge and come back to school stress-free and ready to work hard. How can we possibly come back in January refreshed and reenergized when we realize on our first day back that exams are only a WEEK away! I say, if mid-term exams were held before Christmas break, things would be better. Granted, if they were to be before break, you would be pulling your hair out at this very moment, but imagine the awesome feeling of leaving school on that last Friday, knowing that you can fully enjoy your break, com-pletely stress-free. Students would come back from break in January, refreshed, fulfilled, and able to tran-sition back into work without the stress and worry of scrambling to prepare for exams. Not only would pre-break exams make the holiday vacation more refreshing and fulfill-ing, but the last few days of school

would not become an absolute joke.

Let’s face it, as it is, in the final week of school, the last Friday is a complete joke. We do not take it seriously; half of us, for that matter, don’t even show up! Further, the allure and the hype that Christmas break gets causes students to let themselves off the hook a little bit in the last week. Therefore, the quality of work done in the last week goes down greatly, due to the enormous distraction that Christmas break is. If this last week of school were re-placed with exams, students would recognize the importance of exams, and therefore would be motivated to study and work very hard so as to end the week on a high note. Exams held this week would make the final week of school before break much more productive than it is now. And further, students would be unable to skip the last Friday before break, unless they wanted to return from break with exams waiting for them! In this way, the entire final week of school would be saved. This last week would be saved for sure, but the first week back in January would also be saved. As it is, the final week of the 2nd quarter occurs the week we get back in January. This is an extremely awkward way to begin the second half of the year, and in a way it also subtracts a week from the quarter, for if teachers want their students to succeed on exams, they would have to sacrifice that first week back in order to review all of the material covered in the class up to that point. And if teach-ers opt to treat that first week as a normal week, and instead include lots of tests and quizzes and other assignments to get enough grades to finish the quarter, students’ performance on the exams them-selves would probably suffer. As it is, two weeks of school in the second quarter are not used to their maximum potential: the week before and the week after Christ-mas break. Simply pushing mid terms up one school week would dramatically change the success of the students. Exams before break would save the integrity of the final pre-break week and the week back from break, but it is also very clear that we would do better. Higher and better grades would be essential

to all of us; they would benefit all of us because it would help boost our semester grades and keep our parents and teachers satisfied with us. But even if students do not do well on their semester exams, exams before break would help because students would be able to judge their performance in each class, and have a good long break to check themselves and their effort. Further, if students found them-selves overwhelmed by classes and mid term exams proved that they needed to make a class change, they would have the entire break to discuss such a move with their parents and Mr. Nerbonne would have more time over the break to readjust the schedule for such students. Not only will the students benefit from such a move, but the teachers will reap benefits as well. Teachers would not have to spend their time over Christmas break digging up old tests and reviewing all kinds of months-old material, but would merely just have to correct their exams with an answer key and then be done with it. Further, teach-ers would regain students’ focus. Students would not have the luxury of slacking off before break, for they would have mid-terms to worry about. And being able to come back from break and have a fresh start in a fresh new year would inspire students to start strong, having been refreshed and replenished. If you still aren’t convinced that exams before break would benefit you, picture yourself free and unre-stricted over Christmas break. You wouldn’t need any excuses for not doing homework and not study-ing, because you wouldn’t have any work to do. Picture yourself free from responsibility, able to do whatever you want. You can sleep until 12 P.M, stay up later, sit and watch T.V. all day, or just relax with a blanket and a warm fire. Or maybe you’ll just want to party the entire time. It doesn’t matter what you do, you’ll be free! Just know that I’m not to blame if you get yourself into trouble over break. All in all, you, St. Seb’s, should push for a better December/January schedule, with exams before break: it would benefit you, your parents, your teachers, and the school in general.

By Kevin Patterson ‘13 It is now that time of year that students dread. In these three weeks between Thanksgiving Break and Christmas Vacation, heaps of homework, projects, and essays are thrust upon us. As we attempt to deal with all of these projects at once, we invariably get tired, losing sleep and working sloppily the next day, and once this cycle begins, it is near impossible to stop. Suppose, now, that exams were scheduled for the week before Christmas Break. Such a change would directly inflict great pain upon the academic careers of all students. Suffering from pain-ful insomnia and anxiety for the impending time off, students would surely slack off in their studies. All students, at this time of year, antici-pate reaching that blinding light at the end of this academic tun-nel—Christmas Break. All students invariably take their eyes off the prize, despite their individual aca-demic gumption, and they would consequently receive poor grades on these ever-important exams. This is why it is so important to keep these exams after break. Student performance on these exams would exponentially decline should they not receive a proper respite before the draining process that is ex-amination. I asked Matt Vandini, junior, his thoughts on the current exam schedule, and he responded, “I would probably straight fail my exams if they weren’t after break, given that the week before break is probably the worst week in the entire school year in terms of work load, then pile exams on top of that? At least after the break you’re not mentally brain dead.” That’s just it; students become mindless drones after these trying weeks, so why add the stress of exams? As we return from break, we traditionally have another week of classes, slowly and properly reintroducing us to the daily grind that school entails. After we assimilate once more, exams come around, almost anticipated and accepted by students. Then, as we are completely relaxed and utterly prepared, exams arrive, per-fectly timed. What could possibly be better? Also, this week of review leaves us a perfect window of study-ing. When they are after break, teachers do not really expect stu-

dents to study a lot; it truly becomes a break. It could be argued that we lose knowledge of the course mate-rial over break, but that’s why this exam review period is there. That week truly renders null the age-old excuse of “I forgot all I knew about Al-gebra over break.” When I asked Mike Petro, a junior, his opinions about this review period, he said, “I don’t mind the after break exams. It allows the second quarter to have some breath-ing room, and, because teachers don’t expect us to study over break, we get a full week of review after break.” So, should students elect not to study over break, as I would venture to say is most common, they are not hopeless come exam time. However, should a particularly astute and eager student decide to focus on his studies over break, he is learning a valuable lesson. Sophomore Tucker McLoughlin“The Student Formerly Known as ‘Tuggah’” made a great point when he explained, “Teach-ers can see that if you gave this kid two weeks to do what he wanted, he would have the right judgment to be able to prioritize. It also helps prepare you for college in that you have a lot of free time, but no one there to make you do your work.” In essence, the current exam schedule is a college preparation at its finest. With no one beside to remind these rare students to keep their noses to the grindstone, they are working as they would in college—without outside motivation, looking within themselves to find the desire to complete particularly troubling tasks. Having exams after break encourag-es students to improve study habits. Furthermore, consider for a moment the work that the teachers must do on exams. If exams were held before break, our instructors would most likely be expected to grade each and every one of their several exams before the second week of vacation begins. These teachers, therefore, are deprived of the break that they have also earned. Also, everyone likes to visit the teachers after completing the exams in order to know how they did on their exams before the scores are released. If exams were before break, students would not have the opportunity to visit with their teach-ers until two weeks later, forcing to dwell on potential mistakes that will surely drive them crazy, reemerg-ing from the depths of their head to haunt them as they go to the movies,

as they open their Christmas pres-ent, as they lay their heads on their pillows on the last nights of vaca-tion. With exams being after break as they should be, students are given an excellent opportunity to visit with their teachers and discuss potential problems while said problems are still ripe in their heads, ready to be corrected by the teachers. I’m sure I am not just speaking for myself when I say that such daunting time between the tests and the results would drive me insane. Finally, think about how the days off work out. With exams as they are now, the winter schedule provides two weeks of sweet reju-venation, then a week of readjust-ment, then a weekend, followed by alternating days of exams and study days. After the exam week, there is a four-day weekend, just long enough to reenergize students, but just short enough to keep students’ heads in “school mode”. If exams were offered before break, the sched-ule would be as such: Alternating exams and study days, then two weeks of almost unnecessary time off, followed by a quick, immediate jump back into the swing of things at school. There would be no time to adjust once more to daily home-work, quizzes, and papers to write—it would hit all students like a firm, unforgiving brick wall. Furthermore, the exams would, as they always must, signify the end of the quarter. If it were this way, the second quar-ter would only be about four weeks long, offering no time for students to earn back points squandered on earlier tests. One bad grade, in this faulty, hypothetical system, becomes roughly one quarter of your yearly grade when weighted as it would be. In a Catholic school, mercy and compassion must be expected. A revised exam schedule would be unforgiving and harmful to all members of the St. Sebastian’s community, teachers, students, and parents alike. Let’s keep it the way it is now. If it were to change, the magnitude of the mistake would be readily understood. Having exams after break provides us with a true vacation from school when we need it most, and, if this break were wasted in anxiety over grades and nervous fear of returning to school at full speed, it would be no break at all, but, as Emily Dickinson put it, a “stillness…/ Between the heaves of storm.”

New Year’s ResolutionsBy Tyler Sweeney ‘12

Mr. Wu: Promises to save more pray-ing mantises. Quandel Johnson (Tyrain): Promises to work his hardest in everything he does and put his heart in to his music.Cam Cain: Promises to not have plantar fasciitis again and attend the rest of the home hockey games.Will Kenney: Promises to himself to retrieve his football jacket from the Marano residence. HK Kennedy: Promises to keep including the initial of his last name

in his first name. Peter Cimini: Promises to repeat his senior year to come back and lead Henry’s Corner.Greg Barletta: Promises to get his voice back, so everyone can hear Greggy speak again.Mr. Beilin: Promises to himself to maintain his status as smartest faculty member in the school.Father Paris: Promises to kick everyone out of the library by 7:30 pronto.Mr. Moore: Promises to stop beating up on middle school girls’ squash teams.

Brian Wolpe: Promises to get one rebound against St. Mark’s.Mr. Deschenes: Promises to make everyone change his password at least ten times by the end of 2012.Joe Dudley: Promises to filet more veal cutlets in 2012.Kevin Dillon: Promises to spend more time with the kids.Ben Thai: Promises to have more chill time. Blanket Boy: Promises to actually give the kids their tickets, not keep them for himself.Mr. Tremblay: Promises to get some sleep before wonderland.

This guy’s list looks a little bit longer than Sweeney’s, but the school does offer good onesSkip Bayless Mr. Fitzgerald

Celebrity Look-a-Likes

Matt Bell Mr. Curran

THE WALRUSDecember 2011 Page 7

International Club UpdateBy Peter Breslin ‘13

Exploring the depths of ancient Greece during the Golden Age and being able to see the birthplace of Western Civilization in a first person perspective may seem like an impossible journey to some; however, the members of the Inter-national Club made this journey on the Thursday of November 3rd after school one day.

The Club traveled to the Mugar Omni Theatre at the Museum of Science to see the new docu-mentary called, Greece: Secrets of the Past. Greece: Secrets of the Past brings the viewers back to time of 500 BC and 400 BC in Ancient Greece to see the founding of many skills and ideas that laid the basis for the way we live today.

Jay Daukas (’14) summarized the night as “really informational, yet interesting how [the movie] showed the process on how arche-ology works and the advancement of Greek culture over time.”

The event appeared to be very realistic due to the unique construction of the Mugar Omni Theatre, which has a 180-degree screen. Joe Tamburello (’13), a new member of the International Club as of this year, exclaimed, “The 180-de-gree screen was amazing! I felt like I was actually in Greece.” Mrs.

Schwimmer, the head of the Club, also commented on the excellence of the photography in the film.

In other past news, the Inter-national Club also celebrated Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) by hosting a competition with the members of the Club with a com-mon pastime called boliche, or also known as ball-in-cup. The Club was split up by grade to determine a winner, and in the end, the seniors were victorious.

In addition to having many interesting, international field trips, the International Club is also known for its holiday parties where the members gather to learn about other cultures through food, music, and games! The Club’s famous Christmas party is taking place on Thursday, December 13th from 6 to 8 at night in Ward Hall. The plan for the night goes as follows; the mem-bers will uncover some unfamiliar dishes that they have made, which have origins from all over the world. Next the Club will split off into two groups for the games, which include an always-intense game of Bocce, and a mind-boggling game of Inter-national trivia. After the two groups switch half way through, everyone will gather together for a game of Limbo while Hispanic music will be blaring in the background. After there is one last man standing in the

game of Limbo, the breaking of the Piñata follows. Some of the various types of entrees that are being prepared include tacos, shepard’s pie, Challah bread, potato pancakes, sushi, pierogie and kielbasa. As for the desserts, there will be croissants, canolies, éclairs, Koulourakia ( a Greek cookie), Jamacian Rum cake and flan. As for the rest of the year, the international club will continue to have students who have traveled to different parts of the world give presentations on their trips to the Club. Within the presentations the members talk about the geography of the place, and also about the fas-cinating differences in the cultures. A few past presentations were Peter Cimini’s trip to Spain, Alex Pappas’ trip to Greece, and Kenny Chen’s trip to China. In between all the presen-tations, parties, and field trips, the International Club has also been fundraising for a foster child in Bolivia named Herland Gaños. The Club’s most recent fundraising effort was selling the chocolate Advent Calendars at parent teacher confer-ences in November. The International Club also welcomes Mr. Shea, who will be celebrating his first International Club-style Christmas party next week.

Above is the result of loads of hard work and effort, as created by the Lego Robotics team

NBA Looking to Shake Things UpBy Mike Hoff ‘13

After grasping a hold of the sporting world last spring in one of the most exciting and intriguing playoff stretches in history, many thought that the NBA would not be able to reclaim the spotlight that it surrendered during its several month long lockout. Well, to the surprise of many, the Association was able to do just that, but for rea-sons that would have been utterly implausible just one week ago. On the day that Albert Pujols inked a mammoth $254 million dollar con-tract, baseball was brushed aside by basketball due to some of the most bizarre sequences of events ever witnessed by this longtime sports fan. For many days prior to December 8, New Orleans Hornets superstar point guard Chris Paul had been the center of countless trade rumors, with possible destinations ranging from Boston to Golden State to both Los Angeles teams. Paul’s preferred destination was the New York Knicks, as he and friends Amar’e Stoudimire and Carmelo Anthony envisioned a “Big Three” akin to the one down assembled by the trio of stars in Miami. But because the Knicks were pillaged of their all their trade chips in their deal for Anthony last year the best deal they could conceivably offer was a package of Iman Shumpert, Landry Fields, Chanucey Billups, and a 2018 draft pick in exchange for Pauland that wasn’t cutting it by any means. As the days wore on the rumors began to pick up, and it became clear that the Hornets were intent on moving Paul before the start of the season, as to avoid this distraction looming over them for the entire season. It also was widely reported that both the Clip-pers and the Warriors had each hit a snag in their negotiations with the Hornets, as Golden State refused to relinquish young scorer Stephen Curry, while the Clippers declared guard Eric Gordon untouchable. This left the Lakers and the Celtics, each interlocked in a bidding war, with a top-five player and possible championship ramifications on the

line. Unfortunately for the Celtics, their assets were limited, and their best offer ended up consisting of Rajon Rondo, Jeff Green, and two first round picks. The Lakers could trump that offer and then some, as they made available to New Orleans ‘everyone not named Kobe,’ which of course included their surplus of top frontline talent. Eventually, on the 8th, the it was reported around 6 P.M. that the Lakers had acquired Chris Paul in exchange for Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol. The deal also included the Houston Rockets, with whom Gasol was to end up, with the Rockets sending over Kevin Martin and Luis Scola, along with Odom and draft picks to the Hornets. Although this was certainly a major trade that could’ve affected the bal-ance of power across the NBA, this type of transaction is not uncom-mon in the Association. Star Player X plays in a small market and wants a better chance for a championship, and is traded to a large-market team for that chance along with increased star power. This practice has been around as the league itself, dating back to the trades of Wilt Chamber-lain and Kareem-Abdul-Jabar. Al-though the rich were getting richer once again, this type of thing is not uncommon, so why all the hyber-bole? Because about two hours after the trade was reported as finalized, things began very, very strange. The details started to trickle in around 8, as ESPN.com first reported that the trade had “wouldn’t go through Friday.” Then Yahoo! Sports’ Adrain Wojnaroski reported that “NBA owners have pushed commissioner David Stern to kill the (Paul) dead.” It was later reported by various outlets that many owners, particularly those from small markets, were outraged at the possibility of another star determining his landing spot in a trade, especially one like Los Ange-les. This animosity on the part of the owners traces back to the lockout, as many of them fought not only for an increased portion of the revenue pie during the prolonged layoff, but also to take back their league, as they were angry that stars like Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James gaining too much control over the

process of changing employers. In an email obtained by Yahoo!, Cavs’ owner Dan Gilbert called the Paul deal a “travesty,” and asked for Stern to veto the transaction. Wojnaroski quoted a league source regarding why the deal was nixed, saying “In the end, David didn’t like that the players were dictating where they wanted to go…(Stern wasn’t going to let Chris Paul dectiate where he wanted to go.” Now, normally this type of autonomy is not possible in professional sports, but this case was a peculiar one; the Hornets are owned by the NBA because they have not found any buyers after the previous owner could not sup-port the team anymore. Because of this, the league offices have the right to veto any trade, just as any other owner would, right or wrong. Former Lakers coach Phil Jackson had expressed concerns about this awkward relationship between team and league last year, say-ing, “When Chris says he has to be traded, how’s that going to go?...Someone’s going to have to make a very nonjudgmental decision on that part that’s not going to irritate anyone else in the league.” This is a very, very heavy-handed move by the commissioner, and for a league that has been accused of corruption under Stern dating back the first NBA lottery (in which the struggling, big-market Knicks earned the right to draft Georgetown superstar and Cambridge native Patrick Ewing), this move, coupled with the lock-out-induced layoff, cannot be good for the NBA by any means. This is sure to draw the ire of the players, as the unprecedented move opens a can of worms regarding possible restriction of player-movement that blatantly flies in the face of the basic rights that the players union has fought for dating back its inception in the 60’s. Amongst this uncer-tainty, one thing is for sure: David Stern and his owners better refresh themselves with their lockout-legal speak, because they could have a massive anti-trust lawsuit on their hands. One could only think that this is not what the NBA wanted hovering over the start of their season.

Chris Paul and Dwight Howard are among the players that look to be traded this offseason

Warped shot of the IMAX Omni Theatre, like the one attended by the International Club

Lego Robotics Leaves its LegacyBy Peter DeMatteo ‘13

While the High School Robotics Team makes itself known through a variety of announce-ments and interesting robots, its little brother Lego Robotics Team, consisting mostly of Freshmen, but also Seventh and Eighth graders is a less known club. The Lego Robotics Club uses the Lego building kit called Mindstorms for their contests. Unlike the normal Legos used by young children, to build a functioning robot from these kits is time-consuming and difficult, as one must program these robots to perform tasks. This year’s team was led by a large group of Freshmen includ-ing John Ryan, Shawn Lynch, Justin Lee, Ryan Lee, Jack Adams, and Tyler Wiik. Other participants included younger students Jimmy Ryan, Owen Finnegan, and Jack McCool and a number of Seventh Graders. Since the club often met during home-rooms, each grade was often sepa-rated from the others. However, fre-quent meetings after school allowed all students to share their ideas. The faculty coach, Mr. Wilbur, provided inspiration and organization for the team, although it was a club where the students did most of the work. The purpose of the club was to build a robot for a contest that would be held at Newton North High School. The actual contest consisted of a large playing field area, where the ro-bots would have to complete certain missions to win points; obviously, the

school that got the most points would win. There were multiple ways to get points, but the easiest way to get the most points was by collecting small Lego pieces from a dispenser object, and bringing them back to the team’s base. A team could different numbers of points based on how many pieces they moved, how close they got them to the base, and other similar catego-ries. The team got working on the robot earlier than the previous years; with the contest happening two weeks earlier than last year, they had to get working quickly and efficiently, a task which many club members helped on. The robot was rather small, being less than a foot long and about six inches wide. The largest part was the special Mindstorm brick, the center of all the programming in the robot. Besides the large center brick, the robot had two large wheels on either side, and a small wheel for maneuvering in the front. Otherwise, the robot consisted mostly of a lot of wires and various attachments meant to complete missions, such as a bucket to carry the little Legos. The most difficult part, however, was not the building so much as the program-ming of the robot. Since the contest was a completely hands-off game, the robot had to be meticulously programmed to complete all the missions. After many long hours, the robot was sufficiently built and pro-grammed, with Freshmen John Ryan and Shawn Lynch in charge of much of the process.

In addition, there were a couple of smaller side projects that were required for the contest. Each team was required to make a presentation this year, an obstacle for which the Seb’s team did a Power-Point on food and allergies. This was part of some brand new team building exercises that the First Lego League mandated. On a Saturday in the middle of November, several members of the team traveled to the Newton North High School for the competition. Although it was smaller than last year, there were still around forty teams present. These teams, from a huge variety of schools, were of all shapes and sizes, with some of the competitors around the age of seven. However, many of these teams came with the most complex and elaborate robots, leading one to assume that the seven year olds got at least some degree of outside help. The Seb’s squad stood out as the only team without team T-Shirts, in a buzzing atmosphere that now lacked vuvuzelas from last year. At the competition, the Seb’s team had its best finish in years, twenty-fourth. Although this was still in the bottom half, it was a great improvement in a complicated activity against teams that had been practicing and prepar-ing far longer than the Seb’s team. Many of the Freshmen from this year will be ineligible for next year, yet hopefully, the Lego Robotic Team will continue to improve and take home some hardware.

Christmas Wish List 2011By Teddy O’Hara ‘13

Mickey Adams ’13Terry O’ Connor wishes every day was Halloween.Junior Laura wants hockey equip-ment and a “hot babe”.Patty Mac wants a time machine so he can go back in time and reverse the train wreck that has been his second term.Andrew Vandini wishes he knew how to dress, while Matt Vandini wishes he could step out of An-drew’s shadow.Luke Murphy wishes he could do less.Mr. Simoneau wants Nike Shox and for the To Kill a Mockingbird movie to be remade in color.Mr. Kitler wishes that the Electron Hotel wasn’t occupied.Mr. Dan Burke wants some Just for Men-Touch of RedMr. Craven wishes everyone would stop pretending to palm his head.Scott Kingsley wishes the soccer team would stop stealing all his great ideas.Mr. Rossini wishes he had a huge boat named “Abigail’s Wedding Ring”.Mr. Rogers wishes he knew where to find Julian Matra.Cam Cain wants a five pound chocolate bar, a tricycle, and to be

on Family Feud.Andy the trainer wishes Coach Suave would stop walking by the weight-room and laughing at him every day.Doyle Sylvia wants his mom to just get off his case!Quandel wishes that T.I.B.J. would accept his challenge and settle the debate once and for all.Z-Mac wishes Amherst would ac-cept him to their graduate school.Mr. Shea wishes he could get the start for JV basketball, or at least get some minutes during a blowout.Ms. Callini wants the Jonas Brother Greatest Hits CD.Mr. Thomasy wishes the Obamas would return the favor and send him a Christmas card.Alex Moore wishes the moon land-ing wasn’t faked and that Apollo 13 actually existed.Mr. Schell wishes that the ghost would stop haunting him.Mrs. Lutch wants more tape to hang up the rest of her posters.Mr. Eaton wishes Santa Claus were real.Mr. Drummond wants ‘Community’ to return full-time to the NBC lineup.Mr. Grohmann wants to appear on The Voice and be selected onto Cee Lo Green’s Team.Matt McGuire wishes that they would free Whitey.Mrs. Sanderson wishes that she

didn’t have to call Ryan in sick all the time because he needs a full day off to get his haircut.Those unknown ladies who come to lunch wish that they could get free breakfast and dinner too.Mr. Chambers wishes someone would record his sick organ solos after Communion worship.Mr. Ryan wishes that his kids would stop using the Physics Lab as their own personal lockers.Kendall Dardy Jones wants some new headphones…but he’s not a rapper.Brian Wolpe just wants a song.Edmund Murphy wished it was still 2009.Father Paris wishes Christmas had eight days too.Mr. Thomas wishes for 3-day week-ends after Pat’s games.Everyone wants Sylvan back.Luke Packenham wishes the speed limit in a school zone was at least 50 mph.The sophomore class wishes that they were good at something.Mickey Adams wants ‘Lion King’ on Blu-RayDanny Conley wishes that he had a voice for Christmas carols.

All joking aside, we wish everyone at Sebs a safe, happy, and fun-filled break. Merry Christmas to one and all.

ARROWS SPORTSSt. Sebastian’s School December 2011Vol LXV, No. 3

Varsity Results

Varsity Hockey

Vs. Rivers 7-1 W Vs. Milton 10-3 W

Varsity Basketball

Vs. BB&N 4-3 OT W

Vs. New Hampton 5-2 W

Vs. Middlesex 50-29 L

Vs. Kingswood 41-32 L

Wrestling Vs. St. George’s 51-34 W

Vs. St. Paul’s 78-3 L

Vs. Middlesex 42-36 W @ Thayer, Milton 2L

Hockey Dominates Early Season Foes; ISL Looms

By Peter Cimini ‘12Senior Editor

Basketball Looks to RebuildBy Matt Fechtelkotter ‘12

Any program cannot win every game. Even the best pro-grams, UCLA, Duke, UNC, have all had tougher years. Last year would certainly be considered one of these tough years. The team had a lot of talent but only had 4 returning play-ers, meaning that there would be six new member of the team. This year’s team has a lot of potential to do well in the league. Unlike last year, the team will be re-turning seven players. Many of whom either started or contributed to the team. One of the returners this year is the captain Kendall Dardy-Jones. He had a strong year last year both on offense but especially on defense. He was a serious threat on defense who would often times shut down the drive of the opposing team. He has also improved is shot both at the free throw line and from just inside the three point arc.

Another returner who will be a key from behind the three point arc is Michael Adams. He is also com-ing of a strong sophomore year last year, during which he showed that he could score. On multiple occasions he scored 15 plus points and even on one occasion he scored 20 plus points. Hopefully he will continue to shoot well from behind the arc as he will be called upon to do a lot of the scoring. Another returner who will also be called upon to score a lot is sophomore Jordan Brydie. He too had a strong freshman season dur-ing which he saw significant min-utes. Hopefully he will continue to improve and could possibly become one of the better players in the

league. The remaining returners in-clude Tommy Kenney, Tyler Sweeney, Matt Fechtelkotter, and Brian Wolpe. All four of these players will also see significant minutes this season and will hopefully contribute a lot to the scoring. There is also a lot of new talent on the team this year. There are two new seniors, Ryan Sanderson and RD Cotter, who will play a large role on the team. There is also a lot of talent in the new underclassmen on the team. All of this talent has led to a good start to the season so far. The first competition that the Arrows saw was a scrimmage on the day before thanksgiving. Belmont hill came to Sebs for the first of two times this year. The scrimmage started off well. The team played good defense and the offense was working. However, as the scrimmage went on, both the offense and the defense began to slack, giving Belmont Hill a small lead. During the second 16 minutes, it was more of the same, the offense and defense just wasn’t clicking. In the third 16 minute session the team played well and took the lead. What we were able to take away from this was the fact that our offense needed work. However this was understand-able as the team had only recently been made. The next major action that the Arrows saw was a non-league against Middlesex. This was a great thing as it allowed Kendall and Coach Morelli to serve their sus-pensions from the last game of the season last year. The Arrows came out strong with Mickey winning the tap. The offense was working early but it eventually slowed down and Middlesex began to pull away. The

game ended in a 29-50 loss. The following Saturday, the Arrows traveled down to Connecticut to take on Kingswood oxford. Last year this was a tough game for Seb’s. This year though it was definitely a winnable game. The game started off well, with both teams trading baskets. Kingswood had a few good shooters and the Seb’s offense went stagnant for a little while towards the end of the first half. This gave Kingswood the lead going into half. The second half both teams came out ready to play. The game was relatively even. The Arrows, however, were able to cut the lead to four towards the end of the game. Missed free throws and trouble on offense lead to a 32-51 loss for the Arrows in the end. It was a well fought loss, though. The Arrows most recent game was their first league game against a St. Georges. Despite a loss of a starter to an injury the day before, the Arrows came out strong. They offense was working well. And everyone was making shots. Mickey Adams, Jordan Brydie, and Tommy Kenney all had multiple threes behind the arc. The team also played great defense. They talked and shut down St. Georges’ two best guards. With them shut down they had trouble matching the Arrows scoring. The team was also bolstered by a great showing from Henry’s corner. When all was said and done the Ar-rows took first place in the ISL with a 1-0 league record and a 51-34 win. There are very few league games until January, but there will be a few big tournament games that I urge people to go to. If we can get a large group from Henry’s corner at the game, it will definitely be a lot of fun.

Wrestling Continues to ImproveBy John Ryan ‘15

If you have ever walked by the small gym, which is now the wrestling room, you will see many kids, just like you, completing super sets or running stairs. You probably think, “Why would anyone want to do that?” For anyone who has asked that question, or those who haven’t, consider wrestling. Even if it is just for football, wrestle and you will get in great shape. If you ask a wrestler how they do it, they will mostly likely answer, “I have no idea.” They don’t. They just do it, and you should too. The Wrestling program started only five years ago. With only one member from the original team left, Brian O’Malley, the team has grown over the years, making this team of 29 wrestlers the largest one we have had. However, we can always use more if you are inter-ested. In wrestling, the “division” in which you wrestle is called a weight class. There are fourteen of them, and, starting this year, they were changed to the weights of 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 145, 152, 160, 170, 182, 195, 220, and 285.No matter, what you weigh, you will contribute on the team, so your match will always count for the team. In a match, it begins by the coaches drawing Popsicle sticks to see what weight class will start. If

you are wrestling, you warm up by moving and doing jumping jacks; then you step out onto the mat after signing in at the table. Grabbing the colored anklet at your feet and strapping it around your anklet, you shake hands with your opponent and wrestle. “The longest six minutes of your life”, there are three two minute periods. For taking someone down, you receive two points, for an escape from the bottom one point, for a reversal bottom to top two points, and for almost pinning someone one to three points. If you pin someone by forcing both their shoulder blades onto the mat at the same time, the match is over and you give your team six points. After the period ends, one wrestler has choice, meaning he can pick bottom, top, neutral, or defer to the other team. You continue to wrestle and the same happens at the end of the second period. Once the match is over and no one pinned the other, the winner is decided on points who then gives his team three points. This year, we have one of the biggest teams Coach Ryan and McCarthy have had here at Seb’s. With 29 guys, Junior Captain Brian O’Malley is “excited because for the first time, we have every weight class filled.” Fellow junior Andrew Sul-livan is looking forward to this year because of “all the tough kids we have, especially the ninth graders. Everyone is a tough athlete and there is great chemistry between the team.”

Everyone on the team urg-es everyone who wants to wrestle for a variety of reasons, from get-ting into shape to getting through adversity. Andrew Sullivan argues, “Everyone is together. It is the most fun I have had with a sport here. It is a great sport because it is only you and the other kid out there, which shows exactly how tough you are. Brian urges everyone who is wavering about the idea to come out because “wrestling is a basis for other sports. It builds your balance, strength, endurance, stamina, and your mental toughness. Even if you just want to get in shape, wrestling makes you compete.” If any of you are thinking about wrestling, come out and try it or talk to anyone you know who is involved: Mr. Ryan, Mr. McCarthy, Alex Morin, Anthony D’Amato, Brian O’Malley, or anyone else. Knowing from experience, I can firmly tell you that there is no better feeling in the world than having your arm raised after you just wrestled your heart out. So, come out and see what it feels like and you will agree. If you don’t think taking part in the sport is your calling, then come support the team at their several home matches (you can find the dates online). As expressed by the two juniors, this team is one of the better here with lots of young and new guys who are really tough athletes. Come out and see us, either before or after the break; you won’t be disappointed.

Kendall Dardy-Jones goes up for an acrobatic layup in order to propel the team to victory

Gordon Donnolly is about to add another save to his impressive stat sheet this season.

It’s that time of year again, Hockey Season is here. Although the usual cold weather and snow has not yet arrived, the time has come for hot chocolate, cold pizza, and afternoons spent watching and cheering on the Varsity Hockey team. This year’s squad, led by Captains Brendan Burke ’12, Danny O’Regan ’12, and Steve Brown ’12, look to carry over the success held by last year’s team. After finishing high in the ISL and qualifying for the Playoffs, the 2010-2011 team was knocked out in the 1st round of the tournament in a heartbreaking 2OT loss to archrival Belmont Hill. The team returns most of its key players, but notable losses include graduates Desmond Bergin ’11, Ge-rard McEleney ’11, Donny McGuirl ’11, and Joe Prescott ’12 to Juniors. Nonetheless, the team has high expectations for this year. After a long grueling week of tryouts, the team was set at 22 players, including 9 newcomers. Juniors Connor McGuirk ’13 and Alex Calabro ’13, Sophmores Matt Ouellette ’14, Teddy Griffin ’14, Teddy Loughborough ’14, Austin Lewis ’14, and Nick Flanagan ’14, Freshman Matt Doherty ’15, and 8th grader Cam Askew’16 all look to make important contributions to the team.

The season started off with a bang as the Arrows hand-ily defeated the Rivers Red Wings 7-0. Defenseman Noah Hanifin ‘15 (2g) and Danny O’Regan (2g) led the way for the Arrows and Senior Grumpy Gord Donnelly ’12 was per-fect in net recording a shutout. The winning ways continued the follow-ing Saturday and Milton. The Arrows faced a tough opponent in Keller Di-vision rival Milton Academy, a team that the NEPSAC tournament last year. The game started great for the Arrows when Junior John Doherty found the back of the net to put the Arrows up 1-0. Milton answered less than 5 minutes later, however, and tied the score at 1. Later in the first period, Burkie scored a SportCen-ter-esque, bar-down snipe to once again give the Arrows the lead. Two power-play goals by Junior Tommy Kelley and the first career goal by Cam Askew gave Sebs a large 5-1 lead at the end of one period. The 2nd Period was a struggle as the Ar-rows took a few too many penalties, giving Milton countless opportuni-ties to score. Donnelly once again made save after save to preserve the lead. Hannifin and O’Regan added shorthanded goals during this stretch, and Cam Askew tallied his first career hat-trick by adding 2 3rd period goals. The final score was 10-3 Sebs, a convincing display of power.

The third game of the season was against a pesky BB&N team, one that upset Sebs last year. The Wednesday afternoon road game was a scrappy game between both sides. Trailing 3-2 late in the 3rd period, Danny O’Regan netted his 2nd goal of the game to tie the score and force OT. Early into Overtime, David Loughborough tapped in a rebound for his 2nd goal of the game

to give the Arrows a well-earned 4-3 victory. The Arrows then hosted New Hampton in the home opener. Henry’s Corner was out in full force for the first game. Captains O’Regan (concussion) and Burke (suspension) missed the game, but this did not hold the Arrows back. Cam Askew scored his 5th goal of the season early in the 1st period, and Conor Reensti-erna and Hannifin both added Power Play goals to widen the Arrows lead. New Hampton cut the lead to 1 early in the 2nd period, but 2 goals in 55 seconds by Loughborough sealed the victory for the Arrows.

While the season has start-ed strong, the Arrows must improve to be successful in the long season. There are a few key adjustments the team must make to continue their winning ways. First, they need to stay out of the box. Throughout most of last season and the start of this season, Sebs has taken too many penalties. Conor Reenstierna ’12 (who is my good friend and will not mind me saying this) seems to spend more time in the box than on the ice. While the Penalty Kill team has done a great job of killing off the penalties, good teams will take advantage of Power Plays and goals will be scored. Another important key is going to be how the team responds to hard-ships. The leadership from last year’s

team is gone, and it is unseen how the Senior leaders will motivate the team. Last year, the team was bril-liantly resilient coming back from large deficits to tie Belmont Hill and beat Nobles. This year, however, the Arrows have led for basically the entire game, and the question still remains.

Looking forward, the rest of December and the entire month of January are critical for the Arrows. The Christmas Tournament, the Mutch Cup against Catholic Memo-rial, and the Prep Showcase will round out a busy December. Then, the showdown against Belmont Hill at Fenway Park the first week of Jan-uary jumpstarts a huge ISL month with league games against St. Paul’s, Governor’s Academy, Nobles, Thayer, mixed in with a few out of conference matchups. Henry’s Cor-ner must be out in full force at all of these games, especially at Fenway. The energy and morale boost the Corner can provide is indescribable and we need to contribute as much as we can.

In the end, the Arrows success will depend wholly on how they perform. It is clear that they have as much skill and can skate with any team in the league, it all depends on execution.