by Brendan O’Donnell ‘16
This year, as everyone besides the freshmen has noticed, Saint Ignatius is implementing a number of changes to create a more college-like atmosphere. Among these changes are moving announcements from over the P.A. to a daily email, removing of the bells that start class, and adding several televisions around campus.
These changes have come in the third year of Principal Bradesca’s tenure and are the latest items on the list of other major changes that he has made, including the BYOT policy and the ban on cell phones during school hours.
One major change is the movement of announcements from the P.A. to the email. “We got feedback from teachers that a good portion of students do not listen to the anpart of the announcements. We decided to move the announcements to the email because it is a more permanent way to access the information. We figured that now was a perfect time to do this because of the new BYOT program.”
The announcements are now handled by the Dean of Student Life, Tim Evans ‘87. The content of the announcements, in general, has not changed, and club announcements still take up the majority of announcements. There are no longer “dynamic” announcements, such as announcing an improperly parked car, included in the main block of daily announcements. (These may still be broadcast over the P.A.) The removal of announcements also changed the schedule of classes, removing the homeroom period and moving the end of school to 2:50 from 2:55.
Another new change is that there is no longer a bell to start classes, except for first period and after the examen at the start of eighth period. However, the bell to end classes remains. According to Mr. Bradesca, this was done as a compromise with the teachers. “The original intent was to remove all the bells completely,” he said. “There was a compromise with some teachers who wished to keep both of the bells.” He also said that the change was “experimental” and therefore subject to change.
A third new change is the addition of several televisions across campus. Currently, these TVs only show news and weather, and many of them have had technical problems. According to Mr. Bradesca, however, the televisions will have more information related to the school.
“Right now, the TVs around campus are not doing what we want them to do,” he said. “Eventually, they will have scrolling announcements, student life events, and athletic news.”
The televisions will be another way to show announcements and their ability display immediate updates means that they can be used to show important events from around the school and worldwide news.
These are the most notable changes that the school has made to increase the college readiness aspect of the school. Currently, there are no changes in the works, but, as Mr. Bradesca says, there may be more in the future: “College preparation is always something that we are trying to increase. As new research comes out we will adapt to it. If something is proven to benefit students, we will give it a try.”
Ultimately, Principal Bradesca and the staff believe that, as a college preparatory school, St. Ignatius must continue to provide a more college like experience to its students.
“College preparation is one of the main ingredients in our mission,” Bradesca says. “We are not only forming men for the church, but also men for the world.”
