by Joe Rosalina ‘17 and Owen Miklos ‘16

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

by: Andrew Benisek ’17

Every year, hundreds of Saint Ignatius graduates plunge themselves into a semester of rigorous engineering courses at their respective colleges. Why, then, does St. Ignatius not offer any prerequisite courses in engineering?

As it turns out, the answer to the question is not as cut and dry as you may think. It all starts with flaws of the previous science curriculum. Before the class of 2018, biology was not taught until sophomore year. As a result, chemistry was pushed to junior year, and physics to senior year. With this format, there was no room for electives without taking two classes in one year. Now that the administration has moved the classes forward a year, new opportunities have opened up for electives within the science department.

Unfortunately for those interested in engineering, a pre-engineering class is not likely in the near future. According to Dean of Teachers Mr. Ptak, “St. Ignatius High School is a College Prep School, and our science curriculum reflects what colleges want to see. They want the three lab sciences, biology, chemistry, and physics.” In regards to engineering specifically, he said, “The lab sciences we require fit well into engineering disciplines. If you are interested in biomedical engineering you will need a biology background. If you are interested in in chemical engineering you will need chemistry, mechanical requires physics, etc.”

Mr. DeCarlo, an engineer himself and the science department chair, stated his concerns with a high school pre-engineering class. He echoed the comments of Mr. Ptak, stating, “Colleges want to see the biology, chemistry, and physics, and will give credit for those courses. I am not sure that colleges will credit students for a pre-engineering class due to the nature of the course.” In addition, Mr. DeCarlo says, “It is very hard to create a good high school pre-engineering program.” In order to start understanding the concept of engineering, one must have a firm grasp on not only calculus, but statics (properties of materials), chemistry, physics, and business.” This is because in reality, engineers are researching or designing for a business, where there are budgets and constraints, as well as limitations on materials, all of which need to be taken into account. All of this would be very hard to fit into a semester or two semester long high school science course. Mr. DeCarlo said that if Engineering does come to St. Ignatius, it will be down the road.

There is also the issue of how not having an pre-engineering class affects the St. Ignatius Admissions Department (Especially in the context of competing with the St. Edward Pre-Engineering Program). From Mr. DeCarlo’s perspective, St. Ignatius has the same opportunities, but in the form of extracurriculars. While he was not fully sure of what St. Ed’s curriculum entails, he assumes based on the critical principles of engineering that it is more “trial and error based.” Their role is filled here by the Robotics and Science Olympiad clubs. These clubs should be enough to show to colleges an interest in engineering.

So, what should a St. Ignatius student, interested in engineering do instead? Be an ‘and man!’ Get involved, join clubs related to engineering (pre-engineering society, robotics, science olympiad, etc.), get good grades in the science and math classes engineering colleges want to see, and get information on your own. In other words, have a genuine aptitude for engineering. Once colleges see this, and if you’ve done your part to prepare, college engineering courses should be an easy transition to make.

by Gabe Mielke ’16

In what has become a beloved Saint Ignatius tradition, a group of students and faculty members travelled down to Washington D.C. to participate in the annual Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice.  It started on Saturday, November 7 and ran until the following Monday including a number of various faith-based social justice activities and workshops.  These activities culminated in the dialogue sessions that took place between students and legislators on Monday.

Tim Platten ’16 elaborates on these dialogue sessions and reflects on how he ties the Teach-In into the service he does on campus.  Hear it here in this audio interview:

by Matthew Jones ’17

This past Tuesday, November 10th, the Saint Ignatius community had its first combination lockdown/evacuation drill of the year.  The purpose of this drill and future drills is to train students on what to do in the case of a violent intruder.  This is intended to ensure the safety of the students if such a thing were to happen.

Although students were well aware of the drill beforehand, they were firmly instructed by Mr. Franzinger throughout the event on where to go and what to do. When given the instructions, students barricaded the doors with desks, hiding themselves from the mock intruder.  

After the lockdown drill, students were instructed by Mr. Franzinger through the PA system to begin their march to Saint Patrick’s Church.  Saint Pat’s, usually a house of worship, functioned as a safe haven for the students and staff.  With police vehicles as escorts, the school community made the brief trek over to the evacuation sites.  The general consensus suggested that the drill and routes were well organized and efficiently executed.

When asked about the drill, Chris Calkins ‘17 declared that, “It definitely verifies the safety of this school, to always help the students feel safe and secure.”

Ray Kman ‘18 commented on the roll of the teachers and staff: “It was pretty secure, a lot of teachers held it down for us.  It was well organized and they kept us together.  It was under control and well thought out.”

Although some degree of confusion is to be expected in safety drills of this magnitude, the evacuation drill was deemed a success.  It provided students with a sense of safety by showing them what to do in an emergency.