by Nick Craicun ‘16

On November 15, 2014, a group of 33 Ignatius students went on the Ignatian Family Teach-In in Washington, D.C. The students were led by Mr. Tim Evans, Mrs. Mary Catherine Koehler, Mrs. Emery, Mr. Savastano, and Ms. Malone. This year’s Teach-In was composed of over a thousand students, teachers, and a bunch of campus ministers. The majority of the students are from Jesuit high schools, universities, and institutions
just like Saint Ignatius High School from around the United States.

So what is the Ignatian family Teach-In? Well, for starters, the Teach-In is an opportunity to work for peace and justice. This Teach-In focused on social justice, the promotion of a just society by challenging injustices, and valuing diversity. The Teach-In provides the chance to learn about many interesting topics, such as immigration, taxation, and environmental protection, among others. The Teach-In helps students realize what they can do to start making changes.

Students began to take action on the most important day of the trip, the final day. On Monday, November 17, students were able to take their ideas to federal senators and representatives in the Capitol Building. The students brought up important topics such as immigration and gave ways that the nation as a whole can make the process easier and more just. Students supplied their own ideas and were given immediate feedback on what the government is already doing. Furthermore, many of the councilmen and senators took the advice into deep consideration, which benefits the students by demonstrating that they themselves can make changes happen.

Aside from learning about social justice, the Teach-In was also very focused on prayer. Students were given the chance to learn about the Jesuits and how they fight with the help of Christ. Many of the speeches given at the Teach-In showed how a strong faith can basically make anything happen.

This is the nineteenth year of the Teach-In, and if you are interested in attending next year, flyers will be sent out around our high school next year for students who want to participate. Don’t miss your chance to take action!

by Christopher Rini ‘15

Recycling at Saint Ignatius is still in its infancy and has much room for improvement, but already it is an effective program that with plans to expand. Although the bins serve only as receptacles for paper, plastic, and cardboard, they don’t serve that purpose all that often, it
turns out.

Mr. Nolan, moderator of the student Green Team and the head faculty member responsible for the recycling program, says that as a young program, we aren’t yet recycling enough both in terms of participation and what we recycle. In the works are plans to begin composting (a type of a recycling of organic materials) as much of the food as we can at school, and to make forays into the recycling of small electronics. Also, more emphasis will be put on all three R’s of recycling: reduce, reuse, and recycle. Considering these three, Mr. Nolan advises everyone to, “reduce how much they use, use reusable containers, and recycle everything you can.”

Most importantly for improving recycling at Saint Ignatius is ameliorating the problem of the simple fact that students choose not to recycle even when it is available right in front of them. For a lot of kids, just walking an extra five feet to throw that can in the recycling is a burden that they see no worth in doing. So while improvements on the technical parts of recycling are going to be made, the charge of recycling lies in the students’ willingness to recycle and the understanding of its importance.

Right now, that willingness and understanding is neglected by the student body. Mr. Nolan tells The Eye that, “We’re going to work on education, so that kids are more in tune with the spiritual side of recycling. Part of the Jesuit philosophy and teaching curriculum is care for the environment and the gifts God has given us.” Despite this unfortunate setback, the recycling program saves energy, saves money, and cuts down on waste for the school. With just more willingness and compliance to recycle, all of these positive outcomes will grow.

So in conclusion, Mr Nolan’s message of advice about recycling to the student body is simply “Walk the extra five feet.”

by Kevin Deegan ‘16

Fifty-three Saint Ignatius student-delegates from the Junior Council on World Affairs club departed for the University of Virginia on November 6 for the thirty-fourth annual Virginia Model United Nations conference.

The second year participating in the esteemed conference, the “Diplocats” engaged in debate with fellow delegates while solving past, present, and future issues from all corners of the world. The conference, held November 7 to 9, entertained schools from all over the United States.

But this isn’t just a show-up-and-debate kind of club. JCWA requires months of research culminating in the (hopefully) perfect position paper. Delegates know their topics inside and out before stepping on the bus to head to the conference. Research is done, papers are written and graded, some tears are shed, and the final products are at last sent off to the whatever university is holding the conference. Furthermore, the students practice parliamentary procedure and speaking techniques and review proper format for resolution papers, also known as working papers, and other rules of the conference.

At UVA conference, once Mr. Arko and Mr. Peter Corrigan ‘69 had finished registering the group, the students were given the chance to tour the campus or participate in either delegate workshops run by the university’s professors and students. Talks’ topics varied from the importance of civic engagement to about the Russian-Ukrainian crisis. Other workshops trained inexperienced delegates by introducing them to parliamentary procedure, which is the rules by which a conference is run.

“The workshops were interesting and helpful. The talks by the professors were somewhat like college lectures.” said Bryan Fuerst ‘15.

After the opening ceremonies and a dinner break, delegates entered the first committee session. This is where Model United Nations actually occurs. Twenty-four different committees were available, all of which had at least one Ignatius student in them. Committees ranged in chronological and geographic focus from a simulation of the Roman Senate in 63 BC to the Russian Security Council in 2015.

“I personally enjoyed my committee. It was interesting to hear the ideas of the other delegates and to see which resolutions would be passed.” commented Ryan Spolar ‘15 on his experience in the African Union committee. Delegates worked together for a total of eleven hours over three days.

Finally on Sunday, the closing ceremonies occurred. The Saint Ignatius team came in with an energetic atmosphere around them.

However, the competition was challenging, with only two students, Kellen Dugan ‘15 and John Selby ‘15, winning recognition for their superior work in committee.

Selby reflected: “JCWA is a very important club to me. It has helped me to develop valuable skills such as communicating better with others. But the club is more than diplomacy. I love all the guys in it, and because of this I have made some great friends.

VAMUN was an amazing conference. The competition was strong, and my Press Corps committee was by far the most intense committee I have ever been in. Winning Best Delegate was an incredible feeling. All the hard work paid off, and hearing the Ignatius guys explode when they called my name was a very special moment to me.”

The loss was a blow to the Saint Ignatius team; however, the Diplocats walked out with their heads held high at this challenging conference. “Even though the result wasn’t what we expected, it was nice spend-
ing time with my fellow sweet boys.” commented Gennaro Olivo ‘15.

JCWA is the favorite extracurricular of its members and for good reasons. Although it may seem boring, to the Diplocats it is far from that. Students enjoy everything about Model United Nations. One of the best parts is that students get to experience a college campus for three days.

“The university was beautiful and the architecture was amazing. The history around the university with its being founded by Thomas Jefferson was great to experience,” stated Gabe Mielke ‘16.

Students also enjoy the freedom and fun that are had at these conferences. Students eat at many different local restaurants, spend time hanging out or playing frisbee on college green spaces, and even attend the exceptional and prestigious Delegate Dance on Saturday night. “The conference was well-run and I really enjoyed participating in it.” said Jack Seeley ‘16.

But the club is even more than just fun. “In all, JCWA is one of the most well-liked clubs at Ignatius. I encourage all students from all years to give JCWA a try.” said Brian Messina ‘16, one of the leaders of the club. The Diplocats meet every Tuesday after school at 3:00 in room 419, for those interested.

The club has already begun preparing for the next conference at Michigan State University from January 30 until February 1.

Each student is ready to make even more of an impact at this conference. The team should do much better since they are dedicated to putting in more preparation time.

“I personally believe that we will win at MSU because of our strong veteran delegates and our promising underclassman.” stated David Rossman ‘16. The Diplocats are prepared to win and get back the national ranking they had held over the summer.

by Michael Broerman ‘15

We live amongst many legends here at Saint Ignatius, but none are as tantalizing as the wildcat on the wall of the Sullivan Gym. Something that makes it such an interesting legend is first of all the fact that it is NOT even a wildcat. There has been a Bengal tiger on the wall of Sullivan Gym since the early 1980s and the vast majority of the students at Saint Ignatius do not even know why. According to Mr. Hennessy ‘78, legend has it that “during Father Styles’s term as President, Pater [Styles] painted the ‘wildcat’ on the wall of the gym with students. As you could imagine, Pater was not the best artist so Pater projected the tiger onto the wall, and proceeded to trace over it.” However, all of this is just urban legend, no more reliable than the rumors circulating about an undercover police officer posing as a sophomore.

An interview with the man, the myth, and the legend Father Kenneth “Pater” Styles, S.J.,  revealed that Mr. Hennessy was in fact correct.   “If my memory serves my correctly,” jokes Styles, “when I came back from tertianship in 1979, I was asked to be athletic director. Now that’s a stretch, isn’t it? I explained that I had no skills in that area, but nevertheless the school still wanted me to do it.”

One of the first jobs Styles was tasked with was repainting the decrepit Sullivan Gym. So Styles set out with Tom Pasko, who he had named co-athletic director, to find a team to revamp the Sullivan Gym. “There were maybe three students or so who helped me; that’s the best I can remember. The students worked at school at the end of the day to help pay for tuition.” So Styles now had the task and the team, and the only thing he lacked was a design. “The gym had not been painted in years; it was a shade of rose or dark pink, parts were painted light green to match the tiles. I decided to paint everything a white or cream color. The Poster ‘Cats were the ones who had the poster of the wildcat. Really it is a tiger, but then a tiger could be considered a “wild” cat, and at that point in our history we were not all that concerned about biological precision.”

It would be a little far fetched to believe that our own Father Styles with a team of high schoolers painted a ferocious Bengal on the wall of the gym freehand. “I took a picture of the poster and then put scaffolding on the visitor side of the gym. I hauled an opaque projector to the platform on top of the scaffolding. After the drawing projected to the correct size for the wall, I outlined the drawing in pencil on the wall. After that, we filled in the correct colors using the poster as a model.” So there you have it, folks, the undisputed truth about the Sullivan “wildcat” from the artist himself.

So if this artwork were such a piece of Ignatius history, and the product of the hard work of one of our own Jesuits for over thirty years, why would we take it down not even a year after his departure?

“To set the record straight,” proclaims Principal Bradesca, chatting in his office, “we were talking with Father Styles last year about changing the wildcat even before he announced his departure. The decision was in no way a bon voyage to the ways of old. The gym had been the same for over thirty years and we felt a change would do us good.”

Even Father Styles was surprised by the longevity of the Sullivan “wildcat.”  “Nothing lasts forever,”  says Styles.   “Considering the inaccuracy about the wildcat, it was on the wall a long time.”   In fact, it was commonplace for Benedictine students to say that Sullivan was their house because it had a Bengal on the wall and not a wildcat.

So change is in the air once again at Saint Ignatius, as early as this coming spring, the gym will be redecorated with the school shield painted on the wall, the image selected by the students in a poll run by the Eye. But the change will still honor Father Styles’s legacy of student participation. “The new wall will once again be painted by students, but they will be able to add their own spin on the shield,” reveals Bradesca.

“One of the leading ideas is painting the Cleveland skyline behind the shield, and for every state championship adding a star to the night sky.   It would be impossible to satisfy alums from every era, so we decided to leave it up to this generation.”