Spring Revue a Big Hit - St. Sebastian's School

Vol LXII, No. 7 The Walrus: School News May 2010
Frosh Writing Night
Full of Literary Prowess
By PETER DEMATTEO ‘13
On May 10, freshmen arrived
at school at seven o’clock,
many of them with parents,
for Freshmen Writing Night.
Prior to the event, all students
across the seven sections of
Freshmen Writing submitted
pieces of writing, varying
from long research papers
and creative writing works, to
short poems such as a Haiku,
to the Freshmen Voices book,
which holds an essay from
every single student who takes
Freshmen Writing. Also,
each class chose one student
to represent the section on
Freshmen Writing Night by
reading his submission in
front of the entire grade and
many parents. The Seven
Speakers were Brian O’Malley,
Mike Petro, Peter Breslin,
Matt Vandini, Alex Moore,
Brendan Daly, and Cole Eden.
After the Class of 2013 had
flooded into Ward Hall, and
had some of the slight refreshments
(mainly cookies), both
the students and their parents
began to applaud as the speakers
walked onto the stage and
took their places at the front of
Ward Hall.
Mr. Chris Lynch began
the night with a few brief comments,
before announcing Mr.
McCarthy, the director of the
writing program. First, Mr.
McCarthy thanked the other
three Freshmen Writing teachers,
Mr. Curran, Mr. Wishart,
and Mr. Cressotti. Next, he
told a story about writing,
which centered on his own
Continued from pg. 1
experiences with a poet with
an interesting accent. Both
teachers stressed the importance
of writing, and how all
students had progressed in
their writing ability throughout
the year. Upon finishing
his speech, Mr. McCarthy
returned to his seat as the
speakers began to read their
essays.
The essays of the
various Freshmen Writing
students covered a wide variety
of topics. Each speaker
would tell the audience what
the assignment they wrote the
essay for was before starting
the speech. The first speaker,
Brian O’Malley read an essay
about a day in his summer.
Next, Mike Petro gave
a speech about how the color
red has influenced him from
an early age. Two speakers,
Peter Breslin and Cole Eden
both read fictional stories
which they had written; Peter
Breslin read a descriptive
story about a bar-restaurant
in Alaska, while Cole Eden
read a story about a cop who
stopped a robbery of Dunkin
Donuts while off duty. Alex
Moore read a research paper
about the holes and problems
in the theory that the moon
landing in 1969 was a fake
by NASA. Matt Vandini read
a paper about a monkey he
received when he was young,
even showing the now worn
down monkey to the audience.
Last, Brendan Daly
talked about an average
morning, from waking up to
going to school. The speeches
were clearly different in topic
and also in length, but they
all kept the audience entertained,
both with the content
of what was written and the
high quality. When the last
speech was over, the winner
of the Jack Birmingham writing
award, which is given to
the best submission to Freshmen
Voices each year was
announced to be given to Andrew
Sullivan for his fictional
story about a boy who has an
accident and ends up in the
hospital.
After the orations
had ended, Mr. Burke came
to the podium to talk some
more about the paramount
importance of writing. He
related the story of how,
after he had just became the
headmaster of St. Sebs, Mr.
Birmingham, the chairman of
the board, brought the idea of
the school becoming strong
in writing to Mr. Burke. That
idea, of which Mr. Burke
spoke, became the successful
Freshmen Writing program.
After Mr. Burke concluded
his speech, all the Freshmen
Writing Students went to the
back of Ward Hall to collect
the Freshmen Voices books.
This year, the cover art was
by Will Jundanian, Brandon
Jones, and Thayer Wade.
Every Freshmen Writing student
has a passage in it, and it
shows all the effort and work
the students put into improving
his writing throughout the
year.
Whether a Senior Editor or a Freshman Writer, writing plays a major role in our life.
Gaggle of Enthusiastic
Editors Takes the Reins
And now the IBM-er.
Tom Hoff loves Cambridge,
always has. He decided to
attend St. Sebastian’s as a
wee little seventh grader,
and boy has he grown Tom
Hoff is notable for many feats
(Where do I begin?). One,
he is very tall, but lacks the
speed and leap to run show
on the basketball court. Then,
there are is World Renown
Merrells, known both in the
classroom and on the baseball
field. Hoff also loves twirling
his ball-point pen around
his fingers, to the chagrin of
his fellow classmates. All in
all, Hoff is a goofy, very likable
kid whose knowledge in
sports-stats and world news
will prove invaluable to the
pages of the Walrus.
Finally, the drama
king. Tom Keefe is the tenth
child of eleven children, and
his four older brothers (along
with his cousin who now
works at Trader Joe’s) paved
an outstanding legacy for him
to fulfill. He also hails from
Wellesley, known to be a hub
of Arrow production. When
he entered the seventh grade,
however, Keefer moved to
the llama-bearing boonies
of Sherborn with Murphy
Thomas, and his well-formed
legacy was but a mere memory
in the minds of gigantic
seniors and faculty. And so,
Keefe has paved a way for
himself. Most students know
him for his contributions to
the arts, through his tenure
as a drama officer and participation
in Schola. Besides
the stage, Tom enjoys raiding
the servery, singing to Sharon
and Janet, throwing Frisbees
on the top of the Art Building
with Johnny Rodriguez, playing
basketball, and surviving
the hefty workload of school.
Having lost his position in
student council, Tom looks
forward to utilizing his work
effort and creative side, and
he is excited to serve the
school community alongside
this team of legends.
And there you have it. The
senior editors. Yes, there are
five, more than ever before.
They will wield the scepter
of authority over the new
Walrus regime. But they are
not alone. Joining the squad
are the tenacious head writers,
spurring the swarms of
articles that will storm the
paper next year. This group
consists of Ryan “Pokemon
Master” Bacic, Nick “Waxed
Shoulders” Chappel, Andrew
“Complaint Guru” Dematteo,
Nick “Sneaky Creighton”
Creegan, and Tom “Bearded
Man, Clurph, Turphus,
Durphus, Surphin’ Murph,
Furphus, Jurphis, Purphus”
Murphy.
The entire squad. Yes, they
span all regions of the school
and boast resumes that would
send a shiver down any
college admissions officer’s
spine. They are smart, athletic,
charming, well-rounded.
Let there be no doubt. The
senior class will dominate
the Sebs Scene next year. The
future of the Walrus rests in
their hands. Having been
bereft of the school presidency,
they are hungry for it.
A new era has dawned. Get
ready.
Are you ready to Futbol? Bacically, Ryan takes us through this year’s World Cup.
The Beautiful Game Takes
Center Stage at World Cup
By RYAN BACIC ‘11
The world’s biggest
sporting event is back again
this summer. Starting on
June 11, 32 nations from
across the globe will begin the
group stages in South Africa
as the World Cup comes to
the African continent for the
first time ever. The tournament,
as always, features
eight groups of four countries
each, with the top two from
each group moving on to the
“knockout stages” where the
winners move on and the losers
are sent home to wait out
the long four years until their
next shot at glory.
Like in most years, a
few major powerhouse teams
are sure to take center stage
as favorites for the trophy.
Brazil, the top-ranked team
in the world, is certainly a
premier threat. With Luis Fabiano
and Robinho up front
and Real Madrid star Kaka in
the midfield, the Brazilians
are a team that can score in
bunches, and a strong defensive
core of Maicon, Juan,
Lucio, and Dani Alves will
make sure that they’re not
going to be giving up much,
either. However, new Brazilian
coach, Dunga, in an effort
to craft a new identity for the
national team, has chosen
to leave several famous and
highly-talented Brazilian
players home, including AC
Milan’s Ronaldinho, widely
regarded only a few years
ago as the best player in the
world. In winning last summer’s
Confederations Cup,
Brazil showed that it was
capable of winning with this
more “blue-collar” style without
the flashiness of players
like the aforementioned Ronaldinho.
However, the team
was far from perfect, falling
behind 2-0 to the U.S. in the
first half of the championship
game before coming back
to win. And, although they
throttled defending World
Cup champion Italy, the
team also avoided having to
play then-top-ranked Spain.
Therefore, while Brazil looks
like a definite favorite, it is
also an unproven commodity,
in spite of its hardware.
Just about on par with
the Brazilians are the Spanish,
whose 35-match unbeaten
streak between November
2006 and June 2009 landed
them at the top of the rankings
for nearly a full year. Led
by Liverpool striker Fernando
Torres and recent Barcelona
signee David Villa up
top, Cesc Fabregas and Xabi
Alonso at midfield, Sergio
Ramos and Carlos Puyol in
the back, and whom many
believe to be the world’s best
goalkeeper, Iker Casillas, in
the net, Spain is a talented
team from top to bottom.
But, as the United States
showed last summer, like
Brazil, they’re not invincible.
The U.S. players dug in deep,
played great defense, and
took advantage of their opportunities
and one key Span-
ish error in the back en route
to a stunning upset. Torres,
the focal point of Spain’s attack,
was visibly frustrated
by the sheer physicality of
the American defenders and
was rarely allowed a decent
scoring chance throughout
the game. With Torres off,
the rest of the offense was off,
and though Spain controlled
the ball for most of the game,
they simply could not find
the back of the net. With one
of the weakest of the eight
groups, though, Spain should
have no problem getting off
to a good start and should be
extremely confident and wellprepared
heading into the
knockout stages.
Besides these two
main superpowers, there
are a number of other teams
who have an outside chance
at winning it all in South
Africa. Argentina comes to
mind, with superstar Lionel
Messi leading the way, even
though the team did struggle
in qualification, finishing only
in the last of four guaranteed
qualifying spots in the CON-
MEBOL South American region.
But with the past aside,
look for Messi to elevate his
game even further and help
Argentina make a run for the
cup. Germany, the hosts of
the last edition of the World
Cup—in which they finished
third overall—could be dangerous
this time around as
well. Bastian Schweinsteiger
and Lukas Podolski form a
dangerous scoring tandem,
but the recent injury to midfielder
and captain Michael
Ballack, though aging, is an
unlucky one. Portugal, the
world’s third-ranked team,
is best-known for Cristiano
Ronaldo but has a host of
other top players to complement
their star, including
Manchester United forward
Nani and Chelsea defenders
Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo
Ferreira. The U.S.’s first opponent,
England, could also
be a tough out. Stud Wayne
Rooney should be brilliant,
but an unstable situation in
goal puts a big question mark
on the ultimate success of
the team. Finally, the Netherlands,
featuring Bayern
Munich’s Aryen Robben and
Inter Milan’s Wesley Sneijder,
are a surefire candidate
to win it all, too.
The United States,
while no favorite by any
stretch of the imagination, actually
has a good opportunity
to make some noise in South
Africa. Though we may not
have anyone as skilled as a
bona fide star over in Europe,
the U.S. has been able to assemble
a solid and cohesive
group of players that have
already proven how much
damage they are capable of
doing if they manage to put
it all together. As mentioned
earlier, the U.S. was the huge
surprise of last summer’s
Confederations Cup, upsetting
top-ranked Spain before
nearly defeating Brazil as well
before losing by one. Besides
the invaluable experience of
having played such top opponents,
the U.S. was also able
to get a good sense for playing
in South Africa’s World
Cup venues, a familiarity
which should come in handy
this June.
Unfortunately, the
United States team that is
heading to South Africa will
not be the exact same as the
one that almost shocked the
world in the Confederations
Cup. Striker Charlie Davies,
a major bright spot for the
national team in outstanding
games against Egypt, Brazil,
and Mexico, was seriously injured
in a car crash in Washington,
D.C., last October,
and his club officials did not
clear him for the camp that
is currently taking place in
Princeton, NJ. This unfortunate
series of events has
ended his dreams of competing
in the Cup. Look for
Clint Dempsey of Fulham to
move up from right midfield
to striker and Bolton’s Stuart
Holden to slide in seamlessly
in the midfield. While
Dempsey might not provide
the speed or flare of Davies,
he is still pretty close, and he
does bring some impressive
aerial play to the position that
Davies did not, having scored
two amazing headers against
Egypt and Brazil in the Confederations
Cup.
Several other Americans
have also been banged
up, but all look to have healed
sufficiently to be 100% come
June. The one troubled area
for the U.S. throughout qualifying
has been the left back
position, but Captain Carlos
Bocangera typically a center
back on the national team
should be able to slide over
to the outside as he did last
summer while Jay DeMerit
and Oguchi Onyewu man
the central part of the pitch.
In addition, Everton keeper
Tim Howard is always great
in the net for the Stars and
Stripes. While the U.S. is not
a very good team in terms
of possessing the ball, and is
somewhat limited offensively,
their trademark counterattacking
style has shown itself
to be pretty effective, with
speedy left midfielder Landon
Donovan, fresh off a highly
successful loan to Howard’s
Everton squad, leading the
way. Future star Jozy Altidore
is fast and physical up top in
pairing with Dempsey and
will provide another scoring
touch to the team.
In the end, while I
wouldn’t get my hopes up
about the U.S. actually winning
the World Cup this year,
they have certainly shown
that they can beat any given
team on any given day. If they
are able to string a few such
games together, the pieces are
there for the U.S. to potentially
go deeper than it has
ever gone before in any World
Cup. Will they, though? We’ll
see. Let the games begin.