congregate

Page 2 The Walrus: School & National News
November 2009
Quotes of the
Open House again a big hit
Continued from page 1
Month
“To dance, you must pay the fiddler.”
-Mr. Palmaccio, after being asked how to do a Calculus problem.
“Now I can finally start my senior slide.”
-Peter Burke, perhaps in jest, at the lunch table after receiving his
Bucknell acceptance letter this weekend
“There has been a diaspora of chess
boards lately. If you see any, please
usher them back to my room.”
the crowd of prospective students.
He promised that every student
would be appreciated for who he is
as a person, regardless of his talents.
He will be cared for each and every
day by faculty who wants him to
succeed in each of his endeavors.
Edgar Escobar ’15 gave a memorable
speech that stressed how lucky we
are to have such great people at our
school, both faculty and students
alike. His delivery was tremendous,
and I know that everyone else
present would definitely agree.
Jake McLaughlin ’13 presented an
equally compelling speech that
focused more on the day-to-day life
of the typical St. Sebastian’s student.
Finally, Ned Kingsley ’10 capped off
an impressive trio of student speakers
by elaborating on the school’s
academic program, particularly its
ability to accommodate the needs
of any student. After listening to all
three speeches, I noticed that each
explored the St. Sebastian’s concept
of “growth in body, mind, and spirit.”
If I were a prospective student’s
father, I would be extremely impressed
by the overall mission of
the school, which speaks to something
greater than just schoolwork.
Mr. Wishart then retook the podium
and directed all visitors to Ward Hall
for the third and final part of the
program.
Teachers, coaches, admissions officers,
students and even parents
again interacted with prospective
students and their families in Ward
Hall. There were tables lining the
room that represented each and
every academic subject, club, and
sports team so that visitors could
easily access those of interest to
them. Refreshments and assorted
foods were served in the carpeted
area of Ward Hall during this concluding
portion of the event.
Photos from the event may be found
on the school website, and I can
assure you that smiles abounded
everywhere. The Open House was an
accurate reflection of St. Sebastian’s
life thanks to the genuine love that
all of us share for our school. Everyone
who helped out at the event
should again be commended for his
or her service to the school, and I
have no doubts that the future of St.
Sebastian’s looks promising.
-Mr. Cressotti, during a Chess Club announcement in Corporate Chapel
“I invented a car that runs on the blood of
clowns.”
-Mr. Nerbonne, when asked by his Greek class what he had ever invented
“Back at Wellesley High School, they used to call
me the ‘Fastest Chalk in the Northeast’.”
-Mr. Palmaccio, on his intense, rapid-fire chalkboarding skills
Top Ched: The Weekend
changed! Now that we know that it
By EDMUND MURPHY ‘11 is our God-given vocation to enjoy
our weekends, let’s explore how to,
and how not to, enjoy our weekends,
and forward our killer social lives.
Over the past month,
I’ve looked at the things going on
around me, and said to myself,
“That’s a perfect example of what
not to ever do in a social situation.”
On Halloween I was at an unspecified
location where both guys and
those of the fairer sex were present.
As I walked down the stairs,
I was shocked at what I saw and
heard. Two students, whose names
I will not disclose, were standing in
front of two puzzled looking young
women, singing these words:
Let’s face it fellas -- from
Monday to Friday, we are a mighty
conglomeration of warriors. We
stretch our minds to the limit in each
class period, we slave in our rooms
over endless amounts of homework,
only to sleep for what seems like no
time at all each night, and we break
our backs for our teammates and our
school out on the playing fields, and
maybe outlandishly slide on the turf
with our eyes and hands invoking
the higher powers after delivering a
glossy strike on net in the process. I’ve
already spoken about how to make
the school week fun and innovative,
but now its time to look to the Godsent
weekend.
For all you religion scholars
out there, the first commandment
given to Moses was actually: Thou
Shalt Do Work When the Weekend
Cometh. This was edited out of the
original ten by accident, however,
when Moses decided it would be a
cool idea if he played Tug o’ War over
the Tablet with a Persian Mountain
Bear (THERE’S A BEAR IN HERE!).
Needless to say, the bear, with his
unreal strength, ripped the first tenth
of the Tablet off, and looked at Moses
“kinda weird-like” with a point and a
chuckle, and ran off into the jungle.
Moses, now with only 9 Commandments,
knew God was going to “Get
His Wrath On” so Moses tossed in a
Commandment Amendment, now
widely accepted as “I am the LORD
your God. Thou Shalt Bear No False
Gods Above Me.” Sneaky Moses
was pumped at how legitimate the
amendment sounded, and guess
what? God never minded that it was
Unity Day Makes its Mark
Continued from page 1
he outlines many of the difficulties
that present themselves to people
growing up in his home town—yet
his goal is not simply to break the
stereotypes that people may or may
not have had about life in the city.
Rather, Mr. Tejeda presented them in
such a way that gave all of us a new,
deeper understanding of a relatively
unknown culture.
The main sketch focused on a young
man, “Tito”, sitting at a bus stop with
his best friend who is leaving for
college. In his dialogue, he commented
that he dropped out of high
school as an “educational activist”.
“Someone had to do something for
The LORD has revealed to the nations,
Saving Pow’r
Saving Pow’r
Saving Pow’r
the community,” he said. He also
added, “I have something against
the minimum wage. That’s why I’m
not working.”
Following the presentation, the
groups went to separate classrooms
where they discussed what they
had seen and heard. Analyzing the
themes presented in Mr. Tejada’s
dialogue, everyone strove to relate
them to thoughts and experiences
in his or her own life. The discussion
groups were probably the most effective
and most meaningful part of
the whole day, for everyone got to
hear various perspectives and ideas
from others that never would have
come forward otherwise. Everyone’s
voice was heard, and everyone benefited
as a result.
I should probably mention
that he who sang this hymn
the loudest was also the only one to
remove his shirt later on in the social
gathering; a most preposterous and
blatant act that can be classified
with, “Hey man, you took that too
far.” However, he is still a beloved
member of this community, and I
retain my artistic integrity by saying
that I do indeed have great respect
for this person for bearing the several
jokes made about the incident
with a smile. These incidents tell us
that singing church hymns outside
of school isn’t that funny…and that
also, everyone gets caught up in the
moment, but we have to be careful
about how our acts in those moments
will come across to others.
Dear Reader, these two
events are not the worst examples
I’ve heard of, however. As we grow
up, we are entrusted with certain
privileges, and making light of these
responsibilities never makes us
better people, or any “cooler”. This
means that getting pressured into
driving misdemeanors or breaking
the law for the sake of being BA, or
throwing our friends under buses to
elicit a laugh from the crowd, or to
get the respect of others (“Just me
and my permit, comin’ back from the
concert”) is unacceptable, and needs
to stop once and for all. I am guilty
of the things I speak, and I acknowledge
these wrongs. I write about
only that of which I have seen, and
that of which I know to be destructive.
Most of us have been on either
side of the spectrum. I know this is
striking a more serious note, but part
of our job here is to “take care of one
another”. Dr. Martin Luther King tells
us that a man is unjust who gains a
moral end through immoral means,
and when we find ourselves at social
gatherings, it’s good to keep this in
mind. There is no one to impress,
and no one to please. It’s time to
focus on just flat out enjoying ourselves
rather than being The Man.
Common sense.
So far, we have seen a
couple examples of maybe what
isn’t great to do around others, and
we’ve also seen some things that
are definitely out of bounds when
we’re in the company of others, and
can have more serious effects, such
as our friends, or ourselves, getting
hurt. It’s not all bad, though, my
friends. In fact, last night, I was at an
After 40 minutes, the groups then
reassembled in Ward Hall where we
were given an opportunity to ask Mr.
Tejeda any and all questions we had
concerning his life, dreams, motivations,
and personal perspectives.
Unity Day concluded with some
brief remarks by Headmaster Burke,
and a wonderful concludingprayer
by Father Arens.
Since the school day ended so early,
athletes were given the privilege of
participating in their various games
in races early that afternoon instead
of the next day. The football and soccer
teams both defeated Groton, and
cross country had a successful race
at the ISL Championships. In all, the
2009 Unity Day was one for us all to
remember as both moving and fun.
Student volunteers entertain Open House guests with the missing Chess Club boards.
event where two young men were
talking a little trash to each other
when a third party stepped in and
yelled in a really high-pitched voice,
“HEY, THAT’S MY FRIEND!” and broke
it up. I laughed, because let’s face it,
the intervener was quite a goon, and
was half-joking when he stepped in.
However, in an indirect way, he was
helping out everyone in attendance
by keeping the peace, and not allowing
a personal conflict to grow, and
to possibly affect the entire whole of
those present.
In addition, no matter
where I seem to go with friends from
Sebs, the brotherhood is always
alive. A lot of people claim there is a
certain ‘Bro Code’ to be followed at
all time: a social pact which places
the bond between fellow men over
ties with women, and in extreme
cases, only found thus far in Guam
and Alaska, brothers are placed
above family, sports, and school. Let
it be known that he is not a bro who
is too bro to go to school, or pay
any attention or respect to his family.
But I digress. I find it somewhat
amazing that even though we go
to a single-sex school and that girls
are in somewhat of a scarcity, we
maintain the “Bros before Respectable
Women” law, SOMETIMES (series
of whooping coughs). I have seen
this law violated in the most awful
circumstances, but I have moved
on from these occurrences. That
brings about another point: while
you’re enjoying your weekend, and
a fellow friend does you wrong, we
must know that holding grudges
only makes the night worse. I hate to
be a hippy here, because if I was, I’d
probably be protesting animal rights
(just kidding, bunnies are awesome)
but in truth, all we need is a mutual
peace and respect amongst us. Unity
Day fosters this sort of action within
the school, but not as much socially,
which should be a focus for everyone.
I understand that perhaps
I have overstayed my welcome with
this article by trying really hard to
mix the humor with ‘The Real’ but
The Walrus
A St. Sebastian’s Publication
Senior Editors: Brendan Ecclesine ‘10, Ned Kingsley ‘10, Edmund Murphy ‘11,
David Ruffolo ‘10
Apprentice Editors: 15 Gorillas, 2 Bananas, 1 Safari Leader
Head Writers: Joe Albanese ‘10, Chris Marino ‘10, Chris Moses ‘10,
Mike Sanderson ‘10 (Feature Writer)
we only ever do the best we can. So
let’s remember at last to enter into
our weekends with an understanding,
myself included, that our friends
can’t be left behind to suffer. We face
our classmates and open our hearts
to them in Chapel Speeches and
pray beside them in Mass. May your
weekends be blessed with an abundance
of friends of both genders and
free food and safe transportation.
Most of all though, let us not forget
about where we come from.
NOTE: I totally winged that Moses
story. Dear Religion Department, I
DO know how it all really happened,
but I decided to take my creativity
for a spin. I guess I may have actually
fooled a couple people on that one,
though, so everyone, that story isn’t
true, it was simply fabricated by me
over a span of fifteen or so minutes.
(And yes, the Persian Mountain bear
who appears on Mt. Sinai to wrestle
Moses for one-tenth of a piece of
stone tablet is fake too. Just in case
you were wondering).
CONTRIBUTORS: Joey Kelly ‘10, Will Connolly ‘10, Dillon Eccelsine ‘11, Sam
Racine ‘11, John Barrack ‘11, Mike Sanderson ‘10, John Kavolius ‘10, Joe
Albanese ‘10, Lou Heck ’11, Will Vietze ‘12, Ryan Kilcullen ‘10, Luke Sullivan
‘09, Chris Stadtler ‘12, Scott Neuberger ‘10, Chris Moses ‘10, Peter Cimini
‘12, Alex Spear ‘11, Brendan Ecclesine ‘10, Tom Hoff ‘11, John O’Connor ‘11,
Ryan Bacic ‘11, Andrew DeMatteo ‘11, Brad Walker ‘10, Ricky Mulroy ‘10, Tom
Nunan ‘11, Tom Keefe ‘11, Nick Chappel ‘11, Jared Chase ‘11, Ben Thai ‘12,
Lucas Mykulak ‘11, Will Adams ‘11, Ryan McCarthy ‘10, Chris Picher ‘13, John
Donovan ‘12, Kevin Wolfe ‘12, Chris Nadeau ‘12, Joe Dudley ‘12, Matt Fechtelkotter
‘12, John Cheever ‘12, Bobby Wright ‘12, Sean Frazzette ‘12
Editors Emeritus: Derek Morrison, Tyler Smith, Brian Walker, John Wolfe
Faculty Advisor: Mr. Dan Drummond
The Walrus is the official student newspaper of St. Sebastian’s School. The Walrus
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