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Page 4 The Walrus: School News & Entertainment
November 2009
Rousing ‘Yankees’ Wins Big
By BOBBY WRIGHT ‘12 &
SEAN FRAZZETTE ‘12
In 1955, writers George Abbott and
Douglas Wallace joined forces with
prominent musicians Richard Adler
and Jerry Ross in order to create one
of the greatest musical comedies
of the 20th century: Damn Yankees.
On Friday, November 6th, the St.
Sebastian’s Drama club recreated this
spectacular spectacle here in Ward
Hall. The stars of the play, Tom Keefe
’11 and John Barrack ’11, acted as
an athletic baseball superstar and a
devious devil, respectively, as they
sang, danced, and laughed their way
through this stellar performance.
However, the true stardom lies in the
minor characters, whose songs, facial
expressions, and witty lines were
what made the play a must see. The
baseball players, including Mark Lane
’12, Jay Daukus ’14, and Patrick Rivard
’14, performed countless choreographed
dances that left the audience
collecting their split sides . Also,
a dramatic court scene, anchored by
Sean Frazzette ’12, Bobby Wright ’12,
and Alex Morin ’12, left all sitting on
the edge of their seat, waiting for the
final verdict. Tom Keefe ‘11 and Emily
Morgan ‘10 from Montrose shared
a passionate love scene, the likes of
which haven’t been seen since Kate
Winslet and Leonardo Dicaprio in
The Titanic. The crowd favorite had to
have been “Who’s Got the Pain” which
consist of a hilarious mambo dance
routine performed Mark Lane ’12 and
Emily Morgan ’10.
However amazing these performances
may sound, they did not
come without hours and hours of
practice. Long days, sleepless nights,
and lack of social lives were mere
sacrifices we had to make along
our steady path to perfection. For
almost 8 weeks, the cast came together
every Monday, Tuesday, and
Thursday in order to prepare for the
upcoming day of the performance.
We began the play season with a
care free approach to the production,
disregarding our lines, giving
a lack luster effort, and goofing off
in practice. However, the date of the
performance crept closer and closer,
and it became obvious that we all
needed to pull it together if we were
going to make this play a success.
Upon sitting down with Drama Club
co president himself, John Barrack
'10, he explained several flaws in the
cast’s behavior, and what was going
to be needed in order to get this
play on the right track: " If the play
continues the way it's headed, were
going to crash and burn come opening
night. It's gonna take a lot of effort
and a lot of time to the steer this
fall play out of its spiraling demise.
Nonetheless, I think it is achievable,
as long as Lou Heck actually learns
his lines."
With a week left till opening
night, we entered the long
and difficult struggle known only
as tech week. During tech week,
practices can range anywhere from
five o'clock to eight thirty, or even
five o'clock to ten. On more than one
occasion, cast members could be
found scattered around Ward Hall,
catching a quick nap before their
next scene. As you can imagine,
we were all worn down and on the
edge of defeat, but we didn't give
up. Through hard work and determination,
the play began to take
shape. The songs began to sound
like legitimate songs, and not just
incoherent nonsense. Choreography
improved tenfold, as the dances for
"Who’s Got The Pain" and "Heart"
were perfected. And lastly, Lou Heck
actually memorized his lines. Before
we knew it, opening day had arrived.
Anxiety and nervousness crept into
the minds of all the cast members,
building more and more as it neared
seven p.m. Hearts pumping, hands
sweating.. It was show time. The cast
burst on to stage, enthusiastic and
energetic, beautifully belting out the
sweet and soft lyrics of the opening
song "Six Months Out of Every Year."
Nailing it, the play continued. With
an out-of-sight performances by
Paul Lee and the rest of the ballplayers
in their song "Heart", the play
kept-a-rollin’ with full force. With an
incredible performance from Emily
Morgan in "Whatever Lola Wants,
Lola Gets" and an outstanding rendition
of "Those Were the Good Old
Days" by our very own John Barrack,
the play was nothing less than perfect.
However, "A Man Doesn't Know"
performed by Lou Heck '11 and
Katie Fitzgerald '10 was the cherry
on top of our Damn Yankees sundae.
As a last and final song, the cast
performed once again the beloved
"Heart" which left the audience feeling
happy and satisfied.
In the end, the play was a
success, but only through the hard
work and perseverance of every
single cast member. The St. Sebastian's
drama club is always looking
for new members and new ideas, so
feel free to drop by and have a word
with Mr. Rogers, or even seek out the
co presidents, Tom Keefe and John
Barrack, in the hallways. Next stop,
the winter play!
Lou Heck ‘11 and John Barrack ‘11impress with their fine performances in “Damn Yankees”
Sophomores Learn About God,
Retreat to the Marion Shrine
By BRENDAN DUNPHY ‘12
On Tuesday, September 29th, the
sophomore class went on retreat to
the Marion Shrine in Holliston. The
class boarded two buses at 8:30 AM
and left St. Sebastian’s on route to the
shrine.
When the sophomore class arrived
at the shrine we put our lunches in a
room and went back into the chapel
and the retreat leaders, Mr. Nunan,
Fr. Arens, Mr. Goulet, Mr. Schell, and
Mr. Eaton, gave us the schedule for
the day. We started off with a short
prayer service in the small chapel led
by Fr. Arens, and then Mr. Nunan gave
us a short speech on the importance
of a retreat. After we listened to Mr.
Nunan we walked outside to a walking
rosary.
The rosary started at a large cross,
and we, as a class, began to pray
the prayers of a rosary. After the
first prayer we started walking on a
path which brought us around the
rosary. At each large rock we said a
prayer then followed the chain to the
next rock where we prayed. While
we prayed the class was spiritually
united, as we walked along the rosary.
After we finished the rosary, we
walked back into the meeting hall.
In the meeting hall, we talked about
Jesus and watched videos about
when he first met Peter and the
other disciples. After watching the
videos, we had an open discussion
on how Jesus acted in his early days
with Peter, and about the courage
Jesus had to associate with the tax
collector. Later, we did some drawings
that related to the video and
talked about our drawings.
After we drew and talked about
God, we ate lunch as a class outside,
under a roof. As some ate their
lunches, others socialized. After
lunch, we went back inside to watch
more clips of Jesus. At each table we
wrote about Scripture and shared
our answers with the entire class
again.
Then, we walked around outside
toward where our class would be
celebrating mass outside. As we
were walking, we passed caves
with candles and a wishing well.
Then, we took our seats at the mass
where two students provided the
alter-serving, two others did the
readings, and Father Arens led the
mass. The class enjoyed the mass
and when it was time to receive
the Eucharist, we were all called up
around the altar and Father Arens
gave a special blessing to our class.
The class watched Fr. Arens bless
the Eucharist and then we received
it and sat down. At the end of the
mass, Mr. Goulet gave each member
of the class a special gift that Father
Arens blessed. We all received glow
in the dark rosaries to remind us of
our walking prayers as a class. Each
student took their rosary and then
waited until the buses came.
Some sat by a pond with a fountain,
others walked around and saw a
tree trunk exhibit from over two
thousand years ago. When the buses
came, we all got on the buses and
returned home to St. Sebastian’s
where we met in Ward Hall. Mr.
Nunan spoke about the retreat and
how it helped each of us become
closer to each other and God. All in
all, the sophomore class retreat was
a success in all aspects and we grew
greatly in our understanding of each
other and of God.
Tom Keefe ‘11 looks surprised to get any attention from Lola, played by Emily Morgan
Math Team Dominates
By THOMAS MURPHY ‘11
On October 20th 2009, the
prestigious varsity math team traveled
to Mr. Rest’s room in order to
partake against a mighty foe to open
the fall season. After many weeks of
taking practice tests and honing their
mathematical skills each and every
day, the day of the first contest finally
arrived. Theorems and formulas racing
through their minds, #2 pencils
sharpened, and calculators at the
ready, the varsity math team finally
took on 6 perilous problems given
to them in the allotted thirty-minute
time limit. Not intimidated by the
daunting task in front of them, the
Arrows Mathletes were able to put
together a very impressive score even
without many formal meetings of the
entire team.
The superb mathematical minds
amassed a great score of 27 having
scores of 6,6,5,5, and 5. Unlike other
varsity sports the math team did
not take on a single opponent, but
instead took on the entire I.S.L. and
many other illustrious teams throughout
New England. The math competitions
are a series of six questions with
the first question being the easiest
SADD Chapter Continues
To Promote Safe Decisions
By CHRIS STADTLER ‘12
SADD’s Mission: To provide students
with the best prevention tools
possible to deal with the issues of
underage drink, other drug use,
impaired driving and other destructive
decisions.
“Decisions now decide
your future” is the new motto of
sophomore Robert Cotter, who was
recently one of six elected to be
SADD moderators for their class. As
class moderator, he pledged to bring
our class together and help make
St. Sebastian’s a better place. When I
asked him what his plan was for the
upcoming year, he reaffirmed his
promise in saying, “I plan on trying to
get everyone to be more open and
honest with each other. You should
support your fellow classmates to
make good decisions -- just remember
to be honest and respectful to
one another. I just simply advise
all members of the community to
remember that the cornerstone of
St. Sebastians is to "take good care
of one another.” With unity day fresh
Celebrity Look-A-Like
Mr. Schell
and the last being the hardest. A
team’s score is accumulated by adding
up the top five scores.
Unlike other varsity sports, the
math team has no cuts and the
more people who participate the
more likely the team will earn a
higher score. The amount of kids
who attend St. Sebastian's that are
talented enough to join the illustrious
team and help with the score
of the Mathletes is astounding. Kids
may claim that they are too cool or
would never be caught dead doing
math for fun. However, the number
of cookies available combined with
witty comments coming from Mr.
Rest and other team members, it is
well worth the extra math problems.
If you are interested in joining the
team, here are some math problems
you should try:
Problems:
If 2^(x-3) = 1 and 5^(y+2) = 1 what is
the value of (2^x)(5^y)?
The product of 1993 consecutive
integers is 0. What is the greatest
possible value for the largest one of
these integers?
in our minds, these wise words are
important to remember.
With fellow newly elected
moderators of Chris Marino, Robert
Cotter, Chris Nadeau, Nick Chappel,
and Alex Spear, SADD Chapter is in
good hands and looks to have another
exciting and educational year.
The seatbelt survey has already gone
by. The results varied, but, in general,
a high percentage of passengers and
drivers wore seat belts. However,
there is always room to improve and,
in order to save lives, more belts
need to be clicked. In other news,
our very own Mr. Williams gave a
poignant speech to the club about
his struggles with alcohol and the
obstacles he overcame. Most of all
he stressed the importance of not
going down the path of temptation
that he succumbed to, and to avoid
situations that could make us go
that route. The entire chapter looks
forward to many more constructive
talks about the harms of potentially
destructive actions.
The future, though, looks
the brightest for the club, as many
classic events are already in the
works. The junior class has taken
If N is a positive integer, and if N^50
is a 16-digit number, what is the
value of N?
Find the area of the region bounded
by the graphs of the equations,
x = -2, y = 0, x = 3, and y = |x+2| +
|x-3|
Answers:
1) Since 2^0 = 1, x = 3. Since
5^0 = 1, y = -2. Therefore (2^3)(5^-2)
= 8/25.
2) One of the integers must
be 0, so the largest that one of the
1993 consecutive integers could be
is 1992.
3) Clearly N > 1. Also, 3^50 =
7.179 x 10^23 is too large, since it
is a 24-digit number. Finally, 2^50
= 1.126 x 10^15, 2^50 is a 16-digit
number so N = 2
4) Method I: For any value of
x from -2 to 3, the value of |x+2| +
|x-3| is 5. So, from x = -2 to x = 3, y =
|x+2| + |x-3| has the same graph as y
= 5. The region we want is a square
whose area is 25.
Method II: In the graph, the dotted
line is the graph of y = |x+2| + |x-3|.
The shaded region’s area is 25.
upon the duty of the SADD concert.
For the perennial favorite, the band
Taste has been booked of which Tom
Keefe’s older brother is a member.
The March SADDness is in the headlights
too, as everyone looks forward
to two more exciting tournaments.
SADD Chapter this year
holds more students than ever. It
is one of the largest clubs in the
school. With the growth of the
club, it is far more than likely that
new ideas will surface about future
events. Also, destructive decisions
will see continued decline as, more
and more, people are involved or
affected by the efforts of SADD
Chapter. Hopefully we can continue
to achieve our ultimate goal of
keeping students on the right path.
This first quarter, my belief is that
we have succeeded in our goal. One
new member recently stated, “SADD
chapter has become a good way for
kids my age and me to learn about
possible solutions to problems that
might arise, not only in school, but
also in our lives away from the classroom.”
Ant from the Pixar movie “Antz”