The Magazine of Jesuit High School of New Orleans • Fall/Winter 2010–2011
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Volume 37, Number 1 The Magazine of Jesuit High School of New Orleans • Fall/Winter 2010–2011 Volume 37, Number 1 fall/wiNter iNSiDe 2010–11 Jaynotes, the magazine for and about alumni, parents, and students of Jesuit High School of Dear Blue Jay alumni, Parents, Students, and friends of Jesuit: New Orleans, is published three times annually by the Office of Institutional Advancement, Jesuit High School’s web site is a popular resource for students, teachers, parents, and alumni. Our including a special graduation issue in the home page, www.jesuitnola.org, is the equivalent of the main sheet of a daily newspaper’s web site. I summer. Opinions expressed in Jaynotes are those of the individual authors. do not equate jesuitnola.org with nola.com (The Times-Picayune) except to point out that in a general President sense they share three striking similarities of being informative, entertaining, and dynamic. anthony McGinn, S.J. ’66 Jesuit is not your garden variety high school web site. How can it be with more than 2,700 [email protected] pages featuring 25,000 photographs? Our focus is to showcase student life, academics, athletics, co- Director of institutional advancement curriculars, and info for parents and alumni. It is also a multi-purpose tool used for online pledges thomas V. Bagwill ii and donations, online registration for special events and class reunions, and to recruit new Blue Jays. [email protected] Jaynotes editor Our site is rich in content and relevant information for the whole Jesuit community. Our Pierre DeGruy ’69 numerous photo galleries of LHSAA varsity sports (and club sports like rugby and lacrosse) Director of Communications are marvelous vehicles to show the talents of Blue Jay athletes, win or lose the games. Each [email protected] weekday offers a surprise lurking near the bottom of the home page — “Jayson’s Daily Wild Director of alumni affairs Mat Grau ’68 Photo” — entertaining and innovative snapshots of student life at Jesuit. The home page is lively, [email protected] flexible, and fluid because fresh content is introduced on a daily basis and dated material is moved to Director of Special Projects an appropriate location elsewhere on the site. Bro. william Dardis, S.J. ’58 [email protected] An analysis of our web site statistics covering the final three months of 2010 (October through Coordinator for the Office December) reveals a few interesting tidbits: of institutional advancement 189,000 unique visitors identified by their IP addresses viewed a total of 610,000 pages. Michelle M. tanner The average number of visits per day is 5,200; the average number of pages visited per day is 27,400, [email protected] or five pages per visit; average length of a visit is four minutes. administrative assistant for the Office of institutional advancement Tuesday and Wednesday are the days with the heaviest traffic; Saturday or Sunday, the least r. logan Diano trafficked. [email protected] The most active hour for visits? Between 1 – 2 a.m. on weekdays. Go figure. The least active executive assistant to the President hour? Between 9 – 10 a.m. Really. Krista roeling [email protected] The days that attracted the most visits coincided with Homecoming in October and the posting Volunteer Coordinator of progress reports in November. Marilyn Beauford Missed a Wild Photo? A lot of Blue Jays did. The Wild Photo archives drew almost 9,000 visits. [email protected] The most popular audio files were from the Mother – Son Mass & Breakfast in October. The Design & layout homily by Jesuit president Fr. Anthony McGinn, S.J. ’66 and the touching speech by senior Joey Design iii Tumminello each received almost 12,000 visits. Fr. McGinn’s homily at the Christmas Eve Midnight [email protected] Printing Mass got 8,500 visits. Garrity Print Solutions Are there aspects of our web site that can improve? Yes. An online Blue Jay Shop is long overdue. A Harvey Company Sometimes parents and alums have difficulty navigating the site. And a few people have complained Michael Brennan ’95 there is too much information on the home page, it’s cluttered, and space is wasted. Could the site be Letters, photographs, and correspondence are welcome and may be either submitted by more interactive and forum-oriented, especially for alums and parents? Perhaps Jesuit’s web site needs e-mail ([email protected]) or mailed to: a thorough spring and summer maintenance overhaul. We are considering an online survey to solicit Jaynotes opinions among students, parents, and alums that will help guide us as we address these various Jesuit High School 4133 Banks St. issues. New Orleans, la 70119 Address changes should be submitted to Yours truly, [email protected] or contact Jesuit’s alumni office at 504-483-3815. Pierre DeGruy ’69 Parents: If you are receiving your son’s copy of Director of Communications/ Editor, Jaynotes Jaynotes and he no longer lives with you, please let us know so we can update our database and send the magazine directly to him. Let us know if you enjoy reading Jaynotes. We will be glad to send a copy to his new address and a copy to you. E-mail changes to: [email protected]. Sign-up online for class reunions and other events: www.jesuitnola.org/cgi-bin/events.cgi. a Master of Jesuit’s web Site It is easy to contribute online to the HFA, lef, will return to the Classroom fulltime PaG, and various Scholarships on Jesuit’s web site: www.jesuitnola.org. Look for the Donate Online link in the upper left For the past four years, English teacher Jack science teacher Dan wagner, and network corner. Culicchia ’83 has served as Jesuit’s webmaster, administrator Stephen Blum provide invaluable On the Cover: a role similar to that of a photojournalist, as can support on the academic and technical sides of Behind those closed eyes, senior sprinter be seen in the photo at right. Jack has managed the site. Jesuit also has the services of the coolest Philip Aucoin savors crossing the finish line his webmaster duties while juggling three or computer guru genius in tony Giannasi, who ahead of 300 runners at the state cross country meet, becoming only the second Blue Jay four English classes. Sharon Hewlett, who is troubleshoots all sorts of technical glitches that to capture an individual state championship Jesuit’s director of technology, computer arise on an almost daily basis. while also leading his team to the state title. continued next page P r e S i D e NJte’SU S Mi te SSt ODa GaYe Never Surrender to the Lunatic Fringe Complex enterprises like Jesuit High School as well as individual persons develop and accomplish their goals when a broad range of people invests in their success. I appreciate all that so many friends of Jesuit have done to contribute to its achievements over the past twenty years. Thank you for helping to make a difference. At the end of his term as president, George Washington advised Many who try to advance The Agenda lose perspective. They the nation against permanent alliances. As he was leaving the lose a sense of humor and a sense of compassion. Among the Agenda- presidency, General Dwight Eisenhower warned America about the driven, self-deception joins self-promotion in a destructive alliance. growing influence of the military-industrial complex. In my last days On the one hand, the lunatic fringe trusts children to make at Jesuit, I caution the school community about the lunatic fringe. life-changing decisions without guidance or boundaries. Yet We see the lunatic fringe in politics, in economics, in religion, micromanaging parents do not allow children age-appropriate in education, in parenting, in sports, and in psychology. Although freedom. One develops coping skills by experiencing frustration, it takes many forms, the fringe usually elevates The Agenda above disappointment, and defeat. No one can grow if he is insulated from everything else. Advancing The Agenda, whatever it may be, setbacks and challenges. supersedes all other values. So powerful is The Agenda that some The irrational demand for total allegiance to The Agenda on the fringe behave as if the revealed word of God and the laws of transforms healthy passion into lunacy. Thinking becomes distorted. nature are subservient to it. Disappointments become catastrophes. Disagreement becomes Whether the group is traditionalist or progressive, whether it is disloyalty. Pejorative labels are assigned to those with different academic or anti-intellectual, whether it is hierarchical or egalitarian, perspectives. Those who push The Agenda cause strife and hostility there is no doubt about who has a monopoly of the truth. There which divide communities and families. is only one way, one expression of orthodoxy, one correct mode of The great challenge of the school community is to answer the living. Wherever it manifests itself, the fringe shows deep contempt call to greatness without employing the methods of the lunatic for outsiders as either stupid or unworthy. Only malice or invincible fringe. Our way must be to show conviction without intolerance, ignorance can explain why anyone would question The Agenda. confidence without arrogance, and passion for the truth without Elitism has a very strong appeal. The lunatic fringe cultivates contempt for those who see things differently. “the best and brightest.” Zeal for The Agenda enhances a young I am very grateful to so many people who helped me during person’s sense of belonging. It is flattering to be chosen to receive a the years I guided this enterprise. I appreciate their differing special invitation to belong, especially where following a charismatic perspectives, their tolerance of my mistakes, their loyal support, leader brings a higher status.