Fordham Preparatory School Summer Academy
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Fordham Preparatory School Summer Academy Mission Statement and Program Goal The Jesuit educational mission advocates that an ethnically and economically diverse student body creates a superior environment for learning and liv- ing. The Fordham Prep Summer Academy was created to address the need for contin- ued skills development among gifted young men in the Bronx. The Academy seeks to introduce able students of modest means to Fordham Prep. The program’s curriculum calls for instruction in grammar, reading, and mathematics in the morning. Time after lunch is set aside for computer skills, theatre use, and opportunities for recreation. There are also visits to nearby cultural resources in and near the Bronx such as Yankee Stadium and the Bronx Zoo. 2009 TRIPS AROUND THE BRONX TOUR OF ROSE HILL BY: WILLIAM MENDEZ AND MICHAEL GIGANTE On the tour of Fordham University’s Rose Hill cam- pus, we learned many things. Fordham University is filled with a lot of history. Fordham is a Jesuit university. The Jesuits are a religious order created by St. Ignatius Loyola. The campus had many points of interest that are filled with history. Fordham has a cemetery where some Jesuit priests are buried. We saw Loyola Hall, which is where the Jesuits at the University live. Constitution Row is the path on campus that has thirteen trees representing the original thirteen colonies. The bell that is out- side the university gym is called the Victory Bell and is rung after every Fordham sports victory. It was taken from of a Japa- nese war ship in World War II. The Gym that the bell sits in front of is also the oldest Division I gym in the nation. It seats about four thousand people. A lot of famous people attended Fordham University such as Cardinal Spellman and Vince Lombardi. The entire campus is made in the Gothic architectural style. The actual building that Fordham Prep is in is fairly new, being built in the 70’s. The Prep used to be Hughes Hall, which is now a dormi- tory for the College. It is made without the use of steel beams, as only brick is used. Keating Hall is the main building of the campus. On the outside, on the top of the building, there are seals of other Jesuit colleges and some of the Jesuit high schools. Before taking this tour I had no idea so much history was on this campus. Its hard to believe such a beautiful campus can be located right in our backyard of the Bronx. G OLF L ESSONS BY: AVERY DEWINDT, MICHAEL MORRONE, AND JULIAN ROJAS A skillful sport that tests a person on his patience, strategy, and love for the game is Golf. The sport, made famous by one of the greatest players in the game during our time, Tiger Woods, was actually started in 1497 on the eastern coast of Scotland in the Kingdom of Fife. The Fordham Prep Summer Academy took a trip to the Mosholu Golf Course to explore this sport of patience. The coaches there divided the group into three sec- tions to learn key essentials to the game. The lessons we received were on chipping, putting, and driving. Putting is the stroke you use when you play mini golf; it is a less powerful stroke which is designed to get the ball into the hole from small distances. Not a lot of power is required. Control, aim and accuracy are key elements when putting. Chipping is much like putting but from a farther distance. It is a deeper swing, designed to get the ball into a projectile motion so that the ball can land on the green and set up a putt. The last thing we learned was driving. Driving is a full out swing, generated from the hips to drive the ball as far as possible to the hole. These three things are key when playing golf. At first it looked easy. How hard can it be to get a little white ball into a hole with a club? Little did we know it actu- ally takes a lot of skill and practice to do so. There is a lot of technique that goes into it. Golfing is a fun sport, and is a great way just to relax. Every- one should try the game of golf. It definitely turned out to be a great experi- ence for us. Summer 2009 Page 2 THE STUDENTS OF THE 2009 FORDHAM PREP SUMMER ACADEMY Gregory Adams St. Jerome Jason Adulley St. Angela Merici Ginikanwa Amaefile St. Martin of Tours William Baez Public School 214 Abraham Barba Immaculate Conception (MH) Tanvir Bashar Middle School 144 Jordan Beebe St. John Joseph Boncardo St. Theresa Paget Bramble Holy Family Adrian Cacho St. Simon Stock Eric Chavez St. Athanasius Eric Collazo St. Simon Stock Basit Dar Our Lady of Angels Jordan Devonish St. Jerome Avery DeWindt St. Athanasius Colin Esterine-Reid St. Mary Kenneth Felix St. John Chrysostom Giancarlo Furio St. Theresa Rigoberto Garcia St. Ignatius Michael Gigante Villa Maria Cleavon Hampson St. Angela Merici Justin Henry Sts. Philip & James Karell Henry Holy Cross Fernando Jorge Carl C. Icahn Charter Ryan Karran Our Lady of Angels Howard King Sts. Phillip & James David Lopez Public School 214 Brian Luna Middle School 145 Noel Martinez St. Ignatius William Mendez Holy Cross Joyner Meregildo St. Martin of Tours Michael Morales Immaculate Conception (GH) Michael Morrone Villa Maria Julian Rojas Immaculate Conception (MH) Adrian Roque Silva Middle School 145 Jordan Santos Holy Spirit Antonio Singh St. Nicholas of Tolentine Jonathan Torres Holy Cross Ariel-Alexis Valera-Uribe Carl C. Icahn Charter Christian Vega Holy Family “Teach us to give and not to count the cost.” -St. Ignatius of Loyola Summer 2009 Page 3 FPSA: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? 2009 marks the 8th Fordham Prep Summer Academy class. Since it’s inception, the Summer Acad- emy has seen growth in many areas, particularly with the students who have come from the Academy and moved on to fruitful careers at Fordham Prep. As those students from the first and second Summer Academy classes have now graduated from high school, the Prep has seen these graduates achieve many awards and accomplishments. Among these achievements are admission to some of the best local and national colleges and universities. Academy alumni who have gone on to graduate from the Prep are now attending the follow- ing schools of higher education: Catholic University, Washington, D.C. Loyola University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, NY College of Mt. St. Vincent, Bronx, NY Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA St. John’s University, Jamaica, NY State University of New York at Albany, Albany, NY Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY University of Maryland, College Park, MD PREDATORS AND PREY OF THE BRONX ZOO BY: PAGET BRAMBLE AND KENNETH FELIX On July 17, 2009, FPSA went on a trip to the Bronx Zoo. It was clear from the beginning that the trip was going to be a fun and exciting one, and I couldn’t wait to see all of the interesting animals we were going to learn about. Our tour guide, Janet, took us on what is known as the tour of Predators and Prey. During the tour we learned about many exciting animals. I had no idea that Pere David’s Deer were from China and that the only difference between the male and female are the antlers. The males have antlers but the females don’t which makes the females harder to see in the marshy grasslands. We also visited the tigers. Tigers are one of the biggest predators in the world today; they can grow to almost six feet tall. You can tell predators by their sharp teeth called carnassials which help them dig into their prey. Tigers are known as carnivores because they only eat meat. They eat animals such as pigs and deer. Next we went to see the ducks. Ducks, like the deer, are prey. We learned that when duck feathers are messy, ducks do something called preen- ing. Preening is what ducks do to clean their feathers. Finally, we saw a polar bear. Polar bears’ favorite food is seal. Like the endangered Siberian tiger, this eating of other animals also makes polar bears predators. The trip to the Bronx Zoo was amazing, and in my opinion the best trip ever. I hope I can go on it again some- time and learn more new and interesting things about the animals that surround us everyday. Summer 2009 Page 4 YANKEE STADIUM BY: GREG ADAMS, ABRAHAM BARBA, CLEAVON HAMPSON, HOWARD KING, NOEL MARTINEZ, AND ANTONIO SINGH On July 10, 2009, FPSA went on a trip to tour Yankee Stadium. The tour proved to be both fun and exciting for everyone that participated. We got the chance to learn many new and interesting things like “Babe” Ruth’s real name is actually George Her- man Ruth. We also visited the new Yankee Stadium museum. In the museum there were two statues of Don Larson and Yogi Berra. The statues were set up to look as if Larson was throwing a pitch to Berra. In between these statues were 781 balls. Each ball was signed by former and current Yankee members. During the tour, we also visited Monument Park. This is where all the retired Yankee numbers are shown. Players such as Reggie Jackson, Ron Guidry, and Billy Martin all have their numbers retired here. The only person who also has his number retired here but was never a Yankee is none other than the legendary Jackie Robinson, whose number is retired throughout baseball.