Spring 2016 Most of the SI Student Body Gathered on J.B
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GENEThe Quarterly Magazine of St. Ignatius College Preparatory,SI San Francisco, SSpring 2016 Most of the SI student body gathered on J.B. Murphy Field in November to form the SI block and pose for a video and photograph as part of the schoolwide Lip Dub that happened the following week. SITV and the Executive Council organized this herculean endeavor. On this day, when students chanted “We are SI,” they were, quite literally, SI. Photo by Alex Ring ’18. GENESIS A Report to Concerned Individuals Volume 53, Number 1 Spring 2016 Administration Rev. Edwin B. Harris, S.J. ’63 President & Jesuit Superior Mr. Patrick Ruff Principal Mr. Joseph A. Vollert ’84 Vice President for Development Mr. Ken Stupi ’78 Vice President, Finance & Administration Mr. Timothy A. Reardon ’86 Director of Alumni Relations Ms. Marielle A. Murphy ’93 Director of Development Editorial Staff Mr. Paul J. Totah ’75 Director of Communications Ms. Anne Stricherz Sports Editor Mr. Arthur Cecchin ’63 Sports Writer Mrs. Nancy Hess ’05 Layout & Design GENESIS (USPS 899-060) is published quarterly by St. Ignatius College Preparatory, 2001 37th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94116-1165. Periodicals Postage Paid at San Francisco, CA, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to GENE SIS, 2001 37th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94116-1165. CONTACT US: You can send e-mail to [email protected] or reach us at (415) 731-7500, ext. 5206. You can also read the issue on our website at www.siprep.org/genesis. ST. IGNATIUS, mindful of its mission to be witness to the love of Christ for all, admits students of any race, color and national and/or ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded to or made available to students at this school. St. Ignatius does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and/or ethnic origin, age, sex or disability in the administration of educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs and athletic and other school-administered programs. Likewise, St. Ignatius does not discriminate against any applicant for employment on the basis of race, color, national and/or ethnic origin, age, sex or disability. GENESIS is printed on certified FSC Mix paper, by a certified FSC printer and a Bay Area Green Business. In addition, 9 percent of the ink comes from agriculturally-based renewable sources. Read GENESIS online at www.siprep.org/genesis. If you wish to receive the online version only, send an email to [email protected] to be removed from the mailing list or write to us at 2001 37th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94116. genesis 3 Saint Ignatius Board of Trustees Rev. Gregory Bonfiglio, S.J. Chair First Words Ms. Maureen Clark Think of the events in your life that have taught The most profound gathering of stones I’ve had Rev. Edwin B. Harris, S.J. ’63 you the most. Chances are, they were neither easy the privilege to see were in Tanzania. They sat in a dry Dr. Ted W. Love nor pleasant. When I wrote SI’s history, I saw how valley called the Olduvai Gorge. It’s the place we all Mr. Angelo J. Rizzo, S.J. our school changed for the better in ways that began and why we are all related. Experts tell us the sometimes caused discomfort and, at times, even pain. first human species emerged from this area 1.9 million Justice Peter Siggins ’73 Coeducation did not come easily for some, nor did our years ago. As I stared at the genesis of us all, I thought change from a city to a regional school. of the slow movement of our ancestors. Some of them Board of Regents What we hope to teach our students is that real made their way to what is now Yemen and later to Claude Perasso, Jr., Esq. ’76, education involves a little discomfort, especially as we Palestine, where my parents were born. I can look at a ask them to look at the world in ways they aren’t used map and trace the route my forebears most likely took. Chair to. We have a symbol of that lesson in our first floor In February, Fr. Greg Boyle, S.J., the founder of Mr. Joseph Allanson ’81 hallway. Most students walk by it and never see it. Homeboy Industries, came to SI to share stories of his Vice Chair The next time you’re at SI, look for a small stone on work helping former gang members leave their old lives Mrs. Jeannie Sangiacomo the left side of the first floor mural. The image below behind. He helps them see their route from violence to tells you where to look. peace, from a life of fear and intimidation to fulfillment. Secretary The Outdoors Club & Green Team atop Montara Mountain. In his two talks at SI, he challenged our students to Mrs. Tina Butler see these men and women not as gang bangers but as Mrs. Susan Carter brothers and sisters. Mr. Simon Chiu ’88 “No daylight to separate us,” he writes in his book Tattoos on the Heart. “Only kinship. Inching ourselves Dr. Antonio Cucalon ’75 closer to creating a community of kinship such that Sr. Cathryn deBack, O.P. God might recognize it. Soon we imagine, with God, Mr. Keith Dunne The stone in the center of the white circle shouldn’t this circle of compassion. Then we imagine no one Mr. Frederick Gaines be where it is. Given the angle it’s on, it should have standing outside of that circle, moving ourselves closer rolled to the bottom of the mound. There’s a reason to the margins so that the margins themselves will be Mr. Gordon Getty ’51* muralist Boris Koodrin ’67 painted it there. There’s erased. We stand there with those whose dignity has Rev. Edwin B. Harris, S.J. ’63 something written on it, but in order to read it, you have been denied. We locate ourselves with the poor and the Mr. Brian Heafey ‘86 to get on your hands and knees and struggle a little. powerless and the voiceless. At the edges, we join the Ms. Heidi Leupp Why? Because the mural is really a riddle and an easily despised and the readily left out. We stand with allegory. The words on the stone are part of the riddle, the demonized so that the demonizing will stop. We Ms. Margy Lico and what you do to read the stone is the allegory for situate ourselves right next to the disposable so that Niall McCarthy, Esq. ’85 what SI is — a school that teaches students by making the day will come when we stop throwing people away.” Mr. William McDonnell ’42* them, at times, a little uncomfortable by asking them to I see students move to the margins in the two Mrs. Michele Meany change their perspective. clubs I moderate. The Dialogue Club brings together Getting down on one’s hands and knees isn’t a students who are Arabic and Jewish and those Martin D. Murphy, Esq. ’52* natural thing to do (or an easy thing for people my age), interested in the Middle East. The Green Team is a Mr. Timothy Pidgeon ’74 but if we hope to grow and learn, we need to get out of home for those who want to care for creation. Each Mr. Marcus Robinson our comfort zones and see the world in new ways. calls the student to learn more about “the other” on Mr. Bert Selva ’80 That’s why Boris wrote the word “seek” three times the margins — whether that other is the natural world on the mural. We need to know what to look for and or someone from another culture. Alicia Donahue Silvia, Esq. how to look so that we might find God in all things and Real dialogue involves listening, and sincere listening Timothy Alan Simon, Esq. ’73 in all people and to discern the greater good when necessitates an open mind and an open heart. True Mr. Steve Sirianni ’84 choices are tough. dialogue happens when both sides are willing and even Mr. Robert Uhrich ’83 One way I try to practice this lesson is by traveling, eager to listen and learn from the other. by leaving the comfort of my familiar home to see what Greg Boyle reminds us of this, as does Boris Koodrin Mr. Albert Waters II ’80 we have built with the rocks and stones that make up in his mural. It’s the same lesson we teach every day in * Lifetime Members our planet. In Sarajevo, I saw the headstones of nearly class and that, I hope, our students carry with them as 12,000 killed in a genocide. In Rome, I saw a stone upon they venture to the margins, where they will attempt which Julius Caesar was cremated, a fulcrum dividing to see life in new ways, listen with a desire to grow, and the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. I’m off discover what is new and wonderful that they don’t to Peru for my next trip to see the stones of Machu already know about our common home. Pichu and the rocks that form the Galapagos islands to — Paul Totah ’75 discover the stories they hold. 4 genesis Contents GENESIS: Volume 53, Number 1, Spring 2016 DEVELOPMENT 6 Fr. Eddie Reese, S.J., named as SI’s next president 7 Compass spotlight on Elizabeth Leong ’17 8 Broadway Auction shines the footlamps on SI’s theatrical history 10 Leonoudakis family honors their mother with scholarship & endowed gift 11 SI celebrates its 160-year history in San Francisco SCHOOL NEWS 41 Barbara Talavan transforms SI’s Summer Programs 42 Fr.