Alumni B Page 1 Volume 38 - Issue 1 December 2020 Luka Stoikos ‘21 Awarded Alumni Association Update Football Scholarship 2020 was a year of change and challenge for all of us. Many Brebeufians have been heavily involved in fighting the While there was no football season at Brebeuf in 2020 due pandemic (see page 2) and we salute all alumni involved to the pandemic, one Brebeuf Bull was recognized for his in these efforts. This fall, Linton Soares ‘02 was welcomed success on field in previous years and his hard work in the as the new Principal. We are delighted to have Linton back classroom. John Engel, Brebeuf staff member and head at Brebeuf leading our alma mater at this very challenging football coach, sent the following ‘good news’ story about a time. Please see the Principal’s Message on page 3 for more Brebeuf football player receiving a university scholarship. on how Brebeuf is coping in the pandemic. Linton succeeds “Luka Stoikos, Brebeuf Class of 2021, signed his Letter of Intent Derek Chen, who has been appointed as a Superintendent to play football at the University of Toronto next year. It was a with the TCDSB. We thank Derek for his leadership over the past great day for our entire community! Luka was highly recruited four years and for his strong support of our alumni. by a number of schools but decided to accept U of T’s offer. While alumni events like the annual Pub Night and the Order This will allow Luka to stay home and be close to family. of Brebeuf Induction Ceremony had to be cancelled in 2020, We are all incredibly proud of Luka. He is a great student we hope to bring these popular events back in 2021. Please and a tremendous athlete. Our school, our board and our see pages 10 & 11 to read about the most recent Order of community should be proud to share this moment with Luka. Brebeuf inductees. He wanted us to pass on his genuine gratitude to everyone who has helped him on this journey and may God Bless him in Many alumni continue to generously contribute to Brebeuf, this next stage of his life and beyond”. particularly to support the growing number of scholarships. For those alumni that wish to make a financial contribution to Brebeuf, please see the the last page of the newsletter. Online donations are also now available. We really enjoy hearing from alumni who send in ”Where Are They Now” updates and photos for our “Where Were They Seen” pages. Please keep those notes and photos coming; one of our main objectives as an association is not only to keep alumni connected to Brebeuf but also to fellow alumni. A note of thanks to two special groups of alumni : on page 18 there is a list of our newsletter advertisers. We encourage all alumni to use these various businesses should their products or services be of help to you. Our hard-working Alumni Executive members volunteer a lot of time and effort planning alumni events like Pub Night and the OSJB Induction ceremony. Thanks to the following alumni leaders for their ongoing commitment to Brebeuf: Coach John Engel, left, congratulates Luka Michael Da Costa ‘92 Bryon Di Sera ‘81 Mike Flint ‘89 Peter Gillespie ‘85 Coach Engel also wanted to acknowledge the Alumni Rosemary Lavery (retired staff) Thomas Latina ‘19 Association and the many alumni donors who helped re- establish football at Brebeuf in 2018 after an absence of more Paul Lavin ‘82 Jonathan Page ‘93 than 35 years : Andrew Munro ‘82 Steve White ‘81 “I just want to thank the alumni for all you have done to make Marc Vittorio ‘01 this happen. You guys rolled up your sleeves before the lights Thanks to all of our alumni for their continued support. Merry came on, when championships and opportunities like this one Christmas and best wishes for a safe and healthy 2021. were only a dream. I want you to know that that has not been forgotten and that as these moments and achievements Frank MacGrath ’82, start to flow in, I haven’t forgotten the role you guys played in Chairman, Brebeuf Alumni Association making it happen”. Alumni B Page 2 Alumni on the Frontlines Numerous Brebeuf graduates are among the thousands of frontline heroes fighting the COVID 19 pandemic both in Canada and internationally. We wish to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of our fellow alumni, and of all frontline workers, over the past year. Some of these alumni have played a prominent public role in Ontario, including Anthony Dale ’88 (who serves as President and CEO of the Ontario Hospital Association) and Dr. Kieran Moore ’79, Medical Officer of Health in the Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington Region. South of the border, Dr. Jim Lavery ’80 is the Hilton Chair in Global Health Ethics at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Other alumni involved in the fight against COVID 19 include the following individuals pictured below: Daniel Thamibraj ‘03 is an emergency department doctor Christopher Edward Rudd ‘72 an immunologist-biochemist in Victoria, Australia and Professor of Medicine at the Universite de Montreal and Director, Immunology-Oncology at the Centre de Recherche Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont (CR-HMR) Dr. Jon Marhong ‘05, is an intensive care physician Matthew C. ‘06, a GTA paramedic in Cambridge. We know there are many other Brebeuf alumni involved on the frontlines not only as health professionals but also working in gro- cery stores, long term care facilities, policing, firefighting and many other key sectors. Thanks to all of you for your tireless efforts and many sacrifices over the past nine months. You truly represent the meaning of being “Men for Others”. Alumni B Page 3 Principal’s Message by Linton Soares ‘02 Editor’s note : In September, 2020 Linton Soares ‘02 returned to Brebeuf to serve as the school’s 12th Principal. Linton becomes the second alumnus to serve as Principal. Mike Pautler ’76 served as Brebeuf’s 7th Principal from 2001 to 2004. In late July I got a call, a call of a lifetime – I was being assigned Principal at Brebeuf College School. I’ll never forget the feeling I had, the excitement, the wonder and awe, that numbness, that I was coming home! Brebeuf provided me with an education that transformed my life in many ways. If I was to look back, it is the education Brebeuf provided me that opened many doors for me in the future. I fondly remember the class of 2002. It was a class with many boys who brought great spirit to Brebeuf in all areas of the school. The spirit of Brebeuf, the brotherhood of Brebeuf is something that I know formed and transformed many boys into Catholic men for others. Of course this year has certainly been a year like no other. However, the staff and students at Brebeuf College School have risen to the challenge to continue to make Brebeuf the amazing place it is! As you have read in this Newsletter we have engaged in some exciting things that will continue to make Brebeuf a force into the future. We have introduced our STEAM Program which attracted 75 applicants. This is certainly an amazing feat and we encourage Alumni to share the word that Brebeuf is now a STEAM school. We are introducing an outdoor classroom that focuses on our Indigenous roots and puts into perspective the work of St. Jean de Brebeuf. We have continued to offer many extracurriculars online and even a few in person (with strict COVID-19 safety measures in place) and we have celebrated the Class of 2020; we’d like to welcome these young men into the Brebeuf Alumni Brotherhood! As a Staff community we have come to realize that we must continue refocusing our energy on our roots. Our community is no doubt steeped in two traditions, the Jesuits and Presentation Brothers. As Mike Da Costa ’92 stated to us a few months back, Brebeuf has two lungs, the Jesuits and the Presentation Brothers. Each breathe air into this school and community. This imagery is very powerful when you look at it from the perspective of boys education and Catholicity. Boys need to understand and then make the connection with why they are at Brebeuf and their Catholic identity and faith. They need recognize the value and traditions that both of these “lungs” breathe forth. Our boys need to recognize that these two “lungs” formed and transformed each one of us Alumni into the Men we are today. Our boys need to know that joining the Brebeuf Brotherhood means that they will be educated in the traditions of the Jesuits and the Presentation Brother and be transformed from boys into Men for Others. As an Alum, and now Principal at Brebeuf College School, I’d like to ensure that each and every Alumni feel at home here at Brebeuf. Post COVID, our doors will always be open for a visit. We’d love our current students and these future Alum to know how special Brebeuf is and the EXCELLENT ‘Men for Others’ Brebeuf has formed. Linton Soares ’02 “Nothing great is ever achieved without enduring much.” - - St. Catherine of Siena Class of 2020 – Graduating During the Pandemic Congratulations to Brebeuf’s newest group of alumni, the Class of 2020! While the graduates were not able to gather together for the traditional June graduation ceremony, each graduate did receive their diploma in a special “socially distant” ceremony at Brebeuf on October 23rd.