Wisterian News
La Salle Holds Honors Convocation Brendan Keenan ‘14 On October 11, La Salle held its annual Honors Convocation to honor students who had exceptional academic achievement during the previous school year. At the ceremony, which was held in the evening, students and their families gathered together in order to celebrate individual scholastic achievement. Over two hundred students received the scholastic ‘L’ award by attaining a final grade point average of 3.75 or better. Other students received an ‘L’ pin if they had a final grade point average that met or exceeded 4.0 at the end of last year. In the spirit of acknowledging academic accomplishments, the officers of the La Salle chapter of the National Honor Society were publicly introduced and inducted to their positions. In addition, seventeen seniors were recognized for attaining either semifinalist or commended status in the National Merit Scholarship competition, and students who became AP Scholars were also recognized. The convocation’s keynote speaker was Ms. Mary Kay Meeks-Hank, the first woman to deliver the speech in school history. Ms. Meeks-Hank runs Face to Face, a communityservice organization in G e r -
mantown, and has a strong history as a teacher and worker with community organizations. She spoke to the audience about the importance of receiving a good academic background, which trains a student’s mind to think well, and then using that training to make a difference in the world. Mr. Michael O’Toole, La Salle’s principal and the board chairman at Face to Face, summarized Ms. Meeks-Hank’s speech as having brought together academic excellence, leadership and service. For the first time in seven years, a different principal presided over the Honors Convocation. With Mr. Marchese’s retirement last year, Mr. O’Toole participated in his first Honors Convocation as principal, although during his time at La Salle in the English department he was involved in many of these events. According to Mr. O’Toole, the Honors Convocation is a beneficial school function because it applauds academic achievement, something held in high regard at La Salle. Speaking of the freshman class in particular, Mr. O’Toole says that he “hopes our newest Explorers would see the recognition given to academic excellence at La Salle and try their best to follow in the footsteps of the sophomores, juniors and seniors.”
Photo by Br. James Rieck ‘57 Ricky Sanchez ‘14 receives his scholastic “L” from La Salle’s principal, Mr. Michael O’Toole ‘68.
New to La Salle: Mr. Jason Eisele Nicholas Camusi ‘16
La Salle College High School underwent several changes in its faculty staff this year, a wave of new faces eager to make a splash in La Salle life. In this wave, including the new president, Brother James Butler, and the new principal Mr. Michael O’Toole ‘68, La Salle welcomes Mr. Jason Eisele, the newest addition to the Social Studies Department of La Salle. A native Californian, Mr. Eisele was born and raised in Sierra Madre. A graduate of St. Mary’s College, which is a Lasallian school, Mr. Eisele studied Race Relations and History and graduated in 1996. After graduating from St. Mary’s, Mr. Eisele went on to work at La Salle High School in Pasadena for nine years and then later moved to Pennsylvania to be closer to his family. Having previously lived in California, Mr. Eisele was unfamiliar with the East Coast. He was, however, familiar with the atmosphere of a Lasallian school. Mr. Eisele was drawn to La Salle by the respectful young men and caring teachers. “I haven’t had a bad day yet,” says Mr. Eisele, which is remarkable for a working period of two months. He has grown used to the mutual respect between
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students and faculty that is ever present in Lasallian schools. Just like an incoming freshman, Mr. Eisele hopes to involve himself in the abundant extracurricular activities that La Salle has to offer, in addition to volunteering for Plymouth Emergency Medical Services. As a former athletic director and coach, Mr. Eisele hopes to involve himself in the outstanding athletics program. He hopes to help coach both strength training and soccer. Also, he is helping others to persuade the Athletic Department to begin a volleyball team. In addition to athletics, Mr. Eisele is drawn toward the service aspects of La Salle. Having already participated in Freshman Branch-Out Day, he hopes to also get involved in diversity and the Kairos retreats. Mr. Eisele’s experience as a coach has helped him equally in the classroom. Having to adjust from 95 minute periods to 40 minute periods was a very sizable transition. “I like to teach as a coach,” says Mr. Eisele. He compares coaching to teaching, where coaching is providing knowledge in a form that is useful to the player, and teaching is the same, except it takes place in a classroom. Mr. Eisele prefers to really work through the material, confirming that it is under-
stood by all the students, before moving on to the next topic. Mr. Eisele is certainly fitting in quite well with his new environment. Mostly, this
is because of the welcoming atmosphere provided by the other teachers and the young men he teaches. The fact that Mr. Eisele “hasn’t had a bad day yet” is
attributed to the hospitable attitudes of La Salle’s students and faculty, which will continue to be demonstrated to new teachers for years to come.
Photo by Jimmy Princivalle ‘13 Mr. Jason Eisele, the newest member of La Salle’s Social Studies Department.
The Wisterian
Wisterian Features Star Wars :Bought by Disney
Jimmy Princivalle ‘13
On October 30, 2012, Disney purchased Lucasfilm from George Lucas for 4 billion dollars, but more importantly, Disney purchased STAR WARS for 4 billion dollars and has moved forward plans to put STAR WARS EPISODE VII into production for a 2015 release. Now, at the time that I am writing this article, this news broke about twelve hours ago, and in that twelve hours I’ve heard a lot of negative feedback with regards to this development. Hearing a lot of things like, “Hasn’t it been desecrated enough? When will it end?!?!” and “Why, God, why must they continue to destroy my childhood?!” I’m not even kidding; these are actual things that people I know have said; I won’t say who to spare them embarrassment. Honestly, I think this is exactly why this is something to be excited about. The way I see it, Disney is going into this deal with the mindset of “Ok, let’s save STAR WARS.” Because, let’s be real here, it needs to be saved. In 1999, George Lucas took everything that was awesome about Star Wars, made a list, and said to himself, “Ok we don’t need any of this.” The interesting, intricate story; well-written fleshedout characters; and adventurous atmosphere of the original three movies were nowhere to be found in the prequels. It’s almost as if they were made by a different person. What a lot of people don’t realize is, they kind of were. In 1977, when George Lucas was making A NEW HOPE, he was 33 years old and had only made two movies. Fox
Studios was not about to let him make this huge production and allow him complete creative control. The studio reigned in some of his ideas and that really did shape STAR WARS into what it was. As a writer and a director, Lucas really is someone who shouldn’t be allowed to do whatever he wants because, and the proof speaks for itself, he has a lot of bad ideas. He was going to make INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE to be about a Haunted Castle, but Steven Spielberg wouldn’t let him because he knew that was a stupid idea. Then, when you look at EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and RETURN OF THE JEDI, Lucas didn’t really have anything to do creatively with either of those movies. He stepped back and produced while he allowed others to write and direct. Fast forward to 1999. George Lucas is directing not only his his first STAR WARS film since 1977, but his first film in general since 1977. The difference is, now, he’s been attributed with creating the STAR WARS TRILOGY; which, at the time, was the highest grossing film franchise ever. So who was Fox Studios to step in and tell him how to make his movies? Lucas had made them so much money, why should they step in and hinder his creative process? So they didn’t. Now here was George Lucas stepping back into a franchise which hadn’t really been his for over twenty years and trying to figure out what was what again. The finished product we wound up with was a set of three truly awful movies that make Oscar winning and nominated actors
(Liam Neeson, Samuel L. Jackson, Natalie Portman) look like some of the worst actors ever. I really think that what happened was somewhere along the line, he forgot how to make movies. You can really see how blatantly this is the case simply by pulling any scene out of the prequels and looking at, not only the writing and acting, but also even the staging of the shots, as well as the exorbitant use of CGI. It’s “How Not to Make Movies 101 with George Lucas.” Through this he was able to make ridiculous amounts of mone, and make a lot of men living in their mother’s basements very, very unhappy. Now there is talk of a seventh, a further continuation of the STAR WARS SAGA. This is different though, because George Lucas is stepping aside; he is allowing someone else to take his franchise and continue it without
Barefoot
Josh Graham ‘13
November 2012
Image courtesy of Google Images him. I don’t know why people aren’t seeing the opportunity here. If this franchise was to be given to someone who is not only an adept film maker, but also someone who loves STAR WARS, we could be seeing the best STAR WARS movie since the Empire struck back. I know people are turned off by the fact that Disney is the company that now owns the rights, worried that it’s going to be even more kid-friendly than it was in the prequels, and that it’s going to be lame. To those people all I have to say is go watch THE AVENGERS. Disney bought Marvel, and that relationship seems to be working out just fine for all parties involved. All Disney’s involvement is going to mean is a virtually unlimited budget and endorsements, as well as a shelf in the Disney Store.
Personally, I staunchly believe that the perfect candidate to direct this new movie would be JJ Abrams, only because of how well he handled STAR TREK. He took a series that was dead, and made it accessible to everyone, had it get great reviews, and made a lot of money to boot. Handing the reigns of STAR WARS over to him would be the equivalent of handing Marvel over to Joss Whedon, and we all know how well that worked out. Anyway, I really do think this is something to be looked at positively. It means that our last memories of STAR WARS aren’t going to involve Hayden Christiansen, and if the movie sucks… then at least George Lucas will have someone to share the blame with.
in the Park
Photos by Br. James Rieck ‘57
John Schoenwald ‘14
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