MUHS Magazine Spring/Summer 2017

MUHS MAGAZINE Vol. 63 Spring/Summer 2017

Rick Bridich ’69 & Vicki Bonesho Retire from the classroom

For Alumni, Parents, Students and Friends of Marquette University High School

When God seems to pass by Rev. Frank Majka, SJ

In the middle of a storm, from their boat, the disciples thought they saw Jesus coming toward them on the water, but he seemed to be passing them by.

So they yelled out, “Lord! Save us!”

Most people who are serious about their faith have probably had the experience of fearing that, in their hour of helplessness and fear, God may be passing them by. Even Jesus seems to have felt something like that when, from the cross, he cried out, “My God! Why have you forsaken me?”

We may think we are at the end of our rope, out of resources, powerless to avoid the disasters that seem to be closing in. Just as an individual person can feel that way, so can a family, a community, even a nation. In such desperate times, we yell out to God to see us, hear our cries and not pass by.

We may have to call out more than once. But the Resurrection showed that, though it might have appeared that God had forsaken Jesus, nothing could have been further from the truth. And the Lord to whom the disciples called out did, in fact, calm the winds that were threatening to overwhelm them.

We need to remember that what may look like God’s indifference may come from the fear that God really doesn’t care about us. But the truth is that God always cares about us and, in his own time and own way, will give us what we need. God will never pass us by.

Rev. Frank Majka, SJ, is mission associate at Marquette University High School.

He also has a spiritual blog, “The Bridge” at www.frankmajka.com.

First-year reflection

Dear Friends, As I reflect on my first year as president the words companionship and gratitude are at the forefront of my mind.

impressive 160 years). Each exemplified the MUHS mission in their specific roles and I feel honored to have been your colleague.

I’ve had the privilege of spending time with so many of you— students, alumni, parents and colleagues—developing new relationships and rekindling friendships from my earlier Marquette High days as a Jesuit scholastic. I’ve enjoyed listening to your MUHS stories, whether they happened 40 years ago or just yesterday. And I always appreciate hearing how meaningful the MUHS experience has been to you or your son. These sentiments continue to inspire and energize me in my daily work of advancing the school’s mission.

As I bid you graduating seniors, alumni parents and retirees farewell, please know that while you may no longer walk the hallways on a regular basis, you all are still valued members of the MUHS community. I look forward to your future visits to Marquette High.

More so, I continue to feel incredibly grateful for the care so many of you have expressed for MUHS and each other in our community. I’ve witnessed this in the smaller moments of the day, students sharing a laugh between classes or alumni fondly reminiscing about their high school days at a reception. And, I’ve felt your love and thoughtfulness for others during their lifechanging events: Kairos retreats, health issues, weddings and funerals. The MUHS community is remarkable and reminds me of why I fell in love with Marquette High 25 years ago and always wanted to return.

Now that I am back, it’s my turn to bid farewell to some special MUHS companions. Congratulations to the Class of 2017 and their parents! You have worked hard to achieve this special milestone. I wish you well in your future academic endeavors and encourage you to continue to strive toward the Grad at Grad ideals — leaders who are religious, loving, seeking intellectual excellence, committed to justice and open to growth. Each of you has the necessary God-given talents, knowledge and heart to be a man for others and make a difference in your community. AMDG.

Before I conclude this message, I want to share some good news with you about the Companions on the Journey campaign. If you recall, one of my first priorities as president was to complete the fundraising efforts of this initiative by fiscal yearend (June 30, 2017). With the help of many donors, I’m pleased to report that we have exceeded our $40 million goal, having raised $18.9 million for capital improvements and $21.9 million for scholarship endowments. I am overwhelmed by and deeply grateful for your generosity.

God’s Blessings,

Rev. Michael J. Marco, SJ President

We are also saying goodbye to Rick Bridich ’69, Victoria Temple Bonesho, Russ Snopek, Dick Hallberg and Rose Mary McCarthy, who all retired at the end of the school year. All can be proud of their long distinguished careers and selfless dedication to the MUHS mission. I am grateful for their service (which totals an

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Contents

6 MUHS NEWS

4 12

17

News briefs Class of 2017: The next destination SPORTS

14

Tom Dineen: Building on the wrestling tradition

17

Hilltopper highlights FEATURES

25

22

Robotics team: Reaching new heights

25

Service trip, garden celebrate life of Emmett Till

28

Victoria Temple Bonesho: A purposeful passion

34

Rick Bridich: An invitation to success

40

Russ Snopek: Times of transformation ALUMNI UPDATE

44

Class notes

44

Class of 1937: 80th class reunion THEN AND NOW

52

Topper

52 Editor

Editing Assistance

Design

MUHS Magazine is

Julie Felser

Kristen Scheuing

Jena Sher

published twice a year for

Graphic Design

and about the Marquette

Contributing Writers

Photography

Evan Bingham ’17

Mike Arndt

Printing

we appreciate hearing from

Katie Burton

Brian Callen ’18

The Fox Company

you and welcome your

Ann Downey

Nolan Kozinski ’18

comments and suggestions.

Mike Feely ’89

Chris Lese '92

Please send your feedback

Pat Foran ’78

Chris Reis

to the editor at felser@

Frank Majka, SJ

Eric Shultz

muhs.edu or MUHS, 3401

Michael J. Marco, SJ

Rick Wood

W. Wisconsin Ave.,

Sean McGibany ’14

VIP Photography

Milwaukee, WI 53208.

Tim Prosser

High community. As always,

Opposite: Xavier Flores ’19 leads the Jazz 3 group with his saxophone solo at Fine Arts Night in May. Photo by VIP Photography Cover photography by Mike Arndt

MUHS NEWS

Students build, program heart monitors

By Evan Bingham ’17

CyberPatriot team takes state, ranks sixth in Midwest Sean McGibany ’14

The Science Homeroom hosted Dr. Sam Bechara, an associate professor of Biomedical Engineering at Marquette University, who spent six days teaching students how to build Arduino Heart Rate Monitors. With supervision from physics teacher and homeroom moderator David Vogt, and assistance from Dr. Lars Olson, one of Bechara’s peers at Marquette University, a dozen Marquette High students constructed fully functioning heart rate monitors.

Designed to introduce middle and high school students to the field of engineering, the Arduino Project was complex and included multiple science disciplines, including engineering, computer science and programming. Students worked with circuit boards, connecting wires for electric charge and information transfer, allowing them to upload the software required to run the heart sensor to a Smartboard, and then with a laptop, wirelessly transmit a pulse reading from a student using the heart monitor.

“Students were able to see the electrical signature from their heart activity,” Vogt says.

From that group, some students were selected to assist Bechara in teaching the lesson at other schools, exposing more youth to careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

This program not only builds an interest in STEM, but also gives students a leadership opportunity and a brief glimpse into what being a teacher could be like. “This is a great opportunity for students to gain experience giving instruction and assisting others of their age to learn about some engineering skills,” Vogt explains. For now, the plan is to prepare a select group of MUHS students to teach the program and expose a new group of MUHS students in a similar program in the 2017–18 school year.

CyberPatriot gold team members (left to right) Jay Schauer ’18, Richard Becker ’19 and Theo Kachelski ’17. Photo by Chris Reis.

In February, two teams from MUHS’s Technology Homeroom competed in the Air Force Association’s ninth annual CyberPatriot Competition, a simulated cyber security game open to high schools and middle schools across the country. The two MUHS teams finished sixth and 19th, respectively, out of 48 teams in the Midwestern Regional Competition. A week earlier, the teams finished first and third in the state competition.

While the students do not have to travel to participate in the regional competitions, they do have to remain in the building for six consecutive hours after the school day for each of the four rounds, something Technology Homeroom moderator and math and computer science teacher Chris Reis admits takes “a lot of resiliency.” Teams must work to assess virtual computer systems for any weaknesses and fix them. There is also a design portion of the competition where team members create and enable their own virtual network. Jay Schauer’s ’18 network was the highest ranked in the entire region.

“It’s pretty selective to get to the national level of competition, and we haven’t quite placed that well [yet].” says Reis, who’s been heading the MUHS teams since 2015 when the program was officially established at MUHS. The national competition is held in Baltimore every year, and while Reis says it would be a very hectic experience to have a team chosen to go there, it’s something he’s definitely been working toward, and says that the program is a great way to give students interested in cyber security a start in the field.

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People on the move Sean McGibany ’14

“Defamation” comes to MUHS

By Evan Bingham ’17

After eight years of service, Kriss Schulz is moving on from MUHS. As vice president of operations and communications she was responsible for overseeing the school’s buildings and grounds, community relations, admissions, security and technology departments. Schulz was responsible for overseeing the construction of the recent southeast vertical expansion. However, she will not be completely disconnected from the MUHS community as she has accepted a position, executive administrator, with real estate development company Wimmer Communities and will work with Mark ’73 and John Wimmer ’78.

Rose Mary McCarthy retired at the end of the 2017–18 school year. She served as administrative assistant in the Counselling department for 22 years, being the first point of contact for students seeking counseling services. She will also be remembered for her role in Marquette High’s annual Career Day, where she handled much of the logistics, coordination and scheduling of panelists.

Admissions assistant Melissa Vasquez leaves MUHS after eight years to take a position with the Girl Scouts of Wisconsin, where she will work to support and encourage Latina outreach. Vasquez served much of her time at MUHS as the assistant to the athletics director, and moved into the role of admissions assistant during the 2015 school year. She was known at MUHS, especially among the school’s Latino families, for her warm welcoming personality.

Jacob Wyss has left his position as performance and fitness coordinator and taken a sales position with Mill Haven Foods in his hometown of New Lisbon, Wis., where he will be able to work closer to his family.

Kriss Schulz. Photo by VIP Photography.

As part of multi-cultural week in January, students engaged in the play “Defamation,” a courtroom drama which addresses issues associated with race, gender, religion and class and poses a difficult decision to the audience (the jury). Written by Todd Logan, the play has been performed more than 300 times at schools, community centers, churches, colleges and libraries across the United States.

“Defamation” features a wealthy Jewish lawyer accused of defamation by a lower-class African American woman, on the basis that he wrongly spread rumors that she had stolen his watch. At the end of the hour-long courtroom drama, the cast left the stage and two microphones were set out for students to voice questions and opinions. This civil debate was facilitated by the actress who played the judge in the play, to make sure both sides had time to speak and openly share ideas. In the end, students decided by simple majority that the defendant was not guilty.

But the discussion didn’t end there. “People talked about it pretty extensively,” Nick Rondenelli ’17 says. “Nobody got too heated about it though.”

Brian Tsuji ’17 had similar experiences after the play. “I was honestly kind of surprised there wasn’t more arguing over it, students were calm.”

Both principal Jeff Monday ’84 and vice principal Fran Maloney had seen the performance years earlier and thought it would provide a unique learning opportunity during the multi-cultural week celebration. Maloney says, “We wanted students to think about the world we live in and better understand the explicit and implicit biases we hold.”

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MUHS NEWS

Hilltopper highlights news Katie Burton

Rev. Brad Held, SJ, has joined the Campus Ministry department as assistant director and will also teach theology courses.

Held was ordained as a Jesuit priest in June at Church of the Gesu in Milwaukee.

René Howard-Páez has been hired as diversity director.

Howard-Páez previously served as director of admissions at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Milwaukee. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Dominican University.

Certified electrician Juan Farmer has succeeded Russ Snopek as the director of buildings and grounds. He previously held facility manager positions at the YMCA and Mount Mary University.

Connie Bennett has joined MUHS as assistant director of College Counseling. Bennett worked in admissions as an assistant dean at Marquette University for 15 years and most recently as an advancement officer at Regis University.

Social studies teacher Adrian Gardner has joined the MUHS faculty after having previously taught in California and, most recently, at Catholic Memorial High School. Gardner earned his bachelor’s degree in political science and history from Marquette University and completed graduate work in history from Tulane University and Santa Clara University.

Garrett Madison, an American mountaineer and one of the world's top high-altitude mountaineering guides, spoke at the Father Son Dinner in February. Three months later, Madison reached the summit of Mt. Everest on May 23 and displayed the Hilltopper flag.

Due to the harsh weather conditions, he was unable to remove his hood, goggles and oxygen mask for the photo.

Previous MUHS student-teacher Diana Oliva has joined the World Languages department to teach Spanish. Longtime substitute math teacher Julie McDevitt has joined the faculty as a full-time math teacher.

Evan Kern ’07 has signed on as the student outreach coordinator, serving as African-American student liaison, coordinating outreach efforts and assisting with student supervision. He previously served MUHS last semester as interim diversity coordinator and earned his bachelor’s degree from Texas Christian University.

UW–Parkside graduate and former MUHS intern, Andrew Kossow is the new fitness coordinator. He previously worked as a sports performance coach at SPS Sports Performance and served in the U.S. Army for seven years.

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Fifty Math Club members participated in the Wisconsin Math League and finished fourth out of 52 high schools. Zach Sekaran ’18 tied for 1st in state and Frank DeGuire ’18 tied for 12th. Other high scorers were Joseph Webb ’17, John Baylon ’19 and Michael Sohn ’20. At the American Mathematics Competition, Michael Rose ’19 had Marquette High’s highest score in the AMC 10 and Sekaran in the AMC 12, qualifying for and taking the three-hour American Invitational Math Exam. Sekaran solved 10 of the 15 mind-boggling problems—earning Marquette High’s highest AIME score in 20 years. Math Club members also competed in the Marquette Fall Math Meet. Sekaran tied for 2nd place.

Other high scorers were Webb, Baylon and Cameron Dimino ’20.

Rev. Michael Marco, SJ and Principal Jeff Monday ’84 honored Patrick Donohue ’17 with the Jesuit Schools Network Award at the 2017 commencement ceremony.

Photo by VIP Photography.

Tom Enright ’13, Paul Glembocki ’12, TJ Novotny ’13, Robert Roenitz ’13 and Matthew Scott ’13 have joined the 2017–18 Alumni Service Corps. Enright will assist in teaching science, Glembocki will teach English, Novotny and Scott will teach math and science and Roenitz will teach a section of Economics.

In addition to teaching assignments they will help in Evening Enrichment, the Academic Success Center, proctoring, pastoral programs, retreat work, and coaching.

Wisconsin’s Ambassador of Music announced that Christian Spaay ’19 will represent Wisconsin as a Goodwill Ambassador in a tour of six European countries during the summer of 2018.

Spaay received this recognition for his musical talents and dedication to the arts.

The Trap Team won its first conference championship. Varsity All-Conference 1st team was awarded to Cameron Asala ’17, Max Asala ’17, Ben Wacker ’17 and Harlan Schwanebeck ’18; 2nd-team All-Conference went to Sam Nehmey ’17 and George Carlo Clark ’18; honorable mention to Jack Cyganiak ’19.

Michael Vazquez ’17 received the Gesu Peacemaker Award for outstanding leadership in conflict resolution, advocacy for justice and peacemaking in his school and community.

Patrick Donohue ’17 received the Jesuit Schools Network Award at the 2017 commencement ceremony. The JSN Award is presented to the graduate who most closely resembles the gradat-grad ideal: a well-rounded person who is intellectually competent, open to growth, religious, loving and committed to justice in generous service to the people of God. Other JSN finalists from the Class of 2017 were William Barbera, George Elliott, Benjamin Johnson, Robert Lauer, Jacob Pelz and Jensen Stanton.

Armando Acevedo ’17 (front left) and Nolan Kozinksi ’18 (front right) celebrate Pi Day with a sweet treat in Carol Hardtke’s AB Calculus class while (back, left to right) Mitch Gauthier ’19, dressed for Geek Week, Andrew Kahler ’17 and Cole Pfaltzgraft ’19 look on from behind. Photo by VIP Photography.

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MUHS NEWS

Hilltopper highlights news Jon Gaines ’18 received the Student Leadership Award from the Wauwatosa Library Foundation during its annual Spring Leadership Luncheon.

Marquette High students performed well on the National Spanish Exam with 30 students receiving gold medals, 67 students earning silver and 44 earning bronze.

Latin Club took third place in the state convention of the Wisconsin Junior Classical League for the fourth year in a row.

The Level 3 Latin Quiz Bowl Team (Chris Rizzo ’18, Evan Clark ’19, James Kearney ’18 and John Cesarz ’18) finished in second place.

Approximately 75 MUHS students participated in the convention.

The 32nd issue of Signatures, moderated by English teacher Ginny Schauble, received the National Council of Teachers of English’s rank of “Superior,” the highest award offered by NCTC for student publications. Only one other Wisconsin high school received this recognition.

the National German Exam and their participation in the Society’s essay contest. Seth Bartos ’19 was a major prize winner. Other students receiving awards were Michael Rose ’19, Cole Pfaltzgraff ’19, Daniel Myer ’20, Nicholas Kasun ’18, Charles Brockman ’19, Aidan Grogan ’19, Wesley Miller ’20, Peter Keepman ’20 and Ben Niebler ’19.

Art students Cal Pokora ’17, Gavin Hock ’17, Christian Kwiatkowski ’17, Patrick McDonough ’17, Francisco Vazquez ’17, Nolan Kozinski ’18, Jovanny Hernandez ’19, Vito Redding ’20 and Bennett Redfern ’20 received Wisconsin Scholastic Art Awards and their work was on exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

The SMART Team worked with medical scientist Allison Huckenpahler on the protein RPE65, necessary for human vision and an important enzyme in the visual cycle. The team modeled RPE65 using 3-D printing technology and presented at a poster session at the Experimental Biology Conference in Chicago in April.

MUHS students Gavin Paap ’18 and William Deverey ’18 are state champions in Policy Debate. They also qualified for both the National Catholic Forensics League Grand National Tournament in Louisville, Ky., and the National Speech and Debate Association's National Tournament in Birmingham, Ala. Kenyon Terrell ’18, Sam Larson ’20, Brett Walsh ’18, and Anders Sundheim ’18, also qualified for and competed in the National Catholic Forensics League Grand National Tournament in Louisville over Memorial Day weekend. At the State Forensics Tournament, Bernardo Medeiros ’20 took sixth in Student Congress and Terrell took sixth in Oral Interpretation of Literature.

Daniel Mukana ’20 was the only freshman in the state to break in to the elimination rounds in Lincoln-Douglas Debate.

Jacob Baisden ’17 from the Environmental Science–Outdoors Homeroom won the 2016–17 Laudato Si’ Project Student Stewardship Award.

The state German Language and School Society Awards Ceremony was held at MUHS in May. Ten Marquette High students received awards for their exemplary work based on their performance on

8 MUHS Magazine

The SMART Team at the Experimental Biology Conference in Chicago. Kneeling Mika Chang ’20 (left) and Nelson Cowan ’19. Standing (left to right) Tony Sabatino ’17, Brian Tsuji ’17, Nana Yorke ’17, Ross Johnson ’17 and science teachers Carl Kaiser and Keith Klestinski.

The Prep Players performing The Music Man in April. Photo by VIP Photography.

At the annual Key Club convention, George Elliott ’17 received an award for Outstanding Club President, Sam Schelble ’17 for Outstanding Vice President and Aidan Parks ’18 for Outstanding Club Secretary. Tommy O’Brien ’18 was recognized for being the district’s Distinguished New Member, Kevin Eberle ’18 was recognized as a Distinguished Member, Jacob Waldoch ’17 was awarded with the Sandy Nininger Award and Chris Rizzo ’18 received first place in the Oratorical Contest. The Key Club also received the 2017 Club Spirit Award and the Single Service Award for the MUHS/House of Peace Christmas Basket service project.

In December Key Club delivered more than 150 boxes of food and bags full of toys, games, clothing, boutique items, hats, gloves, and other small gifts to the House of Peace to help those in need.

The MUHS Prep Players presented Twelve Angry Jurors in January and The Music Man, Meredith Willson's Tony Awardwinning musical comedy, in April.

Mira Kresovic’s geometry students made and donated more than 20 squirrel houses to the Wisconsin Humane Society of Milwaukee.

Prep Players (left to right) Thomas Fleischmann ’18, Hudson Albornoz-Williams ’17, Kenyon Terrell ’18, Adam Preuher ’18 and Joey Nunez ’18 in Twelve Angry Jurors.

Photo by VIP Photography.

Correction: Chris Teske ’93 won the state championship in Lincoln-Douglas debate as a junior in 1992.

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f MUHS NEWS

Class of 2017 Acceptance list Members of the Class of 2017 were accepted to 190 institutions and are attending 82 different colleges.

Northeast Babson College Boston College Boston University Colby College Fordham University College of the Holy Cross

Total scholarship money for freshman year was $8.4 million with 76% of the class receiving at least one merit-based scholarship.

Manhattan College Northeastern University University of Pittsburgh Providence College Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rochester Institute of Technology University of Rochester Roger Williams University St. John’s University, NY Saint Joseph’s University University of Scranton Seton Hall University Syracuse University United States Military Academy Villanova University Southeast The University of Alabama Belmont University University of Central Florida Clemson University University of Delaware Duke University Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Dayton Florida Gulf Coast University Florida Southern College Furman University The George Washington University Georgetown University Georgia State University Howard University

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University of Kentucky

DePaul University

University of Louisville

Fox Valley Technical

Loyola University, Maryland Loyola University, New Orleans

College Franciscan University of Steubenville Greenville College

University of Missouri, St. Louis Northcentral Technical College Northern Illinois University Northern Michigan University

University of Miami

Holy Cross College

University of Mississippi

Hope College

Northland College

Morehouse College

University of Illinois

University of Notre Dame

Newberry College Samford University Savannah College of Art and Design University of South Carolina University of Tampa

at Chicago University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Illinois Institute of Technology Indiana University, Bloomington

Purdue University Purdue University Northwest, Hammond Campus Quincy University Ripon College Rose-Hulman institute of Technology

University of Wisconsin, Madison University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh University of Wisconsin, Parkside University of Wisconsin, Platteville University of Wisconsin, River Falls University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point University of Wisconsin, Stout University of Wisconsin,

Kansas State University University of Kansas Loyola Marymount University Marymount California University Montana State University University of Nebraska, Lincoln University of Nevada, Las Vegas University of North Dakota Occidental College The University of Oklahoma University of Oregon

Indiana University-Purdue

St. Ambrose University

University, Indianapolis

St. Cloud State University

Vanderbilt University

Iowa State University

Saint John’s University,

Virginia Tech

The University of Iowa

Minnesota

University of Virginia

John Carroll University

Saint Louis University

College of Wooster

Regis University

Wake Forrest University

Knox College

Saint Mary’s University

Xavier University

St. Edward’s University

United States Naval Academy

Lawrence University

Waukesha University of Wisconsin, Whitewater

Pepperdine University Pitzer College University of Portland

Santa Clara University

of Minnesota

Midwest

Lewis University

St. Norbert College

West

Seattle University

Augustana College

Loras College

University of St. Thomas

University of Arizona

South Dakota School

Beloit College

Loyola University, Chicago

Saint Xavier University

Baylor University

Bradley University

Macalester College

Southern Illinois University,

Benedictine College

Butler University

Marquette University

Cardinal Stritch

Miami University, Ohio

University of Toledo

Michigan State University

Valparaiso University

Michigan Technological

Washington University

University Carroll University, Wisconsin

University

Carthage College

University of Michigan

Case Western Reserve

Milwaukee Area

University Cedarville University Central College University of Cincinnati Columbia College Chicago Concordia University, Moorhead Concordia University, Wisconsin Cornell College University of Dayton

Technical College Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design Milwaukee School of Engineering University of Minnesota, Duluth University of Minnesota, Twin Cities University of Missouri, Columbia

Carbondale

in St. Louis Waukesha County Technical College Wheaton College, Illinois Wisconsin Lutheran College University of Wisconsin, Baraboo/Sauk City University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire University of Wisconsin, Green Bay University of Wisconsin, La Crosse

University of California, Berkeley University of California, Los Angeles University of California, San Diego University of Colorado, Boulder

of Mines and Technology University of Southern California Southern Methodist University Stanford University Texas Christian University University of Texas, Austin Trinity University

University of Colorado,

University of Utah

Colorado Springs

University of Washington

Colorado State University

University of Wyoming

Creighton University University of Dallas

International

University of Denver

University of Toronto-

DigiPen Institute

Canada

of Technology Gonzaga University Grand Canyon University

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MUHS NEWS

Class of 2017 The next destination Members of the Class of 2017 are attending the following colleges and universities (as of 6/30/17).

Creighton University

Indiana University-Purdue

Mora, Luis (JHS)

University of Mississippi

Hayssen, William (JHS)

University, Indianapolis

Naumann, Patrick

Stangl, Richard **

Neimon, Robert*

Mardanus-Budiono, Ethan

Ornelas, Gerardo Reardon, Daniel*

University of Missouri,

University of Dayton

Iowa State University

Sanchez, David

Columbia

University of Arizona

Diamond, Elliot

Medina, Jair

Stewart, Thomas

Thompson, Matthew

Florance, Henry

Rozewicz, Peter (JHS)

Laudon, William** McKenna, James

Airoldi, James Butler, Steven

University of Iowa

Schifano, Caleb

University

University of Delaware

Gersonde, Ryan

Miami University, Ohio

Koch, Ryan

Hill, John**

Hennelly, Patrick**

Stegeman, William

Simons, Cole

Kuhn, Matthew

(JHS) (JHS)

Montana State

Tarpey, Jack

Friedrich, Alexander

*/**

Boston College

Stoll, Vincent (JHS)

Sinense, Benjamin*/**/† Michigan State

DigiPen Institute

Dittrich, Nicholas (JHS)

of Technology

University of Kansas

University

Morehouse College

Duffy, Michael*/**/† (JHS)

Stelter, Samuel

Charon, Jonathan

Ahn, Peter (JHS)

Rheams, Julian*

Elliott, George Horning, Ryan

*/** (JHS)

Michigan Tech

Duke University Lyon, Christopher (JHS)

Mackey, Luke (JHS) Pelz, Jacob**/† (JHS) Schelble, Samuel

** (JHS)

Rutlin, Damarco

Murphy, Kyle

(JHS)

Florida Southern College

University of Kentucky

University

Newberry College

Leffler, Maxwell

Novotny, Justin*/**

Wright, Timothy

Zizzo, Antonio University of Michigan

Northcentral

Kentucky State University

McDonough, Nicholas (JHS)

Technical College

Moore, Terrence

Mellin, Charles

Bastin, Luke

Schultz, Colin Bradley University Jerke, Brian

Fordham University Brotherhood, John (JHS)

University of California,

Dallman, John*

Loyola University

Milwaukee Area

University of

Berkeley

Schlidt, Benjamin

Chicago

Technical College

North Dakota

Coffey, Ryan*

Johnson, Ian*

Price, Drew

Locher, Louis

O'Hair, Collin

Marquette University

Milwaukee School

Arenal, Francisco (JHS)

of Engineering

Furman University

Bonfiglio, Anthony

Aguilar, Giovanni

Sisk, Patrick

Bruno, Michael

Carroll University

Gonzaga University

Camacho, Alejandro

University of Minnesota,

Razo Velazquez, Jorge

Shelledy, Matthew

Collopy, John*/**/†

Duluth

Regis University

Doyle, John

Borden, Lucas*

Doyle, Joseph

Lucas, Harrison*/** Fox Valley Cardinal Stritch

Technical College

University

Bady, Jeremiah

Rondinelli, Nicholas Soriano, Juan

University of Notre Dame English, Patrick University of Oregon Hill, Henry**

Case Western

Greenville College

Enright, Michael

Reserve University

Panich, Parker

Frisone, Matthew

University of Minnesota,

Gomez, Timothy

Twin Cities

Hernandez, Francisco (JHS)

Arnhold, Karl

Irias, Jonathan

DeStefanis, Benjamin

Johnson, Jeremy

Memory, Michael

Howard University

Keller, Samuel (JHS)

Miller, Ryan (JHS)

Johnson, Benjamin (JHS)

Kershek, Adam*

Schaefer, Cole

Lauer, Robert

Scherkenbach, Jack

Singhal, Anish Yorke, Nana

Hope College Barbera, William

(JHS)

Colby College Hecht, Ryan (JHS) University of Colorado,

**/† (JHS)

Boulder

Indiana University,

Lovell, Matthew

Coakley, Jack*

Bloomington

Mason, Leon

Lawton, Kevin

Westfall, Ethan

McCaffrey, Callahan*

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Migliaccio, Joseph

** (JHS)

Vazquez-Sanchez, Francisco

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute * (JHS)

Tsuji, Brian Ripon College Hepburn, James

*/**

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Klein, Charles

(JHS) Jesuit Honor Society Son of alumnus ** Grandson of alumnus † Great-grandson of alumnus *

St. Ambrose University

Samford University

Albornoz-Williams,

Bingham, Evan

University of Wisconsin,

Baker, Patrick*

Schinker, Jonathan (JHS)

Hudson

Brown, Kobe

River Falls

Borowski, Luke

Brzozowski, Thomas

Waldoch, Jacob*/**

University of

Czaplicki, Alec* (JHS)

Camarena, Dario

St. Cloud State

San Francisco

Dias, Farold (JHS)

Cardenas, Victor

University of Wisconsin,

University

Lopez, Mark

Dorschner, Evan

Davis, Jack

Stevens Point

Drees, Daniel* (JHS)

Drake, William

Asala, Cameron

University of

Gomez, Andy

Espinoza, Jose

Burbach, Jack**

St. Edward’s University

Southern California

Grindel, Benjamin

Feldmeier, Nicholas

McDonough, Patrick

Eberle, John*/**

Bekos, John (JHS)

Heinen, Joshua*/** (JHS)

Goetter, Ryan

Teske, Alexander

Borg, Elijah

Hohenwalter, Matthew

Hock, Gavin

Merrill, Anthony

Hushek, Alexander**

Landin Lopez, Manuel

University of Wisconsin,

Boho, Ian

Bravo, Ricardo

St. John’s University, New York Rettko, Andrew Saint Joseph’s University

Jaber, Mahmoud

Lemus, Bryan

Waukesha

Southern Methodist

Jochem, Josef** (JHS)

Macias, Adrian

Nunez, Nelson

University

Kachelski, Theodore

Mayorga-Herrera, Marcos

Didier, Michael

Klenz, Jacob

McNabb, William**

University of Wisconsin,

Knoelke, Joseph

Mohiuddin, Syed

Whitewater

Stanford University

Krebsbach, John (JHS)

Moncada, Mitchell

Hernandez, Juan

Nichols, Jack (JHS)

Kwiatkowski, Christian

Moreno, Ricardo

Lepak, Austin

Lamers, Henry

Nogalski, Zachary

Massart, John Saint Louis University

(JHS)

Bartolomei, Harrison United States Naval

Leas, Benjamin

Gorman, Aaron

Academy

Lieungh, Jared (JHS)

Packham, Joseph

Kahler, Andrew** (JHS)

Malone, Matthew (JHS)

Lilek, John (JHS)

Pokora, Cal

Espino Casas, Arturo

(JHS)

Machhi, Rehaan (JHS)

Otten, John Skudlarczyk, Jacob

**

Vanderbilt University

Magnus, Justin

Ott, Harrison

McLachlan, Matthew

** (JHS)

Saint Mary’s University

Meuler, Robert

(JHS) (JHS)

*/** (JHS)

of Minnesota

Wake Forest University

Morrissey, Jack*

Hafemann, Brandon

Langenfeld, Jon

Nordness, Noah

* (JHS)

Peckenpaugh, Joseph

O'Donoghue, Sean

*

*

Steck, Brett

Rivera, Christian

Xavier University

Rivera, Mario

Carrig, Timothy** (JHS)

Rodriguez, Oguis Sabatino, Anthony

Herman, Jacob* *

Sanchez, Jose (JHS)

Langhoff, Joseph**/† Neimon, William*

Sharafinski, Ryan

O'Connell, Benjamin

Vazquez, Michael (JHS)

Military Service

Webb, Dominic

Martinez, Emmanuel Matchette, Aidan

St. Norbert’s College

Washington University

Pauly, Nicholas

Baisden, Jacob

in St. Louis

Roge, Seth (JHS)

Bouchard, Jack

Doherty, Michael (JHS)

Rusch, Charles (JHS)

University of Wisconsin,

Sargent, Thomas (JHS)

Oshkosh

Johnson, Ross

Rose, Peyton

† (JHS)

Army Marines

Meyer, Brian*

Waukesha Area

Schneider, Matthew*/** (JHS)

Conlon, Isaac

Nehmey, Samuel

Technical College

Schubert, Joseph

Prospero, Augustin

Poorman, Frederick

Mansfield, Joseph

Sheffield, Jack Trowbridge, Austin

University of Wisconsin,

Other Plans

University of

University of Wisconsin,

Wahl, John (JHS)

Parkside

Wallace, Jonathon*

St. Thomas

La Crosse

Webb, Joseph

Chairez, Ernesto

Fabry, Nicholas

Donohue, Patrick*/**

Wexler, Ryan

Holton, Samuel**

Filardo, Patrick

Jones-Willis, Siere

Gehringer, John*/** (JHS)

University of Wisconsin,

Platteville

Undecided

Martensson, Niklas

Malewicki, Samuel†

Milwaukee

Asala, Maxwell

Porfilio, Samuel† Santiago, Jair

Air Force

IT training for Navy Reserve

University of Wisconsin,

Acevedo, Lorenzo

Collier, Timothy

Smith, Henry

University of Wisconsin,

Ancira, Miguel

Gueldner, Robert

Stanton, Jensen

Madison

Arevalo, Juan

Redington, James

Stark, Gabriel

Acevedo, Armando

Balistreri, Anthony

Wacker, Benjamin*/**

O'Connor, Quinn

**/†

Spano, Benjamin

www.MUHS.edu 13

SPORTS

Tom Dineen Building on the wrestling tradition at MUHS Mike Feely ’89

Having a father who was a legendary wrestling coach at Omaha Creighton Prep gave MUHS wrestling coach Tom Dineen the opportunity to develop passion and commitment to the sport.

As a young man, he helped his dad straighten up the wrestling room, paint walls and maintain high standards for the program.

When he accepted the head wrestling job at Marquette University High School, he looked to do essentially the same thing: to bring passion, commitment and a detail-orientated work ethic to the wrestling program at 3401 W. Wisconsin Ave. Marquette High’s wrestling program was in desperate need of stability five years ago. Over a nine-year period, the program had seen four head coaches come and go and the number of participants slowly decline. Enter Tom Dineen. Dineen was the first four-time letter winner at Creighton Prep, moved on to wrestle Division 1 at Marquette University and was the head coach at St. Thomas More High School, along with helping out his son’s wrestling club in West Allis—all while serving as a detective with the Milwaukee Police Department.

is that I really just want kids to learn how to work hard for something, and to love the sport and the process of setting goals and reaching your potential.”

In his first five years, Dineen has worked to rebuild and reload.

The 2016–17 season showed evidence that the rebuilding is well in progress. Despite a 1–5 GMC dual meet record with just one win being a 51–12 victory over Brookfield Central, the team did have a strong showing in all dual meets during the season and finished with a 5–12 overall dual meet record. In individual tournaments the team finished in fourth out of 14 teams at the Tom Burns Invitational hosted by MUHS, and ninth at the Tom Dineen Invitational (named after Coach Dineen’s father) at Creighton Prep over Christmas Break. In January, the team took fourth place at the Milwaukee Lutheran Invitational, finished as the Waukesha South Invitational Team Champions, third place at the GMC Conference Tournament, and runner-up at WIAA Regional at Nicolet High School. The team championship at the Waukesha South Invitational was the first tournament championship for MUHS since 2011.

“I grew up wanting to be a man for others and when I had my own kids, I knew there was only one school for them. Since I lived and worked in Milwaukee, the best option for my kids was MUHS, and the school has a feel that is very familiar to me, being an alum of Prep. The year before I started coaching at MUHS, the wrestling team was having a difficult season. Many of the people from the West Allis club encouraged me to help out, so I contacted [Athletic Director] Bob Herman '85 and offered to help,” says Dineen, who just wrapped up his fifth year.

Stability was one of the first traits Dineen wanted to bring to the program. “When I took the job, I immediately did some research into the history of the program. I discovered that MUHS has won the GMC Conference tournament its first year in the conference but not since. I also learned that MUHS has not yet won a WIAA regional tournament. Those became my first goals: win the conference tournament, win a regional tournament, and qualify for the WIAA team state tournament. The biggest goal however,

Opposite: Tom Dineen ’18 wins his consolation match at the 2017 WIAA state wrestling tournament to take third place. Photo by VIP Photography.

MUHS wrestling coaches (left to right): Jose Ramos, Brad Glapa and Tom Dineen.

Photo by VIP Photography.

www.MUHS.edu 15

SPORTS

Prior to this season, only four MUHS wrestlers had reached 100 career wins. This past season Richard Stangl ’17 and Tom Dineen ’18 reached that mark and Andrew Salemme ’18 is on the cusp with 92 career wins. At least two other wrestlers are within range of reaching 100 wins by the time they graduate.

While wrestling is often perceived to be an individual sport, progress can often be measured in the culture created. Dineen admits that a yearly highlight for the team is when alumni come back to help out with practice over Thanksgiving and Christmas break. They are part of the reemerging culture of MUHS wrestling which is fueled by the team belief that, “The most important quality of becoming a champion is an intense burning desire [to succeed].”

“Over the years I have seen guys sit in the corner of a gym, under the stands at the state tournament, with their head in their hands crying because they won’t realize their dream today–including my son this season when he lost in the semifinals. But that desire doesn’t go away because of one loss or bump in the road, and can be used as motivation to reach even higher goals. At the end of the day, every kid that dreamed of something, worked hard to achieve it, and gave his heart to the process became a champion in doing so.”

The 2016–17 wresting co-captains: (left to right) Andrew Salemme ’18, Richard Stangl ’17 and Tom Dineen ’18. Photo by VIP Photography.

Dineen hopes to continue to help each of his wrestlers build an attitude of a champion. Next year’s team has high expectations.

He calls on his past experiences when he says, “MUHS has a great tradition of athletic success, as does Omaha Creighton Prep.

Coming from that background helps me assist our guys in reaching their goals. They have an opportunity next season to achieve something that has never been accomplished at MUHS—winning a regional championship—and they were very close to doing that this season. Success multiplies itself when given the right atmosphere to grow. Our guys are aware that they are in the unique position to accomplish something never done at MUHS, and they are excited for that.”

Like his father before him, Coach Tom Dineen has brought a mindset and stability to a wrestling program with a great Jesuit tradition. With continued passion and commitment, it will not be a big surprise to see Coach Dineen’s goals fulfilled so soon into his tenure.

Andrew Salemme ’18 is only eight wins away from reaching a career total of 100 wins.

Photo by VIP Photography.

16 MUHS Magazine

Hilltopper highlights sports Sean McGibany ’14

The wrestling team took third place in the Greater Metro Conference, was runner-up at the WIAA Regional Tournament at Nicolet and team champions at the Waukesha South Invitational, the first tournament championship for MUHS since 2011. Two MUHS wrestlers reached 100 career varsity wins this season, Tom Dineen ’18 and Richard Stangl ’ 17, becoming the fifth and sixth wrestlers (respectively) in MUHS history to do so. Dineen finished third overall at the WIAA State Tournament.

The varsity hockey team took second place overall at the inaugural Jesuit Cup in Illinois, beating out top-ranked Jesuit teams St. Ignatius College Prep (Chicago) and St. Ignatius High School (Cleveland). The team tied for fourth in the Classic 8 Conference.

The basketball team placed sixth in the GMC. Seniors William Barbera and Daniel Reardon were named All-Conference Senior Scholars.

The ski team placed fourth in the Midwest High School Ski Conference and seventh overall in the state. Jack Coakley ’17 was named to the All-State team. These seniors were named All-Conference Senior Scholars: Matthew Malone, Seth Roge, Francisco Vazquez-Sanchez and Jack Wahl.

At the state championship swim and diving meet, Ben Bochenski ’19, Jack Gorski ’19, Zach Sekaran ’18, and Carl Sustar ’18 took 12th place in the 200 Free Relay. The 400 free relay team of Gorski, Thomas Sargent ’17, Sekaran, and Sustar placed 11th. Lou Locher ’17 placed seventh in diving. Additionally, swimmers Eli Borg ’17, Christian Frank ’20, and Ian Reynolds ’19 all qualified for state. Seniors Sargent and Peter Rozewicz were named All-Conference Senior Scholars.

The golf team fought a back-and-forth battle with Arrowhead, but in the end the Hilltoppers couldn’t hold on and finished in second place in the WIAA State Tournament. These seniors were named All-Conference Senior Scholars: Steven Butler, Benjamin DeStefanis and Harrison Ott. DeStefanis and Jack Blair ’19 were also named High Honors Academic All State Honorees by the Golf Coaches Association of Wisconsin. Ian Bro ’18, Butler, John Krebsbach ’17, Ott, and Peyton Rose ’17 were awarded Honors by the GCAW.

Lou Locher ’17 diving at the WIAA state championship swim and dive meet. He earned seventh place. Photo by VIP Photography.

www.MUHS.edu 17

SPORTS

Hilltopper highlights sports Jon Langenfeld ’17 and Matthew Kuhn ’17 of the lacrosse team were awarded 1st team All-State for attack and defense, respectively. Additionally, these seniors were named All-Conference Senior Scholars: Langenfeld, Andrew Kahler and Charles Mellin.

The rugby team placed fourth overall in the Division 1 conference. These seniors were named All-Conference Senior Scholars: Joshua Heinen, Josef Jochem, Jared Lieungh, Jack Nichols, Noah Nordness, Nicholas Pauly, Jacob Pelz, Matthew Shelledy, Austin Trowbridge and Francisco Vazquez-Sanchez.

Harrison Ott ’17 putting at the WIAA state championship tournament, where the team finished in second place behind Arrowhead High School. Ott will attend and golf at Vanderbilt University in the fall. Photo by VIP Photography.

Alex Kramer ’18 running the 400-meter dash at the WIAA state track meet.

Photo by VIP Photography.

18 MUHS Magazine

Joe Schubert ’17 competing at the WIAA state wheelchair championship meet. He won the wheelchair WIAA state Track & Field team title, his third year in a row. Photo by VIP Photography.

Joe Schubert ’17 won the wheelchair WIAA state Track & Field team title, his third year in a row. He also won the 100, 400, and 800 wheelchair events in both WIAA state and the WIAA sectionals, where he also took first in seated shotput. Alex Kramer ’18 qualified for state in the 400-meter dash and distance runners James McKenna ’17 and Peter Collopy ’18 qualified for the 3200 and 1600 meter runs, respectively. These seniors were named All-Conference Senior Scholars: Luke Borowski, Timothy Carrig, John Collopy, Alec Czaplicki, Patrick English, Robert Meuler, Frederick Poorman, Thomas Sargent, Matthew Schneider and Jack Wahl.

MUHS English teacher Joe Costa ’88 has been named head coach of the cross-country team. He succeeds Coach Jim Kearney who led the team for 35 years. Costa ran cross country and track during his four years at MUHS, and was part of three state championship teams in both sports. He also ran collegiately at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn. Costa has served as a high school cross-country coach at many institutions in both

Minnesota and Wisconsin. Notably, he was an assistant crosscountry coach at MUHS from 2002 through 2011, and has served as the head cross-country coach at DSHA since 2011. He led the Dashers to five consecutive state championship meets during his tenure at DSHA, and was awarded GMC Coach of the Year in 2015.

MUHS was well represented at the inaugural Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Sports Awards, an event honoring the most elite athletes in Milwaukee-area high school sports. Ben Leas ’17 took home the award for Boys Soccer Player of the Year, and Nick Cheung ’18 was a finalist for the award. Leas was also a finalist for Male Athlete of the Year. Harrison Ott ’17 received the Boys Golf Player of the Year honor. Liam Schroeder ’18 was a finalist for Boys Volleyball Player of the Year; Noah Guillermo ’18, Ethan Mardanus-Budiono ’17, and Caleb Schifano ’17 all qualified as Boys Tennis Player of the Year finalists; Jack Morrissey ’17 was a finalist for the I AM SPORT award, which honors students committed to getting kids active in their communities; and soccer coach Steve Lawrence ’99 was a finalist for Coach of the Year.

www.MUHS.edu 19

SPORTS

Hilltopper highlights Tennis takes state

20 MUHS Magazine

The tennis team, coached by David Frank ’99, won the team state championship for the third year in a row, defeating Neenah 5–2. Ethan Mardanus-Budiono ’17 and John Massart ’17 received the doubles title at the Individuals State Championship, and Noah Guillermo ’18 and Caleb Schifano ’17 finished in fifth place. These seniors were named All-Conference Senior Scholars: Nicholas Dittrich, Matthew McLachlan, Anthony Sabatino, Samuel Schelble and Peter Rozewicz.

Left: The 2017 State Tennis Team Champions: Front row (left to right): David R. Frank ’99, Caleb Schifano ’17, Josh Guillermo ’20, Sam Schelble ’17, Mike Mitchell ’20 and Joel Pan ’20. Back row: Noah Guillermo ’18, John Massart ’17, Teddy Brodzinski, Jake Stockhausen ’19, Ethan Mardanus-Budiono ’17, Nick Yang ’18, Rob May ’18 and Sam Keller ’17. Photo by VIP Photography.

Opposite: Joel Pan ’20 serving at the WIAA state team championship tournament.

Pan is the team’s #1 singles player. Photograph by VIP Photography

www.MUHS.edu 21

Robotics Team 1732 Builds to top 10% in world Sean McGibany ’14

22 MUHS Magazine

FEATURES

Since its founding in 2005, the MUHS and DSHA extracurricular Robotics team—Team 1732 —has established itself as one of the top robotics teams in the nation. This year the team celebrated two distinguished victories, taking home first place in both the St. Louis and Wisconsin regional tournaments, which earned them an invite back to St. Louis for the World Championship, putting them in the top 10 percent of teams globally.

“This is a huge accomplishment and something the two schools should be very proud of,” Beth Furumo, MUHS alumni parent and the team’s business mentor, says. Team director Wende Moline adds, “Every year we are competitive, but this year was exceptional.”

“The team’s atmosphere was incredible this year,” says team co-lead and robot pilot Brian Callen ’18. “The team was always excited for competition and even ordinary meetings, something that is not always common in the long season.”

Every season, Team 1732 designs and builds a robot capable of competing in games devised by FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), the organization that

Above: Team mentor Wex Bassindale ’12 (center) coaches Jay Schauer ’18 (left) and Karl Arnhold ’17 at Worlds while the Hilltoppers operate Team 1732’s robot during competition.

Photo by Nolan Kozinski ’18.

Left: The competition floor at the FIRST World Championship in St. Louis. Photo by Brian Callen '18.

www.MUHS.edu 23

FEATURES ROBOTICS TEAM

But it’s about more than just competitions. A large part of what Team 1732 does is outreach and promotion of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) in the Milwaukee community.

“We read books about robots (one of which our team wrote!) to kids at area libraries and children’s hospitals, and the kids get to drive the robots as well, which they love,” Furumo says.

“We participate in robotics events at Summerfest and Discovery World, and team members host summer robotics camps for girls at DSHA.” As a matter of fact, the team is judged and rewarded for its outreach. As Wanninger explains, the Chairman’s Award—the most prestigious award in all of FIRST—is based on the amount and quality of a team’s community outreach, not on game performance.

Jay Schauer ’18 (left) and Karl Arnhold ’17 (right) maneuver Team 1732’s robot to pick up and toss wiffle balls into goals and gather gears during a Worlds competition.

Furumo hopes that the team’s performance and outreach will continue to attract students who are interested in STEM to come to MUHS. She also hopes the team will continue to plan for the long-term and craft a “Playbook” for new mentors. Moline and Arnhold hope the team will soon be able to win the World Championship and be recognized as a Chairman’s Award Winner, something Callen admits is “reasonably within our grasp.”

Photo by Nolan Kozinski ’18.

facilitates the events. This year the games were steampunk themed, all about equipping and fueling a mock “airship” for takeoff.

“It takes a little imagination!” mechanical mentor John Callen ’86 admits, with robots needing to be able to pick up and toss wiffle balls into goals and gather gears to earn points.

The team has six weeks to complete the entire build process— including learning how to drive and control the robot—and is not allowed to touch their robot after that time is up. Then it’s on to the games themselves, where Team 1732 pits its bot against dozens from other teams.

“Robotics provides an outlet for the creative students who want to pursue engineering or technical skills which aren’t offered anywhere else at Marquette,” Arnhold says.

“It’s a program put together with the utmost care and dedication, and [it] leaves lasting impacts on its participants, who go on to help the world, better off for having been in the program.”

“The new space that was donated to us aided our efforts immensely,” says co-team lead Karl Arnhold ’17, in reference to the O’Rourke Robotics Center, the newly expanded and refurbished robotics rooms at MUHS. However, as team mentors Callen and John Wanninger tell it, the competitions are not cutthroat. One of FIRST’s main objectives is to promote “gracious professionalism,” which is demonstrated in the various teams’ interactions on game day. “You’re doing your darndest to win,” Wanninger says, “but teams are also standing in line to help other teams out.” Teams with more experience and equipment are quick to help those with less. And being men and women for others at robotics tournaments pays off, as the winning teams get to create alliances with other teams that they will go into battle with during the final rounds.

24 MUHS Magazine

Karl Arnhold ’17 inspects Team 1732’s robot in between games. Photo by Eric Shultz.

Service trip and garden celebrates life of Emmett Till

www.MUHS.edu 25

FEATURES SERVICE TRIP AND GARDEN

Over spring break this year, a diverse group of students, faculty and alumni pooled their talents to perform a service trip at the Emmett Till Museum in Glendora, Miss. The group, led by Chris Lese ’92, used the opportunity to visit civil rights landmarks and to learn more about the movement.

The shocking and gruesome murder of Chicago teenager Emmett Till in Glendora, Miss., in 1955, and the subsequent trial and acquittal of the men who admitted to abducting him, are considered by many to be the moments that galvanized support for civil rights in both the North and the South, among people of all ethnicities.

The fledgling Civil Rights Movement gained momentum as word of the deed reached newspapers all over the country.

Representing the best ideals of the movement, the Marquette High group aimed to honor the memory of Till and to help out a community still mired in the poverty and segregation the movement sought to eliminate.

“Our previous overnight visit really opened my eyes to the potential of a history-based service trip,” Lese says. “After seeing the severe poverty many Glendora residents live under, other teachers, students and I understood we had to try to do something to help the town make the most of its historical tourism.”

While visiting Civil War battle sites with a different group of students and faculty in 2016, Lese got the idea to do a landscaperelated service project at the Emmett Till Museum after meeting with Mayor Johnny B. Thomas.

He spoke of his plans with English teacher Ann Downey, who is a landscape designer during the summer months. While on a short visit to Glendora in 2016, Lese shared his idea with Mayor Thomas and measured the site. Downey developed the landscape

Local children came to visit the MUHS group while working on the Emmett Till Museum in Glendora, Miss. Hasan Khalil ’19 hands over the controls and teaches the kids how to fly a drone. Photo by Chris Lese ’92.

26 MUHS Magazine

design at which point Lese invited David J. Frank ’99, president and chief financial officer of David J. Frank Landscaping, to participate in the project.

“We met with David and he loved the idea for the project,” Downey says. “Through his contacts in nursery associations, he found a local [Mississippi] nursery that could supply the plants. He donated all of the plants as well as soil and mulch. He even filled our vans with the tools we’d need to complete the project.”

Early Wednesday morning after Easter, Lese, Downey, science teacher J.R. Collier, theology teacher Cynthia Blaze, retired theology teacher Jeni McLaughlin along with 20 MUHS students and two DSHA students traveled first to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tenn. The museum is housed in the Lorraine Motel where Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968.

“I wanted to provide a historical context to what students would experience in Mississippi by stopping in Memphis and other sites,” Lese explains. “While at the Civil Rights Museum, we heard Rosa Parks state that as she was threatened while refusing to give up her bus seat, she thought of Emmett Till’s murder and rigged trial.

The importance of Till’s murder to the Civil Rights movement was something students came back to during our time in Glendora.”

After leaving Memphis, the group traveled another two hours south to Glendora where they stayed overnight. Thursday morning, Lese, Downey, Daniel Jones ’19 and Oscar Muñoz ’20 drove to the service site to mark the plots before the rest of the group and the plants arrived. With the help of Mayor Thomas and two local men, the whole group pulled weeds, defined bed edges, tilled the soil, leveled ground with new soil, dug holes, planted more than 100 perennials and shrubs, and one tree, and mulched the entire project. By the time they finished work late in the afternoon, they had transformed the area into a welcoming garden entrance to the museum.

Patrick Baker ’17 had been on the 2016 Civil War summer trip and wanted to return. “I was impressed by Mr. Lese’s desire to help the town and by Mr. Thomas,” he says. “The museum was so beautiful on the inside and so well done, and the outside was all rundown. When the opportunity came up to make it more inviting on the outside—to get people to want to come inside—I wanted to help.”

The day after the MUHS team completed the project, Mayor Thomas gave a tour of the museum and the local sites related to the murder of Emmett Till. Jones wanted to help out the people of Glendora when he signed up for the trip. He said that Mayor Thomas’ tour was the most sobering part of the trip. “He took us to the bridge where the killers threw him off. They treated him like he was nothing. It’s just what they did to black people to keep them in their place,” he says.

Till was visiting relatives in Glendora when he was accused of whistling at or touching the hand of a white woman in the grocery store. The woman was the wife of the owner. Four days later, the storeowner and his half-brother came to the home where Till was staying, abducted him, and brought him to a barn in Glendora where they beat him and shot him in the head. Then, they tied a metal industrial fan from a cotton mill around his neck and dumped him into the infamous black bayou, the Tallahatchie River.

He was found three days later. Today, the Emmett Till Museum is housed in the cotton mill building.

“Nothing compares to walking where history occurred,” Lese says.

“To hear the sounds and accents of Mississippi, to feel the heat and humidity and see how Till is remembered locally was amazing.

And to have our tour guide be Mayor Thomas whose father was intimately involved in the murder is something textbooks or classrooms cannot replicate.”

Following the local tour, the group traveled to Sumner, Miss., to see the Tallahatchie County courthouse where the men were acquitted by an all-white jury. The students were able to move around the courtroom, sitting where all parties involved would have been during the trial. The courthouse has been painstakingly preserved as it was in 1955. Ironically, the courthouse is in a county that remains segregated, and a Confederate War monument stands outside the courthouse.

Finally, they visited the home museum of Medgar Evers, the civil rights activist who was shot to death in his front yard in 1963.

They received a tour of the home from a woman who was a student at the time Evers was working to desegregate schools in his role as NAACP field secretary. After the tour of the house, the students lingered on the sidewalk talking with the tour guide who had interviewed Evers’ wife and children as well as the son of Evers’ assassin.

“She knew these people, so she spoke from experience and was spellbinding,” Blaze explains. “To be at his house and to see his blood still in the concrete was eye-opening. The kids didn’t seem to want to leave. They had a lot of questions and couldn’t seem to make sense of the continuing segregation.”

Chris Jaurez ’19 prepares for the new garden beds by tilling the ground while his classmates Gabe Bohlmann ’19 and Hasan Khalil ’19 provide direction and support. Photo by Chris Lese ’92.

Back in Glendora after the day of touring, Baker and John Doyle ’17 were playing Frisbee when some local children joined in their game. That game was Baker’s favorite moment from the trip.

“Pretty soon, half the kids in the Glendora were playing Frisbee with the 20 guys from Marquette High. It was fun to hang out and just be together.”

That moment was also very meaningful for Javon Matthews ’19.

“They come from a very poor community, but they are really happy.

I wanted to come on this trip so that I could help out, and it was really fun.”

Because the story of Till is so devastatingly grim, the MUHS group wanted to honor the spirit of the young man whose life was cut tragically short. The garden is designed to draw butterflies, hummingbirds and bees, and to infuse the area with sweet fragrance and beautiful colors. The project was about the life of the young man, not about his death.

www.MUHS.edu 27

Victoria Temple Bonesho A purposeful passion Sean McGibany ’14

28 MUHS Magazine

FEATURES

The peers of Mrs. Victoria Temple Bonesho are quick with the compliments. “She’s a tornado,” offers her colleague and close friend, Tim Prosser.

“She gives so much energy; you can feel it. But it’s a purposeful energy,” Sue Sajdak adds. “Everything she does is with 110% of her being,” Katie Egan elaborates. “I don’t think she knows how to give any less than her very best. Everything she does is for a reason.”

The simultaneous forces of energy, passion, purpose, and deep caring that Bonesho displays to everyone she meets has made her a legend at MUHS. Throughout her years of service in the building, she has impacted many lives in a unique way. “She’s irreplaceable,” Sajdak declares. “Other competent AP Euro and History teachers may come along, but there will never be anyone like her.”

After 24 years at MUHS, Bonesho has retired from the classroom.

In that time, she taught countless social studies classes; served as a moderator for Conclave, the student government homeroom; held the position of academic principal; and helped grow the Kairos retreat into what it is today. “She wore many [different] hats,” Prosser says, “and she succeeded in all of them.”

Above: Vicki Bonesho, along with English teacher Tim Prosser (left) and biology teacher Mike Donovan, receiving the Hansen Excellence in Teaching award in 1998.

Left: Bonesho teaching one of her last Comparative Cultures classes in May before retiring from the classroom. Photo by Mike Arndt.

www.MUHS.edu 29

FEATURES VICTORIA TEMPLE BONESHO

Ask anyone about Bonesho, and you’ll most likely hear something about how much she cared. “And not just about the subject matter,” says Jensen Stanton ’17; she cared about every person individually. Eric Carlson ’14, a senior at Fordham University, says, “Mrs. Bonesho took a personal interest in each student she taught, and was great at finding that thing in each of us that made us unique. She was warm and nurturing, but never hesitated to call us out on our crap when we needed it.”

Social studies department chair Luke Meuler ’97 dives deeper into this. “She doesn’t challenge you to think like her, she challenges you to think like you,” he says. “She gets kids to believe in themselves in ways they hadn’t envisioned before. And to get there, you’re going to have to be challenged.”

But those who know her understand that Bonesho went through many challenges of her own on her road to MUHS, all of them shaping her in some way into the beloved figure she is today.

Bonesho’s story begins not far away in a Wauwatosa, Wis., household. “I really am a Tosa girl at heart,” she says. Despite the idyllic setting, Bonesho was touched by tragedy early on. When she was 10, and a student at Christ King School, her mother passed away; her father later married Bonesho’s kindergarten teacher. Bonesho would go on to high school at Divine Savior, college at Marquette University, and earned her master’s from Cardinal Stritch University.

Bonesho credits her father, an anesthesiologist at Columbia Hospital, for inspiring her love of learning and a developed worldview. Bonesho’s father and siblings—two brothers and one sister—would regularly discuss politics, history and pop culture, and this taught Bonesho how to form her own opinions. “He had high expectations,” she says.

Bonesho’s first inkling that she wanted to be a teacher came at Divine Savior, where she was in a social studies class with a teacher named Kathy Lawlor. “She was an incredible teacher,” Bonesho says, “and she encouraged my love of history.”

But Bonesho’s father was encouraging her to be a nurse. In fact, when she entered Marquette University, Bonesho was enrolled in the School of Nursing. But that changed within the first 24 hours of her college career.

“My first class at MU was a history class, Western Civilization, and the teacher’s name was Dr. Tom Hachey.” The class was held in a theater with hundreds of students enrolled. “He stood up and

30 MUHS Magazine

Bonesho teaching one of her first social studies classes at MUHS in 1996.

started lecturing, and I was sold,” Bonesho says. That same day, she called her father and said that she didn’t want to be a nurse, switched her major to liberal arts, and never looked back.

“It was like God was telling me, ‘this is what you need to do.’”

Bonesho got involved in the Educational Opportunity program at MU, a program helping struggling liberal arts students. She was asked to teach a seminar on Western Civilization for the program as a sophomore and continued to be involved even after graduation.

“I just loved teaching,” she says. “It was the best.”

It was also during this time that Bonesho took classes with the man who would shape her legendary teaching style: Dr. Ron Zupko, an MU social studies professor. “He was just so engaging,” she says, “and he really knew his material. You could never just sit back and take notes, because he would call on you. To him, history was something that had to be analyzed, not memorized.”

Bonesho loved every minute of Zupko’s classes. “I wanted it to be like that for the kids I was teaching,” she says. “I wanted them to look forward to coming to class knowing that they would be held accountable for what they learned and for what they thought.”

She began student-teaching at Pius High School her senior year.

She graduated in 1973 with a major in history, and minors in English, sociology, and secondary education. Not one month later, she signed her contract to teach social studies at Pius. Bonesho married Bob Cerminaro ’63 in July of the same year.

Bonesho taught World Cultures, Peace and Justice, and a new AP-style class called The Rise of Modern Europe at Pius until 1977 when her son, Tony ’95, was born. At that point, she stopped teaching and focused on raising her kids. Her second son, Michael ’98, was born in 1980.

But things took a sudden turn when Bonesho’s husband, Bob, passed away unexpectedly in 1981. Suddenly, she had two children to care for, and no job.

However, her situation changed quickly. Three weeks after her husband’s passing, she received a call from Gordon Sharafinski, the assistant academic principal at Pius at that time, and a good friend. There was an opening in the Pius English department.

Was she interested?

There was no second option. “I needed to teach, I needed to take care of my kids,” Bonesho says. “[Gordon] was responsible for getting me back on my feet.”

The English position quickly turned back into a history position.

During her second term at Pius, Bonesho married Tom Bonesho, in 1985, and shortly afterward gave birth to her two daughters, Allie and Katie.

By 1989, she found she couldn’t raise her four children and continue teaching full time. She settled into a role raising her kids, and subbing and tutoring part time at Pius. But just four years later, she got another fateful call from a familiar friend.

After leaving Pius years earlier, Sharafinski became the academic

principal at MUHS in 1992. That following year, there was an opening for a math teacher in the summer school program.

He called Bonesho. Again he asked her if she was interested.

“I loved math,” she says, “and I’d always wanted to teach at MUHS.” The academic reputation and Jesuit education were big draws for Bonesho, along with the fact that MUHS ran in her blood (her brothers, her first husband, and her uncle were all graduates).

“To me, being at Marquette High was always a dream job. The people, the kids, the academic rigor, and the message and mission are, to me, what education is all about.”

The summer school position turned into a part-time teaching position in the fall of 1994 when Bonesho was asked to teach two sections of sophomore English. But just a year later, she found herself in the social studies department when long-time social studies teacher Bob Brezinski passed away.

“They needed to fill [his] position, and they offered me the job.” Bonesho says her childhood dinner-time discussions with her father and siblings prepared her for her role at MUHS. “It’s not okay to say, ‘I don’t know’ in this environment,” she says. As a woman in an all-male institution, she needed to prove herself.

Left to right: Known for her Halloween costumes, Bonesho dresses as Rosy the Riveter for Halloween 2015. Her other past costumes included Donald Trump and Abraham Lincoln.

Bonesho in 2006 as assistant principal of academics. She admits the role was a challenge, but one she encourages all teachers to try at some point in their careers.

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FEATURES VICTORIA TEMPLE BONESHO

She became not just a strong female figure to the students of MUHS, but a role model for its female faculty as well. Egan says, “She embodies and displays a strong female character in the building . . . and she knows everything about everything.”

“In order to be successful [as a woman] in an all-male community, you have to be gutsy,” Sajdak says, “and she set the example for that. She’s a dynamic female powerhouse.”

Rising junior Joe DeStefanis ’19 says, “She poured her heart into every student. She worked so hard to make sure we all did well . . . and she rewarded us [when we did.] Her door was always open to us, and we really trusted her to get us through.”

And where did Bonesho get her famous catchphrases, “lil’ turkeys” and “who loves ya” from? The turkeys came from a long-time friend, Kathy Daly, who called her own students and kids “turkeys.”

And as for “who loves ya?” Bonesho simply says, “I just wanted the boys to know I love them.” She also wanted them to know that she was paying attention to whatever they said. “I wanted every person in the room, regardless of how many there were, to have said something [by the end of the class], and to know that they were accountable for what they said.”

Egan refers to her as “a second mom” and said that Bonesho taught her everything. “I was 23 years old when I came here,” Egan says. “I’d never been to Milwaukee before; I didn’t know anybody.

[Vicki] was my mentor for the entirety of my career. It’s really bittersweet that she’s leaving.”

She also wanted to make sure her students were aware of their position in the world and had their own political beliefs “based on facts, not just things they pulled out of some orifice.”

Bonesho hopes that if her students ever go to Europe that they remember something that was discussed in class when they’re taking in the sights. She hopes her students will carry on the memories of what was said in her classroom. She also hopes her time at MUHS will be remembered as a “fun” time, a time when “ideas were bantered back and forth,” when “high school was challenging,” and when it was exciting to come to class.

“I would like to congratulate her on a wonderful, outstanding career at Marquette High and in education in general,” her fellow retiree Rick Bridich says in closing. “This has been our lifeblood, this is what we’ve done and who we are for 40 years. It’s been truly a wonderful relationship.”

“My dad used to say, ‘never do something half-ass,’” and Bonesho says she applies that to every part of her life. “Even when I’m cleaning the bathroom.” She says she never wanted to come to the end of the day feeling as if she could have done more, and that it was her faith, family, friends and colleagues, and students that kept her centered throughout all of that activity.

“I never wanted to be a mediocre teacher, I never wanted anyone to say ‘she’s okay.’ I [either] wanted people to say ‘oh, she’s great!’ or ‘I hate her guts!’”

Given what her former students and colleagues have said about her, it’s easy to see which way they lean. Troy Vosseller ’03 says, “Mrs. Bonesho is the epitome of a teacher that sought to influence the entire person within her students. After college, business school and law school, I still tell people that my most formative and challenging academic experiences were in her classroom at MUHS.”

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Bonesho with now-retired longtime teacher and coach, Paul Noack, at the 2016 President’s Club Dinner. Photo by VIP Photography.

Bonesho with one of her last Comparative Cultures classes in May. Photo by Mike Arndt.

“Marquette won’t be the same without her,” Stanton adds.

What’s next for Bonesho? She’ll be busy. She plans on spending more time with her kids and grandchildren. She wants to visit Europe again, and travel to Cuba if possible. She will also be working to learn how to speak Italian and has a goal this year to read a biography on every U.S. president.

But don’t worry, says both Sajdak and Bonesho herself, she will be back in some way. Bonesho says that she would love to come

substitute teach if she can, and plans to stay involved with academic support and advising. “That says something about the school,” Sajdak says. “It’s a place you fall in love with. This environment allows good teachers to do what they do best.”

It’s also a place that, itself, has fallen in love with Vicki Bonesho.

Her energy, passion, limitless knowledge, and love will linger on. No matter what path the storm of Bonesho takes from this point, MUHS will always be grateful that it touched down here for 24 years.

www.MUHS.edu 33

Rick Bridich ’69 An invitation to success Tim Prosser

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FEATURES

Former Marquette High Principal Larry Siewert ’59, once told the faculty that, regardless of the field or organization, this group could be successful because of the talent, commitment and sensitivity it possessed. He may as well have been talking about Rick Bridich ’69.

Much of Rick’s drive to achieve and succeed is rooted in competition—and family. When his younger brother, David ’70, decided on Marquette High, Bridich also set his sights on the school. “I felt there was something at Marquette High for me,” Bridich says. He arrived in the fall of 1965 with just two classmates from Immaculate Conception, Steven Blackwood ’69, and Dan Mulvanney ’69. “We were well aware of our minority status at the school,” Blackwood says. “Few south siders went to Marquette High in those days.”

Bridich would soon distinguish himself at the school, and athletics was central to his identity. A seven-letter winner in football and baseball, Bridich made the varsity football team on defense as a sophomore and he was an All-Conference selection in baseball as a catcher his senior year, leading his team in both hitting and fielding. He was also senior class president and MH Club president.

“I’m a competitive guy,” Bridich says. “It’s both genetic and socially constructed. I get it from my mom [Mafalda] and dad [Stan].”

Even today at 90, his mother, “Muff,” will do just about anything to win at cards, he says. That relentlessness became a life-long trait for Bridich. All contests could become wars.

After high school, Rick headed to Harvard University, where he majored in American history, played football and was catcher on the Harvard baseball team, which advanced to the College World Series twice in his four years there. In one game at Fenway Park, Bridich slammed a homer over the “green monster.” After graduating and barn-storming through Italy with Harvard’s baseball team as its catcher, he planned to go to law school.

“He was a 22-year-old Harvard graduate. He had the opportunity to do just about anything,” his son Nick ’98 says.

But there were other plans for Rick Bridich, and they began to unfold with one unexpected call three weeks prior to the start of the 1973 school year. On the line was Siewert, who had hired Dick Basham the previous summer. Basham wanted to bring Bridich on board as an assistant football coach. Bridich was curious enough to sign a one-year contract.

But although intended as a gap year before law school, Bridich’s stopover at Marquette High turned into a lifetime of giving, serving, and dedicating himself to the MUHS mission and Jesuit

Rick Bridich ’69 (in flashy pants) with the sophomore football team 1973, his first year coaching and teaching at MUHS.

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FEATURES RICK BRIDICH ’69

education, says Nick, himself now a Jesuit educator and baseball coach at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Ill. Sometimes one’s path in life is altered with just one invitation.

“That is one essence of Marquette High,” says Bridich. “Marquette High gave me the opportunity to do things I never would have thought to do. I had not planned on coaching football or teaching World Studies or coaching baseball, or staffing and leading retreats. Time and time again, someone I respected called me out to serve—and I accepted the invitation. Being here taught me that when we invite others, we will motivate those folks.”

After one year, Bridich says he fell in love again with Marquette High. “The bright, motivated interesting students, the mission and faith component screamed that I stay here. One year turned into two, which turned into five, which turned into a lifetime.”

Along the way, Bridich had many mentors, he says, and chief among them was Siewert. “The mission of Marquette High was his highest concern, but he wanted us to have fun executing it,” Bridich says.

Bridich often found that element of fun in friendly competition.

His exploits in staff v. students matchups were legendary.

Tom Hogan ’77 remembers one floor hockey game in the gym.

“The same guy who told us he’d tackled the former Minnesota Viking, Ed Marinaro, in a college game, was the same adult who hip-checked a 110-pound freshman two rows deep into the bleachers. No student dared enter a corner to retrieve a puck after that.” Even at half-court in pickup basketball games, the infamous “Rico elbows” challenged many an opponent’s sternum. Juan Hurtado ’01, advises, “Never play basketball against him. Those elbows are deadly.”

In the classroom, Bridich worked at refining his game. When he first started, his only prior teaching experience was for a course he created and taught to non-English-speaking Chinese high school students in Boston. Nevertheless, the MUHS administration saw the teaching potential in their new football coach, and he was hired as a social studies teacher. Starting his first year as a fulltime faculty member in 1973, Bridich taught in the social studies department. Around 1987 the mathematics department needed a half-time teacher and Bridich split his time between staffing departments and working on his certification over a few summers.

Eventually, Bridich would make the switch to teaching full time in the math department.

Bridich on the Homecoming Court as a junior in 1968 with his date Mary McCollow.

Bridich huddles with his varsity baseball players in 1988. The team would finish the season with a 16–4 record.

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Bridich had already distinguished himself as a confident leader, a trait recognized by Pat Dunphy ’69, who has been Bridich’s close friend since they met in August 1965 during a freshman football tryouts. “I sat behind him in class. We were teammates in football,

basketball and baseball. He was the quarterback who would rather run a bootleg than hand off to a running back, a guard who would rather shoot than pass, and a catcher who loved to tell everyone else what to do,” Dunphy says.

“He had real swagger. It is no surprise to me Rick became a fine teacher, football and baseball coach and role model for thousands of young men.”

Many Hilltopper teams thrived under his leadership. For 11 years Bridich was an assistant varsity football coach (1973–79 and 1995–98). The football team earned two W.I.S.A.A. titles while he was coaching defensive backs for those 11 years. He was also the head junior varsity/sophomore football coach from 1980 until 1987. From 1973 until 1999 he was an integral part of the baseball program, first as an assistant to Bob Brezinski, then as head coach (1989–99). During his tenure as head coach, his teams earned four W.I.S.A.A. state championships and five conference titles. His record in 11 seasons was 178-68 (.724 percent). Bridich was inducted into the Marquette Athletic Hall of Fame in 2012.

Whether on the field or in the classroom, Bridich expected everyone to perform to the best of his abilities. “He taught students that sacrifice and dedication are the demands of success,” former math department chair Carol Hardtke says. “He preaches, teaches, and lives this—and the learner can feel it. I bet any former student can picture Mr. Bridich, arms spread wide, eyebrows raised, asking: ‘What do you mean you can’t do it? Of course, you can do this!’”

Over and over, Bridich heeded the call from his peers, superiors and students to do more, to give more. “He would take on challenges outside the classroom with gusto even if it demanded more time and effort,” says Siewert. “At a time when Marquette wanted to upgrade and expand its pastoral program, Rick was asked to lead a team of faculty, and he did, motivating the group to study and propose changes to existing pastoral programs and to propose new programs, all of which greatly helped the school to further its stated mission and goals.”

Bridich coaching on the gridiron in 1974.

Along with some other faculty members, Bridich acknowledged a need among the student body that was not being addressed adequately: the concerns of Marquette High students who were questioning their sexual identity. What began as simply listening and supporting students evolved into an improved school atmosphere and raised consciousness for respect for all in our community.

“I always admired Rick for his courage to communicate honestly and bluntly to administration about issues large and small,” says

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FEATURES RICK BRIDICH ’69

teams, taking the kids to school with me when they were little . . . ” Anyone who has attended MUHS football games over the decades will recall his mom, Muff’s presence in the stands, cheering on the ’Toppers.

Bridich was always a giving educator. “Rick has generously shared his life with us,” Hardtke says. “Without losing an iota of energy or spirit in 44 years, together, Rick and Mardi befriended and supported everyone at MUHS.”

Bridich, along with social studies teacher Adam Laats (left) and physics teacher David Vogt, receiving the Hansen Excellence in Teaching award in 2001.

Siewert. “Some of those issues were controversial and involved much dialogue, and Rick was always willing to put in the time and effort to get things right.”

The year after Rev. Doug Leonhardt, SJ ’56, piloted the Senior Shared Life Project, Rick was asked to take it over. Under Bridich’s supervision the project deepened its Ignatian pedagogy by adding reflection sessions, including a service trip to Appalachia, and broadening and refining service components.

Of his father’s dedication to MUHS, Nick Bridich can boil it down to one word: commitment. “What a gift and pleasure it has been to watch and learn from my father about what commitment really is to something so wonderfully meaningful. What a gift and pleasure it has been to see his impact upon so many young men and families over a career.”

Son Jeff ’96 says, “For dad it’s been about people and relationships.

And it’s about finding fulfillment in helping others fulfill their potential in life. For nearly 50 years of his life as both an MUHS student and teacher, as a father and as a husband, he has lived the AMDG ethic.”

Jeff believes his family got as much out of MUHS as his father put into it: “He and mom raised us within the walls of Marquette High for good reasons: community, ethics, education, morality. Often it takes a village to raise a child, and MUHS was that village for us.”

Aside from Bridich’s penchant for mowing his yard in the patterns of a baseball diamond, his daughter Liza, who lives in New York City, speaks lovingly of “his desire and dedication to being an impactful presence in people’s day-to-day lives—building students’ confidence, giving them support and place to grow, and teaching the value that intelligent play can bring. He encourages all students to be open to learn and love their communities.”

Every member of the Bridich family was on board throughout his journey at Marquette High, especially his wife, Mardi, a retired nurse.

“Rick just wanted to go to school every day and do what he did,” she says. “I’ve always been exceptionally proud of the fact that he got so much joy from what he was doing.”

And, it was Rick’s joy that deepened the family’s understanding and commitment to the MUHS mission and the time demands of being an educator. “My family bought in totally,” Bridich asserts.

“Sunday night liturgies, athletic events, chaperoning with Mardi who also came with me on retreats, Thursday night basketball, gatherings at the Interlude, our sons being ball boys for the baseball

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Mardi and Rick Bridich ’69 with Rev. Michael Marco, SJ, at the 2015 Alumni Awards Reception. Photo by VIP Photography.

Photo by VIP Photography.

Educators who are as devoted as Bridich often have to make sacrifices in other areas of their lives, sometimes in their own families. Bridich is a testament to how dedication and passion for one’s vocation could carry over into one’s family life, not compete with it. Math department colleague Colin Dillon says, “Rick has been a big brother to me and other colleagues, and he is an amazing father and husband. Whether it is late-night drives to the airport for Mardi, following a Rockies game while “proctoring” tests, or Facetiming the grandchildren between classes, Rick is always there to support his family.”

Math teacher Matt Jaques ’02 concurs, “Teaching is a job that demands sacrifices, but Rick keeps family at the forefront of his mind, never forgetting that his main job is being a great husband and father.” Liza agrees. “He’s an ‘all-in’ father: he has always nurtured my interests and passions. He comes as far down the airport terminal as security will let him to welcome us home.”

“The commitment to his craft and most importantly, to those young men sitting in the desks or playing on the field is undeniable,” says son Nick. “His care for the long-term well-being of Marquette High and the people within the community is unquestionable.”

Bridich appreciates how invested his family was in his career. “For all of us, Marquette High has been family, church, a second home, because of its people—the entire community of parents, students, colleagues, staff, alums. My friends today include former students and their families. Together the faculty worked hard and played hard, and all were invited. So after 44 years, I face leaving with mixed emotions and a sense of loss.”

As Rick Bridich prepares to leave Marquette High, many have reflected and will continue to reflect on the impact he has had here for nearly half a century. As we evaluate the ways in which Rick Bridich touched us, he has been making the same assessment. “I will miss all the ways that Marquette High has touched my heart.”

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Russ Snopek Times of transformation Julie Felser

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FEATURES

Russ Snopek loves a challenge. For starters, he built a house from scratch when he was 22 years old— with no prior construction experience. Armed with a book he bought on home construction and help from his dad, Snopek bought a piece of land, drew his own blueprint, had a hole dug and “just started

already had been there for a year. During the summer months Russ would take on mechanical tasks and landscape maintenance while in the winter months he would tackle snow removal.

Throughout the cooler months, the three Snopeks would divvy up the boiler duties. “Back in those days, the boilers had to be checked a minimum of every 12 hours,” Snopek says. “Dad, Ron and I would divide up every weekend and holiday to come into MUHS and check the boilers.”

building.” He ended up with a three-bedroom, weathered-edged Lannon stone home in Franklin, Wis.

For 36 years, Snopek drew on that crash-course in carpentry, electrical and plumbing in his various roles at MUHS, particularly during his last 25 years as the school’s director of buildings and grounds. Snopek retired on April 28, 2017, and celebrated with a Bloody Mary and burger at Sobelman’s.

Long before he capped his career with a well-deserved libation at Milwaukee’s famous burger joint, Snopek started working in 1969 at Easterday Paint Co., a paint manufacturer located in St. Francis and Racine. He was responsible for helping customers purchase the perfect color before computerized color systems were commonplace. “Someone would bring in a piece of material or color chip and ask for a gallon of paint. Then they’d come back a couple of days later wanting more of the same color. We matched everything by eye. It could be frustrating at times,” Snopek says.

The Snopeks, along with longtime, now-retired maintenance employee Raphael Delgado, made up the four-man department while Rev. Bill Doran, SJ was president. Russ says he liked to describe the team as “‘At your service day or night. We do the job, we do the job right! Snopek, Snopek, Snopek and Delgado.’”

I tried to make it sound like a law firm,” Russ jokes.

When Eugene retired in 1992, Russ took over, excited about the opportunities that lay ahead. “I decided there wasn’t going to be anything we wouldn’t do,” Russ says. “I love being challenged.

I’m best when there is chaos. When things become routine, I tend to lose interest. When someone would ask me to do something new, I would think to myself, ‘Thank you, I’ve never had that request before.’”

English teacher Mike Feely ’89 says, “If I went to him and said ‘Hey, Russ, there is a nuclear bomb ticking in my classroom and there are only 30 seconds left on the timer; could you take care of

He advanced to production manager and handled commercial accounts, matching colors for major corporations such as Ladisch and Bucyrus-Erie, and managed Easterday’s Racine location until it closed.

Snopek then landed a job as a new car salesman at the Quinlevan Buick Dealership on 35th Street (across from what is now Takton Field) in Milwaukee before eventually leaving to pursue an art career. He sold his watercolor paintings, mostly landscapes and architecture, for about a year, but then “decided it was time to give up my art career and get a real job,” he says.

His dad, Eugene Snopek, who then was the superintendent of buildings and grounds at MUHS and previously served as director of facilities for the St. Francis School District, offered him a job.

In 1981, Russ started at MUHS as the first-shift janitor, which included a wide range of duties. He opened up the building each day and cleaned the cafeteria after lunch with his brother Ron, who

Left: Russ Snopek retired in April after 37 years of service to MUHS. In the background is the crucifix he created for the gym in April 2014.

Above: The MUHS maintenance department in 1985 (left to right) Raphael Delgado, Ron Snopek, Eugene Snopek, Russ Snopek and Rick Christman.

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FEATURES RUSS SNOPEK

that for me?’ I know he would just look at me and say, ‘Well, okay Mike, no problem. We will get that taken care of.’ He just always seemed to approach his job as an adventure and challenge.”

Faculty member Al Taylor, who worked closely with Snopek on setting up the gym and MUHS spaces for athletic games, parent/ teacher conferences and other special events, concurs about his easy-going personality. “No one can ruffle his feathers. Me, I like to go off at the drop of a hat. That’s why we made such a good team,” Taylor says with a big smile.

Kriss Schulz, who worked with Snopek on five renovation projects, explains, “What Russ taught me through it all was patience as he always used his time and energy in a positive way, never negative.

Russ approached his work, like he approaches his life, with curiosity, discovery and wonder. He never got bored, always found a solution and had fun while doing it.”

At the time Snopek assumed his leadership position, Rev. George Winzenburg, SJ ’63, was president and embarking on the AMDG Campaign, a major fundraising effort to modernize the MUHS facilities and increase the school’s scholarship endowment fund.

Snopek’s first major renovation and construction project was the Henke Entrance and addition, which included new administrative offices, counseling center and meeting spaces and the renovated Doerr Library—which was completed in 1994.

After that, the renovation and construction projects kept coming.

During Snopek’s quarter-century tenure, he was involved in three major capital expansions—in 1994, 2008 and 2015; four parking lot expansions; the construction of Quad Park and Takton Field; and the renovation of every space in the 1925 building, including the auditorium, classrooms and converting the third-floor gym into science classrooms.

“When I arrived at MUHS, the 1962 gym and cafeteria were referred to as the ‘new building.’ We had one window air-conditioner

The Franklin, Wis., home that Snopek built with his father in the early 1970s.

42 MUHS Magazine

Using his gifted carpentry skills, Snopek crafted the cross that hangs in Divine Savior Holy Angels’ new gymnasium.

unit in the [main office]. Now, we have 16 HVAC systems throughout the school,” he says. “Every construction project was an opportunity to bring in more technology and update the building.”

Former MUHS Buildings and Grounds Chair Mark Wimmer ’73 worked with Snopek on many of those projects and describes him as “the consummate professional—calm, respectful and diplomatic in all of his interactions. He juggled the demands of shaping and maintaining a challenging building that was home to so many different people who have thrived under its roof—from Jesuits and teachers to generations of alumni, parents and student bodies who all feel invested in the school’s physical space.”

While Snopek enjoyed the challenge of each construction project, he always kept the building’s ultimate purpose top of mind. “Russ understood that he was a steward of those who have gone before us and made those contributions of time, talent and treasure as an investment in the building that serves as a tool in the success of molding the exemplary young men Marquette produces,” Wimmer says.

Sue Smith, former MUHS vice president of administration and now president of Nativity Jesuit Academy in Milwaukee, who worked alongside Snopek on the 1994 expansion and other renovation projects concurs. “Russ is one of those rare people who effortlessly and quietly works on behalf of the mission. He cares so deeply about presenting the best learning environment for students and faculty but also wants everyone else—donors, alumni, board of directors—to feel a sense of pride in the school,” she says. “For Russ, the physical environment is a visual and visible representation of Hilltopper pride.”

But Snopek has a lighter side, sharing his dry sense of humor with colleagues. When asked to share a memorable moment about Snopek, Dan Quesnell ’93, now principal at Divine Savior Holy Angels who worked with him on the 2008 expansion, explains, “One time Russ brought me an article on how to tie a tie,” in response to observing Quesnell’s crooked neckwear. “I appreciated the feedback but still don’t think I tie a tie correctly,” he says.

Regardless of the friendly jab, the relationship between the two evolved from colleagues to friends in part due to an unusual invitation from Quesnell. “One Monday morning in January, I was telling Russ about my Saturday night camping outside under the stars,” Quesnell explains. “I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was interested. Since that day almost ten years ago, Russ has been a regular in the winter camping group,” which includes approximately 30 men camping in Germantown in January and has been featured in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

again, painting and writing—possibly a sequel to his first book, My Science Fiction Autobiography. “I write for my friends and make them the heroes,” he explains. “We are all kind of science nerds from way back when.”

He would also like to spend more time with his family, including his wife, Pat, daughter Allison, and son David, who lives in the area with his wife, Carrie, and their two children.

As he reflects on his time at MUHS, Snopek says he is most proud of the way Marquette High looks today. “I stand on Michigan Street and look at the building and I can’t believe I worked here.

It’s been such a transformative journey.” Although he is quick to add that his time at MUHS “really wasn’t a job. I loved coming into work every day,” he says. “Everyone was always so appreciative.

Every day I felt like I was doing a favor for a friend.”

It was this friendship, and his familiarity with Snopek’s talent, that prompted Quesnell to ask Snopek to create a cross for DSHA’s new gymnasium in April 2015. A year earlier, Snopek had made a cross for the newly renovated MUHS gym at the request of Rev. Tom Manahan, SJ, then director of campus ministry. “I just love making something from nothing. Taking a pile of wood and making it into something special,” Snopek says. “Perhaps I’ll go into the gym crucifix business,” he laughs.

Whether or not he goes into such a niche calling, he says he will keep himself busy. “I just love to keep moving,” Snopek says.

Things on his retirement to-do list include cutting his own lawn

Russ Snopek in 2005.

Russ with his brother Ron, who still works at MUHS. Photo by VIP Photography.

www.MUHS.edu 43

ALUMNI UPDATE

Class notes Evan Bingham ’17 and Sean McGibany ’14

CLASS OF 1937 80TH CLASS REUNION

Frank Collins ’37 and

Jim Spella ’63 has been

Ed Hanlon ’37, the last

named Professional

living graduates of the

Adviser of the Year by

class of 1937, celebrated

the Greater Milwaukee

their 80th class reunion

Foundation. Jim is an

at MUHS with a blessing

attorney with Schloemer

in the chapel, tour of

Law in West Bend, Wis.

the school and lunch in the Cannon Commons,

Bob Teske ’66 delivered

where students gave

the keynote address at

Collins and Hanlon a

the symposium celebrat-

standing ovation.

ing the 50th anniversary of the founding of the

Fred Keller ’50 was

Folklore and Mythology

honored at the grand

program at Harvard

opening of the Fred H.

University.

Keller History Museum, located on the second

Charlie Powell ’70

floor of the Sussex Civic

competed in the World

Center. The museum

Master's Athletic Champ-

displays Kellers’s extensive

ionships in Daegu, South

collection of Sussex-

Korea, and took sixth

and Lisbon-area historical

place in M65 60-meter

Ed Hanlon ’37 (left) and Frank Collins ’37, the only two classmates

artifacts, which he has

dash and the M65 200-

alive from the Class of 1937, returned to MUHS in May to celebrate

been collecting since he

meter dash. He lives in

their 80th class reunion.

was 14 years old.

Casper, Wyo., practicing psychology and serving

Their special reunion started with a blessing in the chapel by Rev. Thomas Manahan, SJ, then a tour of the school and finished with lunch in the Cannon Commons. The juniors and seniors gave Hanlon and Collins a much-deserved standing ovation.

Photo by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Rick Wood.

44 MUHS Magazine

Gerald Dorff ’56 is

on the Casper City

semiretired and teaches

Counsel.

part time for the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Mark Wysocki ’71 is a senior lecturer in the

James Kolata ’60 is

Earth and Atmospheric

professor emeritus of

Sciences department

physics at the University

at Cornell University. He

of Notre Dame. He wrote

received the American

the book, Elementary

Meteorological Society’s

Cosmology: From

2017 Edward N. Lorenz

Aristotle’s Universe

Teaching Excellence

to the Big Bang and

Award for outstanding

Beyond.

teaching and mentoring.

David Murkowski ’75

Mike Silber ’77 celebrated

of five faculty honored at

Brian Tobin ’84 is a

chemical, life science

is the chief judge of the

40 years of running the

the school’s annual Père

senior client partner at

and biotechnology

Kent County (Mich.)

Leprechaun Lounge in

Marquette Dinner in May

Korn Ferry, a business

company, and lives in

probate court and presi-

Milwaukee with his wife,

and received the faculty’s

consulting firm in

St. Louis.

dent of the Michigan

Shelly. The couple lives

highest honor, the Teach-

downtown Chicago.

Probate Judges Associa-

in Brookfield, Wis.

ing Excellence Award.

tion for the 2017 term.

Mark Stecklein ’89 Joe Horning ’87 is

married Kristen Johnson on Nov. 4, 2016.

He and his wife, Diane

Mark Steinhafel ’79 swims

Chris Cafaro ’84 took

president of Shorewest

Goller, live in East Grand

for Wisconsin Masters

Benedictine monastic

Realtors and has been

Rapids, Mich.

Swimming and his state

vows and is now known

elected chairman of

Daniel Finerty ’90 is a

record-setting relay

as Brother Damien.

the Leading Real Estate

partner with Lindner and

Companies of the World,

Marsack, a labor and employment law office.

Hugh Dugan ’77 is a

gained All-American

contributor on FOX News

status this year. In April

Michael Gratz ’84 serves

a conglomeration

and China TV on inter-

he competed in the U.S.

on the St. Paul University

of more than 500 real

national affairs topics.

Masters National Cham-

Catholic Foundation

estate firms.

He served as a U.S. diplo-

pionships in Riverside,

Board of Directors, cur-

mat at the United Nations

Calif., in the 55–59 age

rently overseeing the

Tom Wengelewski ’88

the Colorado Geological

from 1989 to 2015.

group. He finished second

building of a new church

is director of human

Survey at the Colorado

in the 100 freestyle, sixth in

and student center at

resources for the Hyatt

School of Mines. He

John Novotny ’77 is

the 50 butterfly, eighth in

UW–Madison. He is a

Regency Milwaukee

has served 20 years at

the director of Law

the 50 freestyle and also

founding shareholder of

hotel.

the Colorado Geological

School Advancement at

medaled in three relays.

the intellectual property

Matthew Morgan ’92 is the deputy director of

Survey.

law firm of Boyle Fred-

Joshua Wetzel ’88

In June he received the

Tim McMahon ’83 is an

rickson S.C. in Milwaukee.

is manager of North

Chris Teske ’93 is an

2017 Excellence in

associate professor

He, his wife, Renee,

American Server

attorney and partner at

University Service Award

of history at Marquette

and their seven children

Operations for Millipore-

Gieger, Laborde, &

from MU.

University. He was one

live in New Berlin, Wis.

Sigma, an American

Laperouse in New Orleans.

Marquette University.

Left to right: Elementary Cosmology: From Aristotle’s Universe to the Big Bang and Beyond

by James Kolata ’60 Brian Tobin ’84 (left) and Joe Witzel ’84 in Krakow, Poland.

Kristen Johnson and Mark Stecklein ‘89

www.MUHS.edu 45

ALUMNI UPDATE

Class Notes continued

Stephen Dries ’94 serves

Francisco with his wife,

tecture at Apple, testing

of Recruit Class 82 in

Milwaukee in the College

as clerk of court of

Amanda, and their

features across multiple

January.

of Nursing. He, his wife,

the Eastern District of

four children.

software platforms.

Wisconsin.

Chizu, and three-year-old Michael Puskarich ’99

daughter, Nanami, live in Wauwatosa, Wis.

John Daniels III ’95 is a

Brian Butler ’99 is

is an assistant professor

Chris Sosnay ’94 is

director at A.L.I.V.E., Inc,

a physical therapist at

and research director

the director of develop-

an organization fostering

Children’s Hospital of

of emergency medicine

Mike Maher ’00 is a

ment at St. Augustine

a variety of achievement

Wisconsin and served as

at the University of

professional trumpeter

Preparatory Academy,

skills for youngsters

clinical instructor to

Mississippi Medical Center.

and won his third Grammy

a new K4–12 non-

in business, arts, profes-

newly certified physical

He and his spouse,

Award in February as

denominational Christian

sional development and

therapist Collin Weyer ’10.

Maren, announced the

a member of jazz group

school in Milwaukee.

educational attainment.

birth of their fourth son,

Snarky Puppy.

He was named to The

David R. Frank ’99

Elliot Michael Puskarich,

Colin Danaher ’95 is

Milwaukee Business

is president and CFO of

born on Nov. 16, 2016.

a member of the United

Journal 40 Under 40 list.

David J. Frank Land-

States Adult Soccer

Anthony Anderson ’01 and fellow Iraq veteran

scape Contracting Inc.

Steven DeVougas ’00

Tom Voss are featured

Association national

Bryan Davis ’97 was

He coached the Hill-

is a products liability

in the documentary,

amateur championship

voted Horizon Soccer

toppers tennis team to

and commercial litigation

Almost Sunrise. The film

soccer team and com-

League Coach of

its third-straight state

attorney, who was

tells the story of their

peted in the World

the Year. He is the head

championship in June.

named to The Milwaukee

2,700-mile cross-country

Masters Games in Auck-

soccer coach at Wright

Business Journal 40

hike to find healing

land, New Zealand, in

State in Dayton, Ohio.

under 40 list.

and raise awareness

April and May of 2017.

Charles Laskey-Castle ’99 is a deputy sheriff at

about PTSD.

He is an officer and

Chris Weigert ’97 works

the Milwaukee County

Tim Kalmer ’00 is a

director of enterprise

on the Embedded Soft-

Sheriff’s Office. He and

registered nurse and

sales for Glassdoor,

ware Quality Assurance

Daniel Rivera ’01 were

nurse practitioner

Inc. and resides in San

team for Security Archi-

sworn in as members

and teaches at UW–

Left: The San Francisco Olympic Club over 30 USASA National Amateur Champion Soccer Team. Colin Danaher ’95 is kneeling, third from the right.

Right, top to bottom: Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin physical therapists (left to right) Robert Hofschulte ’07, Brian Butler ’99 and Colin Weyer ’10 Elliot Michael Puskarich

46 MUHS Magazine

I WANT YOU TO HELP US SEAT THE

CLASS OF 2022!

WORD-OF-MOUTH ADVERTISING IS VALUABLE TO MARQUETTE HIGH. How you can help…

1. Encourage ambitious young men to consider MUHS 2. Share the admissions referral code – MUHS 2022 – to waive the application fee 3. Register as an Admissions Liaison at muhs.edu/AL Opportunities include: • Place an Open House Sign in your yard • Volunteer at an admissions event

• Host an event at your business or home • Participate in our video project

www.MUHS.edu 47

ALUMNI UPDATE

Class Notes continued

Davin Fischer ’01

Kaiser Permanente, an

Joe Schmidt ’03

Francis Beaumier ’05

in Menomonee Falls

is an assistant regional

integrated managed care

was awarded the Next

is an IT librarian at

and Oak Creek, Wis.

security officer for the

consortium, based in

Generation Leadership

Brown County Library.

U.S. Consulate Jeddah,

Oakland, Calif. He previ-

Award by the Milwaukee

He earned his master’s

Ira Madison III ’04

Saudi Arabia. He was

ously was senior advisor

Biz Times for his work as

degree in liberal studies

is an entertainment

appointed to the position

in the office of U.S.

board president of the

from St. Norbert College.

reporter for the

after concluding

Department of Health

Building2Learn Consor-

his nine-year military

and Human Services

tium, a program designed

Michael Klein ’05 is

publication The

service, leaving the

to Secretary Sylvia M.

to give Milwaukee-area

a real estate developer

Daily Beast.

U.S. Army National

Burwell.

students STEM educa-

and owner of Klein

tion experience.

Development. He was

Dan O'Neil ’06 is general

named to The Milwaukee

manager of the Hughes

Guard as a captain. He,

digital pop-culture

his wife, Kate, and their

Charlie Weber ’02 is a

three daughters live

senior development

Tim Janusz ’04 and

Business Journal 40

Supply branch of

in Saudi Arabia.

officer with the American

his spouse, Teresa,

Under 40 list.

Hajoca Corporation in

Red Cross in Milwaukee.

announced the birth

Daniel Rivera ’01 is

He and his spouse,

of their son, William

Greg Papachristou ’05

a deputy sheriff at the

Maggie, announced the

Timothy Janusz, born

and his spouse, Diana,

Christopher Colla ’07

Milwaukee County

birth of their son,

on February 2, 2017.

announce the birth of

works in the Fraud

Sheriff’s Office. He and

Max Weber, born on

their daughter, Sophia

Investigation and

Charles Laskey-Castle

Jan. 18, 2017.

Kevin Konieczka ’04

Papachristou, on Jan.

Dispute Services group

and his spouse, Jane,

9, 2017.

for the accounting firm

’99 were sworn in

Cottonwood, Ariz.

as members of Recruit

Scott Detrow ’03 is a

announced the birth

Class 82 in January.

congressional reporter for

of their son, Benjamin

Gino Gaglianello ’06

Chicago. He married

NPR. He recently spoke

Michael Konieczka,

owns and operates

Elizabeth Cornillie

Christopher Kriva ’02

to members of the Rotary

born on July 10, 2016.

Three Cellars, a wine

at Church of the Gesu,

serves as government

Club of Milwaukee about

and craft beer shop and

Milwaukee on Aug,

relations counsel at

his experience.

lounge, with locations

27, 2016.

Top, left to right: Rev. Michael Marco, SJ and Steven DeVougas ’00

Bottom, left to right: The Papachristou family: Diana, Greg ’05 and baby Sophia.

William Timothy Janusz

Benjamin Michael Konieczka

Class of 2004 members at the MUHS TopperLinks event at Miller Park (left to right) Shae McNamara ’04, Hunter Felknor ’04, Milwaukee Brewers General Manager David Stearns, Ed Sisulak ’04, Milwaukee Brewers Broadcaster Lane Grindle and Andy Herbers ’04.

Michael Klein ’05 with Rev. Michael Marco, SJ at The Milwaukee Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 awards event.

48 MUHS Magazine

Ernst & Young in

Tessa “Tess” Walczak

David Grzesiak ’07 plays

the March for Life and

Trek Bicycle Corporation.

humanities from the

Seamus Caragher ’12

for the USA Revolution,

his time with the MUHS

He married Rebecca

University of Chicago.

has been named a 2017

the men’s national All-

Hilltoppers Defending

Cooley on Sept. 3, 2016.

Star Australian Rules

Life club.

The couple lives in

John LoCoco ’10

of only 40 winners of

Madison, Wis.

is a seminarian studying

the postgraduate award

Football team.

Mike Walczak ’07 and his

Marshall Scholar, one

at the Pontifical North

across the country, and

Robert Hofschulte ’07

spouse, Katie, announced

Frank Cummins ’09

American College

will research and study

is a full-time therapist at

the birth of their daughter

married Sarah Acker

in Rome.

new therapies for brain

Children’s Hospital

Tessa “Tess,” born on

at Church of the Gesu,

of Wisconsin, where he

Nov. 5, 2016.

Milwaukee on Sept.

Marcus Trotter ’10 and

two years in the United

17, 2016.

Dare Ogunbowale ’12

Kingdom. He earned

were featured in the

his bachelor’s degree in

works alongside Brian Butler ’99.

Tyler Jones ’08 plays

cancer over the next

for the Arizona Diamond-

John Day ’09 graduated

book Walk-On This Way:

neurobiology from

Philip LaRosa ’07 is a

backs and was selected

cum laude from Mid-

The On-Going Legacy of

Georgetown University.

traffic engineer at Traffic

by the team in the MLB

western University with

the Wisconsin Football

Planning and Design,

Rule 5 draft.

a doctor of pharmacy

Walk-On Program, which

Paul Glembocki ’12

degree and is now com-

covers stories about

has joined the 2017–18

Joe Poirier ’08 is a

pleting his residency

players from 25 years

Alumni Service Corps

reporter at the Ozaukee

at Ascension Health,

of Badger football.

at MUHS.

Matthew Von Rueden ’07

Press. He was previously

St. Joseph Hospital in

is the development

a reporter at the Catholic

Milwaukee.

Collin Weyer ’10

Jack McCarthy ’13 sold

director for Pro-Life

Herald.

received his certification

his online ugly Christmas

Inc. He and his wife, Anna, live in Pittsburgh.

Will Loder ’09 is the

as a psysical therapist.

sweater business,

he was featured in the

Eddy Cevilla ’09 is the

annual-fund manager for

Brian Butler ’99 served

UltimateUglyChristmas.

Catholic Herald about

communications manager

the Milwaukee Symphony

as his clinical instructor

com, to Ragstock and

his pro-life advocacy,

for Ascend, a software

Orchestra, and holds

at Children’s Hospital

its website TheSweater-

including experiences in

company owned by

a master’s degree in

of Wisconsin.

Store.com

Left: Marquette High Class of 2007 alumni attending the wedding of Christopher Colla ’07 and Elizabeth Cornillie: first row (left to right): Stephen Jordan, Andrew Janusz, Elizabeth Cornillie, Michael Erato and Kevin Schmidt. Second row: Philip LaRosa, Christopher Colla and Brandon Nisiewicz (blue blazer). Back row: Brian Falk, Sam Warmuth, William McCormick, Kyle Jaroszewski, Ben Uhen, Robert Hofschulte and Joshua Christmas.

Right, top to bottom: Eddy Cevilla ’09 and Rebecca Cooley

Wisconsin. In January,

John Day ’09 on graduation day from Midwestern University Chicago College of Pharmacy with his parents Holly and Tim Day and Stephanie Deiker.

www.MUHS.edu 49

ALUMNI UPDATE

Class Notes continued

Mark Spelman ’12

sustainable systems

Tom Enright ’13, TJ

University in May with

integrated life sciences.

was signed on as a

from the University of

Novotny ’13, Robert

a bachelor’s degree in

He finished his first

rookie free agent to the

Minnesota and was

Roenitz ’13 and Matthew

business administration.

year at Northeastern Ohio

Tennessee Titans.

awarded second place in

Scott ’13 have joined the

He will attend Creighton

Medical University as

the 2017 Department

2017–18 Alumni Service

Law School in the fall.

part of an accelerated

Matt Dries ’13 is residen-

of Energy Race to Zero

Corps at MUHS.

tial energy consultant for

attached housing

Simple Energy Testing

category for his zero-

in Minneapolis. He earned

energy housing design.

his bachelor’s degree in

six-year BS-MD proGabriel Langley ’13 was

gram, which he applied

Nick Handrich ’13

one of 50 from a gradu-

to from high school.

graduated summa cum

ating class of 5,900 to be

laude from Creighton

recognized as a Presi-

Kevin Mikolajczak ’15

dential Scholar in Aviation

was awarded the

Sciences at Western

Provost’s Award at

Michigan University. He

Bradley University, and

earned his bachelor’s

also received awards

degree in aviation man-

in Academic Excel-

agement and operations

lence in Web and User

and now works as

Interface Design, Applied

an aviation planner at

Excellence in Web and

Crawford, Murphy &

User Interface Design,

Tilly, Inc.

and Applied Excelled in

MAKE A DECISION TODAY TO CREATE A BETTER TOMORROW

Theatrical Design.

Joseph Puchner ’13 earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from the University of Dallas.

In the fall he begins his master’s degree in Modern European Studies at Columbia University.

Kathy and Dennis ’74 Pollard are deeply grateful for how the MUHS experience has influenced three generations of their family, including Kathy’s dad John Unger ’47 and their sons David ’97, Kevin ’01 and Kyle ’06. That’s why they decided to join others in the Manresa Society— a group of people, who while providing for their loved ones, have remembered MUHS with a planned gift. To learn more about Marquette High’s Manresa Society and your planned giving options, please contact John Thimmesch ’77, vice president of development at

Will Skalmoski ’13 works for Sony/ATV Music Publishing in its Artist and Repertoire department after graduating summa cum laude from Syracuse University.

He lives in New York City.

414-933-7220 or thimmesch@muhs.edu.

Nathan Anonuevo ’14 Above: Three generations of Hilltoppers at Marquette High’s 2006 Commencement

graduated summa

Ceremony (left to right): Kevin Pollard ’01, Dennis Pollard ’74, Kyle Pollard ’06,

cum laude from Kent

John Unger ’47 and David Pollard ’97.

State University with a bachelor’s degree in

50 MUHS Magazine

May they rest in peace We extend our sincerest sympathy to the families of the alumni listed here and to any alumni who have lost a loved one.

Russell B. Ehlers ’47 March 3, 2017

James M. Cerletty ’51 Thomas P. Ward ’57 March 12, 2017 December 9, 2016

John D. Dudek ’75 December 7, 2016

James R. Jordan ’47 April 9, 2017

Robert P. Crowley, Jr. ’51 Gary J. Kossow ’58 May 2, 2017 March 7, 2017

Louis M. Teresi ’76 April 26, 2017

Robert A. Stemper ’37 December 19, 2016

James H. Mallon, Jr. ’47 November 29, 2016

James J. Reed ’51 Frank J. Stiglich ’60 May 24, 2017 March 6, 2017

Stephen E. Girard ’80 May 19, 2017

John R. Hayes ’40 November 30, 2016

Robert G. Smith Jr. ’47 June 29, 2017

David A. Rodenkirk ’51 John D. Fobian ’61 April 7, 2017 February 12, 2017

Daniel J. Reardon ’84 April 19, 2017

Richard P. Brefka ’41 February 3, 2017

Wallace M. Borowski ’48 James P. Hagen ’52 John D. Renzel ’61 November 30, 2016 March 10, 2017 February 26, 2017

Eugene J. Scholler ’41 January 31, 2017

Jerome A. Frederick ’48 April 11, 2017

William Hargarten, Jr. ’42 Michael T. Jaekels ’48 February 15, 2017 May 21, 2017

Daniel D. Floyd ’90 May 12, 2017

Harold T. Wendler ’52 Todd J. Bruett ’61 April 29, 2017 December 26, 2016 John G. LeMieux ’53 Rev. Anthony J. Kuzniewski, SJ ’62 May 1, 2017 December 19, 2016

Robert J. Johanek ’43 January 14, 2017

Dennis J. Saffert ’48 March 19, 2017

James P. O'Neill ’53 December 19, 2016

Edward R. Ryan ’43 January 7, 2017

Allen D. Beuth ’49 January 20, 2017

Robert H. Raab ’54 Peter J. Holzhauer ’63 November 25, 2016 January 5, 2017

Richard T. Schmidt ’44 April 11, 2017

John T. Harrington ’49 March 25, 2017

Thomas C. Banker ’56 E. James Brabant ’64 February 20, 2017 January 11, 2017

Thomas J. Duffey ’45 December 18, 2016

James T. Verfurth ’49 April 8, 2017

Richard W. Herzfeld ’56 Dennis J. Franecki ’64 February 10, 2017 December 29, 2016

Daniel B. Roark ’45 March 6, 2017

John A. Walker ’49 May 22, 2017

Joseph G. Karius ’56 Peter R. Stamm ’66 December 15, 2016 March 19, 2017

John D. Gleason ’46 May 13, 2017

James B. Harrington ’50 November 18, 2016

Carl N. Mueller ’56 Michael P. Szyper ’66 February 9, 2017 April 11, 2017

R. William Schaefer ’46 April 2, 2017

George R. Schimmel ’50 December 16, 2016

Tucker Schoenecker ’56 Robert W. Schneiger ’67 January 23, 2017 January 15, 2017

Robert W. Weber ’46 June 7, 2017

John A. Schloegel ’50 November 12, 2016

Robert A. Wodushek ’56 May 22, 2017

Paul M. Bauer ’63 February 15, 2017

www.MUHS.edu 51

THEN AND NOW

Topper Pat Foran ’78 and Mike Feely ’89

Although the school’s nickname Hilltoppers dates back to the 1880s when Marquette Academy (the precursor to MUHS) was located on the hilltop of 10th and State streets, Marquette High’s mascot, Topper, didn’t make his debut until the mid-20th century.

Topper first appeared in the 1959 Flambeau yearbook as a Marquette High cheerleader sporting a goat’s head at the 1958 football game against then-rival Don Bosco High School. A few years later, Topper appears at Marquette Stadium (now the location of Quad Park) in the form of a live goat thanks again to spirited MUHS cheerleaders.

Former beloved math teacher and book store manager Dan Lazowski took a different interpretation of Hilltopper and, in the early 1980s, stocked the Topper Shop with school supplies, bags and clothing emblazoned with a ram resembling a mountain climber replete with lederhosen, suspenders and a climbing tool. Around the same time, social studies teacher Warren Smith and the spirit homeroom purchased the school’s first ram suit.

Over the years, the school would purchase a few more mascots before introducing a blue-hued Topper during the 2013–14 school year. A photo of the then-new Topper was posted on Facebook. However, Hilltopper Nation’s outcry, which included numerous references to the “smurf with horns” and the “Ron Burgundy inspired mascot,” was so loud that this Topper made sparse appearances before officially being retired at the end of the 2015–16 school year.

Marquette High’s current Topper entered the scene in the fall of 2016 and was featured at Open House, the Milwaukee Alumni Reception and various athletic games as well as starring in an admissions video.

Top: Cheerleader John Smith ’59 wears a goat’s head to the 1958 football game against Don Bosco High School.

Middle: The 1962 Homecoming parade included floats and a live goat.

Bottom left: Topper shooting hoops in 1982.

Bottom right: A blue Topper was introduced during the 2013–14 school year but was quickly retired due to outcry by the MUHS community.

Opposite: Marquette High’s current Topper, who was introduced in the fall of 2016, enjoys his regular workouts in the Noack Strength and Fitness Center. Photo by VIP Photography.

52 MUHS Magazine

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