The Review
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The Official Student Newspaper of St. John’s School 2401 Claremont Lane; Houston, TX 77019 | http://sjsreview.net | review@sjs.org
Vol. 58, Issue 1
August 2006
SJS to celebrate 60th birthday
Year-long festivities are planned
KATHERINE KELLEY | The Review
By EMILY FOXHALL Typically, when adults climb “over the hill,” they minimize birthday celebrations to prevent others from discovering their true ages. However, SJS is proud to announce its 60th birthday. A 60th celebration steering committee comprised of both faculty and alumni has planned many celebratory and commemorative events for the 2006-2007 school year to ensure this benchmark in the school’s history will not go ignored. Last spring, Alumni Coordinator Sarah Bernard began contem-
plating ways to make the school’s 60th birthday especially memorable. “I just sort of brainstormed and came up with some big picture plans of what I thought would be fun for alumni, faculty and current students and parents,” Ms. Bernard said. “I came up with this laundry list of things that I thought would be great and fun to do and would meet all the different needs of the different groups.” The 60th celebration steering committee was assembled to help plan the birthday events. This nine-person team proceeded
See BIRTHDAY on p. 2
KATHERINE KELLEY | The Review
Above: 60th birthday banner hanging in the Quadrangle; Right: Vincent Lujan (‘08) using a 60th birthday pen in Trammell Commons.
Maverick football sets sights on SPC championship Dean alig outlines goals for the new school year
By LEEOR MUSHIN After the 28-12 victory over Kinkaid at Rice Stadium last October, the SJS varsity football team is trying to overcome a lack of experience—not only to stop the recent curse of only beating Kinkaid every three years but also to compete for a Southwest Preparatory Conference Championship. “[Only winning every three years] really has been interesting to see,” Head Coach Steve Gleaves said. “It was talked about before, but after it happened last year, people made a big deal about. Hopefully this year KATHERINE CARMICHAEL | The Review we can make it back-to-back.” Will Ytterberg (‘08) and Coach Doug Sharp during a scrimmage. The other rival, Episcopal High School, comes to play the last year’s game against [Episco- thing Coach Gleaves will alMavericks at Skip Lee Field in pal], we played well the first half low the Mavericks to take adSeptember in the first SPC con- as we were only losing by a field vantage of, especially in their ference game, which has added goal, and despite that we were first game against the Knights. “[Playing at home] is defito the already-brewing rivalry. moving the ball well, but after “With Kinkaid it’s more of the fumbled snap and punt they nitely an advantage,” Coach a traditional rivalry, but with kept marching down the field… Gleaves said. “First of all, you Episcopal, it’s definitely more It was a case of wanting it [so] bad have tradition and things like heated,” Coach Gleaves said. “In that we didn’t let the game flow.” Home field advantage is some- See FOOTBALL on p. 10
Index
News.................................2 Features............................6 Photo Spread....................8 Sports..............................10 Opinions.........................12 A&E................................14 Odds&Ends....................16
By JUSTIN STEIN If you walk into new Dean of Students Dan Alig’s office, the stacks of colored flashcards with students’ pictures and names on them will certainly catch your eye. The flashcards, Dean Alig said, are just one of the methods he’s using to get to know the Upper School student body as the semester kicks off. As large as a task as the memorization is, being able to match the names and faces of over 500 SJS students is just one of the things that keeping Dean Alig busy these days. Aside from his duties as Dean of Students this year, he’s also juggling his college counseling duties and personal life. “I kind of wrap the personal in with the business when I think about my goals for the year,” Dean Alig said. In addi-
page 3
See DEAN on p. 2
Community reacts to new uniform policies. See page 5.
New faces on campus Opposing views Read about the new faculty members on campus this fall like Ms. Henderson, the new Foreign Language Department Head.
tion to trying to “foster a community of respect” at SJS, helping his “26 college counselees find the right college matches” and making “this place beyond the classroom as rich as [he] possibly can,” Dean Alig is also looking to keep his wife happy and run 30 miles a week. Professionally, one of the most important goals Dean Alig has deals with respect, a topic both Headmaster John Allman and Head of the Upper School Kef Wilson have touched on since school began on August 16. “When I talk about respect, I’m talking about student respect for faculty, student respect for each other and student respect for staff. I’m also talking about faculty and staff respect for students. I think that’s all about the
Did the North Campus construction ultimately benefit students? Read what two staffers have to say.
page 13
Johnnycake preview One writer takes a look at what the school’s oldest organization has in store for the school year.
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