PN 73-26

Volume LXXIII

“If nothing else, value the truth”

St. Louis University High School, Friday, APRIL 17, 2009

Tuition increases to $11,750 Increase kept to 5.38%

Luke Chellis Core Staff

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he Board of Trustees has announced a 5.38 percent tuition increase for next year, raising the cost $600 to $11,750.

Although next year’s tuition holds to the trend of annual increase, the 5.38 percent hike is the lowest in at least 14 years. (1995-96 is the last consecutive year the Prep News has a figure).

The only year in that span that the increase was even in the fives was from 1996 to 1997 with 5.76 percent. This raise is also a third lower than the 14-year average of

8.03 percent.

“We will in all likelihood have an increase every year because our costs are going to go up every year,” said Vice President of Administration Michael Leary.

According to a letter President David Laughlin mailed to parents on March 17, tuition revenue covers the largest part of the budget each year. The Budget and Finance Committee projects the actual cost per student next year to be $15,250.

The remaining piece of the pie necessary to offset yearly costs is provided primarily

see 11.75K, 11

Cashbah raises record $560k

Matt Bettonville Core Staff

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ver 800 benefactors followed the red carpet to a Silver Screen Salute to Cashbah on April 4. The 40th anniversary Cashbah scored its largest net gain in its history at $560,000, despite the shaky economic climate.

“It’s a tremendous success, especially in light of the difficult economic time,” said President David Laughlin. “It’s really a tribute to our benefactors and a lot of people’s hard work and dedication.”

“If there was a recession going on, it wasn’t in that room that night,” said Cashbah co-chair Kate Hagan. “People were very generous.”

The highest selling item of the night was the weeklong stay at a Dominican Republic villa, which sold for $25,000. Other hot items included three dogs selling for over $2,000 each, a Utah ski trip that sold for $8,500, an All-Star game package that sold for $3,600, and a pew from a past SLUH chapel that sold for $5,000.

The Fund-A-Need campaign, a part of the auction during which Laughlin asks for outright donations, brought in over $150,000. SLUH’s Board of Trustees privately accounted for about half that total.

Hagan said that many schools’ Fund-A-

photo by zac boesch

President Dave Laughlin receives the winning ticket in th President’s raffle from Cashbah co-chair Nancy Guilfoy and points out the prize is totally tax deductible if given back to SLUH.

see 506K, 11

Issue 26

photo by CONOR BLANQUART

Junior James Fister addresses his classmates during his campaign speech Wednesday. Fister will head up STUCO’s pastoral department next year.

Junior class elects new STUCO

Eric Lewis Reporter

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he St. Louis U. High class of 2010 chose its STUCO executive board and class representatives in elections that took place on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Next year’s executive board will consist of Student Body President Kevin Mueller, Executive Vice President Tim O’Brien, Vice President for Pastoral Activities James Fister, Vice President for School Spirit Dane Stole, Vice President for Public Relations Jake Fechter, and Treasurer Ryan Bedell. The elections drew a high voter turnout, with 201 of over 260 juniors casting ballots.

“I’ve been lucky enough to watch my predecessors on STUCO closely,” said Mueller, who has served as class president for the past three years, “and they have set the bar really high for us next year.” Mueller is un-

see 2.01K, 10

News April 17, 2009 SLUH undergoes North Central accreditation

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Conor Gearin Core Staff

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ollowing a five-year process of selfstudy conducted by the faculty and administration, a group from the North Central Association, an organization with a long history of school accreditation, visited St. Louis U. High this week. The accreditation group was made up of seven area educators and one education improvement specialist from Kansas City.

The process of accreditation began six years ago with a self-study, led by English teacher Chuck Hussung, who was chair of the steering committee for the program. Hussung worked closely with former Principal Mary Schenkenberg.

First, the foundational documents committee was formed to re-write the school mission statement now framed in all of SLUH’s classrooms. To evaluate how well the school lived out its Jesuit vision of education, the committee looked at the school’s Graduate at Graduation document and 20/20 Vision, a document from the Jesuit Secondary Education Association looking at Jesuit pedagogy in the 21st century.

After various surveys, the faculty se-

Patrick O’Leary Staff

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lected three target areas to work on: student oral performance in class, negative cultural influences on school students, and economic and racial diversity. Juniors were surveyed on their opinions and experience with these issues in the fall of 2005.

Last October, this year’s junior class was surveyed to observe the change in data, since the juniors had been at SLUH for nine quarters of the self-study and the process of implemented changes. Hussung said that there were significant changes in data in many areas, most of them for the better. He said that one of the most evident changes students can see today is the increase in development of oral communication in class.

“You’ve probably seen more presentations (by students in class) than you would have if (we) had not chosen to work on that,” Hussung said.

The committee had seven key standards with which to evaluate SLUH: vision and purpose, governance and leadership, teaching and learning, documenting and using results, resources and support systems, stakeholder communication and relationships, and commitment to continuous improvement. Each accreditation committee member took on a specific standard for his

or her personal investigation. This investigation began Wednesday morning, when the committee experienced SLUH first-hand by “seeing the facility, visiting classes, talking to people, seeing what the place looks like in operation,” according to Academic Assistant Principal Mark Michalski.

Ellen Nelson from the Center for School Reform in Kansas City focused on teaching and learning. She said that this entails finding out how students are learning, teaching strategies that teachers are using, and the resources available for learning. Nelson, like other committee members, toured the school during activity period, observing clubs and organizations in session and students studying in the library or hanging out in the cafeteria. Nelson said that from her work in the public school system, she “come(s) with a little bit different (perspective)” than the other committee members.

Marilyn Telowitz, an English teacher and Academic Dean from Trinity Catholic High in North County sat in on SLUH English classes. While observing David Callon’s sophomore class, which divided into small groups analyzing the tone of a passage of Plainsong, Telowitz chatted with Callon

As of Thursday afternoon, the basketball tournament includes 14 teams. The tournament will be held in the gym with portable outdoor nets, due to the removal of the indoor hanging ones. The prizes for the winners are usually DVDs from Best Buy, but the prizes may be limited due to the shortage of teams.

There will be six televisions set up for the video games in the Danis Lobby. According to Sophomore Class Pastoral Representative Phil Nahlik, STUCO hopes to have a Wii, an Xbox 360, and possibly a Nintendo 64.

Games might include Halo, FIFA, Guitar Hero, and Wii Sports.

The National Honor Society (NHS) will be hosting a barbeque during the day with burgers for two dollars each, hot dogs and bottles of water for a dollar each, and soda for fifty cents per can. The prices of the food may vary due to the purchasing price for NHS. According to NHS moderator Lauren

Block, the proceeds from the lunch will go to charity.

STUCO moderator David Barton said that he hopes the day will have a huge turnout. He noted that many sports teams have some sort of conflict on Saturday, which may hurt attendence. Barton also stressed making smart decisions before attending as there will be breathalyzers at the mixer.

Nahlik seemed excited about the t-shirts that STUCO will be selling at the event and perhaps during both lunch periods today, depending on the arrival of the shirts. The tees say “Lollapasluhza” on the front in all caps and various band names—combinations of teachers’ names and famous bands—on the back. Examples of such names include Moran Moran, Slip Chott, Ozzie Osburg, and Toby Keefe.

Spring Fling will occur regardless of weather. If it is raining, the event will be moved inside, not canceled.

see ACCREDITATE, 11

Lollapasluhza set for Saturday

he Student Council (STUCO) will host its annual Spring Fling­—a compilation of music, food, and fun—this Saturday during the day followed by a mixer nightcap.

This year Spring Fling is called Lollapasluhza and will be held on the upper field, in the gym, and in the Danis Lobby, with the mixer in the gym. The day’s events, held from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. will be free, except for the $7 registration fee for the 3-on-3 basketball tournament. The mixer, held from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m. also costs $7.

The many enjoyable activities include the traditional basketball tournament, bashball and soccer games in the stadium, video games in the Danis Lobby, and bands performing on the upper field, including Tuxedo Park and senior Jack Leahy soloing on keyboard.

April 17, 2009

News

Dauphin Players present All in the Timing; six one-acts are student-directed, designed

Pat Lynch Core Staff

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t. Louis U. High’s Dauphin Players final performance of the year is the comedy All in the Timing, a series of six one-act plays written by David Ives. Unlike previous productions, though, next weekend’s plays will be directed and designed by students. Seniors Andy Frank, Jack Erbs, and Andrew Fowler are directing two plays each.

Frank directs “Words, Words, Words” and “The Philadelphia.” “Words, Words, Words” is about three intelligent monkeys, played by Frank and juniors Andrew Kreysman and Kevin Kickham. The monkeys are part of an experiment by a Dr. Rosenbaum to see if three monkeys can eventually write Hamlet. Throughout the play the monkeys converse with each other and the audience is invited to explore the personalities of the three monkeys, which are named after authors Franz Kafka, John Milton, and Jonathan Swift.

“The Philadelphia” tells the story of two friends in a restaurant, played by seniors Mark Holzum and Pete Winfrey. One

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of the friends, named Mark (Holzum) has run into a series of bad luck. His friend Al (Winfrey) says that he’s in a “Philadelphia,” a metaphysical state in which, when you ask for something, you will either be met with a blank stare from someone who has never heard of the requested item before or given the complete opposite. The key for Mark is to use reverse psychology to get what he wants and reach some other city’s state of being. Nerinx Hall junior Abby Dryden plays a waitress in a supporting role.

Frank said directing for the first time was a “really good experience.” He found that it “helped me as an actor, getting to work on other aspects of the show,” and that it was a “challenge in different ways.” In terms of a style of directing, Frank tried to “make the atmosphere fun,” while still “expect(ing) a lot from the actors and a lot from myself as a director.”

Fowler directs the pieces “The Universal Language” and “The Variations on the Death of Trotsky.” “The Universal Language” is about a girl, played by Nerinx Hall junior Julia Sinks, who attempts to learn the language of Unamunda, the universal language

of the world. She tries to learn the language from Don, played by Winfrey.

“The Variations on the Death of Trotsky” tells the death of Leon Trotsky (Erbs) in various ways. It is divided into eight scenes which depict Trotsky’s last day on earth.

The play calls for Trotsky’s death at the end of each scene and then continues on from near where the last scene left off, usually progressing the story further each time.

Throughout the performance, Trotsky is seen with a mountain-climber’s axe sticking out of his skull. Sinks plays Trotsky’s wife while Kreysman plays the gardner.

Fowler admitted that he “didn’t know what to expect” in terms of directing two one-act plays, but that he has had “lots of fun being in a new role.” In terms of the challenge of directing such eccentric pieces, Fowler says that he just needed to “let go of trying to make them realistic.”

Erbs, the final director of the trio, directs “The Sure Thing” and “Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread.” “The Sure Thing” is a story about two people (Holzum and Dryden) who meet at a bar and start a conversation.

when a member of his staff with whom he is having an affair dies under suspicious circumstances, being hit by an oncoming subway train. The media is quick to call her death an accident, even a suicide. McAffrey discovers that there may be a more peculiar explanation behind her death, however, while investigating a seemingly unrelated murder for his newspaper story. This causes him to investigate further with the help of Della Fry (Rachel McAdams), an online columnist for The Globe.

Director Kevin Macdonald tries to establish State of Play as a memorable film early on through tight, aggressive camera work in the opening chase scene. The cuts allow for a sharp, fast pace at the start that unfortunately does not persist throughout the film.

Aesthetically, Macdonald does a good job of taking us inside the world of an investigative journalist by shooting in a wide variety of locations ranging from Cal’s cluttered cubicle to the back alleys of D.C. Visual contrasts are also used to establish differences between characters, such as Cal’s dirty, broken down Saab and and club promoter Dominic Foy’s (Jason Bateman) brand new Cadillac.

The visually pleasing aspects of the movie are not enough to mask the many flaws in the script. The relatively simple premise of the movie is made overly complicated by a number of extraneous characters that do little more than distract the audience and slow the film’s progression.

Also, several excessive plot twists and

see ICE PICK, 12

Movie Review Thriller State of Play dizzies with twists

Andrew Gude Film Critic

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hrillers in this day and age tend to be hit or miss. It seems as if filmmakers are having a more difficult time capturing audiences with their concepts and presenting believable stories.

In State of Play, Russell Crowe plays Cal McAffrey, an investigative journalist for the Washington Globe who is the former college roommate of Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck). Representative Collins is a rising star in his political party, leading several hearings against a corporation of mercenaries. There is even speculation that he may be in line to become his party’s presidential candidate.

His ambitions are threatened, however,

see STATE, 12

News

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WorldQuest places nationally Joe Klein Reporter

difficulty in the Germany category. “The Germany questions were more difficult our St. Louis U. High students trav- because they had lots of numbers, and we eled to Washington, D.C. on April 4, didn’t study numbers as much as everything to take part in the national WorldQuest else,” Ross said. competition. The team, consisting of se- The team went into the competition niors Brendan Ross, Joseph Schulte, Mark unsure of whether they had prepared enough.

Waterman, and ju“We didn’t think we nior Luke Chellis, would be able to complaced 11th out of pete,” Ross recalled.

41 teams from across However, a long laythe country. over between flights al They answered lowed them to get some 73 of 100 questions last-minute studying correctly, which were done and improved divided into ten cattheir confidence. egories: politics of

WorldQuest is water, alternative fuan annual competition els, biotechnology, organized by the World World Quest team stands at the base of the genetics, connectivity, The Affairs Council involvWashington Monument in Washington D.C. globalization, internaing high schools from tional crime, great decisions, current events, across the country. The national competiGermany, and nanotechnology. tion was held at the National Press Club in

Team moderator Paul Michaelson be- Washington, D.C. All 41 teams participating lieved the team performed best on the current in the competition were victorious at their events questions, admitting that “they were regional competitions. SLUH finished in first all really hard questions.” at the St. Louis chapter back in November.

Ross felt that the team had the most “We want to win it next year,” Michaelson said, looking forward.

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photo courtesy of paul michaelson

Two juniors grab class of 2010’s first perfect scores

Gary Newcomer Reporter

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t. Louis U. High increased its count of recent perfect ACT scores to thirteen on Wednesday when juniors Ben MindenBirkenmaier and Frank Schumacher both discovered that they had earned 36’s on the April ACT test.

When Schumacher woke up at 5 a.m. to finish some leftover homework, he logged onto his ACT account and was overjoyed by the result. “I was really happy and I texted my dad,” he remarked. This was the third time he had taken the test at Kirkwood High School.

The day of the test, after eating a bowl of cereal, he was ready to begin. “I was a little nervous, but overall, I was pretty comfortable,” he said. Besides an abnormally large number of grade school classmate

encounters, nothing particularly interesting occurred throughout the test.

That same morning, Minden-Birkenmaier rode to St. Louis University on his 39-gear bicycle, armed with his admission ticket, two number-two pencils, photo ID, and TI-83 plus calculator.

“I felt fairly prepared, but I was still a little apprehensive,” said Minden-Birkenmaier, reliving the morning of the test, April 4. “I wasn’t looking for a particular score, but I just remember thinking about what (ACT Prep teacher) Mr. (Craig) Hannick had told me.” When he discovered his 36 on the ACT website late Wednesday night, he could hardly describe the event. “I think I was listening to music, but I was just happy.”

The previous night, Schumacher just made sure he got plenty of sleep whereas

see 0.036K, 15

April 17, 2009

SLUH’s endowment falls 25% to around $20 million

Mark Waterman Core Staff

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ducational institutions throughout the country are feeling the crunch of the economic downturn, and St. Louis U. High is no exception. The value of SLUH’s endowment now stands at $20 million, which is down 25 percent from one year ago.

SLUH’s endowment is managed by Hammond Associates, a company that specializes in institutional funds. Hammond advises SLUH on how to invest the money in its endowment and provides reports on the status of the money. The endowment is money separate from tuition revenues, mostly comprised of direct contributions to SLUH. According to Vice President of Administration Michael Leary, the endowment is the source of funds that helps bridge the gap between tuition and the actual cost of operating the school. Every year, SLUH draws from the endowment to cover these costs.

The amount that can be withdrawn from the endowment varies with the performance of the portfolio.

According to Leary, the decrease in the endowment can be simply attributed to the general trend in the markets of late. All money in the endowment is invested, and so the amount generally fluctuates with the stock market.

Leary also said that despite the 25 percent decrease, SLUH is still able to cover its operating expenses from the endowment.

As for the future, “We’re always planning,” said Leary, referring to the uncertainty in the markets. Leary added that SLUH is constantly looking for ways to “reduce expenses without sacrificing the quality of the education.”

Sports

April 17, 2009

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Volleybills vault to 8-1 start Federerbills win four more T to go 5-0 Tony Billmeyer Staff

hang around in the first game. Senior setter John Swanston had the game’s high of 16 he St. Louis U. High volleyball team assists as well as two kills and an impressive (8-1) picked up four more wins over four aces, which made the difference in the 28-26 game one win. Senior outside hitter Ft. Zumwalt Mike Adams tallied 10 kills in the match, South, Parkway helping SLUH to a two-game sweep.

West, Howell, The Jr. Bills took on Parkway West for and Marquette their home opener. The Longhorns were without drophopeless against SLUH’s overwhelming ping a single defense and serving. Swanston and junior game, but fell to Scot Metzger combined for 10 of the potential state Becvarbills’ 15 aces. Senior middle hitter challenger DeJoe Mueller led the Ruettigerbills with 3 Smet in straight of the team’s 9 blocks. SLUH rolled to a games. comfortable sweep 25-13, 25-14.

T h e Vo l The Scovibills headed west to take on leybills traveled Jesuit rival DeSmet in hopes of justifying to Ft. Zumwalt their ESPN RISE national ranking of No. South to take 10. DeSmet came out fast on offense and on the Bulldogs the U. High defense stuggled to respond. on April 3. The The DeSmet gym’s rafters and lights Wallybills were shaky on de- Going up for the kill, senior Rudy Brynac disturbed SLUH’s usually powerful fense, and al- rises above setter John Swanston in the servers. match aginst DeSmet. see V-BALL, 13 lowed South to photo by zac boesch

Polobills survive DeSmet; Florida next Alistair Vierod Reporter

The next morning, the Speedobills hammered the Ladue Rams, ending the game he St. Louis U. High water polo team on top, 19-5. This time, the team shared the has predictably dominated the pool wealth of goals, but senior John Savio stood over the past two weeks, extending its sea- out with an astonishing no-look backhanded son record to 15-0 and notching its record goal.

In the second of three games that day, 72nd straight win.

The Untouchabills began the Central the Jr. Bills took on Chaminade for the second time this Conferyear. The second ence Tourmeeting was not nament at much different; the MICDS BaudBills brushed with a aside Chaminade convinc14-4, and again ing 12-6 enjoyed contribuwin over tions from many the MICDS players.

Rams. Se The Jr. Bills finnior John ished the day with Heafner a tough, muchscored four Senior Trent Going (left) fights for a ball in the corner anticipated game goals and against his Parkway South opponent. against Jesuit rivals Deanchored the offense in the opponent’s zone while seniors Smet. The junior-heavy Spartans shocked Michael O’Neill and Trent Going confidently SLUH by taking a 3-2 lead into half. held the MICDS offense back. see WATER POLO, 13

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photo by zac boesch

John Edwards Reporter

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he St. Louis U. High tennis team has continued its hot streak over the past two weeks with wins over Priory, Chaminade, Parkway West, and CBC, good for a 5-0 record so far. The Tennisbills have also missed three matches to rain-outs against teams which probably would have been their best competition thus far.

The Iain’tneverscaredbills faced off against Priory on Friday, April 3, and quickly proved that junior Joe Murphy-Baum’s inspiring words (“We’re ready for the season now”) were correct.

Sophomore Greg “Doctor” Marifian rolled over his opponent Jesse Fortune while senior John Edwards took down his opponent, who eerily resembled the baseball player with whom he shares a last name, Jim Thome.

Murphy-Baum fought back from a first set loss to win, and seniors Dan Mathis and Jack Berger also had to battle through a third set to emerge victorious at No. 2 doubles.

No. 1 doubles seniors Gabe Vitale and Tom Hoffmann also pulled out a win, and despite losses at No. 4 singles and No. 3 doubles, the Acebills looked solid in their 5-2 victory.

Junior Brandon “Iain’teverscared” Eversgerd (they rhyme, kind of) and freshman Cameron Trachsel set their opponents straight at exhibition doubles.

Trying to survive without Eversgerd, Murphy-Baum, Berger, and junior Alex Paino, the Brohabills next attempted to fend off Chaminade. Marifian fell for the first time this season to Joey West. Nos. 3 and 4 singles also faltered, Trachsel and Mathis having moved up to those spots. Edwards prevailed at No. 2 singles, but the team would need a doubles sweep to pull off the win.

Vitale and Hoffman secured a No. 1 doubles win. Seniors Jeff Wang and Thanh Nguyen rode the Bullet Train to victory, looking impressive in a three-set triumph. The fastest to victory, though, were JV call-ups sophomore Jimmy Berger and

see TENNIS, 13

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Fredbills Jake Fechter Reporter

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he St. Louis U. High Baseballbills hosted the Jesuit Classic two weekends ago and came out with a 2-1 record.

The GaryGaettibills first matched up against powerhouse Creighton Prep from Omaha, Neb. Junior Andrew Ostapowicz started the game, and despite having decent location, he allowed three runs in the second inning. Compounding the talent gap was SLUH’s poor defense. While senior Pat Roy and junior Griffin Lowry both made great catches in the outfield, the overall defense was lackluster, giving up two inning-extending errors.

The Junior Jays’ stud pitcher did not make matters easier. He pitched incredibly, giving up only one run the entire game and impressing MLB scouts with his high cheese that clocked in at 93 miles per hour. The Thurstonbills did string a few hits together but finished poorly, leaving eight men on base.

A spark came in the 6th inning when sophomore Sasha Kuebel tripled. Two walks

Sports

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to

loaded the bases, but neither scored, as SLUH only got one run, on a hit by freshman Mitch Klug.

A bright spot for the Laruebills was junior catcher Brendan Gracek, who played well behind the plate and had two hits.

The following day the FernandoTatisbills faced off against two more Jesuit schools, Loyola of Chicago and Rockhurst.

The Jr. Bills jumped out to an early lead against Loyola, plating two runners in the first inning. Senior Joe Lafata and junior Scott Milles each provided RBIs to give senior starting pitcher Ben Kraemer a two-run cushion. Kraemer went five innings, striking out three and only allowing one run. Junior Rob Bertucci came in for relief in the sixth to seal the victory 4-2 for SLUH.

Later that day the JimmyBallgamebills played the Hawklets of Rockhurst. The defense played well behind starting pitcher Kuebel, as they provided for his non-strikeout outs. Kuebel also helped his own cause at the plate, and the rest of the team took care of business for a 9-4 victory.

Next for the WoodyWilliamsbills were the Hancock Tigers. The Tigers were no

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April 17, 2009

start

match for the powerful offense of the Jr. Bills. SLUH raked in 11 runs, six of them in the third inning. Junior Christian Stark, Roy, and Klug each had two RBIs, and the Jr. Bills continued their aggressive style on the dusty trail, charting seven stolen bases.

Starting pitcher Bertucci struggled, allowing a second inning rally by Hancock, and freshman Paul Simon put the diamond under the sole of his shoe to relieve him in the third. Simon had the help of the Jr. Bill defense that continued its marked improvement since the Jesuit Classic. SLUH won 11-6.

The LarryWalkerbills started MCC play as hosts to the DeSmet Spartans. Kuebel again got the start and pitched seven strong innings, only allowing two runs. He made seven strikeouts on his way to the victory.

The UpperdeckHardeesbills capitalized in the third inning, when Lafata knocked in two runners. Roy followed with his own RBI, bringing home Lafata. The DizzyDeanbills held on to win 3-2.

SLUH then faced off against DuBourg.

The Gerbills’ offense could not get much

see BASEBALL, 14

Labills (7-1) toss weight about Track tops at Phil Azar Reporter

came from our cheese-chowing comrades from Verona, Wisc. The ’Sconsinites must ave you ever seen the cult classic have left their A-game at home, as the Jr. Heavyweights? If you answered yes, Bills cruised to an 11-1 victory. In the rout, then you are familiar with the scene when junior attackman Rich Meehan netted four the camp from goals. across the lake,

The DepartedCamp MVP, chalbills then met face to lenges our heroes face with the Bruisto a game of softers of Evanston, Ill. ball. If you anThe game was a deswered no, then fensive struggle, and please stop readaggressive, physical ing. Just like the play prevailed on both heroes of Heavysides of the ball. The weights, the LaxBillybills limited the bills were chalEvanston attack to only lenged by two four goals, but unfortuneighbors from nately in this defensive the north before battle the Jr. Bills only the break. Except snuck in two goals in Senior Andy Howe drives to the crease and opens the game was not up the scoring Tuesday night against Lindbergh. swallowing their second softball and Tom McGowan was not the loss of the year. coach.

“Evanston was a really hard-hitting, see LAX, 14

The Laxbills’ first out-of-town challenge

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photo by zac boesch

U. City, MCCs Alex Hall Reporter

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he St. Louis U. High track team continued what is shaping up to be a promising season with wins last week at the MCC Relays and the Charlie Beck University City Invitational.

The Metro Catholic Conference relays took place last Wednesday at Vianney after rescheduling (rain and lightning). The weeklong wait allowed the Sweetfeetbills extra training time, which may have helped boost them to five meet records and first place victories in four other events.

Distance runners, sprinters and throwers shared in the record breaking, as the 4x1600, 4x800, and 4x400 relays, sprint medley, and shot put all broke meet records.

The Runrealfast Bills won the meet with 109 points, beating second place DeSmet by 10 points. The win is another step toward

see TRACK, 14

Sports

April 17, 2009

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Golfers slough through tough rough ment expecting to compete for the title, having already handily beaten Chaminade earlier in the season. Providing additional ramed by the classical architecture of hope was what turned out to be the illusion the art museum, history museum, Lin- of home-course advantage. The Jr. Bills dell mansions, and have been practicing at Wash. U. campus, Forest Park since early the Norman K. ProbMarch and played all stein golf course proof their home matches vides area residents there. with a monument

“Our team is to springtime. Forvery familiar with that est Park’s sweeping course, especially the hills, towering trees, guys who have been babbling creeks, with us for several seadense tulip beds sons,” lamented head and serene ponds coach Greg Bantle. all worked to create As the match unan idyllic backdrop folded it became clear for last week’s MCC that neither the hometournament. field advantage or the But SLUH found truckload of sticky Junior lefty Kyle Felts chips onto the green no oasis at their home notes had helped the against CBC on April 7. course, finishing fourth SLUH team bring forth at 408, 16 strokes behind winner Chaminade its best performance. The MCC produced and two behind third-place Vianney. nine sub-80 scores, but of SLUH’s top six

The Jr. Bills entered the MCC tourna- varsity players, only senior Garrett Edler

broke 80 on the day with a 79. Junior Kyle Felts provided the next-best SLUH number at 80, and senior Jeremy Schwob finished a few putts behind them with a score of 84.

Chaminade duo Danny Schaller and Clay Fox turned in the top two tallies at 72 and 74, respectively.

Before the MCCs could begin, SLUH had to compete in two regular season matches in as many days. The first match, against CBC at Forest Park, featured a score of 39

by Schwob and rounds of 40 by Felts and senior Mike Kennedy. Scoring nearly 30 shots higher than in their previous recordbreaking Chaminade match, SLUH lost to CBC by four shots.

The following day, SLUH faced off against Vianney, playing again at Forest Park.

SLUH showed marginal improvement from the CBC match, but again failed to display the excellence displayed in breaking the school scoring record against Chaminade.

Despite the subpar showings, the SLUH team doesn’t really sense that their season expectations have been rerouted.

“It was definitely disappointing to

Next up for the Druids was Ruggerfest, a huge annual St. Louis rugby tournament including high school, college, and men’s clubs from around the Midwest.

a rather young and unexperienced Kansas City Titans team. Senior Joe Shupe (CBC) had a standout game, scoring 3 tries.

“It was a repeat of Kirkwood all over again,” said senior captain John Sinclair.

Next up at Ruggerfest was Marquette High, a very good squad that came out intensely from the beginning and beat the Druids 15-0.

“They were some big boys who loved to hit,” said Storey.

The next day the Druids faced Arlington early in the morning. Both teams played rather sloppy rugby—lots of turnovers and stupid penalties. The Druids pulled out a win, 10-0.

The Druids geared up for their biggest game of their season April 9 against DeSmet.

The Druids came out playing harder than they had played all season. They dominated the entire game but failed to score because of some bad decisions on the try line and ended up losing 5-0.

The St. Louis Druids ended their regu-

Patrick Moynihan Reporter

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Rugby Nick Bomar Reporter

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photo by zac boesch

readies

he St. Louis Druids started off their regular season with a loss to the Jefferson City Nightmare on March 14.

Senior Matt Storey started off the season with a colossal hit in which he sent the Nightmare’s flanker to the hospital. The opponent would be okay.

The momentum after that was for the Druids, but they played sloppy rugby, giving up a lot of penalties throughout the game and committing several turnovers that resulted in tries for the Nightmare.

The final score of the game was 15-0, Nightmare.

The Druids wanted to bounce back from that tough loss in their next match against Kirkwood on March 19 and came out firing from the start. They scored on the ’Wood within the first two minutes and ended up playing only around five minutes of defense in the entire 80-minute game. The final score of the game was 60-0.

State

photo by zac boesch

Senior Matt Storey keeps on trucking despite having two Kansas City Titans anchored to him.

The team lined up for its two opening games on April 4. The Druids won their first game of the tournament 55-0 against

try

see PILLSBURY MONO, 14

see ELEANOR RUGBY, 14

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Feature

April 17, 2009

Nicollerat, former NCAA basketball referee Peter Mackowiak Sports Editor

T

he year is 1980. College basketball’s heyday has just begun, the sport having taken root in the national consciousness on the crest of the previous year’s Magic vs. Bird championship game seen in 24.1 percent of American households. And 24-yearold Steve Nicollerat has just been invited to the party. He was hired that year to referee in the NCAA’s Metro Conference and was soon summoned to the Big 8 (now Big 12) Conference.

Nicollerat had been striped for more than half his life already, starting with CYC basketball and baseball at age 11 and moving through the local high school and JUCO basketball circuits by the beginning of college.

“It was a pretty big deal for me,” said Nicollerat. “I was just two years out of college and had just started teaching at SLUH, so I was one of the youngest guys working games.”

College basketball referees have always been independently contracted, which means they are hired by the individual conferences rather than employed by the NCAA. Nicollerat, hired primarily to work SLU home games, made $150 a game, plus hotel and travel expenses, including airplane coach fare for three out-of-town games.

By the end of his Big 8 career in 1990, he made $350 a game. Today, the 31 college basketball conferences spend roughly $31 million a year on referees. Most refs make over $1,000 a contest, and the top six make upwards of $2,500.

Nicollerat said even from the start, the St. Louis Arena and other D-I venues were a huge step up from JUCO, where crowds almost never exceeded a few hundred. He remembers one game in particular from his first year, when SMU visited Louisville: “Freedom Hall had just been renovated. You’ve got Denny Crum coaching Louisville, and the governor of Kentucky, Jerry Brown, and his wife Phyllis George, who happened to be a movie star, were there. And it was an ESPN game, back when ESPN was in its infancy.”

Nicollerat soon found himself working more and more highvisibility games. He was called up to referee in the emerging Big 8 Conference and witnessed players like Doug Jones and Anthony Peeler (Missouri), Wayman Tisdale (Oklahoma), and Danny Manning, who won the Wooden, Naismith, and Eastman player of the year awards in leading Kansas to the 1988 national championship.

Despite the higher stakes, Nicollerat said the higher level games were usually easier to call than the JUCO ones for two reasons: one, the lower-level coaches were by and large more aggressive in trying to manipulate calls; and two, JUCO leagues only dispatched two referees per game, as opposed to three in the Big 8 Metro Conference.

“You’d always like to be clear on every call, but with two refs there would be times every game where neither of us had a good angle and would just have to guess,” said Nicollerat. “Three refs meant shared responsibility. The bad part about having three, though, was that it was harder to coordinate, to be consistent within our group. For example, it’s bad to have one referee calling hand checks on one end of the floor and another one not calling them.”

Nicollerat not only had to adjust his calling style but also check his biases on a game-to-game basis. “I preferred not to work Miz-

zou games,” he said. “(Missouri head coach) Norm Stewart was coaching when I was a kid, and being a St. Louis boy it was never easy for me to work at Hearnes.”

Nicollerat said Crum (“He’d let you come and work”), Stewart (“Great guy, fair coach”), Georgetown coach John Thompson (“Huge!”), and most other high-profile coaches usually gave him room to call games, with one regular exception. “(Oklahoma coach Billy) Tubbs was more difficult. He was always trying to work it,” he said.

Nicollerat said managing coaches as a referee, like managing students as a teacher, was a skill that came to him with experience.

“When I first started (refereeing) in college, most of the (coaches) were old enough to be my dad. So I was more defensive. I’ll make no bones about it, one of the reasons they wanted me to do the Big 8 was because from the start they believed I could keep control of a game,” he said, referencing his more free use of technical fouls in his early days. “But I became more patient with time. The more confident you are in a setting, and the better sense of self-identity you have, the less you need to revert to punishments.”

There was a gory period of Big 8 referee turnover in the mid’80s that stemmed from the conference’s coaches gaining the power to choose which referees would call which games—the antithesis of the current procedures of unbiased assignment.

Nicollerat himself was told not to come back to referee the Big 8 after the 1989-1990 season. “I was really kind of shocked,” he said. “The conference told me not to come back weeks after my boss had told me I did a good job. It took awhile to get over.”

“I love SLUH. It’s a special place,” said Nicollerat. “But it’s not like the real world. There’s a really healthy environment here where teachers have a lot of opportunity for growth. But with reffing, I got to see people operate in a business setting. How the supervisors consistently made the tough decisions as to who gets to stay and who doesn’t.”

Nicollerat returned to part-time high school refereeing in 1996 and continued in conjunction with teaching and coaching baseball at SLUH until a knee injury prompted a second retirement five years later. In all, he spent over 35 years as a referee.

“I got the chance to work with a lot of people,” he said. “A bunch of the parents I talk to today, I know from refereeing for them when they were younger.”

“I did learn a lot from observation too, a lot from my bosses.

There were the supervisors who were more worried about whether my arm was straight when I called a foul or whether or not I was wearing belt-less pants, and then there were the ones who really had great insight into refereeing and would help me with my technique,” commented Nicollerat. “I think I carried part of that side of it into coaching.”

SLUH’s elder baseball statesman shared his favorite zebra memory: “One game I worked, it was Cleveland State at Ohio State.

And this was back when Cleveland State was a great team, in the top ten in the country. It was a very high-scoring game. Ohio State was winning 98-94 and had the ball in the last minute, and it was getting to the point in the game where the losing team will foul again and again but it’s apparent that the game is over. So Ohio State gets

see WHISTLE, 14

April 17, 2009

News

Pax Christi and alumni to hold benefit concerts

Curtis Riganti Staff

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he St. Louis U. High community will have two separate opportunities to enjoy live music and support overseas charities this evening. In conjunction with Cor Jesu Academy, SLUH Pax Christi will hold a benefit concert for Haitian teenagers’ education at 6 p.m. in the Drury Plaza.

In addition, Paul Schrage, ’95, will hold a piano concert at St. Richard Catholic Church in Creve Coeur for young martial artists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Schrage, a pianist, will perform tonight to assist his friend, Fr. Mpay Kemboly, S.J., who lives in the DRC. In addition to being a teacher, Fr. Kemboly holds a second-degree black belt in karate. Fr. Kemboly is planning to build a karate dojo (training facility) in Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC, but is in need of funds for the project.

Admission to the concert is free, and the funds raised will depend on open donations made at the concert.

“The minimum that we need is $10,000 to build a simple structure,” said Schrage of the target amount. “Of course, the sky is the limit for the needs of the country.”

Schrage says that he finds karate to be potentially helpful to people in a society that is in upheaval after a civil war. Schrage said, “The goal of building a dojo is to be able to teach more kids karate in order to instill values of hard work, discipline, and rightful action.”

For the first half of the concert, Schrage will perform solo on the piano. During the second half, he will be joined by two well-known local musicians: drummer Kevin Gianino and bass player Willem Von Hombracht. All are welcome to attend the concert.

see CONCERTS, 12

Pi owner Sommers, ’94, makes presidential pizza

Nick Fandos Staff

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resident Barack Obama spent the first two weeks of April traversing Europe and working to combat the global recession. While political engagements dominated his tour, the American president no doubt enjoyed countless European delicacies. But when Obama returned to Washington, D.C., last week, he also returned to classic American cuisine: pizza. There to serve the president his favorite slice was Chris Sommers, ’94, primary owner of St. Louis-based restaurant Pi.

Sommers traveled with head chef Ryan Mangialardo and chef Anne Shuermann to Washington, D.C., last Friday. The Pi delegates cooked and served several pizzas for the president, first lady, and White House staffers. The team served six of their own pizzas (Southside Classico, Berkeley, Bucktown, North Beach Classico, East Loop, and Lincoln Park) as well as one pizza named the “Hyde Park” after the Obamas’ former

neighborhood, created exclusively for the president and first family.

Sommers’relationship with the president began before he entered the pizza business.

Sommers met Obama at a campaign fundraiser in 2007 and befriended Reggie Love, a special advisor to the president with whom he has remained in close contact. Obama initially dined at Pi during his campaign visit to St. Louis in the fall of 2008, greatly enjoying the San Francisco-style pizza he was served.

“The president continued to talk about our pizza for four months and invited us … to the White House,” said Sommers, explaining that Love had contacted him about cooking for Obama earlier this year.

The Obama administration chose last Friday for its long-distance delivery because Obama had a “lighter” schedule, explained Sommers. “The president had just gotten back from the G20 Summit and the trip to Iraq … he’d been a little bit jetlagged,” said

see π, 15

9 Ceramics class enters contest

Kevin Casey Editor

T

en pieces made by 15 St. Louis U. High ceramics students were accepted into the 2009 Krueger Pottery Supply High School Art Show after ceramics teacher Mary Whealon submitted 18 pieces.

Three of the 15 students whose works were chosen are juniors, while the rest are seniors. All submissions were individual works, with the exception of two group projects done by four students each.

“I thought all of our pieces were worthy of being shown,” said Whealon. She recognized that Krueger’s is probably limited on how many pieces they can choose by space.

“I was pleased with what we sent—I thought all of them were good,” she continued. “I was pleased that we got ten in.”

In an email sent to Whealon from Krueger’s owner, Ryan Clyde-Rich, he said that the competition had more entries than ever before—38 schools submitted 215 pieces.

Out of those works, 114 were chosen to be featured in the show.

In an email to Whealon, Clyde-Rich said the entries were judged with “three main areas of critique: 1. The creative idea (concept behind the piece) 2. The technical difficulty and quality of craftsmanship. 3.

The overall aesthetic quality of the piece.”

According to Whealon, the works were judged anonymously.

Now that the works have been chosen, four more will win prizes—best in show and first, second, and third places, respectively.

The winners will be announced on April 25, and the prizes have yet to be determined.

Krueger Pottery Supply, which opened in 1988, is located in the Old Orchard shopping district of Webster Groves and houses its own gallery. Whealon said she has submitted works to Krueger’s show in the past, and that, starting this year, SLUH has been purchasing supplies for its ceramics classes from the store.

The show starts on Saturday and runs through April 25. Whealon said she hopes that many students, especially those taking pottery, will take time to view the works.

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(from 1) willing to settle, however, and said that “there (is) always room for improvements.”

The SLUH talent show, for example, has languished the past two years. “I want to be able to look back on next year and say that (STUCO) as a whole followed through on all of our commitments and promises with our strongest, most sincere effort,” Mueller said of his goals for the following year before confidently adding, “and, of course, have fun with it as well.”

O’Brien said that he hopes to foster more involvement from all classes next year.

“If we can get diverse attendance at … any school functions, whether they be sporting events, theater productions, or talent shows … we’ll be able to form that brotherhood we’re always talking about,” he explained.

“That’s what SLUH is.” O’Brien hopes to learn more about his role on the executive board in the coming weeks, but said, “My only goal as vice president is to serve (the student body).”

A few short hours after being elected, Fister was already laying out plans for next year’s student-run pastoral activities. He stressed service as his central focus and expressed a desire to make SLUH more active in the community. Already getting down to specifics, Fister hopes to reform the STUCO Christmas drive, “bringing in more families and getting more student participation in drop-offs.”

This effort is part of a recent trend in service at SLUH to not only love the poor, but to know them as well.

“With the absence of (campus ministry director Matt) Stewart (next year),” Fister continued, “no one really knows what’ll happen with prayer services. That’s where the class of 2010 pastoral staff will step in.”

His hope is that with increased participation and management, students “can turn prayer service into something other than an inconvenience … something people can look forward to,” he said.

“I think I’m excited more than anything,” said Stole of his new position as Vice President of School Spirit. He hopes to introduce rally towels and other paraphernalia in effort of “finding ways ... to get the crowd pumped up and look more intimidating.” His main focus is increasing attendance in the waning winter and spring seasons.

News

Fechter shares Stole’s excitement and desires to “(en)sure there’s steady involvement all year.” His responsibilities as Vice President of Public Relations next year will include organizing dances, mixers, and general events, and creating the trailers and posters to advertise them.

As treasurer, Bedell hopes to eliminate the debt that STUCO has amassed over the past few years and create a surplus. “It’s definitely a great group of guys,” Bedell said of his fellow board members. “We come from different circles of friends,” he continued.

“It’ll be really interesting to work with these guys and see how we work together.”

The executive board of the class of 2010 looks forward to assisting the current administration with Spring Fling tomorrow and cooperating with them closely as the school year draws to a close to prepare themselves for shouldering the leadership of the student body next fall.

Following a STUCO election reform made this year in which the executive board candidate with the second highest amount of votes becomes the senior class representative, Dan Jones, Jamie Hagan, and Luis Llanos were elected as the senior class president, pastoral representative, and social representative, respectfully.

Senior participation is Jones’ key issue for next year. “I really want to focus on getting more senior class bonding events,” he said.

The senior day of service was one example he offered. “Not many (students) go (to their day of service) now,” Jones explained, “but I’d like to change that.”

“After losing the majority of our pastoral office,” Hagan said, “(Fister and I will) work to increase student involvement” in pastoral matters. Next year will be a test for student pastoral leaders since without Stewart they will be required to bear more responsibility.

Llanos is optimistic about the upcoming year. “This is a real good group of guys,” he said, describing the newly elected STUCO seniors. “I want everyone, no matter what their interests are, to be involved in SLUH events,” said Llanos, and this diverse STUCO with members active in ACES, football, Gadfly, Pax Christi, and Sisyphus represents this ideal. “With this being our senior year, I want to bring our class together like a second family, and these social events will help,” the

April 17, 2009 social representative added.

The voting process itself was controversial this year due to the integration of senior class representative positions into the student body executive board. STUCO moderator Dave Barton attributed the change to “time constraints because of the block days next week.” The student body was divided over the issue.

“(The change) saved us time,” Hagan said, “but I personally disliked it. It gave some kids a disadvantage because they could only run once.”

“The traditional way was better,” said Fechter, although he admitted that the change probably helped his campaign.

“I liked the new way,” Llanos said, who also thought he owed his success to the new system.

“It was an interesting way of doing the election,” said a reserved Fister, “Now what’s left to see is if it was an effective way of choosing (STUCO members).”

Barton shares Fister’s view of the change.

“It was an experiment,” he explained. “If it was hugely unpopular, we won’t continue it.”

New

Additions to the Campus Ministry Office

All are invited to stop by the Campus Ministry office to view its latest addition—a series of 14 photos taken by Zac Boesch. See next week’s issue of the Prep News for a full article on the story.

April 17, 2009

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these expenses involves what members of the Budget and Finance Committee call a compromise between several competing forces.

Chief among the considerations outlined by Laughlin was what he called “a tumultuous year economically.” The recent general fall in market values of the endowment’s assets inflicted a loss on the endowment’s principal rather than just a lowering of its growth.

“Our endowment loss is like everything else in the market,” said Laughlin. “So, it’s significant.”

According to Leary, the school is allowed up to a 5.75 percent annual withdrawal on a moving three-year average of the endowment portfolio. This year’s budget draws 5 percent from the endowment.

“We’re doing well. It’s the market we can’t control,” said teacher Eric Laboube, who has served on the Committee for 13 years. For more on the endowment see article p.4.

Although the damage of the recent losses is moderated when averaged with the gains of the past two years, the lowering of principal means that that percentage withdrawn will not hold as much value. Consequently, the school will withdraw a larger percentage from its portfolio, and tuition will be responsible

for a larger portion of the budget. Leary does not expect a decrease in contributions.

“I expect (the amount withdrawn from the endowment) will go up over the five percent,” said Leary. “Hopefully, it will not go up significantly.”

According to Assistant Principal for Administrative and Technological Services and member of the committee Tom Becvar, one longtime goal of the committee, which meets four times a year formally, is to narrow the gap between what each student pays and what each student costs. This goal, however, was postponed for the year.

“Ideally, we’d like to narrow that gap,” said Leary. “But it’s a really difficult thing to do. … It comes down to ‘Let’s make tuition affordable.’ That’s the driving factor.”

“Our board is really prioritizing affordability and our legacy of admitting any young man qualified to learn regardless of his ability to pay,” said Laughlin. “There’s a responsibility we have to manage to that.”

“I can’t stress enough that everything was done with a lot of care. A lot of time was spent by the members of that committee to try to make sure that what they did was fair to everybody,” said Becvar.

The final budget will be approved in May.

(from 1) Need pitches struggled this year.

“Some St. Louis area Fund-A-Need’s were lucky to get $25,000 to $30,000 this year,” said Hagan.

One benefactor purchased a Stegodont thigh bone, then donated it back to the school for display in the Robinson Library.

Hagan said that this year’s Cashbah was not just a good fundraiser but “was also a good party.” She said that Weinhardt Party

Rentals said it was one of the only sold-out auctions this year in the St. Louis area. Black and silver decorations filled the Backer Memorial gymnasium, accented with giant Oscar statues, film reels, and even bathroom stalls decorated to look like dressing rooms for famous actors in the women’s room and actresses in the men’s room. Hagan also thought the use of the east gym lobby helped to spread things out more, adding to the environment.

Laughlin said that his favorite part about this year’s Cashbah was the mix of people.

“It’s this unique collection; It’s this moment for so many of the constituencies that are involved (at SLUH) to be together,” said Laughlin. He said that alumni flew in from all over the country and as far away as Paris to attend.

Laughlin credited the volunteer force for the auction’s success. “I’m very grateful for the support that the school has,” he said.

(from 2) about how to keep a balance between small and large group discussions as a teacher, and noted that SLUH students might not get a woman’s perspective on literature.

On Wednesday afternoon, the accreditation team met with small groups of students for discussion. The team members asked mixed groups of students about general SLUH topics: how students found out about SLUH, how they adjusted, and how they

dealt with the homework load.

Senior Andrew Fowler said that his group’s overall consensus was that it was hard to keep up with homework, “but as long as you put forth effort, you are able to do well ... and the teachers are always available to help.”

Sophomore Matt Beckerle said that his group commented on how open SLUH was to all kinds of people and their ideas— SLUH is not trying to fit people into a mold.

Beckerle, a transfer student from Vianney, said that there was no dance organization at Vianney. At SLUH, he was able to put his dancing talents, Irish and otherwise, to good use.

Following meetings with select faculty and the administration on Wednesday, the accreditation team met with the SLUH faculty after school on Thursday to discuss their findings about the school. The school will be up for accreditation review again in five years.

(from 1) by fundraising events such as Cashbah and other annual contributions, but not entirely.

The difference is drawn from the school’s endowment. This non-tuition section of the budget was almost $4.4 million last year.

Although the exact cost of this year will remain unknown until the year reaches its completion, the cost per student is an estimated $14,700, according to Leary. The expected $550 raise per student is attributable to an increase in faculty compensation by an average of two percent. This number is lower than the raise from last year to this year by one percent; however compensation, including both salary and benefits, makes up most of the school’s operating expense. The largest subsection of compensation is faculty healthcare.

The other major jump in costs comes from the board’s decision to raise the financial aid to next year’s students by 25 percent to $1.625 million. The increase in financial aid for the past two years has been around 18 to 19 percent. Other, less substantial cost increases come from the operation of facilities.

Balancing a budget to compensate for

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ICE PICK

(from 3) Whenever the conversation goes south, a bell rings and the two start over as if they are just getting acquainted. The bell continues to ring until the two can develop a connection.

“Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread” tells the story of composer Philip Glass, played by Fowler, buying a loaf of bread. Pretty selfexplanatory? No. The catch is that Glass is singing for part of the time he’s buying the bread and chanting for the remaining time.

Frank plays the baker that Glass is buying the bread from, while Sinks and Dryden play Woman #1 and Woman #2, respectively.

“It’s like reading a script for the first time,” Erbs said about directing. “It can be kind of scary at first.”

Erbs said that he “had examples in directing from theater directors Joe Schulte and

State

(from 3) an underdeveloped sub-plot involving Cal and Senator Collins’ wife (Robin Wright Penn) help ruin the pace of the action and bring its momentum to a complete halt. All of these hindering factors mess and jumble the plot beyond redemption by the third act of the story.

The effects of these flaws are alleviated, to an extent, through Avy Kaufman’s impeccable casting. There is no shortage of well-

CONCERTS

(from 9)

The SLUH and Cor Jesu Pax Christi groups will host a benefit concert for Haiti this evening in the Drury Plaza. The concert will take place from 6 to 11 p.m. and will feature four live bands.

The first to take the stage will be Kali, a band consisting of Chaminade seniors John Breihan and Tom Relling and MICDS junior Garin Kessler. Next will be the Dirty Fries, made up of SLUH juniors Collin and Sam McCabe, Mike Tynan, and Chris Bachmann.

Following the Dirty Fries, the Dead of ’92 will perform for the crowd. Dead of ’92 consists of SLUH sophomores Michael Blair, Austin Winn, and Rich Miller. Tuxedo Park, which includes SLUH juniors Dane Stole, Mike Ottenlips, and Jim Butler and Webster High

News

April 17, 2009

Kathryn Whitaker.” He found that, dealing with such subject material, it was “a challenge to pull eccentrics out of the actors… to get them into comfortable positions.”

Not only was the direction student-run, but all the behind-the-scenes was run by students as well. Led by stage manager junior Alex Gable, the students designed everything from the sets to the lighting arrangements.

Senior Alex Smittle played a key role in designing the sets for the play. Though he found it to be a “lot more work,” Smittle found the process to be a lot more fun as well.

Senior Adam Twist, assisted by master electrician junior Chris Burnworth, arranged the lighting for the performance. This is the second time Twist has designed the lighting

arrangements for a Dauphin Player’s performance (his first was the musical Guys and Dolls in February). Twist feels that he has “more freedom” in this particular production because the show is for a studio audience, rather than the musical. He was allowed to be more creative with his lighting.

Whitaker decided to make this a studentrun production because she has “students in both fields of design and production who have interests and pursuits in the field. It’s important for actors to direct, directors to act, actors to participate in set design. They then have a comprehensive idea of all aspects of a production.”

Performances will be April 24 and 25 at 7 p.m. and April 26 at 2 p.m. in the Joseph Schulte Theater. Tickets are $5 in advance and $7 at the door.

known talent in the film, even in the more minor roles. Jeff Daniels and Jason Bateman are just a few of the seasoned actors who match up perfectly with Crowe, Affleck, and McAdams on the big screen. Each person’s performance is incredibly well-rounded and provides a degree of realism that the script lacks. Crowe is particularly passionate about his role, creating an amazing portrait of a passionate and relentless journalist.

One of the most interesting aspects of the film, which helps to prevent it from becoming a flat conspiracy movie, is the commentary it

provides on the state of modern journalism.

The movie raises questions as to the validity of online journalism versus print journalism, the struggle between getting the story right and getting the story first, and the conflict of personal relationships versus professional integrity.

In the end, however, the potentially riveting story is trumped by the film’s spotty organization and over-the-top spins in the plot, making it another miss in the thriller genre.

School juniors Mike Flynn and Tim Adams, will close out the evening.

The concert, which is being organized by junior James Fister, is being held to raise funds to send Haitian teenagers to high school.

According to Fister, about two months ago, St. Elizabeth’s Academy teacher Christine Parker, a friend of SLUH English teacher David Callon, visited Pax Christi during activity period to tell them about a Haitian family that she was sponsoring.

“She told us that the lack of education in Haiti is one factor that is holding young Haitians back from rising out of poverty,” Fister said of their meeting with Parker.

Pax Christi has to raise $450 in order to send one Haitian teenager to school. If they

are able raise $900, then they will pay for two high school students.

Any remaining money will be donated to the Heifer Project, a global organization that donates domestic farm animals to impoverished families.

Sophomore Michael Blair is particularly excited about his band, Dead of ’92. According to Blair, the band will play numerous songs that they have yet to perform in front of a live audience, including a song entitled “Haiti,” originally written by Arcade Fire.

The song is about the civil war in Haiti.

“All of the bands are great bands. It is a fantastic cause,” said Blair. “We’re all hoping to see a large crowd this evening.”

Admittance to the concert is $7. Home baked goods will also be available for a nominal fee.

April 17, 2009

WATER POLO

(from 5)

“I don’t think we played terribly,” said senior Nick Debandt. “We just weren’t playing our game. We were getting open shots and open water, but we weren’t finishing hard to the goal.”

But the Jr. Bills returned to the pool ready to dominate. Senior Will Derdeyn opened the floodgates with two swift goals before Heafner spearheaded a massive offensive effort which resulted in another six goals.

Bewildered by the sudden onset, DeSmet only managed to score two goals in the final half, and at the final buzzer scoreboard read 12-5 in favor of SLUH.

TENNIS

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The Defendingchampionbills were thus crowned Central Conference Champions for the third time in a row. “We’ll play (DeSmet) several more times, and we’ll find out whether the first or second half of the game was the aberration,” said head coach Paul Baudendistel.

Four days later, the Jr. Bills replayed the MICDS Rams, winning 10-1. Heafner and senior Will Page carried the attack, while senior goalie Matt Hohenberger allowed one goal on no more than 11 shots.

Next, the Recordbreakingbills dominated the Parkway South Patriots 12-0 for their 72nd consecutive victory, a new state

record. Seniors John Savio and Page led the offense and Hohenberger and junior Patrick Archer combined to post the team’s second shutout of the season.

“A big part of our game is defense,” said Hohenberger after the game. “Our defense always prevents the opposition from taking aggressive shots.”

This weekend the Juggernautbills will participate in the DeSmet Invitational.

SLUH’s win streak will be on the line in its game tonight against favored Floridian challengers Belen Jesuit.

“Hopefully we’ll get a chance to measure ourselves against quality competition,” said Baudendistel.

(from 5) inexplicably wearing sunglasses on a late securing the singles sweep. freshman Matei Stefanescu. “Callon’s Kids” Unlike Kyra Sedgwick on TNT but much afternoon under dark cloud cover. dominated from the outset and helped the like any Cardinals reliever, the Hoffmann/ Mathis and Berger again easily won Undefeatabills to a 4-3 win.

Vitale unit has had some trouble being at No. 2 doubles, and Eversgerd and Wang

Coming off of a relaxing Easter break, “The Closer.” Nonetheless, the pair battled threw the broom in the closet, finishing the the DoctorZBills faced sweep. off against Parkway West Against CBC on Wednesday, Marion Tuesday. Marifian fian and Edwards both fell to strong faced an opponent who opponents: Matt Kuelker, last year’s would not let up, fightstate runner-up, and Dalen Klassen, ing until the end, but he who took time off last year to play tucked him in, read him national tournaments. a bedtime story, and put However, Murphy-Baum and him to sleep.

Nguyen led the team back with Edwards went breadstrong wins at No. 3 and 4 singles sticks at No. 2 singles in quick and easy fashion. Vitale and (according to the Vitale Hoffman kept up their success at No. Dictionary, breadsticks 1 doubles, and the same went for Senior Dan Mathis shows off his backhand in his singles match against Chaminade. are a 6-1, 6-1 victory. The Mathis and Berger at No. 2 doubles. ones are breadsticks. Think about it). through three sets before finally winning in Paino and Trachsel finished up the 5-2 win

Murphy-Baum came from behind in the third set tiebreaker. Things got rough in and doubles sweep. the first set and dominated the second, and the third set against the Parkway West No. Thus, the Jr. Bills sit at 5-0 on the seaNguyen looked sharp in his first singles win, 1 doubles team, one of whose members was son as they head into today’s match against Vianney. photo by zac boesch

V-Ball

(from 5)

Swanston commented on the serving woes, “We guarantee a better serving performance at SLUH.”

SLUH served out 11 times in the match, but when SLUH did manage to get their serves in, their sloppy defense prevented the offense from setting up their attack. DeSmet held the Buzzbills to 21 team kills in the match and took both games by the same score, 25-21.

Adams commented on the frustrating serving performance, “We have probably the

best serving team in the state, but in order to play with the big teams we need to get our serves in.”

Swanston thought the loss was a good learning experience for the team. “We needed a highly intense match to figure out what players are going to step up and what lineups are going to work for us,” he said. “We played really bad and only lost by four points. We don’t care about winning the MCC, we just want to win State.”

The Doctorbills headed to Howell to use the Vikings as target practice. The Fredbills

were fluent on the offensive attack and swept the Vikings by a combined 14 points.

Wednesday night, the Tankbills hosted Marquette. Senior Rudy Brynac dominated the middle and led SLUH to a 25-14 win in the first game.

Head coach Paul Scovill mixed up the lineup in the second game and the U. High defense sputtered and allowed Marquette to draw back into the game late. Adams aced the Mustangs for the 26-24 win.

Monday night the Volleybills will take on reigning Class 3 state champ St. Mary’s at 5 p.m. at home.

Sports

14

TRACK (from 6)

goal set forth by head coach Jim Linhares of winning the MCC championship on all three levels.

The Alltogethernowbills had similar success at U. City in the Charlie Beck University City Invitational. SLUH scored points in both the running and the field events, totaling eight first-place finishes and five top-five finishes.

Senior Ronnie Wingo took first place in the 100-meter dash (10.88) and the 200 (22.11). Senior Austin Cookson placed first in the 3200 (9:26.90) and the 1600 (4:18.30), and junior Nick Seckfort placed first in the 800 (1:59.80) and helped lead the 4 x 800 team to a first place finish. Senior Cecil Edward placed

LAX (from 6)

body-crunching team, but we tried our best and that’s all we can hope for,” said optimistic senior Doug Yoon.

Tuesday night the J.P.Morganbills got back into local play and recovered their winning stride in a comfortable 14-8 win over Lindbergh.

The first quarter was all senior midfielder Andrew Howe. Howe scored the first three Jr. Bill goals and led SLUH to a 6-3 lead at

April 17, 2009

first in the high jump with a mark of 6’4”.

Senior Evan Sullivan placed first in the shotput with a mark of 46’ 11.5”.

Highlights of the meet included Ed-

photo by zac boesch

Senior Austin Cookson (far left) and Cliff David (behind) power through the turn in 1600 at University City.

half.

The third quarter was all SLUH, all the time. The Jr. Bills scored five goals in the third quarter, making scoring look boring.

Senior midfielder Brian Hof accented the third-quarter run by stripping the ball from Lindbergh’s roaming goalie and arcing it 30 yards into an empty net.

The Jr. Bills played CBC at CBC last night—see the nightbeat below.

Lacrosse Nightbeat

Last night, SLUH Lacrosse moved to 7-1 by toppling CBC, 9-7. The Cadets were previously undefeated and ranked No. 17 nationally by powerlax.com. The teams were tied at 5 at halftime, but SLUH won the third quarter 3-1 and held on for the win. Senior RJ Half led the SLUH offense with 3 goals.

PILLSBURY MONO (from 7)

us play so poorly at the MCC, but we know that we can play much better and really compete in the Webster Cup, Districts, and State,” said senior Scott Trafton.

“This performance teaches us to pick up one another when we don’t play our best,” he said. “Practicing in these situations will not only help us at districts, but will also help us achieve our goal of winning state.”

ward’s jump, which qualified him for the KU relays, senior Steve Clark’s 53-second split in the JV 4 x 400, and Cookson (9:26.90) and junior Caleb Ford’s (9:28.30) times in the 3200. By finishing in under 9:30, Cookson and Ford ran fast enough to qualify for state in the 3200.

The Jr. Bills scored a total of 121 points, beating second-place U. City by 37 points.

“This is something almost like ‘06,” said distance coach Tom Flanagan.

The Jr. Bills will divide forces this weekend. Various factions will compete at the KU Relays in Lawrence Kansas, the Rockwood Invitational at Rockwood Summit, and the All-Catholic Meet at Chaminade.

WHISTLE (from 8) fouled, and as I’m walking down to the other free throw line this kid from Cleveland State hits me on the behind and says, ‘Thanks.’ I didn’t know what he meant, but then he said, ‘Thanks for making it a fair game,’ because a lot of times big schools like Ohio State get all the calls at home. I will not forget that.

That’s the kind of moment you live for as a referee.”

BASEBALL (from 6)

ing beyond a first inning RBI from Kuebel, though. Ben Kraemer started on the mound and pitched six scoreless innings, and it seemed as though the one run might just be enough. But DuBourg scored four runs in the seventh inning and knocked SLUH back to 7-2 on the season with a 4-1 triumph.

The Chrisbaduncaduncbills were set to play Mehlville and Chaminade, but the weather had other ideas as both games were rained out. The Gibsonbills have the Comets of McCluer this afternoon at 4:30 and play the St. Mary’s Dragons Saturday afternoon.

ELEANOR RUGBY

(from 7) season this Wednesday with a disappointing loss to Eureka. In a win-or-go-home situation for a spot in Westerns, the team came out with the right intensity, but made some poor decisions and let up after the first half.

The final score of the game was 12-8.

The Druids look next to compete for the state title in Jefferson City on the April 24-25. This is the first-ever state title offered for rugby in Missouri. The Druids look to end their final season as a club by capturing the state title. It will be a tough battle to win, but according to senior captain Nick Bomar, they have the talent and the weapons necessary to make a run for the championship.

April 17, 2009

0.036K (from 4)

News

15

Minden-Birkenmaier spent his time going over some notes before getting to bed at 11 p.m. Waking at seven, he ate peanut butter and jelly waffles before setting off to SLU, his test center.

Reaching the testing room, he noted the angry demeanor of his proctor and the spacious desks allowing him ample space for testing. While Minden-Birkenmaier received the maximum score of a 36 on the test, he did not turn in a perfect scantron. But with 36’s on both the Reading and Science sections, his 35’s on the math and English portions were of no damaging consequence, and he achieved the composite score of 36.

Hannick was hardly surprised by either score. “Ben worked really hard to improve his score, and while Frank never took my course, I knew he was an exceptionally bright student,” he said.

Many SLUH students and faculty probably remember Frank Schumacher’s older brother Stephen Schumacher,’08, who also earned a perfect score on the ACT a few

years ago. Frank attributed sibling rivalry as one of the reasons for his perfect score.

“It definitely motivated me,” he said.

Minden-Birkenmaier, however, felt that his success branched from the six-week ACT prep course that Hannick teaches after school. “It was very helpful,” said MindenBirkenmaier. “At the very least, it gave me a lot of confidence. It’s all about the psychological aspect.”

“I felt the best about reading, but I had to guess on the last two questions in the Math portion due to a lack of time,” said MindenBirkenmaier. “I felt the best on the writing section.” Scored on a scale from 2-12, he will receive this score only once the essay has been read and graded by hand.

Unfortunately, as you should have heard from other test takers, the information cannot be revealed in accordance with a pledge that must be copied down in cursive at the end of the test. “The cursive had to be the hardest part,” joked Minden-Birkenmaier, wondering why Hannick had never even mentioned this strenuous section of the test.

As for their post high-school plans, Minden-Birkenmaier has few definite ideas about where he wants to go, but believes he wants to “go out east.” The trouble for him is simply finding a school with good music and science programs to help him acquire the music and bio-engineering double major he’s hoping to take on. Schumacher hopes to attend Vanderbilt, Washington University, or Duke, but his choices are subject to change.

Schumacher and Minden-Birkenmaier’s test-taking days are not quite over yet, as both plan to take the upcoming SAT reasoning test. Minden-Birkenmaier also mentioned a “much more stressful” AP Physics test forthcoming.

SLUH’s average ACT score is 29, almost 9 points above average, so the arrival of multiple perfect scores has drawn little surprise from the SLUH administration.

Hannick determined the correlation between high scores and SLUH students to be due largely to admissions, but nevertheless the faculty and challenging curriculum here are key to SLUH students’ success.

(from 9) Sommers, citing Obama’s condition as reason for a slow day at the White House.

Sommers, who usually does not cook, helped Mangialardo and Shuermann while in Washington. The team was given access to the entire White House kitchen and the help of both the head White House chef and the Obama family’s personal chef.

“They treated us like rock stars … even though we were just cooking pizzas,” said Sommers. “You would have thought we were the finest chefs in the world.”

Arriving with only sauce and cheese, the Pi team created seven pizzas, including the special Obama pie, the Hyde Park, with unfamiliar ingredients purchased in D.C..

The new creation included roasted chicken, mozzarella cheese, minced garlic and buffalo hot sauce, explained Sommers in an email to the Prep News. Sommers said he served the president, first lady, and several staffers, but he did not know whether the Obama children, Sasha and Malia, were given pizza as well.

Despite Pi’s presidential acclaim, the restaurant is still new to St. Louis. Pi opened only last year when Sommers returned to St. Louis after several years working at

Accenture, a San Francisco based dot-com startup. Sommers enlisted Frank Uible, ’81, whom Sommers worked for in high school and college when Uible owned a high-end men’s clothing store in Clayton, to help with the project. Uible now serves as Pi’s co-owner.

Pi, located directly across from The Pageant, does not serve traditional St. Louis thin crust pizza, but for the most part uses a deep cornbread crust that Sommers discovered while in San Francisco. The restaurant offers numerous specialty pizzas and salads every day from 11 a.m. to midnight.

The pizzeria, whose name is derived from the St. Louis area code’s (314) relation to the mathematical value of pi, emphasizes environmentally friendly service as well.

The restaurant uses low-energy appliances and recycled materials, all in an effort to be “green.”

“There is no excuse to operate any business that doesn’t consider its carbon footprint,” said Sommers in his email, explaining the decision as a “no brainer.”

Along with the successful pizzeria, Sommers maintains a corporate job as well, often traveling back to San Francisco, his home

for nearly five years. Sommers views the successful restaurant as “a side project.”

Though he did not have any specific influences at St. Louis U. High, he explained his entrepreneurial spirit came from his time at SLUH.

“Never being complacent and always being challenged are … traits you pick up at SLU High,” said Sommers.

“Many U. High kids get bored very easily, and they’re always looking for another challenge,” said Sommers. Pi resulted for Sommers and as the restaurant gains acclaim in St. Louis, it has already won the approval of America’s first citizen.

π

Prep News

Quote of the Week ‘What is the use of a book’, thought Alice, ‘without pictures or conversations?’

—Lewis Carroll in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Misseying his bottle?!?!???!

16

by Conor Gearin

Friday, April 17 Schedule R PowerSchool Updates Fr Class Liturgy AP Pax Christi Benefit Concert 6pm College Reps:

Truman State University MLK Presentation for Juniors 8:54am IM Soph/Jr/Sr Bashball BASE vs. McCluer 4:30pm B-BASE vs. MICDS 4:15pm TRACK @ KU Relays POLO @ DeSmet Inv. TENN (V/JV) vs. Vianney AP Snack—Bosco Sticks Lunch : Special—Toasted Ravioli Healthy—Sweet ‘n Sour Chicken Skewer Saturday, April 18 Spring Fling 9am, Mixer 7pm TRACK @ KU Relays TRACK @ Rockwood Inv. 9am TRACK @ Chaminade 9am JV-VBALL @ DeSmet Tourn.

POLO @ DeSmet Inv. BASE vs St. Mary’s 12pm B-BASE vs. St. Mary’s 12pm C-BASE vs. SLUH Tourn. 9am Sunday, April 19 CSP Retreat (thru 4/20)

Calendar

*Lunch menu subject to change.

Monday, April 20 Schedule R STUCO Fr Primary AP GOLF @ Webster Cup 8am VBALL (JV/V) vs. St. Mary’s 4pm TENN (V/JV) vs. Clayton 4pm C-BASE vs. Whitfield 4:30pm POLO (JV/V) @ Parkway West 6pm AP Snack—Cinnamon Rolls Lunch : Special—Pizza Healthy—Baked Mostaciolli Tuesday, April 21 Schedule R IM-Fr/So/Jr Bashball STUCO Blood Drive 8am STUCO Fr Speeches AP STUCO Soph Primary AP BASE (V/B) vs. Vianney 4:30pm TRACK (JV) @ Webster 4pm TENN (V/JV) vs. Whitfield @ Creve

Coeur @ 4pm GOLF (V/JV) @ Chaminade 3:30pm AP Snack—Pizza Sticks Lunch : Special—Chicken Bites Healthy—Chicken Cordon Bleu Wednesday, April 22 Schedule R STUCO Fr Final AP STUCO Soph Speeches AP Fr Tutorial AP AP Psych Review AP @ M106 IM-Jr/Sr Bashball

Jr. Billiken Announcements

—There is still space available in the SLUH summer bike P.E. class.

Class will begin on June 1 and runs for two weeks. See Mr. Moore in the Foreign Language office if interested.

—On Tuesday, April 21 Bill Shi (one of the Chinese foreign exchange students) will be giving a presentation on recursion in room M207 during activity period. All students and faculty are welcome.

—The SLUH film club is presenting Slumdog Millionaire at 3:15 p.m. today in 220C. The film—a winner of eight Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director—is rated R, so a permission slip is required for students under the age of 17. Slips can be found in 220 C.

April 17, 2009 Apr. 17 - Apr. 24

BASE (V/B) vs. Belleville West 4:30pm VBALL (V/JV) @ Vianney 5pm AP Snack—Garlic Bread Lunch : Special—Steak & Cheese,

Meatball Sub Healthy—Teriyaki Chicken Thursday, April 23 Schedule R Senior Class Liturgy AP Ignatian Mix-It Up Lunch STUCO Soph Final @ Lunch SAC Dinner 5:30pm IM-Fr/So/Jr Bashball BASE vs. SLUH Tourn. 4:30pm VBALL (V/JV) @ FHC 5pm TENN (V/JV) vs. Pkwy N 4pm JV GOLF @ Pkwy S 3:30pm AP Snack—Bosco Sticks Lunch : Special—Papa John’s Healthy—Hamburger Friday, April 24 Assembly Schedule Formal Attire Dauphin Players’ Production: All in the Timing 7pm BASE vs. SLUH Tourn. 11am BASE @ Eureka 4:30pm TENN @ Belleville E Tourn.

AP Snack—Cookies Lunch : Special—Chicken Bacon Cheese Health­—Beef n’ Bean Burrito

This week in Prep News history

Looking to the Future: Teachers Learn of Modern Technologies

“In order ‘to get an idea of what technology is and how it impacts the classroom,’ SLUH faculty members participated in what was termed a Technology Fair this past Monday. ... This fair ... offered presentations on topics ranging from digital cameras to the Internet to Newsbank. ...

“I watched as (math teacher Mr.) Craig Hannick surfed the Internet and was struck not only by the amount of information available but also by the amount of time it took to get this information,” said math teacher Fr. Mark Daus, S.J. —April 11, 1996