GRAD AT GRAD

Jesuit High School Seniors Strive to be Men and Women for Others

By Thomas W. Durso

“I went to a Jesuit high school.”

Verbal shorthand is a useful thing. The simple declarative sentence above conveys, in a mere seven words, a rich experience of scholarship, service, ministry and faith.

But sometimes shorthand is insufficient. Sometimes one must know the details, to better understand exactly what is being conveyed and to ensure that it is as accurate as possible.

Not long after the founding of the Jesuit Secondary Education Association (JSEA) in 1970, association members began examining the issue of Ignatian identity, in light of the fact that fewer and fewer Jesuits were serving as teachers and administrators in the schools. Over the next several years, JSEA worked to articulate what it means to be a Jesuit school and to help Jesuits and lay people understand this and put it into practice, especially with respect to curriculum.

In 1981, the association published the linchpin of that effort, Profile of the Graduate of a Jesuit High School at Graduation.  Known popularly as “Grad at Grad,” the document proposed the ideal graduate of Jesuit schools: one who is Open to Growth, Intellectually Competent, Religious, Loving, and Committed to Doing Justice. JSEA followed up by naming 200 educators from Jesuit high schools across the country to develop curriculum to foster and develop these five traits.

“Grad at Grad set a master map or an articulation of some of the characteristics you’d like to see in a graduate,” says Bernard L. Bouillette, PhD, vice president and secretary of JSEA. “After that, these 200 folks worked on the next level of defining specific learning outcomes. Each school has had the opportunity to work with those or to develop their own specific learning outcomes. Some schools have even modified some of the major objectives. At Loyola Academy, for example, we added physically fit as a sixth element. Some other schools have done the same thing or played with the language a little bit. But those are the five major objectives, and it is hoped that schools use them to evaluate and design and develop their curricula.”

Each student profiled in this article—one from each of the five Jesuit high schools in the Maryland Province—exemplifies at least one of the Grad at Grad characteristics. Most display multiple traits. All are well on their way to becoming men and women for others.

ROSS FEEHAN GEORGETOWN PREPARATIORY SCHOOL
OPEN TO GROWTH

Ross Feehan has seen more of the world in the last few years than most people see in a lifetime.

A month living and studying at Oxford University after his freshman year. A bike tour from Savannah, Ga., to Santa Monica, Calif., after his sophomore year. A two-week trip to Japan last summer as part of a student ambassador exchange program.

"In doing all these various things abroad or even at home, I've really grown into the sense of what growth means,' says Feehan, a resident of McLean, Va. "A lot of people think you choose to grow or not. I disagree. I think growth is an inherent characteristic of living. You can hear stories or know people who are so physically or emotionally closed off, but even they are growing - it's just in a backward way. You might as well be open to growth, because it's going to happen whether you close yourself off from others or embrace it and take control of the opportunities available to you."

Feehan attributes his own openness to growth to his family and to teachers and mentors at Georgetown Prep.

"There are just tremendous people who have really helped me and other students," he says. "Besides summer programs, Georgetown Prep has a tremendous role in promoting service through retreats and service programs. They really do concentrate not only on se rving others, but in serving yourself through reflection. After every service project, you must reflect- through prayer, talking, writing and so on. That's been tremendous."

Whether cycling across the country or studying abroad, Feehan sees an opportunity to learn more about himself and the world around him.

"I've grown into this image of extending my boundaries," he notes. "In my college essay I wrote that in reaching my horizon on the bike, I was extending my personal boundaries. I've tried to live that in the things I've done."

Feehan plans to attend Stanford University this fall. "I'm looking forward to taking different classes, especially classes I've never taken before, and go from there. I expect to meet people at Stanford, like I have here, who will be influential in my studies and my life and my growth."

As an accomplished saxophonist, Matthew Deery might be expected to be a jazz aficionado. But his tastes run more toward Bach and Beethoven than Stan Getz.

“Jazz seems like it’s more catered to the audience,” says the McLean, Va., resident. “With classical, you get into more of the intricacies of the chords and rhythms. It hits me better.”
That desire to immerse himself in music’s technical side, to be a musician’s musician, well reflects Deery’s intellectual bent and versatile outlook. In addition to playing the sax, he played on his high school’s varsity basketball and football teams and led Kairos retreats.

And, of course, he was no slouch when it came to academics. A National Honor Society member and two-year vice president of the Spanish National Honor Society, Deery maintained a cumulative grade point average of more than 4.2, with his advanced placement and honors courses weighted more heavily than other courses. His favorite classes were on the analytical side: mathematics, physics and economics.

“In math, you either have the right answer or you don’t. It’s less open to interpretation,” says Deery, who plans to study economics or business at Georgetown University this fall. “I like figuring things out by knowing other things. If you have a base of knowledge, you can figure it out for yourself.”

Still, Deery has occasionally surprised himself, developing an interest in biology (“Life is fascinating,” he marvels. “It really is.”) and applying brainpower to his faith.

“You have to be informed about your faith and about everything else if you’re going to live in that Jesuit world,” he says. “If you’re going to do that service work that Jesuits like to preach, you have to be informed about what’s going on in the world.”

EMILY HOLMES SCRANTON PREPARATORY SCHOOL
RELIGIOUS

Emily Holmes liberally salts her conversations with the word cool, which isn’t all that unusual for a high school senior until you consider the various contexts of those conversations.

As in: “Both of my parents are the moderators of the youth group in my parish. As long as I can remember, I was getting dragged to these youth group meetings. Looking back, it was really cool.”

And: “It was just recently, in my junior year, when religion changed for me. It went from going through the motions to actually considering and beginning to comprehend what you’re doing and what your actions mean. Building a faith of your own, and not just living off the faith you grew up with and was bestowed on you by your parents …That was really cool.”

And: “I’ve always been really interested in other religions and the ways people practice their faith and how different and similar they all are. This year my dad and I and my Jewish friend Danny went to a Bethel AME church. It was so cool. Everybody was so welcoming. The music was so cool. It was cool to see how they get it done. It was really, really cool.”

Holmes, a resident of Moscow, Pa., credits her family for her religious upbringing, but, as her enthusiasm makes clear, she has forged her own identity, religious and otherwise. A Kairos rector, National Honor Society member, and vice president of the student council, she talks with wonder about how her faith has evolved and matured from memorization and rote recitations to an intensely personal experience with God.

“My biggest thing is integrating God into all aspects of my life,” she says. “If you truly want to live a religious life, you have to take the aspects of your life where you don’t want God and break down that barrier and not be afraid to leave it all open. Open the doors and let God in.”

A service trip to a Philadelphia homeless shelter in eighth grade ignited Holmes’ passion to serve others, and she has returned to the site, St. Francis Inn, to work every summer since. Last summer she opted to work in New Orleans for her Scranton Prep service project.

“Living out a religious life has a lot to do with service,” Holmes says. “That is the biggest part of my religious life now. It’s right there, right in your face. That’s God. You’re not just hearing a great homily once in a while. It’s the fastest way to get that slap in the face, that this-is-what-it’s-all-about kind of thing.”

Holmes will study theology this fall at Saint Joseph’s University, and hopes someday to teach it to others.

“It’s just my whole life,” she says. “Religion has been so present.”

Neither wrestling nor rugby is considered an especially loving sport and with good reason. Each has an element of physical violence at its core, and its best practitioners are considered hard-nosed, aggressive people.

Consider Benjamin Garbart the exception that proves the rule.

Called “one of the most gentle students here” by a Loyola Blakefield staffer, Garbart was a magnet for the patients at a children’s hospital he and other Loyola students visited last summer during a service trip to Jamaica. “Ben was basically a ‘tree’ that all the kids loved to climb,” the staffer recalls. “They found in him a big brother.”

“Over the course of two weeks, we went to an old folks’ home, a poor shelter and the children’s hospital,” says Garbart, who lives in Baltimore. “We did what we could to help out the staff there, and talked and played with the kids and tried to entertain the people and help them out. I knew from talking to other seniors that a lot of other service trips were more physical labor. I really liked the experience of going to Kingston. It was very interesting to talk with all the people down there.”

Indeed, Garbart’s interest in reaching out to others to form a connection is consistent with his Grad at Grad trait.

“The main thing I chose Loyola for was the general atmosphere of the people,” he says. “When you’re a freshman and seniors are saying hi to you and being your friend, you just feel accepted. Once they do that for you, you feel obliged to do that for other students as well. That general atmosphere of caring for each other and loving each other is a very good feeling. I’m very glad I went to a school that promoted that and allowed me to be loving. It’s a unique opportunity to be able to care for your classmates and such, and they express it back to you.”

This fall Garbart will be enrolled at St. Mary’s College, and he plans to continue reaching out.

“One of the things I’ve learned through being at Loyola and through Kairos [retreats] is that no matter who you are or who you’re talking with, if you present yourself as a caring person and genuinely care, it creates a generally good atmosphere around you,” he says. “It helps you and the people around you to be nicer to one another and more loving to one another. Even in day-to-day stuff, just passing through the hall and saying hi to someone you don’t know could lead to friendship and could lead to their day being a little bit better.”

NICHOLAS ROSENBERGER ST. JOSEPH’S PREPARATORY SCHOOL
COMMITTED TO DOING JUSTICE

It takes a true commitment to justice to sit down and have a civilized conversation with the very representatives of the institution one is demonstrating against, but that’s just what Nicholas Rosenberger did last fall at the annual protest of the former School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Ga. Now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, this controversial school trains Latin American security personnel in combat and counter-insurgency tactics and is often a target for peace activists.

“For the first time ever, they opened [the school to the public],” recalls Rosenberger, a resident of Montgomeryville, Pa. “I guess they were trying to get a better public opinion of the entire thing. We got to tour through there. It was just a quick glance at a few hallways, and we saw maybe one classroom. The interesting part was that there was a question-and-answer session. It was difficult at times because I was there to protest policy, not people, and some of the students we met there were actually very gracious and understanding of why we were there. So it was hard to separate those two things, at least for me.”

Rosenberger is a quiet, thoughtful young man, but he is deeply interested in pointing out injustice where he sees it.

“It’s something my parents instilled in me since I was younger,” he says, “to always try to reach out and help other people. I’ve met a lot of people in my life who felt they were entitled to something. We’re given something, and we’re so fortunate to have that. So we also have the responsibility to make sure others have the same opportunities we do. I do try to vocalize my beliefs, but I don’t want to force them upon others. I try to lead by my actions.”

Those actions speak loudly. In addition to regular visits to the Inglis Foundation, a Philadelphia organization that helps people with physical disabilities, Rosenberger last summer went on a St. Joseph’s Prep service trip to Tohatchi, N.M., where he worked on a Navajo mission.

“We did mostly manual labor, but it was also a cultural immersion,” he says. “Part of the experience was just talking with people and seeing how much more simple their lives are. That really taught me a lot of things.”

Acting on his passion for human rights, Rosenberger recently joined two classmates in founding a chapter of Amnesty International.

“I believe it’s important that people not stand by and allow things to happen,” he says. “In my opinion, doing nothing is the same as contributing to the problem.”

Rosenberger has an application in to AmeriCorps, the national community service organization, and will consider deferring college for a year if he’s accepted. Should he decide to enroll this fall, he’ll be at either Saint Joseph’s University or Gettysburg College, where he will study English. His long-term goal is to earn a PhD and teach in higher education, as well as to continue to strive for a more just world.

“I see it as a lifelong thing for me,” Rosenberger says. “I just want to try to do my best to give back, because I’ve been given so much. Any way I can help—either teaching, or donating my time and service, or being able to talk to other people—and spread my beliefs and let other people know about some of the injustices going on, I think that’s the biggest contribution I can make.”

Tom Durso, former director of communications at
Saint Joseph’s University, is a Philadelphia-based freelance writer.

Related Links

Georgetown Preparatory School
Gonzaga College High School
Scranton Preparatory School
Loyola Blakefield
St. Joseph's Preparatory School
Jesuit Secondary Education Association (JSEA)