8 Friars’ Teachers and/or Administrators Hold Advanced, Doctoral Degrees in Their Fields of Expertise
Fenwick’s academic doctors (from left): Drs. Lordan, King, Woerter, Porter, Quaid, Slajchert and Peddicord. (Dr. Kleinhans is not pictured.)
In addition to Fenwick President Fr. Richard Peddicord, O.P., who has a Ph.D. in Moral Theology from the University of Ottawa/St. Paul University, seven of his colleagues also have earned advanced, doctoral degrees:
Dr. Jonathan King
Theology Teacher
Ph.D. in Historical Theology, St. Louis University
Dr. David Kleinhans
Science Dept. Co-Chair
J.D. (Juris Doctor) in Intellectual Property, John Marshall Law School
Dr. Gerald Lordan, O.P.
Faculty Mentor
Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, Boston College
Dr. Marissa Porter
Latin Teacher
Ph.D. in Classics, University of Texas – Austin
Dr. James Quaid
Director of Student Services & Enrollment Management/Social Studies Teacher
Ph.D., Educational leadership, Foundations and Counseling, Loyola University Chicago
Dr. Michael Slajchert
Theology Teacher
J.D., Loyola University Chicago
Dr./Fr. Dennis Woerter, O.P. ’86
Director of Campus Ministry & Chaplain
D.Min., Preaching in the Practice of Ministry, The Iliff School of Theology (Denver)
On Valentine’s Day last month, the FHS Facebook page posted about how Cupid’s arrow struck the hearts of our ‘First Friar Couple.’ Turns out, romance is in the air more than we first thought!
By Mark Vruno
Father LaPata ’50 baptized the Ori’s son, Joseph Thomas, on March 11th in the Fenwick Chapel. Godparents are Janessa and Frank Perna. ’03.
With St. Patrick’s Day 2018 in the rear-view mirror, today is, of course, St. Joesph’s Day. In honor of the feast day of the patron of the universal church, fathers, families, married people and much more, here is a rundown of couples who are sweet on each other — and who have Fenwick in common.
The Keating children.
We thought that Brendan Keating ’97 and his wife, Christa Battaglia ’97, may be the first double-alumnus couple from Fenwick to have gotten married (based on their wedding date). Perhaps it is fitting this St. Paddy’s-St. Joe’s “long weekend” that theirs is one of several mixed, Irish-Italian romances. Brendan grew up in Oak Park and went to St. Bernadine’s, Fenwick and Loyola U. Christa is a St. Giles’ girl. The couple has two children, ages six and three.
The Thies Family
Fenwick Athletic Director Scott Thies ’99 and his wife Lea (nee Crawford) ’03 are the proud parents of three children: two boys and girl.Admissions Director Joe Ori ’03 and his wife Jen (nee Morris) ’03, an English teacher for the Friars, in January celebrated the birth of their first child: a son, Joseph, Jr.
The Lileks gave thank for Baby Ernie this past Thanksgiving.
From the Class of 2005, Paul and Chrissy (Tallarico) Lilek welcomed home a baby boy, Ernest, born on Thanksgiving Day 2017. (In addition to being a new mother, Mrs. Lilek also is a new Spanish Teacher at Fenwick.)
Alex gave the new Holmbergs the thumbs up in November ’16.
Social Studies Teacher Alex Holmberg ’05 married former Fenwick English Teacher Georgia Schulte ’04 in November 2016. The couple is expecting their first child literally any day now (March 20 due date!). “I think Mr. Arellano may have introduced the Holmbergs and the Ori’s at our New Teacher Cohort Summer Orientation Program,” says Faculty Mentor Dr. Jerry Lordan.
Ryan Alexander Holmberg was born on St. Joseph’s Day: March 19, 2018.
Thanks to more than 20 alumni comments on Facebook, Friars and their friends have chimed in to inform us that there is at least a baker’s dozen more romances that blossomed within Fenwick’s hallowed halls and have matured, resulting in the holy sacrament of marriage:
Class of ’96:
John & Marianne (Palmer) Carrozza
The Fantasias have resided in the Cayman Islands for the past 13 years.
Anthony & Margaret (Arts) Fantasia were married in June 2004. The couple currently lives with their three children (Isabella, 9; Leo, 7; and Joseph, 6) in the Cayman Islands.
Class of ’97:
Chris & Chrissy (Gentile) Carlson
Pat McMahon with his hands full.Mina McMahon in the driver’s seat.
Patrick & Mina (McGuire) McMahon
Jeff & Suzanne (Sharp) Williams
Class of ’98:
Larry and Katie Dolendi with their twins.
The Dolendis are married “but we didn’t date in high school or college,” writes Katie (Morelli) ’98. “It happened a in our mid-20s.” She and husband Larry Dolendi’99 are the proud parents of six-year-old twins Reese and Riley.
TJ and Sue Maloney and family.
Andrea and Mike Mostardi ’98
Tim & Maureen (Goggin) Funke
TJ & Sue (Atella) Mahoney
Michael & Andrea (Geis) Mostardi
Class of ’99:
Lena and Kevin McMahon ’99
Kevin & Lena (Lloyd) McMahon
Class of ’00
Dan & Colleen (Dan) Doherty
Class of ’01:
Sam and Megan (Kenny) Kucia
The Kucia Family
“We never dated in high school, but we attended senior prom together and reconnected after college,” Megan reports. “We married in 2010, and we had more than 30 Fenwick alumni in attendance.”
Class of ’01 & ’02:
Paul & Jessie (Drevs) Wilhelm
The Wilhelm’s look of love.
“We met in Madame Schnabel’s French II Class back in 1999!” Jessie writes. “We still look back on the pictures of us both from the French Club’s trip to France (over the summer of 2000, I believe). Although we didn’t find our l’amour while at Fenwick, we reconnected after college and were married in 2014. We are both proud to be Fenwick alums, but even more so we are grateful to be as we may not have found one another otherwise.”
Class of ’02:
Dan & Kate (Maloy) Ferri
Mike & Edna (Romero) Tallarico
Brian & Erin (Jones) Megall
Ben & Roselyn (Chanchai) Swan
Class of ’04:
Father LaPata married the Flahertys in November 2016.
Kevin & Bianca (Reggi) Flaherty
David & Teresa (Nierzwicki) Pollitz
Class of ’05:
Patrick & Sondra (Tenorio) Healy
The Italian destination wedding of Meg Scanlon & Michael McGillen ’07 was featured in Vogue magazine.
Fenwick considers our minds, our bodies and our faith to be gifts from God. It is our moral obligation to grow in all three of these areas.
By Gerald F. Lordan, O.P., Ph.D., Social Studies Teacher and Faculty Mentor
St. Thomas Aquinas
As some of us may know, Fenwick is the only high school sponsored by Dominican Friars in America. As such we are a national lighthouse for the Thomist educational philosophy.
Thomism evolved from the writing of St. Thomas Aquinas, O.P., an Italian Dominican (1225-1274). Aquinas was educated at the University of Paris by a German Dominican, St. Albert the Great, O.P. (1200-1280). It is the greatest joy of every teacher to be surpassed by his student. Thomas brought joy to the heart of Albert. St Dominic de Guzman, O.P. (1170-1221), a Spanish Dominican and the founder of the Order of Preachers, believed in an educated clergy. To that end he sent the Friars to study the Liberal Arts at the great universities of Medieval Europe. The liberal arts influence the Fenwick curriculum today.
A curriculum is the set of planned activities designed to change the observable behavior of a student. There is a curriculum continuum. One end of that continuum has a Roman influence. The word curriculum comes from the bales of straw that delineated the chariot race course in the Colosseum. The goal of this curriculum is to cover all the prescribed material and nothing but the prescribed material in the shortest possible amount of time. The other end of this continuum has a Chinese influence. It is the dao, the vast treeless grassy plain of western China. There is not a set course of travel. Everything looks the same in all directions all the way out to the horizon. One may, therefore, go wherever one wishes, when one wishes, at the speed one wishes.
The 1959 movie classic “Ben-Hur” was remade in 2016. But what does chariot racing have to do with curriculum?
What is ‘social capital,’ and how do we measure it?
By Gerald F. Lordan, O.P., Ph.D., Social Studies Teacher and Faculty Mentor
Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the author of The Little Prince, was a novelist and Free French Army aviator lost missing in action in 1944 during World War II. He is paraphrased to have said, “The most important things in life are invisible and impossible to measure.”
For many years this statement applied to the benefits of Catholic education. A recent book, Lost Classroom, Lost Community by Margaret Brining and Nicole Stelle Garnett, helps to quantify the value of Catholic education to the community. The authors, both of whom are Notre Dame University Law School professors, studied demographic, educational and criminal statistics in Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. They found a close connection between the presence of a Catholic school and community social capital. This connection can have a positive impact not only on the life of the community as a whole but also on the lives of the individuals within that community.
Social capital can be defined as the social networks and norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness shared by members of a community with one another. Brining and Garnett found high levels of social capital among the administrators, teachers, parents and students of Catholic schools. Social capital can be considered a factor of production similar to physical, financial and human capital. According to Brining and Garnett, social capital can be viewed as something that helps to produce a better society, less crime, less disorder and more trust. When Catholic schools are closed in a community, the community suffers. Many people who support Catholic education sense these findings intuitively. Saint-Exupery to the contrary, notwithstanding, Brining and Garnett help to quantify those intuitions. Continue reading “Found Classroom, Found Community”
For many years this statement applied to the benefits of Catholic education. A recent book, Lost Classroom, Lost Community by Margaret Brining and Nicole Stelle Garnett, helps to quantify the value of Catholic education to the community. The authors, both of whom are Notre Dame University Law School professors, studied demographic, educational and criminal statistics in Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. They found a close connection between the presence of a Catholic school and community social capital. This connection can have a positive impact not only on the life of the community as a whole but also on the lives of the individuals within that community.