The Ritan Volume 82 No. 1

8/8/2019 The Ritan Volume 82 No. 1

1/8

St. Rita community enjoys

another successful Home-

coming Week p 2

Meeting our new faculty

members p 2

Closed campus: students

react p 3

Should you buy the new

Apple products? p 4

SR and Chicago sports

news p 7-8

The Ritan

In This Issue

A Student Publication of

Saint Rita of Cascia High School

7740 South Western Avenue

Chicago, Illinois 60620

Volume Eighty-Two. Number One. January 17, 2011

THE RITAN

STUDENT STAFF: Max

Kurucar, Joe Ruiz, Craig

Sabath, Jonathan Eskra,Stephen Gregory, Oscar

Mascorro, Danny OKeefe,

Ed Roland

MODERATOR: Mr. Tim

Baffoe

St. Rita Welcomes New Principalby Oscar Mascorro

replacing Mrs. Deenihan. Well, it was thought about and decided that Mr. Brendan Conroy was the best

city that made me stay.

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tion classesand it worked.

to start my own school?

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When Mr. Conroy was asked why he wanted to come to St. Rita, he said he based most of his decision on the tradition that surrounds St. Rita.

that they still follow today with their

families, or in religious life, or in their

Also, Mr. Conroy stated that the St. Rita

been outstanding, in terms of welcoming

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will come up to me, shake my hand, and

could. The young men here know how to

The teachers seem to be open and except-

is going to be a great leader, says Mrs.

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ed, and has great fresh ideas. He is goingto be great for St. Rita.

Someone who has been around long

principles, Mrs. Krystof had only good

been a great start to the beginning of the

the teachers well informed and that really

helps us.

This is almost like Mr. Conroys fresh-

man year. He is learning how things are

of my biggest goals are that we become

excellent in all areas; that we become

strong school because we are strong

academically, strong in our faith, strong in

-ics, strong in co-curricular and extra-

build on the Augustinian belief of Unitas.

kid to St. Rita because they are good

academically, athletically, and spiritually.

Once a school thinks that they cannot

get any better, that is when they begin to

through the help of all the faculties and

the students co-operating as one.

Certainly it looks as though Conroy has

plenty of new ideas that can only make

St. Rita better.

Natir comes back for second yearwith new lookby Ed Roland

present--students, sports, detention, lunch room food, and mysterious bus rides with Coach

satire, which is writing in a way that pokes fun at what one is writing about while still getting

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tions from The Onion, which is an international satire publication.

satirical newspaper.

most popular ones were Coach Carrolls back in time ride, Principal Sally Deenihans returnto being a Green Beret drill sergeant, Mrs. Palmer being turned down at Six Flags rides for

being too short, and the Senior Prom being held in the basketball locker room. All articles

Horoscopes bashing those that read horoscopes, senioritis, polls of what to bring to class,

On the back of the paper were sports. But not what one would think. Reports about the

a team.

it was last year, it has now turned into a club. With this, there will probably be more than one

installment this year apposed to last year. Also, stories can be related to all classes now that

already poked fun at St. Rita.

good to be part of something fun like this.

the school.

Since the idea is still new, Mr. Baffoe and the entire The Natir staff is working hard to make

what they come up with this year.


2/8

January 17, 2011Page 2 NEWS

Getting to know our new faculty!by Stephen Gregory

Augustinian volunteer

Stephen Gregory: When did you decide to become involved in

ministry and who or what inspired you to do so?

that, though.

SG: How would you compare St. Rita to other high schools where

coed. St. Rita seems to be much more community-based. Building

that community.

you done so?

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supportive.

about going into ministry?

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thing you can do in ministry.

allowed me to be completely immersed in life here at St. Rita, and

SG: At what time in your life did you decide to teach, and who or

what inspired you to do so?

many people who inspired me, but my college religion professor

inspired me the most. She taught me religion in a way that was real

SG: What was your inspiration to teach theology?

have always wanted to have a stage to discuss it, play with ideas,

and learn from my students.

SG: How would you compare St. Rita to the high school that you

attended or were in the area where you lived ?

lived in at the time had a population of about 1,000 people.

about teaching?

note what he or she does that is effective and not effective. And

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tions and turned the whole school day atmosphere

faculty were allowed to wear any St. Rita apparel,

spirit with shirts and posters and were out to an early

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mores, and then the seniors with a low 26 points.

But, they were not only dressed down, they were

the dance contest.

were actually the only class that were not in the negative

which would be distributed between our mission collection

and a donation to the Share Your Soles charity incorporated

the students are also given early dismissal and a carefree

competitions including a tricycle race, a messy candy hunt,

a race to catch as many tennis balls in your pants, a White

and a human pyramid. While those were the main events there was also more

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very choreographed with a move representing each sentence in the song

roaring seniors.

assured Mrs. McLawhorn. Students felt involved and apart of the experience in every aspect as long as they put themselves out


3/8

This year St. Rita has been put under somenew security measures with what many believe are

due to multiple mishaps involving violence in Chi-

cago and the campus area. However, when talking

to multiple St. Rita security members I was assured

that , A single case or event did not result in thedecision to create new rules. It was more of a com-

bination of multiple situations we see every year.

As soon as fall sports began tryouts and practices,

we were all informed of the new rules and the

severe consequences that would be given to those

told We are now a closed campus. This meant we

would no longer be able to go to the close fast food

restaurants or stores, and security would be escort-

ing all students to the bus stop after school and

other extracurricular activities. We were reminded

that this was for our safety to prevent any possibleincidents to St. Rita students.

The question is, Is this closed campus re-

ally necessary, or is everyone overreacting? There

are three ways of looking at this situation. One is

that it is completely necessary to ensure everyone

stays safe. Another is that the administration is to-

tally overreacting and we were always safe to begin

with. The last one is more in between--I dont

mind the new rules. I understand why they were

made, but we werent in any grave danger before

they were made either.

We have all heard the saying Better safe

than sorry before in our lives, and this holds a

very good argument for the reasons for the closed

campus. Is it a necessity for us to be escorted to the

bus stop or to keep us out of McDonalds or Sub-

way? Some would say maybe, others think maybe

not. Is a student in harms way off of the high

schools campus? Possibly. Do we want to wait and

A lot of the students were surprised to

hear that these new precautions were being taken.

Ive never felt like I was in danger at McDonaldsor the bus stop, told sophomore Tim Lynch and

many other students agree. Its broad daylight after

of violence occur after sun down. Practices and

after school activities usually end early, relying on

the sunlight. Is it hard to believe that these precau-

tions might be a little unnecessary?

But most of the student body have mixed

feelings about the situation and it usually has a lot

to do with how hungry they are. If youre hungry

and craving a McDouble and a large fry, odds are

youre against closed campus. When you actuallysit down and think about the reasons for these pre-

cautions you realize that it is important that we stay

I understand why these rules were made.

Will a cheeseburger really kill me, though? Assis-

tant Principal of Administration, Mr. Joe Partacz,

said, The new rules are more of a precaution than

a necessity, and two of our very own security

guards, Mr. Brandt and Mr. Kane, agree with him.

I am a person that always thinks about if running up

to the McDonalds will really kill me. Will it put me in

any serious danger? And it is hard to recognize possibledanger as a returning student that has made so many trips

to the dollar menu just last year. But when it comes down

to it I will always know that I and everyone else at Rita

can live without it. Literally. If for some reason anything

were to happen to a student off campus we would com-

plain the rules were not made beforehand. If not going to

the McDonalds or Subway will keep me alive or out of

harms way then Im going to follow the rules. And I think

we can all agree with that.

What Rita Men Think

of Closed Campus...

Luke Le Beau- Class of 2011

I think that closed campus is bo-

gus. Once youre off campus and

on Western Avenue you should

be able to go to McDonalds. The

security escort is nice though.

Mike Murphy - Class of 2012The closed campus hasnt

changed much about my life at

Rita. It is comforting however to

know that the administration is

taking action to keep the student

body safe.

Jake LePretre- Class of 2013I understand they are trying to

keep us safe and all because of

the recent events that have oc-

curred over the summer, but I

feel like I wasnt really in any

danger before.

Marty ODwyer- Class of 2014

say I have a problem with the

closed campus rules. I feel safe

both during and after school and

the closed campus might have

something to do with it.

VOICES

Rita Closes CampusBy: Danny OKeefe


4/8

Disappointing. Expensive. Waste of money. What can all these

words be used to describe? Apples new line of products. I wonder what

was Steve Jobs thought process was behind the iPad, iPod touch, iPod

nano, and the biggest problem, the iPhone 4. Lets start with the iPad and

iPods. After looking at all of these I have a feeling that Jobs was think

something like Lets take the iPhone and turn it into a jumbo pad and

a tiny 1.48 x 1.61 thing. Yea, thatll make us some money. There is

almost no real difference between the iPad and iPhones (with the exceptionof the iPhone 4). Both use the same core operating system, use the same

apps, a both can make phone calls. Yes, thats right. The iPad can make

phone calls with the assistance of Skype or other various apps. The iPod

FaceTime feature.

Despite the iPhone 4 being a great innovation of technology,

it has its share of disappointments, but then, what piece of technology

doesnt? The iPhone 4 introduced a great new feature called FaceTime.

This allows you to make video phone calls. The concept of this is amazing,

but then it introduces plenty of problems. The main problem being battery

life. According to Apple, the battery will last for a seven hour phone call

without using FaceTime. Thats just dandy when you just use the phone for

calling people, but what about using it for what Apple is always advertis-

ing? What if you use it for running your Facebook app, listening to music,watching YouTube clips, and making calls with FaceTime? Your battery

will most likely be at 0% within a matter of three hours. Granted, the pre-

vious iPhones havent been as generous when it comes to the battery, but in

some cases, they outlive the iPhone 4. This isnt the only problem though.

The other two main issues are durability and connectivity. You may be

thinking, Connectivity? Isnt it a cell phone on the nations fastest cel-

lular network? Well, yes, it is. That is until you hold it in your left hand.

The antenna for the phone is located in the lower left-hand corner of the

device. When covered with your left hand, it will go from a full connection

to absolutely no connection at all. According to apple, this is an error with

thing on the list of problems is the phones durability. According to Apple,

the new glass used is ...the same type of glass used in the windshields of

helicopters and high-speed trains. Chemically strengthened to be 20 timesstiffer and 30 times harder than plastic. Well, many people have already

dropped their new phones and realized that the glass is just, well, glass. Its

not indestructible. On the plus side, the iPhone 4 has an amazing 4 mega-

recording the next big YouTube sensation.

Other than minor technical changes, there is no noticeable differ-

ence between this line-up of overpriced items. The iPad starts at $499 for

the non-3G 16GB version. You want 3G? Then how about $629 for the

16GB version? The prices are not pretty. Looking to buy a new iPod touch

for someone, or even yourself? The price comes to $229 for the 8GB ver-

sion. How about the iPhone 4? This is where things may get complicated

if you dont know about cell phone contracts. If your contract with AT&T

is close to an end, you may be in luck if you want to buy this. With a new

contract, 16GB iPhones 4s sell for $199 and the 32GB version costs $299.Lets say youre like me and your contract doesnt expire for another year

and four months and you are not eligible for an early upgrade. Then we are

out of luck. Unless you are dying to have this phone and dont care about

money, you are looking at $599 for the 16GB and $699 for the 32GB.

I am very disappointed in Apples lack of creativity, but I guess

whatever pulls in more money for the company is the way to go.

Page 4

Money Sleeps Sometimesby Max Kurucar As a sequel to the 1987 movie Wall Street Michael Douglas reprises his role as

wall street titan Gordon Gekko. A strong new member to the cast is Shia Labeouf, who

plays Jacob Moore. Jacob is a young wall street broker who is to marry Winnie Gekko

(Carey Mulligan), the daughter of Gordon Gekko.

him getting out after his eight year sentence. He looks to rekindle his relationship with hisdaughter, Winnie.

work very hard to stay ahead. With Gekko out of jail, maybe Jacob has a mentor to help

him out.

Throughout the movie relationships build between Jacob, Winnie, and Gordon.

While watching the movie you can really feel the tension of each relationship like youre a

part of it. As the movie goes on you feel saddened and lifted due to the building and crum-

bling of the relationships between the three.

most part it is not much of an on the edge of your seat movie but it is a very enjoyable

movie to watch with friends or family.

Taking a bite out of the new Apple productsby Joe Ruiz


5/8

The White House states that the BP oil spill was one of the biggest environmental disasters

in recent years, but the full effects of the spill are still unknown. Scientists say that the combination

of the unknown depth of the spill and the chemicals used to break down the oil are causing more

Humans, not only animals, have been affected by the oil spill. One quarter of the Gulf

the friendly waters of the Gulf coast have been an attraction for many years. However, adults and

children are contracting skin infections from the oil in the water.

Researchers have found at least two underwater pools of collected oil, each hundreds of

layers of oil ruining wetlands and seeping into marine and bird habitats that leaves a stain or tar that

holds the marshes together. The president of Plaquemines parish, Billy Nungesser, said he had seen

the immediate effects of the oil spill. No one could possibly predict the possible destruction that the

oil spill will cause in the future.

Not only has the area around the spill been affected, like Louisiana. Many sur

area so far away as Florida has been receiving tar from the spill. The overall well being of the country

The BP oil spill has proven to be more disastrous than pictured before. Even though the

company has completed the cleaning of the coast, there is still much more that needs to be done. The

that the waters have been contaminated. BP is simply trying to forget about the incident and erase it

from memory, but the fact is that no one should forget what the spill has done to the lives of many

by Max Kurucar

St. Rita student Craig Sabaths opinion on the matter is, If the war is waged in the right way I dont see a problem. But with the continued air strikes the soldiers are put

ting the lives of innocent civilians at risk.

by Jonathan Eskra


6/8

Page 6

Bears Nearing End of a Roller-Coaster Season

Chicago Sports with Craig Sabath

The season has been a roller coaster ride for the Chicago

Bears. An inconsistent pass attack, compounded with an

anemic running attack and awful offensive line play has not

stopped the Bears from achieving a winning record and the

top spot in the NFC North.

The season began against Detroit, where they

escaped with a win after Calvin Johnsons game winning

get in the end zone, the Bears defense prevented Detroit

from getting in either, for the most part.

The Bears then traveled to Dallas to upset the

Cowboys in possibly in their most complete game of the

season. They continued their success in another upset of the

Green Bay Packers, where the Packers set an NFL record in

penalties in one game.

Next, however, the Bears werent able to repeattheir success, as the New York Giants pass rush tore the

Bears offense apart, sacking Cutler non-stop. After taking

the loss, the Bears running game came alive against the atrocious Carolina Panthers. The Bears walked away

with an easy win.

The Bears couldnt continue their success as they lost two straight close games to the Seattle

another close game. The Bears continued their success with a whipping of the crumbling Minnesota Vikings.

Continuing their win streak, the Bears rolled over a Miami Dolphins team who had lost their top two quarter-

backs.

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delphia Eagles led by Michael Vick. The defense was stout, picking off Michael Vick in the end zone. Also,

the offense performed extraordinarily with Jay Cutler throwing four touchdowns and Matt Forte running for

over 100 yards.

Next week, the Bears came back to win against the Detroit Lions, sweeping them for the season. The

biggest game of the year came next, at home against the New England Patriots. Riding off their performance

against the Eagles, the Bears were actually expected to win. Reality soon came crashing down. The Patr iots

crushed the Bears 36-7. Despite the weather, Tom Brady had nearly a perfect game and the defense shut down

Jay Cutler picking him off twice.

done. The defense bends, but it does not break. The offense has been disappointing, being nowhere near

In 1989, a young, unproven assistant coach got his

Phil Jackson and he led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA

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have been performing exceptionally.

Led by their new head coach, the Bulls are

on top of their division with wins over some of the

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performance is that they did it without their key free

agent acquisition Carlos Boozer. Upon Boozers re-

turn, his presence was immediately felt, helping lead

the Bulls to a win over the Lakers.

This season, Derrick Rose has emerged asa superstar, Joakim Noah has stepped up, averaging

career highs in scoring, rebounding, and assists, all

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son has been proving the doubters wrong, and Luol

Deng is earning his contract money. All the holdovers

are performing better than last season.

In addition, new acquisitions have been

been shooting better at the 3-point line than his NBA

record. Ronnie Brewer is becoming the key player off

Bulls come from behind win over Dallas.

All around improvement can be attributed

to one thing only: coaching. At this rate, dont be sur-

lackluster performance of Miami compounded with

the Bulls spectacular play, the Bulls are legitimate

Eastern Conference contenders thus far in the season.

Bulls on the Rise

Earlier in the year, the Chicago Blackhawks were on

49 years. Now, over twenty games into the season, the

Blackhawks are still hung over from last season.

I mean, a quarter of the seasons gone and we havent

really played the way we want to all year, commented

A bumpy start was expected after the team changed 10

players from the roster because of salary cap issues.

Actually our (newcomers) have played very well,

Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman said. The hard part is

that some of our holdovers havent been as consistent as

they were last year.

after posting a plus-21 plus-minus, along with 14 goals.

last years scoring rates.

been great, and we have some other games when they have struggled.

The Blackhawks have played more games than other team in the league, leaving little practice time

lineup, more can be expected of the Blackhawks.

Despite the disappointments, one thing must be remembered above all, there are plenty

games left in the season.

Blackhawks Trying to Defend Stanley Cup

Chicago Sports Poll

Biggest surprise in Chicago

sports in 2010:

Bears Surprise Record 15%

80%

Disappointing Baseball Teams 5%

January 17, 2011


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January 17, 2011Page 7 SPORTS

The Varsity Soccer team has two new faces in the coaching Staff.

Head Coach Tim McCarthy 85 is returning to St. Rita after 14 years. He

was an assistant coach in 1990 and Head Coach from 1991-1995. From

1990-1995 I had the opportunity to meet and coach a tremendous group of

Rita men who have all gone on to be very successful in their careers and intheir lives. I am equally excited about coaching our current group of young

men and about the future of the program.

Assisting him is Coach Bob Kellam 92. As a player at St. Rita Bob

was honored with All-Catholic League, South Town Economist All-Area

Honorable Mention and led the team in scoring his senior year. Along with

the new Varsity coaches, freshman coach Kieran Kellam, and Sophmore

coach AZ Zellelew are back coaching the Mustangs.

After a disappointing last season, Coach Kieran Kellam feels con-

The new season has started of fairly well. Its easier now that we have a

full team to play with. They are improving, and many people outside of

Rita have told me so. The whole goal is for the players to improve for next

year, and they have.

The Sophmore team has won the Catholic White Division the pastthree years in a row, but it will not happen a fourth time. The sophomore

team won their home open 5-3 against St. Joseph, before losing 5 straight games. Things didnt get any better when Captain Liam Forde was

moved up to Varsity.

After beating Oak Lawn in a trilling 9-7 game, they lost to Mount Carmel. Their last game, however, was a hard fought victory against Fenwick,

a powerhouse in the Catholic White division. The only goal of the game was scored by Jack Sears off a corner kick that had a little help from the

wind. The ended on a bad note, though, tying Providence, and losing to St. Ignatius and Brother Rice.

The Varsity team is bouncing back from a disappointing last season. They started off the season with a few losses; they then won two out

of four games and tied 1. Losing the next two games, they then won four of their last six games, including St. Laurence, Oak Lawn, and Gordon

Tech.

The Mustangs continue to battle through tough seasons and hard schedules. Coach McCarthy feels very good about the progress the team

has made, and has big plans for the next few years. He has already told anybody looking to try out for varsity next year that they have to work

hard and really aim to become better if they plan to make the team. Out of a 19-20 man roster, we are only loosing 5 players. Next year is going

Led by Head coach Rory Haran, the cross country

team has been running miles and miles as they prepare for

the IHSA Championship on November 6th. Coach Haran

graduated from St. Rita in 1995 after competing in Track &

Field as well as Cross Country. As a runner, Coach Haran

is an experienced road racer in distances from 5k to the half

marathon. In 2009, the Running Mustangs repeated as IHSA

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son PR (Personal Record) times. Coach Haran is assisted by

Coach Chuck Knibbs.

The St. Rita Cross Country team began their season

on a good note. Saturday at the Illinois Council of Private

by freshman Peter Schaible in 8th place. Sophomores Bren-

dan Rafferty, Dan Dwyer, and Austin Kingsley won medals

for placing in the top 25. The Varsity was led by Captain

Albert Alfano, who raced a team-best 18 minutes, 29 seconds

over the 5k course at Marmion Academy.

The team keeps improving as several members of theteam beat their personal bests. Kevin Goosherst beat his per-

sonal best at just over 20 minutes, David Martinez runs just

over 21 minutes, and Brendan Rafferty placed in the top forty

out of 300 runners. Also, one of the freshman runners took

home a honking bronze medal. Albert Alfano, a junior run-

ner, is looking to win the Chicago Catholic League Individual

win since 1993-1994, when Chris Kozubowski won. He runs

a three mile race in just over 17 minutes. The Running Mus-

tangs are looking to continue their improvements and race

their hearts out into the Catholic League Championships.

Kicking Mustangs look forwardby Oscar Mascorro

Cross Country season

shows potential

Junior Albert Alfano

by Oscar Mascorro


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January 17, 2011Page 8 MUSTANG SPORTS

Highland Park

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The Ritan Volume 82 No. 1

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