Amigoswhat’s inside:

New Faculty7 4Science Club

Despite Tough Opener, Football Tops Standings

Although Bellarmine experi-enced a rough opening to the sea-son with a loss to De La Salle, the varsity football team rebounded with strong efforts in their other pre-conference games against San Leandro and Piedmont Hills.

Last year’s football team fought through an almost-perfect season, losing only to De La Salle in double overtime and to Santa Margarita in the final seconds of the D1 Championship State Game.

However, Travis McHugh and Tim Crawley, who accounted for about 3,000 of the total 4,656 rushing yards last season, both graduated last year.

“The transition has been a little different,” said senior Ken-neth Olugbode, brother of Bellar-mine stars Kyle and Kris. “I have to go out there and know every single play.”

In fact, a huge majority of last year’s team graduated, with only two starters returning on both sides of the ball. Many play-

by Faris Katkhuda ’13editor of online content

2

See Faculty pg 4

Sept 2012Issue 5

ers, including junior quarter-back KJ Carta-Samuels, had nev-er played a varsity game before this September.

“We’re not really sure what to make of our football team just yet,” said head coach Mr. Janda. “The majority of these guys will be playing at the varsity level for the first time. I’m sure we will experience some growing pains.”

These “growing pains” hit hard in the team’s first game. On Friday, August 31, De La Salle beat the team at San Jose City College, 41-7. Luckily, these pains have evaporated after the first game, as the team cruised through the rest of the noncon-ference games.

The Bells struck back with a 33-7 victory against San Lean-dro on September 7. KJ, younger brother of Bellarmine alum and current Vanderbilt quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels, com-pleted six of eight passes for 146 yards, including a 69-yard pass to Kenneth Olugbode for a

New Faculty For School Year

As the class of 2012 and de-parting faculty members leave us, the community welcomes twelve new staff members eager to lend their talents to an incredible community.w

Among the returning veter-ans and newcomers are alumni volunteers, Jesuit scholastics, a Jesuit priest, the school’s first Strength and Conditioning spe-

by Emilio Flamenco ’13staff writer/reporter

cialist, and a Doctor of Philoso-phy (Ph.D).

Joining the current faculty for the 2012-2013 academic year are Jenna Allen, Kathleen Downum, Roberto Durán, S.J., Thomas Flowers, S.J., Fr. Russ Roide, S.J., Troy Heisman, Julian Howard, Dr. Stephanie Louris, Ph.D., Cindy Saglimbeni, Missy Scott-Lorentz, Ben Sigrist, and Michelle Toy.

New Beginnings for the Blue Crew:Bringing Back Bell Pride, Tradition

After reviving it for the sec-ond time in four years, the new leaders of the Blue Crew hope to restart a tradition to support all Bellarmine athletic teams.

Previously appearing at football and basketball games, the Blue Crew is the official name of the student section that supports athletes at competi-tions.

Senior Nick Makarov, a Blue Crew leader, said, “The Blue Crew is a guaranteed fan base for our athletes, and our goal is to be as loud and motivating as possible.”

The Blue Crew used to be a staple at football and bas-ketball games; the title is even painted on the gym. After it had died down for a couple of years, seniors attempted to revive it

by Kshithij Shrinath ’13section head

three years ago. Senior Peter White, another

lead organizer, said, “Not as many of the underclassmen got involved so it died out after the one year.”

Makarov said, “There was no binding commitment. Kids would stand in the socializing area with the shirts.”

The leaders plan to instill a larger commitment in new mem-bers. Students have to sign a con-tract pledging their devotion to school spirit before they can get a shirt.

Makarov said, “We’re mak-ing it clear to students that they’re making a commitment to the Blue Crew, and that it’s much more than just a shirt.”

Also, the organizers have created a Facebook group allow-ing everyone to join and help them find information about upcoming sporting events and themes for specific games. in ad-

The official student newspaper of Bellarmine College Preparatory

The football team is proving that they are ready to take on the toughest challenges as the season begins.

dition to supporting football and basketball.

White said, “We will be supporting as many sports as possible, across the board, making sure every athlete gets the Bellarmine cheering they deserve.”

White said, “We always cheer the loudest, have the most creative chants, and the most heart behind our chants.

“Everyone will be par-ticipating and everyone will be in attendance.

“We hope anyone on campus can come up to us and ask any question they need to know about Blue Crew.”

On top of the work from the organizers, Mrs. Shanley and Mr. Conom both pitched in behind-the-scenes, offer-ing guidance to the leaders by organizing meetings and of-fering their guidance.

NICK NGUYEN ‘13

3-5Featured: New This Year

See Football pg 8

NICK NGUYEN ‘13

cardinalthe

Page 2 The CardinalEditor’s Note

Editors-in-ChiefAnimesh Agrawal ’13Ryan Allen ’13

Managing Editor-DesignBenjamin Chan ’13

Managing Editor-WritingAram Nazarian ’13

Managing Editor-OnlineFaris Kathkuda ’13

Photography EditorNick Nguyen ’13

Business ManagerDebnil Sur ’13

Online Content ManagerRohit Mukherjee ’13

Section HeadsAndrew Marks ’13Christopher Cognetta ’14Kshithij Shrinath ’13Rahul Joshi ’13Rahul Singireddy ’14Ryan Ochoa ’13Sagar Kanumalla ’13

Layout and DesignArman Elahi ’13Derek Nguyen ’13Gareth Chen ’13Mani Gnanasivam ’14Shankar Iyer ’13Sushant Gadgil ’13

Photography and GraphicsBrandon Yung ’13Matt Garcia ’13Vincent Nguyen ’13Benjamin Frattini ‘13

Reporters and WritersAdam Pramono ’13Alexander Powers ’13Aniket Saoji ’13Ankur Mahesh ’15Brandon Carillo ’14Collin Baker ’13Emilio Flamenco ’14Ishan Sinha ’15Kai Xiao ’13Lucas Urbi ’13Namit Mishra ’15Quinn Nelson ’15Rohan Dhoopar ’15Shiv Wadwani ’13Victor Yin ’15

Send Comments and Letters to any editor

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Bellarmine College Prep960 West HeddingSan Jose, CA

Mission Statement“Our goal is to bring the various facets of the immense Bellarmine community together.”

Cardinal Staff

Sanguine Welcomes Five New Members

TaylorSwiftgotwaytoomuchpublicity.IwilladmitthatatfirstIwasinfatuatedwiththeideaofhaving her host a school-wide concert. It was only after I had drawn votes from my family members and the majority of my distant relatives that I realized I didn’t even like Taylor’s music. Befuddled, I asked other students around campus what they thought of T-Swizzle. The answer was nearly unanimous: “She’s pretty. Hermusicisalright.”SoIthinkI’mjustifiedinsayingthemajorityofstudentsweren’tvotingforTaylortohear her play guitar and sing. Some students say the entire quest to bring Taylor to Bell was a waste, but in it I still see a silver lining: the instant, school-wide camaraderie it brought us. For several days, our entire student body func-tionedasonecommunityworkingtogethertowardsacommonpurpose.Thoughwefinallyrealizedshewasn’tworththefight,Iseethatsamecamaraderieinsomanyotheraspectsofschoollife.Webleedblue;brotherhoodisourschool’sdefiningcharacteristic. Take, for example, the reinstated “Blue Crew” that exploded on Facebook and reclaimed its rightful role as the most powerful student cheering section in all of high school football. De La Salle may have taken the scoreboard, but we took the stadium. Consider the new Spikeball club, whose membership shot to 70 members (comprised of all grades) in two weeks. Consider President Medal, who fought for our right to havetwo-plytoiletpaperinthebathroomstalls.Whenwefindsomethingworthsupporting,wegoallout. It is our moral obligation to do the same thing with Funny Bell Quotes. It’s no secret that the group has recently depreciated in quality. Teachers are taken out of context or quoted for things that aren’t hu-morous. Students exploit the group to promote their own video or club. On occasion, they will even quote themselves. Freshmen, please don’t do that. So here are a few tips: Don’t quote your friends. Don’t post about yourself or school organizations. Ask other students if your quotation is funny. Please stop posting about Taylor Swift. If we all work together, we can bring FBQ back to its glory days. Let’s shock the world, one Facebook group at a time.

On September 5th and 6th, 102S was filled with people ready to put their senses of humor on the line for a spot in the improvi-sational comedy troupe, Sanguine Humours.

After reviewing more than forty potential candidates, San-guine Humours announced their new members for the 2012-13 school year.

From all of those who au-ditioned, five have been selected to join Sanguine’s ranks.

This year, San-guine welcomes two seniors, two juniors, and one freshman.

Heading up the elder portion of Sanguine, seniors Grant Granado and Stephen Singleton rocked their audi-tions with exceed-ingly clever wordplay and hilari-ous scene work.

Juniors Emile Antone and Sofia Dobrushin (Presentation) showed their comedic talents in some exceptionally difficult games during callbacks.

Sanguine also welcomes freshman Nolan Atterbury, who demonstrated huge amounts of stage presence and confidence throughout the audition process.

Auditions are strenuous for both the applicants and those on the other side of the table.

Dobrushin said, “The pres-sure of being quick on your feet and coming up with ideas that don’t completely bomb in the end,” was extremely difficult.

Emile Antone found that auditioning was exceptionally

hard. “You’re so often relying on someone you know very little about to ensure that the jokes land.”

Senior Chris Brady said, “We had a plethora of good can-didates. I’m happy with those that we took, but there were some very talented people who we turned away.”

With the new decisions, Sanguine as a whole is looking forward to the upcoming year.

“The com-bination of expe-rienced members that we already have and those we’re bringing on board... Many of us are already good friends so our im-prov will be all the stronger for that,” The new mem-bers are equally ex-citied. Dobrushin said, “I’ve idolized

Sanguine since freshman year. I finally get to be up on stage with them and be a part of it all. The whole thing is just a heap of ex-citement.”

Antone said, “I’m excited to see all my friends out there in the audience and give them a good show.”

Sanguine performs two mainstage shows a year. The proceeds go to charity. If you can’t wait until December and April, Sanguine also performs in monthly lunchtime shows.

For those interested in per-forming improvisational com-edy in a more laidback environ-ment, check out Nonsensicals, a club that meets weekly in 102S to teach the fundamentals of improv and to have fun.

by Andrew Marks ’13staff writer/reporter

“I’ve idolized Sanguine since

freshman year. I finally get to be up on stage with

them.”- Sofia Dobrushin ‘14

BOTTOM: Veteran members of Sanguine watch the auditions.

TOP: Justin DeSilets ’14 and Cody Casper ’14 improvise a scene.

NICK NGUYEN ‘13

Go Bells!Ryan Allen

Dear fellow Bells,

September 20th, 2012 Page 3Campus Life

Along with the new sched-ule, the new athletic and student life centers seem to be more of an expected change, given the various campus additions in the past few years. But in contrast to changes the administration has made to the schedule, the new buildings have a clear purpose: to serve the students.

“I was pleasantly sur-prised to see a facility that really seemed to solely be for the stu-dents,” senior Delon Villanueva said. “I’ve already been going to the student life center with my friends frequently during free periods to study. It’s a very comfortable, stress-free area to work.”

“My favorite part of the new buildings is the weight room,“ said junior Jimmy MacH-

by Rahul Singireddy ’14staff writer/reporter

ale. “Bellarmine now has a state-of-the-art training facility to im-prove our athletic programs while also benefiting the physical health of all the students at Bellarmine by keeping the gym open for ev-eryone.”

However, the new build-ings serve as a representation of the change in the world and the change on campus.

“Although I’ve only been at Bellarmine for a year, I feel like Bellarmine really adapts to the changing American life,” sopho-more Chris Chow said. “Not only has it gotten rid of old buildings, it has also built architecturally green and innovative buildings to keep up with the modern world.”

“Ever since I arrived at Bell, I have seen classes relocated con-stantly,” said junior Isaac Madrid. “Seeing new buildings go up and old ones go down has been a rou-tine. I have really grown accustom

A New Center for Student Lifeto the change.”

In comparison to Lokey and Sobrato, the new buildings assist students in different ways.

“All the buildings are really different because they all serve different purposes,” junior Jeff Thomas said. “Sobrato is mostly for the purpose of the really nice theater. Lokey is built more for classrooms. The new buildings are really nice because they give students space to work and also be comfortable.”

Regardless, all the new buildings do express a similar vibe. “Lokey and Sobrato ex-press a very artistic and men-tally-soothing atmosphere with their spacious rooms and halls,” MacHale said.

“The new buildings are not too different, and I believe the new buildings have been con-structed with the same intent of expressing such an atmosphere.”

This year’s schedule has undergone a major modification from that of last year: in exchange for an extra hour of school on Fri-days, Wednesdays now officially begin at 9 A.M. and end at 2:50 P.M., thus giving Bells a late-start day.

Consequently, Fridays and Wednesdays have five classes each, instead of four and six class-es, respectively.

Homeroom has been shifted to Wednesday morning, and Fri-days end at 1:20 P.M. Most stu-dents seem to appreciate the new change.

Sophomore Omkar Savant said, “Rather than having one day with four classes, the new sched-ule gives us two days with five periods. This way, the amount of homework is balanced more throughout the week. Already, it gave me enough time to study for a test!”

Similarly, sophomore Viraj Thakur said, “This new schedule is very convenient! The extra hour of sleep on Wednesdays really comes in handy. Besides, Fridays still end really early, much earlier than other schools.”

by Ankur Mahesh ’15staff writer/reporter One major reason for the

adoption of the new schedule is consistency. In previous years, the entire week’s schedule had to be adjusted because of activi-ties such as liturgies.

With the new schedule, these kinds of activies have a dedicated period of time, start-ing at 8:15 on Wednesday morn-ing. Also, faculty members can hold meetings during this time, instead of after school.

Still, the schedule faces crit-icism from some people. Senior Taemin Ahn said, “I would pre-fer having homeroom after first period. I have a free first period, and right now, I have to arrive at school one hour early for just fifteen minutes of homeroom. I would rather use my free period to sleep in.”

Junior Leo Pratt said, “I am not a huge fan of the new sched-ule. I think the old one made much more sense, especially since we had true half-day Fri-days. Also, last year, we could have a full lunchtime on Fridays, since the day ended after four periods.”

The new schedule will re-main in effect for the next two years before being re-evaluated.

Mixed Reactions to New Schedule

The Br. Wally Ryan, S.J. and F.r Bob Shinney, S.J. Student Life Center opened over the summer for student use.

Schedule Picture MUST GO HERE WITH PROPER CAPTION HELLAHEYThe new schedule featured in the Student Planner now includes ‘Freshman Wednesday’.

Page 4 The CardinalFeature Page 5September 20th, 2012 Feature

Changes in the Dean’s Office

Fr. Russ Roide, S.J., the school’s first biol-ogy teacher from 1965 to 1968, returns to Bel-larmine in the religious studies department and adult spirituality. Fr. Roide entered the Soci-ety of Jesus in 1960 and has studied at Loyola Marymount University, Gonzaga University, and Boston College, where he

earned M.A.’s in divinity, theology, and educational administration.

“The moms and dads are very excited that they can be cared for like the students, [and] be in touch with the same spir-ituality,” Fr. Roide said.

He is already in charge of study groups for dads, book groups, and two retreats: one for dads and one for alumni mothers. He said, “I see adults individually if there’s issues, [through] personal counseling.”

But Fr. Roide’s ser-vices are not limited to the adults on campus. Oc-casionally, he will come to religion classes and teach students about “St. Robert Bellarmine, St. Ig-natius of Loyola, St. Fran-cis Xavier, Ignatian spiri-tuality, [and the] history of the early Jesuits.”

The new chemistry and chemistry honors teacher, Dr. Stephanie Louris, is very excited about the upcoming year. “I feel really at home here already,” she said. “It’s a very friendly environ-ment. People are offering to help introduce them-selves. It’s a pretty easy transition.”

Originally from New Jersey, Dr. Louris stud-ied chemistry at MIT and Stanford, and earned a

PhD in materials science and engineering. Among her hopes for this year, she said, is seeing students who did not like chemistry learn to appreciate the sci-ence. “Some parents have told me that their son is getting excited about chemistry. For me, it’s a sense of accomplishment.”

“You can really tell this is a school unlike any other school,” Dr. Louris said. “It’s very unique, and it’s been wonderful so far.”

Also joining the ath-letic department is Jenna Allen, the new Assistant Athletic Trainer. A local, she went to Sunnyvale for middle school and Archbishop Mitty for high school, where she played basketball. Her brother graduated from Bellarm-ine in 2005.

Like Ms. Toy, Ms. Al-len studied kinesiology at the University of the Pacific. She also attended

Texas Christian University for grad school, where she received her M.A. in edu-cational administration.

Ms. Allen has been an assistant athletic trainer for swimming, diving, football, and volleyball, and has worked collegiate and semi-pro levels.

“It’s definitely very exciting to work in an area [where] I grew up,” she said. “But you don’t want to have a lot of injuries.”

A new member to the Christian Service Program (CSP) office is alumni Ju-lian Howard ’08, who re-turns from the University of Wisconsin after study-ing economics on a full academic scholarship.

“I’m very excited to be back,” he says. “It looks very different, but I can see and interact with stu-dents and take part in this new campus.”

In Mr. Howard’s per-spective, CSP is extremely important. “It is a really big thing that Bellarmine has to offer. I want to do my best to promote this to kids.”

Reflecting on his ex-perience, Mr. Howard has realized the impact Bel-larmine has had on him. “Beside the great teachers that have been influential in my life, the McDonald family has been just as in-

fluential to me by being a second family to me and granting me a scholarship to attend Bellarmine as a student,” Mr. Howard said. “I am honored to be able to be a Bellarmine grad on their behalf.”

Cindy Saglimbeni will be the Athletic Office Assistant, and has several strong ties to the school.

Her two sons are, respectively, a senior and a sophomore at Bell. Her husband is the football team physician and on the alumni council.

“I know not to step on the B,” she said, refer-

ring to the sacred tile ar-rangement at the heart of the quad.

Ms. Saglimbeni got a B.A. in medical technology from the Jesuits’ Creigh-ton University, where she worked in the toxicology labs.

Ms. Saglimbeni said, “I feel so fortunate, lucky, and blessed to have been chosen for this position…I love seeing you guys come in and ask questions, [and] helping you guys.”

Like many other new staff members, Ms. Saglimbeni felt a warm welcome from the school and other members of the community.

“It’s a lot more than these really nice build-ings,” she said.

“It’s the commu-nity, the atmosphere, the whole package, the whole experience.”

Lokey’s Academic Resource Center gains a new assistant in the form of alumni volunteer Ben Sigrist ’08. After graduat-ing from BCP, Mr. Sigrist went to the University of Chicago, majored in Eng-lish, and graduated earlier this year. He’s worked in

marketing, Catholic tutor-ing, and teaching one-shot filming to high school stu-dents.’

“The teachers I had at Bellarmine were some of the best I ever had,” said Mr. Sigrist. “All the teach-ers I’ve had at Bellarmine were excellent…while I really enjoyed university, I didn’t feel like teaching was the most valued pur-suit…[instead, the] top priority is research.

Having survived four years of the Bellarmine experience, Mr. Sigrist of-fers a few words of advice for current students.

“Get to know your teacher, because one of the things that really helped me at Bellarmine was go-ing to office hours, asking questions, seeking help on essays…I think teachers love it when you come to ask for help.”

One returning face should be familiar to many students. Melissa Scott-Lorentz, (“Ms. ScoLo”) is back in Campus Ministry after spending a year with her new baby, and says that “It’s lovely to be back. I love this school….we have such wonderful stu-dents… it’s a gift to be able to work with the students and the fabulous faculty

and staff...I’ve worked at 4 different educational in-stitutions, and I just adore Bellarmine.”

Ms. ScoLo is look-ing forward to working with students in retreats, liturgies, and small faith groups, and looks forward to the fun times that her work brings. “It’s joy…it’s what I’m called to do,” she says.

In the 2nd-floor gym of the new student life center students can find Ms. Michelle Toy, Bellar-mine’s first strength and conditioning specialist. Ms. Toy graduated from Santa Clara with a back-ground in kinesiology. “I am thrilled and excited,” Ms. Toy said. “A lot of posi-tive vibes; I’m passionate about strength and con-ditioning. When you love what you do, you never work a day in your life. I feel like I have that at Bel-larmine. I don’t go to work every day, I go to Bellarm-ine every day.”

But she has some challenges ahead of her. “Scheduling larger groups of kids at once and work-ing with 12 different teams with different needs is dif-ficult, “ she said.

Additionally, teams peak at different times.

The football team, for ex-ample, must be especially strong at the end of the season.

Athletes are not the only students who can meet with Ms. Toy. “I’ve al-ready had a few kids come in for personal fitness, [such as those] in acting [and] robotics.”

Like Dr. Louris, the new physics and AP Envi-ronmental science teacher Kathleen Downum is orig-inally from New Jersey.

Ms. Downum did her undergrad at Cornell, her graduate work in particle physics at Stanford, and her teaching credentials at Santa Clara University.

“[APES] is an exciting topic to teach because it’s very current,” Ms. Dow-num said. “Every adult should have an under-

standing of it; it’s a critical time for the environment.”

On arriving at a new school, Ms. Downum has mixed feelings.

“I’m excited but defi-nitely nervous,” she said. “Every school has differ-ent norms. Once you’re there you don’t think about them. But it’s a joy to lay out information and have people make it their own. I look forward to meeting the students.”

Mr. Roberto Carlos Durán, S.J., joins the fac-ulty as a Jesuit scholastic (priest-in-formation). Mr. Durán comes from San Salvador, the capital of the Central American na-tion of El Salvador, and is the older of two broth-ers. He studied at a Jose-phine High School, went to Dombosco University, and has a B.A. in commu-nication. He arrived in San Francisco in 2005 to work for a Hispanic newspaper before coming to contact with and eventually join-ing the Jesuits.

Mr. Durán said that he’s looking forward to everything about work-ing at Bellarmine, with a laugh. The “1st year you’re always finding your way around getting used to the schedule…[I] feel ner-vous sometimes….I need to learn a lot…every day…I

find a lot of support in my community... [the] faculty and my department, col-leagues, make me feel very comfortable,” he says.

Teaching Spanish 1 and 2, Mr. Durán antici-pates building up “rela-tionships with students…bringing something else besides teaching…being their companions in some ways.”

The 2012-2013 school year marks a new chapter for the school with new changes in the Dean’s Office. Former as-sistant dean Mr. Swenson has begun his first year as dean, and Mr. Talesfore stopped teaching chemis-try to become the new as-sistant dean.

There was much be-hind-the-scenes work to facilitate the new changes. Following Mr. Oelker’s de-parture, a core committee of five faculty members representing everyone from counselors to de-partment chairs to teach-ers was charged with se-lecting the new dean.

Although applica-

tions were first accepted from the faculty for the positions, the selection process was soon opened to outside our campus as well. The first part of the selection was an interview process led by the com-mittee.

Both Mr. Swenson and Mr. Talesfore seek to make the Dean’s Office more accessible to stu-dents in an effort to ex-pand their role from only disciplinarians.

“I think the dean’s office is going in the right direction. We want the Dean’s Office to be more than where you get pun-ished. The dean’s office will also be a place where

you go to get help,” said Mr. Swenson.

One of the new changes that Mr. Talesfore plans to make as assistant dean is a shared goal with Mr. Swen-son: more visibility. They will strive to be more pres-ent in clubs, teams, and even field trips.

Mr. Talesfore said, “we [the deans] are the liaisons between the students and principal.”

Many familiar faces have appeared behind the dean’s desk. Mr. Lauro, Mr. Kerr, and Mr. Pinkston - all current faculty members - were once deans. Mr. Sw-enson said, “when I was a student, they would switch out deans every four years”. After leaving the dean’s of-fice, many have remained in different capacities around campus. Mr. Pinkston, for example, became director of the Christian Service Pro-gram after his tenure as dean ended.

Student reactions to the new changes have been positive. Mr. Tales-fore says that all the stu-dents have been very supportive and congratu-lative. He also says that his students have said that his new position made sense.

Mr. Swenson said, “The student body is pret-ty used to seeing me in this office.”

He says the student body has had an easy job to accept him as the new dean after seeing him in such a position for so long.

Although Mr. Swen-son and Mr. Talesfore are hard at work with their duties, they still play ma-jor roles on campus. Stu-dents can find their dean teaching during 1st peri-od. And although chemis-try students won’t be able to be taught by Mr. Tales-fore, he’s still easy to find coaching players on the football field.

Among several alum-ni returning to serve at their alma mater is Thom-as Flowers, a Jesuit scho-lastic teaching freshman history and sophomore religion. Flowers gradu-

ated from Bellarmine in 2002 and went to UCSB and later St. Louis Univer-sity for an M.A in history. Younger brother to APES teacher Stephen Flowers, Thomas is back in San José after his provincial selected him to return to Bellarmine over the six other Jesuit high schools in the province.

“It was a nice sur-prise. I’m happy to be back,” he said. “When I was at BCP I mostly hung out in campus ministry. I did retreats and help[ed in] leading retreats hang-ing out with Gonsalves Mc-cabe, the head campus minister, a teacher who had a big impact on me. Getting to know the fac-ulty and staff was one of the most rewarding things while I was here. I’m still friends with some teach-ers.”

Troy Heisman will be working as an alumni volunteer. He graduated in 2008 with Ben Sigrist. He majored in history and minored in English at USD. “I enjoy watching baseball, working out and playing

tennis”. He played varsity

tennis for all 4 years. His current job has him inter-acting a lot with teachers and students.

“I’m excited to get to know all of the teachers as colleagues. It’s a different relationship than when I was a student. I’m also ex-cited to get to know all the students.”

Mr. Heisman contact-ed Mr. Lum and ended up here as a tutor. He wanted to come back because of the great experience he had as a Bell. “Bellarmine is such a unique place. I wanted to give some-thing back to a school that played such a big role in forming my character.”

“My favorite Bellar-mine experience was be-ing a lawyer in the Dune Trial. “I’ve never been in that kind of a setting.”

The Dean’s Office

Fr. Russ Roide, S.J. Dr. Stephanie Louris Jenna Allen Julian Howard Cindy Saglimbeni Ben Sigrist

Thomas Flowers, S.J.

Melissa Scott-Lorentz Michelle Toy Kathleen Downum Roberto Durán, S.J.

Troy Heisman

New Faculty12 New Faculty Members and New Dean Positions

NICK NGUYEN ‘13

THOMAS FLOWERS, S.J.

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Page 6 The CardinalCampus LifeSpeech and Debate Tops the National Tournament

The Speech & Debate team, having recently confirmed its status as the top team in the state for the 7th consecutive time, extended its victory streak to the national level this past summer at the 2012 National Tournament. The team was ex-tremely successful; it constitut-ed the only team in the nation to receive separate excellence awards in both speech and de-bate.

Assistant coach Bill Healy said, “I couldn’t be happier than I am by the results at Nationals. We had a team comprised of a great group of guys who worked incredibly hard, and who were awesomely supportive of one another. To see that group be singled out as the most accom-plished in the nation was won-derful.”

Much of the success at the tournament was due to Bellar-mine’s extemporaneous speak-ing powerhouse. The team had several qualifiers in Extempo-raneous Speaking, also known as extemp, and two finalists in Domestic Extemp.

After taking third at state, senior and team president Mad-hu Vijay placed second in the nation. Senior Debnil Sur took fourth in the same event after placing third in the state in Im-promptu Speaking.

“I didn’t expect to do well at all; I’d have been happy to reach the top 60, since my per-formances in extemp have been highly inconsistent over the last two seasons,” Sur said.

“Reaching the final round was the biggest surprise of my life, and the 36 hours be-fore it saw the greatest anxiety I’ve ever felt. However, once I reached the stage and the first words came out, it was relatively smooth sailing.

“I focused a bit too much on speaking fluently and lost the relaxation I had felt in previous rounds, but I’m glad that I didn’t embarrass myself. I’d like to ex-perience a lot more success on

a national level in debate, and I’ll likely focus most of my efforts this year on that.”

Coach Healy said, “The great thing about our extempers is that someone always rises to the challenge at major tournaments. Madhu and Debnil absolutely rose to the challenge. It can be pretty daunting to go from giv-ing speeches in a room with only two or three other people to an auditorium with a thousand peo-ple watching you, and I couldn’t be prouder of how both handled themselves.

“Madhu actually won an award for giving the best speech in that final round. Debnil didn’t even compete in extemp at state,

yet he, like Madhu, was incredibly faithful to the practice regimen that the team follows, and the re-sults speak for themselves.”

Lincoln Douglas debate con-tributed to the Bells’ successful roadtrip as well. Matthew DeLa-teur ’12, hungry for victory hav-ing placed sec-ond in the state, charged through Nationals to place fourth. Senior Ronny Mukherjee also excelled in LD debate, placing among the top 30.

“When I was a freshman, Mrs. Jones described Nationals as ‘an endurance contest.’ She couldn’t have been more correct,” DeLa-teur said. “Emotionally, I was dealing with the stress of compe-tition, the thrill of success, and the sadness of four years of participa-tion reaching its twilight.

“Physically, I had been debat-ing for four days, all day. Mentally, I had been thinking constantly during those four days. However, through it all I just had a singular focus on doing the best I could. I’d dreamed of going to Nationals since I was a wee freshman, and once I was there nothing could tear me away from my goal. I had an amazing time and couldn’t have asked for more. However, perhaps my favorite part of Na-tionals is getting the opportunity to spend a week with some of your closest friends—it’s a great cap to high school.”

Overall, the team was

one of 13 teams to receive excel-lence in speech, as well as one of 20 teams in debate. However, Bellarmine was the only school to recieve excellence in both speech and debate.

Other team members also performeed well. Aside from

Madhu and Debnil, in do-mestic extem-p o r a n e o u s , sophomore Ro-han Dhoopar placed in the top 30.

In Interna-tional Extempo-raneous, both

senior John Cherian and Aditya Limaye ’12 placed in the top 30. In Original Oratory, Sricharan Gopakumar ’12 placed in the top 60. In Congressional de-bate, Matthew Chan ’12 placed 7th, and senior Aditya Mukund placed in the top 24. Lastly, in Public Forum debate, the team of Varun Gupta/Naman Trivedi ’12 placed in the top 60. Seniors Jake Dessau, Aniket Saoji, and Benjamin Chan, and Vijay Singh ’12 also qualified for the tourna-ment in Humorous Interpreta-tion, Lincoln-Douglas debate, Congressional debate, and Ex-temporaneous speech, respec-tively.

Evidently, Bellarmine is primed and ready to make an-other run this year for an un-precedented 8th consecutive state title, and excellence in speech and debate for the second straight year.

The Magic Of the Appalachians

This past June, 10 several students, Mr. Mathurin, and Ms. Troyan went on the Appalachia Immersion Trip to experience the effects of coal mining and extend the 2010-2011 justice theme of sustainability.

“We saw and learned about how the Appalachian region was impacted by coal companies, which caused poverty in the re-gion,” senior George Boxberger said.

During the trip, the students rebuilt the interiors of some houses that had been impacted by flooding, and shared count-less unforgettable memories and brotherly moments.

“We hiked about a mile to see the mountain top removal site, when rain started to pour down right when we got there. None of us had jackets on so we had to run as fast as we could back to our van while our clothes were literally getting drenched in water. Once we got back in the van

we blasted the heater. We all had to dry off using the same towel and we were all laughing,” said Boxberger.

It was moments like these that truly had an impact on the students. One truly moving ex-perience was witnessing the ef-fects of mountain top removal, a process in which coal companies remove the tops of entire moun-tains to get to the coal under-neath.

“The whole area looked like a crater on the moon, and demonstrated the drastic mea-sures the coal companies used to gain profits, even if it meant destroying parts of the environ-ment,” Boxberger said.

The experiences the 10 students shared really changed how they viewed life back home.

“It made me think about how some people aren’t given the same opportunities based on where they were born. Instead, they just suffer from the situa-tion they’re put in and that’s re-ally not fair,” senior Evan Loney said.

by Ryan Ochoa ’13staff writer/reporter

by Ishan Sinha ’15staff writer/reporter

Senior Madhu Vijay delivers his final round speech in Domestic Extemp.

Students on the Applachian Immersion Trip hike up the mountatins.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MR. MATHURIN

COURTESY OF NATIONAL FORENSICs LEAGUE

“It can be pretty daunting to go from giving speeches in a room with only two or three other people to an auditorium with a thou-sand people watching you.”- Coach Bill Healy

September 20th, 2012 Page 7Extra-Curriculars

This summer, rising senior Nikhil Buduma went to a dance party, took a trip to the zoo, and flew kites at a park. Sounds like your average summer, doesn’t it? However, unlike the rest of us, Nikhil got treated to all of this while taking part in and winning gold at the 23rd International Biology Olympiad (IBO) in Sin-gapore this July.

The IBO is an annual competition held to find the best high school biology students around the world. To qualify, Bu-duma had to prove that he was one of the top four in the USA, a nation with 16.3 million high schoolers. After competing in-ternationally, he was awarded a gold medal, given to only the top 10% of nearly 240 competitors.

In order to prepare for the tournament, Buduma had to “Read. Read. And read. Biology is

by Rohan Dhoopar ’15staff writer/reporter

Gold Standard in Biology

Working tirelessly over the past few months, members of The Carillon have created a yearbook sure to represent the spirit of the school over the last year, complete with some in-teresting features for this year. Nonetheless, producing such a volume did not come without its set of difficulties.

Junior Steven Kramer said, “We went to Yearbook CA in Sacremento, as well as Year-books @ The Beach. We worked four days straight on a new theme. Long Beach expanded and improved the themes and concepts.”

A l -though much of the work was done dur-ing the sum-mer, one of the big difficulties was getting people into the office to work. As sophomore Jonchee Kao, a designer at The Carillon, noted, “Getting people to come in, I would say, or get-ting people to come in together

was a bit problematic.” Yet al-though some people’s vacation schedules often conflicted with

work, “other staff members and edi-tors pitched in and made a collabora-tive effort through-out the summer to finish,” junior Hiep Nguyen said.

In terms of content, Carillon staff faced some difficulties getting information. For getting quotations,

some people did not respond in a timely manner, which slightly slowed the yearbook’s progres-sion, though they ended up get-

ting responses. In addition, they were not able to receive some pictures, such as from Graduation, until the school year ended, due to the timing of the event.

As with other years, the yearbook hopes to win awards for its work. Hoping to retain its “Gold Crown” achievement, given to The Carillon last year by the Columbia Scholastic Press Asso-ciation for its quality. In addition, it hopes to achieve success by be-ing a “Pacemaker” finalist again, which is an honor given by the National Scholastic Press Associa-tion for being setting a standard. As Hiep said, “We put a lot of hard work into this, and we hope that [readers] will enjoy the end prod-uct as much as we do.”

such a vast subject area, extending all the way from molecular-level interactions to global ecology. The best way to familiarize yourself with the whole spectrum of topics biology encompasses is to devour anything and everything you can get your hands on. And of course, it always helps to be interested. After all, if you’re enjoying your-self, preparation feels less like work and more like fun,” he said.

There were three stu-dents representing the United States alongside Buduma. USA became one of two teams to have all four of its representatives win gold; the other was Singapore.

At the beginning of the Amer-ican competition, over 10,000 students took the preliminary IBO exam. Of them, the top twenty were selected for a more rigorous competition to eventually narrow it down to the top four.

Buduma said, “I always have been interested in biology… Learning biology can be like try-

ing to solve an extremely complex jigsaw puzzle at times. It can be a little overwhelming when you first dive in, but it’s exhilarating to see how all of the pieces come together so beautifully. That light-bulb moment, when everything suddenly makes sense, makes your journeys, however arduous, completely worth the struggle.”

The new and improved STEM-Med club aims to offer students extra-curricular oppor-tunities to engage in and learn science. An extension of the Science Club of years past, the club is now one of the biggest and most advanced on campus.

STEM-Med’s founder and president, senior Nikhil Budu-ma, said, “STEM-Med is about integrating science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine to come up with inno-vative solutions for the world’s most pressing issues.”

Buduma, who has done ad-vanced research on topics like the whooping cough vaccine and won a gold medal at the Inter-national Biology Olympiad last summer, believes that youth in-volvement in science is the next step to solving major contempo-

rary issues. “The mission of the STEM-

Med program is generate a line of successful Bellarmine science Olympians, science enthusiasts, and scientifically-informed citi-zens that will extend far into the future. Science, technology, and

medicine are where the world’s future is headed. We need people who have the ability to cross dis-ciplines and draw from various scientific areas to come up with adequate solutions to the world’s problems.”

So far, his vision seems to be

STEM-Med: The Seed of Future Science Olympiansby Rohit Mukherjee ’13 staff writer/reporter

Carillon Gets Ready to Release New Yearbook The highly-anticipated theme is still a well-guarded se-cret which will be released with the distribution of the yearbooks in October. As edi-tor Ryan Demo, also a junior, said, “We generally like to keep our year-book content and progress private because it adds to the quality and an-ticipation of receiv-ing the yearbook.”

For next year’s edition, The Caril-lon will change the pricing scheme for the yearbook, in an effort to market more directly to students. Similar to last year, the starting price will be $100.

by Namit Mishra ’15staff writer/reporter

Last week, Carillon mod-erator Dmitri Conom resigned from the school.

“It’s a huge loss,” junior Ra-hul Singireddy said. “Mr. Conom built the pro-gram to where it is today. He put more time and effort than anyone else. We’ll never be able to replace him, but we still plan to become the best book in the country and make him proud.”

The 2011-2012 yearbook will still be out next month.

“We went to Yearbook CA in Sacramento, as well as Yearbooks @ The Beach. Long Beach expanded and improved our themes and concepts.”- Steven Kramer ’14

“We generally like to keep our yearbook content and progress private because it adds to the quality and an-ticipation of receiving the yearbook.”- Ryan Demo ’14

“Science, technology, and medicine are where the world’s future is headed.”- Nikhil Buduma ’13

rapidly taking shape. “Right now, STEM-Med has

over 50 members, and the pro-gram continues to grow,” Buduma said.

However, the club’s growth doesn’t stop at membership size.

STEM-Med has grown in numerous ways. Buduma said, “In my view, the largest differ-ence between this year’s pro-gram and the former Bellarm-ine science club is scope ... We’re getting involved in many more ac-tivities than ever before. The Bel-larmine science club used to be highly focused on competitions such as Science Bowl and the In-ternational Science Olympiad sequences. This year, however, STEM-Med hopes to incorporate field trips, outreach opportuni-

ties, guest speakers (including this year’s TEDx conference), and hands-on lab activities to supplement to competitions we participate in. We also plan to bring a 3-session workshop on public health research to all interested Bellarmine students later this year.”

STEM-Med meets on Wednesdays, during lunch in

Carney 224 (Mr. Adams’ room). The sci-ence bowl team holds meetings W e d n e s d a y morning in the same location.

B u d u m a opens an invi-

tation to all students. “Anybody interested in science, engineer-ing, technology, and medicine should definitely sign-up for the STEM-Med program. None of the activities are mandatory, so stu-dents are free to participate in any and all events that we spon-sor.”

Editors went to Yearbooks CA in Sacramento to plan this year’s edition.

The editorial staff displays their award at Yearbooks @ The Beach.

In addition to his goal of suc-ceeding at the 24th Olympiad, Bu-duma said, “The most important goal I have for this coming year is to spread a love of biology, and science across our campus. I re-ally believe that science helps us better protect the world around us, and there are very few things more fulfilling than sharing what

you love with the people you care about. Hopefully, with the combined efforts of the Bellar-mine science club and science department, we will be able to generate a line of successful Bel-larmine science Olympians, sci-ence enthusiasts, and scientifi-cally-informed citizens that will extend into the future.”

INTERNATIONAL BIOLOGICAL OLYMPIAD

YEARBOOK

THE WORLD

Page 8 The CardinalSports

“I’ve been doing it since I was two. It’s in our family.”~Austin Weatherholt ’12

touchdown in the first quarter. The Bells also racked up 176 rushing yards on 31 carries, including a 21-yard rush from Daniel Brown down the left side of the field into the end zone.

Olugbode said he is moti-vated the most by the crowds and his fellow students cheering him on. “The K-O Daddy chants help me out a lot. They get me pumped,” said Olugbode. “I like making big plays now. It’s awe-some.”

Bellarmine’s offensive power continued into last Fri-day’s game against the Pied-mont Hills Pirates. Rushing for over 300 yards, the Bells won 56-7. Joey Sanfilippo scored four touchdowns in the first half

alone, including an 89-yard run past the Piedmont Hills defense. Seniors Matt Helmers and Daniel Brown and juniors Brandon Puccini and Amani Bryan also contributed points to the board.

The football team begin league play on September 28 against Arch-bishop Riordan. Mitty hosts the team a week later on October 5.

“We just have to get ready and prepare for league,” said Olug-bode. “League is a big test, and we have to be ready for it.”

“I am excited going into league play next week against

Riordan after seeing how we have grown as a team since our first game against De La Salle,” senior

Jared Vallner said. “We are getting better everyday and are working to achieve our goals. Our coach-es are doing a great job getting us prepared each week and holding us accountable at practice, which is important so that the entire team is getting better

and making strides every day.”With a 2-1-0 record, the

team remains in third place in CCS standings, one game behind Serra and Mitty.

Continued from Front Page

“Our coaches are doing a great job getting us prepared each week and holding us accountable at practice, which is im-portant so that the en-tire team is getting bet-ter and making strides every day.”- Jared Vallner ’13

Daniel Brown ’13 sprints down the left sideline 21 yards for a TD.