Chaminade High School - Crimson and Gold Yearbook (Mineola, NY)

Page 31 text:

Bro. Joseph Kuntz, S. M. We have always associated Bro. Joseph with the remarkable achievement of the Bio Club in the annual exhibit spon- sored by the American Institute. Each year the project submitted by club members won recognition for its ability. Their mechanical man received two first prizes last March at the exhibit held at the Museum of Natural History. And throughout the year, this little group worked painstakingly in making the biology department a very active unit at Chaminade. His skill with the camera and in the dark room aided the Camera Club in making their hobby more efficient. In teaching civics, he was able to core- late biological aspects of life with social problems. By using the Scholastic weekly, he further applied these principles to present day topics. ln his numerous dealings with the underclassmen, he emphasized the need of definite achievement. We appreciated the desire he gave us to make our work fruitful. Bro. Adrian McCarthy, S. M. His favorite subject was English. Most of us had him in our Sophomore year. In interpreting poetry, he had a peculiar technique in making the involved passages seem meaningful and clear. For the more difficult selections, he would mimeograph paraphrase copies to help us grasp their meaning. Under his direction, we also culti- vated a liking for literature in general. He pointed out examples of master-pieces for our reading and showed how to evaluate them. As adviser of the Tarmac, he supplemented his work in the classroom with journalism in the composing room. Members of the newspaper staff continued to ap- ply the principles of composition they had learned in the classroom. In his habitually quiet way, Bro. Adrian supervised the writing and revision of articles. The Tarmac was popular with students. Readers were ac- quainted with the activities going on in the school. And they knew that Bro. Adrian was the guiding spirit behind the scenes. Bro. George McKenzie, S. M. Because of Bro. George, many of us found our study of French more congenial. To whet our interest, he pub- lished a mystery story in daily installments. By searching for the plot of the story, we overlooked the drudgery usually associated with tasks and home work. While interpreting the readings from scripture in the religion course, Bro. George paused frequently to analyze a situation. He liked to evaluate moral standards and show how their application at the present day ties up with the past. After class hours, he took particular inter- est in our problems. We found it so easy to converse with him on any subject. Up in the library where he helped out after dismissal, he was kindly and obliging. That seemed to be his particular trait, to help the student and to make his work more appealing. Though Bro. George was by contrast the smallest member of the faculty, he exercised a great influence over us. Crimson and Gold Twenty-seven

Page 30 text:

Crimson and Gold Bro. Alfred Grisez, S.M. Chemistry was a specialty with Bro. Alfred. We liked the numerous chemical reactions that attended his daily lec- tures. Although we did find the balancing of equations a bit trying in the beginning, we soon mastered the difficulty in the numerous drills that were assigned us either as busy work in the course or homework after school hours. As director of athletics, Bro. Alfred was the center of interest as far as athletes were concerned. We were impressed with the careful attention he paid to schedules, athletic equipment, and the weekly sport bulletins that kept us informed about the Flyer engagements for the days that were just ahead. Athletes received sympathetic encouragement in time of difficulty. Bro. Alfred consistently upheld the policies of the athletic coach, Mr. Frank Gagliano. With Bro. Richard, who acted as super- visor of sports, the athletic board gave the Flyers an interesting and diversi- fied sport program. Bro. Frank Hoegler, S. M. Though Bro. Frank has been with us only the latter half of our high school career, he manifested his particular in- terest in our welfare on several occasions. lt was his co-operation that enabled some of the more gifted artists among us to prepare those large posters for the pep rallies during the football season. ln addition to this, he also controlled the activity of the Stamp Club. These philatelists a- roused curiosity among the students by the stamp exhibit in the cafeteria a few months ago. As teacher among the Sophomores and Juniors, he devoted his time to German. The numerous stories of the German text re- ceived special attention during class time. Bro. Frank believed that use of the language made acquirement of the language easier. The other subject of his daily program was religion. Combing his own convictions with the fundamentals stressed by the course itself, he inspired the stu- dents to noble and purposeful living. Bro. Herman Keck, S.M. If any of us ever doubted that Latin could be mastered, the drive and prolonged drill of Bro. Herman's teaching soon had us learning vocabulary, mastering inflections, and even translating Caesar's campaigns. Some of us were unfortunate in closing the day with a Latin course. Invariably, Bro. Herman would single out the weak ones for special treatment-a gesture that many of us did not appreciate un- til later. But Bro. Herman had other things besides the Latin and English on his timetable. He coached track, handled the business phase of the Crimson and Gold, and directed the check-rooms whenever there was a social event at the school. As track coach, he turned out winning com- binations consistently. His performers featured in the sprint department of the sport. Flyer relay teams have a reputation for their ability, the quar- tet having won the trophy in the event for three consecutive years. We liked Bro. Herman and his devotedness to his tasks.

Page 32 text:

Crimson and Gold Bro. Joseph Mervor, S. M. Board-work and mathematics lmostly al- gebra and the two geometriesl were combinations we associated with Bro. Joseph. He believed in making us see things for ourselves. Half of the period we spent in spotting mistakes and learning theory, the other half we devoted to figures either at our desk or at the front-blackboard. If some of us found the going difficult, we received the added momentum after school at his desk in the music department. For some of us this was a two-fold advantage, because in addition to the help we were get- ting, the music of the band practicing across the hallway was ours for the asking. Since Bro. Joseph was music supervisor, we could enjoy both. As music supervisor, our math teacher collaborated. with Mr. Far- nan, the director of the band, in making the band an indispensable fac- tor of Chaminade activities. The boys displayed their talent admirably, fulfilling the wishes of their supervisor and their director. Bro. Richard Moenich, S.M. Without Bro. Richard, the Freshman foot- ball and basketball teams would be without a coach. He assumed the task of grounding these fledglings in the fundamentals that would eventually prepare the youthful athletes for Varsity competition. Because Bro. Richard was himself an athlete, it was easy for him to teach the aspirants who reported to him for practice. His basketball team was especially success- ful. On the other hand, the majority of these lads knew him also as their teacher in mathematics. In this respect, he followed the tactics of a coach. Going from desk to desk, he would show each student the diffi- culties of unknown quantities, equations, and the evasive word problems. But his greatest service came as athletic supervisor. ln the locker room, he was busy at work checking on the details of equipment. Each athlete was assigned definite lockers and reportea regularly to the managers. Bro. Richard took good care of us athletically. Bro. John Nichol, S. M. Everyone of us knew Bro. John at the station- ery store. Before class in the morning, we went to him and bought our supply of pads, pencils, review books, etc. He was very willing to serve us. In the classroom, we enioyed his spirited German courses. He could reel off German to the delight of a dyed-in-the-wool dutchman. Frequent- ly, he would intersperse bits of humor between his questions and repeat- ed phrases. From an inside source, we gathered that he was a skilled penman and artist. Anyone who has seen his graduate group pictures in the office, will agree that his work is above the ordinary. But his de- lightful sense of humor will always put him apart from the rest of the faculty. Perhaps his long experience in the classroom lBro. John has de- voted more than forty-eight years to teaching boysl has accountedlfor this genial trait. Certain it is that he likes boys and that his boys have liked him.