For many freshmen, Senior Convocation is just another dreary event with Mr. McDaniel or Mr. Garrison listing off the names of people they’ve probably never met, but, as students progress in their Jesuit career, they begin to grasp the significance of this event. On the morning of Friday, May 8th, the Class of 2015 finally experienced this significance firsthand.

After all the seniors filed into the Terry Center with the rest of the school for the final time, Fr. Huete, S.J. led a prayer and all the students sang the alma mater. The convocation then began with an acknowledgment of all the military appointments from the Class of 2015. This year’s graduating class saw a number of well-deserving students, such as Emiliano Gonzalez, who will be attending The United States Military Academy at West Point, accepted into prestigious military academies. Demonstrating his support of these students, Mr. Garrison explained, “We all owe these young men our congratulations and sincerest gratitude for committing themselves to the service and security of our nation.”

Subsequently, Mr. McDaniel announced the winners of the copious academic awards in every academic subject. For the seniors who have won these awards in the past, winning another at their final convocation might not seem very special, but to others, it represents their final opportunity to be recognized as the top student for one of their teachers.

Roman Kimbrell, who will be attending Texas A&M University in the fall, serves as a prime example of this very situation. He had never won an award at convocation before, so, when his name was called as the winner of the Stagecraft award, he was ecstatic. When asked about what the award meant to him, Roman described it as “insane knowing that I was winning an award for my last year at Jesuit with all of my brothers from the Class of 2015 to see,” truly proud of his accomplishment. Roman’s younger brother, Felix Kimbrell ’17, commented, “To be honest, I didn’t know Roman was in stagecraft until he got the award, but I’m happy for him and glad his hard work has paid off,” when interviewed about how he felt about his brother’s accolade.

After the academic awards came the extracurricular awards and a chance for a new group of students to be recognized. Students who may not excel in the classroom but in their clubs and activities are provided with the opportunity to win an award. Awards range from The Brother Burt Rivet, S.J. Award, given to students for their dedication to The Last Roundup, merited by Will Scott and Michael Shropshire to an award for outstanding service to Robotics, merited by Kieran Celii.

In addition to honors for specific clubs and groups, awards based on how well a student reflects Jesuit values are also presented. These are the most coveted because the school presents them to the students with the best character rather than simply academic achievement or participation in a club.

For example, Parker Thompson, who won the prestigious “Man for Others” Award, one voted on by all the faculty, along with Michael McReynolds and Patrick Joseph, expressed that “it was such a great honor to receive recognition from teachers who have helped me so much these past four years.”

Parker, no newcomer to winning awards, was also given Campus Ministry’s “Hearts on Fire” Award and has won various others throughout his Jesuit career. Even with his success, Parker, attending University of Dallas this fall, maintained his humility and asserted, “it’s always a great surprise when to be chosen among so many others who deserve the same recognition” when asked if he expected to win any awards.

NicoconvoCaptureThe final and most coveted award of the afternoon was Bishop Lynch Award, described by Mr. Garrison to be “Jesuit’s highest award for outstanding achievement” and presented to “the graduating senior, judged by the faculty to be most representative of Jesuit…and most responsive to the influence of the school.” The award this year was given to Nicholas Rodriguez for his “scholastic achievement, combined with character, leadership, participation in extracurricular activities, and service on behalf of the school and the wider community.”

In a year’s time, the Class of 2016 will be experiencing what the Class of 2015 did this year, their Senior Convocation, a final chance to be recognized for their achievements and character as their Jesuit career comes to a close.

Make sure to look below for a complete and comprehensive list of all the awards and accolades presented at this year’s Senior Convocation.

 

MILITARY APPOINTMENTS

GARRETT AMY- UNITED STATES AIR FORCE ACADEMY

EMILIANO GONZALEZ- UNITED STATES
MILITARY ACADEMY AT WEST POINT

BYRON SONG-UNITED STATES COAST GUARD ACADEMY

CHRIS HAERR- AIR FORCE ROTC PROGRAM at TEXAS A&M

NIC READY- UNITED STATES AIR FORCE ACADEMY

 

ACADEMIC AWARDS

COMPUTER SCIENCE

AP COMPUTER PROGRAMMING-ADAM WIECHMAN

HONORS ADVANCED JAVA-ALEXANDER MAGEE

 

ENGLISH

ENGLISH 4 – AMERICAN LITERATURE – POST WWII-CHRIS AYERS, ZACHARY PENDERGRAFT

ENGLISH 4 – SOUTHWEST LITERATURE WWII-SHANE ROSS, GAVIN MCCLURE

ENGLISH 4 – MODERN NON-WEST LITERATURE-XAVIER LIAO

ENGLISH 4 – NON FICTION- COLIN STACK, JORDAN NGUYEN

AP LANGUAGE & COMPOSITION-DANIEL HOFFEND, JACOB MARAS

HONORS ENGLISH SEMINAR, ZACHARY SCHUTZE

 

FINE ARTS

DRAWING I-COLIN STACK

ART 2-BRENDAN LEGAS

ART 4-SAM COLLINS

CERAMICS 1-WILLIAM FEIST

ADVANCED CERAMICS 2-FLETCHER KERR

ADVANCED CERAMICS 3-4-TYLER VYAZMENSKY

THEATER DIRECTING-ZACHARY SCHUTZE

STAGE AND FILM ACTING-CHRISTIAN CHILES

STAGECRAFT-ROMAN KIMBRELL

FILMMAKING-JAMES MAKANAS

MUSIC APPRECIATION-PEYTON ARNESON

ADVANCED MUSICIANSHIP-MARCO ROBERTSON

BAND-JAKE RADCLIFF

CHAMBER ORCHESTRA-PATRICK JOSEPH,ALEXANDER MAGEE

MEN’S CHORUS-ROBERT AFRICA, GARRETT BUCKLEY

 

FOREIGN LANGUAGE

SPANISH 4-BENJAMIN OVENSHIRE

HONORS SPANISH 4-CONNOR KERL

HONORS LATIN 4-ROBERT AFRICA

 

MATHEMATICS

STATISTICS-ERIC DELL, ALEX OCHTERBECK

AP STATISTICS-BENNETT HARRISON

PRE-CALCULUS-JOSEPH “GRANT” CLEMENS, ANTHONY SHIRLEY

HONORS PRE-CALCULUS-SHANE ROSS

AP AB CALCULUS-DOMINIC IANNELLI

AP BC CALCULUS-ANDREW ALARCON, JACOB MARAS 

TXML AND THE AMC12- CHRIS O’BLENES

 

SCIENCE

ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY-CHANDLER CLARK

AP BIOLOGY-DYLAN ROBERTS, WILLIAM FEIST, DOMINIC IANNELLI

FORENSIC SCIENCE-SHANE ROSS

ENGINEERING ACE-SEAN ALEXANDER, GARRETT AMY

ENGINEERING PMM-CONAR EHRING

AP CHEMISTRY-BENITO BUKSH

AP PHYSICS C – MECHANICAL-ADAM WIECHMAN

AP PHYSICS C – ELECTRICAL-JACOB MARAS

INTRO TO GENETICS-XAVIER LIAO

APPLIED GENETICS 2-MATTHEW SLOVAK

 

SOCIAL STUDIES

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS-ADAM WIECHMAN

AP PSYCHOLOGY-ADAM WIECHMAN

GOVERNMENT-SHANE ROSS, BEN SLOAN

AP GOVERNMENT-CALEB BLAIS

MASS MEDIA/CULTURAL STUDIES-LIAM KOCH

AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY-ENRIQUE BERRIOS

AP COMPARATIVE POLITICS-ANDREW ALARCON

ECONOMICS-ANTONIO HERNANDEZ, JACK KELLEY, COLE WILSON

AP MACRO ECONOMICS-ZACHARY BISHKIN

 

THEOLOGY

HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH-JACOB MARAS

CHRISTIAN RELATIONSHIPS-EMILIO LOPEZ, ZACHARY SCHUTZE

INTER-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE-ANDREW BEREND, JORDAN NGUYEN

 

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES:

 

NATIONAL LATIN EXAMINATION-ZACHARY SCHUTZE

JUNIOR CLASSICAL LEAGUE-PATRICK MIRAMONTES

JESUIT STAGE AND FILM:

FILM EMPHASIS – ROBERT MORRIS

THEATER EMPHASIS – CALEB BLAIS

2nd IN SPELLING AND VOLCABULARY  IN DISTRICT, ZACHARY SCHUTZE

MEDICAL SOCIETY, EVAN LORIOT, JACOB MARAS, EDWARD TALATALA

JESUIT’S ENGINEERING SOCIETY-MICHAEL LANHAM

THE ROUNDUP-MICHAEL LANHAM

THE JESUIT JOURNAL –BYRON SONG

BROTHERS FOR OTHERS-KARL BORIK

ROBOTICS-KIERAN CELII

THE SOCIAL JUSTICE CLUB-NICOLAS RODRIGUEZ

LONE RANGERS-GARRETT BUCKLEY, ALEX KOSHAKJI, CHRISTOPHER MADONNA

COMMUNITY SERVICE LEADERSHIP-ROBERT AFRICA, DUSTIN BAGAYNA, JOSEPH CATALANO, JUAN MARTIN DAY, ANDREW SUAREZ

CAMPUS MINISTRY “HEARTS ON FIRE” AWARD-MATTHEW HEVER, BILLY REYNOLDS, PARKER THOMPSON

THE ST. PETER CANISIUS AND THE BROTHER BURT RIVET, S.J. AWARDS-DOMINIC IANNELLI

THEBROTHER BURT RIVET, S.J. AWARD-WILLIAM SCOTT, MICHAEL SHROPSHIRE

THE STUDENT COUNCIL AWARD-JIMMY ACKELS

THE E.L. HOHMAN AWARD-PATRICK JOSEPH

SENIOR MAGIS AWARDS-ZANDER ERTURKUNER, MICHAEL INGRAM, TAE GOON KIM, CHRIS O’BLENES, KENNY PHIPPS

THE THOMAS WUNDERLICK AWARD-SHANE ROSS

THE AD ASTRA AWARD-BILL NEWMAN

THE ALOYSIUS GONZAGA AWARD-JACK KELLEY

THE ‘MAN FOR OTHERS’ AWARD- PATRICK JOSEPH, MICHAEL McREYNOLDS, PARKER THOMPSON

THE JSEA AWARD-GARRETT AMY

THE BISHOP LYNCH AWARD-NICOLAS RODRIGUEZ