To kick off the celebration of the bicentennial of Gonzaga College High School in the fall of 2021, its students assembled on the football field of the Washington, D.C. school, lining up to form the number 200. In the Jesuit high school for young men near the U.S. Capitol that has witnessed much history since its founding in 1821, the members of the class of 2022 likewise experienced a unique period of history, attending school through more than two years of a worldwide pandemic. In email interviews, three of Gonzaga’s graduating seniors reflected on their school experience and their hopes for the future.
Cutting the cake
At that bicentennial celebration, senior John Jerro of the class of 2022, the student government president, joined Jesuit Father Joseph Lingan, the school’s president, and fellow senior Andrew Schaefer, the student government vice president, in cutting a large cake as students watched from the football field’s bleachers.
Reflecting on the school’s anniversary, Jerro said, “Being a senior during Gonzaga’s bicentennial was a true blessing. Exactly 200 years after Gonzaga’s founding, I was invited to attend the 200th Birthday Heritage Walk to 917 F Street, N.W., which was the original location of Gonzaga. This was the moment when my role on campus sunk in. Amazing people have kept Gonzaga running and improving through world wars, pandemics, and other crises, and as a leader on campus, I took pride in ensuring that the next 200 would be bright. When I cut the bicentennial cake with Father Joseph Lingan, S.J., who has guided me throughout this year, and my good friend Andrew Schaefer, I felt proud of all the trials and tribulations that our school has overcome.”
Jerro added, “I am proud of Gonzaga’s ability to learn from mistakes of the past to create a more inclusive future. Recently, Gonzaga students conducted research at Georgetown University and discovered that Washington Seminary, Gonzaga’s former name, received donations from slave plantations. Being able to come to grips with the evils of our past to create a better future has made me take pride in Gonzaga’s ability to keep improving.”
In addition to being a four-year member of the Student Government Association at Gonzaga, Jerro participated in several dramatic productions there, including performing a monologue from The Odd Couple, participating in a virtual staging of SpongeBob: The Musical, and playing the narrator in Into the Woods. Jerro also wrote and directed a one-act play there. He also took part in the school’s rugby program, was a member of its retreat team, co-founded its Chess Club and was a member of its Native American Cultural Appreciation Club.
“The most rewarding part about my role on student government is simply being present on campus and seeing that everyone is included,” he said. “As a member of sports teams, the plays, and many different clubs, I get to use my role as president to ensure that everyone feels accepted. I model this off of the portrayal of a universal Christianity and Jesus’s welcoming nature in Luke’s Gospel.”
Jerro also joined Gonzaga’s students in replicating a famous prank that earlier students had done in 1969, when before playing their archrival St. John’s in football, they were able to light the Washington Monument purple. This past November, Gonzaga students were able to use light filters to shine purple lights at the base of the monument, and they wore Dominik Pettey shirts to honor a Gonzaga student who died in 2014 and who was known for his faith and goodness.
Gonzaga encourages its students to be “Men for Others,” and Jerro participated in a week-long immersion experience at the Oscar Romero Center in Camden, New Jersey, to live out solidarity with the urban poor. “Service has been a pivotal part of my development as a human being,” he said. “I believe each person on this planet has inherent dignity, and I will be relentless in my pursuit of serving those who face struggles.”
Asked what it was like to be a student during the pandemic, Jerro, who is a member of St. Luke Parish in McLean, Virginia, said it was tough rarely seeing his friends and having to look at his computer screen all day instead of interacting with teachers and students. But he said it did give him the free time “to connect with God on a more personal level,” and he went biking with his siblings almost every day and also started to bike with friends. “Not only did I see God in my friends and siblings during this time, but I also got closer with God’s creation,” he said.
The pandemic also coincided with a traumatic incident that hit close to home for students there. Jerro wrote that, “Gonzaga is a block away from the United States Capitol building, and when this government meeting place and symbol of our nation’s triumphs and failures was stormed, it rattled both the student body and the faculty alike. Isolated in a hybrid learning environment in which most students were locked in their rooms attending Zoom classes without the guidance of peers or professors seemed to make matters worse.”
Jerro and other student government leaders at Gonzaga then initiated a Zoom call, inviting all the students and faculty there to join breakout rooms and to discuss what it meant to be citizens in the capital of the United States.
This fall, Jerro plans to attend Dartmouth College and major in biological studies and/or film and media studies. The Gonzaga senior has had an interest in animals and nature since his childhood. “I hope to continue my passion for biology in college and conduct medical research or use my knowledge to enter the multidisciplinary field of nanotechnology,” he said.
Also since he was young, Jerro enjoyed making LEGO stop motion movies, and in high school in addition to writing and directing his own play, he acted in three short films. “I hope to find a way to pursue both interests in college. My dream is to either be a director or a researcher with a focus on curing diseases such as cancer,” he said.
Jerro said that at Gonzaga he learned “to do things for the greater glory of God.” At the school, he initially wanted to be an athlete there, but he came to understand he had talent for the arts. “Accepting how God created me and practicing my passions for God’s greater glory will continue to be on the front of my mind as I enter the next chapter of my life,” he said.
‘A van for others’
At Gonzaga, Ian Balutis of the class of 2022 was an active student, playing on the varsity water polo team, participating in the Classics Club, and joining students in preparing and serving food to homeless men at soup kitchens. Then he experienced the support of classmates and their families, after having to spend almost his entire senior year in the hospital after being stricken with a serious illness.
In his email interview, Balutis noted, “After being completely paralyzed and placed in a medically induced coma, I now have full function of my upper body. I’ve actually been working out and learning about the wide world of living in a wheelchair. I am receiving ongoing treatment to try and regain function in my legs and improve core strength, but I know all progress takes time. My Gonzaga brothers helped me to understand this in the countless messages of support I received on my caring bridge website and in cards… There was once when I was allowed to see a mob of my friends who traveled from school (to the hospital), and we all had a picture together. It was the first time I had seen any of them since the one day of school I attended, and the fact that so many of them came gave me strength.”
Praising the support he received from the Gonzaga community, Balutis said, “At every turn, the boys on Eye Street would support and pray for my recovery. Their unrelenting compassion culminated in a GoFundMe (drive) to buy me a wheelchair accessible van, which quantifiably expressed how much they cared, and it really was astounding to see how many people I didn't even know (many underclassmen) sent in their thoughts and prayers. We now call the car ‘a van for others.’”
Balutis said he was inspired by the care given him by the nurses at his hospital, many who attended James Madison University, and this fall he plans to study nursing at that university.
Reflecting on his school experience, Balutis said, “Gonzaga’s mantra of being a man for others is not just a thing they say, it’s a lifestyle that you live every day, and seeing how it can change a life for the better, I believe that is something profound I would like to carry with me in my life and teach to as many people that care to listen. I am not a religious individual, but regardless of what I believe, I know that it is powerful, and it is something that I am eternally grateful for.”
‘For the greater glory of God’
Another member of Gonzaga’s class of 2022, Peter Mildrew, reflected on the school’s anniversary year and what its history meant to him.
“Gonzaga has gone through monumental changes and growth in its lifetime,” he said, noting, for example, “the continuity of learning during the D.C. riots in the ‘60s, or the devastating and dehumanizing roots of slavery and injustice that serve as the backbone of our institution (as the Jesuits processed and used slaves to provide income and labor for the Washington Seminary's early foundation). Today’s Gonzaga is not only a reflection of its history, but a reflection of progress as well.”
Mildrew pointed out how “this year, our school put special emphasis on its history with slavery; in an ongoing research project directed by Ed Donnellan with aid from Georgetown University’s Slavery Archive, students took part in uncovering documents that exposed the Jesuits’ connection to slavery. Upon seeing the dedication by this group of students and Mr. Donnellan, I became spurred to respect and honor Gonzaga’s history in my own way through my efforts outside of the classroom. Giving back to a community that has given so much to me is what honoring a legacy truly means.”
The graduate of the Basilica School of St. Mary in Old Town, Alexandria led Gonzaga’s annual Canned Food Drive for the Father McKenna Center’s day shelter and food pantry serving homeless men and helped organize a student concert to raise funds for the center.
At Gonzaga, Mildrew also served as a retreat team leader and was a cantor and altar server for school Masses. He participated in the crew team there, making good friends with teammates and learning “how concentrated effort can lead to great success.”
At the school, he also served as editor for its arts and literary magazine and the school newspaper and participated in the school’s chamber choir and was a pianist for its jazz ensemble.
“I’ve truly offered all of my gifts that God has granted me to a school and community that means so much to me,” he said.
In the summer between his freshman and sophomore year, Mildrew joined about 20 other Gonzaga students in serving the rural poor in the Emmitsburg, Maryland area.
“What was especially important to me about this trip was the awareness that it brought to my attention the vast differences in the types of poverty that exist,” he said. “Every day, whether traveling on the Metro, or walking to school, or driving home, I encounter the face of urban homelessness; whether manifested in a panhandler, a tent community, or a mother and child roaming the sidewalks, I became accustomed to the notion that homelessness is by-and-large an urban issue. However, Emmitsburg changed my perspective drastically. I came face-to-face with the rural face of poverty and homelessness.”
This fall, Mildrew will attend the University of Virginia, where he plans to study linguistics and perhaps later pursue a dual degree in global commerce. After graduation, he is interested in perhaps combining those interests to help provide economic opportunities to impoverished communities that are limited by language barriers.
“Gonzaga has aided me in discovering how I can offer my whole person to the world around me,” Mildrew said. “…In my future, I have one main goal that stems from my time at Gonzaga, (to) continue to offer everything I can to the greater glory of God.”
