Brother Rice’s All-Star Eaters
These fi ve guys would win at the Thanksgiving Day table
By Charlie Simpson
Chieftain Staff
Anthony Calcaterra
(Captain): There are
many reasons why we
choose Anthony to
be on our team. After
watching his dominant
performance in the
2019 hot dog eating
competition, we knew right away he
was our guy. Calc already has a win
under his belt, and is looking for an-
other. As Anthony says, “Never been
doubted with a fork and a knife.”
Nick Lalain: Even
though Nick didn’t
come out victorious
over Calcaterra, he still
put up a battle. Lalain
has the determination
to be a key factor to
this team. After the
SAFETY
Continued from Page 1
Rice that we take these drills seriously.
“I wasn’t that scared,” said Junior
Matthew Jennings,
when asked about
the events of Nov.
1. “I believed that
the administra-
tion had complete
control over the
situation.
“I also felt pretty
prepared from all
Matthew Jennings
of the training that
we had gone through in the past few
weeks.”
The need for all the precautions were
indeed reinforced Nov. 1. The adminis-
tration decided to have school as usual
because there was no direct threat to
Brother Rice. However, as students and
families began to view the threatening
video over social media, the administra-
tors felt that the situation had grown be-
yond their control and offi cially closed
B ROTHE R R I C E H I G H S C HO O L C H I E F TA I N
loss in the hot dog competition, Nick
is very motivated to get a win. Lalain
says, “I come to lunch with $40 and
when I’m done they say I’m still nega-
tive. What I bring to the table is that
I’m 255 pounds of Viking and ready
to go berserk on the Thanksgiving
table.”
Colin Hubbs: Hubbs
is on this team more
for motivation, and
not as much for eat-
ing. I mean, yeah, the
man can eat, but he
will keep this team on
track, and make them
want to win. Hubbs says, “I have
good eating skills.”
Luke Newman (Assistant Captain):
Everyone saw this pick coming.
Newman is just a big slab of meat.
He is a dominant force on the football
fi eld, and he’s going to be dominant
at about 11 a.m., when the all-school
Mass for All Saints Day was scheduled.
Most students departed immediately,
while the faculty and staff was eventu-
ally dismissed about 12:30.
“Social media plays a big part in how
people think and react,” said Mr. Galli.
“I think the problems that occurred
were problems going on in other Catho-
lic schools. Luckily for Rice, we were in
a position where we were safe and had
no threats.
“But, due to the social media infl uenc-
es, people thought that it was not safe to
go to school or Mass.”
Mr. Okuniewski has made it explicitly
clear that the safety of the students and
staff is his No. 1 priority at Brother Rice.
“Not a top priority, my No. 1 priority,”
he said.
So, with safety as the main concern,
the Chieftain asked studnts if the deci-
sions on Nov. 1 were appropriate.
“It was a little crazy,” said Sophomore
Drew Karcher, “but I had confi dence
that the administration would be able to
handle the situation.”
P AGE 3
at the table. I have a
lot of faith in New-
man’s capabilities; he
will lead this team to
victory. The Assistant
Captain says, “I bring
a ferocious appetite
and I know nobody is
going to outeat me. I eat burritos the
size of our freshmen and steaks the
size of Hubbs. I consider 8,000 calories
a warmup.”
Paddy Dansbury: We
know what you’re
thinking: Dansbury?
Consider Paddy our
sleeper pick. We
believe he can trick
people with his size.
They’re not going to
think he’s a big eater, but he is go-
ing to get the job done. Paddy says,
“Don’t sleep on me, I once ate 60
Twinkies in a single sitting.”
Freshman Christian McNulty added,
“I honeslty felt safer in school than out
of school, for some reason.”
In hindsight, we can ask ourselves
what could have gone better, but most
seem to feel the school did everything
it could do, under the circumstances.
“During the moment it was pretty
frightening,” said Junior James Mc-
Carthy. “Looking back at it now, the
administration did what was best.”
One veteran teacher at Brother Rice
described Nov. 1 as “something I’ll
never forget.” The students and staff
caught a small glimpse of the chaos
other schools in our nation have experi-
enced in the past few years.
It is extremely diffi cult to detect
an act of violence before it happens,
but one thing you can trust is that the
Brother Rice leadership is focused on
the safety of the students and staff. Mr.
Okuniewski, President Reidy, and the
rest of the Brother Rice staff are work-
ing hard to keep each and every person
safe.
Safety, after all, is No. 1.
N O V E M B E R 2019