Over the past several weeks, members of the Class of
2018 have been accepted through early decision and
early action to some of the finest colleges and universities
in the U.S. and abroad: Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Notre
Dame, Duke, Boston College, Holy Cross, Bowdoin,
Middlebury, King’s College, and the University of
Edinburgh, to name a select few. Many seniors still await
college decisions and will continue to discern where God
is calling them to be in their journeys of faith, scholarship,
and service these next four years. May we all continue to
pray for their wise decisions as they respond to this call.
This has also been a season of great anticipation for
hundreds of 8th graders who have been accepted into the
Prep’s Class of 2022. For the past month, I have been
working closely with our administration and admissions
staff in reviewing applications, grades, and entrance exam
scores to make decisions that will shape our next
freshman class. It is a blessing and a privilege to meet so
many of our prospective families throughout the year,
and I look forward to welcoming our accepted students to
various events at the Prep as they too discern where they
will go to high school. I am confident that the newest
Rams of the Class of 2022 will be young men ready to face
the rigors and challenges of a Prep education: an
invitation to seek academic and human excellence in
every endeavor, placing one’s gifts and talents at the
service of others for God’s greater glory.
became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God
was upon him.” Though the evangelists reveal very little
By the time this issue of Ramview reaches you, we are
past the halfway point of the academic year. The
expectant waiting of Advent and the joyous celebrations
of Christmas and New Year’s may be behind us, but the
love and support of family, friends, and our community
sustain us as we enter another time of anticipation and
hope. The daily rhythms of life in our Jesuit high school
bring many extraordinary moments in the midst of this
Ordinary Time in the Church’s liturgical season. For that,
we should all be grateful.
of Jesus’ childhood and adolescence in the Gospels, the
message is one in which both parents and educators can
find consolation. Do we all not desire our children and
our students to grow and become strong? Do we not
hope that their years at Fordham Prep are filled with
knowledge and wisdom? Do we not pray that God’s favor
rest upon our young men called to ever great love and
generosity as persons for and with others? It is a
consolation for me to see firsthand how our exceptional
faculty and staff provide such personal care in their
education of our students to guide them in ways so that
they too, like the teenage Jesus once did, can become
“advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and
man” (Luke 2:52).
May you and your families share the gift of faith, the
blessing of hope, and the peace of Christ’s love
On the eve of the Feast of the Presentation, I recall the
words of the Gospel of Luke: “When they had fulfilled all
the prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to
Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and
throughout the New Year. AMDG!
Joseph A. Petriello, PhD ‘98
Principal
W IN T E R 2018 | 5