Life on Himes
Stage Stars: Masque Takes on Neil Simon
Harrison Redd ’18 (standing) and George Morgan ’18 starred in “Fools”
The Jesuit Masque’s fall production
of Neil Simon’s comic fable “Fools”
with four shows over three days Nov.
9-11, was another smash hit. The
lighthearted comedy followed a gallant
young teacher, Leon (George Morgan
’18) as he tried to break a curse that
10 JESUIT PERSPECTIVES • WINTER 2017-18
plagued a tiny Russian village for 200
years, while battling the underhanded
Count Gregor (Harrison Redd ’18), his
rival for the hand of the lovely Sophia
(Academy of the Holy Names senior
Isabella Onken).
In addition to the “Fools” performances,
Masque competed in the
District One-Act Play Festival at the
University of South Florida on Dec. 8.
Jesuit’s production of the “The Clive
Way,” featuring Xander Arena ’20,
Riley Buchanan ’20, Chris Gold ’19,
Marino Matthews ’20, Nico Smyth ’21,
and Gio Taylor ’20, with behind-thescenes
work by Tyler Brownrigg ’21,
Patrick Hutson ’20, Ian Mejia ’20, and
Matthew Valdes ’20, earned a rating of
Excellent, and Buchanan was named to
the event’s All-Star Cast.
The showing at USF followed
Masque’s record-setting performance at
the District Individual Events Festival on
Oct. 7. Buchanan earned two ratings of
Superior, in Duet Acting and Monologues,
while Morgan, Jack Mahoney ’18,
and Jimmy Grammig ’21 also earned
Superior ratings in Monologues.
Grammig became the fi rst Jesuit freshman
to qualify for State in a solo event.
Engineering Experience
More than 30 juniors in Jesuit’s Engineering program
received fi rst-hand experience in manufacturing and
production on Oct. 27 at Vigo & Alessi’s spacious multibuilding
campus just a few minutes from Jesuit.
Paul Alessi ’11 and Laura DeLucia, P ’05, ’08 took
the Jesuit students, who are in their second year of the
Engineering program, on a two-hour behind-the-scenes
tour. They experienced the blend of machinery, robots,
and manpower that has helped 70-year-old Vigo &
Alessi develop into one of the leading food producers
in the country.
Alessi used a headset system to communicate with
the students while touring the louder areas of the production
facility. He showed how each product is quickly,
safely, and reliably packaged and ready to distribute to
retailers around the nation, everything from staple items
such as yellow rice, olive oil, and soups, to farro, tricolor
quinoa, and panettone. New robots implemented
in recent years by Vigo & Alessi have helped improve
productivity. Alessi demonstrated how the robots are
programmed to work with each other and streamline
the entire process.
The students, who last year completed Introduction
to Engineering and this year are taking Principles of
Engineering, are part of Jesuit’s three-year engineering
program with teacher Lauren Hescheles, which is
operated in conjunction with Project Lead The Way.
Jesuit engineering students examine a robot at Vigo & Alessi