FEATURE
JESUIT PERSPECTIVES • WINTER 2017-18 19
dinner over one of the three fi res in
the makeshift campground – hot dogs
and cheeseburgers on the second
night, after sausage and potatoes the
fi rst – they packed everything up and
returned to Tampa.
“It was the best retreat I’ve been
on,” Capitano said.
....................
“We don’t need that. Stay focused,
Braden. We don’t need that.”
Braden Gilby ’18 has been a leader
on Jesuit football’s sensational defense
for the past three seasons. The linebacker
led the team in tackles as a
sophomore, junior, and senior, eclipsing
100 each season.
At this moment, however, an opposing
player provokes Gilby in the
heat of the moment, in the immediate
aftermath of another rugged 3rd
down tackle by Gilby.
Nelson quickly helps defuse the
situation. Gilby keeps his poise. No
penalty. The opposing teams punts.
Leadership.
Prior to the soccer team’s early
January game against San Ignacio of
Puerto Rico, Jesuit’s Andres Cartaya ’18
led the team captains in prayer, in
Spanish. San Ignacio was slammed by
Hurricane Maria in September. The
soccer team’s trip to Tampa months
later was a unique situation. Cartaya
and his teammates demonstrated their
care and concern.
Jesuit has always emphasized
developing leaders with a moral and
ethical foundation. Leaders who understand
leadership, who have experience
leading, and who lead not for the
pursuit of personal ends or their own
power, but for the greater good and for
the greater glory of God – AMDG.
Leadership spans many platforms.
In careers as diverse as politics, business,
medicine, education (see the
My Perspective piece on p. 39 by Paul
Posoli ’87), law, engineering, the military,
the arts, the clergy, etc. – Jesuit
alumni can quickly recall classmates in
so many professional fi elds (and other
areas, such as philanthropy) who have
demonstrated leadership, for years.
Jesuit’s next generation is meeting the
leadership challenge. Drew Valenti ’17
was named a Tampa Bay Lightning
Community Hero in 2017 for his
determined advocacy for child literacy.
Ryan Welsh ’18 is president of Teens
for Haiti, which initiated a clean water
project for a community in need in
that Caribbean nation, and then raised
more than $40,000 to fund it. John
Robbins ’18 is president of the Meals
on Wheels High School Leadership
Board.
The next wave of young men
progressing through Jesuit’s leadership
programs are developing into our
local, state, national and international
leaders for generations to come.
Andres Cartanya ’18, second from right, leads the team captains in prayer before
Jesuit’s soccer game against San Ignacio of Puerto Rico