Third Quarter Academic Awards 2025

At the Academic Awards Assembly on April 2, 2025, Assistant Head of School Michael Nerbonne delivered the following remarks:

I was reading the Wall Street Journal a few weeks ago, as I do just about every day of my life, and I came across an article which really captured my attention and my imagination and so I knew that I would want to share with you the fascinating and inspiring story which it related.

The title of the article is, The Doctor and the Pilot Who Saved the Eyesight of Millions and its author is a local physician, Dr. Andrew Lam. Dr. Lam is a retina surgeon and professor at University of Massachusetts Medical School, which is located in Worcester.

Now that you have heard its catchy title, you know why I was eager to read the article and share this beautiful story with you.

But before I share the story, I also want to share a personal connection. Both the doctor, who is the subject of this story, and Dr. Lam, who is the author of the Journal Article, are ophthalmologists, which is a very fancy word. Show of hands, how many of you know what an ophthalmologist does or perhaps you might even have one in your family?

An ophthalmologist is an umbrella term for all sorts of doctors who treat illnesses and injuries to the eyes. It literally come from an ancient Greek word, ophthalmos, which is the word in that language for “eye”. My personal connection here is that my paternal grandfather, Dr. Joseph J. Nerbonne, M.D., was an ophthalmologist. Born in 1900, he entered Tufts Medical School in 1922, graduating in 1925 and for the rest of his life he was an eye doctor and surgeon in Brockton, MA. My grandfather died in 1970, when I was just 10 years old, so I have only faint memories of him and certainly wish that he had lived longer so that I could have spent more time with him and gotten to know him better. Perhaps he’s listening in this morning to see what his grandson is up to and maybe even wondering why he’s talking about some ophthalmologists.

So, as promised, here’s the story.

On August 15^th, 1940, war was raging across Europe. A Royal Air Force pilot named Gordon Cleaver was shot down by German planes over England. Badly injured and in terrible pain, Cleaver had sustained injuries to his eyes when bullets shattered the canopy of his plane and sent shards of plexiglass into his eyes. Now almost blind, Cleaver managed to survive by parachuting from his plane. When he was taken to a nearby hospital, he was examined by a young English ophthalmologist, Dr. Harold Ridley, who noted the plexiglass in Cleaver’s eyes. Ridley expected to find inflammation or infection which would normally be the case with an eye injury like this.

But Dr. Ridley noticed something very peculiar in this instance: the plastic fragments were not causing any inflammation or infection in Cleaver’s eyes. A few years later, when Dr. Ridley was removing a cataract from a patient’s eyes, a medical student who was assisting him said, “It’s a pity you can’t replace the cataract with a clear lens.” Ridley then remembered the inert plexiglass in Gordon Cleaver’s eyes, and he had an epiphany: what if he could fashion a lens made of plexiglass, plastic, or similar material that the body wouldn’t reject and implant it in a patient’s eyes.  

Ridley’s idea of replacing a cataract with a clear lens was unheard of at the time.  Surgeons had never implanted something in the eye, or anywhere in the human body, for that matter. But Ridley persisted with his idea, engaging an English acrylic manufacturer to help him shape and produce a lens which could be surgically implanted in the eyes.

In November of 1949 Ridley attempted to implant a plastic lens after performing cataract surgery but this was a failure because of some inflammation. His second attempt in February of 1950 was a success and so he went on to perform many more operations which were highly successful with many patients regaining perfect vision.

But contrary to what you might expect, Ridley’s discovery had disastrous consequences for his career as a physician and surgeon. Colleagues accused him of malpractice and ridiculed his ideas and even suggested that the lens manufacturers should be sued.

Ridley persisted and spent his career performing hundreds of these procedures over the next few decades but was still an outcast in the medical community. He even considered himself a failure when he ultimately retired from his medical practice in the early 70s.

Over the next few decades, surgeons who had learned of Ridley’s discovery perfected the procedure until it became a standard sort of operation.

In the year 2000, at the age of 93, Dr. Ridley was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his contribution to the field of medicine, although he had never patented his lens and never received any compensation for it.

The Journal article, which is the source of my story and which I have been paraphrasing throughout, concludes:

“Today, ophthalmologists worldwide perform more than 26 million cataract surgeries with lens implantations every year…. Seventy-five years later, we all owe a debt to a courageous RAF pilot and an inventive ophthalmologist who turned misfortune into humanity’s gain.”

So, why do I share this story with you this morning? Well for one, the seniors told me that they like my stories, so I gained confidence from their encouragement.

I have been thinking about how well this story champions not only the courage and inventiveness of both the pilot and the surgeon, but also how well it highlights Dr. Ridley’s persistence, especially and most heroically in the face of such criticism and doubt. One of the reasons, I want to suggest this morning, that he stayed the course with his idea is that he had most certainly been schooled in the scientific method during his younger days, the same scientific method which you have learned or will learn here at St. Sebastian’s: to observe what you see, formulate a hypothesis and then test these by conducting experiments and analyzing data.

I think that Dr. Ridley was undeterred in his noble quest to improve medical outcomes for literally millions of people because of something which he had learned in school when he was about the same age as many of you. In fact, his persistence likely had little to do with his formal medical education and training but everything to do with the habits and approaches to science and knowledge which he had learned when, as a very young student, he was first taught the most basic principles of scientific method, process and discovery.

When Mr. Sullivan and I were discussing this article and the inspiring life of Dr. Ridley, he told me that he always reminds his students of science, when they are engaged in scientific or other kinds of intellectual inquiry, that they should be a skeptic, but never a cynic. I think that Dr. Ridley was a perfect example of this maxim: skeptical of the accepted methods of treatment for the eyes at his time, but never cynical as he stayed the course throughout his life, advancing science and medicine despite his cynical doubters.

A final word on this: it’s worth noting that Dr. Ridley achieved all that he did through an initial observation and at the heart of observation is seeing and his specialty as a physician was ophthalmology which is the medical art dedicated to sight.

May we all embrace and follow the powerful and inspirational example of Dr. Ridley who trusted his own instincts and observations, thereby advancing medicine and relieving the suffering of millions.

Thank you and God bless.

 

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St. Sebastian's School is proud to announce those students who were named to the Third Quarter Honor Rolls under the following categories:

High Honors: A- or above in all subjects
Honors with Distinction: B or above in all subjects
Honors: B- or above in all subjects
Effort: Marks of 1 or 2 in all subjects
Superior Effort: Marks of 1 in all subjects

THIRD QUARTER

High Honors

Class of 2026

Alistair P. Cooper, Sebastian F. Culleton, Finn N. Daley, Michael M. DeMatteo, Luca J. Faggiano, Gavin L. Feyler, John T. Grimes, Jared E. Hughes, Seth D. Janchar, Joseph D. Koh, Tiernan P. Massenburg, Brendan J. Matthews, Brendan M. McHugh, Quinn A. Mulvey, Finneas C. Noonan, Andrew W. Plotner, Michael A. Rohatgi, Dominic S. Scioli, Cameron N. Steele, John C. Sullivan, Colin L. Williams, Caden A. Young

Class of 2027

Ethan J. Abdella, Aidan C. Cleary, Ryan M. Connolly, Rohit Dabas, John M. Dorsey, Ryan C. Healey, Chase R. Hernandez, John J. Joyce, Rowan G. Koppenheffer, Ryan W. Krummell, John F. Lynch, Anthony T. Marcucci, James J. McNulty V, John B. McRoskey, Charles M. Melchionda, Charles D. O'Neill, Daniel J. Porter, Carter G. Rich, William B. Rowe, Wright J. Shinzawa, Benjamin E. Stuart, Akul Trikha, Ryan P. Walsh, Maxwell E. Weber, Nolan W. Wishart

Class of 2028

Nathaniel M. Antebi, Nate M. Bloomenthal, Henry Bowman, Connor P. Carroll, Brooks H. Carter, Jack C. Connolly, Felix G. Cressotti, Killian F. Cunjak, Robert T. Ferguson III, Reece H. Feyler, Rohan C. Ghatge, Finn D. Govender, Peter J. Lipscomb, Connor J. McDonald, William D. Reed, Joseph B. Ryan, Richard C. Warren, Brady L. Williams, Jonathan Yang

Class of 2029

Caleb D. Casiano, Griff Ciongoli, Brennan R. Condron, Finn D. Condron, Patrick J. Fennell, Samuel A. Fishbone, Jack M. Halloran, Paul P. Joyce, Charles R. Lans, John O. Lemke, Alvaro J. Martinez, Tyler M. Weeks, Pin Hong Yee, Benjamin J. Yu

Class of 2030

Ryan C. Adams, Kamsi O. Alakija, Brexton J. Bartlett, William B. Bolton, Reed J. Carroll, Ronuk Dabas, Leo W. Dow, Jack Freyermuth, Wesley F. Friedman, Owen D. Higgins, Rex Hurstak, Caleb J. Kim, Miles B. Koppenheffer, Griffin D. MacLaughlan, Graham A. Martin, James W. Perkin, Conor F. Plotner, Cameron J. Power, Luke Raskin, Benjamin Reed, Hudson O. Silva, Declan T. Sullivan, James Zhou

 

Honors with Distinction

Class of 2026

Carson E. Arevian, Sawyer R. Bean, Brian R. Burke, Davis W. Cassler, Paolo R. Castro, Griffin A. Collins, Tyler D. Curry, Carter A. Dedier, Charlie M. Delay, Nolan L. Dunphy, Alan M. Felix, Brett A. Gallo, Cesar A. Hernandez, Jack T. Kelleher, George K. Kelly IV, Samuel Z. Li, Oliver R. Manning, Joseph P. Martin, Sebastian R. Martinez-Moule, John D. Munro, Wachira Njoroge, Donal J. O'Connor, Benjamin O. Osunsanya, Antonio Petruzziello, Evangelos S. Poulos, Reagan M. Straub, Richard H. Sutphin III, Brendan J. Treseler, Dylan C. Van Biert, Andrew Zhang

Class of 2027

Nicholas Albornoz, Tristen S. Alexander, Cormac E. Anderson, Joseph J. Bachiochi, Gus C. Baer, Rocco E. Boyle, Demetrios P. Catrickes, Thomas D. Ciongoli, Nicolas P. Doglioli, Matteo L. Fainelli, Jackson W. Fulginite, William P. Haggerty, James Q. Harney, Lukas R. Hiles, Tiancheng Liu, Andrew P. MacDougall, Aiden E. Mack, Matthew J. McCarthy, Noah Meyers, Milo B. Mistry, Constantine N. Mitrokostas, Luke P. Murphy, Luke G. Puglia, Quincy F. Quillard, Thomas M. Saulnier, Declan T. Schwarz, Ryan K. Sullivan, John E. Usechek, Gavin F. Wainwright, Samuel J. Ward, Alexander J. Wasynczuk, Samuel J. Weston, Nathan F. Yesehak

Class of 2028

Oisin E. Asaad, Thomas D. Ashe, Jr., Decker L. Bannish, Desmond F. Baugh, Quin P. Bollin, Richard X. Condron, Charles H. Daley, Liam M. Eastwood, William J. Hulbig, Thomas G. Kelly, Jaxson J. Kenney, Victor G. Layevsky, Joseph B. Leto, Liam P. Long, Andrew C. Matthews, Jack Matyska, Alexander Moran, Cade E. Noonan, Brendan T. Palm, Jack Powell, John J. Queally, James T. Shahied, Tucker G. Shanks, Matthew C. Spalla, Emmett J. Sullivan, Liam M. Sullivan, Sean P. Sullivan, Julian B. Verwijs, Noah R. Wagner, Declan J. Wakeley-Burke, Benjamin T. Walker, Dolan T. Walker, Austin Z. Wu

Class of 2029

Benjamin M. Aidlen, Luke A. Burch, Jackson J. Burke, Brayden M. Cruz, Ryan P. Cullen, Quentin J. Donoghue, Jason C. Dorman, Thomas K. Faria, Peter R. Furmonavicius, Anthony A. Gray, Tyler J. Hehir, Nicholas S. Hiles, Michael P. Keene, James E. Keller, Carter M. Kubec, Christian M. Kuo, William P. Owens, Daniel X. Pichay, Judah Snyder, Peter N. Sveen, John F. Wishart

Class of 2030

Oliver M. Asaad, Luke Bachiochi, Mason D. Bailey, Dempsey L. Bannish, Luke F. Haney, Alexandros J. Kaplan, Henry T. Kolinski, Edward P. Leto, Theodore A. MacMillan, William D. Sutherland, Ellis T. Verwijs, Christopher P. Welby

 

Honors

Class of 2026

Samuel J. Barbosa, Sean P. Collins, John L. Cronin, Andrew J. Donovan, David H. Greaney, David J. Hahm, Gavin M. Joyce, Peter T. Keefe, Adam J. King, Carter J. Mays, Jeffrey Q. Welham

Class of 2027

Solis W. Blue, Henry M. DeBevoise, Karl A. Edouarzin, John A. Esserian, Jaxon R. Fantuzzi, William T. Finnegan, Diego A. Fuentes, Abner Machuca Diaz, Jack A. Stavaridis

Class of 2028

JaJuan-Marquis W. Bennett, Reid M. Bolton, Dylan F. Boyce, Benjamin M. Deschenes, Joseph P. Dunn III, Gabriel H. Issa, Jeremiah J. Johnson, Richard C. Joyce, Eamon F. Keefe, Robert L. Kennedy, Nicholas P. Morelli, Ryan S. Mutryn, Anthony Olson, Jack S. Sherman, William P. Thurmond, Michael J. Walbridge, Connor J. Young

Class of 2029

David O. Ashenuga, Michael Camerano, Brendan T. Fleming, Jasiah A. Galvao-Fernandes, Gavin J. Herlihy, Gavin T. Keaveney, James W. Kilmartin, Christian R. Martinez-Moule, Elliot M. Mays, Wesley C. Nahabedian, Joseph M. Nauyokas, Ray E. Rush, Cole C. Shevlin, Rhett D. Shevlin, Antonio St. John, Patrick A. Sullivan, Raymond D. Usechek

Class of 2030

Timothy I. Flaherty, Michael Goodhue, Eoin Hughes, Austin Kilmartin, Andrew McElaney IV, Owen Warren, John P. Wood

 

Superior Effort

Class of 2026

Michael M. DeMatteo, Luca J. Faggiano, John T. Grimes, Seth D. Janchar, Tiernan P. Massenburg, Antonio Petruzziello, Cameron N. Steele

Class of 2027

Ethan J. Abdella, Ryan M. Connolly, Rowan G. Koppenheffer, Aiden E. Mack, Anthony T. Marcucci, Charles D. O'Neill, Carter G. Rich, Nolan W. Wishart

Class of 2028

Nathaniel M. Antebi, Decker L. Bannish, Nate M. Bloomenthal, Quin P. Bollin, Henry Bowman, Connor P. Carroll, Jack C. Connolly, Killian F. Cunjak, Robert T. Ferguson III, Rohan C. Ghatge, Finn D. Govender, Joseph B. Ryan, Brady L. Williams

Class of 2029

Caleb D. Casiano, Patrick J. Fennell, Jack M. Halloran, Charles R. Lans, Alvaro J. Martinez, Benjamin J. Yu

Class of 2030

Wesley F. Friedman, Owen D. Higgins, Caleb J. Kim, Graham A. Martin, James Zhou

 

Effort

Class of 2026

Carson E. Arevian, Brian R. Burke, Davis W. Cassler, Paolo R. Castro, Griffin A. Collins, Sean P. Collins, Alistair P. Cooper, John L. Cronin, Sebastian F. Culleton, Tyler D. Curry, Finn N. Daley, Carter A. Dedier, Charlie M. Delay, Michael M. DeMatteo, Andrew J. Donovan, Nolan L. Dunphy, Luca J. Faggiano, Alan M. Felix, Gavin L. Feyler, Brett A. Gallo, John T. Grimes, David J. Hahm, Cesar A. Hernandez, Jared E. Hughes, Seth D. Janchar, Gavin M. Joyce, Jack T. Kelleher, George K. Kelly IV, Joseph D. Koh, Samuel Z. Li, Oliver R. Manning, Joseph P. Martin, Sebastian R. Martinez-Moule, Tiernan P. Massenburg, Brendan J. Matthews, Carter J. Mays, Brendan M. McHugh, Quinn A. Mulvey, John D. Munro, Wachira Njoroge, Finneas C. Noonan, Donal J. O'Connor, Benjamin O. Osunsanya, Antonio Petruzziello, Andrew W. Plotner, Evangelos S. Poulos, Michael A. Rohatgi, Dominic S. Scioli, Cameron N. Steele, Reagan M. Straub, John C. Sullivan, Richard H. Sutphin III, Dylan C. Van Biert, Colin L. Williams, Caden A. Young, Andrew Zhang

Class of 2027

Ethan J. Abdella, Nicholas Albornoz, Tristen S. Alexander, Theodore J. Allen, Cormac E. Anderson, Joseph J. Bachiochi, Gus C. Baer, Rocco E. Boyle, Demetrios P. Catrickes, Thomas D. Ciongoli, Aidan C. Cleary, Ryan M. Connolly, Rohit Dabas, Henry M. DeBevoise, Nicolas P. Doglioli, John M. Dorsey, Karl A. Edouarzin, John A. Esserian, Matteo L. Fainelli, Jaxon R. Fantuzzi, William T. Finnegan, Jackson W. Fulginite, William P. Haggerty, James Q. Harney, Ryan C. Healey, Chase R. Hernandez, Lukas R. Hiles, John J. Joyce, Rowan G. Koppenheffer, Ryan W. Krummell, Tiancheng Liu, John F. Lynch, Andrew P. MacDougall, Abner Machuca Diaz, Aiden E. Mack, Anthony T. Marcucci, Matthew J. McCarthy, James J. McNulty V, John B. McRoskey, Charles M. Melchionda, Noah Meyers, Milo B. Mistry, Constantine N. Mitrokostas, Luke P. Murphy, Charles D. O'Neill, Daniel J. Porter, Luke G. Puglia, Quincy F. Quillard, Carter G. Rich, William B. Rowe, Thomas M. Saulnier, Declan T. Schwarz, Wright J. Shinzawa, Jack A. Stavaridis, Benjamin E. Stuart, Ryan K. Sullivan, Akul Trikha, John E. Usechek, Gavin F. Wainwright, Ryan P. Walsh, Samuel J. Ward, Alexander J. Wasynczuk, Maxwell E. Weber, Samuel J. Weston, Nolan W. Wishart, Nathan F. Yesehak

Class of 2028

Nathaniel M. Antebi, Oisin E. Asaad, Thomas D. Ashe, Jr., Decker L. Bannish, Desmond F. Baugh, JaJuan-Marquis W. Bennett, Nate M. Bloomenthal, Quin P. Bollin, Henry Bowman, Dylan F. Boyce, Connor P. Carroll, Brooks H. Carter, William S. Church, Richard X. Condron, Jack C. Connolly, Felix G. Cressotti, Killian F. Cunjak, Charles H. Daley, Liam M. Eastwood, Robert T. Ferguson III, Reece H. Feyler, Rohan C. Ghatge, Finn D. Govender, William J. Hulbig, Gabriel H. Issa, Jeremiah J. Johnson, Richard C. Joyce, Eamon F. Keefe, Thomas G. Kelly, Robert L. Kennedy, Jaxson J. Kenney, Victor G. Layevsky, Joseph B. Leto, Peter J. Lipscomb, Andrew C. Matthews, Jack Matyska, Connor J. McDonald, Alexander Moran, Ryan S. Mutryn, Cade E. Noonan, Brendan T. Palm, Jack Powell, John J. Queally, William D. Reed, Joseph B. Ryan, James T. Shahied, Jack S. Sherman, Matthew C. Spalla, Emmett J. Sullivan, Liam M. Sullivan, Sean P. Sullivan, William P. Thurmond, Julian B. Verwijs, Noah R. Wagner, Declan J. Wakeley-Burke, Benjamin T. Walker, Dolan T. Walker, Brady L. Williams, Austin Z. Wu, Jonathan Yang, Connor J. Young

Class of 2029

Benjamin M. Aidlen, Luke A. Burch, Jackson J. Burke, Caleb D. Casiano, Griff Ciongoli, Brennan R. Condron, Finn D. Condron, Ryan P. Cullen, Jason C. Dorman, Thomas K. Faria, Patrick J. Fennell, Samuel A. Fishbone, Brendan T. Fleming, Peter R. Furmonavicius, Jasiah A. Galvao-Fernandes, Anthony A. Gray, Jack M. Halloran, Gavin J. Herlihy, Nicholas S. Hiles, Paul P. Joyce, Gavin T. Keaveney, Michael P. Keene, James E. Keller, James W. Kilmartin, Carter M. Kubec, Charles R. Lans, John O. Lemke, Alvaro J. Martinez, Elliot M. Mays, Oliver B. McDonough, Wesley C. Nahabedian, Joseph M. Nauyokas, William P. Owens, Daniel X. Pichay, Ray E. Rush, Cole C. Shevlin, Rhett D. Shevlin, Judah Snyder, Patrick A. Sullivan, Peter N. Sveen, Raymond D. Usechek, Jacob R. Ward, Tyler M. Weeks, John F. Wishart, Pin Hong Yee, Benjamin J. Yu

Class of 2030

Ryan C. Adams, Kamsi O. Alakija, Oliver M. Asaad, Luke Bachiochi, Mason D. Bailey, Dempsey L. Bannish, Brexton J. Bartlett, William B. Bolton, Reed J. Carroll, Ronuk Dabas, Leo W. Dow, Timothy I. Flaherty, Jack Freyermuth, Wesley F. Friedman, Michael Goodhue, Luke F. Haney, Owen D. Higgins, Eoin Hughes, Rex Hurstak, Alexandros J. Kaplan, Caleb J. Kim, Henry T. Kolinski, Miles B. Koppenheffer, Edward P. Leto, Griffin D. MacLaughlan, Theodore A. MacMillan, Graham A. Martin, James W. Perkin, Conor F. Plotner, Cameron J. Power, Luke Raskin, Benjamin Reed, Hudson O. Silva, Declan T. Sullivan, William D. Sutherland, Griffin Van Biert, Ellis T. Verwijs, Christopher P. Welby, John P. Wood, James Zhou