To the Band of Brothers: October 14, 2020
Good morning!
Do the names William Hanna and Joseph Barbera mean anything to you? You probably think they don’t, but they do. For many, many years, these guys were the brains behind some of the most famous cartoons of the 70s and 80s. Long before the Simpsons or Family Guy, there were Hanna and Barbera. They had a way of keeping me glued to the television set every Saturday morning without so much of a twitch or turn. That’s not easy for a guy like me that has lived most of his life with undiagnosed Attention Deficit Disorder (A.D.D.). I have the attention span of a gnat and need only a gnat to fly by for me to lose focus, shifting my attention to the gnat, what he is doing, and wondering where he is going.
Hanna and Barbera were the greatest babysitters any parent could ask for. For years they kept me from jumping up and down on my parents’ bed at 7:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning demanding to be fed whatever cereal of the month was selected from the stocked isles of the Grand Union (my family’s favorite supermarket). If only those two guys animated math, I would have probably aced the subject that so often saw me sitting with my father, the engineer, for hours trying to understand what congruent angles were and why they matter (do they?).
One of my favorite shows was about the futuristic family, The Jetsons. I loved seeing the quirky things that came from the creative minds of Hanna and Barbera about what the future would be like. The characters were great, but I loved more the imaginative ideas of what the human race could possibly look forward to. As they raced across the sky in their spaceship, George Jetson would drop off his kids at school by launching them out the bottom of the craft. It was similar to the way your parents launched you out of their cars when we started hybrid learning on campus.
Now, I am 50 years old, 20 years into the 21st century, and I realize Hanna and Barbera were not too far off. Actually, they were visionary. Ask your parents if they remember how George Jetson would call Mr. Spacely, his boss, and owner of Spacely Sprockets, when he wanted to tell him he wasn’t coming in to work. There was a little screen on his desk where he could see the person he was calling! Gentlemen, I give you Facetime. How about when Jane, his wife, would push a button and from a closet came a little round vacuum cleaner whenever she wanted to clean the carpet? Gentlemen, I give you iRobot Roomba 614. Or how Elroy, his son, would take Astro, their dog, for a walk by tying him to a machine that had a moving floor? Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the treadmill.
Last night, a Belen alumnus from several years ago swung by for spiritual direction and a visit. As we walked socially distanced through the campus, he was wowed with so many of the changes. He kept asking what all alumni ask, “Where was this when I was here?” He realized this is not my grandfather’s Belen anymore. It’s as if we’ve captured on campus the spirit of The Jetsons. One-to-one iPads, remodeled classrooms, innovation center, live streaming, podcasts, WBLN… the list goes on and on.
After a virtual Open House that saw over 550 people explore our campus on their computers and as we get ready to host a version of our annual Gala virtually, I am reminded of how important it is to always look ahead. While the spirit of Belen is very much intact, our methods and means for teaching and promoting our Chrisitan values has to move forward to keep pace with an ever-changing world. This is a great and exciting challenge.
Auspice Maria
BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba by Queen Isabel II of Spain. The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline. In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the School property and expelled the Jesuit faculty. The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow. Today, Belen Jesuit sits on a 30-acre site in western Dade County, only minutes away from downtown Miami.