SC Hosts Aquinas Alumni Association Luncheon
St. Charles was proud to welcome more than 75 Aquinians to its campus on September 8 for a special annual luncheon held in the Campus Theater’s Cavello Center.
The school has hosted the Aquinas Alumni Association’s September meeting annually since 2012. St. Charles enlists T.A.T. Ristorante Di Famiglia, run by the family of the late Jimmy Corrova (AQ ’53), to cater the event.
The school has hosted the Aquinas Alumni Association’s September meeting annually since 2012. St. Charles enlists T.A.T. Ristorante Di Famiglia, run by the family of the late Jimmy Corrova (AQ ’53), to cater the event.
As part of the meeting, Nobile invited St. Charles head of School Jim Lower to make remarks to the group, and 1959 Aquinas grad Mike Lavelle shared stories of his older brother, Jack, an outstanding pitcher for St. Charles whose pro baseball career with the New York Yankees was cut short by a shoulder injury.
Advancement Director Jaime Lawler then distributed small leather-bound notebooks to the attendees. She and Nobile invited them to write down stories of their time in high school that could then be handed back, typed out and placed on the Aquinas Alumni Association’s online history page.
This is one of many activities that has been coordinated between the two groups over the last 24 years. St. Charles Alumni Director Louis J. Fabro ’83 and Aquinas’s Alumni Association President Lou Nobile (AQ ’57), have worked on several projects to bring the groups closer together.
In addition to several St. Charles staff members and administrators, the Terrier graduates were joined at their tables by 15 students who are receiving scholarships this year through two endowment funds set up through the generosity of Aquinas alumni and friends.
In 2022, St. Charles accepted Aquinas' accumulated memorabilia, which had lost its home when the former Jubilee Museum closed. Now it is displayed throughout the school and stored in the Carolian archives.
In 2003, the two schools created the Memorial Grove between the Main Building and Theater to honor alumni of the schools who died in service to their country. For several years, the schools engaged in the SC vs. Aquinas Golf Challenge.
Aquinas College High School was an all-boys high school operated by the Dominican Fathers from 1905 to 1965 under the watchful eyes of Father John Smith OP, the legendary Aquinas teacher and disciplinarian who served as the school’s “Dean of Discipline” for 32 years (1932-1965).
Both St. Charles and Aquinas have long traditions and many Columbus families have graduates from both schools. Since Aquinas closed its doors in 1965, many of its graduates have had sons, grandsons, and nephews attend St. Charles.
Graduates of Aquinas have a very stirring saying that “As long as we are, Aquinas will be.” But rest assured, “As long as there is St. Charles, Aquinas will be!”
We look forward to many, many more years of camaraderie with our Aquinas “brothers.”
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St. Charles Preparatory School will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or ethnic origin in the hiring of its certified or non-certified personnel.
St. Charles Preparatory School will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or ethnic origin in the hiring of its certified or non-certified personnel.
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