Above: 32 full-time faculty and staff members have made their way back to their alma mater as Prep Alumni. Get a closer look at them in this edition of Prep Magazine.
Superlative categories come and go, but one that seems to have stuck is “Most likely to work at St. John’s Prep.”
In yearbooks spanning decades, scores of seniors have cast their votes indicating which one of their classmates they believe will make their way back to their alma mater as a working adult. So . . . who returned? For the 2023-2024 academic year, we counted 32 full-time faculty and staff members who are also Prep alumni. And while there was only one (Mr. John Munro ’02) who was actually voted most likely to work at St. John’s, there is something about 72 Spring Street that calls alumni back, something—no matter how many or few years have passed—that calls them home.
BERNIE GILMORE ’80, HIGH SCHOOL COMPUTER SCIENCE
“The two things that have kept me at St. John’s for 40 years are my colleagues and the students. The teachers in both the English and Computer Science Departments are so dedicated to what they do. And I’ve been fortunate to teach fantastic students. It’s been so much fun to nurture their passions and help them discover how to develop them. It feels like the relationships between the teachers and students are still very similar to what they were when I was here.”
JOHN ROY ’87, HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH
“It’s hard for me to separate myself from this place. Being at St. John’s isn’t necessarily what I do, it’s part of who I am. This is my life. My four brothers went here, my children went here, my nephews are now here. I have implicit trust in the people here. For my sons and now my nephews, who get to have people like Declan as a counselor, I never have to think twice that they’re in good hands. Much about the world and the physical campus has changed since I went to school here, but at the end of the day it’s still all about the relationships you build with colleagues, students, and alumni.”
JOHN MUNRO ’02, HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH
"I remember giving the senior reflection during Commencement week and predicting that I’d come back and work here. School was fun, it was home. I felt like I knew most of the people in my class. I liked being here. During PULSE my junior year, I had a moment when I realized I’d have a much more fulfilling life if I worried less about traditional success and found a profession helping people; for me, that’s teaching. From the outside, I can see where alumni might say St. John’s has changed. But I push back on that a little; after teaching here for 16 years, I really think it is the same school they knew and loved.”
JOHN PYNCHON '01, DEAN OF STUDENTS
“Boot season is still boot season. You still need to dodge snow when it falls off the roof of Xavier. Memorial Gym still looks the same, smells the same, feels the same. From a school culture standpoint, too, there is a lot that’s the same as when I went here. Especially now in my role as dean, even just helping kids clean up in Memorial Dining Hall, I’m in a position to say, “Hey, we push in our chairs, we throw away our trash. We’ve always done that here.”
DECLAN FOLEY ’11, HIGH SCHOOL COUNSELOR
“As a counselor, everything I do lies in relationships. I’m so grateful to be in a position where I get to know those who I knew as teachers, like John Roy, like Jay Pawlyk, as parents, and then be able to get to know their sons and nephews in a different but connected way. I’m not being hyperbolic when I say I hold those relationships as sacred.”
JESUS COLON ’09, APPLE SYSTEMS ENGINEER
“When I was here, one of the things that had just started developing was the beginnings of the MACD office. Now I feel like it’s really taken off. St. John’s Prep as a whole might not have known how to support me as a person of color when I was a student, so I’m really glad to be back now as an adult and see how far we’ve come over the past 15-plus years. That, and as weird as it was at first to call Mr. Pawlyk “Jay,” I really like the people I work with. And now it’s great to see younger guys like Eddie Guilfu, who we recently hired, come back as well.”
Full-time Prep Alum Faculty and Staff Members
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Fr. Jim Ronan ’62
Chaplain -
Bernie Gilmore ’80
High School Computer Science Teacher -
Bruce Kaneb ’80
Learning Coach -
David Hennessey ’83
High School Economics Teacher -
Steve Nichols ’84
Math Teacher -
Dan Letarte ’86
High School Physical Education Teacher -
John Roy ’87
High School English Teacher -
Jay Pawlyk ’91
High School English Teacher -
Brian St. Pierre ’98
Physical Education Teacher, Head Football Coach -
Joseph Barszcz ’01
High School Chemistry Teacher -
John Pynchon ’01
Dean of Students -
Andrew Reusch ’01
Middle School Religious Studies Teacher -
John Munro ’02
High School English Teacher -
Rob O’Chander ’04
High School English Teacher -
Timothy Broderick ’05
High School History Teacher -
Marc Turiano ’05
Middle School Physical Education Teacher -
Zachary Lankow ’07
High School Religious Studies Teacher -
Tim McAuliffe ’07
High School Ceramics Teacher -
Jeff Fiore ’08
Aquatics Coordinator, Swimming and Diving and Water Polo Head Coach -
Anthony Lamanna ’08
Math Teacher -
Jesus Colon ’09
Apple Systems Engineer -
Ryan Harding ’09
Assistant Dean of Students / Recreational Sports Coordinator -
Michael Kelley ’09
Associate Director of Admission -
Kevin Lynch ’09
High School English Teacher -
Declan Foley ’11
High School Counselor -
Nick McLaughlin ’12
Middle School Social Studies Teacher -
John McKeon ’13
Middle School English Teacher -
Thomas Mitchell ’13
Writing Center Coach -
Alexander Demokritou ’15
High School Chemistry Teacher -
Ted Silva ’15
High School English Teacher -
Eddie Guilfu Cora ’16
Help Desk Specialist -
Carlos Ferreira ’19
Middle School Physical Education Teacher
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