With it already having become a hot topic of conversation across campus, IIT sources internal to Wyoming Catholic College administration reveal the “Student Life Office has begun research for its 2020-2021 Prefect Draft. This years draft will pull almost entirely from the current sophomores of the Class of 2022, but juniors and perhaps even some freshmen are quite possibly on the table. Six current prefects are planning to retire upon graduation, Mark Landry of St. Isaac’s, Joel Samec of St. Benedict’s, Abel Cunningham of St. Leo’s, Francis Langley of St. Scholastica’s, Evelyn Grimm of St. Gianna’s, and Meg Van Hecke of St. Kateri’s.
Given how much a prefect can make or break a dorm and therefore the experience of so many students in that dorm, as well as the incredible responsibility and power prefects have in enforcing school policies, there’s obviously much interest in exactly who will be promoted for this coming year to the office. Assuming again that all six prefect spots are open for the coming year and that all current junior prefects continue into next year, it could be as high as one out of every seven students in the current sophomore class getting picked and among the men one out of every five.
For current sophomores, this draft is thus most definitely not in the abstract, and in a very real way, is getting many “very excited” about the “highest honor and power in our scholastic order about to rain down upon us” as one put it. “So many of my friends or maybe even me could actually get it,” said Matthew White of Idaho when the sophomore first actually realized the time for his class to be the focus of the draft was that close.
While the actual picks will not be announced until next semester, IIT analysis has easily narrowed down a list of students we think most likely to get that metaphorical “tap on the shoulder” and be chosen. While of course students from other classes “could” get picked, 92% of prefects have been historically chosen as rising juniors, so we’re quite confident that they’ll come from those students we’ve featured here.
Part I of this report touches on our first ideas for women prefects, Part II will explore possible men, and depending on future news future parts will explore updates we come across, the selection process, campaigns, and possible “surprise candidates leading up to the ultimate decision of school administrators.
So here’s a few of our top guesses, a bit about them, and what dorm life will be like with them as a prefect and the pros and cons as to why or why not the school might pick them to be prefects.
Bernadette Heithoff
Let’s start with Bernadette Heithoff of Kansas. Long thought to be a top pick to be a Latin tutor, given that her siblings Nathaniel and Mari are or were and more importantly by her extreme devotion to and knowledge of the language we think her calm, quiet, and collected nature, as well as her ability to relate to the Class of 2021 and the current freshmen by discussing the two different “reals” that each class is in such love with, are good skills that will come in handy.
The only downside that the school might consider in choosing her is that she is also a proficient baker. Almost having been chosen this year as Head Baker, in the job that ultimately went to the “Angel from Canada”/”Mom”/”Baking Goddess”, and currently working there, the school might not want to remove BerNUT or Bernutetta as she prefers to be called.
In her dorm, we’d have to suppose that there’d be a “Latin-only” rule or something of that kind after curfew. At least the use of English would be strongly discouraged, we suppose, and this would get support for BerNUT amongst most of the faculty, although several students might find such an arrangement “terrifying” or otherwise dislike what she, if getting the position, is rumored already to be planning as an “academic atmosphere”.
In total, however, we’ll give her about a 30% chance of getting the pick, determinant mostly upon whether a prefect space opens up at the upper dorms, completely run this year by the current juniors who should still be in power next year. This is as her particular personality requires some seriousness, and such seriousness is typically only found at the upper dorms for obvious reasons for those familiar to them.
Ruth Kress
Ruth, of course, is the most or second most famous sophomore by most counts. As Dr. Grove’s favorite, she carries plenty of faculty support which “might carry over to a first round school pick” our source tells us. Musically oriented, she fits in well with the overall culture at WCC, except for the qualification that she’s not Catholic.
With master management experience from her present position as the head of Sunday crew, some of the particularly bold decisions she’s had to make this year fit her in quite well for fixing current problems experienced at the dorms. We’re speaking of the devolution of dorm culture into merely the consumption of cigarettes and pointless anti-conversational solitude. Ruth fearlessly crushed this culture this year amongst her employees and has made many who are looking to fix the problems they see in dorm culture look to her as a hallmark of what WCC culture should look like.
She herself appears to have been interested in running for the position for a long time, as in a her now-famous saying last year to a friend that “We couldn’t be friends anymore if I were a prefect. I’ll have to dress code you everyday.” The fact that she used “will” instead of something paralleling the “if I were” of her first sentence points to a level of confidence that she will become one. Now this sort of confidence can only come from an active direction of will to the object as an object of desire or an aversion that represents a terrifying and ever-present fear. And as according to several of her close associates whom IIT was able to interview, she doesn’t fear, not dislike at all the prospect of being a prefect, she in fact thinks she’ll become one. Many others seem to think the same thing, so in all seriousness, IIT gives her a pretty high (>40%) chance of being selected.
Dorm life under her though? Now that’s a question! We don’t know much other than that according to her “We couldn’t be friends” quote, she would be a stickler for enforcing the dress code. Past evidence of her musicality as with the famous Kress Family visit of 2018 point to a very musical dorm experience, but the level of formality of such a poetic experience, brought up as a major problem last year by several students is yet unknown. Also, the major question of dorm prayer and whether she as a prefect and also not being Catholic would yet lead it, is still open to even her most ardent supporters (and yes there are a lot of them…)
MaryAnne Spiess
“MaryAnne, why do you love us so much?” Thus asked several members of her class last week, and its a question that most have seemed recently to agree upon. For in the “SSD state” that a former rocker described the current sophomores as being possessed by, a dreamlike stupor of sadness, solitude, and depression, unexplainable as much as it terrifies the freshmen, MaryAnne is one of only a few untouched. And by untouched, she is completely untouched, seemingly energizing herself by difficulty, finding rest in taking on yet another practicum and a play, and helping all her classmates by passing out ingenious solutions, aids to memory, and study guides and the like, prompting this question.
For having been held back from attending her object of desire, Wyoming Catholic College, the movement it actualized in her has made her into a metaphorical runner in the way she’s taking the curriculum, a movement, a spiritedness, a spirit (perhaps the only left in the class…) to take on the curriculum in its fullest, absent concern for grades (though she’s reportedly near the top of the class) and to becoming the fullest of Converts (in the famous recent definition of Dr. Holmes).
As the least depressed sophomore by default, not shaken by anything, except perhaps for the theatrics, MaryAnne’s stability, drive, and focus would make taking on a dorm quite easy for her. Whether she’d be able to raise one with a bunch of sophomores out of the throes of their (supposedly self-induced) apathy, exhaustion, and depression, is still a question, but it seems that MaryAnne would be entirely happy to try.
But though she’d be a very good influence in attempting to lead others to the heights of the philosophical ascent, to true, real assent to the good of the curriculum, as a whole, some question already her Canadian ancestry as a problem, a possible subversion of the ideals of the WCC curriculum, which while founded in general on the roots of the Western Tradition, is particularly an American school, with an American education. Choosing someone from a country many at WCC suspect to be completely fake, but one that as many see it is against the US and all that is good, true, and beautiful would to them be an act of unforgivable treason. Though this camp is small, contradicting the incredible diversity and inclusiveness WCC students as a whole show to different educational ancestries, educational methodology identities, and even family sizes, they might find it a little weird if a Canadian were chosen as a prefect. MaryAnne could find a way to handle them, we are sure, but the school looking to avoid trouble, might just try to avoid the issue altogether, just as they currently do with the idea of the Canadian thanksgiving.
Thus we give MaryAnne around a 25% chance of becoming a prefect at this point. Her future prospects, we think, will depend largely on whether she and the “Angel from Canada” can win any more students to reciprocate to love of Canada by passing out yet more study guides next semester and giving “Canada still loves you” hugs.
Elaine White
Elaine is quiet, rule oriented when necessary and yet flexible enough also to rank as one of the sophomores’ most popular students. Under the radar and unassuming as she ranks high as well amidst the sophomore class academically, she’s the “unsurprising surprise” of this year’s prefect candidates. Neither admitting in public to wanting the position nor declaring publically against running, strong comparison has been made of her so far as quite similar to current senior prefect Meg, and we believe she has a very strong chance, 50% or more of getting the job.
The only possible hiccup, as with Bernadette Heithoff, is that she’s also a strong baker and enjoys making and inventing all sorts of new culinary concoctions. Whether the “demands of state” will prove more appealing than inventing another type of decorated cinnamon roll may be the ultimate determinant for her
Louisa Whitmore
Last of our shortlist, Lousia is what many might think of as a dark horse candidate. Quiet, not seemingly seeking the office as others, and yet fitting the requirements well, we think she’ll at least be considered. Not much is known about her except that she finds music quite important, far above that regularly expected for prefects, something for which she would likely have her dorm modified with concert-hall-like acoustics. But on dorm life, leadership style and other parameters, we again don’t really know anything. Several sophomores talk of how she’d use the position merely to teach people music “even when they didn’t ask”. While our sources might have mentioned this as a negative, WCC leadership rather will find this appealing in Louisa, but our overall low level of knowledge on her candidacy makes us give her a 15% chance of getting picked, and she herself, per an interview with IIT reporters, doesn’t think she has any chance.
But IIT researchers are looking more closely into the possibility of Louisa’s candidacy, as with the current state of the sophomore class (i.e. the limited number of candidates) one of these years picks may be from someone not expecting it, especially if the first pick candidates refuse the contract.
Others
Besides these candidates, several other students are reported to be in the early stages of canvassing and campaigning for the prefect position. Among women, Sophomore Bernadette Syverson, “Syv”, is rumored to be exploring a campaign while current juniors Clare Rahilly and Theresa Scheidler have also expressed interest in the position, even though their chances are probably low with sophomores typically the focus of the draft. Freshmen Jacinta Rioux and Margaret Collins have also publicly declared candidacy, but unless the sophomore class continues shrinking and the school runs out of good candidates, as freshmen have not been picked since the founding of the college, they have the best chance currently at being second or back-up picks.
Part II – Coming Soon – Explores Predictions for Men’s Prefects