During the January 2018 J-Term, we launched our #AlumniofMalvern feature by pairing volunteer alumni from the classes of 2016 and 2017 with students in the Journalism J-Term class for interviews. 

Alumni spoke with current students about favorite locations and memories from their time at Malvern and college planning advice. 

Look for more #AlumniofMalvern stories here and on Instagram in the future. If you are an alumnus who would like to be featured, please contact us.

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“Right over there is the Chorus room. That’s where all my classes with Mr. Liga were. And so, usually I would come to class ten to fifteen minutes early because the way the schedule worked. I would come here and I would wait for class to begin here. It gave me a bit of time to look over the music we were going to be going over in class just to make sure I didn’t screw up. Which happens more than you think in music class. —- If you have reading for homework for classes here, DO IT. It’s going to build a habit, that you read what you’re assigned. So that it’s not going to be as hard to sit down and do reading while you’re in college, while you have no one breathing over your shoulder. Because it’s way too easy to fall behind. When you fall behind, you get swamped. That’s when you get really stressed.” —- Jack McClatchy ‘17 Fordham University ‘21 #alumniofMalvern #alwaysaFriar #malvernprep #collegeadvice

A post shared by The Friar’s Lantern (@lantern.news) on Jan 21, 2018 at 10:34am PST

“Whenever I would not really have a sport, I would easily come in here after school, or after a workout come here. During my study halls I would just come in here and I’d be alone. It’s nice to sometimes reflect, relax, and kind of just hang out. I really had a lot of great times in here whether it was alone or with friends. —- College is definitely more global, religiously diverse, even mentally diverse. There’s some kids that won’t agree with you and you’re going to have to live with that. Realizing that sophomore year wouldn’t have done much for me as a Malvern student, but it would have helped me prepare for situations in college that I need more a diverse aspect of the world.” —- Tait McGlinn ‘16 University of Notre Dame ‘20 #alumniofMalvern #alwaysaFriar #malvernprep #collegeadvice

A post shared by The Friar’s Lantern (@lantern.news) on Jan 20, 2018 at 11:19am PST

“I used to be involved in a lot of plays here, so I would always be back here during shows. And I also played football so looking out to the field before a game helped me feel relaxed and clear my mind. —- Before UVA I went to private Catholic schools my whole life. University of Virginia is a public school, and it was just a step out of my comfort zone. We were the first ones in awhile for that didn’t go for playing a sport. The culture down there is like nothing else—the traditions they hold, and the certain degree of excellence that they hold you to down there is just something I wanted to be a part of. —- There’s no one telling you to work on this assignment that’s due next week. There’s no one telling you to study for this test tomorrow. It’s all on you, and that was a little scary at first. But I certainly got used to it by they end of the first semester I had. It’s a lot of reading and a lot of writing and a lot of critical thinking… I wished we had practiced more reading and writing.” —- Rob DiCicco ‘16 University of Virginia ‘20 #alumniofMalvern #alwaysaFriar #malvernprep #collegeadvice

A post shared by The Friar’s Lantern (@lantern.news) on Jan 18, 2018 at 9:00am PST

“It was just kind of like an interesting moment for me, from the first time I was sort of in here freshman year where I was just afraid and didn’t want to do anything… and then compare that to the start of my senior year where I would walk in here and I was the guy in the front, and I was responsible for leading kids and telling them what to do and trying to get them to actually write stories. But yeah, I would definitely say that for as nervous and as anxious as I felt walking in as a freshman, it felt really really good coming in as a senior knowing I was doing something really good. I was going to help people and fulfill an important part of the @malvernprep community. —- There are some things in highschool that only happen in high school, and there are things in college that you need to transition to. There’s a lot more reading and a lot less grades. For example, I had a philosophy class were the only grades were two papers, a midterm, and a final.” —- Tommy Pero ‘17 Notre Dame ‘21 #alumniofMalvern #alwaysaFriar #malvernprep #collegeadvice

A post shared by The Friar’s Lantern (@lantern.news) on Jan 17, 2018 at 1:37pm PST

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“It’s always great coming back on campus… —- Mr. Roper in particular… I learned public speaking skills, my vocabulary enhanced greatly and that was one of the biggest—he was one of the biggest—influences in why I think i’m doing so well in college. Because I was used to those challenges and I feel like he prepared me so well. —- Gettysburg is only 2,400 undergrads. It was easy to pick Gettysburg. I just fit in more, I got along with the people I met there more. I just felt more comfortable there, it was an easy decision. I got really lucky when I picked Gettysburg. —- If you’re really really serious about certain schools and you’re in a tough bind in which one to pick, you really should at least reach out to someone you trust and try to spend a weekend visit or overnight visit. And if you don’t have that human resource, then just do your research.” —- John Skrocki Malvern ‘16 Gettysburg ‘20 #alumniofMalvern #alwaysaFriar #malvernprep #collegeadvice

A post shared by The Friar’s Lantern (@lantern.news) on Jan 15, 2018 at 2:15pm PST

“The majority of my classes, I tried to make them science classes at Malvern, and I picked the building that had all my science classes. Mr. Quinn’s Intro to Computer Science class… set my course for where I pretty much go to school now. ‘Cause it was, like, my first introduction to computer science and it ended up being the deciding factor what college I went to. That small half year course set me up for what major I went into.⠀ —- Malvern, it prepared me to be, like, smart enough to handle college. Well, I was thinking about this on my drive over and, there is nothing that can prepare you to go to college other than going to college. But, Malvern prepared me for school no doubt. It’s the independence. School is challenging… it’s not going to be easy by any stretch, but the hardest part comes from balancing everything in your life.”⠀ —- Mike Hollingsworth ‘16⠀ Lehigh University ‘20⠀ ⠀ #alumniofMalvern #alwaysaFriar #malvernprep #collegeadvice

A post shared by The Friar’s Lantern (@lantern.news) on Jan 15, 2018 at 7:16am PST

“I love this spot. I played football for four years so I definitely grew up a lot here, both physically and emotionally. A lot of early morning workouts. It’s a special place and it always will be. — I would definitely say just enjoy Malvern. I mean, there’s so much of me that wants to be a junior in high school again, as hard as that is, but it was just such a good time and your never going to find anything like Malvern no matter what school you go to. As far as practical advice, I’d say, Malvern gives you a lot of independence in terms of free periods and this J-Term, and the goal is you use it wisely and efficiently. But you know as well as I do, not everyone does that. I would suggest really trying to get used to, ‘Alright, I have an hour and a half until my next requirement. What can I do now, so maybe it will free up something I don’t have to do later?’ Just getting used to time managing efficiently.” — Dave Lynch ‘16 Saint Joseph’s University ‘20 #alumniofMalvern #alwaysaFriar #malvernprep #collegeadvice

A post shared by The Friar’s Lantern (@lantern.news) on Jan 11, 2018 at 10:52am PST

“I know it sucks now to say, with you guys being in high school, but I think they (Malvern) could have given us more work. As much as that sucks. I think if they gave us more work it would have prepared me a little better. At the time, with me being in high school, would I take having less work in high school and being a little less ready? I mean, yeah I’d probably take that, because high school, it was great.” – “I think I would have taken my time to look at more schools. I mean, a lot of me looking at colleges was colleges looking at me from a recruiting standpoint, so that’s kinda how I picked out where I was going to look at. So that didn’t really start until sophomore or junior year for football. I don’t know I think maybe [I would have] given more schools more chances. I mean sometimes, you’d be like: I don’t really want to miss a weekend at home instead of going up to a school, in retrospect maybe I should’ve went up to the school, because it’s a weekend versus the possible next four years of your life. I mean, I wish I just gave more schools chances, but I’m pretty happy how everything worked out.” – Zac Fernandez ‘17 Johns Hopkins University ‘21 #alumniofMalvern #alwaysaFriar #malvernprep #collegeadvice

A post shared by The Friar’s Lantern (@lantern.news) on Jan 11, 2018 at 7:23am PST

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