By Francis Boeck and Emmanuel Rodriguez
When he
looks back at it, Tom Coppola’s decision of what to do for high school didn’t
have much to do with where he wanted to go.
It was
about who he wanted to be.
In the
summer between his seventh and eighth grade year, Coppola attended Canisius
High School’s Higher Achievement Program and quickly become enamored with the
teachers of the program, realizing he wanted to be just like them.
“It was
immediate that I felt connected to the place, I felt like this was beyond just
a school but a community that I wanted to be part of,” Coppola said. “All of
the teachers were alums and they were all guys who I wanted to become. They
went to cool colleges and projected to do these great things in the world and
then they were just gentlemen. It gave me an idea of that’s what I wanted to
be.”
Coppola, ’01,
later returned as a teacher and is now the Dean of Students at Canisius.
He has also
been running the summer program for the past eight years as well, introducing
that same culture to middle school boys.
It’s a
cycle that has been going on for the past 150 years, since the Jesuits started
Canisius on Ellicott Street back in 1870. It ash been at its current location
at 1180 Delaware Ave. since the 1940s.
Jay
Josker, ’01, director of alumni relations, and Ken Liszewski, ’10, director of annual
giving, reflect on the success of Canisius High School the past 150 years:
“It’s
pretty cool,” said senior Daniel Sippel, a fourth-generation student at
Canisius and high-ranking member of the school’s student government. “It’s
understandable to see how this school has made it this far.”
As a Jesuit
school, Canisius works to create men who are “for and with others,” according
to Coppola and Sippel. Canisius students are required to perform 100 hours of
community service, locally and internationally, travelling to Nicaragua
annually.
Service is
as important as academics, spirituality and athletics in helping to form the mind,
body and soul of each student, Principal Andrea Tyrpak-Endres said.
It’s that
idea of shaping the whole person that brought Sippel to even consider pursuing
medicine.
“If you
told me four years ago, that now I’m thinking about going pre-med or studying
medicine for the purpose that I can interact with people for the rest of my
life, I would not have believed you,” Sippel said. “It has come from things
like retreats, service programs on the other side of the world and connect with
people, it all builds up.”
A few of the distinguished alumni Canisius
High School can boast about are: the late Tim Russert, host of NBC’s “Meet The
Press”; Tom Perez, current Democratic National Committee chairman; Tom Fontana,
Emmy winning producer; Most Rev. Joseph A. Burke, former Bishop of Buffalo and Larry
Quinn, former minority owner of the Buffalo Sabres.
Qadree Ollison,
’14, and Ryan Hunter, ’13, are playing in the National Football League and several
others on Division-I rosters. John Urschel ’09 recently retired from the NFL to
get his PhD in math at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“People who
have gone on to do incredible things in all kinds of walks of life also have an
infinity to the place so they always want to give back,” said Coppola, who is
also an assistant football coach. “When someone like John Urschel is always
willing to come back, I think that’s unique. I don’t think most people have
that appreciation of their high school like most people who went here do.”
The school
has arguably one of the strongest alumni bases in the region, with a footprint
prominent both locally and internationally in many different walks of
life.
“I never
get on jury duty because they always say ‘does anyone know any of the attorneys
or judges?’ and I say, ‘yes, I taught them all’,” Tyrpak-Endres said. “We have
a lot of guys out there working at Roswell and Millard and in the court system
and contributing to the business world in Buffalo as well.”
But for
Coppola, Canisius is more than his alma mater or place of work, it’s a second
home.
“Some of my
best friends in the world are people I went to school with here,” Coppola said.
“Now all of the sudden I’m at point where guys I’ve taught are getting married.
I’m now seeing the connections from Canisius High School has in all parts of my
life. This place is super important to me.”
