Anthony Jay

Name: Anthony Jay

Clubs / Organizations / Sports involved with at AMU: Ice Skating Club Founder/Pro-Life Club Member/Flag Football and Ultimate Frisbee team captain.

Why I Chose AMU: I chose AMU because I wanted a foundational education ex corde Ecclesiae (from the heart of the Church). This education is not one of mere "training" in a specific field but is a true "education" striving to give an extensive overview of the world.

What I like most about AMU: In these days, when the Christian is expected to praise every creed except his own, it is inspiring to go to a school where truest Christianity is not merely presented as a list of rules to follow, but reasoned-about, thought-through and grappled-with whole heartedly. It is a living out of John Paul II's encyclical Veritatis Splendor (The Splendor of the Truth), where life is as a challenge but a breath of fresh air.

How would you describe AMU students: AMU students are like a school of salmon swimming upstream, not lowering their standards to go with the flow like many other spiritless or lifeless fish around them. Sometimes this requires jumping up a waterfall where grizzly bears clawing at you, sometimes it is a rest in a quiet eddy.

Favorite thing to do in my free time: The best things in life aren't things. One of my many favorite things to do in my free time is to spend time with close friends fishing for big-game fish off the beach. Of course, its impossible to put flag-football, the golf team, or even participating in an exciting Dr. Guerra Theology class, in second places.

Favorite thing to do in Naples: In Naples, the beach and the food become front and center for me. Going to the famous Randy's Fish Market or relaxing, swimming, and fishing at Clam Pass Beach will always hold great memories.

Favorite Class: I happen to love so many of my professors and classes that I could never amputate any single one. Alright, disclaimers aside, Dr. Riordan has played an exemplary role in teaching the life of the Theologian, grounded in prayer and beyond merely knowing a lot of "stuff." I've always said that another favorite Theology teacher, Dr. Guerra, is so superb as a teacher, that I would take lawn-mowing from him if he taught it as a class. He has a way of making students think carefully and methodically by asking questions and expecting a clear articulation of principles that most people take for granted. Dr. Peliska represents a phenomenal science teacher who expects me and other Biology majors to know the material in the Biology and Chemistry books but also to understand deeply how it works. He is also my greatest help in applying to medical schools.

Future plans: I am applying to medical schools right now and hope to enter a school in Minnesota or Florida for the fall class in 2008. I'll keep you posted!

Ave Maria is: Life-changing and thought-provoking. Remember: progress is neither automatic nor inevitable because every step toward a goal requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle. As G.K. Chesterton said, "Progress is a comparative of which we have not settled the superlative." Yet at AMU, progress is directed toward a heavenly and, hence, eternal goal.