As we look ahead to the new school year, it is bittersweet to be saying goodbye to the Class of 2015. Of course, we’ll be seeing them all at Reunion, but it won’t be the same during that first week back without them. To say goodbye, we thought we’d share with you the biographies they wrote for themselves, which were read aloud by incoming President Stuart Streit at the Commencement Concert in May.
Joseph Copp
Joseph Copp will be graduating tomorrow with a degree in Chemical Engineering. After graduation, he will avoid responsibility in Europe with the Glee Club for a month before returning to his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma to seek employment. He would like to thank his family, Dan Stowe, the Glee Club (especially the seniors), and the I.H.M.S. for their endless love, support, and particularly patience. The times he has spent with the Glee Club have been amazing, but he’s looking forward to starting a new phase of his life.
TJ Dean
TJ is graduating with a BBA in Business Management Consulting & Vocal Performance in Music. He will be acting as a Professional Services Analyst for Netsuite, Incorporated starting in Chicago in the Summer of 2015.. He will always remember his time in the Notre Dame Glee Club, especially his time as a senior, serving as Glee Club Business Manager and Vice President. He loves his brothers in song, and thanks Daniel Stowe for his patience with him as an officer and a musician. He also would like to acknowledge his 8 roommates: Bootstrap, Killian, Rafiki, Baxter, Aladdin, Flash, Showtime, and Trix for putting up with him at 822 Frances Street this academic year. He will always be both a Glee Clubber and a Fisherman at heart. Lastly, he thanks his parents, Brian and Susan, for their constant support and wonderful example as human beings who leave the world better than they found it.
Brendan Evans
Brendan will be graduating with a Degree in Economics, and looks forward to working as an Investment Software Analyst at Eze Software Group in Chicago. He would like to take this opportunity to thank his parents, Eileen and Bill, his two brothers, Conor and Patrick, and sister Elizabeth, for all of their support and love over the years and for helping make this day possible. He would also like to thank his fellow seniors, returning clubbers, and Daniel Stowe for being part of the best and most memorable four years he could ever hope for at Notre Dame. On a personal note, I, Stuart John Streit, would like to take time to thank Brendan for being a source of personal inspiration and wellspring of wisdom and guidance in my life. Although I don’t know how I will cope without him around, I wish him the best of success.
Nick Goldsmith
Nick will be graduating with a B.A. in Film and Vocal Performance. After returning from Europe with the Glee Club, he will work on a documentary film crew in South Bend until September. Then, Nick plans to move to Austin, TX to pursue a career in film production. He would like to thank his family for their unwavering support in all of his endeavors. Stay golden, Glee Club.
Jay Johnstone
Up next is my favorite senior, Jay Johnstone, and I’m not just saying that because I have to read whatever is written here. While I’m sure everyone here would love to thank Jay for single-handedly bringing the group through the last 100 years, he has a few people to thank himself. He would like to thank his whole family for all of their love and support, especially his Mom and Dad and his dog Sassy, but definitely not his sister. OK, fine, he’d like to acknowledge his sister. I’m the worst! Jay would also like to thank Dan for everything he does for the club and all the amazing opportunities he has given us. After graduation, Jay will be moving to Madison, Wisconsin to work as a Technical Systems Analyst at Epic.
Paul Kearney
Paul Kearney is graduating cum diploma tomorrow, having majored in U.S. History and Applied Art History after originally majoring in the emerging field of Regional Kinetics. This October, he will begin a year of service with the Assumptionist Volunteers in Rome. Paul would like to thank his parents for their love and support as well as his six siblings, especially his brother John who four years ago convinced him to join Glee Club and Damian who generously handed down to him this beautifully battered tux which is currently holding on for dear life. Paul would like to close with these words from one Mr. Michael Gary Scott: “Well, see ya later, warehouse. Catch you on the flippity flip.”
Paul Kuczynski
Paul is graduating with a degree in English literature and will be trekking cross country in August to teach high school theology in Salt Lake City, Utah. He’d really just like to say thank you to his brothers in song for putting up with all of his extremely loud antics over the years, to his family and friends for coming to hear his voice blend with 70 other voices, and a very special “thank you. so. much.” to Stuart Streit for his inspiring ministry of gratitude this past year. It’s been a blast, boys. See you at reunion.
John McKune
John is graduating with a degree in accounting, a minor in sustainability, and a certificate in international business. After graduation John will be working in Chicago at PricewaterhouseCoopers in their audit practice. He would like his family and friends for their love and support for him over his last four years at Notre Dame. A special shout out to his Mom and Dad goes out for their support as he has been involved in the arts for all these years. Lastly he would like to thank Dan and the Glee Club family for all they do for this wonderful group.
James O’Connor
James will be graduating with a B.B.A in Finance with a Supplementary Major in Chinese. Next year, he plans on moving to Houston to work for Sanchez Oil & Gas as a Marketing Representative. He would like to thank his family for the constant love and support. He would like to thank Dan Stowe for his leadership and for giving him the opportunity to sing with this group. Finally, he would like to thank all of the Glee Clubbers he has shared the stage with over the last four years. It’s been an amazing journey.
Zach Osterholz
Zach is graduating with a B.S. in Biological Sciences and will continue his education the next four years at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine. He would like to thank his family and the Glee Club for their support and guidance while at Notre Dame. He would especially like to thank all of his close friends in the Glee Club who made his experience at Notre Dame memorable.
Steve Perry
Steve will be graduating with a B.A. in Theology and is very excited to be continuing his theological education through Notre Dame’s Echo Faith Formation Program. He will, along with fellow clubber Paul Kuczynski, continue to take courses at Notre Dame over the summer, after which he will move to Houston, Texas to serve in a Parish there as a Catechist. Steve is currently undergoing an existential crisis, wondering whether or not this means that he’ll need to start bragging about Texas. Rest assured, if he discovers that this is the case, he will promptly resign. Steve would like to thank his Lord and his family, those present and those not, for enabling him to live his dream for the past four years. He would particularly like to thank his father, who showed to him at an early age the kind of man he wanted to be, and the sort of hard work it would take him to get there. He would also like to thank Dan Stowe and his brothers in song for giving him a home within this home, and for being the irreplaceable friends to him that they have been.
Michael Prough
Michael Prough is the proud son of Bryan and Erica Prough. He is graduating cum laude with a degree in biochemistry. Over the past four years, Michael has been heavily involved in music as a member of the marching band, orchestra, and glee club. He would like to thank his parents and his sister, Courtney, for their continued support and his fellow glee club members for many amazing memories and friendships. Michael looks forward to spending the next few weeks in Europe with some of his best friends before returning to South Bend in the fall as a member of the Master of Science in Global Health program.
Michael Shakour
Michael Shakour is five feet nothing, a hundred and nothing, doesn’t have hardly a speck of athletic ability, and he hung in with the best college men’s chorus in the land for four years, and he’s also gonna walk outta here with a degree from the University of Notre Dame in the Program of Liberal Studies and Theology. He’d like to thank his wonderful parents Michelle and Gabriel as well as his sisters Maria, Katie, Christina, and Caroline for their love and support. Michael will be teaching in Chicago starting in the fall, but his heart will be on stage here in the DPAC with his Brothers in Song. His last message to you all is a simple one: Go Irish.
Chris Torres
Chris Torres will be graduating with a major in Physics and a minor in gender studies, the latter of which he’d like to thank his sister for, as she was the one who got him interested in feminist theory. Chris will be taking a year to study for the GRE before applying to graduate schools at which point he intends to attend the Nuclear Physics program at Michigan State University. He’d like to thank his parents for their wisdom, guidance and food over the years and his brothers in song for always putting a smile on his face and a huzzah on his lips.
Jamie Towey
Jamie Towey is graduating with degrees in Arabic and Chinese and will be pursuing a career in national security in the fall. He cannot thank his family and friends enough for their immense love, and he thanks Dan in particular for the passion and integrity with which he has led the Glee Club in Jamie’s four years.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Notre Dame Glee Club Class of 2015.