Hephaestus is the god of the forge, and he serves as the namesake for the Hephaestus Society. In order to earn an invitation from the Lord society, a student must be in one of the following academic clubs: The Index, Model UN, Speech & Debate, Mock Trial, Robotics, Haligoluk, and Pegasus. The society held its banquet on April 16 in the Big Room. The featured speaker was Mr. Sam Turner ’18.
Latin teacher Dr. Andrew Fenton said, “Sam is a super smart, creative, and a really interesting guy. I would describe him as not only academically accomplished, but also someone who is creative, curious, and genuinely interested in learning about how the world works. I still use a project he created ten years ago to show to students. Any teacher who had Sam Turner would sing his praise.
Third Former Evan Taylor, who attended the banquet, thought Turner’s speech was interesting and intriguing.
“[Mr. Turner] was very dedicated to Haverford and clearly had a very interesting story he wanted to tell everyone,” Taylor said. “I thought it was a good speech that showed how he transferred his own skills and learnings from Haverford to business and adapted wherever he went.”
Third Former Sam Sholl said, “He was persistent on his projects and did them for experience and to better the world rather than focusing on just the money. I could tell that he truly was interested in what he did, and he worked hard to achieve the amazing accomplishments he earned throughout his career.”
Dr. Fenton came up with the idea for the name for the group.
He said, “I thought using Hephaestus was an appropriate figure from Greek mythology to give the society its name. Think about it, he’s the god of forge and represents the god of creation and engineering and building things. That creativity and impulse to build things align with the values of the society.”
The Hephaestus Society’s creation was a collective effort. It couldn’t have been created without help and teamwork from other faculty members and supporters. When the society first started, Former Headmaster Dr. Nagl had a helping hand with organizing the speakers.
“When we first started the society, Dr. Nagl utilized his wide variety of friends and personal connections to get speakers to come give speeches.”
MR. JAVIER LLUCH
“When we first started the society, Dr. Nagl utilized his wide variety of friends and personal connections to get speakers to come give speeches,” Mr. Javier Lluch said.
After Dr. Nagl left Haverford, Mr. Lluch was given the honor of offering the evening’s first speech.
“Ever since Dr. Nagl left, Mr. Casertano decided to allow me to give the opening speech, and I have been giving opening speeches for all of these past banquets, including this one.” Mr. Lluch said. “Since the Hephaestus Society had been running long enough, we had connections with a variety of alumni who were originally a part of the society who we could rely on to be a speaker.”
The Hephaestus Society rewards the members of the society, giving every member one pin for every club that they are a part of.
One award holds higher value: the Hephaestus Megistos is granted to a Sixth Form member who participates in many clubs and activities. The Hephaestus Megistos also gives a speech to the society. Selecting one person for the Hephaestus Megistos is a difficult process, as choosing only one out of a promising bunch of members is a challenging decision.
Mr. Lluch said, “To select a proper candidate for the Hephaestus Megistos, we send an email to all faculty advisors, which asks the teachers to nominate students they think would be a great fit for the Hephaestus Megistos. After receiving the nominations, faculty advisors will vote for the student they think deserves the award the most.”
This year’s Hephaestus Megistos was Sixth Former Nicholas Zafiriou.
You must be logged in to post a comment.