DIOCESAN NEWS
06/08/07
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Honor grads talk about school, music, competition
By Fabvienen Taylor
       JACKSON — This year Madison St. Joseph Catholic School had the distinction of having twins – James and Michael McClain — as valedictorian and salutatorian respectivley, for the Class of 2007.
       Jeffrey Schwindaman shared co-salutatorian honors with Mike McClain.
       Below are some of their thoughts about their experiences, along with a little background and comments from their mothers, Irena McClain of Ridgeland and Jill Hisaw of Jackson.

A place where everyone
knows your name.
       Mike: At St. Joe you get to know everyone in your grade. You start feeling really relaxed and you get the opportunity to learn a bunch of opinions on certain subjects and begin to build the foundation for your own beliefs.
       Jeffrey: St. Joe students are by far the most unique, coolest people, and I know other people from other schools. I could really only see myself at St. Joe.
Chopin’s the man.
       Irena McClain: My family is pretty musically-inclined. I grew up with my dad playing the piano, I play and my children were drawn to it naturally.
       Their brother Will, now 20, started taking lessons at four, then Mike and Jim did, trying to emulate their big brother.
       We have a grand piano, a harpsichord and a clavichord. So there were times when all three kids would be practicing at the same time.
       Music has been Jim’s passion. In fact the neighbors comment that they love hearing him play when they walk by the house. It’s amazing.
       I wish my father was alive because he loved Chopin and Jim plays beautifully. He plays a lot of Chopin.
       Mike: I play the piano and harpsichord. My two favorites are Beethoven and Chopin. Chopin’s really good.
       Jim: I am able to play the harpsichord and the clavichord but I love the piano. Chopin is my favorite. I am not really sure which of his music is my favorite.

Eagles Rising
       Mike: Being salutatorian is great but I am most proud of being an Eagle Scout because I had more of an attachment to it. In becoming salutatorian it was more that I kept my grades up and then waited to see what would happen.
       However, with becoming an Eagle Scout I had to actually get involved, take time to call people up, go out and do some cancer drives, call Stewpot Ministries and work with them. It involved me a lot more than just keeping my grades up.
       Jim: My most proud accomplishment is probably being an Eagle Scout mainly because it took many years to complete and I actually finished it. Many times I wanted to stop but I stuck with it and once I did, I realized all the things I got out of it. I really appreciate what I learned.

Getting to know Jim.
       Jeffrey: Jim is kind of shy and a lot of people don’t know him. I got to know him well. I thought it was fun hanging out with Jim when other people really didn’t get to experience that.
       Irena McClain: Jim is very quiet, more reserved. As a matter of fact, Mike (who is nine minutes older) used to translate for Jim, who didn’t speak much at all. Mike interpreted what Jim said or gestured and then tell us what Jim wanted.
Sneaking a peak.
       Mike: With Jim and I it was more an open competitiveness. We weren’t looking over each other’s shoulders trying to one-up each other. It was more of an internal competition. We didn’t show hostility to each other or anything.

Charisma, a five-year-old.
       Jill Hisaw: Jeffrey’s very well-rounded. He’s a super-achiever academically and also athletic. He was a leader on the baseball team, on the academic quiz bowl. He has charisma and being a leader kind of comes naturally to him.
       Irena McClain: Mike is “Mr. Congeniality” in the family. Msgr. (Noel) Foley, deceased former pastor of Jackson St. Peter Parish, referred to Mike as a politician when he was five.        He’s always been very talkative.

No studying, no note-taking,
but raising the bar.
       Jim: Really I didn’t study things at all. I would basically do what was assigned. I didn’t study for tests because I already knew it from listening in class so I didn’t actually study for the stuff in school. I did independent study in math and studied that. And chemistry.
       I didn’t really take notes. I paid attention basically.
       Jeffrey: I was in class with Mike and Jim for all four years. We were competitive with each other, we really were.
       Jim is by far the most self-motivated of the three of us. He is on a different level in mathematics and science. Very astute, way, way high up there.
       He went above and beyond. Over the summer he taught himself calculus. I couldn’t believe that.
       Irena McClain: I’ve been blessed. I’ve never had to talk to any of my boys, including Will, who was 2005 valedictorian, about doing homework. They’ve always done their homework. They have a real pride in what they do.
       Jill Hisaw: As Jeffrey said in his graduation speech, he was in a situation where the valedictorian and salutatorian were his friends and they were very competitive, kept a high standard.
       They competed with each other, helped each other. They raised the bar for each other.        It was a very positive thing.
       Jeffrey was really pleased that they had contributed to each other’s success that way. In his remarks he paid tribute to both of them.

Fire-bombing Dresden,
courting Daisy, killing papa.
       Mike: I was most influenced by “Slaughterhouse Five.” It was a pretty good book. Billy was the main character and it portrayed the chaos in the midst of war and contrasted it to this strange alien world he was living in.
       Also I did a term paper on “The Catcher in the Rye,” which I think might have been kind of expected to influence me because it portrayed a kid who was struggling with society’s expectations versus his own moral understandings. He thought the only way he could stay pure was to block everything else out, when really all he had to do was stay true to himself and just go through every day.
       I think I have something for books that speak out against authority or something like that.
       Jeffrey: I love to read. My favorite book, which I did a term paper on, was the “The Great Gatsby.” I’ve read it plenty of times. I like how Fitzgerald’s commentary is really relevant to today because he comments on high society and the dangers (excesses) of a high society lifestyle. That is still a good lesson today
       Jim: I mostly enjoy Russian literature, like Dostoyevsky and some short stories. I read “Crime and Punishment” and then “The Brothers Karamazov.”

Cursive, Grateful Dead,
Bright Eyes.
       Jim: Besides classical, the other music I like is alternative music, like the group Cursive.
       Mike: I don’t like a lot of grunge or this heavy metal thing sweeping the nation. But I’m interested in the bands Shins and Bright Eyes.
       Jeffrey: I don’t play any instruments but I like to listen to the Grateful Dead. I love the Grateful Dead.

Slacking off.
       Jill Hisaw: There is a tendency for seniors sometimes to slack off. Jeffrey applied and was accepted early at the College of the Charleston, got the Presidential Scholarship early, knew where he was going.
       But he never slacked off. I really admire that about him. He would work extremely hard.        I would go to sleep some nights and I know he would be up until about 2 a.m. doing AP (Advanced Placement) calculus.

Jackson: City with Soul,
Bill Clinton.
       Jeffrey: For two months Mike and I designed and painted a “Jackson: City with a Soul” mural. It’s displayed down at the construction site for The Pinnacle building at One Jackson Place.
       Mike and I had pieces in the Senior Art Show this year. I had pottery and some technical pen drawings.
       Mike: I had several acrylic landscapes and a watercolor. I also did an acrylic painting of President Bill Clinton but unfortunately it wasn’t in the show.
Dough, diabetes and design.
       Mike: This summer I’ll be working at a bakery in customer service and mixing the dry ingredients for the bread.
       Jeffery: I will be working in my brother Darren’s T-shirt shop in Fondren. and I’ll be working the cash register.
       Jim: I’ll be at the University of Utah doing research about diabetes.

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