Class of 1985 Memorial Scholarship

The Class of 1985 has chosen to honor two of our classmates with a memorial scholarship fund. We started the fund at our 10-year class reunion and reaffirmed our commitment to it at our 15-year reunion.

Carlos Petrozzi was our first classmate to pass away. At our 10-year reunion, we wanted to spend time remembering our class’s good times together and we also wanted to remember Carlos, a special classmate. Fr. Dave Mastrangelo, S.J. held a memorial Mass with classmates, the Petrozzi family, and many others in attendance. We also pledged to start a scholarship fund as a way for our class to honor Carlos. That was the beginning of our Circle of Care Scholarship fund. Every person at our reunion supported the fund and the support continues to this day.

The next five years brought the passing of another special classmate, Conrad Drain. Although Carlos’ death inspired the initial commitment to our scholarship fund, Conrad’s passing reminded us that death is inevitable. We spent our reunion weekend enjoying each other’s company but we missed the two classmates who were taken from us too soon. We remembered them at another memorial Mass by Fr. Dave and with their families present. We reaffirmed our commitment to supporting a scholarship fund at U of D Jesuit, and changed the name to include both Carlos and Conrad.

Our class was a small one. We graduated in the mid-1980’s when fewer and fewer parents wanted their children at U of D Jesuit. We graduated at a time when no one knew for sure if there would still be a U of D Jesuit in five years. We were small, and we were close. We cry when remembering the classmates we have lost and we have tried to turn that sadness into something positive. We have channeled our sadness into support for a scholarship for a future student to attend our beloved alma mater.

We hope our scholarship recipient will embody many of the same incredible traits Carlos and Conrad had in them. If you want to learn about those, be sure to come to our next reunion. Fr. Dave will be remembering them at our memorial Mass, and their families and friends will be able to let you know all about those two special classmates.