Spartan of the Issue
By: Joe Vinci
Editor
Andre Ashkar is a senior here at Damien and is the ASB president. He is a true representation of a Damien Spartan as he represents Damien in student government, advanced classes, as a Pit leader, as a volunteer in the community, and by setting his eyes towards his promising future. Ashkar is spiritual, resilient, and service-oriented as he volunteers at God's Pantry and at a guest home.
He encourages everyone to volunteer like this and says, “It shows you how real the world is. It gives you an overall idea that people live different lives.”
Ashkar is passionate, adventurous, and talented as one of Damien’s Pit leaders. For any and every event where school spirit is needed he pulls up.
As he is a pit leader Ashkar acknowledges that The Pit has been less spirited this season, but he feels we as a school can make it the greatest student section in our league and more by “being more supportive towards the football team, and to keep trying to push the limit to see what other things to do to make the pit a fun spot.”
He shows how academic he is in taking high-level college prep classes. He is already being a navigator of his future by working at an accounting firm as that is what he wants to do as a career.
Ashkar hopes to attend Gonzaga University and double-major in accounting and finance. He likes Gonzaga for a multitude of reasons. He hopes to go out of state to Washington, where Gonzaga is located, to experience new things. Every summer as a little kid Ashkar used to go on a family trip to Idaho and really liked it there. Idaho is right next to Washington and is very similar in geography and weather. In addition to having a really nice campus, Ashkar has wanted to go there for the last four years because they have a terrific business program.
Ashkar is not yet finished with Damien though, as he is this year’s ASB president. He decided to run solely for his fellow Spartans.
Ashkar said, “I want the students to feel comfortable, and not feel alone, because they have their Damien brothers that are around to support them. Making Damien a great environment and an enjoyable one for the students is important, because it gives them dedication to become better than they already are.”
To the student body, Ashkar draws quotes from some of the greats.
“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing.”- Muhammad Ali
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”-Winston Churchill