BECKY HAWORTH

Guest Reporter

High school seniors in 1959 were not unlike they are today – they scrambled around trying to earn high test scores, applied to many different schools and sent their transcripts to various universities and colleges across the nation.

For the Rev. Gregory Carlson, S.J., a 1959 high school graduate, there was no question about which colleges to apply to or which schools to visit.

Instead, at the age of 17, he left his hometown of Milwaukee to head south to St. Louis, nearly 400 miles away, to go to seminary to join the Society of Jesus – the Jesuits.

Carlson attended a Jesuit high school and said he loved the experience he had with the Jesuits there.

“[I loved] the way they lived, the way they taught, the way they enjoyed each other,” he said.

Two years later, Carlson was able to take his first vows as a Jesuit, but it wasn’t until 15 years later he became a Jesuit priest.

“I threw in a doctorate,” he joked.

As a priest, Carlson is able to minister, but he said that being a Jesuit is about being in a community. That is one of the most important feaures of Jesuit life, he said.

He also enjoys the educational and intellectual aspects of Jesuits. He said that Jesuits are always trying to understand things

better – trying to look deeper and understand the whole rather than the parts.

Jesuits are always trying to know more, Carlson said.

However, he said there is a downside to this intellectual focus and desire to attain more knowledge.

“More can get neurotic,” he said. “A person can go nuts.”

Aside from living with fellow Jesuits, Carlson also is an English professor. He said there are some parts of the job that aren’t as exciting as others.

“My ‘un-favorite’ part is correcting papers – that’s what you pay me for,” he said.

However, grading papers alone is not enough to make him turn away from teaching.

He said he loves facing the constant question: “How could I learn more?”

If he wasn’t a Jesuit, Carlson said he would’ve loved to have a family. Nonetheless, he is grateful for the life he has. He explained the Jesuit life has been “wonderfully challenging” for him.

Not only does he enoy helping students learn, he is beloved by many people he

encounters.

Katie de Vecchio, Arts & Sciences sophomore, said she greatly enjoys his World Literature class.

“Father Carlson is pretty cool,” she said.

Margo Lorimer, Arts & Sciences sophomore, is also in Carlson’s World Literature class and she shared similar views of Carlson.

“Father Carlson is exactly what I expected a college professor at a Jesuit university to be,” she said. “His class is enjoyable and entertaining because he really cares about what he teaches.”

When a former student recently passed him on the mall, she commented on his ever-growing beard. Carlson quickly responded that many people have encouraged him to audition for the role of Santa Claus this

December.

He then said he would have to grow another beard. “I’ve robbed three banks already and they haven’t caught me yet,” he joked.