St. Bernard's Mister "Wonderful"

By Kenton Robinson

Published on 5/28/2007 by The Day

Wesley Wollschlager '07 is not the class valedictorian.

He is not the star quarterback.

He is not the homecoming king.

But those who know him often use the same word to describe the St. Bernard High School senior: “wonderful.”

Of Wollschlager, Maureen Jensen, administrative assistant to the headmaster and moderator to the student council, said, “He is just a wonderful boy, a steady Eddie, an Eagle Scout, one of those quiet, unsung people who's not looking for any recognition.”

But when teachers and administrators were asked to name a student who stood out from all the others, their answer was unanimous: Wes.

“Wes goes above and beyond when it comes to school, community service and volunteering,” said Vice Principal James Venditto Jr. “He's a great kid.”

Pointing to his work on the school food drives, they say he is the student who can always be counted on to help out when help is needed.

“He's a genuinely sincere kid,” Jensen said. “You don't see many of those anymore, extremely generous in anything he does. He's just sincere in his willingness to help others.”

For Wollschlager, 18, it's just part of who he is.

“That kind of has to do with Scouting,” he says. “The slogan is 'Do a good turn daily.' I try to do a good turn every day. If someone drops something, I pick it up and return it to them. If someone's lost in the hallway, I help them with that. If they're struggling in school, I try to help them as best I can.”

Which may be why, at least in part, Wollschlager dreams of “a career in law-enforcement, possibly the FBI if they're willing to take me. If not, the Air Force. It's kind of a tie between the military police and search and rescue.

“I want to fight crime but still serve my country, or I want to risk my neck to help someone that gets in trouble. That always seems kind of fun to me,” he said.

In pursuit of that goal, Wollschlager is going to Norwich University in Vermont in the fall, which offers a quasi-military program in which students can attend as cadets and then, if they choose, join the Reserve Officer Training Corps.

“I plan on being a cadet,” he said. “I'm pretty sure I'll wind up doing the ROTC as soon as my parents are down the driveway from the school.”

He laughed.

He said his father, Jim Wollschlager, a dentist in Mystic, “says it's a good idea, but he's a little worried about what's going on. ... He just doesn't want to see me die.”

On the other hand, he said his mother, Carol Wollschlager, a school nurse in Stonington, is “just completely paranoid from the very beginning. She's still worried about me going to school all the way up there.”

Not that Wollschlager hasn't spent time in Vermont.

He has worked as a junior counselor with the Vermont Department of Fish & Wildlife's Green Mountain Conservation Camp Program at Camp Kehoe on Lake Bomoseen, where he taught children survival skills, first-aid, fishing and how to care for the environment.

At St. Bernard, he played football all four years, as a tackle, and last year threw the shot put and discus on the track team.

He's the first to admit he's not big into books.

Asked his favorite subjects, he replied, “History, and that's about it.”

Wayland Currie, his history teacher, concurred.

“Wes has a love of history, which has made my job of teaching him history a genuine pleasure,” Currie said. “Wonderful boy.”

Asked if he had a guiding philosophy, Wollschlager said his father always taught him to do whatever he did to the best of his ability. But he also points to the 12 points of Scouting: “Trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, reverent.”

Scouting, he said, has been his passion since he was young.

“I did Cub Scouting. It was one of those things. My mom asked if I wanted to do it. I had no idea what it was. I said, 'sure.' We went to the meetings, and it seemed interesting enough,” he said.

Then he smiled a sly smile and said, “You get to play with fire, axes, knives, saws ... .”