Gavin Anderson          AHHS

William Bankler           SMH

Ojani Bowen                TMI     

Justus Briskin                TMI

Hill Britton                    AHHS

Spencer Britton          AHHS

Richard Cage               SMH

Christopher Chan       SMH

Connor Davis              Keystone

Julian Dupertuis          ISA

Griffin Freiling             Geneva Boerne

George Hale, Jr.           AHHS

Hayden Hoelscher     SMH

Blake Johnson             AHHS

Ryan Jourdan              TMI

Brandon Lozano        Antonian

Diego Morales            Deerfield

Edafetanure Nakpodia    ISA

Aidan Notzon            TMI

Sam Nye                    AHHS

Daniel Peavy             AHHS

Alonzo Peeler           TMI

Benjamin Powell      AHHS

William Riggs            SMH

William Runnels       AHHS

Arthur Seay               AHHS

Keaton Shindler       Geneva Boerne

Jack Travis                   McCallie      

John Paul Tucker       TMI

Joseph Turner            AHHS

Calvin Walls               TMI

Liam Wray                  ISA

Parks Zunker              AHHS

 

For the first time in Academy history (that we know of), the boys will be celebrated with a special video presentation  -- tune in to this web page to watch! -- and then will proceed to campus with their parents to receive their diploma at a social distance, with waves and cheers from their teachers. 

 

Please join us from the comfort of your home. If you received an email invitation, then you will also receive the video link on May 22 at 9:00 am that will direct you back to this web page to watch. If you did not receive an email invitation, please use this form to update your information so that we can include you in the future. 

I    The Commander of the Best Intramural Company is determined by the consolidated scores of the Company and Battalion Challenge. The Commander receives a trophy and a medal, each member of the company receives a ribbon, and a banner is added to the guidon. 

 

II    The Commander of the Company with the Best Personal Appearance receives a trophy and a medal, each member of the company receives a ribbon, and a banner is added to the guidon. The Personal Appearance Award is determined by the cadets’ daily appearance and by monthly inspections.

 

III   The Commander of the Best-Drilled Company is determined by company and platoon drill competitions held throughout the year. The Commander receives a trophy and a medal, each member of the company receives a ribbon, and a banner is added to the guidon.

 

IV    The Commander of the Top Academic Company receives a trophy and medal for his company’s academic grade point average, each member of the company receives a ribbon, and a banner is added to the guidon. The results are determined by adding the year-to-date average for each cadet and dividing the sum by the number of cadets in each company.

 

V     The Commander of the High Point Company receives a trophy and medal for his leadership in helping his company achieve the most points in the above competitions, each member of the company receives a ribbon, and a banner is added to the guidon.

 

VI     The Lt. Col. Robert E. Kelso Color Guard Excellence Award is presented to the 7^th or 8^th grade student whose overall appearance, participation, skill, and performance best epitomize the qualities and ideals of the color guard.

 

VII    The Tex Hill Medal recognizes the eighth grader who is selected to lead the Battalion. Distinguished alumnus, Brigadier General David Lee “Tex” Hill, Class of 1928, was Squadron Leader of the 2^nd Squadron, Panda Bears, in the American Volunteer Group, Flying Tigers, in China and Burma (1941-1942) and later was Commander of the 23^rd Fighter Group, 14^th Air Force, in China (1943-1944).

 

I     No Demerit Award is presented to 8^th graders who have received the no demerit medal every year from 3^rd – 8^th grade.

 

II    Drew Kennedy Dean’s List Award is presented to 8^th graders who have been on the Dean’s List each six weeks from 3^rd through 8^th grade.

 

III   W. T. Bondurant, Jr. Big Brother Citizenship Award is presented to a 7^th or 8^th grade student who has exhibited kindness, friendliness and helpfulness toward his fellow cadets as well as the primary students. The award is given in honor of our beloved former headmaster, Col. W. T. Bondurant, Jr., whose dedication, hard work and love have touched so many lives.

 

IV   Sergeant Charles H. Turner Big Brother Citizenship Award is presented to a 5^th or 6^th grade student who has exhibited friendliness, helpfulness and kindness toward his fellow cadets as well as the primary students. The award is given to honor Sergeant Turner whose life reflects these attributes and whose alertness, dedication and hard work help keep San Antonio Academy safe and secure.

 

V    John Webster Award As The Academy’s Head of School from 1985 to 2017, Mr. Webster both demonstrated and taught boys the importance of character.  A young man of character shows commitment, hard work, integrity, respect, kindness, perseverance, and trust-worthiness.  This award honors an eighth grader who is known and respected for his character.

 

VI   Newman Choir Award – The Nancy Jean Newman Memorial Endowment Fund was established in 1993 to encourage outstanding musical education and enrichment at San Antonio Academy. The Newman Choir award is presented to an eighth grade choir member who has participated in the SAA choir program for a minimum of three years and has demonstrated leadership, musicality and an exemplary attitude during choir rehearsals and events.

 

VII  Joseph Giambruno Social Studies Award – From 1949 to 1986 Prof. Giambruno brought social studies to life with slides, films and fascinating accounts of his world travels. To highlight Prof. Giambruno’s legacy of excellence, we recognize that student who has demonstrated the greatest interest in social studies and further related that interest to events in his life.

 

VIII   The Peacock Cadet Medal is awarded to a seventh grade student who demonstrates a high degree of scholastic aptitude and achievement, character and leadership.

 

IX     J. Stuart Pearce Award – J. Stuart Pearce, affectionately known as “Coach Pearce,” was a member of our faculty from 1930-1959 and served as headmaster from 1946-1959. Each year Mr. James Taylor of Bozeman, Montana, sponsors this award, given to the eighth grade student who has the highest combined average in algebra and English.

 

X      Joseph C. Mellard Memorial Award for Creativity is presented in memory of an outstanding young man who was a member of the Class of 1975. Joe was an innovative editor of that year’s Bluebonnet yearbook. In 1982, Joe was killed in an automobile accident.  Each year his family honors an Academy cadet for his artistic talent.

 

 

by Walter J. Buzzini, IV Class of 1977

 

My great grandfather, Walter James Buzzini, Sr. lived in upstate New York in Westchester County. The first generation American son of a Swiss immigrant, he was a commercial kitchen designer and contractor. He was very successful in his field having designed and built the kitchens for the Biltmore estate as well as the Waldorf Astoria and the Park Plaza hotels among others. He is also credited with building and installing the first electric commercial range in Washington DC, that range now residing in the collections of the Smithsonian.

Walter was also a great patriot and loved America passionately. In 1898, during the Spanish American War, he volunteered to serve in the US Navy Militia and served as a landsman to the Civil War era iron clad ship Nahant, which was stationed in New York Harbor.

Most everything he did was suffused in patriotism. He had a flagpole in front of his house and raised and lowered the colors daily, often to the accompaniment of the firing of a small twelve gauge, shot gun cannon which he also used for the starting of various sailboat regattas held on a nearby lake. In 1947 my father Walter J. Buzzini, III was a sophomore cadet at Peacock Military Academy. It was during this time that he had been given the cannon in New York and had brought it back to San Antonio. Having learned of this, Colonel Donald Peacock, one of two brothers who owned and operated the school, assigned my father to the newly created cadet position of “Cannoneer".  As such, it became my father’s daily duty to shoot off the little cannon before the lowering of the colors at Retreat. Colonel Peacock became so enamored of the cannon (he personally supplied the blank shotgun shells) that he finally had its barrel permanently welded to the breech of one of the two 37 millimeter guns which resided by the flag pole. My father continued his duty as  “Cannoneer” until he was made Battalion Commander at the beginning of his senior year.

 

Over the course of the next 21 years the Peacock “cannon” was shot at retreat, during parades and on other special occasions. Sadly Peacock Military Academy held its last commencement in May of 1973. The School was closed and the campus was conveyed to the Salvation Army.

 

During the later part of that decade, in the spring of 1976 when I was a seventh grade cadet, San Antonio Academy was fortunate enough to receive Peacock’s library, which was placed originally in the bottom floor of Taylor Hall. Also received were three artillery pieces which had once graced the Peacock Campus. One was a large three-inch M-5 anti tank gun. The other two were a matching set of 37 millimeter M-3 anti tank guns which were immediately stationed beside the school’s flagpole. It wasn’t long before my father realized that one of those very guns was the same one which had become home to his grandfather’s cannon some 29 years before. As my father had assiduously held on to the cannon's firing mechanism (a gift back to him by Col. Peacock) after the closing of PMA,  he was able to immediately present it to Colonel Bondurant who was more than pleased (after a few test shots) to have gained a “working gun”. From that point on the firing of the cannon, especially at Commencement, has become a part of San Antonio Academy’s rich military tradition.

 

 

Now, over 40 years later, the cannon is still shooting and it has done so North and South, in the best of schools and in the presence of four generations of Buzzinis (four of them named Walter). That’s a total of 63 years and six Academy boys (Dad was one too!).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Geary Atherton ‘64

Tom Bondurant ‘63

John Browning ‘89

Daniel Covert ‘15

Jack Covert ‘15

Miguel Dilly ‘95

Chris Galvan ‘90

Brandon Grossman ‘92

Curtis Gunn ‘16

Edward Hart ‘18

Thomas Hart ‘14

Richard Kinsel ‘17

John Kohl McAdams ‘18

Alex McAllister ‘88

Matthew McLaughlin ‘06

Connor McGrath ‘18

Joe McGrath ‘13

Garrett Notzon ‘09

Jack Osterhage ‘16

David Pavelka ‘84

Javier Rocha ‘91

Andrew Simms ‘05

Harrison Stuart ‘15

Garrett Wingrove ‘13