Ethan Buckley

For freshman Ethan Buckley, choosing to attend high school at Roger Bacon was easy. Ethan comes from a long legacy at Roger Bacon, one that includes not only his mom, Martha Nguyen Buckley ’94, but also many aunts and uncles. He also currently shares the halls with his cousin, Isabella Devault ’22.

The rich family legacy made Roger Bacon Ethan’s preference, a preference he recognized as early as a fifth grader at John Paul II. As he began to take shadow days, other schools “just didn’t feel right,” says Ethan. “But Roger Bacon, with the diversity, the small class sizes, and how nice everyone was, it just made it such an easy choice,” he says.

As freshman, Ethan has had to begin his first year at Roger Bacon with the ramifications of COVID-19 and the impact it has made on this experience. “This year has been challenging with COVID-19,” says Ethan, “I haven’t had the chance to really experience all the high school stuff I was looking forward to, at least not yet. Things like going to football games regularly. But I love that I have still made so many new friends, and have met so many new people. Everyone is just so friendly.”

Ethan’s favorite teacher so far is Father Roger Lopez, OFM. “He makes learning fun and inspires us to be good people. His positivity can be felt by all students, every day. He teaches like he is a friend,” shares Ethan. “It is also pretty cool that we have Franciscans here at school, walking around with their brown habits, between Fr. Roger and the other Franciscans, you definitely are inspired to learn more about the Franciscan charism,” he says.

At the midpoint of his freshman year, Ethan’s only wish is that the school year continues as normal as possible. As Ethan shares, “The Roger Bacon family is unique, and I hope we can get back to celebrating as a family soon, from all-school masses to going to games, there is no place like Roger Bacon.”