When it comes to inspiring his students, English Teacher and 9^th-Grade Assistant Football Coach Jon Wisnieski draws from a deep well. The former University of Iowa Hawkeyes tight end was among the first to adopt the incredibly inspirational Kinnick Stadium tradition of turning to wave at patients in the windows of nearby Stead Family Children’s Hospital.

“It was awesome,” Wisnieski said. “It was my senior year that the hospital was finished, and The Wave quickly became a well-known, respected ritual in college football. It’s cool that mid-game we stepped back to look at the bigger picture.”

That’s exactly what Wisnieski helps students do. For example, when teaching about the Transcendentalist literary movement of Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Walt Whitman, Wisnieski takes students outdoors for journaling, contemplation of Thoreau’s quote to the effect of “He who chops his own wood warms himself twice,” and an opportunity to “find God in nature.”

Likewise, he uses dystopian texts, such as Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 to explore literacy, mass media, and technology. “There are lots of cool conversations to be had,” Wisnieski said.

Other favorite topics are Medieval English Literature, The Canterbury Tales, Arthurian Legends, and Shakespeare. All provide opportunities to explore the four cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance, Wisnieski said. “As we read these texts, we can identify virtues and vices.”

Between academic requirements and the depth of meaning and life lessons available in the subject matter, Wisnieski strikes a balance between “following routines, but also opening up the class for discussion or journaling with a partner and then sharing that out to the rest of the class. In our all-male environment, the boys are less self-conscious about that.”

Wisnieski’s route to his arrival at Saint Thomas Academy started in Des Moines, where he was born and raised and earned all-state football honors at Dowling Catholic High School. At University of Iowa, he earned a Bachelors degree in Finance and a Masters in Sports Business.

While earning a Masters in Theology from Saint Paul Seminary, he met Dominican friars and took interest in their way of life, noting that Aquinas was a Dominican. He considered pursuing a doctorate in English Literature but decided “not to subject my wife to five or six years of grad school budgets and then job prospects in humanities.”

His impressions of the Academy in his first year are “all positive,” he said. “This is a unique environment that draws the best out of the boys. When I first saw Formation, I saw strong values. I got emotional.”

Integrating into Academy life, Wisnieski enjoys coaching. “It’s nice to get to know students on a different level.”

His other interests include cooking and watching movies with his wife, Cate, a theology teacher at DeLaSalle, as well as photography and exploring National parks with his Dad. Another pastime is reading poetry. “It’s a lot like prayer,” he said. “It’s meditative and helps us slow down.”

And that gives him yet another chance to look at the bigger picture and find even more ways to help Cadets do the same.