Elephants in the room
just that for St. Francis’ Rotondi
By Chris Walker
During her first high school soccer season, Adriana Rotondi overcame an injury and was able to finish as a forward on the 2018 St. Francis Class AA state champion.
This spring, excited to be a senior and team captain and well prepared to make a huge impact on the backline, the Bartlett resident has seen her final season end before it really even started. And there was nothing she could do about it.
That’s a pill about as large as a soccer ball to swallow for an ambitious young lady like Rotondi who has her heart set on dedicating her life to saving endangered species, specifically elephants. But she’s also still a kid who: loves soccer; loves being around her teammates on the field; and enjoys hanging out with her classmates in school.
This year was destined to be her year. It still might be with the best yet to come later in 2020.
“It’s definitely super difficult to accept that we can’t have our final season,” she said. “Since my life, as well as that of the other captains, Emily Thill, Anna Moran and Bella DeFeo have revolved around soccer, we’ve been doing activities that are in our control with the team.
"We schedule constant team meetings and make team juggling videos to make sure that we all stat strong and connected during this time.”
While she is delighted to soon begin a new chapter in her life, it’s as if the chapter on her latest couple months of 2020 have turned into a science fiction novella. As difficult as it is score a goal in soccer, we’ve entered a world where it might be easier to bury a shot in the back of the net than to find toilet paper, disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer.
Instead of being told to turn off the phone and get outside and do something, we’ve been ordered by Gov. Pritzker to stay at home and those orders continue to be extended. The latest takes us all the way until May 31 pending an appeal of a downstate judge's ruling.
That’s after Rotondi and countless other seniors will be done with high school, closing that chapter on their young lives. Memes featuring Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot about staying home are more popular than old Mike Royko columns on Richard J. Daley today. People are walking their dogs, but pitchers aren’t walking anyone because softball and baseball, like all other high school sports, have been shut down. Sidewalk chalk is more popular than markers and dry erase boards. Masks have gone from something for Halloween to being a hot commodity in March to a legal requirement in May. Hugs and kisses have been replaced by waves, thumbs ups and elbow bumps. Summer plans with friends to go to baseball games, beaches, amusement parks and concerts have been postponed. Ugh.
In order to stay connected, we’re turning to Zoom, socializing with our friends as if we’re stuck in the iconic opening sequence of The Brady Bunch. But as skilled as Mike, Carol and Alice were at solving problems that came to life out of the creative mind of Sherwood Schwarz, not even they could save Rotondi’s final season as a Spartan.
Although soccer couldn’t be saved, there are some amazing creatures on this planet that can be saved, but it’s going to be a huge challenge. It's one that Rotondi thinks about often. It’s her calling. And it will take her this fall to Colorado State’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences where she will experience a lifetime of unforgettable memories. She plans to earn her PhD and become a wildlife veterinarian. And if works out the way she envisions it, she’ll be a difference-maker in helping save African and Asian elephants.
“I’ve always known that I wanted to be a vet,” she said. “Each kid has that vet phase, but I never did. I’ve always been into all sorts of animals, and I’ve just seen the world around me changing, seeing all the different animals becoming endangered. I just want to help them.”
Kids toss around dream jobs like athletes, doctors, musicians and veterinarians all the time during their youth, but most veer into other directions during their high school years, finding other interests after realizing that they’re not going to be the next Alex Morgan or Ariana Grande. As for Rotondi, it’s always been about helping others, regardless if they’re humans or animals.
“As I was growing up I switched interests into different medical fields,” she said. “I wanted to be a doctor. At other times, I wanted to be a nurse. Eventually I realized you could make a profession out of working with animals. Once that became very real to me, I knew that I could do what I wanted with it.”
She’s always been particularly fond of elephants, but doesn’t know why. There’s Jumbo from the Barnum & Bailey Circus who inspired the Disney movie Dumbo. There’s also Horton from the Dr. Seuss, and countless children’s books about an elephant named Babar, but Rotondi doesn’t recall any childhood encounters with elephants on TV or books as drawing her to these large land animals.
Consider the long trunks, large floppy ears and wide, thick legs of the largest land animals on Earth.
And they’re disappearing. Sadly, we are possibly seeing the last of these magnificent creatures. According to World Elephant Day, which asks that you help conserve and protect elephants from the numerous threats they face, Aug. 12 is a day of bringing attention to the urgent plight of Asian and African elephants.
According to www.worldelephantday.org, “Elephant numbers have dropped by 62% over the last decade, and they could be mostly extinct by the end of the next decade. An estimated 100 African elephants are killed each day by poachers seeking ivory, meat and body parts, leaving only 400,000 remaining. An insatiable lust for ivory products in the Asian market makes the illegal ivory trade extremely profitable, and has led to the slaughter of tens of thousands of African elephants. Between 2010 and 2014, the price of ivory in China tripled, driving illicit poaching through the roof. If the elephants are to survive, the demand for ivory must be stopped. As of 2011, the world is losing more elephants than the population can reproduce, threatening the future of African elephants across the continent. Bull elephants with big tusks are the main targets and their numbers have been diminished to less than half of the females. Female African elephants have tusks and are also killed, which has a terrible effect on the stability of elephant societies, leaving an increasing number of orphaned baby elephants. There are still more African elephants being killed for ivory than are being born.”
Rotondi hopes her main work’s focus is on these elephants.
“They’re becoming endangered at an alarming rate,” she said. “I’ve always had an attachment to elephants. I’m not sure when it started, but it’s been there since I was a little kid. But I’m into all sorts of animals. It’s such a broad spectrum and there are so many areas that need help, and I want to do whatever I can.”
Winslow said the elephants would be blessed to have Rotondi in their corner. If she were pursuing law, she’d be the attorney you’d want defending you.
“She will be a very vocal advocate, and she’s never had an issue coming up to me when she thinks something is wrong, and she has an issue,” he said. “Advocating makes a lot of sense. She will be a vocal advocate and go to bat about something she’s very passionate about.”
According to the latest U.S. News & World Report, the Colorado State veterinary medicine program is ranked no. 3 nationally, so Rotondi will receive some of the best education that’s currently available.
“Their program is super special,” she said. “As soon as you get in the classroom there’s hands-on experience and a lot of opportunities to study abroad. After my first year I’m hoping to go to Africa or Thailand so I can get into my career as much as possible.”
Rotondi believed anything was possible this season from her soccer team and that included duplicating the success of the 2018 state championship team. With many players returning, some key newcomers and a serious, team-first environment in place, as well as a return to the Class AA postseason, the Spartans were going to be a team worth watching.
“I think we had a really strong potential this year,” she said. “And I think all of us, especially the ones who have been here since the 2018 championship, knew we could potentially go on a run for another title in AA. We were really excited to get on the field and do our thing that we do so well. So to have that taken away hurts.”
While she wasn’t a star like Kendra Pasquale, Hannah Rittenhouse or Erin Peck on that championship team, she did get her number called, often giving Peck and Pasquale breathers.
“She was one of those swing kids her sophomore year, and Emily (Thill) also did it,” St. Francis coach Jim Winslow said. “When you get into the high school season it can be unnerving and crazy at times, and you get to the point where there are back-to-back games and (different) competition and the kids are beat up.”
That’s where having depth is huge.
“Erin Peck is one of the kids who is irreplaceable off the line and then this kid (Rotondi) comes in, and this kid’s good too,” Winslow said. “And when you get quality minutes like that against a New Trier or Barrington that’s huge. She showed she was ready.”
Last year a lot didn’t go the way the Spartans would have liked and Rotondi could only do so much, especially after suffering a concussion in a 1-1 tie against Stevenson in an early April game in the Lou Malnati's Deep Dish Classic. She was fortunate enough to return in time for the postseason, but who could’ve imagined that she’d miss so much a season ago and now her entire senior year.
“I thought she was really ready to go, and then she got bumped in the head and missed a month or so roughly, give or take,” Winslow said. “You never know what the recovery is going to be like and junior year can be tough on kids. Adrianna was looking at playing in college and sometimes you’re preoccupied with the recruiting process and it’s typically the toughest year academically at St. Francis. And she was a starting outside back and had been a forward before and was a good forward. She’s a good player, a smart kid and she’s not the kind of kid who takes a backseat to people. She’s confident and she’ll speak her mind.”
She feels at home at center back today.
“I loved playing forward, but now center back is where I’m meant to be,” she said. “I love playing center back. I think they were very different at different times of my life. Like when I came into high school after only playing travel club. It’s a real difference when you get here. It’s way more tight knit here, and Winslow has made it such a great experience. We’ve worked really hard to support each other, and we got a state championship.”
St. Francis soccer has proven to be a great fit for her and with her teammates.
“Adriana leads by example but speaks up when needed,” fellow senior Ava Hensley said. “She has a good speed and always has a consistent work rate. As a teammate it’s comforting and encouraging to have her behind me and allows us to go forward with confidence.”
It’s not walking off victorious, making a particular clutch play, seeing family and friends in the stands or having team gatherings that have driven Rotondi to commit a huge chunk of her life thus far to soccer, but rather it’s the combination of all of those things and many others.
“Soccer for me is a mixture between the team itself and the games,” she said. “Just that feeling going on the field and the beautiful passes with the people you love and scoring goals and knowing you’re working hard for each other. That’s what keeps me going back since I was three years old. The knowing if you work hard and together that you can get any outcome you want.”
Obviously, what the pandemic has done to high school athletes has been devastating. Rotondi counts herself blessed to be at a school like St. Francis that’s especially supportive during this unprecedented time.
“St. Francis is such a tight-knit community and you hear that from anyone you talk to in any area of the school,” she said. “Where it’s sports or art or in the classroom; we support each other even though we’re stuck at home.”
Although the writing was on the wall there wasn’t going to be a soccer season, finally receiving that official word from Gov. Prizker and the IHSA, delivered the knockout punch.
“I was super upset at first,” Rotondi said. “It’s still shocking not having a senior season. But having played soccer all these years, you have to learn to deal with disappointment and overcome. I think we’ll eventually be able to overcome it and see past it, and be excited for the juniors next year who will have their senior season, and we can come back to help them.”
It also provides a lesson, the reminder that all those moments – from the dreaded after-school practice when you’ve got a big exam the next day and aren’t feeling 100 percent and would rather crawl under a blanket for two days, to the biggest highlights during those four special years – should be appreciated, because they’re all part of the journey, and they’ll be ending soon.
“It’s all flown by, and I had no idea it would go by this quick,” she said. “Every moment from our state run sophomore year to having such high hopes this year have gone super fast. I think everyone on our team could attest that our favorite season that we’re looking forward to is spring for high school and taking in those moments with the team that we took for granted.”
Listen up underclassmen. If you take anything away from being teammates with Rotondi, take these final two sentences and post them in your locker.
“I think the thing I learned most is to just take in every moment and love what you’re doing,” she said. “At any second it could just end and all you can do is look back.”
Don’t look back with regret. Live now.
just that for St. Francis’ Rotondi
By Chris Walker
During her first high school soccer season, Adriana Rotondi overcame an injury and was able to finish as a forward on the 2018 St. Francis Class AA state champion.
This spring, excited to be a senior and team captain and well prepared to make a huge impact on the backline, the Bartlett resident has seen her final season end before it really even started. And there was nothing she could do about it.
That’s a pill about as large as a soccer ball to swallow for an ambitious young lady like Rotondi who has her heart set on dedicating her life to saving endangered species, specifically elephants. But she’s also still a kid who: loves soccer; loves being around her teammates on the field; and enjoys hanging out with her classmates in school.
This year was destined to be her year. It still might be with the best yet to come later in 2020.
“It’s definitely super difficult to accept that we can’t have our final season,” she said. “Since my life, as well as that of the other captains, Emily Thill, Anna Moran and Bella DeFeo have revolved around soccer, we’ve been doing activities that are in our control with the team.
"We schedule constant team meetings and make team juggling videos to make sure that we all stat strong and connected during this time.”
While she is delighted to soon begin a new chapter in her life, it’s as if the chapter on her latest couple months of 2020 have turned into a science fiction novella. As difficult as it is score a goal in soccer, we’ve entered a world where it might be easier to bury a shot in the back of the net than to find toilet paper, disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer.
Instead of being told to turn off the phone and get outside and do something, we’ve been ordered by Gov. Pritzker to stay at home and those orders continue to be extended. The latest takes us all the way until May 31 pending an appeal of a downstate judge's ruling.
That’s after Rotondi and countless other seniors will be done with high school, closing that chapter on their young lives. Memes featuring Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot about staying home are more popular than old Mike Royko columns on Richard J. Daley today. People are walking their dogs, but pitchers aren’t walking anyone because softball and baseball, like all other high school sports, have been shut down. Sidewalk chalk is more popular than markers and dry erase boards. Masks have gone from something for Halloween to being a hot commodity in March to a legal requirement in May. Hugs and kisses have been replaced by waves, thumbs ups and elbow bumps. Summer plans with friends to go to baseball games, beaches, amusement parks and concerts have been postponed. Ugh.
In order to stay connected, we’re turning to Zoom, socializing with our friends as if we’re stuck in the iconic opening sequence of The Brady Bunch. But as skilled as Mike, Carol and Alice were at solving problems that came to life out of the creative mind of Sherwood Schwarz, not even they could save Rotondi’s final season as a Spartan.
Although soccer couldn’t be saved, there are some amazing creatures on this planet that can be saved, but it’s going to be a huge challenge. It's one that Rotondi thinks about often. It’s her calling. And it will take her this fall to Colorado State’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences where she will experience a lifetime of unforgettable memories. She plans to earn her PhD and become a wildlife veterinarian. And if works out the way she envisions it, she’ll be a difference-maker in helping save African and Asian elephants.
“I’ve always known that I wanted to be a vet,” she said. “Each kid has that vet phase, but I never did. I’ve always been into all sorts of animals, and I’ve just seen the world around me changing, seeing all the different animals becoming endangered. I just want to help them.”
Kids toss around dream jobs like athletes, doctors, musicians and veterinarians all the time during their youth, but most veer into other directions during their high school years, finding other interests after realizing that they’re not going to be the next Alex Morgan or Ariana Grande. As for Rotondi, it’s always been about helping others, regardless if they’re humans or animals.
“As I was growing up I switched interests into different medical fields,” she said. “I wanted to be a doctor. At other times, I wanted to be a nurse. Eventually I realized you could make a profession out of working with animals. Once that became very real to me, I knew that I could do what I wanted with it.”
She’s always been particularly fond of elephants, but doesn’t know why. There’s Jumbo from the Barnum & Bailey Circus who inspired the Disney movie Dumbo. There’s also Horton from the Dr. Seuss, and countless children’s books about an elephant named Babar, but Rotondi doesn’t recall any childhood encounters with elephants on TV or books as drawing her to these large land animals.
Consider the long trunks, large floppy ears and wide, thick legs of the largest land animals on Earth.
And they’re disappearing. Sadly, we are possibly seeing the last of these magnificent creatures. According to World Elephant Day, which asks that you help conserve and protect elephants from the numerous threats they face, Aug. 12 is a day of bringing attention to the urgent plight of Asian and African elephants.
According to www.worldelephantday.org, “Elephant numbers have dropped by 62% over the last decade, and they could be mostly extinct by the end of the next decade. An estimated 100 African elephants are killed each day by poachers seeking ivory, meat and body parts, leaving only 400,000 remaining. An insatiable lust for ivory products in the Asian market makes the illegal ivory trade extremely profitable, and has led to the slaughter of tens of thousands of African elephants. Between 2010 and 2014, the price of ivory in China tripled, driving illicit poaching through the roof. If the elephants are to survive, the demand for ivory must be stopped. As of 2011, the world is losing more elephants than the population can reproduce, threatening the future of African elephants across the continent. Bull elephants with big tusks are the main targets and their numbers have been diminished to less than half of the females. Female African elephants have tusks and are also killed, which has a terrible effect on the stability of elephant societies, leaving an increasing number of orphaned baby elephants. There are still more African elephants being killed for ivory than are being born.”
Rotondi hopes her main work’s focus is on these elephants.
“They’re becoming endangered at an alarming rate,” she said. “I’ve always had an attachment to elephants. I’m not sure when it started, but it’s been there since I was a little kid. But I’m into all sorts of animals. It’s such a broad spectrum and there are so many areas that need help, and I want to do whatever I can.”
Winslow said the elephants would be blessed to have Rotondi in their corner. If she were pursuing law, she’d be the attorney you’d want defending you.
“She will be a very vocal advocate, and she’s never had an issue coming up to me when she thinks something is wrong, and she has an issue,” he said. “Advocating makes a lot of sense. She will be a vocal advocate and go to bat about something she’s very passionate about.”
According to the latest U.S. News & World Report, the Colorado State veterinary medicine program is ranked no. 3 nationally, so Rotondi will receive some of the best education that’s currently available.
“Their program is super special,” she said. “As soon as you get in the classroom there’s hands-on experience and a lot of opportunities to study abroad. After my first year I’m hoping to go to Africa or Thailand so I can get into my career as much as possible.”
Rotondi believed anything was possible this season from her soccer team and that included duplicating the success of the 2018 state championship team. With many players returning, some key newcomers and a serious, team-first environment in place, as well as a return to the Class AA postseason, the Spartans were going to be a team worth watching.
“I think we had a really strong potential this year,” she said. “And I think all of us, especially the ones who have been here since the 2018 championship, knew we could potentially go on a run for another title in AA. We were really excited to get on the field and do our thing that we do so well. So to have that taken away hurts.”
While she wasn’t a star like Kendra Pasquale, Hannah Rittenhouse or Erin Peck on that championship team, she did get her number called, often giving Peck and Pasquale breathers.
“She was one of those swing kids her sophomore year, and Emily (Thill) also did it,” St. Francis coach Jim Winslow said. “When you get into the high school season it can be unnerving and crazy at times, and you get to the point where there are back-to-back games and (different) competition and the kids are beat up.”
That’s where having depth is huge.
“Erin Peck is one of the kids who is irreplaceable off the line and then this kid (Rotondi) comes in, and this kid’s good too,” Winslow said. “And when you get quality minutes like that against a New Trier or Barrington that’s huge. She showed she was ready.”
Last year a lot didn’t go the way the Spartans would have liked and Rotondi could only do so much, especially after suffering a concussion in a 1-1 tie against Stevenson in an early April game in the Lou Malnati's Deep Dish Classic. She was fortunate enough to return in time for the postseason, but who could’ve imagined that she’d miss so much a season ago and now her entire senior year.
“I thought she was really ready to go, and then she got bumped in the head and missed a month or so roughly, give or take,” Winslow said. “You never know what the recovery is going to be like and junior year can be tough on kids. Adrianna was looking at playing in college and sometimes you’re preoccupied with the recruiting process and it’s typically the toughest year academically at St. Francis. And she was a starting outside back and had been a forward before and was a good forward. She’s a good player, a smart kid and she’s not the kind of kid who takes a backseat to people. She’s confident and she’ll speak her mind.”
She feels at home at center back today.
“I loved playing forward, but now center back is where I’m meant to be,” she said. “I love playing center back. I think they were very different at different times of my life. Like when I came into high school after only playing travel club. It’s a real difference when you get here. It’s way more tight knit here, and Winslow has made it such a great experience. We’ve worked really hard to support each other, and we got a state championship.”
St. Francis soccer has proven to be a great fit for her and with her teammates.
“Adriana leads by example but speaks up when needed,” fellow senior Ava Hensley said. “She has a good speed and always has a consistent work rate. As a teammate it’s comforting and encouraging to have her behind me and allows us to go forward with confidence.”
It’s not walking off victorious, making a particular clutch play, seeing family and friends in the stands or having team gatherings that have driven Rotondi to commit a huge chunk of her life thus far to soccer, but rather it’s the combination of all of those things and many others.
“Soccer for me is a mixture between the team itself and the games,” she said. “Just that feeling going on the field and the beautiful passes with the people you love and scoring goals and knowing you’re working hard for each other. That’s what keeps me going back since I was three years old. The knowing if you work hard and together that you can get any outcome you want.”
Obviously, what the pandemic has done to high school athletes has been devastating. Rotondi counts herself blessed to be at a school like St. Francis that’s especially supportive during this unprecedented time.
“St. Francis is such a tight-knit community and you hear that from anyone you talk to in any area of the school,” she said. “Where it’s sports or art or in the classroom; we support each other even though we’re stuck at home.”
Although the writing was on the wall there wasn’t going to be a soccer season, finally receiving that official word from Gov. Prizker and the IHSA, delivered the knockout punch.
“I was super upset at first,” Rotondi said. “It’s still shocking not having a senior season. But having played soccer all these years, you have to learn to deal with disappointment and overcome. I think we’ll eventually be able to overcome it and see past it, and be excited for the juniors next year who will have their senior season, and we can come back to help them.”
It also provides a lesson, the reminder that all those moments – from the dreaded after-school practice when you’ve got a big exam the next day and aren’t feeling 100 percent and would rather crawl under a blanket for two days, to the biggest highlights during those four special years – should be appreciated, because they’re all part of the journey, and they’ll be ending soon.
“It’s all flown by, and I had no idea it would go by this quick,” she said. “Every moment from our state run sophomore year to having such high hopes this year have gone super fast. I think everyone on our team could attest that our favorite season that we’re looking forward to is spring for high school and taking in those moments with the team that we took for granted.”
Listen up underclassmen. If you take anything away from being teammates with Rotondi, take these final two sentences and post them in your locker.
“I think the thing I learned most is to just take in every moment and love what you’re doing,” she said. “At any second it could just end and all you can do is look back.”
Don’t look back with regret. Live now.