Catholic Central can’t speak out regarding man poses as a student

By Vanessa Cuevas

In the six months since a 30-year-old man was arrested for posing as a high school student at Catholic Central, the staff and students say they have been hurt and misunderstood by the media’s actions.

Jonathan Nicola, a native of South Sudan, was arrested in April. At the time, Nicola was a star on the Comets’ senior boys basketball team and had become well known throughout the community. After his arrest, the story quickly became international news being featured on Fox Sports, the New York Times and the National Post.

According to teachers at CCH, many reporters were asking the wrong questions to those who didn’t know all the facts. However, stories were still being published and blown out of proportion.

“The situation was not handled well by the media. They relied on opinions rather than facts,” said Duke Culumovic, the junior boys basketball coach. “[They] should’ve focused on how he arrived at the school… focused on immigration issues because that is how he arrived at our school.”

CCH is home to refugees from many different countries who can relate to the struggles Nicola went through. “He escaped the horrible living conditions in Sudan,” said Stacey McClounie, former phys. ed. department head. She said Nicola’s challenges were overlooked and the media managed to turn the situation into a one-sided story. Students all agree Nicola was a respectable and kind person who was made out by the media to be someone with bad intentions.

“Teachers were being blamed,” said Andrea Rice, head of the English department. She says the media made staff seem irresponsible for not looking further into Nicola’s papers but this was an immigration issue not a school issue.

Peter Cusumano, the senior boys basketball coach had called a meeting to inform the players of the situation and advised them to decline interview. The players were mostly concerned about how their teammate was doing. The staff reminded them there are two sides to every story.

Senior student Patrick Douangchantha says the story “definitely brought in a lot of attention.” He also said the media added their own negative twist to the story and he was shocked it had become such a big deal.

“[The media] made him seem worse than he was… if you knew him you wouldn’t be worried,” said Douangchantha.

Over the months the incident has died down with Nicola fading out of headlines, declining requests for interviews.

“It is something I will always remember,” said Douangchantha.

Teachers agree the students’ resiliency is what helped the school overcome the negative attention.

McClounie said she is amazed the CCH students were not angry. They seemed to care more about what would happen to Nicola.

“That is incredible and should have been told,” said McClounie.