How was it for each of you coming to Catholic Memorial as brothers? Was the immersion easy or did it
come with certain challenges?
Cam Boudreault: Me and my brother came from Hawaii. He applied to multiple schools and was accepted, here, a year earlier than me. I only had one choice, because my mom didn’t want to drive us to multiple places. Going to CM with him, and seeing what he’d done, made me want to make my own choices, make my own friends, and be myself.
Gerry Boudreault: We were on different sides of the school—middle school and high school—and just split off and had our own experiences. Eventually, Cam and I came together and shared our individual stories. For my brother, I’ve shared class experiences, teachers’ assignments…experiences from the high school that we bounce off each other to help one another.
Quinn Richter: I was a junior by the time Ben got here and so I had already established my friends. It didn’t really change a lot of things for me. I feel with me being here made him feel more welcome and the fact my friends knew who he was and they’d say hi whenever they saw him. When he first came here, I wasn’t trying to push people who I knew onto him. Same with sports. I play baseball here, and then he ends up playing the polar opposite: lacrosse. I feel he’s paving his own way and I’m a resource for him.
Ben Richter: It was easier for me coming here because I had some intel. He had the same science teacher as me in seventh grade…same math teacher. This year, same social studies and English teachers. It helps to know what to expect. That made things a lot easier.
As a younger brother, can you be your authentic self at school? First, you’re a Knight, then a younger brother, but what about you, yourself?
Cam: That’s what I’ve been trying to do for a while now. I’m trying to make myself important where I am but a lot of Gerry’s friends call me Gerry’s brother, which I think is pretty funny. They don’t know my name, just that I’m Gerry’s brother.
Ben: It’s the same for me. A lot of Quinn’s friends will call me Quinn’s little brother when they see me in the hallways…even when they come to our house. It’s kind of nice because they acknowledge me, which is cool.
Cam, is that a source of pride for you?
Cam: Yeah, actually it is.
At Catholic Memorial, the idea of a fraternal connection is espoused every day. How does that differ from your own biological, fraternal connection? Is there one?
Gerry: I think it’s more of a continuation. When you get to CM, the friendships are a lot closer than friendships you make at a lot of other places. You feel like these people are your blood brothers, even though they aren’t related. But it impacts me every day because I can come to them as if they were my brother and it provides me with stability when I’m looking for something or having a hard time. It’s influential.
Cam: Before, I think that it was harder for me to make those connections, because I already have a brother. But then when I came here, I realized, wow, these people are really accepting. They want us to be brothers. They want us to have a relationship with each other. And so, I realized that I could share what my experiences were and could have a closer bond with my friends.
Quinn: I feel like coming here without him [Ben], and meeting all my new brothers made me realize what I was missing out with him not being here. Once he started, I feel like that strengthened our bond, because I had already learned about the brotherhood and how it can affect someone.
Regarding brotherhood, is there a feeling here where the other 600 CM brothers you have are as much like your own brother. Is it real? Does it feel real to you?
Quinn: It’s definitely real. You can feel it and experience it. When you’ve accomplished something, everyone congratulates you. No one is ever annoyed that you’re doing well; they’re proud of you. I felt that from day one from all my teachers in seventh grade. Then it kind of went away, but once Ben showed up, I saw how strong the Brotherhood was by the way my friends took in Ben.
Cam: I think we have such a close-knit community. It’s like the school comes with a moral code, like it’s pre-packaged, where you’re trying to be accepted, while also accepting others, which I think is great.
Gerry: I think some of that also comes from the sports that we have here, because everyone from my experience, having played football for a year, knows so many people through sports. It’s a community where you get to see your teammates in school and where those relationships stack on top of one another. I feel it makes everyone a lot nicer to each other, or more kind, because they’re the people who they’re working with, they’re the people who they’re succeeding with, and that benefits everybody.
Cam and Ben, how do you feel in your heart about your older brothers? Not as role models but people you hold dear.
Cam: I feel like I can learn a lot from Gerry. He gives a lot of good advice and has pretty much helped me through everything, because we’ve lived pretty much the same lives our entire life. Now that we come here, it’s like I’m trying to figure it out on my own. But then realized that he can still help me out a lot, which I think is pretty awesome.
Ben: The role model part is a pretty big part. The things he does, I’ll do. The things he wears, I’ll wear. It’s the same kind of things little brothers do.
But when Quinn is playing baseball do you watch him play?
Ben: Yeah, I watched a lot of the games, last year, with my parents.
When he does something, does it feel different than watching the other brothers on the team…like feel different in your heart?
Ben: Maybe a little. What I do see is that he and his teammates have a really strong bond. In school and outside of school. When they’re hitting, they’re cheering each other on, or during warm-ups the kid who’s right next to him will be talking and having fun and making jokes. It shows the brotherhood between them, and how sports strengthens that.
Because you all go to the same place every day, does that make each of you hold the other accountable?
Quinn: Yeah, definitely. I don’t really check in with Ben on his grades, but if I overhear my parents talk to him about his grades, I’ll talk to him and tell him to lock in.
Gerry: I hassle my brother about his grades quite a bit. I don’t do it as a way to be annoying, even though he might think it’s annoying. It’s out of a want for him to succeed. Even though he’s my younger brother, I want him to be the best person he can be. If he becomes more famous or more influential or a better person than me, if he gets to be that then I’ve done my job as an older brother.
Why does that matter to you?
Gerry: It’s because we’ve grown up together and shared experiences. That motivates me to not let him fall or experience a drop in his grades. I want him to succeed. I want him to have as many opportunities as possible and not make the same mistakes I made because my grades weren’t the best before coming here. I want him to learn from my experiences because of the love that I have for him.
Quinn: It’s like what he [Gerry] said about wanting your brother to be the best version that they can be. I made some mistakes in middle school and learned from them. I just don’t want him to do the same. That’s really it.
Cam and Ben, do you ever disregard your older brothers’ advice and think, “I’m my own guy. I’m doing it my way.”
Cam: Yeah, and most of the time I regret doing that. But yeah, I do that a lot.
Ben: Same with me, and like Cam I regret it. When he [Quinn] gives me advice about grades and I don’t take it and do it myself, even though he said do this way and you’ll get a better grade, I don’t listen and end up getting a worse grade.
But it’s a mistake that you made being who you are, right? Which is probably something that’s as valuable as taking the advice in the first place.
Cam: Gerry doesn’t really give me advice on papers. It’s mostly personal experiences, teachers…maybe sometimes homework. I think it’s about having someone to take the blows for you and learning from that. It’s what I respect about my brother. He’s willing to do that for me.