Talk:Belen Jesuit Preparatory School

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POV/COI[edit]

I'd like to hear issues/points with the conflict of interest message on the front page. It seems to be that the tone is that of a guidebook as opposed to a wikipedia article. Any thoughts on how this addresses WP:NPOV. I think some of the more obvious problems have been cleaned up after #5 in 2007. Lucas20 (talk) 03:33, 3 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Alumni[edit]

We really have to edit the alumni section to make it easier to read and concise. Let's begin by removing some of the less "notable" people —Preceding unsigned comment added by Quixote09 (talk • contribs) 02:25, 13 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Callelinea: I have shortened the alumni listing, but added a link to a more complete listing for those who are interested in your list. Feel free to fill that page. ~~ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.64.178.174 (talk) 02:30, 14 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

TOTALLY UNACEPTABLE.. First off, your new listing is missing citations.. second all schools show in the body of their article their notable alumni (example Middlesex School and Yale University).. Size of the article does not matter as long as it is acurate and verifiable.Callelinea (talk) 13:18, 14 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If the alumni gets too long, you can always fork it as most big colleges have done. People with articles probably should be in there IMO, but not mandatory. The one problem is footnotes establishing that they did indeed attend Belen.
Harvard University forks their Nobel prize winners!  :) I would hope that the article can continue to be about the school and not people. The place for people is in their own articles IMO. Student7 (talk) 14:33, 14 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Well we must remember that Belen is a high school in the US and was a 1-12 grade school in Cuba. So I guess we can compare this article more with Middlesex School. The article is mainly about the school, its history and its students. I still have to restore the missing citations from the list of alumni that got all messed up when someone tried moving them to a seperate aticle.Callelinea (talk) 17:02, 14 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
List looks good. Most are footnoted. Haven't checked to see whether footnotes not only verify notability (hardest) but attendance at Belem (can be easy if in a single Belen list). My thought is to keep the "Nobel prize winners" (unlike Harvard!  :) and full generals and the like, and fork the remainder of the list. Will probably be a lot more, right? Most elite places fork their list. The school is just too important to allow it to be eclipsed by a bunch of one line bios IMO. Another suggestion is to elimnate red-links from people whose credentials have been established with footnotes and whose attendance has been established with a footnote (maybe from Belen itself. The same footnote for each). Student7 (talk) 20:21, 14 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Callelinea, you constantly try to dictate the course of this article (usually pedantically). The ridiculous alumni list you put together is filled with nobodies (like yourself) and does not contribute anything meaningful to the article. Take the compromise, add all the inane people you want to the complete graduates list. ~ —Preceding unsigned comment added by Quixote09 (talk • contribs) 22:25, 14 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Please assume good faith and desist from personal attacks. These are against Wikipedia policy. The list looks more or less okay to me. If you have a specific challenge, let's discuss them individually. Most people on the list would not make a college or a city list but this is a secondary school! Give them a break! I do agree that it is poor procedure to nominate yourself, however! Really need other eyeballs for that one. Student7 (talk) 00:25, 15 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Quixote's list might be good enough for the article, eliminating redlined ones. Why not fork the rest to another article? Best of both possible worlds! Student7 (talk) 00:30, 15 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Returned the list back in. Who are you to decide who is notable? Belen list has 3 Presidents of Cuba, 2 Roman Catholic Bishops, 3 Mayors of Miami, etc. from doing my research on some of the people who are trying to cut down the list are people that I have written against their articles in AFD's are and are trying to just attack this article in retribution. Callelinea (talk) 17:39, 15 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Please - less stridency. Please leave messages for specific editors on their user talk page. Messages here should be for everyone.
The list seems okay to me. Again, brackets should be removed from people with no articles. All need footnotes to indicate their presence at Belen. I assume that this would all be from some book and could just be a copy-and-paste with a "named" reference. Long enough now to fork the entire subsection IMO.Student7 (talk) 23:30, 15 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The list is in par with those of Choate Rosemary Hall which has 46 notable alumni on their list and Middlesex School which has 25 notable alumni on their list. Belen has 36 on its list. All three are prep schools. So really there is no reason to break up the article yet, maybe if the list hit more than 50 then yea maybe then the list should be broken up. the other schools have brakets on their notable alumni that do not have articles yet on them. Eventually, I will get around to making articles on those with brackets, just havn't gotten in the mood lately to create any. I did create one today on the MIT professor Briggs, but even that article was very uninspired. Callelinea (talk) 02:51, 16 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
>>The list is in par with those of Choate Rosemary Hall which has 46 notable alumni on their list and Middlesex School which has 25 notable alumni on their list.<< Dude, you go through their lists and most of those people are famous, accomplished and recognizable by the man on the street in Peoria, IL. I went to school with a quarter of the people on our list and I can't recognize half of them!;)

At Choate, Phillips, Middlesex or any other prep school that you are trying to equate Belen to, only Fidel (and maybe, maybe Goizueta; Joe too, when he wins in November) would make the list 72.85.197.225 02:51, 16 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Perez Hilton would also make most school's list, but with some embarrassment. I saw Raul Esparza in his latest show "The Homecoming" (with Al Swearingen of Deadwood and Lenny of Squiggy) and he is a really gifted actor...someday, he may even become famous. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.85.197.225 (talk) 19:56, 16 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Don't put pressure on yourself by leaving in redlinks which don't look that great anyway. An article is not required at this level for the person to be "notable." I think these people all have established notability for a secondary school. Some may never have articles. As you suggest, better to have no article than a mediocre one. Who cares? Okay, one editor!  :) And, no we are not trying to attain a level of some other school but okay to copy their format. Student7 (talk) 21:46, 16 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • To the person who decides to leave his comments unsigned, perhaps you do not know the Belen notables because you are an anglo, but most educated Cubans will know the Belen notables, because prior to the Castro revolution, Belen was THE premier school in Cuba. Figures an uneducated person never heard of Carlos Prio or Finlay or Xavier Suarez or Manny Diaz or Miguel Diaz de la Portilla or Bishop SanPedro. Kinda shows you why they should be there, so as to educate the uneducated.Callelinea (talk) 02:29, 17 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Before I start, I would like to direct you to WP:CIVIL. Moving on, as a non-anglo who received my education at a little school called Belen Jesuit, I feel this list was FULL of non-notables. Now, the way wikipedia works, it would not be up to us to prove that they are not notable, but for you to prove that they are. Fell free to check out WP:NOTE. So instead of putting people down, how about you actually use facts to prove your point? That's what they taught me at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School. --Rabbethan 08:39, 17 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Private wars are okay, but I would appreciate it if you would conduct them on your user pages. I am a non-attendee, non-Miamian. I could care less about pov. If I am not acceptable as a third party, why don't you ask for one? Then go to mediation. I edit quite a few secondary schools. This list would be acceptable to any of them. We are not, or rather, should not, be trying to make Belen any better or worse than it already is. Just the facts. Resumes/bios don't require embellishment, just reality. I wondered about some of the appointments, but they did seem high enough, or made by people who were. In a secondary school, you shouldn't require an article to be on the list. A mayor of a small town might not qualify for an article, for example, but would usually be on the notable grads list from a secondary school.
Instead of challenging them vaguely, why not name names? Not dozens. One at a time. If you can't make a case for deleting the least notable on the list, how can you for any other? And listing dozens pretends that they are all challengeable when most aren't. Student7 (talk) 11:00, 17 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You are correct that wars should be kept off these pages. I have just started to use the editors talk pages to continue my debates on the subject. Thank you for bringing that to my attention. I agree with you that as a secondary school list it is acceptable, the last editor that tried to get rid of dozens of persons only left in 6 of the 46 original that are on the list. 19 alumni have articles in Wikipedia. He removed 2 bishops of the Roman Catholic Church and two "Presidents of Cuba" as being non-notable, obviously his list was flawed.Callelinea (talk) 12:49, 17 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It's not an issue of the two bishops (which really aren't notable) or two presidents of Cuba being non-notable, it's an issue of them the necessity to list every single one. And please, don't compare Belen to Choate or Middlesex. Those alumni graduate from Harvard and Yale and work on Wall Street. Belen alumni graduate from FIU and work on 8th St. ~ —Preceding unsigned comment added by Quixote09 (talk • contribs) 13:55, 17 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Not to get into an arguement, but one of the bishops is in the process of being beautifified and the other bishop was the first bishop of Pinar del Rio. Many of Belen graduates do graduate from Ivy league schools, Xavier Suarez, former mayor of Miami, is a Harvard graduate. Perhaps if people would read the articles on the 19 persons from Belen that are in Wikipedia, you would understand that if Belen graduates decide to remain in Miami it is because this is where they decide to remain not because they can not go to Wall Street, they just don't want too. BTW very few of Belen graduates decide to go to FIU, most go away to continue their studies. Callelinea (talk) 14:41, 17 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Way to show an ignorance of the topic. --Rabbethan 01:36, 18 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Please desist from ad hominum and personal attacks. This is against Wikipedia policy. In what way was the discussion above "ignorant?" And ignorant of what? If we can focus on the bios instead of on the editors, the editing will procede a bit more smoothly. Student7 (talk) 11:42, 18 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Let's leave Alonso R. del Portillo there without reverting while we discuss him. I don't think his appointment as a legislative aide is noteworthy per se. If I am correct, I suggest that line be removed. So the only other remaining notability is his election as head of a Republican group. Miami is large. Still. I would be interested in the opinion of unbiased editors if any can be found!  :) Student7 (talk) 14:19, 18 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Alonso is Callelinea and that new addition about being friends with Pedro Zamora is too funny. Hey, I'm friends with Ric Ocasek, I'm going to stick myself into Wikipedia too! By the way Alonso is right. Suarez and Hernandez both achieved fleeting national prominence, one for being crazy and the other sleazy. Give me the boy and I'll show you the man, indeed. And knowledge of Prio, Finlay et. al., is not for the educated, but for those who love exiled Cuban Trivial Pursuits! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.85.197.225 (talk) 14:54, 18 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Nominating yourself is allowed, but someone needs to support it. I am doubtful. A good borderline case for Belen IMO. Suarez is prominent. How can you argue otherwise? He was Miami mayor? Maybe I was looking at the wrong Hernandez, but the baseball figure probably ought to stay. As far as notoriety goes, you have to take the good with the bad. In other articles, there are noteworthy people with prominent felonies. You cannot exclude them because you don't like seeing them in the list. BTW, that is the price of fame. If there are no notorious graduates, that most likely means the school is unimportant!
You need to define a "borderline case." For example, for a city, the mayor cannot be a notable resident because every city has one! The mayor is kind of the cutoff. Have to be noteworthy outside of the city for that type of article. Student7 (talk) 15:11, 18 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Fixed the link to Humberto Hernandez Jr. and repaired the article on Xavier Suarez. Both very notable. Callelinea (talk) 16:08, 18 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I forgot to respond to the attribute of "friendship" for notability. Sorry, this one doesn't pass either. "Friendship" needs to be deleted from all notables.
I will give you only one reason. There are others. In an article where a man had committed a serious felony for which he was imprisoned many years, people with a POV came in and explained how he was close friends with a lot of people they didn't like. This was an attempt to taint these people by association and we threw it out. It works in reverse, as well, you can't get notability by merely making friends. It has to pay off in some public way.
Callelinea, IMO you need to either get support here from at least one other editor or start deleting bios or parts of them. It would be better if you did it. Student7 (talk) 20:05, 18 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • The only one that I might entertain to remove is my own, but all of the others are notable, no one has yet told me why any of the others in specific should be removed.Callelinea (talk) 20:22, 18 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • For those of you that feel only this article needs editing and think that other bschools don't fill their notable alumni with names here are a few.

from Rhodes College

  • Ken Cameron '89, Associate Curator, New York Botanical Garden
  • Dina Facklis '93, Director, Second City National Touring Company
  • Sid Selvidge '65, Executive Producer, Beale Street Caravan, a globally-syndicated radio program
  • Cary Fowler '71, Executive Director, Global Crop Diversity Trust
  • John Robertson '68, President, American Association of Neurologic Surgeons
  • Cliff Watson '92, Creative Director, advertising agency Bozell Stinson Liles '92, Co-Founder, Red Deluxe Brand Development
  • William J. Michaelcheck '69, CEO Mariner Capital

from [Choate Rosemary Hall]]

  • Alec Barnett, Folk singer/storyteller
  • Evelyn Spyro Throckmorton, Lawyer
  • Hong Jung Wook, politician in Korea

from Middlesex School

  • Joseph P. Watkins - Director of Hill Solutions LLC, Philadelphia talk show personality

from George Washington University

  • S.M. Krishna, Former Chief Minister of Karnataka state in India

and from Yale University

  • Curtis Jensen (M.B.A.), co-chief investment officer, Third Avenue Funds
  • John C. Kebabian, Yale student, who in 1882 began America's first Oriental rug import company to pay his tuition
  • Norman R. Prouty (B.A. 1961), investor and founder of the India Capital Fund--first American venture capitalist (VC) in India
  • MacGregor Knox (M.A. Ph.D 1977), historian, Stevenson Professor of International History, The London School of Economics
  • Martin Santiago P. Creel (Class of 1979), Senator of Mexico City, PAN
  • John Wilhelm (B.A., 1967) Labor leader; President, Hospitality Division, UNITE HERE.
  • Sujata Keshavan (M.F.A. 1987) graphic designer
  • Daniel Lewis James Jr. (Class of 1933), screenwriter, playwright, & novelist. Collaborator with wife Lillith Stanwood on Broadway musical Bloomer Girl. Wrote the novel Famous All Over Town under the pseudonym Danny Santago. Collaborated with Charlie Chaplin on the film The Great Dictator. Blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee. First cousin of Jesse James.

I thought the last one was especially interesting because the Editor decided to add that Daniel James was the first cousin of Jessie James. Now could someone please explain to me what makes these persons notable and the alumni of Belen on the list not notable? Or tell me which ones are not notable on the Belen list? Callelinea (talk) 20:47, 18 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

While instructive, the above is too long, as is this subsection. The article is about Belen. Other schools may have their own criteria.
Having said that, I don't know about a "globally syndicated radio program." Sounds hype. Is the Global Crop Diversity Trust a real organization? Just having an a small ad agency shouldn't be sufficient. So I'd keep 4/7 for Rhodes.
I question all from Choate Rosemary. The "politician" needs to be a successful one!
Middlesex - having two specialities is always suspect. You wonder what he really does and does he do either of them very well.
GWU - Chief Minister of a state is plenty notable anyplace.
Yale - I've looked at their monster list. Very impressive as you would expect. You've cherry-picked it here to make a point. But taking your select list (which they may have overlooked. Their original list is huge), I don't know about Wilhelm. Keshavan's credentials as listed, stink, frankly. No footnotes on any of them BTW.
The Jesse James reference is silly. Their lives did not overlap.
Anyway, we're not talking about editing any of those sites. Where does all of my idle speculation leave us? (BTW we need to start thinking about "Hide"-ing this thread because of its length. Or something). Student7 (talk) 00:39, 19 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The reason I post those was to show that each school or those alumni's that edit those schools are the best ones to decide who is notable of their particular school.. I would not tell someone from another school who is not notable to be on their list. What I would check is if what they put for the person is accurate. And a person can be great in more than one field, Benjamin Franklin is a perfect example. Callelinea (talk) 02:28, 19 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I am no longer sure about Briggs. Doesn't seem notable to me. Not an executive in the Clinton administration. Yes, he has an article. :) Let's not go there!  :) Impressive resume, don't get me wrong. Outperforms me! But certainly not page one bio. IMO not in the forked article either. Whatever. Why isn't Raul Castro on page 1? His failure to graduate is unimportant to being an alumnus. The rest okay I suppose. With so few, you really need to tighten up otherwise everybody's candidate goes in the main article first. Pain to maintain. Looks good IMO. BTW make sure all in lead article also in forked article in case they are later challenged. Don't get dropped by mistake. Student7 (talk) 23:58, 20 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wow, so much better. Now Calle you will only have to clean up when the Columbus kids come over to write "gay" and "sucks"! And that is the perfect segue to say I don't think that our most prominent grad is mentioned. Sadly, today the most famous Belenite in the U.S. is...Perez Hilton! I think that you can balance his crassness with the real talent of Raul Esparza who has received a couple of New York Times front pages over the past few years. Shows that Belen can produce the lowbrow and the highbrow all at once. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 151.203.108.159 (talk) 20:03, 25 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

In fact, I was going to suggest that you take out the two mayors from the main article. That would give you the option of complaining when people try to add questinable notables. "We don't even have the mayors there!" Mind, not questioning their notability, just suggesting a way of drawing the line someplace. Student7 (talk) 22:41, 25 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Good move, Callelinea! Having all on list page saves a lot of future grief. Thanks! Student7 (talk) 22:58, 25 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Fidel Castro[edit]

Text added here today "Better known for going to elite Jesuit Colegio de Dolores." re: Fidel Castro has been moved to his entry. Fidel graduated from Belen and there actually is no mention of Colegio de Dolores in his entry. I feel that sort of information is irrelevant here.

Nevermind, I can't edit the Fidel Castro page because I do not have an account here, nor do I intend to create one. But none-the-less the irrelevant edit has been removed.

-A. H. J.

Take a look at the list of 2007 best books in any newspaper. "Boys from Dolores" a biography of Castro and his classmates at Dolores is surely on the list. Fidel went to belen for a year. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.85.219.7 (talk) 17:21, 2 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]


I'll need to research that -- does anyone have exact dates with a verifiable source (a book title is not a verifiable source). FWIW I had a discussion with a Belen Alumni / Facultymember whom was also his classmate and I don't recall him mentioning how long Fidel was enrolled at Belen. -A.H.J. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.238.171.131 (talk) 23:27, 3 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

He was at Dolores til 9th grade (Dolores was grades K-9) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 151.203.102.19 (talk) 21:33, 1 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Blatant copyright violations[edit]

There are blatant copyright violations in this article. Please review the tags in-line. This content was injected 01:34, 1 May 2007 207.231.212.37). Even if the content in question was not copied from another website, the point of view of that text needs revision to be considered appropriate encyclopedic content for inclusion in Wikipedia. --Andrew J.

NPOV[edit]

I strongly feel the article reads like an advertisement for the Belen School (e.g.: The Ignatian Center for the Arts is located on the north side of our campus; Which I have since revised) While I am not currently disputing any of the facts in the article (I have not reviewed them all), I do believe it could be written in a more neutral matter, hence why the POV check tag has been added.

I am making minor changes to the article so that it reads in a more neutral point-of-view, however further revision is still required. -Andrew Joakimsen 30th Dec 2007 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.144.164.30 (talk) 04:46, 31 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Unreadable Tripe[edit]

This article is larded over with so much useless and meaningless information. "Construction is starting on an admin building"? Woo Hoo lets add it in. "Toilets backed up on second floor", stick it in Wikipedia. Really, contain yourselves. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.85.179.105 (talk) 22:19, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Noteworthy Alumni[edit]

  • The posting is Noteworthy Alumni: Belen has produced many bureaucrats, professionals, and other influential members of society. These include: All those persons qualify under that listing as do many more. This is an inclusive list not exclusive. Callelinea 16:18, 29 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • because "Perez Hilton" is a joke. Vacuous blogging and gossiping don't merit being recognized as noteworthy or remarkable. Putting that crap site in the same sentence as myspace or facebook makes your assertion even more absurd.
  • Mario Lavandeira Jr.
  • Why isn't Perez Hilton included? Perez Hilton (aka Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr.) - gossip columnist/blogger and founder of Perezhilton.com. His website gets 5 million hits per day. The estimated value of his site is close to $100 Million. I would not be surprised if Rupert Murdoch's News Corp or another media company acquires his site. He could stand to be the wealthiest alumn from Belen. If you consider the recent acquisition of Myspace and the suggested valuation of facebook.com, PerezHilton.com may be the next blockbuster site.
  • Wrong, Cabrera graduated from Belen in '74. The same Cabrera who owned 250 Burger Kings and recently sold them. Consider what YOU erroneously deleted fixed.
  • The "Al Cabrera" that was linked to under "Noteworthy Alumni" was the wrong Al Cabrera. Consider it fixed.- Andre3k1 01:15, 20 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Here's an idea: instead of fighting over which alumni we consider "noteworthy," why not just list ourselves? I consider my accomplishments great. Though my father is but a dentist and his father a pediatrician we are all alumni and men for others in our day to day lives. Here I dare you to list yourselves as noteworthy alumni!
  • This is Wikipedia, not Wikiality. We should have some respect for the facts. Father Arroyo is rolling over in his grave, and Leo Nuñez should do a better job policing the ignoramuses this school is producing. So much garbage on the timeline. Inane cheerleading in the sports section. Mischaracterized "noteworthy" alumni. Guys there is something called Google today. Anthony Laurencio, by his own account is a member of ¡Suenalo!, not Bacilos. Gaston Cantens was replaced in District 114 by Anitere Flores (Gsanta sez: hey her dada was an alum, doesn't that count?)
  • Also, is there no sense of pride of accomplishment instilled into students? Recognizing trivial politicos (e.g. the Florida House, a national laughing-stock), lobbyists and little-known actors (even if they are in the latest, and much-improved revival of Sondheim's Company). Come on, the Jesuit mantra is "give me the boy and I'll show you the man". Surely, Belen must have produced a more distinguished list of men than these displayed.
  • Gsanta: Folks, please take your arguments to another forum. Wikipedia is not a forum for your personal opinions. If you have an opinion, take it to a blog - that's what blogs are for. You can add your blog to the links section of the page. Also, please don't modify my comments with editorial artifacts. It makes whatever argument you subsequently make sound biased.
  • In response to Gsanta: Hmm...I notice that along with my rant, alot of the facts used on this page had been deleted for a while. So, apparently, according to you, opinions are ok as long as they aren't expressed verbally. Ah well, I can see how open minded this school REALLY is, notwithstanding I placed a disclaimer saying I was NOT criticizing any particular school in favor of another, just chastizing the school need to have an enemy by showing that BOTH schools have pros and cons, NOT my actual opinions. Well, I at least hope some order can be found here.
  • 72.153.64.188: Ive made a change to the amount of alumni, but I would like some verification. The Web address, that I translated from Spanish, where I got the extra names is: [1]
  • Embarrassed Alumni: That article explicitly states that Saladrigas was NOT a graduate of Belen.
  • Miguel Diaz is Miguel Diaz de la Portilla a low-level Miami politico.

The actor is an unknown, but we wish him great future success. Carlos Finaly predates the school. Here is his educational background if you care: "In 1844 Carlos was sent to France and studied in a school at the Havre until 1846 when he had to return to Cuba on account of an attack of cholera. This disease left him with a serious stoppage in his speech which was cured after a careful course of training instituted by his father. We notice to this day, however, a peculiar slowness and confusion in the enunciation of ideas through articulate speech, a defect that seems to be rather mental and in some way connected with his very decided absentmindedness.

He returned to Europe in 1848 to complete his education in France, but the revolutionary movements of that year obliged him to remain for a short time in London, and during one year in a school at Mentz on the Rhine. He entered college at last in Rouen where he continued his studies until 1851 when he returned to Cuba to convalesce from an attack of typhoid fever.

The Spanish law at the time would not validate for the degree of Bachelor in Arts, the college courses followed in France, and he came to Philadelphia where the said degree was not necessary for the study of Medicine.

He graduated in Medicine on the 10th of March 1855 from the Jefferson Medical College..."

  • Why do you cheapen your school with such low-light luminaries? Pompi cantens is a nice guy but, noteworthy? Bacilos doesn't consider the Belenite to be a member of the band...check out their website. Paris Hilton? Please. Look if really work together at this we can come up with a decent list of people who have made notable contributions to society, but this is a piss poor group.
  • EXCUSE ME.. BUT BEING ELECTED TO POLITICAL OFFICE NO MATTER WHAT YOU MIGHT THINK IS NOT SOME SMALL FEAT.. TO BE A STATE REP OR A COMMISSIONER FOR A LARGE CITY OR COUNTY IS NOTEWORTHY.. TO BE AN ASSISTANT TO THE WHITE HOUSE OR BE AN ASSISTANT TO A CONGRESSMAN WHERE YOU CAN HELP HUNDREDS IF NOT THOUSANDS OF LIVES IS IMPORTANT.. YOU BEING A JUDGE OF WHO IS OR ISN'T IMPORTANT DOES NOT MATTER.. WHAT OTHER SCHOOL IN MIAMI HAS ACCOPLISHED THIS WITH THE EXCEPTION OF MIAMI HIGH?Callelinea 03:17, 1 May 2007 (UTC)CALLELINEA[reply]
  • There seams to be a person who keeps changing the alumni list.. I would like that person to explain his changes.. that person is 130.64.180.78.. Callelinea 01:41, 2 May 2007 (UTC)callelinea[reply]
  • The alumni list is absurd. An 1860 bishop from Cuba? An assistant to Ileana Ros Lehtinen? Give me a break...65.13.58.108
  • I would like to know what school you came from? And what kind of persons it produced. What kind of persons do you consider notable?.Callelinea 17:07, 2 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]


  • There is no proof anywhere that this bishop or the assistant to IRL are Belen alumni. This Callelinea character is highly suspicious. 66.184.162.219 16:17, 6 June 2007 (UTC)JP[reply]
  • Alonso R. del Portillo is a graduate of the Class of 1978 Please see Page 254 of the International Jesuit Alumni Diectory of 1994, and Page 74 of 2004 edition. As for Bishop Orue of Pinar de Rio look in the Catholic web sites under his name and they state that he also graduated from Belen (http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/obispos/bio-o.htm#Orue). Callelinea 18:24, 6 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Alonso R. del Portillo confirmed in the alumni directories above. I have seen the pages cited above and he is indeed listed. Please direct any questions about this to my talk page. Cheers! Vassyana 20:34, 13 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Alonso R. del Portillo a person of great accomplishments just like every single Belen graduate. We should also have a listing of all great Belen grads who have done time for petty felonies, drug dealing etc. For a school with such small class sizes, Belen has certainly produced more than its fair share of sociopaths. This engorged Belen alumni list is a joke. Why not just have every Belen grad on the list? 72.85.218.104
  • Proof? 66.184.162.219
  • May I suggest that if you have proof that Belen graduates so many notable persons that have done time for petty felonies, drug dealing etc. that you create articles on your knowledge and attach your references that prove your acusations. I would also like to know where you attended high school.. because yes, even though Belen is a small school it HAS produced a great number of notable persons. It is so easy to acuse people of crimes yet it is another thing to prove it. So if you can not prove it, then we are to presume that you are just speading rumors and rumers are not allowed on Wikipedia, and in the future will be considered acts of vandalism. Callelinea 16:36, 14 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • I wont name names but, your classmate, the football team QB (I won't use his name, but you know) did time for coke. Notable grad hernandez did time. A nice guy who was a year ahead of you went beserk and committed a gruesome murder. How long do you want this list to be?
  • like i said..if you have proof post it. if they were arrested and convicted there are public records.. do an article on the person with refrences..otherwise keep the rumors to your self.Callelinea 20:53, 18 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This discussion about Belen Alumni is ridiculous. Belen is a good, solid school academically with some notable alumni, many of whom are involved in state and local politics. Not terribly impressive but not too shabby either. My sense of Belen is among the Cuban community it is highly admired but does not really have a strong national reputation. In fact Palmatto High School (among public schools) and Ransom Everglades are considered superior.

  • I just Googled up "Alonso Del Portillo" who seems to think he (and a dozen other nobodies) is notable. It turns out what he is most notable for is writinng Wikipedia articles about people who are not notable and then gets upsets when said articles are deleted. Lets try to give "notability" some sort of meaningful metric. It's not perfect, but perhaps number of times a person has done something notable enough to get themselves on Lexis database? For more pedestrian efforts, maybe Google hits to a name? that will help clean up the list of Cuban attorneys and Republican low lights. You are President of the Cuban Bar of Miami? Wow what an accomplishment for an upper middle class Cuban boy from Miami.
    • Since you have decided to pick on one individual I have decided to respond.. First off may I suggest you open an account on Wikipedia and stop vandalising and have no one know who you are.. All your "edits" have to do with solely Belen and only to take our not imput. To be President of any organization is an accomplishment you are voted by your peers.. There are thousands of middle class Cuban boys in Miami and less then a dozen have been President of a Bar association.. That is an accomplishment. And google is not the big test to see if someone is notable. ARe you aware that Alonso del Portillo is mentioned in at least 3 books, that he has helped hundreds, if not thousands , of persons immigrate into the United States.. That when he was President of the Dade County Young Republicans, that organization had the most members in its history. I hardly think that someone that just logs on to Wikipedia and takes out info about one subject is hardly an expert as to what or who is notable. Callelinea 13:54, 4 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I just edited the alumni list because it was too long and difficult to read. I believe a more condensed version is more utilitarian for whomever wants to read Belen's history. 130.64.148.88 15:18, 4 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Timeline[edit]

"Operation Coke" should not have been removed. The reference to popular drug of the 70s was over the top, but the school's history is not just what has happened over the last 25 years in the swamps of West Dade. —Preceding Sangano comment added by 72.85.162.130 (talk) 13:17, 4 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

  • Sorry about that. I was the Editor that took it out because of the drug reference but I have put it back without the drug reference.Callelinea 13:59, 4 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I deleted it. The is hardly part of its history any more than the annual raffle ticket sale. What next, talk about how Tombola raises X amount of money annually? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.64.148.88 (talk) 15:19, 4 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

  • I restored it. Tombola is mentioned in article and the Operation Coke was put back in since it was an ongoing fundraiser for many years to raise funds to help build the new school. Please open an account on Wikipedia and stop hiding behind unsigned edits. Callelinea 16:50, 4 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Notable Alumni[edit]

Callelinea, I appreciate your efforts to maintain this page as clean as possible. But please, leave this shortened list. The other list was too long, and difficult to read.

130.64.148.88 18:58, 6 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

  • Sorry but I must differ with you. You removed the First Bishop of Pinar del Rio, former elected officials, many prominent person in the Cuban community (some even have wikipedia articles written on them). So I must think that what you are doing is a form of vandalism.. May I also suggest that you open an account on wikipedia and stop being an unknown person whose only edits are to this one article.Callelinea 19:25, 6 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Creating an account is irrelevant. That bishop is hardly notable (total nobody with relation to the school). The people on this list have impacted the school in one way or another, whether it be being cited in newspaper articles, donations to the school, etc. Your list includes anyone, and makes this article really hard to read. Stop being so difficult to deal with. 130.64.148.88 19:28, 6 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

  • The Bishop was a graduate of Belen, many are former elected officials. All these persons have impacted the school or the school reputation. I have written varios articles for wikipedia and have edited hundreds, while you only take things out of ONE article, this one.. Who is being difficult? Callelinea 19:31, 6 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The bishop was a bishop in a Cuban province...hardly notable. Let's keep this list current. The other elected officials are not notable. It's nice to be a representative in the Florida house - hardly a marked accomplishment. Please stop diluting the list. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.64.148.88 (talk) 19:33, 6 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

  • Since you have continues to vandalise Belen Jesuit and have decided not to follow my advise I have felt forsed to report you to an Admistrator. Callelinea 19:42, 6 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I cannot believe the ignorant, tyrannical tone you're taking, callelinea. The mere fact that you have the writing ability of a four year old goes to show what little depth you have. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.64.148.238 (talk) 15:32, 7 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

  • I see that you have returned using a different IP address. Why don't you just join wikipedia and be productive? Callelinea 15:46, 7 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Alonso, I've got to agree with 130.64 and all the others who try to undo your maniacal addition of nice guys, who do nice things for their families, friends and community but who really do not have any qualities or achievements that any unbiased observer would consider "Noteworthy" or "Notable". You have turned this page into an unreadable mess. Please, while you are a graduate of Belen, you are not Belen. Lets have a list of people that prospective students, recruiters and others will possibly recognize and not an agglomeration of every boy who went to Belen and then into law or politics (which would be what 60%-70% of all of us?) Sangano

Also please note this section of the Wikipedia rules: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Notability Very few of these men would make the grade. As the self-appointed arbitrer of Wikipedia you should read it carefuly and ask yourself if you are doing the right thing by Wikipedia or if you are just trashing the place...Vandalsing (sic) as you would put it.

  • LOL.. whats interesting is that Sangano and you are the same person using the same IP address. Plus how many other schools have as many elected officials from one school? Only Miami High can come close. Callelinea 03:19, 10 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Who gives a sh!t about Miami High. Stop using non sequiturs to justify your dictatorial presence on this article. You have made this article into an absolute joke. Your writing ability also degrades the quality of the article. People like you ruin wikipedia. 130.64.148.38 04:41, 10 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

  • Please watch your language! Wikipedia is used by children as well as adults. And I believe it is people like you that ruin wikipedia by not knowning how to control their language. Obviously, you did not graduate from Belen. Callelinea 04:54, 10 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If you think expletives and Belen are mutually exclusive, it's YOU who did not graduate from Belen.

Continue vandalising the article and I will request the administers to block unknown IP addresses from editing this article. Callelinea 05:03, 10 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

  • Look at the Belen "notables" in a real world context. Any reader who looks at that list will know Belen students must have learned how to pad essays with nonsense and filler. When you get through the exhaustively long list you are left with Fidel Castro, Perez Hilton and a couple of mayors of a poorly-regarded, mid-sized American city. Hernandez had his 15 minutes local and national infamy, but his day is done. The CANF fellow has made some intelligent quotes in the media. Goizueta is very highly regarded by people who care about corporate leadership (an exceptionally small clique) and by the students of Belen and Emory U.

The rest of the list screams of a school that is very good at producing "bureaucrats". But "bureaucrats" by their very definition are not "notable". These are not people who make the world stand up and take notice. These are people, like all of us, who try to do right by families and communities but so what.

We have some college academics, two of them in Boston woo hoo! (By the way Callelinea, there are at least two contributors to this page from Boston, you may be arguing the notability of someone who does not think teaching at Harvard or MIT is all that notable...you know you are talking about thousands of faculty members professors @ the two schools combined). Then an endless list of lawyers that could easily be made even more endless. We follow with a list of low-level politicos, who with the exception of Cantens never accomplished much in a legislature that is known for not accomplishing much either. Basically they are ward pols, call'em and tell 'em you are an alum and they'll get your streetlight fixed. The biz leaders and athletes really serve as the symbols of what this entire engorged list represents: a minor leaguer and a franchisee of America's second best fast food burger joint.

Lets take pride boys, we've done a helluva job. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 167.80.246.204 (talk) 23:41, 16 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

  • Either your bitter or jeolous! What other high school in Florida or even in the United States can match it? Two Presidents of Cuba, Two bishops (one in the process of being a saint), Two mayors of Miami, Commissioner of a major city, Four members of the Florida House of Representatives, CEO's of major corporations, Etc. Etc. Etc., name me 3 other high schools that can claim that? This article is on my watch list, so any time you change it, I will repair it. So there you have it.. Do something constructive and stop wasting time, mine and yours. Callelinea 00:13, 17 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • I've learned one thing about Belen from these discussions: they don't teach the copernican model. in fact, they have come up with a new model that says the universe revolves around the boys of belen. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.85.181.41 (talk) 02:55, 23 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Would like to point out (as it was pointed out to me!) that the term "alumni" refers to anyone who ever attended Belen. Graduation is not essential to be alumni. People who were ever a student are eligibile. Student7 (talk) 23:22, 1 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Fair use rationale for Image:Belenlogo.png[edit]

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BetacommandBot (talk) 07:41, 2 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]


Suggested easy rewrite[edit]

I suggest that the history section be rewritten to eliminate bullets. Just write them as prose with dates. The intro seems a bit long IMO. I think some of this can productively be moved into other sections.

A suggested structure for all school articles is given in School template.

I suggest that some of the awards mentioned in history be placed separately into a "Recognition" section.Student7 (talk) 23:23, 10 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I added that POV tag[edit]

I added it because the athletic section initially reads like Beowulf. The facts of winning or losing should be simply stated and those should speak for themselves. There's no need to state anything more.

Further, without the citations it comes off looking even more biased. This needs some serious fixing up by either finding the sources for a lot of those statements or for getting rid of them to be in keeping with NPOV and Citations needed. I understand that you guys probably are all attending Belen or are alumni, but it still should be in keeping with the guidelines. We have similar problems at the Jesuit HS in Tampa wiki article.--DeviantCharles (talk) 13:12, 12 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I am an Alumni of Belen.. The Miami Herald has over 5000 articles on Belen from 1995 to present.. I have gone thru some 3oo of them and have found appropriate citations for most of the missing citations. I have removed the POV tag and citation tags. I am not a sports fan and would of preferred that more be put in the academic prizes that Belen has won rather then the sports.. but most people are interested in sports. Callelinea (talk) 16:12, 12 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I agree with the removals now that they're either sourced or show that citations are needed where they are needed. Good job.--DeviantCharles (talk) 12:12, 13 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Reverend vs Father[edit]

It is my understanding that we aren't supposed to be using any honorifics in Wikipedia. It is POV. Having said that, this is often violated with "Fr." used often for the first mention of a priest instead of "Rev." Student7 (talk) 00:51, 19 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

According to the wikipedia article on the subject only monastic and mendicant orders use the term Rev. Fr.; the Jesuits are secular priests and in written form use Rev. Yes when you speak to a priest you use the term Fr. "so and so" , not Rev. "so and so"; but in written form it is REV. Callelinea (talk) 02:32, 19 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified[edit]

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External links modified[edit]

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Instituto Técnico Militar[edit]

Hello, I am an architect and I do pages on the architecture of Havana and did not know this page on Belen existed, and so I did the Instituto Técnico Militar instead; however, I've had this page, or similar, in the back of my mind. A problem, the confusion of schools with different buildings; I am particularly interested in the Republican period and in the 1854 school; should there be 3 pages? Please, suggestions!

PS: I grew up in the area and I am familiar with the building as I went to Sunday school at Belen and used to play basketball there; I was a student at Candler College until 1962 when we left. I was in Havana two years ago, tried to get into Belen and Tropicana, no luck. Cheers!

ovA_165443 (talk) 03:32, 10 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Copy_1[edit]

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