On March 6, 2001, Bolles conducted a memorial service for Szymon Sadowski, 1996, who died April 11, 2000, at the end of his senior year at Yale University. In attendance were family and family friends, faculty, and the student council, who hosted the service. At the time of his death, Szymon was a senior at Yale University, where he was completing his senior project on John Milton, one of the great masters of British literature. The student council, therefore, commissioned a black and white portrait of Milton, which will henceforth hang in the Swisher Library above a memorial plaque honoring Szymon, a unique tribute to one of Bolles' outstanding scholars and individuals.
Yale Professor Brisman, who taught Szymon during his last two years and served as his senior project advisor, reflected that "Szymon knew he was dying. The one thing he made clear was that he wanted to earn his diploma." When Szymon had to return home to Jacksonville and enter the hospice, Dean Broadhead determined that "he had completed sufficient coursework to earn his diploma," and he affirmed, "We didn't skip any technicalities in awarding Szymon his diploma." Accordingly, Dean Paul McKinley and Deputy Dean of Yale College, Joseph Gordon, flew down to Jacksonville to award Szymon his diploma. When they arrived in Jacksonville, the two deans proceeded straight to the hospice to perform the rite. "Szymon graduated from Yale at two o'clock a.m."
Szymon entered Bolles as a freshman in 1992, and for the next four years he distinguished himself in every aspect of the Bolles experience. In fact, few alumni exemplify the total Bolles experience more fully than Szymon. His accomplishments and distinctions were myriad: eleventh grade class superlative '94 - '95, distinguished service, Mu Alpha Theta award for math '95 - '96, Tandy Technology Scholar '95-'96, Robert Love Science Award '95-'96, National Honor Society '94-'96, Honor Council judge '94 - '96, just to mention the more distinguished. He was, indeed, one of our finest, one to whom we can point with great pride. Mr. Henry Blackwell who taught Szymon eleventh grade A.P. British Literature recalls that "Szymon was a very perceptive, industrious, and productive honor student. Unlike some very able high school students, however, Szymon actually took ideas seriously. He was able not only to grasp the essentials, but also he could almost immediately apprehend the applicability or relevance of important ideas to his own life." Although we cannot document it, I think we can safely say that Mr. Blackwell first introduced Szymon to John Milton, an exposure which would culminate in his principal concentration at Yale. Dr. Robin Spital, another of Szymon's major Bolles mentors, remembers Szymon not only for his formidable academic prowess but also for his involvement in the chess club, which Dr. Spital sponsors: "I knew Szymon during all four of his high school years. He was an enthusiastic player with a lot of talent. In his senior year, he served as Chess Club President." Reflecting on Szymon's scholarship, Dr. Spital recalls, "He was a superb student who sat in the front row and always had an interesting contribution to make to the discussion. Although Yale offered him no credit for A.P. Physics, I convinced him to take the A.P. exam anyway to score an inevitable 5." Among his classmates, Kristina Espinoza observes that "He was a very special man, one of the few people in the world who thought outside the box. He will be missed by me not only because of the person he was but for the person he was going to be."

Szymon's academic accomplishments are all the more remarkable when one considers his background.

Born in Poland in 1978, Szymon very early demonstrated that he was an extraordinarily precocious child. Szymon left Poland when he was in the fourth grade. The family went first to Spain, where they lived for fifteen months. Although he knew no Spanish, he mastered the language quickly, ending his first year ranked at the top of his class. From Spain the family emigrated to the U.S., Jacksonville, to be exact. His first real contact with the English language occurred in 1990 when he entered Mandarin Middle School as a seventh grader. He rapidly mastered English and won various honors in the language arts. When he entered the ninth grade, he received an academic scholarship to Bolles, which, according to his father, allowed "his talents to blossom", evidence or which has already been cited. Gradually, his interests shifted from math and science to English, which, as indicated earlier, became his major at Yale, where he continued to excel.
His truncated experience at Yale was no less distinguished. In fact, his untimely death occasioned a remarkable memorial service at St. Thomas More Chapel in New Haven, Conn., on April 28, 2000.
Although proud to be a U.S. citizen, Szymon remained loyal to his Polish heritage to the end. Yale University Professor Harvey Goldblatt, Chair, Slavic Languages and Literatures, attests to Szymon's abiding love for his Polish heritage: "He took both intermediate and advanced language courses in Polish. In the Spring of 1997, he co-founded the Polish Society of Yale College. As President, he helped the Polish Society expand and evolve from a small club to a large and active community." Professor Goldblatt adds that "Szymon was the very essence of what a Yale student should be: curious, intelligent, warm-hearted, energetic, and ever eager to take on new challenges ... To commemorate Szymon's commitment to finishing his Yale education and his extensive involvement in Polish-related activities, the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures is pleased to award a commencement prize in Szymon's memory."
His graduation from Yale was further validated by Richard C. Lewis, President of Yale University, who wrote Szymon's parents: "But I should tell you that, however much it meant to Szymon and to you to have him receive his Yale degree, it meant equally as much to us to be able to award it to him. We are extremely honored to have him on the graduating roll of Yale College."
However gratifying these testimonials are, I think that those of the doctors who treated him speak somehow more eloquently to Szymon's innate nobility. I'll quote briefly from two letters his parents subsequently received. Dr. Arthur L. Levy wrote, "I have been taking care of patients with cancer for twenty-five years, most older than Szymon, some his age or younger, bur I have never seen anybody deal with such a terrible disease with such dignity, poise and tranquility" Another doctor, Suguru Imaeda, wrote to the parents, "From the first rime I met you and Szymon in October 1998, it was clear that Szymon was an exceptional person with a gift. I truly believe that we are put on earth for a reason. Szymon's gift was his ability to bring out the best in those whose lives he touched. Szymon has made me a better physician. His courage, determination, and selflessness have enriched our lives and is a testament to your parenting."
I'll conclude this article with a brief tribute, which I was honored to deliver last Spring for Szymon's funeral service. After searching for an appropriate poem to commemorate Szymon (I'm an English teacher, you know.) I selected a poem, which Szymon studied with me when he was a student in my class during his senior year, "To an Athlete Dying Young," by the British Poet, A.E. Housman. But I'll ask you to transpose the word scholar for athlete because, in the poem, they mean the same.
The setting of the poem is a small town in England, and the young athlete has just won the annual foot race for his town. So he is borne home in triumph on the shoulders of his buddies through the cheering crowd assembled to honor his victory. Now, less than a year later, he is borne aloft again through the same streets, but this time there are no cheers because this time they bear him home to eternity. The poet, however, sees this second procession not as a tragedy but as another triumph because the young athlete has cheated death. Unlike other athletes who will live out their allotted time and die withered, broken and forgotten, their records shattered, this young athlete's magnificent achievement will never fade nor tarnish by the relentless footsteps of time. Nor will his fame and glory ever be forgotten because the laurel he has won will never wilt nor wither and the glory of its bloom will shine forever. Nor will he ever have to surrender the challenge cup to some younger man who would someday defeat him, because he will never be defeated and the glory of his victory will last forever.
Finally, inasmuch as Szymon did his senior project, his thesis, on John Milton, I should like to connect these two kindred souls, Szymon and Milton, who wrote arguably the greatest elegy in the English language, indeed one of the greatest in all of world literature, a poem which I am sure that Szymon knew and loved. The title of the poem is "Lycidas," and it immortalizes a young friend who has just recently drowned.