Written by Marie Kane |
Photos by Madden Ward & Natalie Buchetto

Madden Ward graduated with the Class of 2017, and now he is going to Salve Regina University. If he was not there, he would be at either URI or a Southern. He likes Salve : ¨It´s a perfect distance from home, and the school is small enough that you gain quality relationships fast. It feels great to be aways at college. There is a lot of freedom, and I like that a lot.¨

He is majoring in marketing, and some of the classes he took first semester were organizational behavior, marketing, and macroeconomics. He chose Salve mainly because of baseball, and the school is beautiful. Madden likes living on campus because it is close to his classes, and he can socialize with more people. Madden was extremely nervous heading into college, but now he is very comfortable with managing his time between academics, athletics, and his social life. His favorite part is going out with friends, but his least favorite part about college is finals week. Madden described college as exciting and said that college is a blast. He would choose college 100% over high school. ¨I have seen myself change for the better as a person and academically through one semester of college.¨

Junior Paddy Murray was on the football team with Madden: ¨He´s an insane player, absolutely electric on any field, straight diesel.¨ Paddy said that it was always fun playing sports or being in school with him. ¨He´s a nice and genuine kid, always joking and stuff.¨

Madden misses many of the teachers as well as high school baseball and football. Spanish teacher Laura Luther and English teacher Eric Bergman were his favorites: ¨They are both wholehearted people who truly cared about myself and every other student, and I could talk about sports with them.¨

Mr. Bergman had Madden in English 3 when he was a junior, and described him as considerate. ¨Madden is the absolutely perfect student. He is attentive, yet willing to offer his opinion and insight on matters both controversial and complex.¨ He said that Madden has a very dry sense of humor which helps make class a true joy. ¨Much of the material we address has very ironic components to it, and Madden is always able to pick up on nuances.¨ Mr. Bergman had Madden´s older brother Jake as a student, and knows Madden´s parents fairly well. ¨This family clearly knows how to love, support, and encourage each other. Madden takes full responsibility for his behavior and his actions, and for that, we all are proud.¨

Mrs. Luther has known him for as long as she has known his brothers and had him in Spanish 4 Level 1. ¨He was in a class of 9. We became very much a family, and I love how we looked out for one another.¨ She described Madden as humble, thinks of him as a very good role model for good people, and truly enjoyed having him as a student.

If Madden could redo high school, he would take academics more seriously and would have studied more often to prepare himself for college. He played for Morgan Football as well as Morgan Baseball. He was captain for baseball in his senior year, played football freshman, sophomore, and senior year, and was voted most athletic for senior superlatives. His nickname was the same as his last name – ¨Ward¨. Madden has been playing baseball his whole life. ¨Football is a sport with so much team comradery and passion. I loved playing both.¨ After college, he would love to have a job on the business side of sports (marketing finance). Madden´s advice to current students at Morgan is to ¨go to a college because you love it, not because of sports or money or any other reason.¨