St. Paul’s students ranked their top five actors, athletes, actors, and U.S. presidents, while teachers simultaneously named their top one in each category during a recent Pack Time session. Pack Time is a whole-school activity during which each student is assigned to a small-group “Wolf Pack” that meets every other Tuesday and does various activities.

Pack Time Moderator Kevin Moore said this particular activity was chosen “to see the differences of how our generation thinks and how the students’ generation thinks.”

The Students’ top-ranked actor was Morgan Freeman, who received 31 total votes, including twelve first place votes. He was followed by Denzel Washington (18 total votes), Leonardo DiCaprio (16 total votes), and Will Ferrell (15 total votes).

The teachers’ top actor was Denzel Washington, who received four votes. In all, the students named 62 different actors, and the teachers named 28.

The students’ top ranked athlete was six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan, who received 44 total votes and 21 first place votes. Jordan also briefly played minor league baseball.

“Michael Jordan makes a buzzer beater to defeat the Utah Jazz in the 1998 NBA Finals.” Jordan was ranked the number one athlete of all time by the SPS students, and he received the most total votes of any actor, athlete, president, or writer. [Photo by John Biever, Sports Illustrated]

In all, students named 17 football players, six multiple sport athletes, five baseball players, four basketball players, three track-and-field athletes, three soccer players, two gymnasts, two tennis players, two golfers, one hockey player, one boxer, one racecar driver, one swimmer, and one cyclist.

Three athletes received five votes each from the teachers, creating a three-way tie for the teachers’ top athlete. The three were Jordan, Jackson, and NFL quarterback Drew Brees, whom the students ranked twelfth.

In all, the teachers named seven football players, six baseball players, four multi-sport athletes, three tennis players, two soccer players, one gymnast, one wrestler, and one martial artist.

In the “top writer” category, the students named William Shakespeare, who received 36 total votes and 20 first place votes, as highest ranked. Edgar Allen Poe ranked second with 28 total votes; Theodor Geisel, better known by his pen name of Dr. Seuss, took third with 22 total votes; J.K. Rowling was  fourth with 18 total votes; and Charles Dickens ranked fifth with 17 total votes.

Sophomore Andrew Mercante said he found it interesting that more recent authors such as Dr. Seuss and J.K. Rowling were ranked ahead of classic authors like Mark Twain and Charles Dickens because, “We spend so much time [studying] the classics.”

The teachers’ top ranked writer was Kurt Vonegut, who received four votes from the teachers but only one from the students.

Abraham Lincoln was ranked the top president by both the students (14 first place votes, 43 total votes) and teachers (14 votes). The students ranked Ronald Reagan (ten first place votes, 39 total votes) second, George Washington (ten first place votes, 34 total votes) third, Franklin D. Roosevelt (no first place votes, 26 total votes) fourth, and Theodore Roosevelt (three first place votes, 25 total votes) fifth.

Bruce Lee, martial artist and actor, received votes from students as an actor and from teachers as an athlete.

RAW DATA: