SEATTLE’S
Aiyanah Kasota ’22 and Sule Martinez ’22 discover why cow eyes glow (ask a student about the tapetum lucidum), and more, in this popular science dissection of the cow eye itself. Not for the squeamish.
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT GEORGE HOFBAUER, INTERIM PRESIDENT
The first Jesuits I ever met were Tom Bunnell, S.J. and Tom Healy, S.J. That was 50 years ago. Fr. Healy, I believe, became the first person with the title of President of Seattle Prep and Fr. Bunnell became the Principal. And, at that time, I was an Irish Christian Brother at O’Dea High School. That was exactly 50 years ago. (Yes, I am old.)
They were, in my opinion, fathers of the first major transition at Seattle Prep. The transition was really an evolution as Prep moved from an allmale school to a co-ed school. When that took place, I had left religious life and became the principal of Saint Joseph School, a Jesuit Parish. Then, as I remember, Seattle Prep moved to the Matteo Ricci concept and many of the seniors spent their final year at Seattle University. After a while it became apparent that a full high school experience, for most, meant four years at Seattle Prep rather than starting college early.
Then Prep really started to grow. As a grade school principal, I went from trying to get eighth graders to go to Seattle Prep to trying to get Seattle Prep to accept all the students that were applying from my school. And that seemed to happen overnight. Prep was the place to be. My own children (Paige Hofbauer Ayres ’06 and Dane Hofbauer ’02) ended up going to Prep and loving their experiences and the lifelong friendships they forged.
George in his first years as principal.
Prep truly evolved with their investments in programs like counseling and retreats as they worked on developing the true evolution of the whole person. Students did not just learn history and literature. They began to live it and place themselves within it. The past, the present, and the future all became “moments” by which the young adults at Prep were challenged to really discern the roles which they saw as a reflection of their values and beliefs. Transitions became part of the evolution of their thinking and their lives.
New buildings were constructed, and new programs and services were instituted as the needs and dreams of the entire Seattle Prep community evolved. There was and is no end to the dreams and aspirations of those who are a part of this community.
On February 1, 2022, I suddenly fell from the sky from a high-flying jet, without a parachute, to serve this community. It was a shocking honor. True to Prep’s legacy there was and is a great deal going on here. Construction is taking place, accreditations are being conducted, and future directions are being discussed. But my greatest joy has been in my observation of the way the students here relate with and treat each other. I truly do see a loving community. I see the great respect they have for one another and the staff. And I see a staff that will go to any end to help their students, or any other person in the school.
When I spoke to the students this spring, I told them that I truly believe they are a pivotal group of leaders for the future. They have more challenges and issues than those who have gone before them. The polarization of groups and countries, the confusion over the truth, the health of the planet — so much rests on their shoulders. I called them truth seekers, architects of the future, and our Chariots of Fire — bringing light and hope into the future. And I believe they can do it. No, I believe they will do it!
Yes, Prep has changed. There have been transitions. It has evolved. And it will continue to do so. I believe Pep has always improved as it has sought to help the students to be more — to do more — to give more (the magis) while deeply caring for each and every person (cura personalis). And, because of that I have great hope for the future. I am grateful to be a part of this journey and spend one more year with such a dynamic and giving community.
“Seeking the magis ” is inherent to Prep’s Catholic, Jesuit culture. To seek the magis – to do more, do better, for the Greater Glory of God – is a fundamental value ingrained in our identity. This past school year, Prep’s accreditation and Sponsorship Review processes presented opportunities to live out that core value. Our success in learning from these staggered reflections this year, and into next, will lay the groundwork for years to come.
In 2021-2022 we prepared for our March 2022 reaccreditation visit and our upcoming Sponsorship Review in November 2022. Prep partnered with Cognia as its accrediting body. As a Catholic, Jesuit school, we engage in Sponsorship Review every six years through the Jesuits West Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). The school’s successful deep dive into reflection, self-study, artifact analysis, dialogue, and preparation for both visits amid the pandemic is an accomplishment worthy of celebration!
Accreditation serves many purposes, including helping schools ensure the highest standards of academic quality, promoting continuous improvement, facilitating selfreflection, offering external feedback, and providing a stamp of approval based on performance standards.
Prep was last accredited in June of 2016. From June 2021 through March 2022, Prep prepared for its late-March external review visit from Cognia. Prep’s re-accreditation will extend five years through June 2027, and the process will contribute to ongoing growth and improvement.
Cognia’s process is centered on three domains:
Leadership Capacity; Learning Capacity; and Resource Capacity. Prep is proud to have earned very strong reviews, affirming our commitment to student achievement and formation, mission-driven decisions, a culture of continuous improvement, and an innovative learning environment.
Sponsorship Review occurs every six years through Jesuits West. This process is led by the Board of Trustees, in concert with school administration, faculty and staff. Through dialogue among board members, faculty, staff, parents, and students, the school reflects on its Catholic, Jesuit mission and identity. Prep began Sponsorship Review reflections in November 2021, in preparation for a November 2022 visit from a team of educators and leaders across the province.
Small group reflections centered on how Prep animates the five domains outlined in Our Way of Proceeding: Standards & Benchmarks for Jesuit Schools in the 21st Century. The five domains are: Jesuit and Catholic Mission and Identity; Governance and Leadership; Spiritual
Formation; Educational Excellence; and Faith That Does Justice. The school also considered the Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and Prep’s April 2021 Culture and Climate Review (through the lens of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) completed by Bleasdale Educational Research and Consulting.
Both processes were thoughtfully aligned to build upon each other and provide opportunities for selfreflection, conversations, and external feedback. Prep’s staggered approach – with accreditation leading into Sponsorship Review – will inform the development of the school’s next strategic plan.
Going to school of course! For two weeks this summer, Dr. Erin Luby served as an adjunct professor at the University of Notre Dame. She co-taught a three-credit hour course called Executive Management II for the Alliance for Catholic Education’s Remick Leadership Program. The graduate school program trains current or aspiring Catholic school leaders from across the country. The course focused on Enrollment Management,
Communications, and Facilities and Mission Advancement. As a graduate of Notre Dame’s Remick Leadership Program, Erin also serves as an “executive coach” for groups of students earning their master’s in Educational Leadership through the program. The program pairs a small group of graduate students with leaders in the field who offer support, mentoring, and community building. She has worked with several cohorts over the last five years and is grateful for the opportunity to continue learning alongside Catholic school leaders in the program.
Left: Erin Luby, Ed.D. and teaching partner Sandria Morten, Ed.D., faculty member at the University of Notre Dame.
Blind from a young age and of Iranian descent, Cyrus Habib had climbed to the pinnacle of academia with degrees from Columbia, Yale, Oxford, and built a storied career as a lawyer and Lieutenant Governor of Washington State. In 2020 Cyrus made a startling life change and joined the Jesuit order — The Society of Jesus. He hasn’t looked back. In his second year of studies, Cyrus joined the Prep community for a five-month “experiment.” This summer he will relocate to the bayous of Louisiana for a Spanish immersion program and service work. In August he will take his first vows.
Novice Cyrus Habib and Fr. Rallanka, S.J., at final school Mass of the year.
Far right: Prep students in prayer.
How would you describe your months at Prep?
Amazing! When I first spoke with Principal Erin Luby about what kind of experience I wanted I had just come from assignments that were beautiful but slower paced. That was healthy for me because I had such a fast-paced academic and professional life. But I wanted something that was more active and cerebral. Specifically, for that reason I asked to be assigned to a high school. Erin said, “Okay, be careful what you ask for.” And she delivered. I taught two periods of AP Literature, one section of Collegio, one theology course and coached Mock Trial. I became closest with the kids on Mock Trial because of all the time we spent together. Several asked me to write their college recommendations. I was honored. It was amazing being part of a nationally ranked team. The students are so well coached, hardworking, and brilliant. The team wasn’t able to travel to Michigan for Nationals, but we were holed up in a Seattle hotel for a few days and it was a wonderful bonding experience. Not only with the students but with fellow teachers Jen Freeman, Andy Hendricks ’83, and Andy McCarthy. I think co-
curriculars are where you get to know students the best. They get to experience you in a different way, and I get to experience them in a different way than in the classroom.
The Kairos retreat was also an amazing first-time experience. I went to public school, so I was less knowledgeable than the juniors on the retreat. It was a real highlight. Such a spiritually profound time of sharing with adults and students alike. That is where the real value of a school like this lies. The academics are great but it’s that ability, the permission that this school has as a private, Catholic, Jesuit school to be able to provide spiritual formation and accompaniment to young people—to help them become adults formed by love, charity, and compassion.
In what ways did the students’ interactions with you (being blind) change throughout your time at Seattle Prep?
I am so impressed and consoled by the way in which young people instinctively understand diversity. It’s never awkward for them. These kids are so natural, and flexible in finding other ways to do things. Look how they have adapted to COVID — to do things in such a drastically different way. COVID in a way caused everyone to experience what life is like with a disability because you have to say, ‘how do I adapt this to make it work under new circumstances.’
I invite the school to think about how it can be more welcoming to students of disabilities. I know the heart is there, the desire. But like with any type of diversity, you can’t wait for it to happen organically. There is too much history, too many assumptions and
past baggage. Having been here, I have every reason to believe that Prep is a welcoming school for students with disabilities. The law should never be the standard it should be the floor. This is a Catholic school. This is a Jesuit school. Our calling is above and beyond the calling of federal or state laws. Cura personalis is way above section 504 of the rehabilitation act. Hopefully if I have done anything it’s to help people see that it’s not that big of deal. If we can have a blind teacher, we can have a blind student. By me being at Prep you now have 780 students who have met a blind person. They saw me on stage, in their classes. Now if someone talks about blindness, they aren’t ignorant anymore. That in itself is a valuable education.
What were the benefits of working with Fr. Rallanka, S.J. and Fr. Celio, S.J.?
They are extraordinary. I’ve often gone to them for advice and ideas. They have tremendous gifts. These two men are so good for this ministry. It’s such a well discerned assignment for them. They communicate the joy of the gospel. They are so relatable to young people, boys and girls with their involvement in the Dungeons and Dragons Club, coaching baseball, and everything in between.
What is your favorite memory at Prep?
Kairos. There was a beautiful moment in a small group conversation. It showed up in a very short period, this group of human beings who didn’t know each other that well and had really grown to love one another. Everyone had assumptions and their hearts were broken open in some way.
What advice did you take away from your conversation with Fr. Fitterer, S.J. and apply to your Prep experience?
He said, get to know the students! The students are the ones that we are all here to serve. Just interacting with young people there is a humility to it. They will keep you honest. I remember one time I was teaching something I thought was so extremely exciting. I heard this student yawn—so audibly, no subtlety, no tact. Something inside of me died a little. Well, that’s honest.
What is your parting thought on ‘unexpected joy’?
There is a natural instinct to fear the unknown. We have a saying, better the devil you know. Every assignment I’ve been given as a Jesuit has been the best assignment. Rather than come to Seattle Prep, the more comfortable thing for me would have been to go to a university. But, I’m learning that if you allow yourself to be open to new graces, and if you are fundamentally a hopeful person, the unknown can only be good. We have to ask ourselves, ‘How do I enter into situations with an optimism that is adventurous, cosmopolitan, curious, but also vulnerable?’ What I wanted to impart to the students is that there will be a lot of that in their coming years. Just be excited and keep trusting that whatever comes will be good. It will—even if it brings challenges.
“
I’m learning that if you allow yourself to be open to new graces, and if you are fundamentally a hopeful person, the unknown can only be good.”
— Cyrus Habib
They are mainstays on the Prep campus. Both teach theology classes, work in community ministry, and oversee the music ministry program at Prep. They preside at school Masses and serve as co-directors on retreats such as Kairos and Manresa. In addition, Greg coaches baseball and Ryan moderates the Dungeon and Dragons Club as well as serves on the Board of Trustees. They share their thoughts here on the Jesuit experience.
How does it feel to not be the youngest guy on the block nor the oldest? (A reference to retiree Fr. Paul Fitterer and Jesuit novice Cyrus Habib.)
G: Not being the oldest means I’m still working. I’m in the thick of it. In my second year at Prep, I still feel young. There is that excitement and enthusiasm getting to know the community and being in the space of having energy to give. We have been helpful to Cyrus. But he has so much to offer to us. It feels more like a partnership over the last few months rather than a mentorship.
R: This question makes me chuckle because I am technically the youngest in the group at Prep. In spite of that I’ve been at Prep for five years. I am the local superior at the Jesuit community so sometimes I do have experiences in ministry that make me feel older. Greg and I have been in the society for over 15 years and we have lots of experiences to share with Cyrus that are valuable as he looks ahead. But his wealth of experience also enriches our lives. There’s a mutual benefit.
How has Cyrus joining the Prep community impacted how you see your role and work as a Jesuit at Prep?
G: He has made a huge impact. Partly because he has been involved in so many things that we aren’t. I am learning more from him about the school because he is involved in different areas. He has accompanied students well and had many one-on-one conversations with them about significant decisions in their life. That accompaniment is so important.
R: From a vocational perspective obviously we all know he came in as former Washington State Lieutenant Governor. But he left that life behind and became a Jesuit — it’s hard to measure that type of influence. To even get students to think about, ‘what it means to be successful’? I would imagine his presence alone gives students pause about that question. He had it all, the success and fame, and the big question is why would he leave it all behind? His presence speaks to the impact of faith on his own life. We teach theology about concepts and ideas but there is something very profound about the witness of his very life in what he has chosen to leave behind. That’s very unique. The school has never had a blind student before. It’s been valuable witnessing how Cyrus navigates the school. Because many of us haven’t had any experience with blind people. It limits our imagination or what we
think is possible for people like Cyrus. There were things that he was able to do that boggled my mind. I assumed that he needed more accommodation than he actually did.
What are your goals for this year?
R: Interesting question. There have been a lot of changes at the school this year. We are at a moment of opportunity. There is an uncertainty to what that looks like. But I think the vision forward requires us to know who we are. A large part of our work as Jesuits is to just simply remind people of who we say we are. We need to be rooted in our identity. Who we are as Jesuits, rooted in the life of Ignatius, who wanted to root his life in Jesus. What does it mean to be an instrument of the church and of the Society of Jesus? I’m on the Board of Trustees at Prep and I bring that perspective to conversations at that level.
G: I wanted to know the community better. Coming out of COVID I have felt more connected this year. I see many of our students as not having the same opportunities for experiences as in the past, particularly with people in the community who are marginalized. I think this is such an important thing for our students as they grapple with some of the questions and consider
In a post-pandemic world what do you see that needs prayer and healing at Prep?
G: I think what we are doing for the kids now is great. We are making up for lost time. I feel like they need more of what we are giving them. But we need to continue discerning what really matters. I think COVID forced us to do that, but at the same time it stripped a lot of things away. Now we have a lot more in our life, but we still need to focus on what matters most.
Prep is at a leadership crossroads with the search for a new president. What qualities do you wish for this person to possess and what type of vision do you hope they have for Prep?
R: The position profile (on school website) articulates a lot. What you see there reflects the voice of the larger community. We are effectively looking for a unicorn. I don’t even think Jesus would qualify. We will just have to wait and see.
In spring 2020 Jesuit Superior General Fr. Sosa visited Seattle Prep and articulated more fully the Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAPs). Do you feel Prep is successfully carrying them out?
R: I think we do a lot of the things mentioned in the UAPs really well at Prep already. When you look at, for
Below: Fr. Ryan Rallanka, S.J. brings his spirit and wisdom to the pivotal Kairos retreat. Fr. Greg Celio conducts.
Left: The multi-talented Fr. Greg Celio, S.J.
how to live their life as men and women for others. I think for me it’s important to facilitate those direct experiences whether its through immersion or service.
example, walking with the excluded and marginalized, care for our common home, journeying with our youth to a hopeful future. Examples are our work with Urban
PANTHERPlunge and Restorative Justice. We try to inspire our students to analyze our society and who is experiencing marginalization. How do we uphold that god-given dignity that we are all created in the image of God? That work is never done.
G: During the sponsorship process we were asked to look at ourselves through the lens of the UAPs There is that reflection built into this process. That will then influence our goals at Prep for the next six years.
What advice do you have for Cyrus in the next steps of his journey as a Jesuit?
G: Take vows. Hold on to this Prep experience. I know it’s been really life giving for him. It’s confirmed his vocation.
There will be moments ahead that are not as exciting, so he needs to remember this is why I am doing it
R: As Cyrus goes into philosophy and theology studies, I think it’s good to be reminded of who he is studying for. For example, keep his students in the back of his mind as he is studying. How do you apply those concepts to a 15-year-old student? Why would it matter to them? If he can make those connections, he will be able to more effectively integrate what he is studying.
What inspires you about the leadership of the Jesuits who have come before you?
G: What inspires me is their humanity and goodness. They are not perfect men. But I think at our best we have a sense of our humanity and our weakness. We give people space to be human. That’s what the Jesuits, who have been my mentors, exhibit. The have helped me to accept myself.
R: St. Ignatius. I haven’t met him, but he allegedly had a moment where he was considering if the Church were, for whatever reason, to dissolve the Society of Jesus, he would just need 15 minutes of prayer and he would be able to let go. So, I think it’s important to have a sense of detachment. Let me frame it more positively. In the Spiritual Exercises and Principals and Foundations, St. Ignatius talks about this Ignatian difference. It’s not apathy, it’s a perspective to hold things lightly. Sometimes when we cling too tightly to reality it can stifle where God or the spirit is leading us.
If you talk to some Jesuits, they are doing work that they never could have imagined doing or pursued on their own. They were put in uncomfortable situations that did not necessarily feed their gifts or talents. They have an openness to challenges, difficulties, uncertainty. I’ve seen Jesuits who just fundamentally trust that God is present in the midst of brokenness. In my own life as a Jesuit I’ve come to trust in this process.
“
A large part of our work as Jesuits is to just simply remind people of who we say we are. We need to be rooted in our identity. Who we are as Jesuits, rooted in the life of Ignatius, who wanted to root himself in Jesus. What does it mean to be an instrument of the church and of the Society of Jesus? ” — Fr. Ryan Rallanka, S.J.
Retired priest Fr. Paul Fitterer, S.J. gave over 60 years of service to Jesuit schools (Gonzaga Prep, Seattle Prep, and Seattle University). He started as a teacher in 1957 and retired from Seattle Prep after 38 years on staff. Before coming to Seattle Prep, “Jesuit newcomer” Cyrus Habib was assigned to the Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in Los Gatos, California. At this Jesuit retirement center he had the unique opportunity to meet Jesuits who have been in their ministry for 60, 70 years and sat with the legendary Fr. Paul to have the following heart-to-heart discussion.
P: You said you were told by your novice master that you were assigned to Prep, but you also mentioned there was something in you that told you to go to Seattle Prep. What was that?
C: This phase is called the long experiment, and it’s almost always affiliated with an educational institution. I personally expressed to my novice director that I had a strong desire to work in a high school. I’ve taught undergrads in law school at Seattle University, so I felt that I had spent enough time in the higher education environment, but I hadn’t entered a high school campus since I’d been a high school student myself.
“Why Seattle Prep?” specifically has more to do with the fact that I’m from the Seattle area. I know that because of my personal and professional past that this
state is also part of my future. I believe that God wants me to make use of my relationships, my knowledge of Washington State, and my experience here. The idea of spending part of my novitiate in Seattle, and to be here –not as a lawyer, or a politician, or a law professor, but as a Jesuit – is really an exciting prospect.
C: Now that young people are facing so many challenges and doing so without a strong faith tradition, it seems like schools are mission locations to Jesuits. I’m wondering how you’ve experienced that during your many years there as a religious mentor?
P: I was mostly involved in the retreat programs during my last years at Prep, and I think they’re marvelous in terms of what they do for young people. Richard Rohr’s book Adam Returns is about male initiation and how that
Above: Cyrus Habib and Fr. Paul in conversation.
doesn’t happen in our society anymore. I think that’s a loss. One of the things that the retreat program is bringing back is helping young people go through that rite of passage. In fact, during sophomore year the retreats are separate for boys and girls. Those kinds of retreats and the Kairos program are wonderful, not only as an intellectual movement, but in terms of personal, wholehearted involvement of young people in spiritual issues.
C: How do we to talk about the Gospel and the teachings of Christ at this time when people are increasingly skeptical?
P: That’s true. I started teaching over 50 years ago, and theology changes so dramatically that what is taught now is so different. I remember when I started teaching the 15 essential questions, and the students would have to memorize the answers to them. It’s a lot more open now.
Cyrus, your background is so rich. The fact that you’ve had to make a variety of vocational choices and find God is a wonderful story to offer the students. I’m sure you’ve got the questions about how you became the lieutenant governor, or what it’s like to go to law school at Harvard. The students like the experiential, and your background is rich in that.
C: One of the experiences that has been central to my life has been that of finding my Catholic faith and converting. I think it’s one of the reasons why I started asking these questions about seekers, or people who are not a part of the Church. I was so secular in high school and college that the thought of me stepping in a church would’ve been laughable to all my friends. No one would’ve believed it. Yet it was while I was in grad school that a classmate of mine, a cradle Catholic, invited me to Mass one day for the music and the aesthetic experience. That was what started my process of deciding I wanted to become a Catholic. I want people to know that wherever you are, whether you feel like there is a God or not, keep an open mind. An invitation may come to you. Don’t harden your heart but see where it takes
you because you may fall in love. It’s essential for someone to come out of a Jesuit high school understanding, ‘I’m open. Let’s see where this goes.’
C: Although I’ve only been in the Society for a year, we’ve had so many conversations about how important it is to have Jesuits physically on campus at our institutions. Where do you see, as a Jesuit, the relationship is special with the students and how did that manifest itself in their behavior and way of approaching you?
P: The students found me open and present. I took them seriously; I think that’s the main thing. It’s interesting that when I started teaching there were 31 Jesuits and 3 Laypeople. Now at Seattle Prep there’s 3 Jesuits including you, but what I think Seattle Prep and the other 3 Jesuit high schools in the Northwest have done remarkably is the formation of lay people into the core of what makes a Jesuit school.
C: Do you think of yourself first as a Jesuit or a priest?
P: First as a Jesuit.
C: Has it always been that way?
P: Pretty much. For me, the priesthood is a necessity to do the work that I’ve been called to do, but the spirit in which I do it is due to the fact that I’ve consistently done The Spiritual Exercises. That’s the framework of my life; talk about a right of initiation.
C: For me, the Exercises were a very powerful experience particularly around the issue of vocational discernment. I started thinking about becoming a Jesuit in March 2018. I had gone two and a half years without having strong doubts, but on this first break day there was such a sense of “You’re such an idiot, you’re so far along and other people would’ve killed to be where you are but look where you are now. It’ll be forever for you to get back to where you were in order to make a difference in the world,” and it was physically painful. It felt like a punch of remorse to my gut. So, I talked to my spiritual director and we walked through it together. What was this voice and what did it sound like? It was contemptuous and mocking. It was all the things I know God is not, but that I also know I am not. All the voices I was hearing were what I imagined other people saying about me, but in my heart, I knew that I made the right choice. One of the graces of that period that has stuck with me for over a year was actually this very dark moment.
“ What I think Seattle Prep and the other three Jesuit high schools in the Northwest have done remarkably is the formation of lay people into the core of what makes a Jesuit school.”
Fr. Paul Fitterer, S.J.
FEBRUARY 2022
President Search Begins
SEPTEMBER 2022
Semi-Finalists Visit Campus
OCTOBER 2022
Finalists Selected
NOVEMBER 2022
New President Announced
JULY 2023
New President
Officially Begins
It’s an exciting time at Seattle Prep as we continue the search for our next president. As we have written about in earlier communications, the search firm Educational Directions has been enlisted to lead this effort. The firm is currently reaching out to Catholic educational leaders, both nationally and internationally, utilizing a variety of resources to recruit individuals who most closely align with what we are looking for in our next leader.
The search process began this past spring with a series of conversations about what the Prep community wanted of their next leader. The search committee worked in collaboration to develop a position profile t hat speaks to what makes Seattle Prep unique as well as outlines the opportunities for our next president. Efforts will continue over the summer and will involve extensive evaluation of potential candidates, including multiple conversations, video interviews, and reference checking.
Ultimately, the search firm will present a group of top prospects to the search committee at the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year. The search committee, with assistance from the firm, will review candidates and determine whom they would like to invite for semi-finalist interviews in Seattle. At the conclusion of the semi-finalist interviews, the search committee will deliberate and select finalists.
Each finalist will spend time with stakeholders in one-on-one meetings, small group meetings, and larger forums. Ultimately, both the school and the finalists will be trying to determine “fit.” The search committee and our search professionals will be working diligently during these final phases to further evaluate candidates, conducting extensive reference and background checks and collecting community feedback to determine whom they will recommend to the Board of Trustees and the Jesuit Provincial for final review and approval.
The next president of Seattle Prep is someone who….
• embraces, articulates and promotes Seattle Prep’s Jesuit Catholic identity and its dedication to Jesuit educational values.
Image: Early Prep leadership Fr. Victor Garran, S.J. and Fr. Adrian Sweene, S.J.
• is a practicing Catholic, with an understanding of Jesuit charism.
• is a strategic thinker who can build upon a school faith community, and demonstrates leadership experience in an education setting.
• balances the traditions at Seattle Prep with a forwardthinking approach.
• demonstrates executive leadership and management abilities to build effective teams and to have an aptitude for and commitment to financial management and fundraising.
• is an energizing and inspirational individual with strong communication and community-building skills.
• embraces the school’s culture and its commitment to diversity, both in the student body as well as in staffing, and mentors and encourages administration, faculty, and staff to build a culture of trust that supports individual growth.
• has a knowledge of Catholic teaching as well as a current understanding of directions and issues in the Catholic Church, including pastoral, social, and moral dimensions of church life, and the role of Catholic education within the Church.
• connects easily with parents, teachers, students, and alumni, is compassionate and empathetic.
• balances decisive leadership with respectful collaboration and inclusivity.
• has confidence, good critical thinking skills, and demonstrates—and acts with—moral courage.
• exhibits a strong sense of humor.
You may continue to check our website for updates, www.seaprep.org
Dr. Regina Melonson, left, and Jolene Boyle, right, say goodbye after a combined 61 years at Seattle Prep.
Thirty-six years later Jolene Boyle is still as youthful as when she first arrived at Seattle Prep. You would be hard pressed to find a person or program at the school that has not been touched by her kindness or charmed by her zest for life. Collegio. Drama. Community Ministry. The Counseling Office. Founder of the Young Womens Retreat, Coffeehouse and the student club One Voice. And, of course, her myriad of singing performances and those hard to beat costumes on spirit days! Jolene might be ending her career at Prep, but she will continue to help others as she expands her private practice as a licensed mental health therapist specializing in work with young teens and their parents.
“I can’t believe that I had the good fortune to work alongside you for 25 years! I could go to your office - a safe refuge - unannounced, and you always had time for me. I will miss that. But what I loved the most is your singing. I clearly remember how I felt when I heard you singing for the first time – I had goosebumps all over me!”
—Márta Pasztor“It has been such an incredible gift for me to work alongside you in helping to form our Kairos leaders over the past couple of years. You lead with such incredible warmth, light, and love, which helps our students know more deeply the truth of who they are and how they can shine their light out into the world. I have been so inspired by your passion and care for our students and the way you guide them to become their best selves. They instinctually trust you with their brokenness and burdens, because they know they will be received with authentic and genuine love.”
—Fr. Ryan Rallanka, S.J.“Seeing you with students to this day is a marvel to watch, because you connect with each and every student with such ease, I don’t know how you do it - you truly have a gift for counseling. Students have been so lucky to have you these past few decades. You are a legend here and always will be!”
—Barry Rosellini ’05
There is no better person to say “thank you” than a student who has benefited from Prep’s Learning Resource Center and Regina Melonson’s tireless commitment to education. Agnes Davila ’21 met Melonson when she first arrived on the Seattle Prep campus. “Welcoming, warm, and loving,” glows Davila. Now, five years later as a firstyear college student, and 2,000 miles away, Agnes is the one reaching out to new students on the Loyola University of Chicago campus, paying forward the life lessons taught by Melonson.
“As a person with ADHD, Regina was the first person who acknowledged me as a whole human and showed me that I am not defined by my weakness but by my strengths,” says Davila. The Learning Resource Center at Prep, headed by Melonson, designed an Individualized Education Program that provided Davila with study skills, extended test time and support for writing essays. But, it was Melonson’s persistent belief in advocating for what you need that stuck with Davila. “If I wasn’t getting something at Prep she would step in and say, ‘Agnes needs this to succeed.’” She wanted me to perform at my best and taught me to acknowledge what I need and then ask for it. She even engaged in mock meetings to simulate conversations with teachers.”
So, it came as a surprise when Davila went to college and was met with limited support from the school’s Student Accessibility Center. The assistance from the thinly staffed office was insufficient, unfriendly, and often felt more like an interrogation than support, says Davila. But rather than see this as an impediment Davila saw it as an opportunity. She set out to redefine accessibility for those who needed it the most. In March of her freshman year, she had cofounded a Students with Disabilities Coalition at her school. In 2022, this co-founder and her fledgling group of 10 students will provide support and advocacy for Loyola students with learning and/or physical disabilities and fundraise for the Accessibility Office. Already the student organization has generated buzz, social media is in full swing, student government has offered their partnership, and the coalition has even lined up their first guest speaker—a campus professor with autism—to share his story about succeeding in academia.
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Davila has it right. “I had such a great experience at Prep,” she says. “The school gave me the foundation to advocate for myself and that has made all the difference.”
Top left: Why do people make the decisions they do? Agnes is obsessed with this question as she pursues her studies in neuroscience, a field she has “fallen in love” with and calls her version of psychology.
This summer she is working as a Project Moderator for Pactera Edge, collecting data to improve Artificial Intelligence with regards to diversity.
In memory of beloved parent, Board of Trustee, and volunteer Jen Jordan, a Prayer Garden will be incorporated into the landscaping plan for the entrance to the Merlino Center. Located on the north slope of the building, adjacent to the walkway, the Prayer Garden will be completed in spring 2023.
Above, left: Foundation is finally poured four months later than scheduled!
Above, center: Steel delivered and erected for the construction of the structural detailing is complete. Metal decks installed for the roof and mezzanine.
image moved to the left
The last six months have been a rollercoaster of good news, bad news moments for campus construction.
The good news is that after over a four-month concrete drivers’ strike, construction of the 12,700 square-foot multi-purpose Merlino Center got back on track in early April.
The bad news is that due to the increased costs of materials and labor, supply chain issues, concrete delays, strike delays, and inflation, we need to raise more money to meet escalating costs.
This summer, Prep will reinstate the Level the Field, Raise the Bar Campaign and associated fundraising efforts necessary to complete the project through the end of the year.
The project continues to pick up speed with the concrete and steel shaping the new Prep landscape. Construction will continue this summer and into the upcoming school year. If you are on campus, be sure to stop by and see the progress.
Thank you to everyone who has supported this exciting addition that completes the Prep campus. We truly appreciate your continued support.
Questions? Please contact Liz Brennan, Campaign Director, at lbrennan@seaprep.org
Above: Merlino Center interior supporting student co-curricular programming.
Left to right: Megan Lee, Sophia Zaboukos, Ellie Read, and Daniela Sekhar. 2022 graduates at Benaroya Hall.
Left to right: David Nguyen with friends. Anna Himes, Dyllan Hoffman, and Ryan Hoang. Opposing page, left to right: Dylan Limp, Duncan Limp, and Aiyanah Kasota. Daniel Olukoya and family.
Katelyn Trenaise Alexander
Nora Elizabeth Anderson
Drew Douglas Arthur Lucas Everett Austin
José Luis Avilés-Baquero
Joseph August Bannecker Madeleine Jane Beer Zoe Yu-qun Acher Beer Liam Méthylène Bell Aidan Louis Bilger Flore Marie Bindel Elijah Rene Black
Kylee Bautista Bogle Elizabeth Simone Bollich William Stephen Bollich Elena Sophie Bonilla Elaina Bosler
Greta Sofia Bowman
Lauren Faires Brant Lily Ling Brecht
Mason Webb Brown
Allison Kendall Burton
Theodore Wallace Bushfield
Ainsley Brown Cahill
John Francis Calvert Daniela Castillo Cayon Sydney Bernadette Chalmers
Abigail Caroline Cochran
Nora Jean Conaty
Maxwell James Conklin Desmond Philip Conn
Nathaniel Isaac Cross Grant Snyder Cunningham Moses Girma Dagmawi Maria Pilar Davis
Rory de Vere White Annabelle Elizabeth Deasy Alaina Carmelita deGuzman John Michael Deines Faith Tiblete Dickey Sophie Rudolph Docktor Ava Marie Dotson Flora Mae Eagan Quinn Ulric Elliott Betania Habte Ephrem Daniel Stephen Faricy Sophia Caroline Ferro
Gabriel Joaquin GalindoNavarro
Conor James Gent Patrick John Gent Andrew Michael Gladnick Christopher Stephen Golden Dominic George Greene Anne Marie Gregg
Alexia Rain Gunderson Sally Faye Hamblet
Lucas Philip Hamilton Audra Hanlon Zachary Matthew Harding
Austin James Harnetiaux Ethan David Harnett
Zachary Robert Hauck Elliot Jeneanne Talenti Hawkes Hobbs Hegedus Anna Rebecca Himes Ryan Khoi Hoang Dyllan Matthew Hoffman Ian Michael Holloway Callie Sheridan Iversen Isabel Mercedes Jackman Matthew Juyoung Jang Madeline Reata Johnson Reed Macallan Johnson
Benoit Tommy Jurion Lucy Corinne Kain Elizabeth Damianne Kaiser Elsa Mae Kammereck Aiyanah Sequoia Kasota
Joseph William Keaton Sara Margaret Kenefick Ailbhe Mairead Killalea Aveoleila Marie Kitiona
Kennedy Selene Klein Sophie Anna Knifong Hayden Asher Kosiara Katherine Meigui Kraft Liam Joseph Krikawa Samuel Joaquin Lain Hedden James Lucas Larkin Katherine Grace Lauinger Megan Le Margaret Jane Lee
Duncan James Limp Dylan Olivia Limp Grace Elizabeth Linke Gael Vicente Loor Sophia Sylvia Lovejoy Neven Milan Marinkovic Sule Dominic Martinez Ellison Clark Maul Isabel Alexis May Isaiah Allen May Theodore Charles May Finley Grace McGee
Samuel Ward McGee Katherine Leland McLaughlin Eric Smiley Melder Alessandro Lukas Millan Ian Cullen Miller
Maia Ysabel Miller
Vito Peter Mirante Wyatt David Mitchke Ryan Ashton Morrell Tyler Joseph Mrus George Aloysius Mullally Emi Nakata David Nguyen Michael Minh Nguyen Emma Catherine Nisbet Abigail Frances Nolan Beatrice Valencia Obaob John Lawrence O’Donnell Lillian Grace O’DonoghueMcDonald
Kate Judith Oest-Larsen Daniel Olubamidele Olukoya Connor Patrick O’Neill Ian Nava Orejana Heide Rose Orleth Hudson Walker Parent Charles Joseph Pehl
Piper Sydney Goodland Pickar Ava Rose Podany
Thomas Andrew Polzin
Anika Poythress
Camille Hua Kelley Randall Elizabeth Maria Read
Matthew Alexander Reyes
Gustave Robert Ricard
Katherine Nicole Ridgeway Anna Christine Roberts
Benjamin Radclyffe Roberts Cole Robinson Mathew Tor Rothrock Owen James Rulyak Maria Dolores Russo
Marcus Tanure Sanches
Daniel Arturo Santacruz Margaret Rose Sauvage
Roger Anderson Sauvage Will Steven Schimmelman
Daniela Uma Sekhar Elizabeth Frances Shigo Sydney Kiana Shimizu Jackson Edward Shoemaker
Ava Esley Simmons
Braeden Michael Smith
Mac Callan Smith
Causey Marie Spencer Gabriella Clairae Stuart
Sally Lynn Swanson Mary Nile Ta
Dylan Christopher Tessin
Carson James Thies
Marcus Aurelius Tomici
Kate Elizabeth Toni John Athanasios Tramountanas Max Tran
Karin Vandenburgh
Bill Edwards Vaouli Jr
John Kelso Velling Alice Thynese Vimal Clare Samantha Wagner
Sophie Grace Walters Abigail Jane Wilwerding
Henry Kenneth Wiseman
Franklin Holt Witter
Jayce Keller Woodward Camden James Wyatt Aidan Tautvydas Wylie Sophia Grace Zaboukos Justin Zhang
Sawyer David Shoultz Ashley Michelle Silva-SoriaJen was bestowed with the 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award at this year’s graduation, in recognition for her ongoing efforts changing the face of educational opportunity.
Sometimes your life only makes sense when you look at it in the rear-view mirror. Jen Davis Wickens ’96, the CEO of Impact Schools, now sees her life mission clearly, as she leads the effort of creating a successful network of public charter schools in Washington State.
It was the intersection of tragedy and fortune that anchored Jen’s future as an education advocate. Jen was a freshman at Seattle Prep, when her sister, Amy ’94, died in a car accident. “She was my best friend, and it rocked my world,” she says. Both sisters were students at Prep and both members of the varsity tennis team.
“The accident happened prior to state finals,” says Jen. “I wasn’t playing in the final tournament, but my sister was scheduled to play doubles. I was asked to play for her.” She did and Prep won the tournament. Jen however did not return to school for the remainder of the year.
“I think I would be in a very different place if it weren’t for Prep,” says Jen. “It was people like Kathy Krueger who helped me navigate an incredibly challenging time in my life. She helped me work through the decision to return to Prep. I am so grateful for this place. Kathy is a symbol for what the faculty and staff represented to me, a big safety net.”
So, it’s not a coincidence that today Jen works with communities where many of the students are coping with trauma. “What’s different is that I am a white woman and I work mostly in BIPOC communities,” she says “I don’t deeply understand poverty and other issues my families are facing but I do understand loss and trauma. I have a lot of empathy for it.” Ironically, the work has also been healing for her. “I feel so lucky to have had a cocoon to find that passion and ignite this deep love of service,” she says.
After graduating from Willamette University with an English degree, Jen completed her master’s in teaching at Seattle University. From the minute she stepped into her first teaching assignment at Nathan Hale High School, she knew she had found her calling. “I loved the kids. I felt most connected to the ones experiencing tragedy and loss. I wanted to create a loving environment but one that was
also highly rigorous. Prep did that for me.”
Degree in hand, Jen took a job at Tyee High School (at the time the most impovershed school in the state). Racial tension, insufficient resources, and an inadequate curriculum did not deter her.
With a visionary principal at the helm, she joined a team of five teachers who traveled around the country learning from the highest performing highpoverty schools. Jen says, “I saw schools with kids who have some of the greatest needs receiving the most amazing educations. I said, ‘we need that in Washington State. So, we set out to do just that.’”
A subsequent Gates Foundation grant provided monies for a restructuring that called for three principals at Tyee. The teaching staff overwhelmingly called for Jen to be one of the principals. I was a new teacher, so I went to my mentor and said they are asking me to do this,
but I don’t feel ready. He said, “you are never ready, but you are ready. You need to do this.” Jen sought formal training and was admitted to New Leaders for New Schools, a selective urban principal training program, in Oakland, California. She drew inspiration from the most challenging environments. This motivated her to
found her first charter school – Impact Academy, which to date is one of the highest performing public schools for low-income students in the Bay Area. Two years later, Jen was chosen for a selective Principal Fellowship at Stanford University.
Jen returned to Seattle in 2011 to be closer to her father who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She got a job at Seattle Public Schools (SPS). “When I took the job at SPS I had to find out if we could create great schools within the district system. Very early on the answer was no. There were impossible barriers. The conversations were all about the adults and their needs and not the kids. I knew right away this was not what I was meant to do.”
At the time there were no public charter schools in the state of Washington. Jen set out to change that. She joined a group of advocacy partners and they drafted the first charter law. It was approved by a narrow margin. Jen quit her job at SPS and started a state association to create
areas of South Seattle, Tukwila, and Tacoma. Impact is the first homegrown charter network in Washington with an innovative elementary model that centers social emotional learning and infused trauma informed instruction with rigorous instructional practices. The schools start with free, full day transitional kindergarten which Jen says is a game changer for families. The schools outperform neighboring school districts on state test scores and have long wait lists. Washington charters serve a high percentage of students of color and students in poverty. Yet, the opposition to charters is strong. “The politics of this job are in the state legislature,” says Jen. Charter schools don’t get the same level of funding as district schools even though they are public, free and serve high-needs kids. It’s the protection of the status quo practices that are designed for some to have a lot and others to not. Those are the systems we need to disrupt. I will need to keep up the political fight, so kids get the funding they deserve.”
At her core Jen is a teacher. “Yes, I am a CEO of a multi-million-dollar non-profit, and we open schools every year, but I love teaching. I love human beings. I want to see what makes each person unique. As a teacher in the classroom, I got to do that with my kids. Now, I do that with adults. With each person I coach or manage, I picture them in their greatest light, and I think about how to get them there,” she says.
the infrastructure for public charter schools. “We need charter schools here,” says Jen “because we have families that need choices. Not every family can go to school at special places like Prep.” Washington has been one of the last states to allow public charter schools.
As co-founder of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, Jen also launched the first public charter high school in Washington State — Summit Sierra. In only its second year, Summit Sierra, (located in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District), was named one of the most innovative schools in the world. The thriving school has a 99% college attendance rate to four-year colleges, with the majority being the first in their family to attend college.
After this initial success with Summit, families began to ask for a school for their younger children. That was the impetus for the creation of Impact Public Schools which today serves 1,200 underserved students in the diverse
“One of the advantages to being a public charter school is the ability to be nimble,” shares Jen. “Whenever we have a chance to share or partner, we are all in. COVID created opportunities for both. We were able to disseminate the effective practices we learned and bring them to small, rural districts in Eastern Washington that were really struggling. That is a partnership that continues today.
Jen says, “Many of our families experienced tremendous hardships during COVID—loss of homes, hunger, jobs. Finding resources to stabilize them was real. And it still is. I would say the most challenging time was reopening this fall. Our families and educators were holding two years of COVID trauma. Our motto was ‘one child at a time and we will figure it out.’”
“A failing education system is a problem for everyone,” says Jen. We have the ideas, the wealth, the passion, and the talent in this city to have an amazing educational system, whether or not you choose for your family to opt into it. We all have to care about schools because it’s our community. My hope for Washington and Seattle, specifically, is that we can stop talking about charter, public, private and just talk about excellent schools.
Yes, I am a CEO of a multi-million-dollar non-profit, and we open schools every year, but I love teaching. I love human beings. I want to see what makes each person unique.”
—Jen Davis Wickens
One of the most significant aspects of teaching and leading the theatre program at Seattle Prep is seeing the impact you have on students. Students come to us as barely teenagers and four years later leave us as young adults. The transformation is truly remarkable, but the long-term impact a teacher has on a student is never fully realized during their time at Prep. Sometimes it can take years to see the spark of inspiration you gave to a student fully realized.
This is one of the reasons I genuinely love our Alumni Service Core (ASC) program. It allows me to reconnect with former students I have taught in my acting and film classes and directed in our theatre arts program. I see the true spark they received during their years at Seattle Prep and how their passions have evolved throughout their college experience.
This is true with Jeffrey Pelayo ’17. When he started his high school journey, like most freshmen, he was eager but needed to explore many opportunities to find his true gifts. He had a tremendous amount of creativity and energy, quickly finding his home with our PULSE dance team. He had many friends in our theatre program, but it took him until his junior year to finally audition. He first earned the role of Pugsley Addams in the Prep production of The Addams Family, and the following year he showcased his talents as a featured singer and dancer in Anything Goes . Jeffrey felt right at home on stage and is the type of performer who puts everything into every line, dance step and song. He is a performer who naturally inspires those around him with his infectious optimism and smile. Jeffrey also
impressed me as a student in my filmmaking class. He found a passion for telling stories through the medium of cinema, showcasing his natural skills as a visual artist. These and many other experiences at Prep led him to a bigger world of design, dance, and tv production at Fordham University.
When Jeffrey decided to return to Seattle Prep as part of ASC5, I was thrilled. He wanted to focus on theatre and filmmaking, and I knew he would be a valuable asset to our program. This past year I selected The Imaginary Invalid as our fall production. Due to the pandemic, we had not done a show with a live audience in over a year. I knew we needed to bring laughter back into our theatre, so selecting a comedy was perfect. I first directed this production of The Imaginary Invalid eight years earlier, when Jeffrey was a freshman. He was excited as he remembered seeing the show with friends. Jeffrey jumped right into rehearsals sharing his talents and artistry with the students. He was eager to learn, ask questions, and discover the joys (and frustrations) of directing. Jeffrey became more than just an assistant director; he became a role
Above: Jeffrey Pelayo ’17 as Pugsley Addams in the Prep production of The Addams Family.
model for the cast. He brought his unique, infectious energy and enthusiasm. He shared with students how his high school arts experiences helped him discover his passions. As for me, it was great to see how my impact as a teacher and director sparked his creativity and provided inspiration — all things I see him now passing on to Prep students.
Jeffrey’s impact continued to grow throughout the year. He took on more prominent roles with our PULSE dance team, added the position of Assistant Choreographer to our production of The SpongeBob Musical, and took on leadership roles in retreats and the student club OneVoice. He has truly made the most of this opportunity to give back to Prep. Jeffrey discovered a new passion for working with students, and I know these experiences will stay with him as he returns to New York to carve out his niche as an artist. During his time as an ASC member, Jeffrey has seen the inspiration he has ignited in our students and the larger Prep community. But like all of us who are teachers know, he may never fully understand the extent to which his spark has inspired these students for years to come.
Above: Jeffrey Pelayo ’17 in the Prep production of Anything Goes, a wild story aboard an ocean liner bound from New York to London.
Left: Jeffrey’s shocking quagmire in The Addams Family.
PANTHER
The school year comes to an end along with the baseball season, and the boys celebrate their seniors’ graduation from high school as well as the team. Regardless of the sport, each teammate experiences the same cycle until it’s their turn to move on, and each teammate inevitably steps into a position of influence – of seniority, if you will. When it comes their time to be the leaders of the team, the coaches remain to point them in the right direction.
Prep baseball coaches include John Ostrander ’16 (Freshmen), Max Bayern (Freshmen), Greg Celio, S.J. (Jr Varsity), Mike Massoth (Jr Varsity), Jon Humphrie ’09 (Varsity), and Will Hall ’14 (Varsity), all led by Varsity Coach and Program Head Max Engel ’96. All seven make the trek to West Seattle for practice each day, and the coaches aren’t only present on the playfield, but the classrooms as well. If the name Greg Celio sounded familiar, it’s because he’s mentioned as “Fr. Greg Celio, S.J.” on page 10. Freshman coach Max Bayern is Assistant to the Principal and coached the Freshman boys’ basketball team last season. JV Coach Massoth is Head Coach of the girls’ bowling team, and Head Coach Engel is also a math teacher; not to mention that half the coaches also graduated as Panthers.
“Being there for others on and off the field is an important characteristic of a leader,” said Luke Malzewski ’23. The players remember that even when they weren’t playing the game, the coaches would remain present for them. Malzewski and his teammate Alex Howard ’23 shared their favorite memories, including times when the coaches would drive the busses and Coach Massoth would crack jokes over dinner.
Ivan Alindogan ’23 could recollect Coach Bayern’s presence during a Kairos retreat as well, “He wasn’t trying to stand out, but his humorous and enthusiastic personality was enough. Kairos is a very emotional retreat, and Coach Bayern made me feel comfortable to share my emotions with my small group.”
“Coach Engel is humble, but he really deserves a pat on the back for bringing back Bridge of Promise,”
said Brian Meza ’92, science teacher and father of Noah Meza ’24. Bridge of Promise, a non-profit created to enrich the lives of individuals with developmental disabilities, annually meets with the team for a game of ball. In 2017, when Jesse Franklin ’17 won the Gatorade Award, he dedicated eleven thousand dollars of grants to Bridge of Promise. The article for the Let’s Play Ball! event in the 2017 edition of Panther Tracks, written by Coach Engel, focuses more on Franklin’s contribution than his own organization of the event. Humility aside, Engel does deserve some recognition. The event with Bridge of Promise is one of the first athletic volunteer opportunities to be brought back since the pandemic.
“Playing baseball with Bridge of Promise made me remember that baseball is a game for everyone,” Malzewski shared, “Their raw happiness brought me joy because it’s a feeling I share for the game, too.”
“It excited me to be a leader and to be part of a lifechanging experience,” Alindogan added. Notice how simply making their students excited to become leaders is what defines the coaches as leaders themselves. The coaches weren’t just inspirations because of their success, but because they made the players comfortable to be themselves. They built positive memories that the players can always associate with the game, and as they progress to higher positions each year the players ease into bigger responsibility. Alindogan continued, “Implementing these characteristics will set the tone for juniors, sophomores, and freshmen.”
The coaches’ presence in the Prep community is what defines their influence on the baseball team, and what will maintain their impact on each class as they take their turns stepping into the spotlight of senior year. Although the baseball coaches are a strong example, every team at Prep is led by strong individuals who are steadfast to show their enthusiasm for the students’ progress. They’re alums, teachers, and trained professionals who love what they do, and each player is influenced by that attitude to become the same.
—LUKE MALZEWSKI ’23Opposite page, above, left to right: Coaches Max Bayern, Max Engel ’96, Mike Massoth, Fr. Greg Celio, S.J., and Jon Humphrie ’09.
Opposite page, left: The all-American pregame salute and the camaraderie of the Prep baseball team.
“Being there for others on and off the field is an important characteristic of a leader.”
ONE GROUP OF MENTORS WILL ALWAYS BE PRESENT TO SUPPORT THE PLAYERS’ JOURNEY – THE COACHES
“We had a truly remarkable season that really took the efforts of everyone in the program to get ourselves into a position to win the Division Championship. That in itself is as exciting as winning medals.”
—COACH TOM KELLETAbove, left to right: Natalia Peng ’24 and Claire Rulak ’24 row for the bronze! Coach Kellett with four of the seven seniors who will row for their colleges in the fall (Mimi Randall, Maddie Beer, and Nora Conaty).
A classic Northwest drizzle, windy lake currents, a blaze of hot afternoon sun—to be a rower is to be at the mercy of the weather. But a love for the water and the rhythmic sound of the oars hitting its surface keeps Prep athletes coming back to field the crew team year after year. And it’s worth it. This year the team reaped dividends when it earned two new honors: a division regional championship and a record qualification of boats at nationals.
Prep established its rowing program as a varsity sport in spring 2016. That inaugural season kicked off with 17 Panther athletes. This year 72 students participated in the program.
This year’s brilliant finish stared with stellar early season races where Prep racked up a staggering 16 wins and 17 silver medals in the first two competitions of the year. The strength of the team lead to an invite to the prestigious Windermere Cup Regatta hosted by the University of Washington, Seattle Yacht Club and Windermere Real Estate.
Despite rowing through the Montlake Cut daily this honor marked the first appearance of Seattle Prep at this event. Racing over 2000 meters, roughly 6.5 - 7.5 minutes, the mens quad took silver by one second while the women blew away the competition by over nine seconds.
In the Regatta Regional Championship, Prep competed in 20 events against 28 other teams from the region. The Panthers brought home three bronze, three silver and three gold medals, as well as qualified 12 crews to Youth
Nationals and won the Division 2 Regional for mid-sized programs, by over 50 points. This historic win was a first ever for this six-year new program.
During the last week of the school year, the Seattle Prep crew team traveled to Florida to compete at the Youth National Championships with 24 qualifying athletes—an all-time record. With seven regions and an average of 120 crews per event competing for the 28 slots at nationals, this is the pinnacle of junior rowing.
At the regatta, four of Prep’s eight crews placed in the top 12, four placed in the top 20. Both groups advanced to the finals.
The dynamic duo of Claire Rulyak ’24 and Natalia Peng ’24 raced their way to the podium and secured the bronze medal. This marked the first-ever medal at Youth Nationals for Seattle Prep women and only the second in the program’s history.
All five Prep seniors, Nora Conaty, Lily Brecht, Liam Bell, Hayden Kosiara and Joe Bannecker, represented Prep in its flagship boat, the quadruple sculls, and posted school records in their finals, with a time of 6:26.8 for the men and 7:06.6 for the women.
Winning aside, Coach Tom Kellet says, “We had a truly remarkable season that really took the efforts of everyone in the program to get ourselves into a position to win the Division Championship. That in itself is as exciting as winning medals. Having everyone come together to produce that win is really our biggest accomplishment.”
With a COVID impacted high school athletic career — a non-existent freshman season and a condensed sophomore season — this quiet, unassuming Prep junior took many by surprise this spring with a trio of individual state championships, winning the 100, 200 and 400-meter events. Will is the first sprinter at the WIAA 3A level to score a “triple crown” since 2006. His unprecedented performance in the 200M (:21.01) also set a new state record.
“Will is the best athlete I have ever coached,” says Deino Scott ’74, Will’s coach. “He does whatever I ask him to do and puts everything he has into it. He is truly a gift. If you coach long enough you have the fortune of working with an athlete like Will.”
The Panther Track & Field Team is the largest coed program at Seattle Prep. This year 150 students participated; 70 were sprinters like Will.
Will started his track career in sixth grade running with the Catholic Youth Organization. In seventh grade he joined a club team. At Prep he has continued to run year-round (with the Bellevue Club in the off season)
as well as play wide receiver on the Panthers’ football team. Will plans to continue playing both sports in his upcoming senior year.
Will sees himself as “highly competitive” although his quiet, pensive manner is a stark contrast to the stereotypical loud, energetic, outgoing athlete.
Will’s mantra about running is fundamental. “Running is black and white and highly personal,” he says. It’s this refreshing blend of pragmatism and humility that makes Will a standout.
Coach Scott says, “I have never heard Will complain. He models a fantastic work ethic and is a strong, silent leader for his teammates. He didn’t say more than 10 words last year. This year he cracked a few jokes. He has a great sense of humor! The kids absolutely love him. Sometimes when they come to me for help, I say, ‘just ask Will.’ That’s how much confidence I have in his athletic abilities and leadership.”
Looking to next year’s season, all eyes are on Will. Run Floyd Run might just prove to be the hit sequel to Run Forrest Run.
Above: On your marks, get set, go! Will Floyd leads the pack in scoring a triple crown win. This summer Will competed at the Outdoor Nationals in Eugene, Oregon, setting a personal record. In a remarkable feat he tried out and made the Canadian National Team. He will compete in the U20 World Championships in Cali, Colombia in August.
ROBOTICS WAS SURPRISINGLY ONE OF THE LOUDEST SUMMER CAMPS AT PREP THIS YEAR.
Throughout the entire week, friendly arguments among the student engineers and coaches could be heard from down the hall. Coach Kamaul Cross has a way of making students enthusiastic about learning, ensuring that the kids leave his camp excited to join the Robotics team at Prep. By the time they’re freshmen, the young men and women are already winning competitions and adding their names to leader boards.
Here are the standout moments of this year’s Prep robotics season:
1) Now participating in games with seven teams, Prep is producing the most teams to date.
2) The underclassmen are especially enthusiastic as of late, resulting in two freshman teams leading Prep to the State rankings last season.
3) Female interest is increasing, and our young women engineers are winning!
Left: The student yearbook is made possible by this dedicated team of writers, editors and photographers.
Below: Yearbook staffers Sally Swanson ’22, Lauren Brant ’22, Ailbhe Killalea ’22 and Kat Lauinger ’22 hold up this year’s award-winning student publication.
Throughout the school year, students work tirelessly on the yearbook in hopes that their work will reflect the positive memories made on campus. Thankfully, Seattle Prep’s Yearbook team has done so consistently, especially for the last 21 years. Each year that the team wins Walsworth’s Gallery of Excellence award they break a new record. Only the top 3% of schools nationwide win the award annually, and only two other schools in Western Washington earned the achievement this year. No other school has won more consecutive years than Prep.
Michael Danielson has supervised the Yearbook team for 27 years, “The number one reason we have
won consistently is that we prioritize team building. Everyone has distinct roles such as editor, designer and photographer, but they are all part of a larger team that sticks together for 12 months. Trust, teamwork, communications, compromise, problem-solving, and fun are all essential!”
The team plans to add networking to their priorities this year, with a four-day Yearbook camp at the top of their list. At the University of Puget Sound, they’ll gather with about 200 other students from the Northwest to learn the latest trends and techniques, to plan their content for the newest edition, and to learn from others in their field.
SEATTLE PREP PANTHER
Artwork by Elizabeth Bollich ’22
BY MARION EMME, COMMUNICATIONS & DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE
Although it’s no surprise that social justice would be an important focus for Seattle Prep students, there was something especially unique about the advocacy on campus this year. Despite the removal of required volunteer hours, students were still eager to use their time and talents to serve the community. They stepped into high-stake positions, organized, and came back together to truly consider their impact. The Seattle Prep campus is privileged to be the meeting place for these leaders, although some also happen to be Panther faculty.
One person at the forefront of the action is William Liu, who became Prep’s Director of the Magis Christian Service Program this year. The name of the position is unique, but it’s been around for a while. Liu’s predecessor did an amazing job of organizing food drives, encouraging students to volunteer for community service and bringing them on immersion trips as far
away as the Dominican Republic. With travel restrictions, the service opportunities were limited to Seattle’s borders, however Liu’s presence on campus has transformed the students’ understanding of service.
Originally from Los Angeles, Liu approached Seattle Prep with plenty of previous experience organizing at Jesuit schools. Educated at Loyola-Marymount University, he realized that service and social justice was part of his path. After working various positions at Jesuit high schools (including Dean of Enrollment Management at Verbum Dei High School), he moved to Seattle to teach Spanish at St. Joseph School while coaching basketball at Prep, and jumped on the opportunity to become Director of the Magis Christian Service Program a year later. Principal Erin Luby describes him as a man who wears a lot of hats, “It’s clear to me that he has a heart of gold and plenty of great potential. He holds a true commitment to our mission – passion for service, and passion for justice.”
His first in-person school year began with the annual Urban Plunge. It would usually be an overnight event on campus where the students would cook meals for those in need and then spend some time doing community service with a social service agency, but amidst a masked beginning to the school year, the students were socially distanced from the usual activities. Instead of a full 24 hours on campus, the retreat was divided to two separate days at St. Patrick’s Parish down the street, and rather than cooking food, the students put together supply baskets. What did remain was the community building and insightful discussions that helped the students understand more about marginalized communities in Seattle.
“I understand that homelessness is more prevalent than we originally thought.”
“Housing insecurity can happen to anyone.”
“I pledge to educate myself and look for ways to support those who are struggling.”
Liu was nervous to plan the immersion, especially since it was the students’ first year back from remote learning.
Left to right: Kate Broadbent, William Liu, and Haley Guinnaso ’17 from the Community Ministry Office. Group reflections pinned to the wall at Urban Plunge retreat. SEATTLE PREP’S MAGIS CHRISTIAN SERVICE PROGRAMHe was unsure how willing the students would be to participate. So, when the students returned to campus and entered the Community Ministry lounge to introduce themselves, Liu was pleasantly surprised.
“I didn’t know what to expect because I hadn’t met any of them yet,” Liu credits the senior Faith-in-Action students for Urban Plunge’s success, “but they took off and ran with it. They might not realize this because it was an assignment for them, but to me their attitude of ‘we got you - we’ll take care of it’ made me feel so welcomed.”
Liu’s collaborative work with the students continued throughout the year. As the advisor of the Global Justice Coalition (GJC) as well as Prep’s liaison with Jesuits West Collaborative Organizing for Racial Equity (CORE), it seemed like the theme of restorative justice simply fell into place. Liu established relationships with influential figures such as Gilda Sheppard and brought them on campus to initiate conversations with the students that they’ll always remember.
Sheppard, an award-winning film director, was first introduced to Liu through CORE. The organization planned an online showing of her short film Since I Been Down, which documents the life of inmates who seek liberation through education. Liu and a few Panthers were on Zoom, ready to join in the discussion with Sheppard and her film’s main character Kimonti Carter. Later, when Liu took a leap of faith and emailed Sheppard to invite her to campus, she responded quickly with an enthusiastic “Yes!”
The spring’s Peace and Justice Week concluded with an all-school assembly centered around Sheppard. Interviewed by members of GJC, the outgoing director expressed how impressed she was by Prep – that a private school would sponsor social justice groups and welcome advocacy, and that high school students would so readily get involved. Earlier in the week the students had organized their own discussions, registered around 200 of their peers to vote, and visited multiple locations
off-campus to offer their services. They wrote letters for Jesuit Restorative Justice Initiative, attended additional viewings of Since I Been Down, and hosted advocacy workshops with their classmates.
“It’ll be hard not to continue with this momentum. Obviously, you want to give students diverse experiences, but I hope that in some capacity we can continue learning about restorative justice as well,” Liu explained his plans after Peace and Justice Week. He’s excited to reintroduce travel to Prep’s Immersion Program by planning attendance at the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice in Washington DC. The weekend of workshops, speakers, and networking opportunities is sure to be a core memory to the students, but Liu is especially excited because it concludes with a day of advocacy on Capitol Hill.
The students are excited about the opportunities, too –the proof is in Magis Christian Service Program’s success after parting ways with the fixed service hour requirement. It’s been in Prep’s Jesuit values from the moment this campus was established. William Liu is simply the one to remind us of what Panthers are capable of, “Now they’re doing service because they understand that it’s part of their identity as a Panther. They don’t just do it for the requirement, but they’re considering the roots and the justices they’re trying to fight behind. They aren’t coming to my office to ask how many hours they have left; Instead, they’re approaching me to ask what they can do next.”
Liu will also be serving as the Interim Assistant Principal for Student Life for the 2022-2023 school year.
Clockwise, left to right: Gilda Sheppard interviewed by members of Global Justice Coalition during the Peace and Justice Week Assembly. Junior student volunteering at St. Patrick Parish on Community Day. Students viewing Gilda Sheppard’s Since I Been Down on campus.
Alain Enthoven ’48: Alain retired from teaching in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford in 2000, moving on to do consulting, lecturing, and writing for various journals. His main interest has been to reform health care in the US, and assure everyone affordable access to quality health care. He and his wife Rosemary are healthy and active in the Catholic community at Stanford!
Patrick Riley ’50: Patrick is in his “decade of gratitude”! Living in California, he takes courses in everything from Astronomy, Cosmology, Meteorology, and beyond. He’s enjoyed gardening, bird watching, zoom calls with his family, and gym workouts.
Tom Verd ’53: Tom lives in Camas, WA with his wife of 36 years, Teresa. He continues to volunteer for Catholic Community Services.
Clem Zipp ’72 : Clem remembers helping seniors with their homework as a freshman, getting paid to type their papers for $0.40 per page. This was before the delete key! Cousin Tony Zipp ’69 helped with marketing, keeping an eye on his underclassman during Freshman Week.
Caroline (Dick) Gaynes ’78: Caroline and her husband David have been living in Los Angeles for 34 years and have two daughters. Their eldest is taking classes at Sarah Lawrence College, while their second is graduating high school. The family recently adopted a German Shephard-Belgian Malinois puppy!
Jon Coney ’89 and Darren Stowell ’91: Thirty-two years after Jon Coney ’89 and Darren Stowell ’91 played varsity baseball at Prep, they ran into each other on a Little League diamond in Portland, Oregon. Coney is an umpire, and Stowell coaches his son’s All-Star team. “We didn’t recognize each other, but there was something familiar about him,” says Coney about Stowell. “Then I saw the name ‘Stowell’ on a player’s jersey and I asked the kid, ‘What’s your dad’s first name?’ When he said ‘Darren’ it clicked.” After the game, they re-hashed stories from Prep, including the time baseball Coach Ed Paulter got ejected for mouthing naughty words to an umpire. So being the squeaky-clean Capitol Hill boys that they still are, Coney and Stowell used only kind language in front of the kids. Stowell’s team went on to win the Oregon District 1 and State Tournaments. “Darren’s a solid coach. He teaches the kids good fundamentals,” says Coney. “But he’s scrappy like Coach Paulter, so I’ll keep a close eye on him next season.”
Class of ’79 and ’80: Although limited to weekly Zoom calls, this group of ladies from the class of ’79 were not kept apart by the quarantine. Mo Hill ’80, Rose Cano ’79, Erin (Keyser) Norton ’79, Ceci Morales ’79, Karen Andersen ’79, Joni (Fields) Walters ’79, Anne (Siemion) Porter ’79, and Jeanna Theide met up again in Hansville, where they spotted an Orca pod passing by.
Shane O’Mahony ’94: Shane continues his work as a critical care physician in Seattle and has been very busy during the COVID pandemic. He was fortunate to be able to volunteer his time to provide critical care services in NYC when COVID numbers had subsided in Seattle. He is a proud dad to two teenagers and one five-year-old dog, Maggie.
Sarah (McCarthy) Jaffe ’04: Sarah recently released her book, Wanting What’s Best: Parenting, Privilege, and Building a Just World. She is currently a lifestyle writer for Romper, and has appeared in publications such as The Rumpus, Catapult, Slate, and Bklyner Magazine. Find her book on Amazon!
Stuart Fairchild ’14: Stuart is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball. He played college baseball at Wake Forest University. Stuart was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the second round of the 2017 MLB draft. He made his MLB debut with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2021. He also played for the Seattle Mariners and San Francisco Giants.
Kelly Ferron ’06: Kelly is probably the only Panther who has simultaneously visited the students and brought them on a field trip in the middle of the ocean! Via Zoom, AP Environmental Science students were brought aboard a NOAA ship known as the E/V Nautilus, where Ferron researches pollution in local marine ecosystems.
Kendra Morgan ’09: Congratulations to Kendra Morgan ’09, who gave birth to her second baby on June 2. Her first child Quincy is almost two years old!
Nicholas O’Hanlon ’10: Nicholas is now the author of two books, published online. In the White series, protagonist Tom must travel into the future in order to save the world. The adventure series includes everything from romance to comedy, with plenty of action. The book is available on white.selz.com!
Stephanie (Comstock) Ondorf ’12: Stephanie recently graduated from the Scalia School of Law at George Mason University and is now in Knoxville serving as a law clerk for Judge Katherine Crytzer of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee.
Kimmy Taft ’13: Kimmy brought baby girl Ryleigh Marie Zukywich into the world in April 2022! Steve McHugh ’80 and wife Kristine were ecstatic to meet their granddaughter.
Class of 2015: What’s a better place to hang out with your classmates than a baseball game? Taariq Cruz-Vanegas, Peter Geivett and Ryan Wilson of the Class of 2015 reunited with each other, as well as the Mariners.
Class of ’16 : Ryan Blair, Kyle Lydon, Jessica Cary, Patrick Bowers, Joe Chamberlin, Philip Vien, Brian Bowers, Michael Van Hare, John Ostrander, and Chase Stockwell all climbed to the summit of Mt. Rainier!
Sawyer Coleman ’11: Sawyer married his wife Maggie in Chicago after postponing the ceremony throughout the pandemic. Sawyer’s sister Brenna Fallon ’09 was a bridesmaid, Amani Teshome ’11 was the best man, and additional Panthers Nick Morton ’11, Blake Eastman ’09, and Connor Martin ’11 were also part of the wedding party. Joe Bosch ’11 officiated the wedding, and several past Prep parents were in attendance including Kathy Krueger and her husband Walt. Sawyer and Maggie now live in New Hampshire, where Sawyer is pursuing a MBA and Maggie is pursuing a MPH.
Wile ’13: Congratulations to Katharine (Grimm) Wile ’13 and her husband, who were married last August.
Dr. Kate Adler, DNP ’13 and Lt. Charlie Brennan, USN ’13: Kate and Charlie tied the knot on July 2 after an 11½ year courtship that began their sophomore year at Prep. They were surrounded by family and friends including many Seattle Prep alumni. Prep faculty member Chris Kiehn officiated. The couple now lives in Anacortes, Washington.
Jenny (Biagi) Travis ’10: Jenny married Eric in Park City this past winter. Jenny went to law school at Gonzaga, where Eric was studying engineering. Their wedding date was exactly seven years after the day they met!
Caitlin Maguire ’06: Caitlin married Michael Young, and is now living in South Carolina.
MARRIAGES
AnneMarie Ladlad ’12: In August 2021, after one year in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and five years in New York, AnneMarie moved back to Seattle and married her husband Eleazar Teodoro at Seattle University’s St. Ignatius Chapel.
Class of 2018: Ethan McReynolds, Aden Hiatt, and Peyton McKenny graduated from Gonzaga University this year. Ethan graduated in Broadcast, Aden in Math, and Peyton in Nursing. Peyton will travel to Colorado Children’s Hospital for a residency program, and Ethan is going to Medford, Oregon to report and anchor for the local NBC affiliate.
Isabel Becker ’21: Isabel was celebrating her 18th birthday on a boat with her fellow alums when she realized that the captain was a Panther too. Gary Cummings ’61 says he was proud of Isabel and her party, “She and her classmates are exactly what I would hope to see in a fellow Panther. This turn-of-events proved to me that the passage of time in a changing world has not reduced the quality of education and principles in its graduates.” Accompanying Isabel were her classmates Carly Condon, Eva Flanagan, Margaret Felton, Kate Allen, Ruby Humes, Cara Weigand, as well as Jackie Williams from Prep’s Class of ’20 and Molly Nagle from University Prep.
More from the Class of ’16: John Ostrander, Patrick Bowers, Chase Stockwell, Joe Chamberlin, Ryan Blair, and Alicia Bianchetto completed the Seattle Marathon side-by-side. Ostrander and Stockwell also completed a half Iron Man to raise money for Seattle Nativity School.
Class of 2020: Connor Riley, Nathan Smith and Walid Cruz-Vanegas were spotted together.
Maya Ghali ’20, Cooper Klein ’20, and Lauren Day ’20: Maya (US Naval Academy), Cooper (US Military Academy), and Lauren (US Naval Academy) visited campus in November to advise students on their decisions after high school.
PANTHER
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about fruit and unconditional positive regard. Fruit really is so finicky. I just hate it when I buy what appears to be a perfectly good bag of apples to find that one, or even two, have some squishy or questionable spots. Bad apples. Hmm.
This past summer and fall I was out in Long Island, New York, and Yakima, picking peaches and apples, and man, do I get the heebee jeebees when I encounter a squishy piece of fruit. So many times, I would spot this perfectly beautiful apple or peach but then when I reached up for it, my fingers would squish through the rotten back side.
Now, I don’t know how many orchards Jesus walked through in his life, BUT – turns out, as far as I can tell, good trees DO bear rotten fruit. There’s just so much that goes into it. The weather, being one. I just heard a news story about how the $1 billion NW cherry crop this year is likely to be hard-hit by the extended cold winter we had. Ugh, that cold, dark, wet, winter, we had. It’s not just the quality of the trees – there are all these other outside factors that affect it.
In so many ways, we are – collectively – the tree – and the fruit that we bear are the students we send forth to “set the world on fire.” As Jesus says, “Every tree is known by its own fruit.”
By that measure, the fruit of our work has been good.
But, man, those outside factors, the ones that also influence the fruit – and the trees – they’ve sure been something lately. It’s been real easy to focus on all the tough stuff in our world of late — no one needs reminding of the specifics.
I’ve also been thinking a lot about Fr. Paul Fitterer, S.J. and unconditional positive regard. Unconditional positive regard is the game-changing 20th Century humanistic approach to relationships conceived by Carl Rogers. And – the Ignatian Presupposition is the, literally – worldchanging 16th Century approach to relationships conceived by Ignatius of Loyola, as I learned from Fr. Paul.
For those of you who aren’t familiar, or could use a refresher – Ignatius, in his Spiritual Exercises, says, “Always interpret another’s actions in a light most favorable to that person.”
Take a minute to really think about that. What would our world be like if we all lived in this way? “Always interpret another’s actions in a light most favorable to that person.”
As Fr. James Martin, S.J. explains in The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything : “While most people would agree with (the Presupposition) in principle, we often do just
the opposite. We expect others to judge US according to our INTENTIONS, but WE judge others according to their ACTIONS.
About 20 years ago I walked into the gymnasium at SPU to watch the district tournament basketball games. I was promptly astounded by the talent of a Prep player –who, as I looked at the program, turned out to be future NBA star Martell Webster ’05, then a Prep sophomore. After taking note of his name, another name leaped up off the page, one Matt Barmore, then principal of Seattle Prep.
Matt had been a colleague of mine at St. Ignatius in San Francisco about a decade earlier and, though he wasn’t at that game that day, the president of the school was – Fr. Paul Fitterer, S.J.
When I became a teacher at Prep, I took a risk – as someone with no religious background of any kind, to take up spiritual direction with Fr. Paul. It was nothing like I imagined it would be – and everything I hoped it could be. Paul talked me through my spiritual meanderings. As a rational history guy, I confessed that I really had trouble with the divine nature of Jesus – that he was more Godly than the rest of us – and the resurrection.
In a response that challenged everything I thought I knew about “priests,” Fr. Paul admitted that he too once had those same doubts. In my hikes up “The Mountain of God” with my sherpa Paul, I felt so cared for – met, as we say we should with our students – met, where I WAS AT. It was cura personalis incarnate. I still wasn’t sure that I was a fruit that fit on the Seattle Prep tree, but Fr. Paul assured me. It was just one of SO many instances where I was welcomed into this community.
And it is community that we do SO WELL here at Prep. And, when a long, cold winter sets in, it is that aspect of our identity that we must lean on and put our trust and faith in. It’s funny, when you look at the Grad at Grad – the hallmarks of the fruit we hope to bear – a product of who we are – there isn’t one explicitly about community – that thing that breathes so much life into this place. The one
that relates most closely to it, though, is LOVING. Loving is about relationships.
And loving is what St. Paul told the Colossians to be, to one another, in the face of the harsh storms of criticism and contempt they faced, surrounded by the wider culture of syncretistic Gnostic religions, as they were in first century Asia Minor. He basically said, “stick together” in these tough times. How? Love one another.
And that wasn’t easy – no doubt – when so many still weren’t sure WHAT they believed. Right or wrong, good or evil. Had Jesus been raised from the dead? What did that mean?
If I’ve learned anything from teaching Collegio for 15 years, it’s that the best answer is “it depends” and rather than “either/or” we should seek to embrace a “both/and” understanding of how things are.
Simple? – no. Comforting? – nah. That stuff that helps you feel like I’ve got this world figured out? – not in the least.
Bitter AND sweet.
Only because Fr. Paul said I could, I will tell you that I disagree with Jesus, in the parable about the trees and fruit from the Gospel of Luke. Or at least I disagree with the translation, or interpretation. There is no good person and no evil person. It’s not either/or. We’re – all – BOTH!
In the words of a Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn – “the line separating good and evil passes right through every human heart—and through all human hearts.”
And, because of that, we need each other. In these incredibly challenging times, in which it is so tempting and natural to feed our negative thoughts and outlooks, we must stick together.
“From the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks.” And – in defense of thornbushes and brambles –you know what, they actually do produce good fruit –blackberries are one of the most delicious of all fruit, and the surest sign that summer has come.
Matt will be relocating this fall to Almuñécar, Spain with his wife and two children. We wish him all the best in his next adventure. Remember Matt, “You will always have a home at Prep—siempre!”
Our community grieves the loss of Prep alum and archdiocesan priest Richard Ward ’43, who passed away on October 4, 2021. Fr. Ward bears the distinction of being the only Prep graduate who has held the triple titles of priest, Prep parent and Prep grandparent. He is also the only alum to celebrate all seven Catholic sacraments. Fr. Ward lived a truly remarkable life that touched thousands through his work in Seattle’s medical community and later in his work in the archdiocese.
After graduating from Prep, Fr. Ward attended Gonzaga University and St. Louis University Medical School. He completed his training in anesthesiology at Harborview and Providence Hospitals. While at Providence, he met the love of his life, Norah Muldoon, a surgical nurse on staff. The couple wed in 1950 and had three children: Kevin ’72, Tim ’69 and Sheila.
Fr. Ward served as a flight surgeon in the United Sates Air Force. He returned to Seattle and joined the University of Washington School of Medicine faculty, eventually becoming an Emeritus Professor of Anesthesiology.
After Norah passed in 1987 and following his retirement from medicine, Dick entered the seminary
and was ordained a priest of the Seattle Archdiocese in 1993 at the youthful age of 67. He served at St. James Cathedral Parish, St. Michael’s in Snohomish and Holy Cross in Granite Falls. During this time, Fr. Ward was also a Prep grandparent: Kevin and his wife Beverly’s three children all attended Prep: Cary ’02, Caitlin ’04, and Kaleigh ’07.
Fr. Ward eventually retired to the Palisades Retirement House in Federal Way and later moved to the Skyline Retirement Community.
Through the years, Fr. Ward always believed in supporting Prep. He gave with a spirit of humility and joy. Fr. Ward’s generosity and his deep love for his wife, Norah, will live on at Prep for decades to come. In 2006 Fr. Ward established the Norah Muldoon Ward Memorial Endowment, which offers tuition assistance to Prep students each year. Norah’s endowment, and the endowments established in honor or memory of others, make a tangible difference in Prep’s ability to offer the best Catholic, Jesuit education possible to students who would not otherwise be able to experience a Prep education.
— Dr. Theresa (Hornick) Larson ’99
Prep welcomed Dr. Theresa (Hornick) Larson ’99 to campus in May as the keynote speaker for the Ignatian Leadership Conference. The three-day conference prepares the rising senior class for leadership of the school.
If there is ever an example of someone living out the Jesuit Grad at Grad, Theresa is it. Losing her mother to cancer at the age of 10, her father became a second profession Catholic priest. Both she and her brothers (Paul Hornick ’96 and Robert Hornick ’94) attended Seattle Prep. After graduation, Theresa attended Villanova University on a softball scholarship. She then went on to play professionally in Europe and semi-professionally in the U.S. She is also a former Marine Corps Engineer Officer and combat veteran. Theresa’s experiences in Iraq, as one of the first women in combat included clearing land mines, building vehicle checkpoints, escorting female insurgents, and running convoys in Fallujah to protect the integrity of the first democratic elections in 2005. Her service led to life-changing moments, both personally and professionally. At the young age of 22,
Theresa’s 12 Gems of Advice
1. You fall to the level of your training.
2. Grasp less to your failures and dive deeper into your successes.
3. You are the average of the five people who you spend the most time with.
4. We are not that different.
5. There is no someday only now.
6. You are the writer of your own life so make it good.
she was medically evacuated from Iraq after developing an eating disorder and later honorably discharged from the Marines. It was at that moment when she began to learn how to “lean into failure” — a key tenet of her work. She went on to start her own physical therapy company, Movement RX, focused on giving anyone, of all abilities, the knowledge and tools to live physically and emotionally free. Theresa incorporates mindfulness and movement into her work and often works with “adaptive athletes” commonly former military personnel or first responders. She has earned a doctorate in her field adding further distinction and range to her career. She is also the published author of Warrior, a memoir that challenges what “perfect” really means and she continues to provide inspiration as a professional public speaker. We thank her for sharing her amazing story with the Prep community.
7. Time is your most precious commodity.
8. 10% of life is what happens to you and 90% is how you react to it.
9. Make an effort to get to know people who are not like you.
10. Life must go on no matter what.
11. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
12. Don’t be afraid to take up space in the world.
Read more about Theresa at www.drtheresalarson.com.
“YOU DON’T NEED A TITLE TO BE A LEADER.”