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ALUMNI NEWS
CLASS NOTES Alma Matters During
the Pope Francis Preparatory School community’s celebration of Catholic Schools Week, alumni were encouraged to send in updates on happenings and accomplishments in their lives and those of fellow alum. The response was great and each morning during Catholic Schools Week prayer, a shout out on an alumnus was shared with the school community. A huge display wall was created with written narratives and pictures of these individuals. The Pope Francis Prep Community learned a great deal about the alumni from all generations and legacy schools. This was a wonderful tribute to Catholic education and ordinary people accomplishing extraordinary things! Thank you for the contributions.
Pope Francis High School, Brian Campbell ’18 is a Freshman Finance Major in the Liberal Arts Honors Program at Providence College in Rhode Island. Most recently over winter break, Brian had the opportunity to shadow various Providence College alumni at Liberty Mutual in Boston, learning about the day to day obligations of various financial analysts in the company and their respective career paths. Brian shared that he cannot thank the Pope Francis High community enough for the ways in which they have prepared him for life in college.
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We’d love to hear from you! Send your news, notes and photos to dfenton@popefrancisprep.org
St. Jerome/ Holyoke Catholic High School, Daniel “Rudy” Lengieza ’59 Daniel “Rudy” Lengieza, is a 1959 St. Jerome/Holyoke Catholic High School graduate. Lengieza returned to his high school after serving in the U.S. Marine Corps to begin a coaching career in 1964; this would be a coaching career that lasted for over 50 years! Coach Rudy started the school’s girl’s cross-country program in 1979, coached Holyoke Catholic and Pope Francis High Schools’ boys’ and girls’ cross country and track and field teams. In addition to coaching multiple Western Massachusetts State and New England championship teams and individuals, Coach Lengieza has served as a positive influence in the lives of his former athletes. Coach Rudy was honored with a plaque dedication at Whiting Street Reservoir, June 30, 2018. The plaque dedication took place at the reservoir off Easthampton Road, the home cross-country course for Holyoke Catholic High School. Coach Rudy was inducted into the Holyoke Catholic Alumni Hall of Fame, June 2011.
Holyoke Catholic High School, Thomas J. (T.J.) Jagodowski ’88 To many he is probably best known as the red headed half of the “two guys” in the Sonic Drive-In commercials. But those from Holyoke and Holyoke Catholic High School know him well as Thomas J. (T.J.) Jagodowski, class of 1988. Upon graduation from Holyoke Catholic High School, Jagodowski attended and graduated from Syracuse University. Today, T.J. Jagodowski is an improvisational comedian who now resides in Chicago. This March, Jagodowski will return to Holyoke as the 2019 recipient of the 62nd annual John F. Kennedy National Award, given by the Holyoke St. Patrick’s Parade Committee, an honor bestowed upon an American of Irish descent who distinguished themselves in their field. Honored and humbled by the award, T.J. Jagodowski understands and remembers full well the pride of the parade and his own preparations as a child growing up on the parade route. He remembers waking up early to get chairs set up so that three generations of his family could bundle up and watch the parade pass by on Northampton Street.
