Senior Salute

We all have people in our lives who bring out the best in us. For these people, we are grateful. They are the ones who teach us to see the good things in life and not the bad. They inspire us to give back, which is central to what St. Ignatius believed was the best way to develop a close relationship with God.

Rockhurst High School is an independent Catholic college preparatory school sponsored by the Society of Jesus. Most people know that fact. What they often do not know is that like many other institutions in secondary education and university levels, Rockhurst High School relies on invested assets to provide sustainable support of its mission. The collection of assets are freely given by inspired donors who agree to partner in mission with the school to allow these thousands of individual donations to be invested together for strength. These reserves produce as much as $1.6 million in the form of “a draw” approved by the Board of Trustees to offer tuition assistance grants for students who otherwise could not afford a Rockhurst High School experience. A fully-funded scholarship at Rockhurst High School requires an investment of $225,000. The funds are established over time with multi-year pledges based on agreements established with the school that are aligned with donors’ charitable giving plans. The school now has 185 Named Scholarship Funds that have been founded by alumni and friends; however, most are partiallyendowed and will need to gain strength over time to reach a fully-funded level.

Six new scholarship funds (The Rev. William T. Sheahan, SJ, Scholarship Fund and the five listed on the following page) were created at Rockhurst High School during the past year to inspire young men to pursue Jesuit education and their own dreams of a college degree. They were established in gratitude to honor individuals who led lives as “women and men for others” and inspired people with their faith and love for Rockhurst High School and its students.

For more information on scholarship funds or to provide outright scholarship assistance, contact Diane Marty at 816.363.2039 x538 or dmarty@rockhursths.edu.

One of Kansas City’s most well-known friends of Catholic education were Sue and Bernie Dierks. Their collective service as board members and donors to institutions like Rockhurst High School was a model giving back to humanity. Sons Christopher ’86 and Michael ’91, along with their daughter, Angie, had dreamed about creating this fund long before they passed away. Their family established this scholarship to inspire future generations of Rockhurst men to give back for God’s greater honor and glory.

Rev. Thomas W. Cummings, SJ, touched the lives of thousands of students at St. Louis University High School, Regis University, and Rockhurst High School. He taught with a passion for life and people’s wellbeing. Fr. Cummings “never met a stranger.” He was president at Rockhurst High School from 1986 to 1993 and became most well-known for leading the campaign to build the Rose Theater, McGee Hall, and a new journalism department in 1990. His scholarship was established by his colleagues and friends so young men could remember a true model of care for others.

James M. Kuklenski had an unprecedented enthusiasm for life and lived it to the fullest. People of all ages remember his positive attitude. His sons, Michael ’20 and Edward ’22, learned a quiet form of inspirational leadership from their father through devotion to others by acts of charity, including works as Eagle Scouts and all forms of service in the Tribe of Mic-o-Say. The James M. Kuklenski Scholarship Fund remembers a pillar of community service and inspires everyone he knew to live in a Christ-like way.

So many Rockhurst High School benefactors speak about the importance of family when making charitable contributions. This was very much the case when R. Bruce McKibbon and his sons, Matthew ’04 and Sean ’09, established the McKibbon Family Scholarship Fund. Bruce talks about his father, Robert Cecil McKibbon, as a loving patriarch who taught him how to “raise a man.” He proudly refers to his sons as “men for others,” and the entire family strongly felt a scholarship fund was the best way to pay tribute to the important figure in their lives, while giving future Hawklets the educational opportunity of a lifetime.

As English literature skill happens, learning always starts with failure. Yet, with great inspiration comes achievement. Andy Hagedorn has inspired this kind of greatness and achievement in his students at Rockhurst High School for almost 40 years. Although teaching part-time now at The Rock, he still finds time during the afternoons and summers to meet with students and alumni to guide their way to extraordinary levels of literary confidence and competence. An anonymous donor established the Andrew S. Hagedorn Scholarship Fund so students with great aptitude in English can continue to improve in advanced courses to use their highlevel of thinking to understand any challenging subject matter for the greater good.