DEAR ROCKHURST COMMUNITY,

Just past our 107th graduation, each year I observe a class of graduates come across the stage at Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City, and am filled with emotion thinking about the significance of their contributions to our tradition of Jesuit education.

Dressed in their black tuxedos, as they walk across the stage, I see the men that once were young boys entering. I consider the leadership they have provided. I see yell-leaders who stood in front of student sections building up Rockhurst spirit. I see performers on stages who exhibited their instrumental, choral, or acting talents. I see community service leaders who spent time leading peers in their accompaniment of the poor to be in service, but as much for their own growth. I see young men who grew in excellence in public speaking and debate. I see young men who built robots that competed on the world stage. I see students who committed themselves to leading underclassmen in Freshmen Retreat or who led peers on Kairos.

These young men reflect the abundance of talent that God has gifted to them, that their parents have helped to hone and shape over many years. These young men, accompanied by our faculty and staff, have developed themselves as men of competence, conscience, and compassion. They possess both intellectual talent and a developed conscience to guide their service to their fellow mankind. They have grown in an expressed and experience of Faith and with Jesus Christ manifest in their commitment to the spirit of Rockhurst.

As they stood arm in arm at graduation singing the Alma Mater, I also observed the depth of their friendships and brotherhood with one another. God, the author of life, has shaped in and among these men and their families a Christian community focused on the greater good.

offer my thanks to the men of the Class of 2023. They lived a most unusual four years of high school during their time at Rockhurst, facing challenges of a generation. To their credit – and that of the faculty and staff who accompanied them, and their parents who guided them – they can truly offer back to Rockhurst a reflection of the success we hope for our young men. In turn, their success was built upon the legacy of Rockhurst that has been built over generations for a mission that looks to eternity.

Offering all of their gifts and talents to God’s greater honor and glory, we are inspired to continue to build upon our great tradition of Jesuit education in Kansas City, for our community, our nation, and our world. We possess a vision for our future, which includes our excellence in building men of competence, conscience, and compassion which also strives to be available to qualifying young men regardless of their families’ economic circumstances. Our vision moves forward with confidence that these young men are important to all of our futures and trusting in God, that vision continues to recognize the importance of the talents of our young men in the context of their needed leadership for tomorrow.

May God bless you and those you love, IN CHRIST,

DAVID J. LAUGHLIN PRESIDENT ROCKHURST HIGH SCHOOL