Alumni Snapshots Ryan Rossi 2003 Following four unbelievable years at Pope, I went on to receive both my bachelors and masters degrees from Florida Atlantic University in political studies. Several years later after a brief time in the classroom, I ran for local office, and am currently the executive director of the South Florida Water Coalition, a non-profit that advocates for the protection of our area’s water supply. In addition, I also practice real estate, and am an adjunct professor at Palm Beach State College — teaching, of course, American Government! Running for the Florida State House of Representatives for District 89 is probably the biggest highlight of my time since high school. Part of the reason I ran was to lend momentum to creating political space for the rising generations, and I believe we were successful in that effort. My fondest memory at Pope: Definitely winning my (crazy) election for senior class president. It gave me all of the campaign training I needed!
Ryan Haag 2018 I am currently still enrolled at the University of Florida and about to enter my junior year. I am a Chemistry major on the pre-med track. One of my favorite new hobbies I’ve picked up since I graduated has been playing the guitar. In my sophomore fall, I was looking for an easy one credit to class to fill out my schedule, and some buddies of mine convinced me to take an intro to guitar class with them. I ended up loving it and now have a great new hobby. My favorite memory at Pope was playing in the district playoffs for lacrosse my junior year. The semi-final game was at Boca High, and we ended up beating them by one goal that we scored in the last minute. There was an amazing crowd of students cheering us on, and it was the most fun game I played while I was at Pope.
Michael Cevallos 2009 Currently I am working as an RN in the Emergency Department for Memorial Healthcare system. While I did enjoy the journey to get here, (graduating with my Bachelors of Science in Biological Sciences 2015 and my Bachelors of Science in Nursing 2018), today the field is tumultuous with the COVID Pandemic. I’m hoping to return to school to become a Nurse Practitioner in either Family or Emergency Medicine. My passion is still Lacrosse. While I don’t play anymore, I try to help out when I can by coaching. I coached throughout college and am hoping once I get a little more settled in to my career, I can return to St.John Paul Academy, to coach once again. My favorite memory of high school: The 2009 lacrosse season. We had a lot of good wins, my personal favorite being defeating St. Thomas Aquinas. It was at their home field and the first time they agreed to play us. Apparently they didn’t believe we were up to their standards of opponent at the time. That was their mistake.
Rick Reyes 2013 After Pope, I attended Florida State where I graduated with a degree in business marketing in 2017. Following undergrad, I began law school in New Haven, Connecticut at Quinnipiac University School of Law. I recently graduated in May of 2020 and will begin my career as an associate for a firm in Boca Raton in August. If you’ve met me, you know that I am someone who loves the sound of his own voice, which is why I was thrilled to receive my law school’s award for best oral advocate this spring. I plan to use this skill not only to annoy others, but to excel in the courtroom in the near future. Favorite High School memory: My first “two-a-day” football practice in the summer entering my freshman year. I had never played before and after the fourth hit I was ready to go home that night and never come back. Luckily, the next morning, my father forced me into the car, drove me to the field, and I ended up playing the next four years, which were some of the greatest times I had at Pope.
Kevin Johnston 2013 I graduated St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens in 2017. I played basketball for the bobcats and received a Bachelors degree in Business Administration. After graduation, I took over ownership of my family commercial laundry business. A passion of mine has always been working with young children and teaching them about Jesus Christ. As a child I was involved in a organization called Awanas, which teaches and mentors young kids in Christian values. After graduating, I decided to give back and became a volunteer leader with Awanas. I also lead the sports activities with the organization as well. I may be older now and an instructor, but I’ll always be a kid at heart! I love to relate to the youth on a personal level. Basketball was my sport in high school. The memories made on our team were ones that I will never forget. My favorite memory was beating Cardinal Newman (our rival) my junior year! We were an underdog but handed them a pretty good loss!
