3 minute read
Consider the Greatness of Your Mission
A Letter from our President
Dr. John Bardhardt President/CEO
Dear Bishop McNamara High School Family & Friends,
We have had a terrific start to our 2020/2021 school year and it is due entirely to the tireless pursuit of academic and spiritual excellence by our faculty, students, and supportive community. In a year thus far defined by crisis, our Mustangs have stepped up with their ability to innovate in the margins and redefine what it means to be a servant leader. At the time of this letter, our students remain learning in a virtual setting with the majority of our faculty and administrators also working remotely. The ability of our Bishop McNamara family to serve each of our student’s unique needs has never been more apparent.
The theme of this season’s Mustang Messenger is to consider the greatness of our mission. There is no place where this consideration is greater than right here on campus. This fall our administrators quickly realized a full enrollment and committed significant time and resources to reorient our virtual learning model to support every student. Additionally, our parents, alumni, and local businesses and foundations stepped up to support families hit hard economically by COVID by raising over $170,000 since the inception of our Bishop McNamara Family Support Fund. This dual effort - re-envisioning our virtual learning model and mobilizing our community to support students’ families hit hard by the pandemic, is yet another proof point that our service to families is the mission we seek to fulfill both in the classroom and in our giving.
We are also actively planning for the future. There is no greater time than now, in the middle of a global health pandemic, to invest our creative energy into reimagining our approach to science and technology instruction. The La Reine Science & Innovation Center remains our catalyst for cultivating the future health and science leaders of tomorrow, solving future health emergencies like the one we are in now. While our new building is exciting in its own right, we are also rebuilding our curriculum and programming to ensure our students are well informed on career pathways before leaving our school.
I recently announced the support of the Alice B. & James A. Clark Foundation and their $1,000,000 investment in our vision for a greater tomorrow. It is investments like these that remind me of the power of community. I am fully convinced that there has never been a better time to be a Bishop McNamara Mustang and it is this forward posture as a school that will ensure we continue serving God’s mission for many generations to come.
Your receipt of this season’s Mustang Messenger demonstrates your history of giving or support of our program. Thank you. Our needs remain great but never in excess of our capacity to support. As you are able, please continue to provide for the long-term viability of our school, our students, and our mission.
In the concluding words of Blessed Basile Moreau, “This is what you can and should do for your students if you really are zealous for their salvation. Hurry then; take up this work of resurrection, never forgetting that the special end of your institute is, before all, to sanctify youth…”
Please, do not be a stranger! The next time you are near campus, stop by and see what we are up to or drop me an email to say hello.
With sincere gratitude,
Dr. John Barnhardt
Email: john.barnhardt@bmhs.org
Twitter: @Barnhardt
