Faculty & Staff Awards

EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION AWARDS BANQUET

Sponsored by The Jesuit Dallas Foundation and School Board of Trustees, Jesuit’s faculty and staff took in an evening with family and friends at the Frontiers of Flight Museum at the end of the academic year to recognize excellence in leadership and to honor milestones in service to the School. We are grateful to our talented educators, as well as our generous benefactors for funding the evening’s awards.

The Peter Faber, S.J. Award | Dan Brndjar The Cecil Green Award | Vanessa Jones The Michael Grimshaw Family Award | Casey Profitt The Elaine Henrion Award | Seth Waits ’01 The Jeremiah E. Lenihan Family Faculty Award | Claudio Eduardo Pinto The Rev. Joseph C. Mulhern, S.J. Award | Joelle Abi-Habib The Hal F. Tehan Family Award | Donovan Putnam The Rev. Robert Tynan, S.J. Award | Laura O’Neal The Francis Xavier, S.J. Award | Giuliano Sanchez

ESPORTS

NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!

The Jesuit Dallas 2022 Rainbow Six: Siege National Championship team of Ryan Visokay ’23, Brody Pawsat ’22, moderator Ky Vu, Ike Pawsat ’22, Dominic Wierschem ’22 and David Buerkert ’22.

In the burgeoning world of Esports – short for electronic sports and relating to competitions using video games – Jesuit Dallas students were quick to jump into the fray. Five years after first beginning the program, the Rangers have found themselves at the top of the national rankings after winning the Rainbow Six: Siege National Championship with a 2-0 victory over Ridgewood H.S. (N.J.).

Jesuit qualified for the four-team national championship tournament by winning the High School Esports League (HSEL) Fall Major Invitational in 2021. The rise of Jesuit’s team has paralleled the spread of Esports across the globe. Over 175 colleges in the United States provide scholarships for Esports teams, and nearly 2,000 high schools in the United States have programs recognized by the HSEL, including numerous public and private high schools in the DFW metroplex.

Club moderator Ky Vu hopes that the sport continues to evolve and results in increased opportunities for visibility. A platform for exposure could potentially be in the works for North Texas after a HSEL live event scheduled for the 100,000-square foot Esports Stadium in Arlington was postponed in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is now set to make a comeback.

Jesuit’s Esports team currently includes 80 students, 20 of which are registered competitors with the HSEL. Rainbow Six: Siege is only one of the games that Jesuit can compete in as additional competitive leagues exist for popular games such as League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and Rocket League.

Two teams and six students from Jesuit Dallas were invited to present their prototypes at the National Aeronautics & Space Administration in the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston. The students earned the prestigious honor after being named national finalists in the NASA HUNCH program, which aims to promote 21st century skills while providing an opportunity to launch careers through the participation in the design and fabrication of realworld valued products for NASA.

The Jesuit Dallas team of Arthur Trapp ’22 and Luke Ehrisman ’22 was tasked to create a graphical user interface (GUI) to control and view data of the Agriculture, Fungus, Fermentation, and Crystallization NanoLabs from sensors. They were successful in building the hardware and software.

The team of Jake Pollock ’22, Thomas Karlseng ’22, Weston Smith ’22, and Luke Brackbill ’22 built a prototype lunar garage for the International Space Station. They were tasked with building a safe space where crew could unload lunar supply pods, and designed an innovative solution that in-cluded airlock systems, inflatable metal supports, portability, and telescoping tubing. Fifty-eight teams from 25 high schools across the country were named national finalists among 2,000 entries.