Inspiring Alumnae of Marian High School, Journalism student personality profiles

Inspiring Marian Alumnae Digital Magazine published at Issuu.com Copyright March 2021 by Journalism I

Inspiring Alumnae Personality Profiles by Junior Journalism I students of Marian 2019 Emily Bressman by Sydney Witkowski ‘22 2018 Emma Roth by Marin Krenzer ‘22 2016 Kellyn Daly by Lany Gregor ‘22 2015 Sara Greisch by Eliza Turco ‘22 2015 Olivia Howard by Liv Birnstihl ‘22 2015 Sarrah Mullen by Melina Piperis ‘22 2015 Katie Pallesen by Elleiana Green ‘22 2014 Kenzie Schumacher by Erin Connelly ‘22 2013 Megan Han by Chioma Aloziem ‘22 2013 Emily Johanek by Ashley Johanek ‘22 2013 Ellen Juracek Adam by Bailey Kollasch ‘22 2013 Kate Johnson by Elise Moulton ‘22 2011 Katie Ham Farris by Kenzie Anderson ‘22 2011 Leah Hansen by Gigi Salerno ‘22 2011 Sammy Salerno by Maddie Auman ‘22 2010 Laura Bolamperti by Brianna Dovali ‘22 2010 Hailey Konnath by Shannon Monahan ‘22 2009 Bridget McQuillan by Bridget McGill ‘22 2009 Lauren Morrissey by Danielle Carrol ‘22 2009 Sarah O’Connor by Fiona Gautschi ‘22 2008 Kady Dennell by Jill Williamson ‘22 2007 Carina Glover by Lauren Montague ‘22 2006 Jamie Salerno by Ashley Doehner ‘22 2004 Karly Jurgensen Daniel by Carli Ahsan ‘22 2003 Deana Dougherty Klein by Kathryn Stec ‘22 2001 Ashley Arts Adam by Maddie Adam ‘22 2001 Mary Timmerman by Anne Masek ‘22 2000 Jen Cimino by Bella Beck ‘22 1997 Molly Adams Woodman by Grace Woodard ‘22 1997 Katie Crooks Summer by Anna Rasgorshek ‘22 1996 Theresa Pedersen Kinnison by Kenzie Darrow ‘22 1991 Jana Belitz Rhodes by Clare Degan ‘22 1990 Janey Haney by Elizabeth Monzu ‘22 1989 Molly Rowen Carroll by Audrey Van Dyke ‘22 1986 Toni McCarthy Compton by Jordan Moser ‘22 1983 Shari Andersen Reynolds by Lucy Drexel ‘22 1982 Kari Mangan by Lily Mausbach ‘22 1974 Michelle Procopio Delisi by Haley Hoffman ‘22 1969 Mary Higgins by Avery Kinnison ‘22 1966 Margaret Guziec Hoarty by Lucy Loughran ‘22 1965 Eileen Reilly by Christina Tinley ‘22 Cover Design by Sydney Schroeder ‘22 (her profile personality preferred not to publicly share her story.)

If you’d like to tell YOUR story to a future journalism student, contact Nancy Casey, Marian’s Alumnae Director or Marian’s Journalism adviser, Mrs. Marsha Kalkowski at mkalkowski@omahamarian.org.

From marian to creighton, emily bressman ‘19 inspires many

By J1 Reporter Sydney Witkowski Photo source: https://gocreighton.com/galleries/ Dedicated. Strong. Accomplished. All words that can be used to describe 2019 Marian graduate, Emily Bressman. Bressman is a powerful force and an asset to her teammates and friends. Bressman made a noticeable impact in the Marian volleyball program, led as a Class Officer for three years during her time at Marian, and is now playing Division I volleyball at Creighton University.

Bressman is a well known name at Marian. Being on the varsity team since her freshman year, a team captain and class officer since sophomore year, her name is hard to forget. None of her accomplishments have come easy, and she continues to put in numerous hours of hard work.

She thanks Marian volleyball for shaping her into the person and player that she is now. “Marian saw the type of player I could be and pushed me to get there,” Bressman said. Now as a part of the Creighton volleyball team, Bressman is close to home while pursuing her dreams of playing volleyball at a

top 15 school.

Not only did the Marian volleyball program have a huge impact on Bressman, but, “Marian as a whole really pushed me out of my comfort zone in the best way possible,” Bressman said. While at Marian, Bressman was not only a highly respected varsity athlete, but also a leader. Her leadership skills are visible on and off of the court.

She helped her team to win state championships in the 2015 and 2017 volleyball seasons. Bressman led her class to a Field Day victory in 2019, with the theme “Senior Station.” Her influence in the Marian community will be remembered for a long time to come.

Classmates and teammates appreciate everything Bressman has done for them. “Bressman has always shown qualities of a great leader as well as a great friend to everyone she encounters,” former classmate and fellow 2019 Marian graduate, Lilyana Gonzalez, said.

Bressman was a role model for former Marian teammate, Ellie Miller ‘21. “Bressman always

pushed the whole team to be our best.

She created a competitive atmosphere that made the game so much fun.

Overall, playing with Bressman made me a better player and a better leader,” Miller said.

Amy McLeay, Marian varsity volleyball head coach, valued having Bressman as such an inspiring leader and hardworking teammate, “Emily was a true competitor! She gave 100 percent and was a tremendous teammate. As successful as Emily was, she was still relatable to her teammates and coaches,” McLeay said.

“Emily Bressman was first a leader by her actions. As an underclassman she led by her ability to compete at a high level and alongside many upperclassmen. As Emily became an upperclassman, she continued to lead by action, but she also became more vocal and was able to respectfully demand more from her teammates,”

McLeay said.

Along with now playing Division I volleyball at Creighton University, she is studying health administration and policy. “I wanted to do something in health care, and I love to know that I’m going to be helping others,” Bressman said. Being close to home wasn’t the only reason Bressman chose Creighton. “Creighton is great because it has amazing academic programs as well as a great athletic program. The resources they provide you with are like no other,” Bressman said.

The Marian alumna left an unforgettable mark in the halls and on the court at Marian. She exemplifies what it means to be a true Marian girl by empowering herself and others. Bressman continues to use her leadership skills she learned at Marian to make an impact on the Creighton volleyball community. The skills that she possesses will guide her to a bright future.

“Bressman always pushed the whole team to be our best. She created a competitive atmosphere that made the game so much fun. Overall, playing with Bressman made me a better player and a better leader.”

Ellie miller ‘21

Emma Roth’18 on the beach. Photo courtesy of Emma Roth

Emma Roth’s Journey to Creighton

By J1 Reporter Marin Krenzer Emma Roth is a 21-yearold Marian High School alumna from the Class of 2018. She is the oldest of three, and has a younger sister attending Marian as a sophomore. Emma went to St. Vincent De Paul Catholic Grade School. Growing up, she played volleyball, soccer, basketball, softball; basically any sport that one of her parents could coach!

However Emma says she learned around 6th or 7th grade that sports were not her thing, and getting into new activities in middle school was tough. At Marian, Emma had a lot to do from Hearts of Marian and Young Politicians Club to Journalism and Yearbook.

She now attends Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.

“I was changed greatly from freshman to senior year. I felt comfortable to have my own beliefs as well as have a broad group of friends,” Roth said.

“Coming into Marian, I was outwardly shy with a lot of spirit inside me, but I never had the confidence to use it. It sounds like this was scripted (pinky promise it isn’t),” Roth said.

Marian gave Emma tools to use her gifts, even if she didn’t know they were there. Roth says she is now confident raising her hand, asking questions, and forming a relationship with professors at Creighton because of Marian. Academi-

cally, she says she was well prepared as well.

“Marian allowed me to be transparent almost all the time, but I could not fully continue that emotional transparency because college is new with so many different people,” Roth said. “When my mom had to undergo a very beneficial, but scary surgery, right before Thanksgiving, I received a surprising amount of emails and texts from these relationships formed.

There was a text from an economics professor, a supportive email from a Jesuit, and a prayer from a Campus Ministry staff member. I was blown away that any of my office hour visits or question-asking tendencies meant anything,” Roth said.

Because of Marian, Emma Roth had the confidence to forge her own relationships through college experience, and in return from these almost habitual actions, receive kind words, thoughts, and prayers from many of them. When asked about influential Marian alumni, Roth replied, “Mrs. Sullivan is someone I think I will always look up to!”

Roth references a Europe trip she and several Marian students attended after their graduation in 2018, “One of my favorite memories to this day is when Mrs. Sullivan and Fr. Tom Fangman bought a group of seniors and me ice cream overlooking a lake near the city of

Interlaken, Switzerland,” Roth said.

When choosing a college, Emma knew she wanted a smaller one, and the Jesuit schools were always appealing to her. She had started the farthest away when visiting schools and slowly made her way back to the Midwest, and eventually to Creighton. It was the last school Emma visited and it checked off all the boxes she wanted in the next four years. However, Emma says it was frustrating that her newly found dream college was in Omaha. “I desperately wanted to get out of state, and eventually I left my campus tour in tears because of how upset I was that I enjoyed it,” Roth said. “I am beyond relieved I went with my heart when choosing Creighton.”

Although she wanted to leave the state at first, Roth is ultimately happy ending with her choice to attend Creighton. There are many benefits of staying in your state for college, and Roth took them into consideration. One of the most important benefits she mentioned was the advantage of encountering more internship and networking prospects.

Discovering who you are and what you’d like to achieve is a big challenge that young teens face before enrolling in college. Having visited the Dominican Republic

in 2016 through Marian and the ILAC Program through Creighton, Emma Roth really wanted to implement a part of what she experienced into a career.

During her fall semester of sophomore year at Creighton, Roth returned to ILAC Center in Santiago DR and spent four months traveling, learning, and aiding at a biweekly service site.

She says, “It was an ambitious goal for me, but I was super determined to receive a second experience there to see any type of growth within my ‘ambitious goal’.” This experience cemented Emma’s love for their language.

Today, Emma is majoring in marketing and social entrepreneurship, and minoring in Spanish. She is an inspiration to many and a proud Marian alumna.

“I truly believe Marian gave me the environment, opportunities and community to figure out who I wanted to be and how I wanted to treat others,” Emma Roth ’18

Kellyn Daly moments before throwing the game winning ptich in the 2015 Softball State Championships. Photo source Marian Journalism student.

One of Kellyn Daly’s graduation pictures on her home college field in North Carolina. Photo courtesy of Kellyn Daly.

Kellyn Daly ’16, a Daughter, an Athlete, a Survivor Kellyn Daly, a name you may or may not recognize, also known as Kellbell or Bells. From the day she was born, on May 21, 1997, she had Marian in her genes.

Her mother Lisa Shannon Daly and both of her aunts attended Marian as well, as five of her cousins, “It was never a question,” Daly said. Before graduating from Marian in 2016… she attended St. Pius/St Leo. Growing up, she spent most of her days in her room, cuddled up with a good book in her hand, putting off chores and other responsibilities. Very early in life, softball became important to her, at 5 years old she joined her first real softball team. Along with softball, she played soccer for a little bit but stopped playing because of her love for softball.

Coming into Marian her freshman year, she made an impact on the team very quickly, being a very talented pitcher. Freshman year, she played both Varsity and Junior Varsity, but years following she played only Varsity. After all of her hard work on and off season, she led Marian to a state championship her senior year in 2015, giving Marian softball their first softball State Championship.

She said she loved her time at Marian and enjoyed that everyone is allowed to be girls, “there’s no pressure, you can be who you

By J1 Reporter Lany Gregor

are,” Daly said. She also Carcinoma, a type of breast added that her experiences cancer. This was a very at Marian made her better at unexpected turn of events forming other relationships for her and her family. with friends in the future.

Kellyn found a lump herself Marian softball was also an and mentioned it at one of amazing experience for her, her regular check ups, her and she loved the team asdoctor then sent her to a pect, “Many other schools’ radiologist to look at it. teams aren’t as close knit as Kellyn was diagnosed in Marian,” August Daly of her sesaid. nior year, After at age graduat22, but ing from this was Maria step an, she back that moved didn’t on to the stop her.

UniverShe unsity of derwent North two surCarolina geries, for colthe first lege. She being always at the knew she beginwanted ning of to get out August Kellyn Daly in her light blue of the and the Tar Heel softball uniform as a player Midwest her freshman year. Photo courtesy of second Kellyn Daly. and at the always end of liked UNC because of August. After surgery she the College World Series, was put on an estrogen but she never saw it as an inhibiting medication that option until their coach she has to take for the next reached out to her about five years. playing there. After this, she After her diagnosis, she was able to visit and when made the hard decision to she did, “it just felt right,” take that semester off, putDaly said. Just like that, she ting her behind the rest of became a Tar Heel. her class. With the success Daly played at UNC of the surgeries, she was for two and a half years able to go back to school the before finding out she was following semester and pick diagnosed with Secretory up right where she left off.

Going into college she had plans to become a publisher with an English major, but those plans quickly changed. She graduated with a major in communications and a minor in studio arts this semester in December of 2020. She chose that minor because she was very creative and interested in photography, “I ended up branching out from there and taking a pretty wide array of courses,” Daly said.

Her biggest accomplishment in life is graduating from college, because she worked very hard to get it done and has more hopes and dreams.

Daly hopes to one day work with a non profit organization, but because of the times right now, the jobs under that umbrella are pretty slim. For now, as she lives with her parents, and she plans on getting a job in a small coffee shop in the meantime until she can find something bigger. She plans to go back to North Carolina and find a job where she can work with a non-profit where she is happy and feels at home.

She wants others to know to listen to your parents and the people around you, “I would have avoided so much,” she said. “Learn to roll with the punches,” She may know it best, life can throw anything at you, and everyone just needs to take every challenge given to them just like Kellyn Daly did.

Sara Greisch ’15 with her six-year-old niece Alice during the Christmas season, 2020. Photo courtesy of Greisch.

Leading in Love Alumni Turned Marian Theology Teacher

By J1 Reporter Eliza Turco

Sara Greisch is one of the lucky people who has undeniably found her purpose. As a theology teacher at Marian High, she focuses every school day on connecting with her students and encouraging them to live a life of love-inspired action.

“I try to do everything I can to create a classroom environment my students are comfortable in,” Greisch said. A typical morning is spent planning, grading and organizing activities for future classes. Later, blocks of freshmen and juniors spend class meditating, praying, and covering topics related to student faith inside and outside of the textbook.

“I am proud of my job, my dream job. I always knew I wanted to be a teacher,” Greisch said.

Growing up, teaching was a clear passion, but no particular subjects actively spoke to her. In 2015, Greisch’s senior year, various experiences and personal growth set her on a path of discernment. Former teacher Mr. Andrew Di Leonardis’s zeal for theology, the school’s Hearts of Marian (a club focused on sup-

porting students through prayer and listening ears), and her evolving faith life built to a realization that Theology was her path.

“Theology set my soul on fire,” Greisch said, “like nothing had before.”

Teaching at Marian was initially intimidating.

As a recent college graduate, Greisch returned in 2019 greeting former teachers as colleagues, “Yes, it was weird for around a month and then just comfortable.” The opportunity was excitedly heard about by Griesch’s former high school friends and alumnae sisters.

Greisch has learned to live by the motto “pick one thing and dedicate your life to it.” At Creighton University she was a recruitment and chapter leader for her sorority. “It was something I never thought I could do, to be so outgoing.” She takes that sentiment with her in all of her initiatives. At present, she is dedicated to connecting with and teaching her students.

Living out her faith looks like inspiring others to view their beliefs as a mission to act in kindness, recognizing the

power each of us has to create positive change.

Educating has changed meanings quickly from exiting college to starting at Marian, “I thought I always had to be very strict and soon realized that building relationships with students is the priority.” Greisch works hard to make her classroom a place that encourages learning, where interests are shared, and compassion is easily accessed.

Teaching gives Greisch hope. When students show their appreciation in any small way she feels like she’s making an impact and living her purpose. Greisch says she’s hopeful, “Anytime I get thank you notes, little

sticky notes, or watch the students’ sacrament of initiation projects and see faith put into action.”

Looking down the line, Greisch has many goals, “I want my students to remember me as a teacher who always gave them the space to be who they are, let them know their feelings are valid, and that they each fill a space that no one else could fill.” Additionally, in the coming years, she hopes to continue teaching at Marian and go on to further her education with an advanced degree.

In all Sara Greisch’s actions, goals, and inspirations there is an unmistakable presence of leadership and love.

“I want my students to remember me as a teacher who always gave them the space to be who they are, let them know their feelings are valid and that they each fill a space that no one else could fill.”

Sara Greisch ’15

Olivia Howard ’15(pictured left) as Columbia in Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Photo courtesy of the Omaha Community Playhouse.

From Computers to Costumes

Marian Alum, Olivia Howard’15, finds her calling in the Performing Arts

By J1 Reporter Liv Birnstihl

Many people go into a profession, or gain a degree, as a way to simply get through life, not to seek happiness. The issue?

Very few are willing to admit it.

After her departure from studying computer engineering, Olivia quickly found an opportunity waiting for her at the Omaha Community Playhouse.

Though it has been five years since Olivia graduated from Marian, she still is sure to remind herself of the power of everything she learned during her high school years.

While she is thankful Olivia Howard, a Marian She took a jump to the for the core values, work graduate from the Class left and a step to the right ethic, and the amazing of 2015, was brave enough and found teachers to do just that. herself as enOlivia Howard’s she the othcountered, Life Motto: Olivia Howard is a proud er-worldly Howard Marian alumni who is “Columis forever now a proud Omaha bia” in thankful to actress.

The Rocky Marian for Horror the conFollowing her graduation, Picture fidence it Olivia was set to go to The Show. instilled in University of Nebraska at This was her.

Omaha to study computer the first engineering. of a world She menof opportions that It was not long before she tunities without realized that this simply ahead of the various was not the path for her. her. opportuniAaron Burr, In 2017, Olivia decided ties Marian Hamilton that she needed to do After her gave her to what she was really pasOmaha shine, she sionate about in the first Comwould not place: performing. munity Playhouse perbe in the position she’s in formance as Beneatha right now.

Beginning with her junior Younger in “A Raisin year performance in in the Sun,” COVID-19 It is no question that she Marian’s production of found a way to interfere truly believes in what she “The King and I”, Howard with everything she was learned about the power found that being on stage working towards. of a confident, indepenwas where she belonged. dent thinking leader.

Along with her particiBut, Howard vows to not pation in Marian’s Select let this get in the way of As a 24-year-old, Howard Women’s Choir, perform- her blossoming career in has accepted that she has ing was clearly her strong the theater. certainly not participated suit.

“Talk less, smile more,”

in her biggest accomplishment yet. She is aware of the time she has to grow as a person, and is very eager to find her true “biggest accomplishment.”

While Olivia has not gotten to that point in her life, she lives by a motto, similar to that of Aaron Burr in the hit musical “Hamilton”: “Talk less, smile more.” She has discovered that by living by this, she has become a much more observant human being, and is more open to what others have to say.

As for the short term? Olivia simply wants to stay sane. With 2020 being the most chaotic year of her life, she is determined to keep a level head going into 2021 to ensure more success than ever before.

She is hoping that even though she was doing well going into 2020, she will have a steady plan set in place for just as much success in 2021—a sense of determination and work ethic she owes to Marian.

Top: Sarah Mullen at the University of Nebraska Medical Center Bottom: Mullen volunteering for the Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children in Peru Photos courtesy of Sarah Mullen

How Marian STEM led Mullen to Medicine

By J1 Reporter Melina Piperis

In 2015, Sarah Mullen left the halls of Marian High School and headed to the University of Iowa to major in microbiology. She is now studying to become a physician in the School of Medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

The four years Mullen spent at Marian helped nurture traits in her character which now embody empowerment and inspire others everywhere she goes.

When she first set foot on the U of I campus, Sarah was on her own, away from the comforts of home and her friends from Marian. She did not know anyone at her new school, so she decided to join a sorority. As a member of Gamma Phi Beta, Sarah worked her way up to becoming Assistant Social Chair, Scholarship Chair and Vice President of the sorority. Although focused on her studies, she also spent her free time in undergrad playing recreational soccer, just like she did at Marian. By the time she left Iowa, Sarah earned a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Microbiology.

While at Iowa, Sarah participated in undergraduate research. She spent three years studying cancer biology, which culminated in her research getting

published. This included working in the labs for 10 hours a week, and earning a summer internship at St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

Sarah graduated from the University of Iowa in 2019. Already accepted into the University of Nebraska Medical Center, she

Peru the following spring.

She spent one week there exploring the tourist areas, and hiked to Machu Picchu and the original Incan trails.

After that, she spent two weeks volunteering with the Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children (FIMRC). While participating with the public health program, Sarah lived with a host family and practiced medical Spanish.

She also spent time with other American medical students during her time in Peru.

This remarkable experience made a great impact on Sarah and further solidified her interest in medicine and helping others.

Sarah is currently on track to graduate from UNMC in 2024. Due to the pandemic, most of her classes have been moved online. She typically attends 4-6 zoom lectures a day, and even completes some labs online. Sarah will soon decide what residency program she will enter once she graduates, and is leaning towards studying internal medicine. She is also interested in allergy and immunology, women’s health, and pediatrics. Once she chooses a residency, Sarah will be in that program for about four years.

Sarah is grateful for

She exhibits the values, strength and confidence that is spoken of so often at Marian. decided to take a break from school for the year. At this point, she returned to Omaha to work as a scribe for Dr. Peter Piperis at Momenta Pain Care. This included interacting with patients, transcribing medical consultations, and assisting pain care specialists. Sarah also worked for the State of Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

There, she tracked hospitalizations of COVID-19. This gave her an opportunity to apply the knowledge she gained in undergrad to an unprecedented pandemic.

While working kept Sarah busy during her gap year, she also found time to travel. In the fall of 2019, she took a trip to see the west coast, and traveled to

her time at Marian, and how much it prepared her for her professional life. She is especially thankful for the writing skills that Marian provided her with, and applies them frequently during her everyday life. She also loved taking journalism courses and spending class time with her Network staff.

Some of her favorite memories from Marian include sitting in the hallways, reading English literature, and hanging out with friends in the quad and cafeteria.

One thing that stood out to Sarah at Marian was the importance of branching out. During her high school years, she learned how to make connections with people outside of her friend group. Today, she applies these skills in academic and professional settings. Sarah also stressed the value of encouraging women to enter the science field. She credits the STEM department at Marian for preparing her to explore opportunities in science that eventually led her to pursue a career in medicine.

Sarah Mullen will continue to make Marian proud. She exhibits the values, strength and confidence that is spoken of so often at Marian. Through her continued work at UNMC and her future in the medical field, Sarah is an inspiration to young women who are interested in science.

Aspirations Become Reality Profile on Katie Pallesen ‘15

By J1 Reporter Elleiana Green Growing up, many kids fantasize about being firefighters or teachers when they’re adults. These aspirations shape who they are and give them hope for the future. As kids get older, these dreams and aspirations evolve into different careers and opportunities because of changes of interest and goals, but for some, they remain the same. Making their younger selves proud, these people ensure that their aspirations become a reality.

Katie Pallesen, a Marian alumna from the Class of 2015, hoped to do just that.

Having been raised under the roof of two lawyers, at the age of 12 years old, Katie knew what she wanted to do with her life. After her girl scout troop took a trip to see a district court judge, Katie was assured that someday she would go to law school and follow in her parents and both of her grandfather’s footsteps.

In her time at Marian, Katie chased after her passion and filled her schedule with lots of history classes along with different English and writing classes. “I really enjoyed taking journalism to work on my writing and AP Government with Mr. Baker to learn more about how our democracy works,” she said, “Any classes that had a lot of reading and writing at Marian were always my

favorite.” Katie also participated in cross country and played on the soccer team which kept her busy at all hours of the day. Through all of the craziness of high school, the one thing that remained constant throughout was that Katie went to school every day with law in mind. When the time finally came to look into the next chapter of her life, college, she followed her aspirations and based her choice off of them.

“I applied at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Texas Christian University, Iowa State, and St. Louis University,” Katie said, “I knew that I wanted to stay close to home in order to be with my family and didn’t want to spend the money for an expensive undergraduate program.” Katie has three younger siblings, and when the time came for college, she wanted to be close enough to watch them go through high school. She wanted the ability to come home for their cross country meets and basketball games, and Lincoln allowed her to do just that. “When I first applied,” she said, “I wasn’t dead set, but after the scholarships came in, I realized that Lincoln had everything I wanted in a college,” and for Katie, it was.

Leaving Marian was extremely difficult for Katie, and on her last day

of school, she sobbed with her best friend Julia Tatten.

It was scary for her to say goodbye to some of the best friends she had ever met, but she knew that she had found herself in her time at Marian. “A lot of people go to college and find themselves soul searching for a lot of it,” she said, “Because of Marian, though, I had such a strong foundation and I felt that I knew who I was, which enabled me to focus on my career goals. I was, well, confident in myself.”

Knowing her interests and values proved themselves an advantage for Katie as she majored in political science and history at Lincoln because she was actively working towards her future. She was able to craft her own schedule and tailor it towards classes she was actually interested in. Most importantly though, she adjusted to the free time.

“At first, I had a really hard time adjusting to the free time because I spent most of high school involved in sports and rigorous classes,” Katie said, “I was anxious having so much free time, I felt like I

didn’t always have something to do with myself.”

Katie initially struggled managing her free time, but as time went on, she joined a lot of clubs and the honors program. She was exposed to a lot of different types of people and continued to make friends along the way.

Katie learned that it was okay to not always have something to do and found

“But sometimes you’re your own worst critic. We all figure it out eventually because Marian prepares us all for whatever life has to throw at us.”

Katie Pallesen ’15 joy in the insignificant things like getting a coffee and indulging herself in a good book. Along the way, adjusting to change, but as her four years at Lincoln came to a close, she set her sights on the rest of her life, law school.

Katie applied to Notre Dame, George Washington

Katie Pallesen Headshot for Notre Dame Law Review. Photo Courtesy of Katie Pallesen.

Katie (with her hands on her hips) and her cousins repping their Notre Dame gear. Photo courtesy of Katie Pallesen

University, American University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Creighton, University of Iowa, and Penn State. She couldn’t go wrong with her decision, but when it came down to it, she knew it would be best to get out of Nebraska for a while. “It was a difficult decision, but Notre Dame had always been my dream school,” Katie said, “My grandparents were huge Notre Dame football fans and always brought home merchandise after they went to football games for the grandchildren. It truly was a dream of mine that I couldn’t

pass up.”

Traveling 550 miles from her family, Katie settled herself in a new home in South Bend, Indiana.

Living in a small apartment only two miles from campus, Katie enjoyed her first semester of law school with no COVID-19. “I went to school most days from 8 a.m.- 5 p.m. and treated it like a job. I never had more than three classes a day,” Katie said. Now, in her second year, in the midst of a global pandemic, Katie has no more than two classes a day. She spends most of her time editing scholars’ journals,

which are their articles related to the law review that schools publish.

“This semester was extremely busy and left me little to no free time,” Pallesen said. “I would work 40 hours a week on top of school work from 7 a.m. -10 p.m.. It was stressful for sure, but I made it through.”

Applying everything she learned in cross country, Katie runs regularly to detach herself from her busy schedule. Despite the stress and responsibilities that come with being a law student, Katie still hopes to achieve her goals and make her 12-year-old

self proud.

Now, Katie is faced with a major decision, as she tries to decide what type of law she wants to pursue. Litigation and transactional are the two main tracks of law. Litigation involves briefings and courtroom arguments, while transactional includes deals between two parties. “I love writing litigation briefs,” Katie said, “But I’m not the best oral presenter, so I’m not totally drawn to litigation, but there is always room for improvement.”

Transactional law, on the other hand, allows Katie to create something

with litigation and promote cooperation and lawfully binding transactions between parties, and as of right now she’s leaning more towards transaction.

Uncertain of what life will throw at her after she finishes law school, Katie hopes to apply to work for state or federal judges through judicial clerkships. These programs, although extremely competitive, offer mentoring experience by researching and writing for the judges.

They allow young lawyers to see behind the scenes

and see judges’ raw reactions to lawyers’ methods of advocating, which in turn, allows you to improve your own skills.

From there, Katie hopes to move back to Omaha to settle down with her high school sweetheart and fiancé, Logan Kalkowski, and practice law at a firm here.

Inspired by people like her parents and her grandfathers, Katie Pallesen plans to continue the family tradition and become a lawyer. If one thing is clear from this year alone for Katie, it’s

that life will continue to throw obstacles in your way, but she knows that she can’t stop herself from doing something just because she is scared. Katie’s life would be completely different if she never applied for law school. “I was scared and worried,” she said, “But sometimes you’re your own worst critic. We all figure it out eventually because Marian prepares us all for whatever life has to throw at us.”

Proving herself not only to be an excellent role model and beacon of

hope for current Marian girls interested in law, Katie Pallesen goes on every day doing what her 12-year-old self dreamed of doing, only now, it’s her reality. Establishing a life-work-play balance modeled after her parents, Katie is more than prepared for what is to come. No matter what life throws at Katie in the future, it is evident that she will persist and continue to inspire young law hopefuls.

Photo of Katie Pallesen in front of Notre Dame Law. Photo courtesy of Katie Pallesen.

Kenzie Schumacher ’14 pictured at her desk in the back of her first grade classroom at Mary Our Queen in Omaha. Photo by Erin Connelly

A Student Becomes the Teacher Kenzie Schumacher’s teaching journey from being a student at Mary Our Queen to becoming a teacher

By J1 Reporter Erin Connelly

Many successful and strong women have graduated from the halls of Marian, among them is Kenzie Schumacher. After graduating from Marian in 2014, she went on to get her teaching degree at Northwest Missouri State University. She is now in the midst of her second year teaching first graders at Mary Our Queen.

Her favorite part of teaching is being able to see the kids experience those little “light-bulb moments” where she can tell the kids are finally grasping and understanding the lessons she is teaching them.

Schumacher says that teaching the kids how to read is the most fulfilling part of her job. It is rewarding for her to see the kids coming into first grade with minimal

knowledge of how to read, then by the end of the year, they are able to read entire books.

Her years at Marian were filled with many great memories such as winning state volleyball her senior year and getting first in Field Day during her senior year.

Along with playing volleyball as a defensive player, she was involved in campus ministry as an EMHC and a member of the Random Acts of Kindness Club.

Her experiences at Marian have helped her in the real world by strengthening her communication and organization skills, “I felt that I had to be very organized at Marian to stay on top of things,” Schumacher said.

Schumacher is now teaching at

Mary Our Queen, the same school she attended for elementary through middle school. She has a whole new perspective on the school now that she is back in the halls as a teacher. She began to realize and appreciate to a fuller extent how much the faculty cares for their students and how everyone in the community puts their full heart into what they do to benefit the kids.

Schumacher will always remember some of her first teaching experiences. Her first day as a teacher she remembers being nervous as all the parents and kids were coming to school in the morning. Once the parents left, she began to feel more comfortable.

She explained that the day went by very fast

and that it was crazy, yet fun.

She also recalls that during her first day as a student teacher the power went off!

She student taught at Swanson Elementary, in the first grade classroom.

She is proud that she was able to get a teaching job right after she graduated from college. What surprised her the most about teaching is how structured it was and how there was little time for new activities and games.

Outside of school, Schumacher enjoys watching and playing sports along with spending time with friends and family.

She is a kindhearted and compassionate person and the definition of a true Marian girl!

Megan Han, teaches in her former classroom during the COVID pandemic.

Growing up as a Math Genius Personality Profile on Megan Han ’13

Math Teacher, Miss.

Megan Han has been teaching at Marian ever since she graduated from UNL in 2016. “When I was a student at Marian, I wanted to go into engineering or medicine,” Han said. During Han’s senior year and freshman year of college, she decided that she wanted to be a teacher.

Growing up, Miss. Han lived in a circle with her three sisters. On the circle, there were a lot of kids that were around their ages. She spent a lot of her time with her sisters. Miss. Han also spent the majority of her time hanging out with her neighbors. “They eventually became like a second family,” Han said.

When Miss. Han was a junior in high school she babysat for her neighbor across the street who had a 2-year-old daughter. Miss.

Han felt like she had a special bond with the 2-yearold. During Han junior year, while the 2-year-old was at home, she choked on some food and lost her supply of oxygen for a long time.

The 2 year-old suffered significant brain damage and to this day hasn’t had a full recovery from it. This was a significant moment in Miss. Han’s life. She was inspired by how the 2-year -old’s family and how they stayed strong. ‘I realized the importance of family and

By J1 Reporter Chioma Aloziem

that you can truly handle anything that comes your way,” Han said.

One person who helped inspire Miss. Han to become a math teacher was her Calculus II teacher, Mrs. Mary Baker. Mrs. Baker made her realize how important teaching is. She left a significant impact on Ms. Han’s life.

Shortly after high school, Miss. Han realized that she wanted to do the same thing.

She went to UNL for her undergraduate degree and UNO for her master’s degree. She also realized that she didn’t want to leave the state either.

“If I’m going to become a teacher, I want to teach at Marian,”she said. After she graduated from college, she applied at Marian and Prep. They both offered her a job, but she chose Marian. She said she really likes the environment at Marian.

One challenge that Ms. Han first faced was teaching with teachers who taught her at Marian. It was challenging because “ I wanted to prove to them that I knew what I was doing and that I

am not just a kid anymore” Han said. As time passed that challenge has gone away a bit because a lot of teachers have retired or she didn’t have them as teachers.

Since Miss. Han started teaching immediately after getting her degree, it had some pros and cons. One difficulty that Miss. Han first faced was demanding respect from students who were only three years younger than her. Even though that was challenging, “I felt like it was easier for students to connect with me because I understood where they were in life,” Han said.

Miss.

Han also taught a class at UNO called Linear Algebra in the spring. It was completely different from teaching at Marian. In her math class,at UNO, students were mostly male. There were fifty students in the class and only six females.

Miss. Han also didn’t get to know students as well and there were less interactions in the class. Han says she definitely enjoys teaching high school students a lot

“If I’m going to become a teacher, I want to teach at Marian.”

Megan Han ’13

more.

“The best part of teaching is student interactions and getting to know people’s personalities. Each individual class has its own personality,” Han said. She enjoys teaching math while telling jokes and having fun.

She enjoys making inside jokes about math theorems with her students. “Sometimes students laugh so hard at the joke that they’re almost in tears,” Han said.

The hardest part about teaching Han said, “is being able to meet students where they are struggling with the materials.” There are certain things that are hard for students, but easy for Miss. Han to understand.

Miss. Han has to look to new ways and methods for students to understand what she is teaching.

One hope for the future that Han has is for COVID to go away. She really hopes everything can go back to normal as soon as possible.

“I really want our school year to be more reminiscent of what it used to be, I really miss it,” Han said.

She also hopes to continue teaching at Marian for years to come.

Emily Johanek Moves to the Big City

By J1 Reporter Ashley Johanek As a child, 2013 Marian graduate Emily Johanek dreamed of playing on the Women’s National Soccer Team. As she grew up and went through school, that aspiration still stuck with her, but she found her dream job in a new city.

When Emily went to grade school, her fifth grade teacher, Ms. Julie Moore, impacted her life greatly.

Her positive energy and contagious smile made learning pleasurable. In her class, Emily found a passion for writing and telling a story while learning proper grammar. She wanted to take that sort of energy and passion with her as she transitioned into high school.

Emily was also greatly influenced by her mother.

Her mother has been there since day one teaching Emily and her two brothers to be good people and have patience while stepping through life living it to its fullest.

As Emily transitioned into high school, it was a new world, but totally worth the change. Freshman retreat helped her to meet lifelong friends. Each retreat leading to senior year was memorable, but when senior retreat came around, it was emotional to reflect on the four years she experienced at Marian.

Emily was a member of the cross country team all four

years, was a class officer for three years, participated in polar plunge, did basketball and track freshman year, and played soccer her junior year. She loved getting involved in the various clubs and activities Marian offered, and took many leadership opportunities along the way.

Looking back at her four years at Marian, Emily remembers one specific day that was historic for her. She had study hall right before lunch, and when the bell rang, she was first in line for Marian Moms, her favorite Marian lunch. It never happened again in her years in high school making that one moment so memorable for her.

College at Kansas University was different from high school, but Emily was given the opportunity to study abroad her junior year. Traveling to Rome, she stepped out of her apartment every day looking for something new to enrich

her experience. One of her favorite exhibits was a cat exhibit down her block, and there, Julius Caesar was stabbed by Brutus. She said that when she studied this area of history in Honors English and in Latin, she never thought she would actually see it in person someday. It was a breathtaking experience and she recommends Rome as a travel abroad destination for school.

As college came to a close, she majored in digital marketing with a minor in sociology. She had said that she minored in sociology due to Mr. Baker at Marian. His class was so well taught that she sat up front to soak in all the information. Despite his “crazy presentations” and tests, she loved the study and the way Mr. Baker taught the class.

Looking back at her life in school, Emily was grateful for all the wonderful teachers she had. “[They]

“I try to hide from my sad days. I don’t like to think of the negatives,” Emily Johanek ‘13 said.

really wanted to see you grow and gave you the opportunities to do so,” Emily said. She saw how much time they gave to helping her and other students succeed.

Being involved in journalism at Marian helped her learn about different writing styles, how to meet deadlines and how to be clean and cut with editing. “Those are pretty essential to everything,” Emily said.

Today, Emily is working in Chicago at Merkle, a marketing agency. She looks forward to the different activities she can encounter in Chicago compared to Omaha. She enjoys the different atmosphere and opportunities to explore. There are so many diverse people which expands her horizon, and with so much to explore around the city, she is never bored.

As she continues working in digital marketing, Emily looks for the positive moments in her day. “I try to hide from my sad days.

I don’t like to think of the negatives,” Emily said.

With all the different places she can explore around Chicago, it puts a brighter mindset as she has always wanted to live in a big city.

When working at her job, Emily finds planning the most fulfilling part of her career. She loves when she and her coworkers put together their plan and see

Emily Johanek with her cousin, Raleigh, in downtown Omaha. Photo Courtesy of Emily Johanek. the results come alive. And when those results aren’t what they expected, they find ways to get the final product where they want it to be. Emily is a hard worker who always pushes through and perfects the projects with her coworkers.

In the end, a successful plan is worth all the time and hard work her and her co-

workers put into perfecting the project.

For anyone wanting to major in digital marketing or a similar career, Emily suggests networking. As the industry is huge, there are so many jobs and different roles anyone can find.

She advises to reach out to companies such as LinkedIn, and to reach out to any

Marian alum in the industry.

Living in the big city of Chicago, Emily is grateful for all the opportunities she experienced that led her to the job of her dreams.

Her plans for her life at the moment are to continue to grow within her agency and “help develop others within the digital marketing space.”

She is inspired by the peo-

ple and clients she works with and wants to continue producing great work and ideas that will help grow her clients’ businesses.

As Emily continues working hard and bringing ideas to the table at her job, she hopes to challenge herself to make an impact with her work while surrounding herself with good people.

To give a smile is to get a smile Personality Profile of Ellen Juracek Adam ’13

By J1 Reporter Bailey Kollasch 2013 alumna, Ellen (Juracek) Adam, has many talents. From crocheting to playing the trombone to making pierogies, she has “a finger in every pie,” but one of the most admirable aspects about her is her ability to positively impact her surroundings. Despite losing her job in the chaos of 2020, Adam found the strength to get two part-time jobs and be kind to those around her with stress wearing down everyone’s patience.

“There’s so much negativity in the world, and attitudes are so infectious--Why not try to bring a little joy to someone’s life?” Adam asked, an easy smile unwavering on her face and her eyes curved to form happy crescents.

Similar to her pleasant demeanor, Adam’s apartment was illuminated by the soft, warm glow of her lamp.

Playing her flute in the orchestra pit for the musical “Thoroughly Modern Millie” was a memorable experience from Adam’s sophomore year. Aside from hanging out with friends both old and new, one mishap during a rehearsal made it that much more fun.

She was in the orchestra pit which was sunken into the floor of the Omaha Community Playhouse when a prop apple fell in and nearly hit one of the orchestra members in the head. Seeming

unfazed by what occurred, the choir teacher, Ms. Cathy Pruitte picked up the prop and shocked everyone when she chucked it back onstage without looking for someone to catch it.

Although she has had some goofy experiences, Adam’s time at Marian taught her to be professional and confident, life skills she lives out to this day and has greatly benefited from.

These skills allow her to put more effort into relationships instead of writing the perfect email to her superiors. The usefulness of these lessons led to Adam suggesting her sister, Abby Juracek of the Class of 2022, should also attend Marian.

After graduation, Adam went to South Orange, New Jersey to attend Seton Hall University where she received her degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing

and a certificate in Entrepreneurial Studies. Now, she is resilient in her pursuit of working full-time for the American Wedding Cake Sales Academy where Adam can put her knowledge to good use as a Digital Marketer and sell the company’s courses to improve bakers’ sales and businesses.

Her determination is not limited to her worklife, for after losing touch with her Marian friends, she was recently able to reconnect with a few of them.

Adam’s welcoming manner is not for show when she says her home is always open to family and friends. It was around noon a few months ago when she received the text from her friend. The message was vague, but, to Adam, it was clear something had happened with her friend’s boyfriend.

Despite the worry she

“My goal is to be a positive part of people’s lives. I want to bring them joy,”

Ellen Adam’13

felt, she couldn’t suddenly leave to go comfort her friend since she was at her in-laws’ house. In a brief exchange of messages, Adam confirmed with her friend that she could wait for her return home.

When her teary-eyed friend arrived at her apartment later, Adam welcomed her inside and ushered her to the comfort of the couch where they talked for nearly two hours. From their discussion, Adam learned the boyfriend had broken up with her friend after stringing her along for about a year.

Concerned about the impact the situation could have on her friend’s feelings, Adam gently reassured her that what had occurred was not her fault and she did nothing wrong. Adam was successful in cheering up her heartbroken friend with her natural sincerity of opening her home and kitchen.

Her homey apartment is a refuge for others to relax and be themselves. With its corked bulletin board covered in Disney pins; LoveSac bean bag chair in the living room, its rightful place, as though it was like any other chair; and festive garland of fall leaves hanging above the entrance of the dining room, Adam has a home that could make her guests feel as comfortable

Ellen Juracek Adam in her homey apartment. Photo by Bailey Kollasch

as she does.

“My goal is to be a positive part of people’s lives.

I want to bring them joy,” Adam said, the corners of her lips turned upwards as proof.

Her mother and grandmothers have been excellent role models to inspire her to dedicate herself to

others’ happiness. Among family and friends, the women are known for always being warm, accepting, and there to greet others with a smile.

Of course, not everyone was going to make it easy for her to be kind, but Adam quickly learned as she grew up how to han-

dle those individuals: by remaining calm and steady.

Regardless of how frustrating the issue is, Adam strives to stay nice but firm when managing the situation.

“She is very inclusive and feels the need to get involved which is very taxing for her,” Joe Adam, Adam’s

husband, said.

For her, making someone’s day better by being positive makes her day better as well. Attitudes are indeed contagious. If one gives a smile, then they are bound to receive one in return--something important people tend to forget.

Kate Johnson’s headshot. Photo courtesy of Kate Johnson.

It’s in my DNA!

Johnson Says it Was a No Brainer to Pursue Music

By J1 Reporter Elise Moulton

Kate Johnson, a Marian graduate of 2013, spends her time today studying voice performance at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. “I have always adored singing and music, and when it came time to apply for college and beyond, it was a no brainer to pursue music,” Johnson said.

Before attending college, Johnson was involved in many extracurricular activities at Marian. She sang in the Chamber Choir, the Select Women’s Choir, and participated in as many plays and musicals as possible. “I was also involved in a [group] focused on celebrating and advocating for issues of diversity and LGBT allyship,” Johnson said.

Johnson is currently in her second, and final, year of her master’s degree program. Johnson said, “I take academic classes like music, history, literature courses, vocal pedagogy, and foreign language study, but the emphasis of my time here is intensive performance-based training in classical singing, with a focus on opera and song.”

Johnson shared an anecdote about one of her fond-

est memories with her father introducing her to music.

“I remember my family would be at the dinner table and every once in a while, my dad would sing an announcement.” He would say, ‘And now, everyone must sing opera!’ “And for the next few minutes we would all do our best impersonations of opera singers, singing things like, ‘Please pass the salt.’”

off the bat when I began my studies here,” Johnson said.

In preparation for the performance, Johnson moved to Bloomington, Indiana to start musical coaching. Johnson shares that this performance was a major highlight in her time at Indiana University. “The rehearsals were a blast, and I remember feeling exhilarated to perform on the stage of the Musical Arts Center with full orchestra and in period costumes,” Johnson said.

“I have always adored singing and music, and when it came time to apply for college and beyond, it was a no brainer to pursue music,” Kate Johnson ’13 said.

Johnson has been part of many performances during her time at the Jacobs School of Music.

In the fall of 2019, Johnson performed Susanna in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro at the Indiana University Opera and Ballet Theater.

“The role of Susanna is the longest in the operatic repertoire for my voice type, so it was a great honor to be entrusted with that right

Since graduating, Johnson has stayed in touch with Ms. Cathy Pruitte, her choir director at Marian. “She was a dedicated advocate for music and vocal arts, and facilitated a great number of singing opportunities during my time at Marian.” Johnson said.

Outside of Johnson’s academic endeavors, she enjoys going on walks and spending time with family and friends. Johnson said, “I have taken to writing poetry quite a bit, and I sometimes watercolor. I am on social media and keep it updated with my current music happenings.”

Johnson also works as a part-time Film Projectionist. However, this job is now paused until the spring when the university resumes in-person activities.

In the future, Johnson is looking forward to singing in one of Indiana University’s upcoming spring productions. She will also be working on a few recording projects in the coming months.

“In addition to that, I’m exploring opportunities abroad, along with the possibility of maybe staying at Indiana University one more year for a Performance Diploma,” Johnson said. A performing arts career might require Johnson to move to a larger city which she is open to doing. Regardless of where Johnson ends up, she hopes to continue collaborating and performing as much as possible.

A New and Inspirational Dance Team Coach Profile of Katie Ham Farris ‘11

By J1 Reporter Kenzie Anderson

Katie Farris (nee Ham) is a Marian alumna who ended her high school career in 2011 and went on to become a Husker at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In early April of 2020, Katie became the new Marian Dance Team coach.

She, and Chelsea Vorland, Marian’s head dance team coach, have been working together to accomplish many great things for the team. However, there have been obstacles along the way due to the pandemic.

Katie was so excited when she got the job as the new dance team coach.

“There were a lot of reasons I wanted to become a dance team coach,” Katie said. “The first being that I wanted to be a mentor and give back to the community that I feel gave so much to me. I also miss dancing and the feeling associated with being a part of a team and also the thrill of a performance.”

Katie said she was absolutely excited to be back in the game and watch as the girls grow and push themselves to become better dancers. When the position opened up for a new coach, she said it almost seemed like fate when Chelsea Vorland texted her a few short months after that she should apply. “After I applied,” Katie continued, “I had to do a Zoom interview because

it was right at the start of Covid and I found out about two weeks after that I got the position.”

Now as a Marian graduate, Katie says that Marian did a lot to shape her into the person that she is today.

“I used to be extremely shy and timid growing up,” Katie said. “Most teachers who had me probably either don’t remember me or they don’t remember much because I kept to myself.”

Katie has grown out of her shy stage and has become more confident in herself. When she was at Marian, Katie was involved in dance team, journalism/yearbook, recruitment team, NHS (National Honors Society), polar plunge and the musical.

“Outside of Marian,” she said, “I danced at a dance studio and competed for them. I also worked a parttime job from sophomore to senior year and volun-

teered.”

While growing up, Katie danced at The Dance Authority and also competed for them. “It’s crazy because I actually didn’t even start dancing until I was in the fifth grade,” she said.

“My mom tried to get me to dance when I was about 3, and I was so shy I never

“I wanted to be a mentor and give back to the community that I feel gave so much to me.”

Katie Ham Farris ‘11

photo source Marian yearbook 2011 wanted to go.”

Once she was in seventh grade, Katie was strongly passionate about dance.

That year, Katie’s mom started to let her compete and she did all the way through senior year. After graduating from high school, Katie tried out for The Husker Scarlets dance team before entering her freshman year at UNL. When she didn’t make the team, that was a huge blow

to her ego. After that, she never tried out for the Scarlets again.

“That is kind of a regret I have,” Katie said, “but I also don’t know if my college experience would have been the same if I were to make the team later on.”

She eventually joined a sorority and loved that experience. However, she wonders what would have happened if she had tried out for a second time. By the time she was a sophomore in college, Katie was starting to miss dance and she tried out for Omaha’s UFL team, “The Nighthawks.” “I made the team,” Katie said, “and had so much fun doing that, but unfortunately my season was cut short because I got mono towards the end and I couldn’t dance.” However, the league itself ended up being disbanded shortly after her diagnosis.

One of Katie’s greatest successes was when she and the Marian team members were able to have camp and two performances at Creighton Prep. “I know camp wasn’t in the capacity that we would have liked,” Katie said, “but it is such a great team bonding time and also a great time for the dancers to showcase their skills.”

She was so proud when the current members of the dance team were able to dance for Creighton Prep.

“Even wearing masks on

the field,” she said, “they all danced so well, and it makes me feel really happy to see them all do something they love so much.” Katie said she is also very happy to see when all the girls on the team get along. “There doesn’t seem to be much division on the team, and I really like that,” she said.

Outside of coaching at Marian, Katie owns an esthetics business called “Elle Reve.”. “I started it back in 2016 and have been doing it ever since,” Katie said. When she graduated from undergrad, Katie really wanted to continue in an area that she was really passionate in - the beauty industry. “So I do eyelash extensions, spray tanning and a lot of wedding makeup.”

Katie has created some very fond memories from when she was on Marian’s dance team. “I loved being a part of a team and performing,” she said. Her favorite year on the team was her senior year. “You feel so old when you’re a senior, but when I look back I realize how young I still was.”

Katie was able to choreograph dances with the other captains for the team and she loved it. Another fun event that Katie loved doing involved Creighton Prep.

“We also did a “couples” dance with Creighton Prep,” Katie said, “and that was a really fun/unique experience to perform it then at one of their basketball games.”

Not only is Katie Farris an amazing dance team coach, with the passion for dance, she’s a hard working and sweet woman.

Dance and Marian have made her into the person she is today. She gets to share her love for dance with the dance team. Katie is reliving all of her memories from

when she was on the team.

She also gets to work creatively with another amazing coach and the current members of Marian’s dance team.

Katie and her husband, Paxton at their wedding on Oct. 10, 2020, photo taken by Kara Quinn (@ karaquinnphotography)

Leah Hansen in 2019. Photo courtesy Leah Hansen

Marian Alum Builds Foundation for the Future Profile on Leah Hansen

By J1 Reporter Gigi Salerno

What is the most rewarding skill you have gained at Marian? For Leah Hansen, a 2011 alum, it is the confidence that she uses in her everyday life. She says Marian gave her the power to do everything she does with confidence and the ability to trust herself. At her job when making a quick decision, she decides what she wants to do, trusts herself, and follows through with confidence in her choice.

The confidence that Hansen developed at Marian helps her to change children’s lives every day.

After graduating with a major in psychology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2016, Leah knew that she wanted to work with kids and provide both insightful and fulfilling service for them. After visiting several hospitals and clinics, Hansen found the perfect job to fit that exact description: a behavioral technician for kids with autism.

In Nebraska, about 1 in 128 kids is diagnosed with autism. The clinic that Hansen works at provides services for children between the ages of 3 and 5. Each day at work, Hansen meets separately with three children. The kids go through several stations to help them gain real-life skills. Her work provides one-on-one therapy for the children, nat-

ural environment training, help them to continue with and discrete interval trials. that behavior. Many experts The environmental train- consider ABA to be the gold ing consists of playing with standard and most efficient toys, learning to assemble treatment for children on the toys and learning how to spectrum. interact with peers. During Leah finds joy in her the 15-minute discrete trial work each day by watching interthe progvals, ress the Leah kids are and the making child through she is their time with with her. sit at a One year table. ago, a Togethclient er, they came in practice who did writing not speak letters, at all. matchThis cliing ent knew pictures, what the identifythings Leah Hansen ‘11 ing what around things in the world are and them were, but ultimately ultimately speech. These all didn’t know how to vocaladd up to major skills the ize. Today, this client speaks kids need in order to go to in at least two word senschool. Once the children tences each time he needs turn 5, they graduate from something. Hansen beamed Hansen’s clinic and either as she spoke on this progmove to kindergarden or to ress and said that “being the next phase of therapy for able to watch them get betolder children. ter and better at things each Throughout the day, and every day is the most Hansen uses applied behav- rewarding part.” ior analysis (ABA) therapy, Leah is currently taking in which she reinforces the classes to get her masters kid’s good behavior and degree in speech patholoignores the problem behavgy so that she can provide iors. This helps the children further speech services in to understand what they are this field and help more and doing well and the rewards more kids progress each

day.

Hansen looks back fondly at her time at Marian. Her favorite classes, sociology and psychology, helped guide her into her current profession. Hansen was also active in many clubs, her favorite being the bowling team. She still comes to support her cousins at Field Day, helping them with songs for demo, which she participated in all four years. Leah reminisced about how close she felt to her class and how “no matter where or when, someone was always there to laugh or make a memory with you.” She talked about how she was so excited to go to school every day and cannot wait to visit her cousins when that is an option again.

Leah Hansen’s time at Marian shows how important and impactful those four years truly are. She continues to use the skills she learned durning high school in her daily life while serving the children in her community. Hansen serves as a role model both for the children she works with and many within the Marian community.

Sammy Recognizes Goals and Finds Fulfillment in Them Profile of Sammy Salerno ’11

By J1 Reporter Maddie Auman

From graduating Marian in 2011 to getting married last year, Marian alumna Samantha Salerno Porter has had many different experiences in her life that have made her into who she is today.

Marian was an exciting time for Salerno. While she worked very hard in all her classes and pushed herself to do her best, she still remembers the fun little moments of surfing in the hallways or watching the skits of the class officers at school assemblies. Salerno was a hard working student, who challenged herself by taking honors classes and spent lots of time studying for them.

This dedication has helped her to achieve all that she has today.

“After going to college, I realized how unique and special Marian was compared to other high schools,” Salerno said.

Because of the hard work and fun memories of Marian, she is now extremely grateful that she attended Marian and had the experiences that she did. One of the most important things she learned from Marian

was how to speak up and use her voice.

“I was able to learn how to speak up a lot younger than other people I knew,” Salerno said. This is something she was able to take with her through life, including college and her work experiences.

She continued to learn lessons in her life as she became a physical therapist. From starting off as an athletic trainer at Marian and knowing she wanted to have her career deal with physical science, she was able to work her way through school and achieve her Doctorate degree.

“It was one of my proud-

est moments in my life,” Salerno said. This moment has led her to a life of success and important lessons.

The most important thing she has learned was to not judge anyone.

She meets many different people every day through her job, and learns that she is there to help them feel better, not judge them by race, age, gender, or anything else.

Along with the lesson of not judging others, she’s had to learn even newer things because of the pandemic. Her job has changed in many ways, including working at the CHI arena downtown and helping

“After going to college, I realized how unique and special Marian was compared to other high schools,” Dr. Sammy Salerno ’11

test patients for Covid-19 through drive thru testing.

“It was interesting because we worked with the national guard, so it was way different than what I’m used to,” Salerno said.

After experiencing that, she helped at hospitals because patient numbers were so high and clinic numbers were low. She would help treat Covid patients or help out the nursing staff in any way they needed. Even though she is continuing to do this, she has also been able to return to her more normal duties.

Even with the new struggles evolving because of Covid-19, she has had so many happy moments in and outside of her job. Salerno recently got married this past year and her husband is someone that has made a very strong impact in her life. They originally met in the summer of 2012 working as camp counselors at Hummel Day Camp. Little did she know this is where he would one day propose to her.

While she had a plan of going to college right after high school and getting

Sammy Salerno with her husband on her wedding day in August 2019. Photo Source: Facebook Page

started with her career, her husband took some time off after high school before realizing he wanted to become a teacher and went to UNO and Creighton to do it, she realized that life is different for everybody. Not everyone does the same thing for school or their job, but realizing that and supporting them in what they choose to do is important.

Salerno has achieved many things in her life, but some aspects didn’t turn out the way she may have expected. When she was

younger, she envisioned herself being married and having kids in her mid-twenties, but now at 28 she realizes that there have been other things in her life that have become more of a priority, so her vision of having kids by now has changed.

“We’re definitely planning on having a family,” Salerno said. Even though some aspects of her life turned out to be different or happened at different times, she still hopes to have a family one day.

Her life has changed in many ways since leaving Marian, but her contact with her classmates hasn’t.

“I do stay in touch with Marian girls for sure!” Salerno said. She was recently in Frannie Hollinger’s wedding, and she and Annie McClure were in Salerno’s. She also had many Marian girls in her sorority and to this day loves to see other girls around Omaha. She often finds herself reminiscing about her love for Marian with her cousins who

all went to Marian. Even though she may have graduated 10 years ago, Marian still holds a special place in her life.

Salerno still has an exciting life ahead of her.

When thinking about her future, her two main goals are to start her own family and get into sports concentrated physical therapy. Her time at Marian, and after, will help her suceed in these aspects of her life and so much more.

SUCCESS

INSPIRATION

INDEPENDENCE CONFIDENCE

HAPPINESS

Laura Bolamperti ’10 takes in the Canadian scenery on the trip she was soon to be engaged on.

Photo courtesy of Laura Bolamperti

Capturing Success in the Eyes of Laura Bolamperti Marian Graduate 11 Years Later

By J1 Reporter Brianna Dovali “Take that risk. Go for it.

If you don’t do it now, when will you?”

Those are the exact thoughts that go through Laura Bolamperti’s head. At Marian, Bolamperti was in journalism as the front page editor for The Network her senior year. This was how she was inspired to get into photography. Her favorite memory was during her senior year, every Friday they had a seniors only theme.

“We’d all wear red lipstick or wear space buns or have brunch in the quad, and every single senior girl would get really into it which made it fun to bond with my class,” Bolamperti said.

Looking back, she can see how well Marian prepared her for college and having a career. “Marian taught me a fearlessness that gave me the freedom to take a lot of risks and to really become someone I think my high school self would be proud of,” Bolamperti said.

She then graduated with the Class of 2010, cherishing all the great friendships she made.

Bolamperti originally planned to go to law school, but instead decided to attend the University of Kansas, finishing with a journalism major and English minor.

When she got the opportunity to leave Omaha, she took it. Coming to her by chance, she was offered a job as a social media manager to

create content for a wedding dress designer. Because she loved photography, she saw this as an opportunity to do what she loved. Bolamperti realized, “I’m really good at this. I’m proud that I am really good at something.”

This ‘aha’ moment made her realize she had just turned her dream into reality.

Her job allowed her to become involved in many unique and different expieriences.

From guest starring on ‘Say Yes to the Dress’, to designing a wedding dress for the lead singer of Muse’s wife, to travelling all over the world, her job has been the most exciting thing in her life.

Well, maybe until she became engaged.

Imagine taking a gondola to the highest peak of a mountain. It’s freezing cold, the wind is constantly blowing in your face, and you’re eating at a nice restaurant looking out at the beautiful mountains. Then as you turn your head, you

see your boyfriend on one knee with a ring in hand.

Seems like something out of a fairytale, right? Exactly what Bolamperti thought.

Before her engagment in March of last year, she obviously went through all the ups and downs of a relationship. Despite being long distance, she knew he was her person.

Learning that you have to be patient with yourself and your partner is big, “you need to be able to go with the flow.”

Whatever challenges come their way, they are able to overcome them together.

In September of this year, Laura and Ashton, her fiancé, are planning on having the wedding they’ve been dreaming of. Dispite planning a wedding while being in a global pandemic, Bolamperti’s expierience in the wedding industry will definitely work to her advantage.

“You’re capable of doing anything you want to,” Bolamperti said. Recognizing how powerful women

“If I want to do anything, I can make it happen for myself. I don’t need to hope that it happens, I can do it because I want to do it.”

-Laura Bolamperti

are in this moment in time has become a major influence in her life. “If I want to do something, I can make it happen. I don’t need to hope it happens, I can do it, because I want to,” Bolamperti said. This lesson is something Bolamperti wants all women to hear. “We are powerful, we can do anything.”

When you’re young you have this idea of getting married and having kids, but Bolamperti was taught so much independence growing up. By travelling frequently, for photoshoots and video shoots all the time, “the independence that I’ve grown into is becoming the biggest marker of how my life is different than I thought it would be,” Bolamperti said.

“You’re the only person who can create your own happiness,’ and that’s what she did. If she could tell her past self one thing, it would be to “stop caring what other people think of you. If you’re not making yourself happy, then what are you doing? At the end of the day you’re stuck with yourself.

You don’t have to be liked or loved, you just have to live. The sooner you don’t care, the happier you’re going to be.” As Marian girls, we grow into ourselves.

All we have to do is create, create whatever we want.

“Create your own happiness.

Then you’re golden.” Just like Laura.

From Network Staff to Reporter in Los Angeles 2010 Marian Alumna, Hailey Konnath

By J1 Reporter Shannon Monahan Hailey Konnath World Herald. She rejoined The Marian ported on local governNetwork newspaper ment for the suburbs of staff in 2009, and has Omaha, which included continued to dedicate city council meetings her career to reporting and new developments and providing the pub- around Omaha. lic with reliable information. Although her While Konnath professional life started enjoys her work in jourand grew in Nebraska, nalism, she also sees it also has taken her first-hand how the news all the way across the industry, and specificalcountry to her current ly print news publicaresidence in Los Antions, are suffering. gles, California.

During her time After finishing up working at the Omaha her role as a managing World Herald, Konnath editor for The Network was able to cover stostaff and graduating ries that felt important from Marian High to her, like how underSchool in 2010, she represented women attended college at were in local governthe University of Nement in Nebraska. braska-Lincoln (UNL).

While earning her “I was able to learn a Bachelor’s degree in lot about the steps that Journalism and Interna- are necessary to lessen tional Studies at UNL, this inequality through she also worked as the policy and nonprofit Editor-In-Chief for The work,” Konnnath said.

Daily Nebraskan, UNL’s Working at The Omaha student-run newspaWorld Herald for more per, a highly esteemed than two years Konnath position. was constantly worried about the security of Her first job after keeping her job, while graduating from UNL watching her friends was at The Omaha and co-workers get laid

off.

After The Omaha World Herald, Konnath slightly shifted her career path when she started working for Law 360 in Los Angles, a company that specializes in news and analysis on legal developments.

able to report on the regulatory fight with Elon Musk.

Through all these jobs, her love for journalism has never subsided. “I’m usually the one asking these questions and that is how I prefer it; I love having Although many of her the license to ask whatwork days are filled with ever questions I want,” digesting online court Konnath said. fillings and contacting attorneys, she also has She talks about the the opportunity to cov- excitement of time er issues that she feels crunches, and being are important. “Coverable to quickly narrow ing stories regarding down what is important immigration and the enough to cover. Konenvironment are more nath, to this day, still acimportant to me than knowledges the impact two giant companies Marian has had on her fighting over money,” life in journalism.

Konnath said.

“Working on The Unfortunately, if Network staff introKonnath is covering duced me to the genthese issues she notes eral work flow of a that, “something egre- news organization, and gious has happened also taught me how to for them to end up in work with friends while the courts,” Konnath still respecting leadersaid. She also says that ship roles held by my sometimes the large peers,” Konnath said. companies fighting “I am a journalist now over money can be because of Marian jourinteresting, like for nalism,” Konnath said. example when she was

Hailey Konnath Photo Courtesy of Hailey Konnath

Bridget McQuillan’09 on set in Waelder, Texas.

Photo courtesy of Bridget McQuillan.

Bridget McQuillan Uses Cinematography to Give a Voice to the Underrepresented

By J1 Reporter Bridget McGill “I loved nothing more than to create my own little worlds as a kid” explained 2009 alumna Bridget McQuillan. Ever since a young age, Bridget had an interest in writing stories, which would eventually stick with her through elementary school, high school, and all the way to college.

As a little girl, Bridget spent most of her time “writing stories, playing pretend games, and drawing or creating in some way.”

In 2005, Bridget McQuillan had to choose where she wanted to attend high school. Bridget was going back and forth between Marian High School and another Catholic high School in Omaha. There were many factors in play in deciding where to go, but Bridget ultimately chose Marian for its amazing journalism program.

Bridget had a love for journalism her whole life.

“Journalism was always my favorite class,” she explained, “I’m such a

journalism girl, through and reporter for a newspaper. through.” As well as journalism, Bridget participated At Creighton, Bridget in many art classes because double majored in journalas she explains, “I was nev- ism and graphic design, er very but didn’t athletic take any and film classes “Straight, white sports because men rule the media Creighton were not my didn’t have world, and there thing.” a film proaren’t as many wom- gram. BridIn the get only en, people of color, early became 2000’s, or anyone who is a interested journalin video part of a marginalism was production mostly ized group making after a trip just to Uganda work... It is import- through writing stories ant to me to help tell Creighton’s because Backpack access to people’s stories who Journalism techmight not get to tell Program. nology She exthem.” was not plained nearly as “that trip Bridget McQuillan widecompletely spread changed as it is my career today. Digital cameras were trajectory.” new at the time, so Bridget never imagined she would Bridget describes how one day become a cineshe gets bored very easily, matographer, as she went therefore, she knew that a into college hoping to be a desk job would not work for

her. Cinematography allows her to do something different every day and have new experiences with every shoot. She currently lives in New York, but travels all over to do her job.

Going to an all girls high school affected her outlook on cinematography largely. According to Bridget’s website, she is most passionate about creating work centered around musicians, women, and anyone who is underrepresented in the media. Bridget said that “the combination of Marian and a Jesuit teaching from Creighton set me on that path.”

Bridget explains that “Straight, white men rule the media world, and there aren’t as many women, people of color, or anyone who is a part of a marginalized group making work…

That means that there aren’t as many stories being told about them that represent them fairly… It is important to me to help tell people’s stories who might not get to tell them.”

The Tuneful Morrissey Personality Profile of Lauren Morrissey ’09

By J1 Reporter Danielle Carrol Everyone has gifts they bring into the world and for 2009 alumna Lauren Morrissey, it was a musical gift. Ever since she could walk and talk, she was always singing and dancing around the house. By age 4, she memorized all the songs and dances to musicals like “The Sound of Music” and “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin,” and more.

Morrissey started taking dance classes at age 5 at the Julie Dall Studio of Dance.

Although at times, some are certain about their dreams, a little push is all that is needed to help make dreams into a reality. In the fourth grade, The Young Americans Workshop was the push for Morrissey.

Morrissey participated inthe Young Americans Workshop which lasted for three days. It was Morrissey’s first time performing out of her usual dance recitals.

The workshop sparked her interest in performing, and she begged her parents to let her audition for a community theater show.

Her parents were doubtful that she would make the cut and thought to themselves, “We’ll just let her audition, let someone tell her no.”

However, she made the cut and performed in “The Music Man” at the Dundee Dinner theater. It may seem that her parents weren’t supportive, but that

is not the case. Morrissey’s parents have always been encouraging her to pursue her dreams. She admits she wouldn’t be where she is today without them.

As well as doing theater in schools, she was also part of the Marian dance team.

To add to her repertoire, while attending Marian, she has been in the musicals: “Fiddler on the Roof,” “42nd Street,” “Annie,” and “Mame.” The major one for Morrissey was “Annie” because she played Annie!

As a vocal music director at Marian, she has directed “Rags,” “Sound of Music,” “Hello Dolly,” and more, and the newest musical “Freaky Friday” to be performed this spring.

Morrissey loves both performing and directing, but she enjoys directing more. It is an experience for her. She enjoys seeing people improve, and she wants them to notice their achievements and see the joy it brings to their loved ones.

Morrissey’s most memorable musical is “Rags” be-

cause it was the first one she directed. It was new to her, and she enjoyed watching students improve. Additionally, she saw the show play out every night.

Morrissey was set on knowing what she wanted to do when she got older, she just needed the support from her peers and mentors to make her dreams a reality.

Morrissey always planned on becoming a music teacher ever since her junior year of high school but before then, it was not too far off. She always wanted a profession in the performing arts area.

She landed on being a music teacher due to the guidance of her choir director, Miss Cathy Pruitte, at Marian.

Pruitte told her: “I could see you teaching at Marian one day.” This was the beginning of her journey leading to where she is today. Although she knew what she wanted to do, it wasn’t a direct route for Morrissey. When she went to Drake University, she considered doing a music business major, but it only lasted a semester.

Lauren Morrissey is right where she hoped she would be: a vocal music teacher and a ballet and tap teacher at Marian.

She later switched back to music education. Morrissey recalls her studio class every week. It was a class where you’d perform for your peers, and they would critique you.

She enjoyed the atmosphere of the class. She had a supportive studio and an amazing voice teacher who made it “nice and welcoming.” Morrissey liked the learning and critiquing aspect of the class; she realized that it had become her favorite part of the class and it re-inspired her to continue in music education.

After graduating from Drake University, she was open to teaching any grade level. She enjoyed her elementary and high school student teaching experiences. Then she interviewed for an elementary job and got the position to be a traveling music teacher. She went to two schools during this period of her life.

After two years of teaching elementary, she heard that the Marian position was opening up for the following year since her former music teacher Pruitte was retiring. Becoming a music teacher at Marian was her dream job, so she took the opportunity to apply for the job. In 2015, she became the vocal music teacher, and she is the current music teacher and chair of Fine Arts Department at Marian

Miss Lauren Morrissey ’09 directs a select ensemble at the Ware House recording studio.

Miss Lauren Morrissey ’09 and Mrs. Michelle Delisi ’74 celebrate a Momentum Show Choir trophy in 2020.

High School in 2021.

After a year of teaching music at Marian, Morrissey became the new Ballet and Tap teacher in 2016. Mrs. Delisi had more duties in the administration department. She needed someone else to take over her Ballet and Tap Class. Morrissey knew Delisi’s dance style since they have known each other for so long.

Morrissey said it was easy for her to take over the class and keep many of the curricular and traditional elements that were already part of the course.

Delisi is someone really important to Morrissey.

Delisi has served as a mentor to Morrissey ever since she was in high school.

Morrissey looked up to Delisi, she always wanted to make Delisi proud when she was on the dance team. Working together has tightened their friendship, and they have fun working together.

As well as being the vocal music teacher and ballet and tap teacher, she is the director of show choir. Morrissey is compet-

itive when it comes to show choir because it is always nice to win. But she’s more competitive with the show choir team; she wants to make sure they improve each year.

Although Covid brings along its challenges, Morrissey finds the challenges for online school fun. The main struggle is technology because she usually relies on a piano and a sound system. Another challenge she faces is forming a bond with students online because the relationships don’t have the same personal feel.

Morrissey wants her students to leave her classroom knowing that they had fun. She wants them to feel good about themselves.

Morrissey is proud of the Fine Arts Department and the collaboration with her colleagues and students.

She is happy and proud of the people she works with.

Morrissey is right where she hoped she would be—a vocal music teacher and a ballet and tap teacher at Marian—and she’s happy to be where she is today.

Sarah O’Connor’09 Photo courtesy of Sarah O’Connor, taken at Crater Lake National Park­

Sarah O’Connor ’09

Lives out Marian’s values as a UX Designer

By J1 Reporter Fiona Gautschi Sarah O’Connor is a hard working, driven woman who lives out the Marian Core Values every day.

After coming to Marian’s open house as a middle schooler, she fell in love with the atmosphere and community that Marian had to offer. O’Connor chose to attend Marian, and instantly became involved in the Marian community. She became a part of the musical crew, Journalism as Yearbook Editor, and the TARs program.

From a young age, O’Connor loved math and science, and at Marian she was most interested in her math, physics and journalism classes. When deciding what field of study to go into, O’Connor found a mix of her favorite things: math, journalism, science, and cre-

ativity. Blending these things led her to become interested in UX design.

“The TARs program at Marian, as well as the Journalism program meshed really well together in the tech industry, which I now work in,” O’Connor said. A lot of members of O’Connor’s family are engineers, so she knew she wanted to do something in that realm, but at the time she didn’t know a job like a UX designer existed.

After graduating Marian in 2009, O’Connor attended the University of Notre Dame with a major in computer science. She then went on to work as a software designer at Epic, a medical records comapny in Madison Wisconsin. After working at Epic, O’Connor wanted to shift her career focus to the creative side of the tech industry. To help her do this, she decided to attend the University of Wash-

ington for graduate school, where she got a Masters in Human-Computer Interaction and design.

After completing graduate school, O’Connor went on into the competitive tech industry in Seattle. “After working in the more technical side, I found I wanted to do something more creative,” O’Connor said. She excelled in her career path, and earned a job at Microsoft as a User Experience (UX) designer.

Her day-to-day job is a lot of meeting with project managers and developers to decide what needs to be built, and coming up with and testing different designs. Anything that is an everyday part of people’s lives on their devices, like phones or computers, is designed by someone. O’Connor said, “Once I knew this was a profession I could do, I knew this is what I wanted to do.” It is rewarding

for her to see something that she created, help make someone’s life a little easier.

O’Connor recently got engaged, and moved to Vancouver, Canada where she continues to work for Microsoft remotely. When she is not working she loves to spend her time outdoors, either hiking, camping or skiing. She also enjoys using her Journalism skills from Marian in photography, to tell the stories of her hikes, travels, and other events.

O’Connor lives out Marian’s value of service by designing products to help others. The Marian value of community continues to ring true in her life, when she sees or talks to her close friends from high school.

Sarah O’Connor continues to embody the Marian core values, after graduation, as a UX designer.

Kady Dennell Picture Caption Headline.’08 J1 Facebook Block A onProfile Safari Day. Photo Courtesy of Marsha Kalkowski. Your goal is to fill the spread. So, you should make the photo as large as you can without it getting distorted. Hold SHIFT and COMMAND down when you enlarge or shrink a photo.

High School Journalism Provides Creative Spark Profile of Kady Dennell ’08

By J1 Reporter Jill Williamson Kady Dennell, Marian graduate of 2008, has always had a passion for the arts, ever since she was capable of holding a crayon.

From a young age, Kady’s answer to the common question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” was always to be an artist. Kady spent the first 18 years of her life in Omaha, being the middle child in a family of seven. These 18 years played a crucial role in Kady discovering her true passions and aspirations.

Soon after she first arrived in high school, Kady grew in her fondness for Vogue magazine. She became fascinated with how the spreads on the pages looked and the photography process. The magazine inspired her to participate in Journalism at Marian, and it quickly became her favorite class of the day. Kady’s favorite part was being the yearbook editor, and she adored the creative freedom that the class granted her.

After graduating from Marian, Kady enrolled at Columbia College Chicago (CC), where she majored in graphic design. Here, she

took various art, design, and photography classes and instantly fell in love with the school. During her senior year at CC, Kady became the editor of Echo Magazine and was able to intern with professors who doubled as book publishers. She also gained the opportunity to work at a design bureau, where she learned the basic skills of professional editorial design.

Kady finished strong at CC, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree.

After spending time in Chicago, Kady moved back to Omaha for a year, where she focused on branding and marketing.

After spending some time in her hometown, Kady packed her bags and moved to the Pacific Northwest.

She currently lives in Portland, OR, where she works as a freelance graphic designer. “College made me realize that I didn’t want to spend every day in a corporate office, and I think that’s okay,” Kady says.

She loves the flexibility that being a freelance designer grants her.

This allows her to be met with new challenges and opportunities each day.

“Marian journalism provided us with a lot of creative freedom. The class was very inspiring to me.”

Kady Dennell ’08

Oregon provides Kady with a brand new scene, in comparison to life in both Omaha and Chicago. She often goes on hikes and explores new restaurants in her area, while still doing the things she is accustomed to: photography, collage work, and utilizing art in her own unique way. “I don’t think our whole worth should be tied to our jobs and our careers. Don’t forget to do the things you love outside of your career.”

Kady feels strongly that Marian played a crucial role in getting her to her current position. Marian helped Kady to gain a sense of independence and truly helped her recognize her worth as a woman following her career path. As Kady reminisced over some of her favorite memories that she and her friends made together at Marian, she left an important piece of advice for all students to hear- “It might sound cliche, but really, stay true to yourself. Do your own thing and follow your passions. And don’t forget to continue to learn long after you graduate school.”

“Success was never an ‘If statement’ for me, it was always a ‘when’.” -Carina Glover ’07

Carina Glover, Founder of HerHeadquarters- Photo by: Lasha Goodwin

Carina Glover’s App for Empowerment

How the Marian graduate uses technology to support female entrepreneurs

By J1 Reporter Lauren Montague What makes a person memorable? This is a question many of us have pondered at one point or another. Marian enlists the principles of becoming strong, independent thinking leaders, but how can we demonstrate that beyond the walls of Marian High School? How can we leave an imprint on this world?

Carina Glover, a 2007 Marian graduate, has a dream to take the world by storm. “I grew up in a family where everyone was just doing their best,” Glover said. Carin came from from a family where most people were just trying to get by.

Because of this, it wasn’t until she attended Marian that her whole perspective on opportunity and what she could achieve changed.

Marian instilled courage within her, an ideal that wasn’t present in her last school Carina said. Attending a new predominantly white private high school, Carina encountered a massive culture shock. Not only was she a minority in terms of race, she felt she was also of a different social class. Carina was exposed to students of different socioeconomic status with very big dreams, jobs and ambitions.

With this newly found

exposure to these people who believed in themselves, Carina became more confident with her own abilities and dreams. Marian reinforced that no aspirations were out of reach. She said, “Success was never an ‘if statement,’ it was always a ‘when’.”

Through this experience she learned the true value that business collaboration has on a company and the value of women helping each other. She wanted to provide that same help to other women in a similar situation as her own, she now understood the value of collaboration and provided an outlet for othe to do so.

After high school, Carina attended the University of Nebraska at Omaha. In her senior year, she decided to take her first steps towards a business of Caher own. Carina rina put created a startaside up event planher ning company. event She had great plandetermination ning and drive, but sermade a mistake vices, that changed and in Carina Glover ’07 her life. Carina Janfailed to collaborate with uary of 2018, she started people or take help from HerHeadquarters. Glover anyone. She believed that created a nationwide app she needed to prove herservice with a mission “to self on her own. With little make powerful partnerships connections for her event available for women with planning business, Carina all business types and sizes, decided to begin collaboand allow them access to ration with other female brand partnerships with one entrepreneurs and business another.” Her technology women to get her company allows women entrepreoff the ground. Soon, her neurs to have a direct outlet company began to flourish. for communication and

develop purposeful partnerships with one another through technology.

Carina has assembled an all female team that is based in Omaha and has big plans for the company’s future.

Carina’s goal is to raise a million dollars plus in seed round which is a series of related investments in which 15 or fewer investors “seed” a new company. Her overarching goal is to prepare the company to be sold within the next five years.

Carina and her husband are now expecting their first child! She says that her main drive in selling her beloved company is to create a legacy that she can then pass down to her son or daughter. She wants to pave the way for her children to always follow their own dreams and support them both financially and emotionally in their endeavors.

Carina Glover is a strong, well minded woman who willed her dreams into reality. Through her own experiences, Glover has been able to help others achieve their own goals for their companies through HerHeadquarters.

Jaimie Salerno ‘06 finds her way back home

By J1 Reporter Ashley Doehner Life is not a game of monopoly. There are no get out of jail free cards and property prices are not that low.

However, there are some instances where a person can circle back to where they started. (Sadly there is not $200 to collect when one does so).

imagined herself teaching there. She was even interviewed by one of her former teachers when applying for the position.

Jaimie Salerno is a prime example of a full circle.

Salerno attended St. Vincent de Paul in Omaha, Nebraska until she came to Marian in 2002. She graduated from Marian in 2006, and then moved on to the University of Nebraska at Lincoln where she majored in elementary education.

Just a few years ago, Salerno had Mr. Tom Baker’s grandson in one of her classes. Baker was Salerno’s favorite teacher at Marian, so she felt it was surreal to be teaching his grandson.

Salerno says that Baker was one of her greatest influences to go into education. She noted how it always seemed as if he was having fun, which pushed her to explore that path.

After college, Salerno moved to Houston, Texas to take a teaching position. In 2016 she returned to Omaha to be around family. Not long after, she began teaching at St. Vincent de Paul, the school she attended as a child.

Although Salerno’s return to her roots is an uncommon situation, the work she did while out of Nebraska was a great accomplishment as well.

Salerno said that her return was very unexpected, and that she would have never

During her break from Nebraska, Salerno worked in the public school system

Very few people’s lives come full circle. The innumerable directions that life points to makes the probability very slim, so coming back to the start is a rare occurrence.

in Houston, Texas. Not only is Houston four times the size of Omaha, but she also worked in the inner city which has a drastically different atmosphere than in Omaha and Lincoln.

Salerno deems this change as one of the biggest accomplishments she has achieved. She explained that this move was a huge risk for her because she did not know anybody in Houston.

She says that her move was very beneficial, and she is glad that she had the courage to follow

“[Marian girls] can do what they want to do” -Jaimie Salerno ‘06

through with this new challenge.

In Houston, Salerno worked in a district that was in a lower-income area of the city. She said that this new experience exposed her to all new circumstances that

she had not experienced before.

Salerno was drawn into the teaching profession through the excitement of watching kids come to understand the material. However, she did not initially land on education, as it was the third major that she worked towards in college. At first she was a political science major, and then marketing before landing in education.

Even though she enjoyed her high school experience thoroughly, Salerno said that she gained more appreciation for her Marian experience after she has left and gone through college.

The biggest takeaways that Salerno believes she received from Marian are the self confidence she gained from her learning environment and the value of friendship. She still keeps in touch with her friends from high school, and she is certain that she will have at least two Marian girls as her bridesmaids.

Salerno treasures the confidence that Marian has enacted in her. She said “[Marian girls] can do what they want to do.”

Jaimie Salerno stamds in her 5th grade classroom at St. Vincent de Paul. Photo courtesy of Jamie Salerno

Karly Jurgensen ’04

From Marian to Mannheim

By J1 Reporter Carli Ahsan It all started at Marian High School. Karly Jurgensen Daniel had the same interests as many other Marian girls. She loved Field Day, especially because it gave her the chance to fulfill her childhood dream of being a cheerleader, and freshman retreat. She was involved in the school musicals all four years, played volleyball freshman year, played on the reserve basketball team, and was in the Junior Classical League.

Unlike most of the other Marian girls though, she had a unique dream.

“Marian was the place I decided to make a living as a musician. Not only be a musician, but actually make a living as one. Marian was the environment that created the possibility for me to have that dream. If you have a dream at Marian, it doesn’t get lost. It felt like a place where if you had a dream, the people within those walls wanted that dream to come true,” Jurgensen said.

She wasn’t always set on pursuing music as a career, but it was always the common thread throughout

all of her endeavors. She enjoyed her time in the Marian Select Women’s choir, and especially enjoyed her teacher. She pushed Jurgensen to perform by herself. At that time, she did not enjoy being in the spotlight, so that encouragement to just go for it has helped her develop into who she is today. After graduating in 2004, she decided to continue her schooling at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.

Her biggest challenge so far has been staying self-motivated, organized,

and continuing to have a dream and strive for new goals. This has been made possible by her extremely supportive family, which includes her husband, her 3-year-old daughter Phoebe, her 1-and a half-year-old daughter Aven, loving parents, and siblings, who she is immensely grateful for.

“So much of who we are starts at home. My family and husband were doing the things we should all be doing for each other, lifting me up, believing in me, providing tools for me, and most importantly encourag-

ing me. It’s like they held up this mirror and told me ‘you’re amazing, you can do this’ and sometimes you really need people around you who can do that.”

Through all of her challenges, one lesson that will always stick with her has been how important it is to be kind to every single person you meet. She credits many of her current career successes to connections that would not have been made if she had burned a lot of bridges.

Now, she is a pianist and vocalist. She provides mostly live music but also recordings used at weddings and funerals. For the live music aspect of her career, she is a pianist for Mannheim Steamroller, a Grammy award winning profound music group founded in Omaha by Chip Davis, as well as performing for weddings and private local events in Omaha with her own band.

When asked what she enjoys most about her job, Jurgensen said, “I enjoy that I created it, I chose it, I decided that it was what I wanted. I’m my own boss and I can choose what I’m doing, which can also be a challenge at times. I also really enjoy how universal music is. I can be feeling a certain way and perform a song a certain way, but I could have two people hear my exact same performance and have it hit them and have two completely different meanings. I love that it can land with people so uniquely from person to person.”

Some of Jurgensen’s

most prominent memories have been the things that led her on her Mannheim Steamroller journey. She is very proud of being a part of the Mannheim family for 10 years, but the story of how that opportunity came about is one she will never forget.

Jurgensen tells the story, “I was 25, living in New York City. I came home to Omaha to play for someone’s wedding and had gone to visit my friend. She suggested that I go next door and meet her neighbor who works for Mannheim Steamroller.

We went outside, met him, gave him my card, and told him to call me if he ever needed another piano player.

I never thought he would call me.

A month later, I was in the car with my boyfriend moving home from New York to Omaha. It felt like a step back in my career. I kept thinking about how I was supposed to be successful in Omaha. While we’re in the middle of the drive I got a call. The man who I met in Omaha asked if I would play the piano with Mannheim Steamroller for this show that would be aired on national television.

They wanted me to play

as well as sing with David Archuletta, who had just won American Idol. It was like the biggest gig I had ever gotten in my entire life in a moment when I had felt like I was going backwards.

I was completely propelled forward into this opportunity that has completely altered the course of my career. That, to me, is such a beautiful God moment within a time that felt so hopeless.”

Jurgensen loves how big the crowds are while performing for Mannheim Steamroller as well as the relief of not having all of the pressure of being the front person.

She loves how it’s never about her, but she still gets to be on stage in a beautiful dress playing music. While playing her own music though, she loves the creation process.

“The process of creating music is so beautiful that the music itself is a work of art, but so is the process of creating it. You really discover that when you’re alone in it. I have noticed that when I’m working on music I could do it for hours and completely lose

“If you have a dream at Marian, it doesn’t get lost. It felt like a place where if you had a dream, the people within those walls wanted that dream to come true,”

Karly Jurgensen’04

track of time. That, to me, is a sign that I’m doing exactly what I’m supposed to be doing,” Jurgensen says.

In the future, she hopes to continue her journey with Mannheim Steamroller as well as her solo career. She has set her goals mostly around creating music. She wants to eventually create a beautiful instrumental album for babies, a lullaby album, and create another vocal album as well. She is hopeful for the future and excited for what’s to come.

Jurgensen started a non-profit called “Peaceful Preludes,” where she brings a keyboard to someone’s bedside, usually in a hospice care facility, and plays solo music for free for about an hour.

She was inspired to do this for other people just as she did for her grandma.

She recognized the true power music has to connect people and wanted to share that. This year she hopes to release an album of songs that can be shared with people for this purpose across the globe.

On Jurgensen’s website, karlynmusic.com, you can access contact information to book her to play for a wedding ceremony, cocktail hour, background/dinner music, funeral/memorial service, purchase music, get a custom recording, or a live performance.

You can also purchase digital download versions of some of her songs and covers. Definitely check it out if you are interested, you will not be disappointed!

From Marian, to Mom, to Attorney Profile of Deana Dougherty Klein ’03

Marian girls are reminded every day to follow their dreams and never let anyone or anything hold you back from achieving what you want. For alumna Deana Dougherty Klein, the skills she learned at Marian have helped her to become a successful, confident, and strong role model for her children and others.

Klein grew up right here in Omaha and graduated from Marian in 2003.

During her time here at Marian, said she was able to obtain the life skills and confidence that would carry her through life, along with not one, but two, Field Day victories.

She went on to get her undergraduate and law degree from St. Louis University, where she met her husband, Neal, and later had three charismatic kids: Nora who is 10 years oldand plans to attend Marian- William is 9, and Joe is 4. They lived in St. Louis for about 10 years, until the family made the move back to Omaha in 2017, when her husband got a job transfer, and have lived here since.

In Klein’s 35 years of life, she said the hardest thing she ever went through was the birth of her youngest son, Joe. During the

By J1 Reporter Kathryn Stec

third trimester, she was diagnosed with placenta percreta, a condition when the placenta attaches to the uterus and grows through the uterine muscles to surrouding organs.

After about six weeks of living through the scary unknown, Joe was born premature and spent the first three weeks of his life in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Because of her diagnosis, Klein had to have a hysterectomy, something no woman wants. She had a plan for her pregnancy and it was all changed in the blink of an eye.

This was a life-altering experience and it taught her important life lessons

of strength and persistence.

The stress of having a preemie baby in the hospital and two other small children at home was very rough, along with her own recovery, but she kept pushing through and now says that one thing she is proudest of in life is her children.

Klein says she is happiest when she is sitting outside, with family, relaxing while her kids are playing together (and getting along) when there is no stress or pressure. She says that being a mom has made her more grateful, but definitely made her question her sanity. It also had an effect on what she thought she knew or wanted in life and

She has influenced the lives of so many by being a model of strength and perseverance when it’s the hardest to keep going.

for herself. For her, the most rewarding part about being a mother is when her kids are empathetic towards each other and watching them be kind, caring and helpful to each other without being asked.

Growing up, Klein said she always imagined herself working and raising a family, but now that she is actually doing it, “it’s harder than what you imagine, and no one ever told me.

No one ever told me there are limitations and how difficult it really is to have a home life and career; it’s a scam. You always feel like you are letting someone down.”

Real life is much harder than it seems and growing up, being told to chase your dreams, and at Marian being told that you can do anything makes it sound simple. Klein describes the reality of having to truly work incredibly hard for what you want.

Through all Klein’s hard work, she became an associate attorney at Dornan Troia Howard Breitkreutz Conway and Law Firm, mainly working on family and juvenile law. Her favorite part of her job is adoptions, in any capacity.

Klein gets to help families

Deana Klein ’03 pictured here with her family in August 2020. Photo by Neal Klein. become whole and experience the joy and love that comes with that, knowing that she helped make it happen. Another favorite part of her job are the cases when kids are taken out of a home, then return to live with their parents and then seeing the transformation between child and parent and the growth that takes place. To Klein, it shows perseverance and that has taught her perseverance in her own life.

Through her work, Klein has made a difference in so

many lives and has brought families together, as well as helped them when they were coming apart. She has influenced the lives of so many by being a model of strength and perseverance when it’s the hardest to keep going.

Klein said her work has taught her to establish and keep boundaries that are comfortable. She said, “It’s important to be able to say no, when you are getting bad vibes from someone and listen to your instincts.

It’s hard to say no when

someone is offering to pay you, but when I didn’t listen to my instincts, I regretted it.”

Marian teaches girls to use their voice and trust yourself, and Deana has taken those skills and strengthened them in her work life and personal life.

One of the most important lessons Klein has learned in life, is to know your worth and know that everything can be negotiated. Her advice is to know how much respect you deserve and dignity you

have and use that knowledge in job interviews, relationships, and in your own mind.

Klein has used the skills and talents she learned at Marian and in life, and used them to help her inspire others. She has brought families together through her job and put many smiles on many faces. Using her Marian experiences and applying the lessons she learned here has helped her to work towards justice and be passionate about what she does.

Marian Alum Makes Strides in Her Career, Thanks to Skills Learned in High School Profile of Ashely Arts Adam ’01

By J1 Reporter Maddie Adam

Ashely Arts Adam is the definition of a successful woman. The 2001 Marian graduate sustains the spirit and qualities of a Marian girl in her everyday life.

sitting in soph hall with my lunch next to me. It wasn’t even open. A teacher came by and gave me a point for having it out,” she laughed.

“I was like, ‘Seriously?’”

A member of journalism, Ministry Council, and a soccer player, Adam remembers her days at Marian like they were yesterday, not 20 years ago. “I remember our freshman year Field Day was a disaster,” she laughs.

“We were supposed to look like we had inner tubes on so we glued plastic table cloths together and stuffed them with plastic bags. That was at the time when Field Day was at Benson Park, so when we started walking, the plastic bags started falling out of the inner tubes, all over the park.” Her senior year at Marian, her theme was Seniors on the Nile. “We totally got robbed junior year, so I’m glad we won senior year.”

The Marian activity that had the greatest impact on Adam was journalism. Adam was a member of the Network staff her senior year. “You really learn a lot. That class taught me how to interact with people. Newspaper writing turned into business writing, and I was taught how to communicate effectively with people.”

She also mentioned the famous green sweatshirts.

“My friends still talk about those!” she said.

She also told of one of her social studies teachers, Mr. Michael Sporcic, who carried around a whistle and a fanny pack filled with point slips. At lunch, he would have a line of girls waiting to receive their points. Despite how many points he gave out, “we all loved him,” she said. In her four years, Adam only received one point. “I was

She thoroughly appreciated her time at Marian. Her experience in high school directly impacted her in college and her job now.

“Marian was awesome.

School taught me to dig in and work hard and not take the answer at the surface,” Adam said. “I also developed good study habits that developed into good work habits. I got really good at making notecards.”

However, she is jealous of one studying tactic that students today love — Quizlet.

“I had never heard of it. My daughter brought this up to me and asked me to help her

make one,” she said. “I was like ‘Where was this when I was in school?’”

She also explained how Marian significantly prepares students for college through a comment about cross country coach Mr. Roger Wright’s math class.

“I could never get more than a B+ in Mr. Wright’s math class, but in my college class, I easily got an A,” she said. “Marian can be harder than college, which is good because you will be so prepared.”

Adam went to the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, where she majored in business administration.

In college, she was president of the sorority Alpha Omicron Pi and a member of Order of Omega, a Greek honors society. She was also a Teacher’s Assistant for her psychology class.

Today she works at United Healthcare. Adam began as a strategic account executive, meaning, with a team, she managed a book of business (a group of customers), got them to renew, and provided direction on additional sales and expanding product offering.

Today, she leads that team.

Her job title is Director of Account Management, and she has been in this position

for more than two years.

Her favorite part about this job is being able to help her members.

Adam manages seven people, who manage 300-400 customers, and thousands of insured members (family members of the customers).

Each year, she and her team work to get each customer to renew their membership.

Her official job description is leading the account management team by setting team strategy to achieve and surpass goals and consistently develop and manage her team, build customer, broker, and internal relationships, exceed both financial and growth goals, and anticipate problems and find effective solutions.

Her usual day starts at 7:30.

In the mornings, Adam usually gets a Diet Coke instead of coffee. “I don’t really drink coffee, but I love Diet Coke,” she said with a laugh. “Maybe I should start drinking coffee.” The first half-hour to hour is answering emails and reading news about what is going on in the company. The rest of her morning consists of meetings. These meetings could either be one-on-one with her team or meetings with different businesses.

Her lunch is around noon,

Ashely Arts Adam ’01 in her friend’s green journalism sweatshirt. Photo courtesy of Ashely Arts Adam ‘01.

and she often stays in the office, unless she has a lunch meeting with a customer, which usually happened prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Her afternoons consist of more meetings, and if she has time, she works on different projects. “These projects forecast business needs — making sure we are appropriately staffed and meeting financial goals,” she explained.

Adam tries to leave work by 4:30 each day to pick up her kids from school. She has a son in first grade and a daughter (a hopeful future

Marian girl) in fourth grade, both highly active in school and sports. “I would show you my yearbooks, but my daughter has all of them!” she laughed. “She loves looking through them.”

In addition to the kids, the family also has a Golden Retriever named Finley.

Sometimes she has to continue working when she’s finally home. “This is just answering emails, helping the team, keeping the business moving,” she said.

She works an extra two or three hours a night, two days a week when the team

is extremely busy.

Usually, the winter months are the busiest time of the year. “Quarter 4 plus 1 (January) is the biggest time of the year for our business. Around 80-85 percent of our customers renew at that time.” This is especially a stressful time with the COVID-19 pandemic hitting hard. Only 50 percent of the workforce is in the office at a time. Adam herself is typically in the office, maybe taking one day a week to work from home.

The pandemic has not only

changed where she and her team work, it also changed how her team works. “We have an emphasis on being comfortable with online networking tools,” she said.

“We’re trying to find new ways to be engaging in presentations. These presentations are very interactive.”

The pandemic has also changed the way Adam works with her colleagues.

A priority right now is over-communicating, especially at a time when there is anxiety among her team. “I have to meet people where they’re at.

Everyone’s comfort level is different,” she explained.

“Sometimes you need to give someone a day to let them be sad, let them cope.”

Adam’s biggest inspiration is a business mentor, a woman in executive leadership. She enjoyed learning how she blazed the trail and finding ways to incorporate that into her own trail.

“She’s worked her way up and has done it with grace,” she said. “Definitely get a mentor.”

The most interesting thing about her job is the constant change. “No two days are the same,” she said. “You have to be adaptable and able to pivot.” Her time at Marian taught her a valuable lesson for this job — always come prepared.

This job has also changed the way she views people.

By the time an issue is at Adam’s desk, the member is most likely really upset.

These problems range from issues with claims to surger-

ies that can’t get approval.

Her job is to find a meaningful, effective way to find a solution. “The people I talk to are those who are in the most need health-wise.

They’re usually in pain and not their normal self,” she said. “You have to be really patient and compassionate.”

Ashely Arts Adam exhibits the Marian Core Values each day. Her outstanding communication and strategic problem-solving skills, developed throughout her

time in high school, have helped her become the amazing, successful woman she is today. “Marian gave me confidence,” she said.

This confidence absolutely radiates through. Her job can be stressful at times, especially now in a period of uncertainty, but she handles each situation with grace.

She truly cares about each and every single person she is serving.

Ashely Arts Adam ’01 in her lakeside home in Valley, Nebraska, outside of Elkhorn. She usually works at her office at United Healthcare, but works from home about once a week, due to COVID. Photo by Maddie Adam ‘22

Marian Grad Impacts Lives One Third Grader at a Time Profile of Mary Timmerman ’01

By J1 Reporter Anne Masek

On Dec. 10, Ms. Mary Timmerman ’01 had the opportunity to reconnect with some former students for donuts in the morning before school in her classroom at St. Wenceslaus in Omaha.

In grade school, every kid dreams about who they wished their teacher would be next year. Ms. Timmerman was one of those teachers.

As a little girl, Mary Timmerman was spending her days playing school and looking up to her mother, who was also a teacher. As she grew up, Mary knew she wanted to be in the educational field from her first moments at college. She dropped the idea of becoming a nurse and fulfilled her passion for teaching.

Ms. Timmerman recognized that she always enjoyed working with kids when deciding her profession. “I felt that I got along with younger children and could relate to them,” Timmerman said. She always had patience with kids growing up, which has helped in her teaching career.

Ms. Timmerman has been at St. Wenceslaus School for 15 years teaching the third grade. She is a natural teacher and with her patience and passion for the job, she always looks forward to a school day. She finds so much joy in her third graders saying, “the best part of my day is interacting with the kids.”

“No day is ever the same

and there are always positive moments every day,” Timmerman said as she thinks about what she loves about her job.

“No day is ever the same, and there are always positive moments every day.”

Mary Timmerman ’01

She always looks forward to new relationships with the third graders. The connectivity and interactions between the teacher and students in her classroom make the learning environment so much more enjoyable.

Although she loves teaching, there are difficult parts of her job. Timmerman said, “You are always going from one thing to the next, and you never have a break.”

There is so much behind the scenes from teachers that students don’t realize.

They have lesson planning, meetings, and on top of an eight hour day, they have grading to do afterward.

With this, her positives of being a teacher outweigh the negatives by an immense amount.

The most fulfilling part of teaching for Ms. Timmerman is the connections and relationships she makes with students and their families. Another joy of teaching is seeing the third graders progress all year through their academics, character development and social skills. Throughout the school year, Timmerman

builds relationships with her kids, and “for them to be able to come back in your life because you made a difference with them is so fulfilling.”

At Marian, Mary was involved in many extracurricular activities. She ran track and cross country, participated in the select women’s choir, and was a part of the math honor society. Timmerman’s high school teachers encouraged her to pursue her teaching career. “They helped me realize that I did have this goal to become a teacher.”

To this day in her free

time, she continues to enjoy running and getting together with family members. Ms. Timmerman is an inspiration to all teachers with her passionate, riveting love for her job.

Her advice to anyone thinking about a teaching career would be to get as much experience in the classroom and expose yourself to all different types of schools, grades, parts of the cities, and socioeconomic classes.

“I love teaching and I wouldn’t want to do anything else,” she said.

Cimino teaching for Miss Jen Music Instruction.

Photo courtesy of Jen Cimino.

Jen Cimino ’00 Changes the Lives of Music Students While Changing Her Own

By J1 Reporter Bella Beck

As a timid, unsure freshman walking into the halls of Marian in 1996, she did not realize just how much her life would change in the next four years.

Nearly 24 years later, Jen Cimino ‘00 lives the changed life she couldn’t have even imagined as a freshman. She has always been interested in drama and theater, but it wasn’t until she attended and graduated from Marian that she actually became comfortable with performing.

The performer in her has become a music teacher and a nonprofit organizer.

At Marian, Cimino felt her community was just right for her. “Being able to go to a school that was just girls helped build my confidence,” she said. “By the time I graduated, I was totally comfortable actually getting up in front of people and trying new things.” This helped her to participate in Marian’s musicals and choir as she went on to swim in the state swim meet, but this was only the beginning of her performance career.

After attending Marian, Cimino went on to get a theater and music degree at Santa Clara University in California and afterwards a Masters of Sacred Music at the University of Notre

Dame. Following her academic life, Cimino became a drama teacher in Boston, MA. But a career in Boston wasn’t enough for Cimino.

After living on the east coast, she moved back to her home in Nebraska and is currently living her life as a piano and voice teacher, owning her own business, Miss Jen

er, but also is the founder and director of the nonprofit organization, On Cue. As she mentions, “our goal is to provide performing arts opportunities to kids who have no access to theater classes.” The organization travels to different schools and helps middle school students put on a musical that they never had the chance to create.

“Putting [success] into the brains of young people is powerful and helps them achieve success.”

Jen Cimino ’00 Music Instruction. She said that teaching in this way helps her to make a difference in her community by “enhancing people’s skills.”

She hopes to give her students a sort of confidence and comfort in their music or drama lives.

Cimino doesn’t only spread positivity and make a difference as a music teach-

The students fortunate enough to be helped by this organization are taught how to use preparation for the musical as life skills. They are taught, as Cimino says, what their responsibility to the team is, how they have confidence when they’re on stage, what their body language says about them, what it means to be prepared for class or

to have a responsibility for their lines, and much more.

Not only does Cimino make a difference in her career, but her career makes a difference in her. She says that if it weren’t for her opportunities in teaching, she would have a harder time with patience and preparation. She says, “If you’re not ready to teach the lesson, you’re in trouble.

Patience and being prepared are necessary to being a teacher.”

In order to teach those classes of children, Cimino remembers relying on a specific Marian aspect to help manage groups. “Field Day helped me to learn how to organize and manage large groups of people,” she said.

Marian helped her in her high school years to direct the demonstration crew at Field Day and helps her now to direct her classroom.

One of Marian’s main goals is to help their students to succeed and become confident, hard working women of society who do their best to make a difference in their community. Cimino does just that because of Marian, believing that, “putting [success] into the brains of young people is powerful and helps them achieve success.”

Mrs. Molly Adams Woodman shows freshman Adout Monydhel the shadow materials for hosting a middle school student.

Photo by Grace Woodard.

Molly Woodman’s Impact on Current and Future Marian Students Mrs. Molly (Adams) Woodman graduated from Marian in 1997. Woodman has worked at Marian as the Director of Admissions since 2008. Her job includes recruiting students, putting on events and organizing mailings. She runs the Big Sister Program in which juniors help the freshmen become comfortable with Marian and its traditions.

Woodman is also the head of the Recruitment Program which puts on different events for grade schoolers that includes grade school visits, hosting shadows, Open House, Placement Exam, and 6th and 7th Grade Exam and Workshop.

She started the 7th grade trivia night and 8th grade surprise night, which are some of the events that help girls to experience Marian.

Woodman is a moderator for the Step Team. “The Step Team is awesome and so fun. It is fun to see girls in a different light and the girls are totally themselves in Step,” Woodman said.

Woodman has made a difference on those around her through the events that she organizes. “I feel like I help girls make the decisions to come to Marian,” Woodman said.

Mrs. Michelle Delisi, now assistant to the Principal, was the Director of Admissions when Woodman was a student at Marian.

Delisi is the best mentor that Woodman has ever had.

By J1 Reporter Grace Woodard

When Woodman was at man’s dream job. Some Marian, she went on school lessons that Woodman has visits and gave tours at learned from her sister are Open House. When she was that she can do anything, younger, Woodman always and to take things one step knew that she wanted to be at a time so that they aren’t the Director of Admissions so overbearing. at Marian.

WoodWhen man went she to the went to UniverMarian, sity of WoodNebraska man at Omacomha and peted in graduated speech with a and was Bachin it up elor’s to senior degree in year. She Speech was also Commuin the nication.

RecruitAfter ment college Team, she was a as well Medical as a club Mrs. Molly Adams Woodman and Recruiter called and knew her daughter Daisy emcee Field Day Spirit that that 2019. Photo courtesy of Woodman.

Club in wasn’t what which girls put together she wanted to do for the rest goodie bags for any team of her life. When the job that was going to State or opportunity opened up, she Districts and went to games took it. “I like that I am not and thought of themes for stuck in a cubicle. Working games. at Marian is different every One of the biggest day. It is where I feel closest influences that someone to God, and it’s like my sechas had on Woodman is her ond home,” Woodman said. older sister, Amy Adams “My job has taught me a ‘81. Woodman’s sister has lot, it has opened my eyes to had such an impact on her a lot of different people and because she pushes Woodpoints of view. It has taught man to do things. Her sister me to be more accepting encouraged her to take the and open to different ideas job at Marian because she and perspectives of life,” knew that it was WoodWoodman said.

Becoming a mom has helped Woodman in her job because she feels more like a motherly figure girls can go to. “Becoming a mother has helped me feel more comfortable with myself,” Woodman said. When she became a mom, Woodman felt that she grew in living true to herself and is a role model for others to be comfortable with themselves and being true to who they are.

She has four children: Ozzie, 10; Daisy, 6; Ike, 5 and Leo, 2. Woodman says that she hopes that she is still at Marian when her daughter is at high school age because it has been a dream of hers to be there when her daughter goes to Marian.

“My love of the students has impacted me, and seeing them happy gets me through the rough times,” Woodman said.

Woodman says to “follow your heart in your decisions.

Go for the thing that is going to make you happy and feel the most rewarding.”

“I feel I have made a difference in the students at Marian, by giving others inspiration to be themselves and embrace their differences,” Woodman said. “If I can inspire people to open up and be themselves, I feel that I have made a difference.”

1997

Katie Crooks Sommer in her 1997 yearbook.

Photo courtesy of Marian journalism.

2017 Katie Crooks Sommer protesting a travel ban in 2017. Photo source Facebook.

Living out the Core Values Post-Graduation Katie Sommer, continues to live out the core values

By J1 Reporter Anna Rasgorshek Katie Sommer was an involved Marian girl, Class of 1997, participating in the pom squad, Mu Alpha Theta, helping with the plays and musicals, working on prom committee, and leading as a member of the National Honor Society. Katie Crooks Sommer, a perfect example of a Marian girl, won’t be able to send either of her kids to Marian. But, she continues to embody the core values in her daily life, passing these traits on to Charlie, 11, and Henry, 13, her two sons, who attend Mary Our Queen.

Sommer’s Marian teachers have left a major impact on how she lives her life today. She raves about Mrs. Regina Lehnhoff ’s English class, saying that Lehnhoff ’s class taught her something that carries her through life today, that work can be fun. She looked forward to the class every day, and enjoyed the thought provoking, college setting.

Sommer is grateful for everything Marian and Lehnhoff taught her.

Another Marian teacher who heavily influenced Sommer’s life is Mr. Bruce

Esser. Sommer found that he showed her the power of learning different thinking processes and critical thinking. She is thankful for his class for teaching her yhe same lesson: that work can be fun.

home, I would be up until 1 in the morning making sign up geniuses. But it never felt like work. It’s a reward and a pleasure and a privilege. I feel extremely lucky to be able to do these things,” Sommer said.

This is something else After majoring in English Sommer learned at Marat Creighton University, ian from both Mr. Esser Sommer has gone on to and Mrs. Lehnhoff. “You work for can feel Creighton “It never felt like content University, and happy work.

It’s a reward working on in work, the “largest and a pleasure and your job scholardoesn’t a privilege.

I feel ly editing have to be project in extremely lucky to difficult, it history,” The can be fun be able to do these Complete and make Letter of you feel things.”

Henry James. Katie Sommer ’97 good.”

She continues to be involved in her community, working with the Nebraska Democrats, helping to move in refugee families, and helping with a Mary Our Queen sister parish in Tanzania.

Sommer’s work may seem overwhelming to some, but she enjoys the adrenaline rush of being busy.

“There’s an energizing feeling about it. When we were furnishing a family’s

Sommer embodies the core value of community, and says that moving in her first refugee family in 2016 was her biggest accomplishment.

“The first refugee family that we welcomed to Omaha from Syria in March of 2016 is up there.

It was such an incredible experience to be at the airport, at this spur of the moment thing. It was

11:00 at night, and this huge Syrian community was around us singing these beautiful Arabic songs, and welcoming this family off of the plane, who had been in a refugee camp for three years. Just to experience them coming to their new home and to help them with that transition, and to provide them comfort and a sense of home was such a privilege. It was an experience unlike any other. It was a very powerful experience for my family and I. I still get chills when I think about it.”

More recently, Katie has been taking up most of her time callbanking, textbanking, sending postcards, delivering signs, and emailbanking for the Nebraska Democrats. These last few weeks Katie has been able to slow down now that the election is over, but anticipates a vaccine allowing her to be able to be back to working with the community.

Excited to see what the next year holds, Sommer looks forward to moving in more refugees in 2021.

Theresa Kinnison ‘96 Photo Courtesy of Theresa Kinnison.

Theresa Pedersen Kinnison ‘96 finds her calling

helping others improve their mental health

By J1 Reporter Kenzie Darrow After graduating from Marian High School in 1996, Theresa (Pedersen) Kinnison headed to the University of Nebraska at Omaha to obtain a degree in education with a specialization in recreational therapy.

Before deciding on this career path, Theresa changed her major multiple times and “couldn’t find her path.”

Nonetheless, after a talk with her counselors, Kinnison decided to become a recreational therapist. She then started her internship at CHI Health Immanuel, working in the rehab center.

While Theresa enjoyed helping patients find ways to put leisure back into their lives, her internship eventually came to an end and it was time to find a job. However, the only position open for a full-time recreational therapist was in psychiatric care.

So, what was Theresa to do? Although she knew nothing about psychiatry, she did know that she needed a job. Unbeknown to Theresa, was that she would soon fall in love with working in the psych department and finally realize “I am

supposed to be here, this is what I am supposed to do!”

Kinnison said.

even dream of doing anything else” and states “it’s what I’m supposed to do.”

After very happily working as a recreational therapist for some time, Theresa was approached by one of her managers, who saw more potential in her.

Her manager then proceeded to ask her “Will ya just go to nursing school already?” and even volunteered to help Kinnison in any way possible.

Today Kinnison still works at CHI Health Immanuel, as she has for the past 18 years. For the previous six years at the hospital, Kinnison has worked for the medical director of psychiatric services and performs a procedure for major depression called TMS (trans-cranial magnetic stimulation).

Theresa says that this is her favorite job so far and follows by saying “I really love the relationships the patients and I build, it’s very fulfilling.” For the procedure, Theresa sets up the chair and preps everything for TMS. She then gets to interact and talk to the patients during the procedure and have therapeutic interactions.

If Kinnison had not already demonstrated her outstanding amount of grit and perseverance by paying for her first degree at college herself and working in numerous environments, she soon would by returning to school for nursing. Not only did Theresa go back to college for a second time to get another degree, but she did it while working full time at her job in the hospital and with a new baby at home.

This however did not stop Kinnison, for she has been a nurse since 2006.

Although her journey to find her career may have been a bit longer than others to find where she was “meant to be”, she “can’t

Kinnison credits some of her personal traits to her time at Marian. For instance, Kinnison says that Marian helped her to be “very accepting of everybody no matter their ethnicity, social class, color, sexuality, or really anything.” She also said, “I feel like it (Marian) really gave me confidence and independence. I felt

very prepared academically when I went to college.”

This was one thing she especially loved and appreciated about Marian.

Another aspect of Marian that Theresa cherishes is Field Day. It is not only her favorite Marian tradition, but her Class of 1996 won Field Day junior and senior year! “When I went to Marian, I never felt like there was a clique,”Theresa said.

This was yet another part of the Marian dynamic that Kinnison adored, and says that there is “No other place like it.”

During her time at Marian, Kinnison thrived in choir and journalism. Both activities in which her daughter Avery Kinnison ‘22 are now involved as well. Theresa loves that Avery goes to Marian and is able to be a part of the sisterhood that Theresa misses so much.

Theresa Kinnison not only demonstrates great amounts of strength, dedication to the helping of others, and grit, but also the Marian Core Values of compassion, community, empowerment and service.

Jana Rhodes ‘91 (left) strikes a pose while performing in the Hunchback of Notre Dame at Magic Kingdom. Photo courtesy of Rhodes taken by Disney World in 1998.

Dancing her way through life Profile of Jana Belitz Rhodes ’91

By J1 Reporter Clare Degan Jana Rhodes ’91 began dancing when she was only 3 years old. Her love of dance began at a Kitty Lee Dance Studio and by the time she was a senior at Marian, Rhodes received a dance scholarship to Oklahoma City University.

Before attending college, Rhodes loved and cherished her time at Marian. Growing up, she always wanted to be a dancer and Marian nourished her love for dance.

Rhodes participated in cheer her freshman year and was on the dance team her sophomore, junior and senior years. She formed a close bond with her dance team friends and Mrs. Michelle Delisi, her dance coach. Along with those activities, she also participated in choir.

One of her favorite memories at Marian was being on the cheer committee for Field Day. All of the cheerleaders were poodles for their theme “Senior Circus.”

Rhodes is still close with all nine of her best friends from Marian and enjoyed all four years of high school.

Rhodes attended Oklahoma City University and received a Bachelors of Performing Arts with an emphasis in dance. After spending four years in Oklahoma, she moved to Virginia where she met her future

husband, Ryan.

She got a job as a dancer performing at Busch Gardens, an amusement park in Williamsburg Virginia. After, Rhodes began working on a 14-day cruise ship line called “The Premier.” She spent seven days traveling around the Eastern Caribbean and seven days traveling around the Western Caribbean. She worked as a dancer and traveled to St. Martin, St. Lucia, St. Thomas, Honduras and the Dominican Republic “Performing in the shows was my favorite part of the cruise,” Rhodes said.

In the summer of ’98, after getting married, Rhodes and her husband moved to Florida. She auditioned for a job at Disney World and became a dancer performing in the Hunchback of Notre

Dame in Hollywood Studios. Soon after, she became a staging specialist, where she taught the choreography to all the castmates. Most of her job was backstage behind the scenes, rather than actually performing.

During Christmas time, Magic Kingdom would have their “Castle Christmas Show.”

Rhodes was in charge of teaching the choreography to all of the dancers and cast members involved in the performance.

“It was exhilarating, exciting and terrifying to be in charge and choreograph 250 dancers for a 25 minute show. My job was always magical because I got to see the reactions of kids when they see their favorite Disney characters for the first time,” Rhodes said.

Rhodes had two kids within her nine years of living in Florida. In 2007, she and her family moved

“It was exhilarating, exciting and terrifying to be in charge and choreograph 250 dancers for a 25 minute show.”

-Jana Rhodes ’91

back to Omaha where she had her third child. She was a stay-at-home mom until all three of her kids were in school full time.

In 2015, she became a teacher assistant at St. Robert Bellarmine (SRB).

Being a teacher assistant has allowed her to reunite with fellow Marian graduates that have children at SRB. She also has a job at Kitty Lee Dance Studio teaching children and tweens ballet, tap, jazz and acrobatics.

“I have gone full circle, as I am teaching at the same studio that I went to while growing up,” Rhodes said.

Rhodes is currently going back to school to get her Masters Degree in Elementary Education.

Although dance was always what she wanted to do when she grew up, Rhodes is most proud of her kids and seeing their bright futures ahead of them.

She is happy to see her Catholic faith and morals within her children that she was taught at Marian. She is very devoted to raising her children and being a positive role model for them.

“I was able to fulfill every dream I had with performing and I am very grateful for that,” Rhodes said.

Janet’s Life of Journalism

How journalism taught Janet that she could do anything Janet Haney traveled a lot when she was young, and some of her greatest memories are from her vacations with her family. So, it may not seem like a surprise that she lives in San Francisco, California after growing up her whole life in Omaha, Nebraska and graduating from Marian High School in 1990 and Creighton University in 1994.

She visited San Francisco when she was a kid, and fell in love with it, always having it in the back of her mind. However, she did not just move there because of what she remembered from her childhood. She relocated because of job opportunities and a family friend offered her a place to stay.

To back up, while at Marian, Janet was in journalism. She got her love for writing at approximately sixth grade, so when she got to Marian, she knew she wanted to be in journalism.

Janet was on the newspaper staff and loved it. While at Marian, Janet also was on the speech team, costume committee for all Field Days, on the makeup team for all of Marian’s plays, and Spanish Club.

After she graduated from Marian, she went to Creighton University where she studied journalism and was an editor of the Creightonian, the weekly newspaper at Creighton, her senior

By J1 Reporter Elizabeth Monzu

year. She had lots of late nights, but it was ultimately fun and exciting.

Janet graduated from Creighton with a degree in journalism and eventually went into public relations.

She even lived in Phoenix, Arizona for three years where she worked for a media archival service. An individual or business who was on the news would ask for the newspaper clipping or video. Janet also worked at a nonprofit, Arizona Clean and Beautiful, where she gave talks in the community about litter and picking up after yourself.

However, Janet moved to San Francisco after she received the offer to stay there with her family friend.

San Francisco is a good place for journalists because there are 12 different neighborhood newspapers there, meaning that each neighborhood in San Francisco has their own local paper besides the city-wide one, the San Francisco Chronicle.

Janet thought she could get a job writing for one of those neighborhood news-

papers. Instead, she became a financial reporter for MarketWatch. It was a reporting position where she had to be at her job at 6:30 a.m. to get a story out by 7 a.m. This is because the stories had to be in real time.

MarketWatch follows the stock market and its changes. They cover companies like Apple, Intel, other major tech companies, or anyone who makes hardware. She was reporting in an industry she knew nothing about: finance and technology.

“I was very, very busy and it was very stressful. I never left my desk while I was at work,” Janet said.

However, she said it was “exciting” and she was reassured because everyone who worked there was about the same age. “We were figuring it out together,” Janet said.

After MarketWatch, she moved on to write for a number of publications, one of which was being a freelance writer for the Columbia University School of Engineering. “It was fascinating,” Janet said, because she got to interview a Nobel

“I was a female reporter in a sea of men.”

-Janet Haney ’90

prize winner, an astronaut, and recent graduates.

Even after doing all this, she moved on to a different job working for herself.

She has been back in public relations for 16 years. She is a freelancer, and her journalism background set her up to do this.

She has clients (businesses or individuals) who have stories they want out on the news, or media pitches.

She has to figure out if her clients’ story is news or not.

If it is news, she has to write a pitch that will grab the reporter’s attention.

This job can be very rewarding for her because the San Francisco market is not easy, so if a client gets a hit in the newspaper or online, then it helps her client.

However, one of the most difficult things is managing all the different personalities she works with. She and her client may not always agree, but she has to go with what the client wants.

Right now Janet has two clients of big banks, one tech company, and an author. Her individual client is a 90-year-old woman who has written nine books.

Janet manages her Facebook profile, and has gotten her two radio interviews.

Janet said she loves her job right now because being self-employed allows her to have stronger relationships. She will be at work,

then she will take a break, go hang out with friends, and then go back to work.

She likes to have her own rhythm and freedom.

As well as hanging out with friends, Janet goes to a nature path along the San Francisco Bay a lot to clear her head and to take pictures. It is called Crissy Field, and it was the place where she and her late fiancé had their first date. It holds a lot of meaning since her fiancé passed away a few years ago. “He was an inspiration because he had many interests he exelled

at. He also had a talent for reinventing himself when he ran into an obstacle,” Janet

said.

His perseverance continues to inspire her to overcome obstacles as well. She has had lots of difficulties in her jobs, even though she has been very successful. Because she was at MarketWatch, her other jobs assumed she knew a lot about technology, even though she thought it was the most difficult for her. She tried to get away from

this notion, so she could write other things. At MarketWatch she was also a “female reporter in a sea of men,” Janet said. Therefore, she wants to tell starting-out journalists to stand up for themselves, and to speak their mind.

“Those situations [a sea of men in a profession] don’t really change,” Janet said, so she has had to stand up for herself at conferences where there would be 10 women and 500 men.

She said journalists can do anything because she

has had to do last-minute interviews with CEOs of companies while at conferences, and she would have to think of questions in 10 minutes. “It’s like cramming for a test,” Janet said, and she got it done.

Later in her life she would like to write something longer than a newspaper article or freelance writing. “It would probably be nonfiction,” Janet said. One of Janet’s other goals is to keep traveling just like she did when she was a kid.

Photo of Janet Haney in the gardens of Claude Monet’s house in Giverny, France in October 2019. Photo courtesy of Janet Haney.

Photo Courtesy of Molly Rowen Carroll. This photo is Carroll on her visit to the Dalai Lama that changd her life.

Molly Rowen Carroll

uses the core value of compassion every day in her life’s work

By J1 Reporter Audrey Van Dyke

Mother, author, life coach, adventurer, and Marian girl are just a few titles Marian alumna, Molly Rowen Carroll ‘89, uses every day.

Carroll was born and raised right here in the Omaha area. She attended St. Joan of Arc for elementary school, then she roamed the same halls we do every day at Marian. She keeps in touch with her five closest Marian friends, even today. As most Marian girls do, she remembers most of her Field Day rankings, this just goes to show how Marian will forever be in your heart. No matter where you may end up around the world.

To continue her education, Carroll went to college at Northern Arizona University. It was not surprising that she wanted to go somewhere new, “I just think I have always had an adventurous spirit,” Carroll said. When she was trying to find a place to live it was an adventure in itself. Before settling in her home now, a mountain town called Bend, Oregon, she had lived in three different places. One of which was Barcelona, Spain. She was blessed enough to get her teaching degree.

After coming back to the United States she moved back to San Francisco and found her husband-to be.

After she got married she had her first child. She soon realized that the city was not where she wanted to be.

This led her to settle in Bend, Oregon.

She has lived in this picturesque mountain town ever since.

Growing up, Carroll looked up to her parents immensely, “My mother and father were great people,” Carroll said. They provided her with Catholic education and four siblings. Although her

family is spread out across the country, nothing could break the bond they have created. When both of her parents passed away it put Carroll in a really tough spot. However, it did draw her and her siblings closer together.

During Carroll’s career as an author she has written two books.

The first of her books took her seven years to complete and is called Cracking Open. The second book took her just 11 weeks to completely finish, and it is titled Trust Within.

This book is solely talking about how listening to ourselves will lead us where we need to

go. After Carroll had her first child she followed her intuition and spent three weeks in India to help refugees. This was a very hard decision for Carroll to make, because she did not want to leave her children, but this trip was such a moving experience, and she did not want to let it be wasted. Her daughter was 4 and her son was 6 at the time.

While Carroll was in India, she was lucky enough to spend a little time with the Dalai Lama, “I couldn’t consciously comprehend much in that moment, but I knew deep in my bones that my father was standing there with the Dalai Lama and me,” Carroll wrote in her book Trust Within. One of Carroll’s biggest inspirations is the Dalai Lama, she is a firm believer in following your intuition and trusting that God will lead everyone where they need to be.

With life comes ways to learn and grow. Carroll is a great example of following your instinct and trusting that God has a plan for everything that life brings.

Carroll is a great role model for any Marian girl, and she is an example of how Marian will live in your heart wherever you are.

Toni McCarthy Compton ’86, left, with a friend during her high school days, Photo source: 1986 Yearbook

’86

Toni Compton ’86 stikes a pose in a coffee shop located in NYC’s Chinatown, Photo courtesy of Annie Compton ’20

Toni McCarthy Compton ’86: A Confident, Independent, Thinking Leader

By J1 Reporter Jordan Moser Entering Marian as a timid freshman in 1982, Toni McCarthy Compton had no idea where Marian would take her and what talents would be given an outlet. “I came from a small grade school. I didn’t know anyone except for one other girl,” Compton said. However, despite some nerves, she didn’t let this hold her back.

Throughout Compton’s high school career, she was a class officer, participated on the speech team, and took a lot of art classes.

“I absolutely loved my art classes. I’ve always loved being able to be creative,” Compton said. This creativity and artistic talent led to a job she absolutely loved: being the Marian BLUEtique manager.

Before becoming the manager of the BLUEtique, Marian’s spirit-wear store, Compton was just a volunteer. “I wanted to get more involved. When my first daughter was a freshman, I walked into the original BLUEtique and thought it could use some upgrades,” she said. “I started volunteering more, became the buyer and designer, and then became an official staff member in 2015!”

Being manager of the BLUEtique comes with a

lot of hard work and time consuming responsibilities.

“I designed all of the merchandise’s artwork, created and ran the online store, organized and merchandised the actual store… the list goes on and on,” the former BLUEtique manager said.

“It’s a lot of work.”

Despite there being what seemed like an unending list of everyday duties, Compton always stayed on top of it. She absolutely loved her job and liked to have fun with it. “Being the manager of the BLUEtique was a creative outlet for me.

I’ve always loved fashion and art and being able to be creative,” she said. “It was fun to be creative and see girls come in saying they loved it.”

Compton especially loved her job because she was able to watch her daughters, Keara Compton ‘17 and Annie Compton ‘20, go through their own four years of Marian. “It’s made me really proud that I have a legacy at Marian.

I got to be here with them which was pretty cool,” Compton said. “Except for when they’d come in to ask for change for the vending machines.”

The former BLUEtique manager learned a lot during her five years of working at

Marian. “I’ve never had any experience running a store or making a website. I did a lot of work and research and I did it successfully,” Compton said.

During Marian events such as Grandparent’s Day, the BLUEtique sells thousands of dollars in inventory. “These crazy sales can happen in under 90 minutes,” Compton said. Sales also happen on a regular basis both in-store and online.

Since 2018, the BLUEtique has generated a whopping $277,000 in sales.

Compton dealt with around 30 vendors during her time as manager, but used 10 on a regular basis.

“The more vendors you use, the more challenging it is to keep track of everything,” Compton said. “Especially

when you’re the only person running the show.”

Compton credits her work ethic and outgoing personality to Marian. “I think that if I would’ve gone to a co-ed school, I’d be completely different.

Marian taught me how to be independent, but also to take chances and work harder,” she said. “It gave me empowerment, like I can do this. I know now that I can be a confident, independent, thinking leader at any age.”

1986 graduate, Toni Compton, will forever be a beloved alumna and former staff member of Marian.

She’s a perfect example of what Marian hopes all of its students will become: a confident, independent, thinking leader.

“It gave me empowerment, like I can do this. I know now that I can be a confident, independent, thinking leader at any age.”

Toni McCarthy Compton ’86

Shari Andersen Reynolds ’83 and her family at the 2020 holiday season.

Photo from Shari Andersen Reynolds

Shari Andersen Reynolds ’83

Once A Student, Now an Essential Part of Marian’s Community

By J1 Reporter Lucy Drexel

Students have been coming and going into Marian since the start in 1955. As a new class comes in, one has to leave. Marian girls are known for going out into the world and using what Marian taught them, to become some of the most successful women. Big or small, they all make an impact in the community around them.

Mrs. Shari Andersen Reynolds is a Marian alumna of the Class of 1983. She currently works in the business office and is the Assistant to the Vice President of Finance. She does a lot of the finance work at Marian but she also helps young girls get the opportunity to come to Marian. She works with girls and their families, who may not be able to afford Marian, and she finds scholarships for them. “This is the most rewarding part of my job. I get to help the most amazing young girls and help afford them the opportunity to attend Marian. I get to tell families that I can help them financially and their daughter can now go to Marian.”

Before she was the Assistant to the Vice President of Finance, part of her job was being in charge of the Work Study program and the girls assignments. This was also a rewarding job as well.

She was able to help girls

get some money off of their tuition through work study.

During her time as a student at Marian, she was an active member of Journalism and was the yearbook editor her senior year. She loved being part of this and being able to be apart of such a creative team of girls. “I look at my yearbook all the time and it is something I am never going to get rid of.”

She was also part of the Speech and Debate team, which was one of her favorite things about Marian.

away from home and when I started a family, I wanted to be able to raise my family and see my kids grow.”

She knew she didn’t want to major in business and looked around at all the role models in her life. She looks up to all the good moms and women in her life, and she knew that a big part of her life would be raising her children.

A couple years later, she settled down with her husband and started a family. Her three daughters, Emily, Sarah, and Abby all went to Marian and graduated in 2011,2013, and 2020. Her son Carson is currently a sophomore at Prep.

“This is the most rewarding part of my job. I get to help the most amazing young girls and afford them the opportunity to attend Marian.”

Shari Reynolds ’83

Mrs. Reynolds grew up in Omaha, and after graduating from Marian, went on to college to study architecture but ended up startig in computer science. “After much thought, I realized that architecture was a really demanding job. I would have to spend a lot of time

Mrs. Reynolds’ oldest daughter Cady was also a student at Marian. In May of 2007, at 16 years old,

Cady was killed in a car accident, when a distracted driver ran a red light and hit Cady’s car. After she was killed, Mrs. Reynolds and her husband Rob started a non-profit alliance called C.A.R (Cady Anne Reynolds), to teach teenagers about safe driving and what distracted driving can do.

For the past twelve years, C.A.R has gone to hundreds of schools around Nebraska to show their research and the effects distracted driving can have. Not only that, but they have been fighting to get stricter laws put in place on distracted driving. They devote a lot of time to making sure that families have this conversation, so that no family has to go through what they did.

Mrs. Reynolds stayed at home and raised her kids and 20 years later, got a call saying that there was an opening in Marian’s business office. “I was so excited, and I wouldn’t want to be working anywhere else.” She plays a big part in making what Marian is today and really lives out compassion, community, serive, spiritualtiy, empowerment and Marian Identiy.

She is a huge role model to many girls, including me at Marian.

Kari Mangan

A Marian Girl: Disciplined, Organized, and Adaptable Profile of Kari Mangan ’82

By J1 Reporter Lily Mausbach

Marian prepares us for life in more ways than one, not only academically but also in our characteristics as a person.

Kari Mangan was in the graduated from Marian and took the lessons she learned and continues to use them to this day.

Kari Mangan was in the graduating class of 1982 -“one of the best classes-” she says. Kari was a triple threat in the athletics programs at Marian.

She participated in basketball, softball, and golf.

Unfortunately she tore her ACL her junior year and could no longer play basketball or softball.

This did not stop her from shying away from loving sports, she still had golf.

She loved and excelled at golf in fact. She even qualified for the Women’s United States Open then

taught golf for 10 years after.

Kari excels in competitive environments and constantly wants to improve which makes a good athlete and a strong work ethic. She was the vice president of her class for all 4 years and loved how diverse and fun her it was. She recalls it as one of the most fun and special times of her life.

Tom Baker is still one of her favorite teachers

“Once part of Marian, you got support wherever you go in life,” Kari Mangan and made the faculty and the students feel like a big family. However, Ms. Egan was the teacher who pushed her. School came relatively easy to her and didn’t cause her a ton of stress so Ms. Egan challenged her in a way she usually wasn’t used to.

She helped her to see the

importance of education become efficient on the and raised the bar for front line to do it easier excellence. This generat- and faster compels her to ed into a life lesson she be constantly changing learned: to trust your gut and improving at her job. and be confident in your She believes in the workdecisions, even if you place, maintaining a roufail. tine is moving backwards Kari thought she would and always improving be in athletics all her life will lead to success. It all whether it was coaching starts with mentality. or playing until she went The lessons and expeto law school. Kari didn’t riences that Kari Mangan enjoy law and regrets had she took with her in finding this out later. Afyears to come. “Once part ter law school she steered of Marian, you got supaway from that passion port wherever you go in and now works at Paul life,” she says.

Davis Restoration. She considers this business, “the emergency room of construction.”

Their mission is to provide extrodinary care while serving people in their time of need.

Helping people Kari Mangan. Marian HighSchool Yearbook 1982.

Photos by Marian Journalism

Marian High School’s “Mama D” ’74

By J1 Reporter Haley Hoffman “Mama D” is an admired name throughout the halls of Marian High School. Known to be a devoted woman to Marian, she has spent lots of her life promoting the mission of Marian and leading the school to new heights. From the administrative office all the way down to the performing arts center, Delisi has made waves in all parts of the community.

Michelle Procopio Delisi is a Marian Class of 1974 graduate, and though receiving her diploma, her spirit never really left the school. In her time at Marian, she was extremely involved with the performing arts and had deep connections with those around her, including the Servants of Mary. She had many Sisters as her teachers, and they instilled compassion in her as well as making connections with them that have lasted her whole life. Her sophomore year, Delisi was given the opportunity by her teacher to choreograph the musical, “Bye Bye Birdie,” for that year. She would be the first student ever at Marian to take on such a role.

She accepted this challenge, and she has choreographed every musical since that day.

Though she has worked at Marian for the majority of her life doing

what she loves, she was not given the opportunity right away. Delisi spent one year in college at UNO, and after receiving a dance certificate, she worked at First National Bank in the credit card department for nine months.

Though this isn’t what she loved doing, her business classes in college are what took her there.

While talking to a friend, she heard about a job opportunity at Marian. They were looking for a Marian alumna to work in public relations.

There was no prior experience needed for this, and Delisi knew she had to take it.

After taking the job, she soon learned that it wasn’t right for her. It was a stressful job, and Delisi felt like it just wasn’t the right fit. Eventually, she was moved to administrative assistant to the principal.

This job stuck with her, and she hasn’t left since.

Her job consists

of helping principal Mrs. Sullivan with whatever she may need, organizing events and filling her calendar, coaching freshman field day cheer, helping staff, leading the mime troupe, organizing the Marian Moms Salad Lunch, and the list goes on. She has assisted seven different Marian principals in her time, and when one is about to leave, she mentors and teaches the new principal everything she knows.

She is a major part of the backbone of Marian and she makes sure everything is running the way it should.

While assisting the principal, she also is Marian’s dance director. This means she does the choreography for the musicals, plays, recitals, and helps assist show choir. In her earlier years, she taught the dance classes at Marian, but as time went on she was needed more by Mrs.

From the administrative office all the way down to the performing arts center, Delisi has made waves in all parts of the community.

Sullivan. She now assists Miss Lauren Morrissey, a 2009 Marian alumna who came to Marian in 2015 to teach. Though Delisi doesn’t do as much as she used to in the performing arts world of Marian, she is still extremely involved and she has shaped it into what it is today.

One of the most inspiring aspects of her impact on Marian is how genuinely devoted she is to helping others. Delisi says her favorite part about Marian is the students. “It’s the connection, it’s something that brightens my day every day!” Delisi said. Working at Marian has also taught her flexibility and patience.

She loves organization, but she never knows what each new day can bring. Despite the unknown, the challenge of the unexpected is something she’s learned to appreciate.

Mrs. Delisi has always had a motherly love for her students. Delisi sent her two daughters to Marian, while also having nieces graduate from Marian too.

Marian has had a great effect on Delisi’s life and she is grateful for the opportunities and life lessons it has given her. Delisi is an awesome representation of what it means to be a true Marian girl.

President Mary Higgins ’69 sits outside of her Marian office. Photo by Avery Kinnison

Mary Higgins ’69:

Inspiring future Crusaders

By J1 Reporter Avery Kinnison “In my heart and soul, as a spiritual mission, I want every girl who comes through these hallways… to know they are worthy of love and respect,” Marian President Mary Higgins, class of ’69 said. Higgins inspires current Crusaders with her goals and experiences.

Higgins began her journey at Marian when she was in kindergarten, attending the school’s short-lived kindergarten program.

“They only had kindergarten... three or four years,” Higgins said. She, along with her two brothers, was enrolled. Higgins spent her first through eighth-grade years at Saint Bernard’s Catholic School, just three minutes east of Marian on Military Ave. In her years at Marian, Higgins received a rigorous Catholic education, with theology being her favorite class. “Some theology classes I just found fascinating… they just got to my heart and soul,” Higgins said.

While she favored theology and English in high school, Higgins said that she found math to be one of her most challenging classes. “I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else,” Higgins said. She wishes for current students to receive the same education as she did, as well as develop a deep love for their education.

Higgins’ involvement with Marian before her job did not just stop after her graduation. Her daughter also attended Marian and graduated in 2007. “It was such a thrill for me to watch her experience as she went through it,” Higgins said.

She recalls helping serve a few Marian moms lunches and being on the board of directors in her daughter’s four years. “I told her she could look at other schools...but she was going to Marian.”

Before her time as president at Marian, Higgins spent a total of 39 years working at her alma mater, Creighton University. In her first 17 years at Creighton, she worked as the softball coach but later went on to work in a different position.

“I was Assistant Athletic Director, and Senior Women’s Administrator (SWA)” Higgins said. As the Assistant Athletic Director, Higgins worked with fundraising and NCAA compliance.

Higgins later moved on to work more with the students and their academics. “I was Director of Student Retention, and I stayed in student retention and academic advising until I retired from Creighton in 2014,” Higgins said.

As president at Marian, Higgins has had many accomplishments that she is proud of, but one stands out

from the rest. Higgins takes pride in the new renovations done to the building. The renovations began in the spring into the summer of 2016. The overall cost of construction was $9 million.

“I’m proud of that. That was hard and time-consuming, and we really had to grind through it,” Higgins said.

Another big accomplishment Higgins has made was her induction into the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame for her seventeen years as the softball coach at Creighton University. “That was kind of overwhelming...people say you just get so humbled by it, and I did,” Higgins said.

Higgins

has been working at Marian since 2014 and is the first alum to be serving in the position of president. She strives every day to maintain the safe and empowering learning environment within Marian’s walls.

“I want every girl who comes through these hallways to know they are worthy of love and respect.” Mary Higgins

Difference made by a Marian Alum Profile of Margaret Guziec Hoarty ’66 Marian has always prepared students to become strong, compassionate, and independent women. Since 1955, faith and compassion are two of the qualities that the Marian experience seems to be centered around. The accuracy of this statement is obvious when you take into account the successful careers and world difference that Marian alumnae have participated in throughout their years post-Marian graduation.

One Marian alum, Margaret Guziec Hoarty, is a perfect example of what a Marian girl can achieve. She graduated from Marian in the Class of 1966. She went on to attend and graduate with a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Creighton

By J1 Reporter Lucy Loughran

University. She would then become involved on the nursing track and teach official CPR classes. Mrs. Hoarty also joined fellow nurses in a group known as the Pius Nurses. These nurses provided those who suffered chronic diseases with direct home care.

Years later, however, even during her career as a nurse and membership of the Pius Nurses, Mrs. Hoarty found herself wishing she could be more involved in health promotion. “I was becoming enamored with spirituality and health,” Mrs. Hoarty explained.

Prompted by this desire, Mrs. Hoarty, along with her husband, decided to volunteer at

“I was becoming enamored with spirituality and health,” Mrs. Margaret Hoarty ’66

the Centro Romero, an organization in El Paso, Texas.

Despite the commute from Omaha, NE to El Paso, TX, Mrs. Hoarty volunteered for two straight weeks at a migrant shelter. She participated as a nurse there, which then led her to do more work as a clinic nurse for the organization.

In order to improve their communication skills with the migrants they were constantly surrounded by, Mrs. Hoarty and her husband even went as far as to begin taking language classes to improve their Spanish, which they still participate in twice a week via Zoom.

If that’s not dedication, then what is?

One more interest of Mrs. Hoarty has been teaching Tai Chi classes at Saint Pius X/Saint Leo Elementary School for Margaret Guziec elderly people.

Hoarty ’66 Source: Tai Chi is Marian Magazine known as a 2012

Chinese martial art and way of meditation.

The benefits of Tai Chi are boundless, especially during a stressful time such as the present.

Given the recent global pandemic however, she proceeded to teach these classes to her Tai Chi students from her driveway. Whether they are finding their Chi inside the Saint Pius X/Saint Leo Elementary building or from Mrs. Hoarty’s driveway, her students love attending. The Tai Chi classes are also seen as social events; the classes are a chance for Mrs. Hoarty’s students to meet new people as well as chat with people their age.

Since the weather has affected these classes, they are not held weekly as of now. Mrs. Hoarty is hopeful that once the weather begins to get warmer, she will be able to resume her classes.

“People were hungry for a social connection, and Tai Chi is great for balance and giving people a sense of calm meditation,” Mrs. Hoarty said.

Margaret Hoarty’s career full of nursing, volunteering, and selflessness serves as an amazing example to those Marian girls who yearn to make a difference. With her desire to help those in need, while also incorporating her faith and spirituality, she has exemplified pure compassion and faith.

Margaret Guizec Hoarty ‘66 and her husband, Tom, at the end of a 500 mile Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in 2012 at Finisterre, Spain. Source: Margaret Guziec Hoarty

Eileen Reilly ’65 Recalls Her Time at Marian 55 Years After Graduation

By J1 Reporter Christina Tinley

Eileen Reilly. Courtesy of Eileen Reilly.

Ten years after Marian High School opened its doors to serve Omaha girls looking to get a Catholic education, Eileen Reilly headed out those very doors to experience life after high school.

Now, Reilly works as an attorney for the Women’s Center for Advancement (WCA), a non-profit organization that, as she explains, “give services to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking and stalking.”

“We help with protection orders, divorces, custody and child support, and we also, at the WCA, provide immigration assistance to people who are looking to get legal status in this country,” Reilly said.

As a student in high school, Reilly didn’t imagine that in her future she would become a lawyer.

Although Reilly took an interest in debate during high school, it was not until she did paralegal work for a lawyer in the late 60s and early 70s that she realized her future as a lawyer. As she was raising her three kids, she put law school

“I think that Marian gave me a really good base for understanding the value of education, as well as the fact that gender didn’t need to be a barrier.”

- Eileen Reilly

on hold and found a job at Union Pacific. When Reilly was 40-years-old in 1989, she finally attended law school after receiving her undergraduate degree the previous year.

Recalling her time spent at Marian, Reilly remembers participating in debate tournaments, even traveling as far as Minnesota to compete.

Even though debate didn’t directly lead Reilly to her profession, she said, “I think debate probably started that interest [in law] for me.”

Reilly participated in other activities than debate, as well. “Sister Gertrude taught me private music lessons, and Sister Cecile

was the director of the choir,” said Reilly, recalling her music teachers. She was also the editor of the Maria Regina, the Marian newspaper. She remembers that “there was a lot of fun associated with trying to meet the deadlines and trying to get the proof sheets back to the printer in time for when the issue was supposed to be printed.”

Reilly remembers having fun taking late trips to the “sort of scary” part of Omaha to deliver proofs.

Reilly also fondly recalled Field Day. “I loved, of course, Field Day; everybody loves Field Day,” Reilly said.

After graduating from

law school, Reilly practiced law for about 20 to 25 years before retiring. In retirement, she kept busy as an Americorps VISTA volunteer, but according to her, she “was recruited back to the WCA” to work again as an attorney. She regularly continues to meet with Marian graduates, some she reconnected with at her 50th high school reunion back in 2015.

Growing up attending a Catholic grade school, Reilly received a scholarship to start her high school experience in 1961.

There, she became the first of her sisters to attend Marian. One of her sisters, Kathleen, was the first deaf student to attend Marian.

Reilly explained that during the time nobody used sign language to communicate with her sister. “She sat up in the front row and she read lips,” Reilly said.

Reilly says she is grateful for her Marian experience.

“I think that Marian gave me a really good base for understanding the value of education, as well as the fact that gender didn’t need to be a barrier,” Reilly said.