Letter from the President

Dear Alumni, In just a few weeks, 216 seniors will graduate from Saint Viator High School, and become a part of your Saint Viator and Sacred Heart of Mary Alumni Association. I hope you will welcome them and are prepared to support them through the next few years of their lives as they move on to college and careers. Providing guidance with career choices, serving as mentors, assisting with job searches, and providing an example of how to contribute to their communities are some of the roles that they will look to you to fulfill for them.

They leave Saint Viator having been through an experience that none of us could have ever imagined. The COVID pandemic has certainly robbed them of some of the most unique, formative, and meaningful experiences that most of us cherish from our high school years. They will need additional support, but in having observed them navigate the past year, I believe there will also be things we can learn from them about resilience and determination.

In reflecting on their experience, I could not help but think of what many of you encountered in your teenage years. Our first classes in the ’60’s faced the prospect of draft cards arriving in the mail on their 18th birthday, and a decade later, students here were part of an educational experiment within our walls, and massive social and political upheaval in our world. In the ’80’s, there was a new economic environment that was changing careers for our graduates, and in the latter part of that decade, our community moved into a new era becoming a co-ed institution. Rapid developments in technology faced the next generation of Lions, forever changing education, communications, and careers. As we moved into a new century filled with promise, students were forever changed by what took place on a September morning in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. In recent years, a social awakening is being driven by young people who demand social responsibility by their employers and are breaking barriers based on color, religion, and gender. All of this has led me to understand that every generation faces new challenges, yet blazes new trails. An organization like the Saint Viator and Sacred Heart of Mary Alumni Association owns a lot of responsibility to share knowledge, opportunity, and support across generations.

In my personal life, I, too, am facing significant change, as in December, I informed Provincial Fr. Dan Hall, CSV, that the 2020-21 school year would be my last at Saint Viator. As I consider what opportunities and challenges may lie ahead for my family and me, it is also humbling to look back at what we have accomplished in my five years as steward of your institution. With your support, and in unison with the staff and faculty, and the Viatorian community, we have completed Strategic and Facilities Master Plans to provide a roadmap to improve all aspects of our school, introduced the Entrepreneurship Curriculum and the Klues Family Innovation Center to begin our evolution to the classroom of the future, expanded and renovated our Counseling Center and Murphy Wellness Center to address the physical, social, and emotional needs of students, expanded the Tuition Assistance program which allows us to make a Saint Viator education accessible to all who seek it, and recently began a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion process.

I hope I have served you well and I will forever be grateful for your acceptance and cooperation through challenging times. In fall, a new class of freshmen will begin school with Fr. Dan Lydon, CSV, as president of Saint Viator. We can’t begin to imagine what they will encounter in their four years here and during the college years that follow. Let us pray that we can all join together to transform our world by upholding the Viatorian Mission.

God Bless and Stay Well,

Brian J. Liedlich President