February Communi-k 2019

A Kennedy Catholic Lancer Publication

February 2019

Communi-K LEARNING, FAITH, LEADERSHIP

Cover Story

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK

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A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

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ALUMNI UPDATES page 8

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IN THIS ISSUE President’s Letter Principal’s Letter Senior Retreat Catholic Schools Week Annual Report KATCH Auction Alumni News International News

IN THE NEWS News and Press Releases

Lancer Visit Days

Find all the latest news on our website or follow us on social media. Click below to listen to retreat playlists on our Spotify, connect with us on LinkedIn, or see our latest photos and recaps.

Leadership Dinner

Check out our podcast here!

Crab Feed

World Youth Day Teacher Profile Fine and Performing Arts Signing Day

ON THE COVER Kennedy Catholic students helped hand out primroses to the neighbors in our community as a thank you during Catholic Schools Week.

Read more on page 6.

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A Note from Mike Prato, President

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The best education must be made available to all that desire it.

We were honored to have Archbishop Peter Sartain celebrate Mass on January 30 as part of Catholic Schools’ Week.

As the president of Kennedy Catholic High School, I am super lucky to have a schedule that allows me to occasionally work within city government, to have lunches with prospective partners and to even meet with State lobbyists in Olympia, advocating for support of Catholic education. Sometimes, my schedule includes traveling internationally in search of the perfect Lancer families.

Recently, one such journey took me to the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, Japan and Vietnam. The one thing I noticed each had in common; Catholic education was highly valued, even in countries predominantly Buddhist. The value of the Catholic Church and their investment in education was highly sought after and non-religious business partners were lining up to pour millions into these schools.

Sadly, another thing they had in common: Catholic education was an option for only the extremely wealthy, while the public-school options, in many cases, failed to measure up.

Class sizes in excess of 60 students were not uncommon, and while teachers everywhere I visited were dedicated and committed, the intimacy and relationships we value most at Kennedy Catholic were absent.

What Catholic Schools Week means to me is to truly live out what President Kennedy said in a speech in 1961, “the best education must be made available to all that desire it”, but I also believe, not just to those who can afford it. At Kennedy Catholic High School, we are proud to make Catholic education possible for many local and international students to help them reach their fullest potential and in so doing, not just dream, but make dreams a reality.

The theme for Catholic Schools Week 2019 is Catholic Schools: Learn, Serve, Lead and Succeed. Our ability to deliver on this promise lies in the commitment of the Lancer Family. It strengthens our resolve, promotes spiritual gifts and instills values that separates and sets Catholic education apart.

What contributes to this: our ability to gather in prayer to pray with, to pray for, and to pray over one another at Mass. www.kennedyhs.org

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A Note from Nancy Bradish, Principal

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It was an opportunity for us all to reflect on the importance of a Catholic school education and the gift we give our children.

As we celebrated Catholic Schools Week January 27-February 2, it was an opportunity for us all to reflect on the importance of a Catholic school education and the gift we give our children. During the week we celebrated our students, our staff, our families and our community. In a beautiful celebration of community, Archbishop Sartain celebrated mass with us on January 30. The theme of Catholic Schools week was Learn, Serve, Lead, Succeed - a theme echoed by all our students.

Our Freshmen will be participating in our Freshmen Retreat from February 21-23.

The Freshman Retreat is designed for our students to come together, now that they have acclimated to high school life, and forge new friendships as well as solidify their place in the Lancer Family community.

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This month our students will also be selecting their course of study for the 2019/20 school year. We have a few new courses to select from, including Robotics 2, Advanced Marketing and Financial Math.

At the end of the month, our Seniors will formally present their ISLE (Integrated Service Learning Experience) projects to faculty panels. I always look forward to hearing about their projects as the students never fail to amaze me with the depth of understanding of Catholic Social Justice teachings they gain as a result of their hours of commitment.

“As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” 1 Peter 4:10.

SENIOR RETREAT Senior Delaney B., reflects on her time at Kennedy Catholic. Below is an excerpt.

None of us come from the same place (I mean unless you’re the Dahleen’s, Witsoe’s, Leaming’s or Ligouri’s). We all have different interests, hobbies, talents and goals. But look at it this way; at a pep assembly when we’re doing a class competition, nobody cares whether you would choose a football over a saxophone, the adrenaline makes us all black out and for a second we actually believe we bleed red, white, and blue. In that moment, nothing separates us, not even a football or a saxophone. This class is diverse but in the end we’ll all have the same number hanging from our cap on graduation. Those who are surrounding you right now and those who have been in your life forever are the ones who helped you lay the foundation of who you are. The past is a beautiful thing, if not THE most beautiful thing. The past is the

only thing that we are sure of. We did that.

We laughed at that assembly, we cried at that retreat, we crashed that car, we got caught that one time, we failed that test. We DID those things. Your upbringing and experience can teach you things that a textbook can’t.

Sure I know how to spell the words yesterday, today, and tomorrow but the only one that I really understand is yesterday. If your yesterday was bad, the good news is - you never have to do yesterday again. Now I’m going to read you a quote by Maya Angelou because I feel like every good speech has a quote, “We cannot change the past, but we can change our attitude toward it. Uproot guilt and plant forgiveness. Tear out arrogance and seed humility. Exchange love for hatethereby, making the present comfortable and the future promising.” Thank you class of 2019 for listening and lets bleed red white and blue for 123 more days. www.kennedyhs.org

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CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK RECAP Catholic School’s week is an opportunity for schools across the nation to celebrate Catholic education, with the theme “Learn. Serve. Lead. Succeed.” Our week was observed by appreciating different parts of the Lancer Family each day.

Monday – Staff Appreciation Day: Monday started with delicious complimentary coffee cart drinks for all faculty and staff by Jittery Tiggrr espresso. Community Period classes delivered special thank you gifts to all non-teaching staff – facilities staff, bus drivers, kitchen staff and office staff - as a token of appreciation for all the work they do at the school.

Tuesday – Community Appreciation Day: Leading up to Tuesday, Lancer students and staff collected hats and scarves as a part of an archdiocese wide Catholic Schools Week clothing drive for our homeless brothers and sisters in the Greater Seattle area. The items were then donated to the St. James Cathedral Kitchen. Leadership students also thanked the community by delivering primroses to local neighbors and giving personal phone calls to donors, while the advancement staff delivered cookies to all partner schools.

Wednesday – Family & Parent Appreciation Day: On Wednesday, we celebrated mass with Archbishop Sartain and Fr. Jose in Goodwin Gymnasium, with a homily focused on the Blessed Mother and dedication to the family. A special thank you to Archbishop Sartain for celebrating Catholic Schools Week at Kennedy Catholic!

Thursday – Teacher Appreciation Day: We made sure to thank our one-of-a-kind teaching staff with Teacher Survival Packs and special tributes on Kennedy Catholic’s Facebook.“My favorite teacher is Mr. Wright, not only because I love his teaching style, but I really admire his consistent dedication to making his students the best member of society that they can be,” Mary S. Friday – Student Appreciation Day: We love our students! Lancers started the day with Krispy Kreme donuts served by teachers in the breezeway before school. Students were encouraged to dress in their class colors, ending the day with a lively assembly, complete with class competitions and the cheer team’s final performance.

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ANNUAL REPORT Kennedy Catholic’s 2018 Annual Report is available on our website.

Faculty, staff, parents, grandparents, alumni and friends made gifts to Kennedy Catholic this past year through in-kind contributions, countless volunteer hours and monetary support.

The 2018 Annual Report includes financial contributions made to the school from July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018. We are so grateful for each expression of support.

Kennedy Catholic is uniquely special in how wonderful a place it is; the sense of community is distinct. We are part of a family – committed to the success of all – unconditionally. Thank you!

INVITES ON THE WAY: KATCH AUCTION Round up the posse and join us on Saturday, April 6 at the Kennedy Catholic corral for a rootin’ tootin’ good time. This year the Kennedy Catholic Auction theme “Boots and Bids” celebrates everything western.

The online auction will take place February 22 - March 3, 2019.

Invitations are on the way – watch your mailbox! Registration is now open for the 2019 KATCH Gala Auction on Saturday, April 6. Register here. Grab your boots, chaps and cowboy hats! We can’t wait to see you there. Interested in making a donation? Contact Karen Cascio www.kennedyhs.org

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ALUMNI NEWS &

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ALUMNI PROFILE: SOPHIE NELSON ‘14

English teacher Mrs. Parker-Haas, service was a large part of her life as a student at Kennedy Catholic. If she wasn’t running a service activity with the St. Vincent de Paul Club, you could find Sophie giving back to her community through the choir or theater. She was also never far from her friends, soaking up laughter in the cafeteria, attending football games, and talking about all the homework assignments yet to be completed.

Those friendships with her classmates and mentorships with her teachers are some of her most cherished memories. Mr. Wright helped to foster her love of politics, which eventually brought her a double major from Loyola Marymount University in Political Science and Communication Studies.

In the small, southern African country of Lesotho, Sophie Nelson ’14 is far from home, but focused on making a difference every day. As an English Education volunteer with the Peace Corps, she is deeply involved with the local life and culture. From mountains, rain, snow, and diverse wildlife, Lesotho has been her greatest adventure, and a goal she has seemingly been working towards her whole life.

With one goal accomplished, Sophie was excited to move to her next step: joining the Peace Corps for an initial 27-month commitment.

She loves exploring the area and meeting the people. Lesotho is nothing like she expected from southern Africa, with endless mountains and a diverse climate. Her responsibilities as an English Education volunteer include teaching English to primary school students, and work with the community on HIV/AIDS mitigation.

No matter where she was in life, Sophie’s passion to learn more about the world and help those around her informed everything.

She traveled to Haiti, London, and Morocco, each time, learning about the needs and challenges facing the regions. Her focus was on everything from sustainable development, to refugee rights, to women’s empowerment.

Her passion is rooted far back and was evident as a high school student. Inspired by her teachers, including Librarian and

Even though Sophie’s on another continent, one thing has stayed the same, which is her love of music. It’s something she starts and ends each day with, from all genres and time periods. It’s one way to make her routines feel a little more familiar in a setting that holds so many deviations from her life in California or Washington, like bathing each day from a bucket. Those deviations are a part of what makes this whole experience so new and exciting, and keeps Sophie looking forward to what she’ll find next, although she’s hoping it isn’t more spiders.

www.kennedyhs.org

& EVENTS

ALUMNI BAND NIGHT What a night! Thank you to our two dozen alumni who came back to the home of the Lancers to be a part of our Alumni Band Night! Starting with a meet and greet in the band room, alums had a chance to meet with current students as well as each other. Gathering instruments and getting reacquainted with their music, they joked and reminisced about years past. Then, moving into the Goodwin Gymnasium, they joined in with the students playing The StarSpangled Banner, The Hey Song, I Want You Back, and finally, the fight song, directed by former band director, Jim Paynton. Thanks to everyone who came, and we hope to see you all back next year!

www.kennedyhs.org

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ALUMNI NEWS & SAVE the

DATE August 16, 2019

LANCER GOLF CLASSIC 2019

Washington National Golf Club

Save the date! On Friday, August 16, 2019, Kennedy Catholic will host the second annual Lancer Golf Classic at Washington National Golf Course. Take your turn on the course designed by award-winning architect John Fought.

Whether you’re an experienced golfer, or simply driven by your love of the game, this is the perfect opportunity to play on one of Washington’s premier courses while supporting student scholarships at Kennedy Catholic.

Registration opens April 16. Questions? Contact Rebecca Nuffer.

VISITING LANCERS Are you a Lancer planning to come back to visit campus? We’d love to see you! Please be sure to make an appointment with your favorite teachers and start your visit by checking in at the main office for a visitor’s badge. Also be sure to stop by the alumni office in C177 to check in and pick up some alumni swag!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Happy Birthday to our February alumni! We wish you a wonderful year ahead! Click here for the full list.

To make sure your name is included, head over to our Alumni Page and fill out the form under, “Help Us Update Our Records.”

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& EVENTS

SERVE YOUR COMMUNITY WITH THE LANCERS Are you looking for a way to stay engaged with your alma mater? Look no further than the Freshmen Retreat! For the first time, we’re extending the opportunity for alumni to join current students in giving back to our community during our annual Freshman Retreat.

The Retreat is a three-day event with a day of service on February 22. It fulfills our mission to build students’ relationship with Jesus Christ through prayer, community, formation, and service. The three-day retreat includes components of fun, fellowship, and faith. We truly believe this retreat can be one of the most important spiritual experiences for freshman students and impacts their remaining high school years and beyond. Over past years, we’ve worked with organizations such as Westside Baby, White Center Food Bank, Catholic Community Services of Western WA Volunteer Services, Hospitality House, Renton Veteran’s Center, St. Francis of Assisi Parish School, St. Martin de Porres Shelter, Frederic Ozanam House, Operation Sack Lunch, and the Union Gospel Mission. The hours donated during this retreat are just a portion of the 17,000-plus hours Lancers give each year. We hope you’ll consider taking a day to give back to your community alongside dedicated Lancers. Contact Rebecca Nuffer if you’re interested!

LANCER REUNIONS Lancers are ready to be reunited! The classes of 1979, 1989, 1999, and 2009 have all gotten a jump start on planning. Class of '79's is scheduled for Aug 9-10, contact Sue (Marsland) Hearron (hearrons3@comcast.net) for more details. If you’d like to help with planning, more hands are always helpful! Contact Rebecca Nuffer with any questions.

www.kennedyhs.org

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INTERNATIONAL INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS CELEBRATE LUNAR NEW YEAR The Lunar New Year was celebrated at Kennedy Catholic with food and red envelopes. What is this magical red thing? The Chinese term for it is 红包 (hóng bāo). It usually contains money and is said to be lucky. Giving these red envelopes is a Lunar New Year custom, so the Office of International Education shared the tradition by handing out red envelopes at school.

Office of International Education Website

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L NEWS EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCES Mrs. Fujiwara and Mrs. Buenafe teveled to Snoqualmie Pass for fun in the snow with 19 students during January. For many of them, it was the first time they had ever seen snow, let alone to actually play in the now.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS ATTEND COLLEGE FAIR Ms. Fujiwara and Ms. Suttell from the IE Office and Mr. Jones from the Counseling Office took 21 juniors to a university fair (dedicated for international students). More than 80 colleges and universities from across the U.S. as well as international universities were at the fair, including University of Washington, University of California, Indiana University, and Swiss Education Group. It was a great opportunity for our students to meet university representatives and get a head start on preparing for college admission.

www.kennedyhs.org

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BOOSTER CLUB CRAB FEED FULL OF FRIENDS On Saturday, January 26 more than 325 Lancer fans joined for the annual Crab Feed put on by the Kennedy Catholic Booster Club. The yearly event is full of crab - literally. More than 650 crab were picked up the day of the event by Booster Club volunteers and driven up fresh from the coast. A ticket to the event gives each person all-you-can-eat crab, salad, garlic bread and adult beverages. Many groups have been coming for years and dress and decorate their tables in lavish themes to spice up the night. All the fun is had for the student-athletes and programs in our athletic program. This fundraiser is just one of many events our Booster Club hosts to help support our athletic department. Thank you to all those who came out! If you missed it this year, we hope to see you next winter.

LANCER VISIT DAYS COME TO AN END We are grateful for another abundant admissions season filled with school visits, Information Nights, Open House, tours and Lancer Visit Days! This year, over 450 prospective students stepped into the Kennedy Catholic halls to experience life as a Lancer as a part of our Lancer Visit Day program. We could not have accommodated this many prospective students without our wonderful Admissions Ambassadors. These freshman and sophomores agree to take future Lancers “under their wing� for the day, showing students around the school and sharing personal experiences as a member of the Lancer Family.

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at 2pm, and mass began at 5pm, giving us time to talk, trade, dance, sing, and take pictures with people from different countries. This was an eye-opening experience, seeing the hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world celebrating the same faith as me, as I was able to see what the Catholic faith looks like in other places. The definition of Catholic is “universal”, and I got to see that come to life for the first time, which excited me!

ISAIAH M. ATTENDS WORLD YOUTH DAY - REFLECTION I probably should start from the top. Back in May, my friend Jessa D., a senior at Stadium HS, invited me to go to World Youth Day 2019 in Panama City with her, Brandon D., a junior at Kennedy Catholic, and Sarah R., a senior at Kentridge. It was expensive, but I earned enough money during the summer to fly out to Panama in January after first semester finals. We stayed under the company of JMJ Youth, and they planned an itinerary for our time in the city. The first four days were touring days, so we were able to visit the Panama Canal, Casco Viejo, the Rainforest, Panama Viejo, and numerous churches and other sites. The next five days were the WYD activities, which included an opening ceremony with the Archbishop of Panama, language-based catechesis, Pope Francis’ arrival, Stations of the Cross, and the 10-mile pilgrimage and night out in the stars with the Pope.

My favorite experience by far was the opening ceremonies. On Tuesday, January 22, the pilgrims came together at Cinta Costera to celebrate mass together with the Archbishop of Panama City. Gates opened

This trip impacted my faith in many ways, but most importantly it made me believe. Not really believe in God or Jesus, but with the people. The Catholic faith is not as strong in Seattle as it is in many U.S. cities, let alone countries, and by going on this pilgrimage, I believe that the faith is still very strong after all these years because of the people who live their lives out as Catholics.

I gained many lessons, experiences, friendships, and collectibles on this trip. I learned a lot about the Mother Mary, as much of WYD centered around her saying “Yes” to God’s callings. I have new best friends in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Tucson, Arizona, and Austin, Texas, that I still keep in touch with daily.

Finally, I collected multiple items from different countries, such as a prayer card from El Salvador, a bracelet from the Sisters of Calcutta, and flags from Japan, Malaysia, Brazil, and Tonga.

Some other fun facts: · We walked over 120 miles in 10 days · We stood 5 feet away from the Pope · We ate “Genuine” Panamanian food multiple times at a place called Niko’s, which is basically the McDonald’s of Panama

www.kennedyhs.org

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WILLIAM M. HONORED AT HOLY ROSARY CHURCH Congratulations to Lancer senior, William M., who was honored with the Distinguished Alumni award at Holy Rosary Parish in West Seattle. William has continued to volunteer many hours supporting Holy Rosary activities after graduating in 2015, supporting the school, current students, and community outreach.

LEADERSHIP DINNER WITH ARCHBISHOP Our ASB team attended the annual Leadership Dinner with the Archbishop to celebrate Catholic Schools Week on Thursday, January 31. It was a great opportunity to meet the leadership teams from all the other Catholic high schools and to gain inspiration from what their schools do. Our ASB President, Amman, gave an inspiring speech about how God is calling him to a life of service.

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TEACHER PROFILE: JONNY PROCIV Seventeen years ago, when I first began thinking about my own future high school experience, I mused about what career path I might end up in. Not every option was going to speak to who I was, and if all the talk about ‘vocations’ were true, God would call me to where I could do the best with the gifts and talents I had. I ultimately narrowed it down to five career paths that spoke deeply to who I was. One of those callings was teaching.

There are many reasons teaching is an expression of my deepest self. The best way to summarize this is by the simple notion that God is Truth and God is Love. If God is all that is True and Good in our reality, then it is a spiritual practice to discover God in our reality. I think knowledge of creation, our community, and ourselves helps heal our relationship with God and makes us truly whole. Therefore, teaching is taking part in this learning and discovery.

More profoundly, God is Love. If knowledge of God were simply about learning, then we could just hide away doing science

experiments or contemplating God. Part of teaching, as Jesus exemplified, is reaching out.

In this way, teaching is religious in that it takes the spiritual work of learning and shares it with our community, for no other reason than because we love them. In the act of sharing knowledge, we share God’s love both in content and action. This is ultimately what draws me to Kennedy Catholic. I have the opportunity to guide people to a deeper experience of God. Whether I am in the classroom with sophomores teaching the about the Paschal Mystery or forming and facilitating Search retreats, the act of teaching is a vocation that brings people closer to God in both love and truth.

This also speaks to what I do as a Campus Minister. Creating and facilitating retreats was never something I saw myself doing until I had to for my master’s program. However, the point of retreats is to guide people to the opportunity to see and be transformed by something deeper - after every retreat it feels like I have done nothing at all because it is not me doing the meaningful work. Both in class and on retreats powerful encounters with God are happening, and that is amazing.

What gives me life beyond my own role is what I get from the Lancer community.

Working with people with such great depth of love and sacrifice, who are all working for the betterment of others, especially the students.

The experience of my coworkers love in action is both an inspiration and a gift that I could never have imagined or wished for half a year ago.

The students are also special in what they give to me. Just as I try to offer them the experience of God’s love and knowledge, they too allow me to see God in them; and for their part, they work to let that love of God show. www.kennedyhs.org

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FINE & PERFORM OKLAHOMA! Rehearsals are underway! Make your plans now to catch the spring musical, Oklahoma.

Kennedy Catholic Theatre is proud to present Oklahoma! First performed in 1943, Oklahoma! was a game changer. It redefined the American musical, using song and dance to reveal character and advance story in ways that audiences had not seen before. Its characters are alternately charming, funny, and a little bit dangerous. The story is both funny and moving, and its music iconic.

Oklahoma! launched a series of successful collaborations between Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein, who went on to dominate the first golden age of American musicals with such hits as South Pacific, Carousel, The King And I, and The Sound of Music.

Kennedy Catholic Theatre: Where Joyful noises are made.

Show information: Highline Performing Arts Center March 14-17 at 7pm March 18 at 2pm Adults $15 Students/Seniors $10 Tickets available March 1: At the Kennedy Catholic main office At the door Online at brownpapertickets.com

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MING ARTS NEWS JAZZ BAND AT POULSBO The Kennedy Catholic Jazz Band recently performed in Poulsbo, receiving good feedback from the Adjudicators and were acknowledged for an “outstanding� performance.

Jazz band is on the road again February 22 to perform in the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival at the University of Idaho. Good luck Jazz Band!

ELEMENTARY BAND PROGRAM Ninety-five young musicians have been selected for the 2019 Honor Band. An impressive group with a lot of work ahead to prepare for spring programs. Rehearsals begin this month. A joy to work with these talented students!

www.kennedyhs.org

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SIGNING DAY On behalf of Kennedy Catholic High School, the Lancer athletic department and all the hours invested by our staff (teachers and coaches), we were able to celebrate the accomplishments of four outstanding Lancer student-athletes this past week at our second signing day celebration of the 2018-2019 school year. There we recognized these four that were officially declaring their intentions of participating in collegiate sports.

• Aaron Barber, baseball: Everett Community College • Lauren Hofford, swim: Azusa Pacific University • Carver Ibanez, football: Dakota Wesleyan University • Travis Miller, baseball: George Fox University Congratulations!

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