Jack Walker, SCS Class of 2019   

My name is Jack Walker, and I am a 2019 graduate of Saint Catherine of Siena. I am now a junior at Brother Martin High School. Tonight, I wanted to speak to you about the level of preparedness that Saint Catherine instilled in me during my time here. By building a well-rounded foundation academically, spiritually, and socially, Saint Catherine not only gave me the ability to start high school prepared, but with a head start.

Throughout my time at SCS, I learned many skills that I have used time and time again since I left. While many struggled with the workload of high school, I was able to transition to Brother Martin easily thanks to my academic foundation at Saint Catherine. As an Honors and AP student, my classes are hardly easy, but SCS gave me what I need to succeed whether it be note-taking ability, time management, or study skills. Reading was also heavily encouraged at SCS which has helped me especially for standardized testing. I would not be where I am today academically if not for Saint Catherine. One of the pillars of Brother Martin is Academic Excellence, and I believe I am able to achieve this thanks to the academic preparedness given to me by SCS.

The spiritual aspect of Saint Catherine is not just something that has affected my life, but it has guided me since I left SCS. The spiritual foundation given to me here through masses, prayer, religion class, retreats and much more has left a lifelong impact on me. Nothing is more true than SCS’s motto of being “centered on Christ and ablaze with love.” With everything centered around Christ, I was able to build a strong foundation for a spiritual relationship that I still improve on today.

Lastly, Saint Catherine gave me a great social foundation. During my time at SCS, I was constantly improving socially whether it be playing basketball at recess with friends or the multiple extracurriculars I participated in like Jr. CYO and tennis – the benefits of which carried over into high school. These gave me the opportunities to build new friendships, for which I am forever grateful. They also allowed me to discover what I love. I still play tennis now for Brother Martin, and I am a member of SCS’s CYO program through which I am able to volunteer to come back to help with Jr. CYO. Because of the dense social atmosphere of SCS, I was able to forge lasting friendships and gain the experience needed in order to excel socially, not just in high school, but in life. 

Overall, Saint Catherine is a school for all. It was life-changing and nothing but the greatest experience for me, and I believe it can be the same for you and your family.   

(Jack delivered this speech at the 2022 SCS Open House. Jack was a member of the Class of 2019 at St. Catherine of Siena and a member of the Class of 2024 at Brother Martin High School.)
 

George Bernard, SCS Class of 2023

Hello my name is George Bernard. I am so glad and thankful that you came to see St. Catherine of Siena School this evening.  I am currently in 7^th grade.  I have 3 siblings who are in 5^th grade, 3^rd grade and PK3.  As my parents like to say, “We have it covered.” 

St. Catherine is a wonderful school that has so much to offer.  Tonight, you will hear (and have already started to hear) HOW SCS provides its students with the skills needed to succeed in the real world.  SCS provides us all – PK3 students through 7^th graders - with activities that help us become well-rounded students who are rooted in our Catholic faith, committed to our studies AND passionate about our talents and hobbies.

I would like to take a moment to share with you 2 of my favorite things about being an SCS student:

• Caring teachers and staff: Even though SCS is a big school… As I walk through campus after dropping off my little brother in PK3 or finishing the morning announcements, I am often greeted with teachers calling my name and welcoming me to school.  Now… as Student Council President… you might expect them to know me, but being “known” by the staff at SCS is NOT only something reserved for the Student Council President … Our SCS teachers get to know their students – their strengths and weaknesses. Our teachers and administration are always around to lend a hand or give a push when we need it.

• Extracurricular Opportunities:  There are just so many!  SCS has the resources to provide our students with opportunities to explore what interests us not only in the classroom, but outside the classroom.  As you know, I am Student Council President and love working together with the E-Board and Homeroom Reps on pep rallies and service projects.  I am also a member of our Robotics team, Quiz Bowl team and I run Cross Country.  Many of my friends and classmates enjoy band and choir, cheerleading, dance team, Boy Scouts, Girls Scouts and so much more.  There is literally something for everyone!

In conclusion, I am so thankful to my parents for sending me to SCS where I get to live a Christ-centered life while building lifelong relationships with God, friends and teachers.  I have personally discovered so much about myself over these past 9 years and I have no doubt your children will be rewarded as I have.       

Thank you for being here tonight. Please let me know if you have any questions. GO GATORS!

(George delivered this speech at the 2022 SCS Open House. He was a member of the Class of 2023 at St. Catherine of Siena.)

Luke Couret, SCS Class of 2019

Good evening. My name is Luke Couret, and I am a 2019 graduate of St. Catherine of Siena school. Now a sophomore at Jesuit High School, I want to take a moment to talk to you about the solid foundation of success established for me during my time spent as an elementary school student on this campus. You know that confident feeling when you’re prepared for a test and there’s not a question you can’t answer? That’s the self-assured feeling I had when I graduated from St. Catherine. Academically, spiritually, and socially, my transition to high school was effortless.

As I reflect back on my time at St. Catherine from pre-K through seventh grade, I learned not only to meet the challenges of my current coursework but also to look ahead and prepare for the workload and material I would be studying in the coming year. SCS’s commitment to academic preparedness ensured that my crossover to Jesuit, a step that can be very overwhelming for some, was seamless allowing me to enter high school confident, organized, and primed for my eighth-grade year. My SCS teachers taught me study skills that I will use for the rest of my academic career, and for that I am forever grateful.

Spiritually, St. Catherine instilled in me a strong Catholic faith which has only grown since my time spent wearing the blue and gold. Here at SCS, our Catholic faith is the backbone of our education and reaches far beyond what is taught in a religion class. Immersed in prayer as part of the daily schedule, students are given many opportunities to reflect and give thanks including weekly masses, mealtime, before games and other events, and morning and afternoon announcements. Growing up in this loving and faithful community has facilitated my faith so that I could create my own relationship with God.

Flag football, basketball, baseball, tennis, swimming … I think I participated in just about every sport St. Catherine had to offer. And each of these experiences gave me new opportunities to make friends, connect with coaches and teachers, and expand my social circles. Not only did I develop my athletic skills and abilities with each sport, my involvement on the teams here led to my decision to go out for and play on the basketball team at Jesuit, easily one of the best parts of my high school experience.

No matter what you come here for, you’ll find it. The mission of St. Catherine of Siena School is to provide a community of faith that fosters academic excellence and a foundation for Christ-centered life. Mission accomplished. Because that is what St. Catherine has done for me. Thank you.

(Luke delivered this speech at the 2022 SCS Open House. Luke was a member of the Class of 2019 at St. Catherine of Siena and a member of the Class of 2024 at Jesuit High School.)

Emily Dominique, SCS Class of 2016

Good evening, my name is Emily Dominique, and I graduated from St. Catherine of Siena in 2016 and am now a senior at St. Mary’s Dominican High School. My time as a student at St. Catherine absolutely gave me the necessary skills for success not only academically, but also socially and spiritually.

When I entered high school in eighth grade, I quickly noticed that St. Catherine had prepared me well. I was not overwhelmed by the workload because I had already developed good study habits and time management skills before high school. Those tools are incredibly essential for success in high school and beyond. St. Catherine did not only cultivate my good study habits, but it sent me off to high school with so much knowledge and critical thinking skills that truly go a long way. As an honors and AP student, I use critical thinking skills often, and having a background in that before going to high school has proven to be incredibly useful. I still use so much of the knowledge from St. Catherine every day at school and in life, and I know it will continue to be useful. I owe so much of my academic success to St. Catherine. From tricks to memorize the order of classification in science to jingles to remember grammar rules, St. Catherine definitely prepared me for high school academically.

The social environment at St. Catherine is another important element of the school that has shaped me. So many of my previous teachers have helped me grow as a student by challenging me, while also being there to help me when I needed it. This has prepared me for other challenges in life. The friendships made at St. Catherine are also so special. I have many friends from here that still mean so much to me five years later. St. Catherine also has opportunities for everyone to be a part of something. I participated in many sports and activities throughout my years here. They were great opportunities to meet people and develop friendships and social skills. This helped me make new friends in high school very easily. These activities at St. Catherine also allowed me to express myself and find out what activities I really enjoyed. St. Catherine showed me a real community, and I am so blessed to have that experience in my life.

Lastly, St. Catherine of Siena instilled in me a strong faith. Over the years, my faith has continued to grow because of the firm foundation I received here. St. Catherine did not just prepare me for religion classes in high school, but it taught me about my faith so that I could create my own relationship with God. School Masses, prayer services, and religion classes were all impactful, but also the faithful atmosphere of the school. Growing up in such a loving, faithful community has truly been a blessing.

The mission of St. Catherine of Siena School is to provide a community of faith that fosters academic excellence and a foundation for a Christ-centered life, and that is exactly what it has done for me. Let it be that for you and your family too. 

(Emily delivered this speech at the 2021 SCS Open House.  Emily was a member of the Class of 2016 at St. Catherine of Siena and a member of the Class of 2021 at St. Mary’s Dominican High School.)

Will Hellmers, SCS Class of 2015

Good evening, my name is Will Hellmers. I am a senior at Jesuit High School; and graduated from St. Catherine in 2015.  It’s never really dawned on me how well St. Catherine prepared me for high school until I was asked to speak at Open House tonight. When I take a look back at my high school career, three specific areas come to mind of how St. Catherine prepared me for life at Jesuit. Academically, spiritually, and socially I was already ahead of the game. These three crucial foundations helped me have a smooth transition into high school. Academically, transitioning from St. Catherine to Jesuit was effortless. I can vividly remember my first few weeks at Jesuit as an eighth grader. As many of my fellow classmates had trouble adjusting to the workload and material, I found myself calm, cool, and collected in the classroom. I promise it wasn’t an easy transition because I was a great student, but rather because St. Catherine had prepared me properly for the amount of work and types of material I had learned from an early age. Spiritually, St. Catherine instilled in me a strong faith life, which still resides in my present life in a very strong way.  Even the little things such as prayers in each class and monthly mass, gave me the ability to stay strong in my faith even today. Throughout my entire St. Catherine career, I was given every opportunity to grow in my own Catholic faith. Transitioning this faith I had learned from a young age at St. Catherine to my life at Jesuit allowed me to continue growing a true relationship with God and the Catholic Church. Socially, St. Catherine gave me the opportunity to have a very close-knit group of friends; all of whom I am still very close with today. When I arrived at Jesuit, I never found it difficult to make friends in any aspect. I already had a few close friends from St. Catherine but growing socially was never a true task. It always seemed easy because I had learned social skills from St. Catherine since I was young. Now, baseball has always been a huge part of my life, and it was even here at St. Catherine. I learned how to be a true leader here at St. Catherine because of the many sports teams I played on. Leading teams to baseball championships here taught me how to be the leader I am today. At Jesuit, I’ve played baseball every year and continued to lead with the skills I learned from St. Catherine.  Fortunately, I have been truly blessed to be able to continue my athletic career by signing to play baseball at LSU.  As I look forward to embarking on this new chapter of my life at LSU, I can’t help but look back onto my younger years at St. Catherine and the foundations this school has instilled in me. I hope to carry all my academic, spiritual, and social skills I learned at St. Catherine into this new chapter of my life at LSU as well as on the baseball field. It’s actually quite funny, as I was participating in a workout for the San Diego Padres MLB team this past weekend, someone reminded me of one of my favorite baseball quotes. Rick Maksian once said, “Life will always throw you curves, just keep fouling them off . . . the right pitch will come, but when it does, be prepared to run the bases.” With that said, I urge you all to let St. Catherine of Siena be that right pitch in your life, and once you make that decision be prepared for it to change your life, like it did mine.  Thank you! 

(Will delivered this speech at the 2020 SCS Open House.  Will was a member of the Class of 2015 at St. Catherine of Siena and a member of the Class of 2020 at Jesuit High School.)

Dowen Fife, SCS Class of 2014

A question I have always been asked is “Did you think St. Catherine of Siena prepared you for high school”? And of course, I have always said yes, but to tell the truth I never really thought about it until recently. Looking back at my high school career, I can see how my time at St. Catherine lead to my success at Jesuit. This school developed a foundation for me to enter high school with to ensure that I was able to excel in all aspects of high school such as: academics, faith, and leadership. Academically my transition to Jesuit was smooth. I was already experienced with the amount of work assigned, and I was also able to understand the material that was being taught because I already been exposed to it at St. Catherine. Additionally, throughout my time here as a student, St. Catherine helped me form a mature faith life. I say mature because the faith life I had developed at the time was not just saying prayers to God; rather, this school taught me the importance of keeping a faith and also taught me other ways to practice the faith outside of normal prayer. However, the school never imposed the Catholic faith on me; instead, it was presented to me; so, I learned at an early age that my relationship with God was my own choice. And I can proudly say it has grown ever since. Now, what about leadership? For me personally, St. Catherine had the biggest impact on my confidence and leadership ability. It was during my seventh-grade year when I was elected vice president of the student body when my formation as leader began. Having the opportunity to run for this office was an experience that changed my life because without the introduction of student council, I would have never participated in it at Jesuit, and actually it has been something I have participated in my entire high school career. And as it turned out I became president of the student body at Jesuit. As proud as I am to be president, I know that it was this school that exposed me to student council and that it was school that shaped me to be a leader. St. Catherine not only formed me into a leader, but also my fellow classmates. This year alone the presidents of Jesuit, Rummel, and Mount Carmel are all graduates of St. Catherine, and they too are examples of what St. Catherine can do for your child, and without this school I wouldn’t be the person I am today. So, if I am ever asked “Did St. Catherine prepare you for high school?” I can confidently say, YES.    

(Dowen delivered this speech at the 2019 SCS Open House. Dowen was a member of the Class of 2014 at St. Catherine of Siena and a member of the Class of 2019 at Jesuit High School.)