Good news stories are happening in Catholic schools across the country! Let NCEA know what is happening with your school so that we may share on NCEA Talk, social media and in the pages of Momentum. Visit www.NCEA.org/shareyourstory to submit your good news today!
Katie Ledecky, Phoebe Bacon and Erin GemmellPhoto by Bob Walker
MARYLAND
Archdiocese of Washington
The Olympics are over, but clearly there is something in the water at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart! Three of the 20 swimmers on the 2024 U.S. Olympic Women’s Swim Team are alumnae of Stone Ridge! Katie Ledecky (2015), Phoebe Bacon (2020) and Erin Gemmell (2023) represented the U.S. The Stone Ridge community gathered to watch and cheer them on as exceptional athletes and shining examples of Catholic education. Katie won four medals, becoming the most decorated (14 medals) female Olympic swimmer of all time (9 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze).
FLORIDA
Archdiocese of Miami
Married for 40 years, Ana and Eddy Garcia are two principals in Miami Catholic schools who retired at the end of the 2023 – 2024 school year. Together they have 50 years of service in Catholic education. Ana served as Msgr. Edward Pace High School principal for 20 years and assistant principal for five years and Eddy was principal at St. Louis Covenant School for 11 years and principal at Immaculate Conception School for 14 years.
“God has blessed us,” Eddy said. “Little did we know when we started at Immaculate and got married 40 years ago how it would turn out. We never foresaw it.”
It’s official! Father Damian Anuszewski has hit the 50-year mark as a teacher at DeMatha Catholic High School. In April, Father Damian was the NCEA recipient of the Commitment to Catholic Education Award.
WEST VIRGINIA
Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston
Saint Joseph School in Martinsburg, WV, is 141 years old, but for 50 years the school has not had high school grades. The school is adding grades 9 - 10 in the 2025 - 2026 school year. The welcomed expansion will accommodate a growing Catholic population and provide education from infancy through high school—with grades 11 - 12 added as students advance.
INDIANA
Diocese of Gary
In June, the Dean and Barbara White Family Foundation announced a $150 million gift to the Big Shoulders Fund over the next 10 years. This is the largest single investment in Catholic K-12 schools in the nation. The Big Shoulders Fund is a nonprofit supporting Catholic schools in the Chicago area and Northwest Indiana.
According to Big Shoulders Fund CEO Josh Hale, the money will positively impact all 20 schools in the Diocese of Gary and is earmarked for communities with the greatest economic and educational need.
The Diocese of Gary Bishop Robert McClory said the diocese is working with Big Shoulders on the specifics.
MINNESOTA
Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
There is a lot going on at Benilde-St. Margaret’s!
Benilde-St. Margaret’s (BSM) recently announced Talia Loes, ’25, was named a national Scholastic Gold Key award winner for her work, “The Sky is Crying (can’t you see?).”
The work of fiction, part of Talia’s final for AP U.S. History, is based on historic events during World War 2 in Wiltz, Luxembourg. “I wanted to create characters that felt real, not just in their emotions but also in the fact that they weren’t huge movie-star-esque heroes,” Talia explained. “The story talks about the importance of the smaller moments in life, about the importance of love and kindness and friendship, even during war.”
BSM English teacher, Barbara Watson helped Talia through the process of writing the piece and editing it before submission to Scholastic. Talia is only the second Red Knight to receive a national Scholastic Gold Key award, joining Winton Petty who was recognized in 2019 for his glass-blown goblet series.
BSM students annually are recognized at the local and regional level for art and writing. Talia also received two regional Scholastic Silver Key awards for her “Whispering It Will Be Happier” and “Haunted by the Ghosts of Me” paintings and an honorable mention for her “Evolving Beyond Photosynthesis” painting.
The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are the nation’s longest-running recognition program for teens in grades 7-12 with 28 possible categories of art and writing. Talia is one of 39 Minnesota students recognized nationally in 2024 and one of only 18 gold medal winners in the state.
Meanwhile, also at BSM, Mike Jeremiah, identified as a campus minister and “so much more,” is beginning his 50th year at BSM.
He leads prayers before games for over 50 athletic teams, plans liturgical services with school staff and local clergy, is involved with the theology department program, helps with retreats and peer ministry programs and never misses plays, concerts and games of his beloved Red Knights.
It’s not a job for Mike but a vocation in service to others. He reminds faculty, staff and students of their shared responsibility to be kind, so wherever they go in life, others will feel the compassion students feel at BSM.
CALIFORNIA
Archdiocese of Los Angeles
A recent pep rally at Junipero Serra High School cheered on a very different team: the school’s space squad!
The team walked their classmates through the 3D-printing experiment they sent into orbit on the International Space Station. Their classmates, meanwhile, carried on as usual for pep rallies—they cheered and, because it’s a Catholic school, they prayed.
The project is designed to enable the Space Station to 3D-print replacements for things that break on board, such as fasteners or tools, rather than having to ship them from Earth. The project was launched aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 CRS-30 Rocket from the Kennedy Space Center on March 21 and docked with the International Space Station two days later.
Serra is one of nine national high schools participating in the International Space Station program through the Quest Institute for Quality Education of San José.
The team wants to do more than expand the limits of knowledge, hoping Serra will be THE school to study science. The team already is working on its second experiment, conducted in the microgravity conditions of the Space Station.
No word, yet, from NASA on how the 3D-printing project is going. Read more about the two projects at www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-04- 25/serra-high-schoolteam-vaults-into-space.
