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Dear Bishop Kelly Friends and Family -
I thought that summer break would mean a quiet campus here at BK. But that's not the case. I'm amazed daily to see all the people here - BK is truly a year round facility. Our athletic complex is busy with sports camps and summer conditioning. The school is being used by students, alumni, and community groups. Our Global Garden is bustling with activity, and our facilities and maintenance crew is working hard on summer projects and prep for the groundbreaking of the exciting new Student Commons Project.
Yes, we are moving forward on the Commons Project! Our early fundraising efforts gave several important constituent groups the confidence to give us the green light to proceed. Last week the temporary office space for our Main Office and Administrative Team was moved into place. So for the next several months, if you need to see Bob Wehde, our Principal, the counseling staff, Kelly Shockey in Admissions, or the rest of the front office crew; you'll need to head to the back of the building. Those folks are finishing their move-in behind the cafeteria and will remain in that temporary space until the project is complete in January. (And if you're looking for the business office, head to the portables in the front of the school.)
While we've closed the funding gap for this project significantly, there are still monies that need to be raised! Did you know that when we first started planning for this project in 2007 the estimated cost to build was $3.2 million? In today's soft building market our cost has been reduced to $2.2 million dollars. I suppose that's the silver lining around the gray cloud of our sluggish economy. That, along with a "use it or lose it" grant we've received gives this project real urgency. To have this project completely paid for, we need still need to raise significant dollars. And that is keeping our team very busy as we set our sights on an August 2nd groundbreaking.
Another exciting bit of news is that we are expecting one of the largest Freshman classes in the history of Bishop Kelly! We currently have 197 incoming Freshmen enrolled, and expect to be at 200 within a week or two. In fact, each of our classes has seen growth this spring. I've heard the words "wait list" being mentioned for the Freshmen class.
It appears that the word is out about BK! Our growing Treasure Valley community is hearing what we've known for a long time. Attending Bishop Kelly is an investment that pays a lifetime of dividends. Just ask a graduate from the Class of 2011 , or an amazing Alumknight like Chris Ennis who is featured in this newsletter.
This is an incredible place that develops and nurtures young men and women to their highest potential. And we couldn't do it without the support and prayers from YOU, our Bishop Kelly Family. Thank you for all you do!
We received dozens of emails last month from Alumni, parents, and friends who told us how glad they were to have received "@ Bishop Kelly". So go ahead and push that forward button! And while you're at it, send me a note with suggestions for articles or Alumknights to spotlight in a future edition.
Until then, enjoy this edition of @ Bishop Kelly!
Katie Kerby, '92
Alumni Director, Bishop Kelly H.S.
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Alumknight Spotlight
Chris Ennis, '84 knows firsthand how quickly everything can change.
When he graduated from film school in the 90's Chris thought he would make a career in the movie business. And then after working on movie sets for a couple of years, everything changed. "Making movies is really monotonous. You could be sitting in the same Starbucks shooting the same scenes over and over again for weeks," Chris says. "The hours are long, and it's very isolating."
Chris started shooting commercials and discovered he liked the pace and the people.
After several years in Los Angeles, Chris and his family returned to Boise in 2004. He and his wife Suzanne now own a photography and videography company called NuVision Production .
Three years ago Chris was hired to take photographs at a Saint Alphonsus fundraising dinner for Project Haiti. That night he had an opportunity to meet a charismatic and inspiring priest named Father Rick Frichette. Father Rick and another Catholic Priest, Father William Wasson, Founded St. Damien Hospital and an orphanage named "Our Little Brothers and Sisters" in Port Au Prince to care for the many abandoned children who are dying from AIDS in Haiti. It is an island of hope in a sea of despair.
For months after their meeting Chris tried to convince Fr. Rick to allow him to come to St. Damien to make a documentary. Fr. Rick refused, saying that he didn't want the story to focus on him. "But Father Rick is the story," Chris says. "The work that he is doing, the way that he has been able to adapt to the harsh realities of life in one of the poorest nations in the world and provide a sense of stability for those people...He is the story."
And then, in 2010 everything changed.
The earthquake that devastated Haiti spared no one. Fr. Rick realized that people in the US and abroad needed to know about St. Damien and the orphanage so that they could help. Chris was finally invited to come to Haiti and make his documentary.
"I spent one week in Haiti, eight months after the earthquake. It was an overwhelming experience. The number of sick kids, the desperation and poverty...it took so long to digest it all even after I came back."
"Thursday is the day I remember the most," Chris said with a grimace. "I'll never forget the Day of the Dead." At St. Damien's a funeral Mass is said every Thursday morning for the children who die that week. Afterward paper mache coffins are loaded onto flatbed trucks. Then Fr. Rick and a crew of Haitian volunteers drive to the city morgue and claim bodies so that they can be buried with dignity and Catholic rites. As they drive through Port Au Prince volunteers flock to the trucks, willing to help the Priest they recognize as a friend.
Back in Boise, Chris is working to finish his documentary. That involves completing interviews with doctors and other volunteers who have spent time with Fr. Rick and the children of St. Damien. Next he'll begin putting the finishing touches on his film. It's a complicated process that requires a lot of time and money, which Chris is currently trying to raise. But Chris is motivated to finish the film by September so that it can be used at the next Project Haiti fundraising dinner in Boise. "I want Father Rick to be able to use this," he says.
Chris offers a bit of advice to aspiring filmmakers, "Don't decide to make your first documentary about a person or a place that's 3,000 miles away." And for the rest of us, "Remember what's important. We have so much here."
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BK Points of Pride
 | | BK Students and chaperone Amanda LaMott, '05, pose with Clarence - the owner of the home they helped repair in New Orleans. |
Service Learning Trip
More than 40 BK students began their summer vacation with a service trip to New Orleans. Two groups of soon-to-be-seniors traveled to NOLA to work for Operation Helping Hands. The Catholic Charities program organizes volunteers to gut and rebuild homes devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
This year's service trip marks the first time a BK Alum has volunteered to travel with the students as a chaperone. Class of 2005 grad, Amanda (Jaszkowski) LaMott traveled in the second group of students to head to New Orleans. The following is Amanda's story in her own words:
I attended the Mexico Service Trip as a rising Senior during the summer of 2004. It was an amazing experience where I really bonded with many of my classmates - the future seniors and leaders of BK. We had been prepared to see poverty and studied the issues and causes for it, but it was totally different to actually experience poverty. While in Mexico, we had no showers or beds and we all shared one toilet. We worked outside in the extreme heat mixing concrete by hand to build the foundation for a community Catholic Church. While we worked hard and didn't have computers, cell phones, or iPods, it was still an extremely fulfilling experience. Our group felt like we had received more from the loving community that cooked for us and cared for us that week than what we provided in service.
Because that week was such a successful and meaningful experience for me, I was thrilled when Jan Siron asked me to chaperone the BK service trip to New Orleans. There is so much need in our own country, it isn't necessary to fly all over the world to provide service when we are needed closer to home. Even six years after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans there is still so much to be done to return the city to its former glory. While in New Orleans, my group of five students and I worked on a traditional shotgun house in the 7th Ward of the city. The Lower 9th Ward was hit the worst by the failed levees and received the most press coverage, but much of the rest of New Orleans was also devastated. The house we worked on still had a six foot "Bathtub Ring" around it showing the level of the flooding after the storm.
Clarence (the homeowner) was incredibly appreciative of the work we were providing. We really made a connection with him after he told us his Katrina story while we waited out an afternoon thunderstorm on his porch. Clarence was too old do the work himself and couldn't afford to hire out the work, but what he could provide was his time, his story, and a few snacks for us each day. At lunch he brought us cookies and chips, and even baked us a cake on our final day! Because of our new friendship with Clarence, all the students wanted to work even harder to make his house the best it could be. The work we were doing was nasty - stripping 50-year-old lead paint from the siding, caulking, priming, painting (sometimes up to 15 feet above ground!), and even some framing. Additionally, the weather outside was 98 degrees with 80+% humidity! Even though the conditions were tough, we wanted to do our best for Clarence.
I was really impressed with the BK students I worked with. Everyone had a great attitude and really put their all into the work. I enjoyed getting to know the amazing group of students that will be the leaders of the student body next year. I am looking forward to recognizing a few names on the football roster next year and cheering on these students in all their BK activities!
Knights on the National Stage
Bishop Kelly's Nick Symmonds is a National Champion - again! The Class of 2002 grad won his fourth consecutive US National Title in the men's 800-meter run in Eugene Oregon in June. Symmonds was fourth coming into the final lap and used his signature late kick to win the race with a time of 1:44:17. Click here to see a video of the race.
Bishop Kelly senior Emily Nist finished eighth in the 3,000-meter run at the USA Junior Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Nist, a three-time 3,200-meter 4A state champion, completed the race in 10 minutes, 4.18 seconds.
Class of 2007 grad, Josh Osich, was selected by the San Francisco Giants in the 6th round of the MLB Amateur Draft. Osich, a junior at Oregon State University, pitched a no-hitter against UCLA in April. It was the first time since 1947 that an OSU pitcher has thrown a complete game no-hitter. His comeback follows a year spent rehabbing after Tommy John surgery (to repair a shoulder injury.)
Congratulations to these accomplished athletes!
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BK Today
Bishop Kelly recently announced that we would be increasing the amount of financial aid available to families for the 2011-2012 school year by $32,000. This bring the total amount of financial aid available to $388,000 and represents a 9% increase over last year.
BK is strongly committed to making our quality Catholic education affordable for our families. In fact, 25% of the families attending BK are currently receiving some form of need based assistance. Additionally, the Bishop Kelly Foundation underwrites a portion of the actual cost to educate each student at Bishop Kelly.
BK offers three ways families can receive aid. Families are encouraged to apply for one, or all of the programs available:
Tiered Tuition - Available to any family with more than one child attending Bishop Kelly. For each sibling attending BK tuition is discounted.
Financial Grant - This is financial assistance, based on financial need. The chart below shows the average financial aid granted per person, per income category. The Financial Grant application takes into consideration family income, expenses, the number of children for whom a family pays tuition to private schools, etc. All Bishop Kelly families are expected to contribute monetarily to their child's education. Under no circumstances is 100% aid available. However, BK is dedicated to helping families become part of our Bishop Kelly community.
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Work Study - Available to families who have need for additional aid. Students are hired as part time, temporary employees at BK during the summer break. Students are paid minimum wage up to $1,000 for jobs on the maintenance crew and other departments within the school.
The Bishop Kelly Foundation strongly supports the goal of diversity in the Bishop Kelly student body, and the ideal of making a Catholic high school education available to all students, regardless of ability to pay. In order to achieve these goals, the Foundation also offers several scholarships that are awarded based on need. (Recipients are chosen through the normal financial assistance process, and selected from tuition assistance applications found in the registration package.) A complete list of those scholarships can be found on the BK.org Scholarship page.
Scholarships at Bishop Kelly can be established by an individual, class, family, or company. When the monies in that fund have reached $10,000, the scholarship becomes "endowed," which means that the principal invested begins to spin off enough interest to fund an annual scholarship. At BK, a scholarship fund with $10,000 in it generates a $500 scholarship each year.
We are excited to announce a brand new scholarship at Bishop Kelly! Class of 2011 Grad and outgoing Student Body President, Hank McDonald wanted to immediately give back to BK by endowing a scholarship with funds that his family had set aside for his college expenses. Hank will no longer need that money as he has been accepted to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. The first distribution from this scholarship will be awarded to a BK student in need for the 2011 - 2012 school year. Congratulations to Hank on his accomplishment, and a big thank you for leaving a lasting legacy at Bishop Kelly!
The Fran Wickham Memorial Scholarship is another new scholarship fund at BK that is growing toward endowment. Fran, a longtime teacher at Bishop Kelly, passes away in January of 2011 after a long battle with cancer. Her friends and family established this scholarship in her memory. To date, the scholarship is halfway to becoming endowed and will soon be generating funds to help students in need.
For more information about the Bishop Kelly Foundation and endowed scholarship funds, contact Rita Franklin at rfranklin@bk.org or (208) 323-4789.
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Events
For more information about any of these events please contact the BK Alumni Office at alumni@bk.org or 947-1325.
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BK Online
Join BK's Online Community!
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