Football team delivers game-changing performance off the field; schools receive ‘four-star school’ recognition
The student-athletes on the freshman football team of Roncalli High School in Indianapolis pose for a group photo on Aug. 16, the day they helped to build a prayer walk and a trail at the Benedict Inn Retreat and Conference Center in Beech Grove. (Submitted photo)
(Editor’s note: Adding another dimension to our coverage of Catholic education in the archdiocese, The Criterion plans to highlight each month the success stories of Catholic schools. We hope to share the volunteer, academic, spiritual and athletic efforts and accomplishments of students, teachers and staff from across the archdiocese.)
Compiled by John Shaughnessy
The singing started with the school fight song before eventually leading to a rousing rendition of “Lean on Me.”
Even if they weren’t perfectly in tune musically, the 50 freshman football players of Roncalli High School in Indianapolis showed a remarkable harmony as they helped to build a prayer walk and a trail at the Benedict Inn Retreat and Conference Center in Beech Grove.
Following practice on Aug. 16, the players, managers and coaches used shovels, rakes and wheelbarrows to move more than 60 tons of sand, mulch, gravel and stone pavers to help other volunteers complete the two projects for the center’s Peace & Nature Garden.
“After all the work was complete and the guys lay exhausted on the ground and in their wheelbarrows, it was an incredible sight to see,” said Kevin Banich, head coach of Roncalli’s freshman team. “We have discussed with our student-athletes the importance of being unselfish, and how we can accomplish incredible feats when we work together to serve a higher purpose.”
The team’s efforts moved the director of facilities at the Benedict Inn, Benedictine Sister Sheila Fitzpatrick.
“They were a joy to work with,” said Sister Sheila. “We had a lot of folks helping, but they provided the extra strength for hauling the stone and the gravel. They were game-changers.”
‘Four-Star School’ recognition
Near the end of the 2013-14 school year, the Indiana Department of Education recognized seven Catholic high schools and 10 elementary schools in the archdiocese for achieving the status of a “Four Star School.”
That recognition was given to schools that “perform in the upper 25 percentile in performance on ISTEP+ and End-of-Course Assessments state exams, as well as their rating determined by the national No Child Left Behind statue’s Adequate Yearly Progress.”
The four archdiocesan Catholic high schools that earned this recognition are Bishop Chatard High School in Indianapolis, Father Michael Shawe Memorial Jr./Sr. High School in Madison, Our Lady of Providence Jr./Sr. High School in Clarksville and Roncalli High School in Indianapolis.
The three private Catholic high schools that received that status include Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis, Cathedral High School in Indianapolis and Oldenburg Academy of the Immaculate Conception in Oldenburg.
The 10 elementary schools that earned “Four Star” status include St. Lawrence School in Lawrenceburg, St. Mary-of-the-Knobs School in Floyd County, St. Paul School in Sellersburg and St. Susanna School in Plainfield.
Six Indianapolis Catholic schools also received that recognition: Christ the King, Immaculate Heart of Mary, St. Luke the Evangelist, St. Pius X, St. Simon the Apostle and St. Thomas Aquinas.
(Send short summaries—and photos— of your school’s success stories to assistant editor John Shaughnessy by e-mail at jshaughnessy@archindy.org or by mail in care of The Criterion, 1400 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis, IN 46202. Please include a contact person for your school’s success stories and a phone number where he or she can be reached.) †
