Love of God, Love of Neighbor, Love of Learning

Posted on September 26, 2016 in Impact of Donors

On Thursday afternoons, my normal routine is to attend several work meetings, have a one-on-one with someone from my sales team and get home in time to enjoy dinner with my family. A few times a year I get the opportunity to attend our CEF Board Meeting at one of our local CEF Catholic schools. Last Thursday, September 15th, our CEF Board held our meeting at Holy Name Catholic School on Southwest Boulevard in Kansas City, Kansas.

I was greeted at the door by three of the largest smiles I’ve seen in a long time. “Thank you for helping our school. Your meeting is right downstairs.” School had just let out so I’m sure there was somewhere else these students wanted to be but the pride and enthusiasm for their school was genuine and memorable.   

The Board Members split into two groups and toured the school with Dr. Amanda Vega–Mavec, Principal, and Jennifer Starcke, Kindergarten teacher.   For over 100 years Holy Name has been a beacon of faith and achievement on the Boulevard. Mrs. Starcke was living proof of the love, dedication and passion our archdiocesan teachers have for the academic and faith formation of our young people. As she shared her story of 22 years of teaching at Holy Name, she was almost moved to tears over how much the students, the school and the community meant to her and her family. Not only did her children attend school at Holy Name but her husband and her parents are all active members of the Holy Name community.

As we worked our way through the school, we were shown the different multi-grade classrooms. We stepped into the 7th-8th grade room and met Lori Petesch, a devoted teacher at Holy Name for the last 33 years who drives in from Lansing every day. Mrs. Petesch was so appreciative of the support of the Catholic Education Foundation and the impact it has on their entire school. In 2015, your generosity provided 95 students in 58 different families a CEF scholarship and the opportunity to attend Holy Name Catholic School. Love of God, Love of Neighbor and Love of Learning is exactly what I experienced at Holy Name that day.  

For the past several years, I have had the privilege to serve on the Catholic Education Foundation Board of Directors. During that time, I have toured six different CEF Catholic schools. I can say without a doubt that your financial support of these students, families, teachers, principals and priests is so deeply appreciated in ways you and I will never know. In 2016-17, you will help provide over 1,492 scholarships totaling over $1.4M in 21 different Catholic schools in our archdiocese. 98% of CEF graduates attend college compared to 33% of their peers attending neighborhood schools and 100% of your donations go directly to scholarships for students. Thank you for all you have done and will do for our students and the future of our faith.   

John O’Connor, Vice President & Sales Manager at American Century Investments, is a member of the CEF Board of Directors.

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