COLORADO SPRINGS. Mid-August is fast approaching, and with it comes the rhythm of back-to-school activities. Schools across the nation are grappling with how best to approach the start of the 2020-2021 school year as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect how we live our daily lives. The faculty and staff at St. Mary’s High School have been working all summer to prepare for the new year and the challenges it may bring.

COLORADO SPRINGS. St. Mary’s High School speech and debate team members Ben Bodnar and Daniel Zill had one goal going into the 2019-2020 season — qualify for nationals. That goal had been set last year, when they narrowly missed qualifying for the 2019 National Speech and Debate Tournament. The first weekend in March 2020 Bodnar and Zill accomplished their goal, finishing first in the region in duo interpretation at the Colorado Grande District NSDA National Qualifying Tournament. A week later the world began to change.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Very little about graduation for the St. Mary’s High School class of 2020 was what they had imagined it would be. However, in her valedictorian speech Katie Morales said the class has always considered itself to be special, so it was only fitting that the class go out in a special way.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Working full time at a homeless center in Boulder was not how Hannah McReavy envisioned spending the last months of her sophomore year at college. In February, McReavy, who graduated from St. Mary’s High School in 2018, was at Providence College in Rhode Island; a month later, she was in Boulder, where her parents now live, finishing the semester virtually as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

COLORADO SPRINGS. When Colleen (Walker) Berenguer ‘11 graduated from St. Mary’s High School, a career in nursing wasn’t on her radar. Yet, nine years later, her days have been filled with caring for patients in Meridian, Idado, with a virus that just a few months ago no one could have imagined. Berenguer is one of several St. Mary’s graduates who are on the frontlines caring for COVID-19 patients across the nation.

COLORADO SPRINGS. A famous quote claims that “attitude is the difference between an ordeal and an adventure,” a theory that has been tested during the last seven weeks of rapid change. When schools shut down their campuses in mid-March due to the COVID-19 outbreak, everyone was hopeful that the shutdown would be short lived. That included the events staff at St. Mary’s High School, who at that time were just weeks away from their annual gala.

COLORADO SPRINGS. When the 2019-2020 school year started seven months ago, no one in the St. Mary’s community could have fathomed how the spring semester would unfold. In August it would have been unthinkable that the week before spring break, the entire school would move to distance learning from home as schools closed statewide in an effort to suppress the spread of the COVID- 19 coronavirus.

COLORADO SPRINGS. In the last month, life has changed for Americans. Our current situation of social distancing and stay-at-home orders has, at the very least, disrupted plans and, at the worst, has completely changed lives. Life for those who attend St. Mary’s High School has, of course, also been affected. As plans are shifting, one thing remains consistent for those associated with St. Mary’s — the community.

COLORADO SPRINGS. If life were going according to schedule, this week St. Mary’s High School students would have been working to stay focused as they approached spring break. On Wednesday, most would have participated in the sacrament of reconciliation, and Friday they would have celebrated Mass together before parting ways for the last break before the end of the school year. Instead, students have been at home this week, continuing their studies through online learning as the COVID-19 virus has, at least temporarily, changed the face of life in the US.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Two events that happen only once every four years — the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials and Leap Day — occurred on the same day this year, Feb. 29. Yet, the United States’ most exclusive marathon was especially memorable for Colorado Springs runner Stephen VanGampleare, a 2008 graduate of St. Mary’s High School, who qualified for the trials for the first time. Van Gampleare finished 58th out of 175 men with a time of 2:20:15 at the trials, which were held in Atlanta.

COLORADO SPRINGS. On Jan. 24, St. Mary’s Athletic Hall of Fame inducted Paul Weatherly, class of 1974; Lanny Whiteside DeRoeck, class of 1990; Andy Nigro, class of 2004; Rachael Broerman Friedrich, class of 2007; and Andrew Cornella, class of 2011. The St. Mary’s Athletic Hall of Fame honors those who have made outstanding contributions to St. Mary’s athletics.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Four years ago, the 57 seniors who made up the St. Mary’s High School class of 2016 left a big mark on the school and the surrounding community.

COLORADO SPRINGS. Christmas break has begun for students at St. Mary’s High School, but in the weeks leading up to break, the students were busy spreading the love of Christmas throughout the Colorado Springs community. Some of these holiday service projects are long-standing, while others are new, but through them all, the St. Mary’s students showed that they are inspired by their faith to live out the love of Christ to those around them.

COLORADO SPRINGS.  In his quest to invent the light bulb, Thomas Edison was quoted as saying, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” St. Mary’s sophomores and Corpus Christi alums Cameron Baker and Justin Fauson can relate. They experienced many failures as they worked to use 3D printing technology to support two local multiple sclerosis practices. However, just as Edison did, Baker and Fauson persevered, and now their design will help area multiple sclerosis (MS) patients better understand their disease.

COLORADO SPRINGS. As area eighth graders are contemplating their high school choices, St. Mary’s High School invites them to join the Pirate student body for a day during one of the school’s upcoming Eighth Grade Shadow Days.

The first shadow day of the 2019-2020 school year is Wednesday, Oct. 23. Parents can join in that day, too, with a parent open house from 9-11 a.m., when they will hear from current students about the St. Mary’s difference.