December 22, 2025 • 30 mins
A senior’s year can feel like a sprint, but Jeremy Smith shows how to turn it into a purposeful stride. We meet a student who mixes AV production, revived music culture, and serious computer science chops—and somehow finds time to serve Kansas City by narrowing the digital divide. His story moves from the soundboard to the code editor to the service site, stitching together creativity, discipline, and community impact in a way that feels unmistakably Rockhurst.
First, we dive into the heartbeat of campus culture: Album Club. Jeremy explains how weekly listening sessions become thoughtful critiques and how student-led showcases like Battle of the Bands and Rocking and Stockings give bands a stage and peers a reason to gather. The club is building a media presence, interviewing performers, and partnering with student news so more voices get heard. It’s a small example with big energy—reviving long-form listening and making room for new talent in Kansas City’s music scene.
Then we pivot to computer science, where curiosity meets real-world application. Jeremy traces his path from early Python experiments to hackathons at KU and a visit to General Mills, where code drives supply chains and manufacturing at scale. With coursework spanning cybersecurity, hardware, and software, plus certifications that matter to employers, Rockhurst’s CS track mirrors industry reality while keeping collaboration front and center. College is next, with a focus on research, building, and finding teammates who want to ship meaningful products.
Access and mission stay in view throughout. Jeremy credits The Hurtado Scholars Program for opening doors, offering Saturday Academy support, and connecting him with mentors from middle school through high school. That continuum now reaches into college completion and first jobs via compañeros and Rock Connect, reinforcing the belief that talent should never be limited by zipcode or circumstance. For senior service, he’s heading to PCs for People, a national nonprofit refurbishing donated tech and expanding connectivity for families—an elegant blend of sustainability, equity, and hands-on CS.
Looking for a story that balances passion with purpose, tradition with innovation, and music with mission-driven tech? Press play, then share it with someone who believes schools can grow both skill and character. If this resonates, subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: which school tradition would you bring back next?
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:30):
Welcome to Rock Talk, the official podcast of
Rockers High School in KansasCity, Missouri, where we explore
the voices, values, and vibrantlife of our Jesuit college prep
community.
Hosted by the admissions andmarketing team, each episode
features conversations withstudents, faculty, alumni, and
special guests as we sharestories of academic excellence,
faith formation, brotherhood andservice.
(00:53):
Whether you're a prospectivefamily, a proud alumnus, or
simply curious about what makesRockers unique, this is your
inside look at Life at the Rock.
Welcome back, everybody.
We are continuing our series ofmini sods featuring our great
student population here atRockhurst.
And today we have a young manthat I'll let him introduce
himself here in a minute, butwho is actively involved
(01:14):
throughout many areas on campus,but namely in the areas of
computer science and tech.
So we're really excited, Jeremy,to welcome you.
And why don't you go ahead andintroduce yourself and tell us a
little bit about what you'reinvolved with at Rockhurst and
kind of any more fun facts youwant to share?
SPEAKER_03 (01:30):
Thank you, thank you.
I'm Jeremy.
I'm a senior this year atRockhurst.
I think first and foremost, I'ma Hurtado scholar.
I mean, you know, just I'm sograteful for the program.
And I mean, they kind of let mebe here at Rockhurst, be here
right now.
I'm really involved in A V Techhere at Rockhurst, so I'm
teching up pretty much any eventwith a microphone that needs
audio.
I do computer science clubs, soI'm always coding something.
(01:52):
I'm always working on some sortof project, some mostly
low-level stuff.
I also am a big proponent ofalbum club this year, so I'm
trying to get that thingrevived, trying to kick off
battle of the bands this year,trying to get some promotion
going for that.
But yeah, I'm involved in a lotof random stuff at Rockhurst
that you really wouldn't expect,I'd say, but I mean I just it
just pops up, you know?
(02:13):
So yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (02:14):
Let me uh well coach me up, man.
Cause I um and and I don't knowif you know this, but you know,
I'm an alum.
I graduated in 2004, so I don'tI don't think you were alive at
the time.
But uh I just turned 40yesterday, so it was or two
days.
What I don't even know.
Happy birthday.
Thank you.
Happy belated for me.
But walk me through some ofthat, you know, because like I
(02:36):
told you off air, I enjoy beingable to just meet new teachers
and different folks to getinformation about stuff I might
have not been paying attentionto when I was here.
So, album club.
Like, what is the album club?
What do you guys do in thatgroup in that group?
SPEAKER_03 (02:50):
Oh, yeah, so album club is re led by uh Mr.
Calderoni.
He does a lot of the mediaclasses along with English, and
we essentially get together andlisten to music.
We'd like to review it, sort ofjust you know, look at from an
artistic standpoint from like,you know, a more um like
entertainment standpoint.
Okay.
We do we try to do at least onealbum every week, so we listen
to a student recommendation.
Um, my recommendation actuallyone Getting Killed by Geese,
(03:11):
easily album of the year for me.
SPEAKER_00 (03:13):
But uh you'll have to check that out.
SPEAKER_03 (03:15):
It's really good, really good.
But yeah, we uh do, you know,one or two albums every week,
and then we host some eventslike Battle of the Bands and
Rocking and Stockings.
Okay, and those are events wherestudent-led bands can come
together and sort of you knowperform in front of more
rockers, kids, some friends fromother schools, and you know,
even alumni, parents.
Anyone who wants to come isinvited, you know.
And uh that sort of helps albumclub keep going.
(03:35):
We're trying to grow our mediapresence as well.
So um we're doing a string oflike mini interviews, or at
least we're trying to withdifferent bands, like a couple
of the ones that are gonna beperforming at Battle of the
Bands.
Okay.
And I mean, really, we're justtrying to be more present to
other students because right nowit's really fun whenever you're
there in the meeting, but notmany people know about it.
So, what I really want to do isincrease our social media
(03:57):
presence.
I want to do interviews, I wantto do more, maybe graphics, I
want to have kids writingthings, you know, and maybe even
partner with things like prepnews, you know?
Yeah, try and so it's reallyjust about trying to get more
inter-club involvement, in myopinion, because that's where
you really start to see a lot ofstrength in our uh
extracurriculars.
SPEAKER_01 (04:15):
So yeah.
Beth, you mentioned this.
Yeah.
So when when did Battle of theBands dissipate versus it coming
back?
SPEAKER_00 (04:24):
Like what so I think it was post my time at Rockers.
Well, not my time at Rockers, mytime at St.
Teresa's.
It was still pretty vibrant.
The Battle of the Bands, a a bigdeal.
So well into the 2000s, and thenI think like mid-2000s, it kind
of dipped out, and I think thatwas a combination thing of
things.
I think you guys probably runinto this, less kids playing in
in traditional garage bands,right?
(04:46):
And so finding kids to actuallyperform, finding kids that are
interested enough in music toput on a production like that
because it is a big production.
SPEAKER_01 (04:54):
I remember it when I was here.
That's why I was, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (04:56):
And so when Mr.
Calderone came back to RockEarth, he's also an alum, kind
of from my same era.
He loved Battle of the Bandswhen he was here, and he really
wanted that to come back andstarted album club, and then
over the past couple years,they've kind of brought it back,
added in some additional uhformats.
So your your event, what wasthat last week, two weeks ago?
SPEAKER_03 (05:18):
Oh, yeah, Rocky and Stockings.
SPEAKER_00 (05:20):
Yeah.
That's more like a coffee housestyle kind of exactly like an
open mic almost, and then inhopes to kind of encourage
people to then come and try outfor Battle of the Bands.
Gotcha.
One thing I love, I love goingto album club.
I've been invited a couple timesto guest present an album, and
it's one of my favorite thingsbecause I love music outside of
(05:40):
everything else I love to do.
And so it's really fun to hearyour critical takes on it, your
you know, the creative voices,all the different interests.
So where Jeremy might like thisgenre, you know, this kid might
like this genre, and it kind ofintroduces you to a lot of
different music.
And I love the idea of workingwith the prep news to maybe
doing album reviews, things likethat.
(06:01):
Uh, that's a great idea.
SPEAKER_01 (06:02):
That's cool.
And I um so I'm quietly a musiclover as well, like a a range of
it.
So there's I'm very interestedin that because that's pretty
cool, man.
What is your favorite genre?
SPEAKER_03 (06:13):
Um, my favorite genre.
I mean, there's so, so many.
I'm on the internet, and sothey've kind of subdivided
genres into smaller genres.
So, like, I would say post-rock,but I mean really just indie
rock, um, stuff like that.
I enjoy bands like there's thisone band that I've just loved
over the past two or three yearscalled Black Country New Road.
Uh, they're a UK-based band.
They lost their lead singerabout it, must have been two
(06:35):
years ago by now, and they sortof took a new direction with
their sound.
But I love them.
I love a new band called Geese.
Always a big radio head guy, youknow, always have been.
But you know, I mean, I'm justout there.
I just love music, and sogetting to participate in album
club has been huge for me.
SPEAKER_01 (06:49):
Beth, what's yours?
I know I remember we looselytalked about it, but what's
yours?
SPEAKER_00 (06:54):
I have a very collectic taste, if you ask
anyone I know, but clearly my mytop, top tier is Bruce
Springsteen.
I'm a deep embedded BruceSpringsteen fan.
So that's why typically Mr.
Calderon invites me to waxpoetic on him.
But a lot of similar stuff thatJeremy likes.
I like a lot of indie rock,Radiohead, a great example of
that.
But you know, I like myself someTaylor Swift sometimes.
(07:16):
So you just never know what mymood's gonna be and what I'm
gonna like.
In fact, the on Friday, sotomorrow, I'm going to see a
alum band from the about all thebands from when I was here.
SPEAKER_02 (07:26):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (07:27):
Called New Rhythm.
So it's a it's a mix of peoplethat were in various different
bands, you know, back then, buthave kind of stayed in the
Kansas City music scene and havecontinued to play music.
I'm very still very connected tothe Kansas Dic scene and I I
still get to see a lot of peoplethat I saw perform here and and
see them get to perform like uhNew Rhythm being a great
(07:48):
example.
In the past I've seen bands likeGo Generation who started kind
of elements of it, the Battle ofthe Bands, and have moved on and
and formed other bands.
And so it's it's really kind offun to be able to see that that
love of music starts here butdoesn't end here, and people are
still very active in that scene.
SPEAKER_01 (08:06):
So I like uh I love and I mean I I kind of geek out
about it.
So I'm not actually like a livemusic person.
I don't know what it is, like Idon't like concerts.
I've been to a couple that I'mlike, this is absolutely I've
been to a Prince concert.
SPEAKER_00 (08:20):
Well, that's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_01 (08:22):
And maybe the standard the standard got set so
high like this.
SPEAKER_00 (08:25):
That could be the problem.
That could have been theproblem.
SPEAKER_01 (08:28):
But uh, but I I love like listening to music.
I've I'm finding myself likecycling back to music I grew up
on.
So like I mean, everything fromlike the Eagles, Leonard
Skinner, uh Parliament, StevieWonder, like as I'm driving to
work, I'm finding that moreheavy in the rotation, like kind
(08:48):
of makes me feel good.
But you know, obviously, youknow, we man, I just remember my
uncles, the stuff that theywould listen to from you know,
rap to the soul to this.
Elton John actually got a lot ofspin at our family barbecues for
some reason, which is hilariousto me.
Like when I now that I'm grown,it's like really funny.
(09:09):
But I just appreciate, you know,skill and talent.
I appreciate the bravery thatgoes into that's you know, like
when I'm talking about a littleband getting up in front of
somebody and doing something.
SPEAKER_00 (09:20):
And trying something new.
SPEAKER_01 (09:21):
I love it, man.
So cool.
SPEAKER_00 (09:22):
Well, if it makes you feel better, my Spotify age
this year was 66.
So clearly, um, although I likea lot of indie rock, I listen to
a lot of soul, I listen to a lotof old classic rock, a lot of
Motown.
So, yeah, you know, Spotifysometimes does you dirty in that
way, but I'll take it.
It's great music and has letstandard, you know, the test of
time there.
(09:43):
So awesome.
So, Jeremy, you're also superinvolved in computer science,
which for a lot of people thatare listening aren't probably as
familiar with how much that areahas grown.
Even over my last seven yearshere at Rockers, the classes
that you're able to take now,getting professional
certifications in cybersecurityor hardware and software, all
(10:05):
the different types of eventsyou guys get to go to.
So tell us a little bit moreabout your activities in
computer science specifically.
SPEAKER_03 (10:12):
Oh, yeah.
So uh I've been sort ofinterested in computer science
and I was toying with it sincelike eighth grade, freshman
year.
I really wanted to make games,which is where I think a lot of
interested uh coders start, isfor in games.
And so I learned some Python,you know, I thought that I had
it, and then I kind of just gaveup on it.
You know, I was kind of movingfrom hobby to hobby as an eighth
grader.
Then freshman year, I gotintroduced back to computer
(10:32):
science in our intro to CScourse, which was it's been
wildly reworked.
Like we're working on a lot moreright now, but that really kind
of reignited that flame, and Irealized, hey, I'm good at this,
I love doing it.
Why don't I keep on pursuing it?
And so um originally under Mr.
Clark's sophomore year, and thennow under Miss Kelch, who's
grown the club by so much, I'mso thankful.
I've gone to uh Hackathon overat KU, which is where you have
(10:55):
36 hours or something to buildan app.
I think it was a little moretime than that, but we only
really had about 36 hours sincewe're a high school team.
You know, we have to travel backand forth.
Oh, gotcha.
I've done some codingcompetitions, and one of the
most interesting activities thatwe've done as a club is we went
to Minnesota for a trip.
We got to see General Mills'campus and got to see how they
use uh computer science to, youknow, work with global supply
(11:17):
chains or uh manufacturingprocesses.
I mean, really, there's justcode in every aspect of what
they do at General Mills, whichis really awesome to think
about.
And then, you know, we got tosee some awesome sites in just
in Minneapolis in general,toward the University of
Minnesota, University of St.
Thomas, and Great CatholicUniversity.
And I mean, really, just it's soimportant not just to practice
(11:39):
computer science, but to bearound other people who practice
it.
And I think that Rockers is agreat place to do that at and a
great place to meet a lot ofother people.
SPEAKER_01 (11:47):
Cool.
Are you are you thinking about,I mean, it's your senior year.
Oh, yeah.
So are you thinking aboutpursuing that in the college or
what what where you want to takeit?
SPEAKER_03 (11:57):
Yeah, so I'm definitely gonna be studying
computer science in college.
Now, a lot of people think aboutstudying computer science in
college and they go, oh no, ohno, that job market is dead, or
something like that.
But I mean, it's less about thejob market and more about the
passion because I mean there'llalways be a I know that there'll
always be a place for mesomewhere where I can pursue
what I love to do.
Um, and so why not just do whatI love, which is computer
(12:18):
science.
So I'm planning on going to I'vegot a couple of Midwestern
colleges picked out right now.
I'm still applying forscholarships, still applying for
some other stuff, et cetera, etcetera.
SPEAKER_02 (12:26):
Okay.
SPEAKER_03 (12:27):
But I really hope to do some computer science
research and then also meet abunch of other people who love
coding because I really justwant to build something.
I want to build like somethingbig that I can be proud of.
Um, and you know, I think thatthe best way to do that is in a
college setting.
So yeah, probably gonna go tolike you know, KU, University of
Minnesota, Missouri, Creighton.
Okay, I will say, as of rightnow, I do not have any uh
(12:51):
in-state schools on my list.
So unbelievable.
Unfortunately, I'm just joking.
I will be able to do that.
My uncle's an MU fan too.
So, you know, there we go.
SPEAKER_00 (12:59):
So, Jeremy, you're also what we call a generational
hocklet, right?
So your grandpa went toRockhurst.
We I say he's our most famousalum in the sense that we get to
see him on campus quite oftenbecause he loves to get involved
now that he is retired and canspend some time on campus.
And so Jake Smith is yourgrandpa.
He does a lot of volunteer workwith our service program.
(13:21):
We see him at Mass daily.
So, how cool is it to kind ofhave that shared experience with
your grandpa?
SPEAKER_03 (13:29):
I mean, it's just there's no way to put it other
than amazing.
I mean, seriously, just to thinkabout the fact that he was in
here, you know, I think it wasactually exactly 50 years ago.
It was, or no, 60 years ago.
It's his favorite little uhanecdote to tell people when we
first meet him.
He goes, Yeah, no, I walkedthrough those doors 60 years
before my grandson did.
(13:49):
And that's just it's so coolthat he's so proud of that, and
I'm proud of it as well.
And I mean, there's some crazygood advantages to it.
There's about a 70% teacher, or70% teacher, 70% chance that if
you ask any teacher or stafferat Rockhurst who he is, they'll
know him.
Um, which is just crazy to thinkabout.
Yeah.
Um, and I mean, yeah, it's justI'm glad that he's involved in
(14:10):
my life and in like theRockhurst life in general.
He loves it here.
He loves going to daily mass, heloves meeting all the different
people, all the students.
He'll just text me probablyabout once a month and say, Hey,
do you know this person fromthis class?
And I'll go, I've heard thatname before, but yeah, I mean,
just it's it's it's so it's sogreat.
SPEAKER_00 (14:28):
He makes a lot of friends, that's for sure, which
is great.
SPEAKER_03 (14:30):
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (14:31):
We love having our alums, especially our alums now
that have a little bit more timeto to come back and get back to
school.
We love having him back oncampus doing things like that.
And I agree, it's a really coolexperience to be able to kind of
walk the same hallways.
And your grandpa was part of oneof the classes that that moved
to this campus, you know.
So they got to kind of start itstart it out.
SPEAKER_03 (14:50):
He was actually the first class to spend all four
years on the Green Lease campuson State Line.
SPEAKER_00 (14:54):
And he was he's told me great stories about m they
actually had students moving thecampus, like in trucks and stuff
back then.
So really kind of a greathistorian for the school as
well.
So that's awesome.
SPEAKER_01 (15:05):
Oh yeah.
Well, I was gonna one thing Ican't imagine what the school
looked like down at RockhurstUniversity.
Yeah.
Like, do you does anybody have areference that we can hear?
SPEAKER_03 (15:21):
Father Tezovich's class actually had a picture of
the front, and it looks honestlylike any like you know, like
East Coast high school, or like,you know, you know, there's like
giant, like it's just like agiant cube.
Okay.
It honestly kind of looked likethat.
It's just a giant frontentrance, like, you know, three
stories tall.
SPEAKER_01 (15:37):
Okay.
SPEAKER_03 (15:38):
Looks like any other school, honestly.
SPEAKER_01 (15:39):
I I'm made I could and I'm asking because I'm like,
I don't know if Reedy would havelike, yeah, I think our archives
definitely have pictures.
SPEAKER_00 (15:46):
I'm not sure a hundred percent which building
on the campus it was and if it'seven still there because
Rockhurst University's goneunder quite a few changes, you
know, since then.
But yeah, I mean, I think for awhile the campus was in there's
like a stone building that facesTroost.
SPEAKER_02 (16:03):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (16:03):
I think for a while, because we have a lot of
pictures of like class picturesin front of that hall.
SPEAKER_02 (16:07):
Gotcha.
SPEAKER_00 (16:08):
So I don't know if that was home for a while and
they built a new building oncampus and we outgrew that.
But like I've said, when mygrandpa was going to rock arch,
it started in eighth grade.
So you would start eighth gradeand go all the way through
twelfth.
And so on the old campus.
So I think that you know, it'skind of fun to hear those those
history pieces, and we're we getthem kind of piecemeal mostly
(16:29):
from our alums, which is great.
And so I know that's something,Steve, you talked about kind of
wanting to do some more deepdiving on Rock Arch history and
kind of hearing from the peoplethat lived it.
And I think that's a trulyvaluable thing.
SPEAKER_01 (16:41):
Because I've always and just for your reference,
Jeremy, so I went to St.
Francis Xavier when it was stillopen right across the street.
So I my only picture of it iswhat it's largely been from, I
mean, however old how many yearsago that was.
So like when we hear, oh yeah,the school used to be on truce,
and I'm like, I can't evenpicture where it would be at,
(17:02):
but that's that we'll we'll diginto it.
We'll we'll get it figured out.
SPEAKER_00 (17:05):
Yeah, we'll have to co-treat on here, our historian.
Okay, so you talked a little bitabout Hurtado Scholars, which
you know, we haven't actuallyhad Mr.
Ray on or Mr.
Grillio.
It would be nice to get kind ofthe former director and the
current director on to kind oftalk more Hurtado Scholars.
But for the people at home, doyou want to talk a little bit
about what the program is andkind of why why you are so
(17:27):
thankful for it?
SPEAKER_03 (17:28):
Oh, yeah, 100%, 100%.
So Hurtado Scholars is ascholarship program that was
actually spearheaded by FatherBill Sheehan back in, I think it
was 2010.
So very recently.
And essentially it starts insixth grade, and the whole goal
is to bring uh Rockers educationto maybe lower income, less
opportunity Catholic gradeschools.
(17:48):
So I went to St.
Regis Academy over off of JamesA.
Reed.
Me too.
Really?
SPEAKER_00 (17:53):
He did some time there too.
Oh my god.
SPEAKER_03 (17:55):
We'll talk about it off book.
SPEAKER_01 (17:57):
Yeah.
Oh, yeah, of course.
SPEAKER_03 (17:58):
Yeah, but um, yeah, so I went to St.
Regis.
They currently serve, I thinkit's four middle schools right
now.
It was only three whenever I wasin the program.
And they do after schoollearning opportunities.
So we did a lot of math andEnglish with uh teachers like
Miss Prater, Mr.
Euler back when he used to, or Ithink his name was Mr.
Euler, back when he used to workhere, Mr.
Shaver.
And then after you spend aboutthree years doing after school
(18:20):
and summer programming stuff,um, and just you know, learning
more about Rockhurst, getting toknow people, you come into
Rockhurst as a freshman, knowinga lot more and being prepared
and ready to go.
I mean, they assist you withscholarship, they assist you
with like lunch fees, just stufflike that.
They really just like, you know,helps alleviate some of that
extra attention that can comewhenever you know you're maybe
like a lower income familycoming to Rockhurst.
(18:42):
And I mean, they just gave methe opportunity to go here.
I mean, it was here, it wouldhave been probably center uh St.
Michael's, but I'm so glad thatI got to go here.
And yeah, it was led by Mr.
Grillio, a scripture teacher,for a long time.
He was a great director, and nowit's uh in the hands of Mr.
Ray and Mrs.
Wigman, who are both justamazing people, just helping you
out everywhere.
(19:03):
And yeah, I really wouldn't bewhere I am today without
Hurtada.
So always got to throw a shoutout in there.
That's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_00 (19:08):
And I think I told in our first episode, I talked
about what brought me toRockhurst and what it was was
the Hurtato Scholar programbecause I was at Holy Cross
before I was at Rockhurst as avice principal there, and got to
see the impact of that.
Uh at that time when Jeremy wasgoing through it, was an after
school program.
So they go two days a week toRock You to get extra academic
(19:30):
support from our teachers hereat Rockhurst.
And when COVID hit, we had tokind of change the program a
little bit and it became aSaturday Academy and it stayed
one since.
So they come on Saturdaysinstead of going the two days
after school.
And one thing that I I loveabout the program is exactly
what what Jeremy says.
It's yes, part scholarship thatmakes Rockers available to
(19:51):
students that maybe wouldn'thave considered it in other
circumstances.
But it's also really aconnection maker.
I mean, it it gets them to meetpeople on our campus, adults on
our campus, but alsoupperclassmen that come in as
mentors.
It makes them feel morecomfortable, I think, coming in.
The other thing I think that'sreally valuable is, and we see
(20:12):
this in our admissions office,there is on average about a two
to three year grade level gapwhen we look at education in the
inner city versus educationanywhere else in Kansas City,
Missouri.
So as we look to Making Rockersa more accessible, more
welcoming place.
Programs like Hurtado Scholarsaim to close that gap with that
(20:36):
additional academic support.
So actually the boys I think Mr.
Ray told me this the stat andI'll have to fact check it with
him.
I may have another correctionscorner next week.
But um I'm pretty sure what hesaid is that the boys end up
getting an additional maybe twomonths or three months of school
each year by going to theSaturday Academy in the summer
program.
(20:56):
And so when you think aboutthat, they're pretty much then
in school all year round whenyou factor those two things in,
which makes a huge impact ifmaybe you aren't getting either
the best quality education oraccess to the most resources to
have that that in place.
So I'm with you.
I think it's a great program.
I think we've had greatleadership historically in the
(21:17):
program, still do.
One thing I like is they addedMs.
Wigman to kind of work with ourboys that are here now at
Rocker.
So Mr.
Ray kind of works with themiddle school boys and gets them
here.
And then she takes over and sheuh helps them once they're here
navigate things like advocatingfor themselves with teachers,
making sure they're staying ontop of their work, thinking
(21:37):
about things like signing up forthe ACT or doing college
applications, talking to ourcollege counselors to look at
opportunities because that's apiece that we kind of realized
once the program got going andand folks like Jeremy were at
Rockers, it was like, oh,there's no support, and we need
to continue that supportthrough.
And so that's been a greataddition.
And then last summer they havestarted a compañeros program
(21:59):
that's in kind of partnershipwith the Rock Connect program
that our alumni habits.
The Rock Connect is like analumni networking thing, but
Campaneros, it's designed towalk the path and be a companion
to our students that are nowgraduating from college that
were in the Hertata Scholarprogram.
So for a lot of those boys, notall of them, but a lot of the
(22:20):
boys, they're gonna be the firstpeople in their family to
graduate from college.
So navigating, job interviewing,like looking at our alumni
network for you know, advice,you know, just basic networking
skills, things like that.
So they've even expanded it nowto encompass once they graduate
from the program.
So I think we're now in maybeyear three of having graduates
(22:42):
from college in the program.
So overall seeing great greatbenefits.
SPEAKER_01 (22:48):
That's cool.
Yeah.
I love hearing that and alwayson board for just young men
being successful.
Young people, but we're we'rehere at this institution, and I
I love the things that we do tohelp all of our young guys be
successful and and be preparedto go attack life at a high
level.
So Jeremy, you have talked quitea bit about what you're thankful
(23:12):
for here.
I wanted to ask you thisquestion.
What you know, because we'rewe're by the time this airs, you
will have survived finals.
Hopefully.
Hopefully, we'll update you ifsomething changes.
But uh, you know, with theholiday season, um being right
around the corner, man.
What what are you lookingforward to this this this
(23:34):
Christmas, this Christmasholiday coming up?
SPEAKER_03 (23:37):
Honestly, I mean, for the Christmas break, I'm
gonna have to say being outside.
As strange as it sounds, like,you know, here at Rockers, the
one thing I will say is that I'mnot outside too often unless I'm
working.
And I also just love being inthe outdoors, love getting some
of that fresh air.
I take walks pretty frequently,and uh I think it's gonna be
great to finally slow down andyou know, not have you know
(23:57):
three or four things to do eachday and you know, find time to
reflect.
Uh, I just led a Kairos retreatrecently, so I do really believe
in the power of reflection, justsitting there with your own
thoughts for a while.
Right.
And I think the winter season isgonna be the best time to do it.
But I mean, what I'm lookingmost forward to is honestly
probably senior service.
As funny as that sounds.
I'm gonna be volunteering at PCsfor people, which isn't like one
(24:19):
of the traditional seniorservice organizations, but I
actually threw uh a computerscience class with Ms.
Kelch, volunteered there andloved it.
And so a friend of mine, OwenDeConnik and I, are gonna be out
there during the month ofJanuary.
We'll be probably sortingcomputer parts, helping out in
the retail section with peoplewho need computers.
And actually, I guess I shouldexplain a little bit more about
(24:40):
what PCs for people is and whatthey do.
They're essentially so they'renational, actually.
They have multiple locations allover the place.
And their entire goal is to takein a bunch of old waste
technology from companies,churches, anywhere that's
updating their technology, theytake all this technology, they
sort it for them, they see whatcan be recycled, what can be
sold, what can go towards theirmission, and then they basically
(25:01):
just organize that and use thatcash flow from you know selling
servers off to other companiesor selling their higher-end
stuff that you know maybesomebody who just needs to read
emails, they don't need that.
And then using that to be ableto give computers to people in
need in the Kansas City area,there's still a huge digital
divide divide across the nation.
You know, I mean, most peopledon't really have access to the
internet unless it's through alibrary or other public service.
(25:24):
Very true.
And so PCs for people's entiregoal is to give access to the
internet and you know, all thegood it comes with to people who
didn't have that before.
And so I'm really excited towork with them.
I think that since I'm from atech background, it'll
definitely help a lot.
And it's gonna be a great, it'sgonna be a great place to do
senior service at.
So yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (25:42):
And do they so do you guys go straight to that
coming from break?
Coming from break.
SPEAKER_00 (25:46):
And so they'll be in their senior service for about
three weeks in January.
And there's two reflectionpoints, one about midway
through, and then one at theend, uh, where they share their
experience with underclassmen.
One thing I love about yourspecific choice is that you've
kind of found a way to marry allthe things that you really like.
So you've got your tech piecethat you're passionate about,
(26:09):
like that you are coming at itfrom a very, I would say,
ignition mindset of not onlycaring for our coming home, so
you upcycling things and youknow, looking at waste, but then
also accessibility and andgetting it technology in the
hands of people that need it butcan't afford it.
So I think that's uh kind of themost beautiful thing we can do
(26:30):
at Rockers is is find young mena path where they're passionate
about what they're doing, butthey're doing it with a mindset
of not just making money, right?
Because you know, I think incomputer science, you're gonna
do all right, Jeremy.
I'm not worried about you.
But also having that that tintof, okay, what what am I doing
to better the world outside ofjust making dollars and cents,
(26:53):
which is important.
I'm not gonna say it's notimportant, but it seems like
you're already figuring that outby suggesting this site.
And I hope it's a site that wecan continue to work with.
That's kind of the beauty, uh,Mr.
Redmond, of the service programis that how we find a lot of
those partners are through ourstudents.
So they will have volunteeredeither with their family or as
an individual or with a teacherlike you did, and kind of
(27:16):
discover these new new partnersand give, you know, other young
men the opportunity then to giveback to those organizations and
do something they really enjoydoing.
SPEAKER_01 (27:25):
Yeah, I love I love hearing it, man.
SPEAKER_03 (27:27):
I will say one thing.
I do love how pretty much everyuh Rockers graduate or even a
lot of the Rockers students thatI see and talk to have found
that great balance of having agreat personal life and also
contributing a lot to somethingthat they care about.
So I mean you look at like, youknow, like Max Kaniger, the
founder of Cambies Markets.
I mean, you know, like he founda way to, you know, do what he
(27:47):
loved and you know live a happy,healthy life while also running
a great organization thataddresses the food desert
problem in Kansas City.
And I think that that that's agreat skill that Rockhurst
teaches.
So yeah, just want to say that.
SPEAKER_00 (28:00):
And I will say that that's I think an exciting thing
about being at Rockhurst in thistime is that a lot of the people
like Max that are they're youngalumni, right?
So they're they're he was ourfirst emerging Hawklet
recipient, and they're out thereand they're doing these great
things, and they're barely outthere.
Our our most recent emergingHawklet graduated last year from
(28:21):
college.
I mean, he's fresh out ofcollege.
SPEAKER_03 (28:23):
I actually know him, Daniel Nugent.
Yeah, yeah, he's um actually agood friend of mine.
I met him my junior year doingsomething at KU.
SPEAKER_00 (28:29):
So and he still kind of acts as like a mentor to the
computer science program.
Yeah, so Daniel, you know, isliterally fresh out of college,
and so to think that they'realready making such an impact at
such a young age, you can onlyimagine what that can be, you
know, 20 years down the road.
SPEAKER_01 (28:44):
For sure.
Yeah, for sure, man.
Well it's been a pleasuretalking to you.
SPEAKER_00 (28:48):
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (28:49):
Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_01 (28:49):
We seriously, we always love, we always love it,
man.
You know, I said it on the lastepisode.
This is uh especially this timeof year, refreshing.
A little break in the day fromthe from the hustle and bustle,
and just being able to hear youand some of our other students
just be able to articulate whatyou're into, what you're
(29:09):
thinking about, how your year'sgoing is a blessing.
So thanks for being here.
I hope you have a blessedholiday.
SPEAKER_00 (29:16):
Yeah, make sure to tell your whole family Merry
Christmas from us, especiallyyour grandpa.
I don't want him to think I'mforgetting him.
SPEAKER_03 (29:22):
Well, yeah, of course.
Well, thanks for having me.
Seriously.
I mean, this is a great thing touh be running.
I mean, I didn't really know toomuch about it until I came on
here.
So yeah, I'll be looking out forthe next few episodes.
So yeah, thank you guys.
SPEAKER_00 (29:33):
You can uh listen on your walks.
They're perfect.
There you go.
SPEAKER_03 (29:36):
Yeah, there you go.
SPEAKER_01 (29:38):
Yeah, do it, brother.
All right.
Well, thank you for joining us.
This is Steve and Beth andJeremy.
We're gonna sign off of anotherepisode of Rock Talk, and we'll
talk soon.
Welcome to Rock Talk, the official podcast of
Rockers High School in KansasCity, Missouri, where we explore
the voices, values, and vibrantlife of our Jesuit college prep
community.
Hosted by the admissions andmarketing team, each episode
features conversations withstudents, faculty, alumni, and
special guests as we sharestories of academic excellence,
faith formation, brotherhood andservice.
(00:53):
Whether you're a prospectivefamily, a proud alumnus, or
simply curious about what makesRockers unique, this is your
inside look at Life at the Rock.
Welcome back, everybody.
We are continuing our series ofmini sods featuring our great
student population here atRockhurst.
And today we have a young manthat I'll let him introduce
himself here in a minute, butwho is actively involved
(01:14):
throughout many areas on campus,but namely in the areas of
computer science and tech.
So we're really excited, Jeremy,to welcome you.
And why don't you go ahead andintroduce yourself and tell us a
little bit about what you'reinvolved with at Rockhurst and
kind of any more fun facts youwant to share?
SPEAKER_03 (01:30):
Thank you, thank you.
I'm Jeremy.
I'm a senior this year atRockhurst.
I think first and foremost, I'ma Hurtado scholar.
I mean, you know, just I'm sograteful for the program.
And I mean, they kind of let mebe here at Rockhurst, be here
right now.
I'm really involved in A V Techhere at Rockhurst, so I'm
teching up pretty much any eventwith a microphone that needs
audio.
I do computer science clubs, soI'm always coding something.
(01:52):
I'm always working on some sortof project, some mostly
low-level stuff.
I also am a big proponent ofalbum club this year, so I'm
trying to get that thingrevived, trying to kick off
battle of the bands this year,trying to get some promotion
going for that.
But yeah, I'm involved in a lotof random stuff at Rockhurst
that you really wouldn't expect,I'd say, but I mean I just it
just pops up, you know?
(02:13):
So yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (02:14):
Let me uh well coach me up, man.
Cause I um and and I don't knowif you know this, but you know,
I'm an alum.
I graduated in 2004, so I don'tI don't think you were alive at
the time.
But uh I just turned 40yesterday, so it was or two
days.
What I don't even know.
Happy birthday.
Thank you.
Happy belated for me.
But walk me through some ofthat, you know, because like I
(02:36):
told you off air, I enjoy beingable to just meet new teachers
and different folks to getinformation about stuff I might
have not been paying attentionto when I was here.
So, album club.
Like, what is the album club?
What do you guys do in thatgroup in that group?
SPEAKER_03 (02:50):
Oh, yeah, so album club is re led by uh Mr.
Calderoni.
He does a lot of the mediaclasses along with English, and
we essentially get together andlisten to music.
We'd like to review it, sort ofjust you know, look at from an
artistic standpoint from like,you know, a more um like
entertainment standpoint.
Okay.
We do we try to do at least onealbum every week, so we listen
to a student recommendation.
Um, my recommendation actuallyone Getting Killed by Geese,
(03:11):
easily album of the year for me.
SPEAKER_00 (03:13):
But uh you'll have to check that out.
SPEAKER_03 (03:15):
It's really good, really good.
But yeah, we uh do, you know,one or two albums every week,
and then we host some eventslike Battle of the Bands and
Rocking and Stockings.
Okay, and those are events wherestudent-led bands can come
together and sort of you knowperform in front of more
rockers, kids, some friends fromother schools, and you know,
even alumni, parents.
Anyone who wants to come isinvited, you know.
And uh that sort of helps albumclub keep going.
(03:35):
We're trying to grow our mediapresence as well.
So um we're doing a string oflike mini interviews, or at
least we're trying to withdifferent bands, like a couple
of the ones that are gonna beperforming at Battle of the
Bands.
Okay.
And I mean, really, we're justtrying to be more present to
other students because right nowit's really fun whenever you're
there in the meeting, but notmany people know about it.
So, what I really want to do isincrease our social media
(03:57):
presence.
I want to do interviews, I wantto do more, maybe graphics, I
want to have kids writingthings, you know, and maybe even
partner with things like prepnews, you know?
Yeah, try and so it's reallyjust about trying to get more
inter-club involvement, in myopinion, because that's where
you really start to see a lot ofstrength in our uh
extracurriculars.
SPEAKER_01 (04:15):
So yeah.
Beth, you mentioned this.
Yeah.
So when when did Battle of theBands dissipate versus it coming
back?
SPEAKER_00 (04:24):
Like what so I think it was post my time at Rockers.
Well, not my time at Rockers, mytime at St.
Teresa's.
It was still pretty vibrant.
The Battle of the Bands, a a bigdeal.
So well into the 2000s, and thenI think like mid-2000s, it kind
of dipped out, and I think thatwas a combination thing of
things.
I think you guys probably runinto this, less kids playing in
in traditional garage bands,right?
(04:46):
And so finding kids to actuallyperform, finding kids that are
interested enough in music toput on a production like that
because it is a big production.
SPEAKER_01 (04:54):
I remember it when I was here.
That's why I was, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (04:56):
And so when Mr.
Calderone came back to RockEarth, he's also an alum, kind
of from my same era.
He loved Battle of the Bandswhen he was here, and he really
wanted that to come back andstarted album club, and then
over the past couple years,they've kind of brought it back,
added in some additional uhformats.
So your your event, what wasthat last week, two weeks ago?
SPEAKER_03 (05:18):
Oh, yeah, Rocky and Stockings.
SPEAKER_00 (05:20):
Yeah.
That's more like a coffee housestyle kind of exactly like an
open mic almost, and then inhopes to kind of encourage
people to then come and try outfor Battle of the Bands.
Gotcha.
One thing I love, I love goingto album club.
I've been invited a couple timesto guest present an album, and
it's one of my favorite thingsbecause I love music outside of
(05:40):
everything else I love to do.
And so it's really fun to hearyour critical takes on it, your
you know, the creative voices,all the different interests.
So where Jeremy might like thisgenre, you know, this kid might
like this genre, and it kind ofintroduces you to a lot of
different music.
And I love the idea of workingwith the prep news to maybe
doing album reviews, things likethat.
(06:01):
Uh, that's a great idea.
SPEAKER_01 (06:02):
That's cool.
And I um so I'm quietly a musiclover as well, like a a range of
it.
So there's I'm very interestedin that because that's pretty
cool, man.
What is your favorite genre?
SPEAKER_03 (06:13):
Um, my favorite genre.
I mean, there's so, so many.
I'm on the internet, and sothey've kind of subdivided
genres into smaller genres.
So, like, I would say post-rock,but I mean really just indie
rock, um, stuff like that.
I enjoy bands like there's thisone band that I've just loved
over the past two or three yearscalled Black Country New Road.
Uh, they're a UK-based band.
They lost their lead singerabout it, must have been two
(06:35):
years ago by now, and they sortof took a new direction with
their sound.
But I love them.
I love a new band called Geese.
Always a big radio head guy, youknow, always have been.
But you know, I mean, I'm justout there.
I just love music, and sogetting to participate in album
club has been huge for me.
SPEAKER_01 (06:49):
Beth, what's yours?
I know I remember we looselytalked about it, but what's
yours?
SPEAKER_00 (06:54):
I have a very collectic taste, if you ask
anyone I know, but clearly my mytop, top tier is Bruce
Springsteen.
I'm a deep embedded BruceSpringsteen fan.
So that's why typically Mr.
Calderon invites me to waxpoetic on him.
But a lot of similar stuff thatJeremy likes.
I like a lot of indie rock,Radiohead, a great example of
that.
But you know, I like myself someTaylor Swift sometimes.
(07:16):
So you just never know what mymood's gonna be and what I'm
gonna like.
In fact, the on Friday, sotomorrow, I'm going to see a
alum band from the about all thebands from when I was here.
SPEAKER_02 (07:26):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (07:27):
Called New Rhythm.
So it's a it's a mix of peoplethat were in various different
bands, you know, back then, buthave kind of stayed in the
Kansas City music scene and havecontinued to play music.
I'm very still very connected tothe Kansas Dic scene and I I
still get to see a lot of peoplethat I saw perform here and and
see them get to perform like uhNew Rhythm being a great
(07:48):
example.
In the past I've seen bands likeGo Generation who started kind
of elements of it, the Battle ofthe Bands, and have moved on and
and formed other bands.
And so it's it's really kind offun to be able to see that that
love of music starts here butdoesn't end here, and people are
still very active in that scene.
SPEAKER_01 (08:06):
So I like uh I love and I mean I I kind of geek out
about it.
So I'm not actually like a livemusic person.
I don't know what it is, like Idon't like concerts.
I've been to a couple that I'mlike, this is absolutely I've
been to a Prince concert.
SPEAKER_00 (08:20):
Well, that's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_01 (08:22):
And maybe the standard the standard got set so
high like this.
SPEAKER_00 (08:25):
That could be the problem.
That could have been theproblem.
SPEAKER_01 (08:28):
But uh, but I I love like listening to music.
I've I'm finding myself likecycling back to music I grew up
on.
So like I mean, everything fromlike the Eagles, Leonard
Skinner, uh Parliament, StevieWonder, like as I'm driving to
work, I'm finding that moreheavy in the rotation, like kind
(08:48):
of makes me feel good.
But you know, obviously, youknow, we man, I just remember my
uncles, the stuff that theywould listen to from you know,
rap to the soul to this.
Elton John actually got a lot ofspin at our family barbecues for
some reason, which is hilariousto me.
Like when I now that I'm grown,it's like really funny.
(09:09):
But I just appreciate, you know,skill and talent.
I appreciate the bravery thatgoes into that's you know, like
when I'm talking about a littleband getting up in front of
somebody and doing something.
SPEAKER_00 (09:20):
And trying something new.
SPEAKER_01 (09:21):
I love it, man.
So cool.
SPEAKER_00 (09:22):
Well, if it makes you feel better, my Spotify age
this year was 66.
So clearly, um, although I likea lot of indie rock, I listen to
a lot of soul, I listen to a lotof old classic rock, a lot of
Motown.
So, yeah, you know, Spotifysometimes does you dirty in that
way, but I'll take it.
It's great music and has letstandard, you know, the test of
time there.
(09:43):
So awesome.
So, Jeremy, you're also superinvolved in computer science,
which for a lot of people thatare listening aren't probably as
familiar with how much that areahas grown.
Even over my last seven yearshere at Rockers, the classes
that you're able to take now,getting professional
certifications in cybersecurityor hardware and software, all
(10:05):
the different types of eventsyou guys get to go to.
So tell us a little bit moreabout your activities in
computer science specifically.
SPEAKER_03 (10:12):
Oh, yeah.
So uh I've been sort ofinterested in computer science
and I was toying with it sincelike eighth grade, freshman
year.
I really wanted to make games,which is where I think a lot of
interested uh coders start, isfor in games.
And so I learned some Python,you know, I thought that I had
it, and then I kind of just gaveup on it.
You know, I was kind of movingfrom hobby to hobby as an eighth
grader.
Then freshman year, I gotintroduced back to computer
(10:32):
science in our intro to CScourse, which was it's been
wildly reworked.
Like we're working on a lot moreright now, but that really kind
of reignited that flame, and Irealized, hey, I'm good at this,
I love doing it.
Why don't I keep on pursuing it?
And so um originally under Mr.
Clark's sophomore year, and thennow under Miss Kelch, who's
grown the club by so much, I'mso thankful.
I've gone to uh Hackathon overat KU, which is where you have
(10:55):
36 hours or something to buildan app.
I think it was a little moretime than that, but we only
really had about 36 hours sincewe're a high school team.
You know, we have to travel backand forth.
Oh, gotcha.
I've done some codingcompetitions, and one of the
most interesting activities thatwe've done as a club is we went
to Minnesota for a trip.
We got to see General Mills'campus and got to see how they
use uh computer science to, youknow, work with global supply
(11:17):
chains or uh manufacturingprocesses.
I mean, really, there's justcode in every aspect of what
they do at General Mills, whichis really awesome to think
about.
And then, you know, we got tosee some awesome sites in just
in Minneapolis in general,toward the University of
Minnesota, University of St.
Thomas, and Great CatholicUniversity.
And I mean, really, just it's soimportant not just to practice
(11:39):
computer science, but to bearound other people who practice
it.
And I think that Rockers is agreat place to do that at and a
great place to meet a lot ofother people.
SPEAKER_01 (11:47):
Cool.
Are you are you thinking about,I mean, it's your senior year.
Oh, yeah.
So are you thinking aboutpursuing that in the college or
what what where you want to takeit?
SPEAKER_03 (11:57):
Yeah, so I'm definitely gonna be studying
computer science in college.
Now, a lot of people think aboutstudying computer science in
college and they go, oh no, ohno, that job market is dead, or
something like that.
But I mean, it's less about thejob market and more about the
passion because I mean there'llalways be a I know that there'll
always be a place for mesomewhere where I can pursue
what I love to do.
Um, and so why not just do whatI love, which is computer
(12:18):
science.
So I'm planning on going to I'vegot a couple of Midwestern
colleges picked out right now.
I'm still applying forscholarships, still applying for
some other stuff, et cetera, etcetera.
SPEAKER_02 (12:26):
Okay.
SPEAKER_03 (12:27):
But I really hope to do some computer science
research and then also meet abunch of other people who love
coding because I really justwant to build something.
I want to build like somethingbig that I can be proud of.
Um, and you know, I think thatthe best way to do that is in a
college setting.
So yeah, probably gonna go tolike you know, KU, University of
Minnesota, Missouri, Creighton.
Okay, I will say, as of rightnow, I do not have any uh
(12:51):
in-state schools on my list.
So unbelievable.
Unfortunately, I'm just joking.
I will be able to do that.
My uncle's an MU fan too.
So, you know, there we go.
SPEAKER_00 (12:59):
So, Jeremy, you're also what we call a generational
hocklet, right?
So your grandpa went toRockhurst.
We I say he's our most famousalum in the sense that we get to
see him on campus quite oftenbecause he loves to get involved
now that he is retired and canspend some time on campus.
And so Jake Smith is yourgrandpa.
He does a lot of volunteer workwith our service program.
(13:21):
We see him at Mass daily.
So, how cool is it to kind ofhave that shared experience with
your grandpa?
SPEAKER_03 (13:29):
I mean, it's just there's no way to put it other
than amazing.
I mean, seriously, just to thinkabout the fact that he was in
here, you know, I think it wasactually exactly 50 years ago.
It was, or no, 60 years ago.
It's his favorite little uhanecdote to tell people when we
first meet him.
He goes, Yeah, no, I walkedthrough those doors 60 years
before my grandson did.
(13:49):
And that's just it's so coolthat he's so proud of that, and
I'm proud of it as well.
And I mean, there's some crazygood advantages to it.
There's about a 70% teacher, or70% teacher, 70% chance that if
you ask any teacher or stafferat Rockhurst who he is, they'll
know him.
Um, which is just crazy to thinkabout.
Yeah.
Um, and I mean, yeah, it's justI'm glad that he's involved in
(14:10):
my life and in like theRockhurst life in general.
He loves it here.
He loves going to daily mass, heloves meeting all the different
people, all the students.
He'll just text me probablyabout once a month and say, Hey,
do you know this person fromthis class?
And I'll go, I've heard thatname before, but yeah, I mean,
just it's it's it's so it's sogreat.
SPEAKER_00 (14:28):
He makes a lot of friends, that's for sure, which
is great.
SPEAKER_03 (14:30):
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (14:31):
We love having our alums, especially our alums now
that have a little bit more timeto to come back and get back to
school.
We love having him back oncampus doing things like that.
And I agree, it's a really coolexperience to be able to kind of
walk the same hallways.
And your grandpa was part of oneof the classes that that moved
to this campus, you know.
So they got to kind of start itstart it out.
SPEAKER_03 (14:50):
He was actually the first class to spend all four
years on the Green Lease campuson State Line.
SPEAKER_00 (14:54):
And he was he's told me great stories about m they
actually had students moving thecampus, like in trucks and stuff
back then.
So really kind of a greathistorian for the school as
well.
So that's awesome.
SPEAKER_01 (15:05):
Oh yeah.
Well, I was gonna one thing Ican't imagine what the school
looked like down at RockhurstUniversity.
Yeah.
Like, do you does anybody have areference that we can hear?
SPEAKER_03 (15:21):
Father Tezovich's class actually had a picture of
the front, and it looks honestlylike any like you know, like
East Coast high school, or like,you know, you know, there's like
giant, like it's just like agiant cube.
Okay.
It honestly kind of looked likethat.
It's just a giant frontentrance, like, you know, three
stories tall.
SPEAKER_01 (15:37):
Okay.
SPEAKER_03 (15:38):
Looks like any other school, honestly.
SPEAKER_01 (15:39):
I I'm made I could and I'm asking because I'm like,
I don't know if Reedy would havelike, yeah, I think our archives
definitely have pictures.
SPEAKER_00 (15:46):
I'm not sure a hundred percent which building
on the campus it was and if it'seven still there because
Rockhurst University's goneunder quite a few changes, you
know, since then.
But yeah, I mean, I think for awhile the campus was in there's
like a stone building that facesTroost.
SPEAKER_02 (16:03):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (16:03):
I think for a while, because we have a lot of
pictures of like class picturesin front of that hall.
SPEAKER_02 (16:07):
Gotcha.
SPEAKER_00 (16:08):
So I don't know if that was home for a while and
they built a new building oncampus and we outgrew that.
But like I've said, when mygrandpa was going to rock arch,
it started in eighth grade.
So you would start eighth gradeand go all the way through
twelfth.
And so on the old campus.
So I think that you know, it'skind of fun to hear those those
history pieces, and we're we getthem kind of piecemeal mostly
(16:29):
from our alums, which is great.
And so I know that's something,Steve, you talked about kind of
wanting to do some more deepdiving on Rock Arch history and
kind of hearing from the peoplethat lived it.
And I think that's a trulyvaluable thing.
SPEAKER_01 (16:41):
Because I've always and just for your reference,
Jeremy, so I went to St.
Francis Xavier when it was stillopen right across the street.
So I my only picture of it iswhat it's largely been from, I
mean, however old how many yearsago that was.
So like when we hear, oh yeah,the school used to be on truce,
and I'm like, I can't evenpicture where it would be at,
(17:02):
but that's that we'll we'll diginto it.
We'll we'll get it figured out.
SPEAKER_00 (17:05):
Yeah, we'll have to co-treat on here, our historian.
Okay, so you talked a little bitabout Hurtado Scholars, which
you know, we haven't actuallyhad Mr.
Ray on or Mr.
Grillio.
It would be nice to get kind ofthe former director and the
current director on to kind oftalk more Hurtado Scholars.
But for the people at home, doyou want to talk a little bit
about what the program is andkind of why why you are so
(17:27):
thankful for it?
SPEAKER_03 (17:28):
Oh, yeah, 100%, 100%.
So Hurtado Scholars is ascholarship program that was
actually spearheaded by FatherBill Sheehan back in, I think it
was 2010.
So very recently.
And essentially it starts insixth grade, and the whole goal
is to bring uh Rockers educationto maybe lower income, less
opportunity Catholic gradeschools.
(17:48):
So I went to St.
Regis Academy over off of JamesA.
Reed.
Me too.
Really?
SPEAKER_00 (17:53):
He did some time there too.
Oh my god.
SPEAKER_03 (17:55):
We'll talk about it off book.
SPEAKER_01 (17:57):
Yeah.
Oh, yeah, of course.
SPEAKER_03 (17:58):
Yeah, but um, yeah, so I went to St.
Regis.
They currently serve, I thinkit's four middle schools right
now.
It was only three whenever I wasin the program.
And they do after schoollearning opportunities.
So we did a lot of math andEnglish with uh teachers like
Miss Prater, Mr.
Euler back when he used to, or Ithink his name was Mr.
Euler, back when he used to workhere, Mr.
Shaver.
And then after you spend aboutthree years doing after school
(18:20):
and summer programming stuff,um, and just you know, learning
more about Rockhurst, getting toknow people, you come into
Rockhurst as a freshman, knowinga lot more and being prepared
and ready to go.
I mean, they assist you withscholarship, they assist you
with like lunch fees, just stufflike that.
They really just like, you know,helps alleviate some of that
extra attention that can comewhenever you know you're maybe
like a lower income familycoming to Rockhurst.
(18:42):
And I mean, they just gave methe opportunity to go here.
I mean, it was here, it wouldhave been probably center uh St.
Michael's, but I'm so glad thatI got to go here.
And yeah, it was led by Mr.
Grillio, a scripture teacher,for a long time.
He was a great director, and nowit's uh in the hands of Mr.
Ray and Mrs.
Wigman, who are both justamazing people, just helping you
out everywhere.
(19:03):
And yeah, I really wouldn't bewhere I am today without
Hurtada.
So always got to throw a shoutout in there.
That's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_00 (19:08):
And I think I told in our first episode, I talked
about what brought me toRockhurst and what it was was
the Hurtato Scholar programbecause I was at Holy Cross
before I was at Rockhurst as avice principal there, and got to
see the impact of that.
Uh at that time when Jeremy wasgoing through it, was an after
school program.
So they go two days a week toRock You to get extra academic
(19:30):
support from our teachers hereat Rockhurst.
And when COVID hit, we had tokind of change the program a
little bit and it became aSaturday Academy and it stayed
one since.
So they come on Saturdaysinstead of going the two days
after school.
And one thing that I I loveabout the program is exactly
what what Jeremy says.
It's yes, part scholarship thatmakes Rockers available to
(19:51):
students that maybe wouldn'thave considered it in other
circumstances.
But it's also really aconnection maker.
I mean, it it gets them to meetpeople on our campus, adults on
our campus, but alsoupperclassmen that come in as
mentors.
It makes them feel morecomfortable, I think, coming in.
The other thing I think that'sreally valuable is, and we see
(20:12):
this in our admissions office,there is on average about a two
to three year grade level gapwhen we look at education in the
inner city versus educationanywhere else in Kansas City,
Missouri.
So as we look to Making Rockersa more accessible, more
welcoming place.
Programs like Hurtado Scholarsaim to close that gap with that
(20:36):
additional academic support.
So actually the boys I think Mr.
Ray told me this the stat andI'll have to fact check it with
him.
I may have another correctionscorner next week.
But um I'm pretty sure what hesaid is that the boys end up
getting an additional maybe twomonths or three months of school
each year by going to theSaturday Academy in the summer
program.
(20:56):
And so when you think aboutthat, they're pretty much then
in school all year round whenyou factor those two things in,
which makes a huge impact ifmaybe you aren't getting either
the best quality education oraccess to the most resources to
have that that in place.
So I'm with you.
I think it's a great program.
I think we've had greatleadership historically in the
(21:17):
program, still do.
One thing I like is they addedMs.
Wigman to kind of work with ourboys that are here now at
Rocker.
So Mr.
Ray kind of works with themiddle school boys and gets them
here.
And then she takes over and sheuh helps them once they're here
navigate things like advocatingfor themselves with teachers,
making sure they're staying ontop of their work, thinking
(21:37):
about things like signing up forthe ACT or doing college
applications, talking to ourcollege counselors to look at
opportunities because that's apiece that we kind of realized
once the program got going andand folks like Jeremy were at
Rockers, it was like, oh,there's no support, and we need
to continue that supportthrough.
And so that's been a greataddition.
And then last summer they havestarted a compañeros program
(21:59):
that's in kind of partnershipwith the Rock Connect program
that our alumni habits.
The Rock Connect is like analumni networking thing, but
Campaneros, it's designed towalk the path and be a companion
to our students that are nowgraduating from college that
were in the Hertata Scholarprogram.
So for a lot of those boys, notall of them, but a lot of the
(22:20):
boys, they're gonna be the firstpeople in their family to
graduate from college.
So navigating, job interviewing,like looking at our alumni
network for you know, advice,you know, just basic networking
skills, things like that.
So they've even expanded it nowto encompass once they graduate
from the program.
So I think we're now in maybeyear three of having graduates
(22:42):
from college in the program.
So overall seeing great greatbenefits.
SPEAKER_01 (22:48):
That's cool.
Yeah.
I love hearing that and alwayson board for just young men
being successful.
Young people, but we're we'rehere at this institution, and I
I love the things that we do tohelp all of our young guys be
successful and and be preparedto go attack life at a high
level.
So Jeremy, you have talked quitea bit about what you're thankful
(23:12):
for here.
I wanted to ask you thisquestion.
What you know, because we'rewe're by the time this airs, you
will have survived finals.
Hopefully.
Hopefully, we'll update you ifsomething changes.
But uh, you know, with theholiday season, um being right
around the corner, man.
What what are you lookingforward to this this this
(23:34):
Christmas, this Christmasholiday coming up?
SPEAKER_03 (23:37):
Honestly, I mean, for the Christmas break, I'm
gonna have to say being outside.
As strange as it sounds, like,you know, here at Rockers, the
one thing I will say is that I'mnot outside too often unless I'm
working.
And I also just love being inthe outdoors, love getting some
of that fresh air.
I take walks pretty frequently,and uh I think it's gonna be
great to finally slow down andyou know, not have you know
(23:57):
three or four things to do eachday and you know, find time to
reflect.
Uh, I just led a Kairos retreatrecently, so I do really believe
in the power of reflection, justsitting there with your own
thoughts for a while.
Right.
And I think the winter season isgonna be the best time to do it.
But I mean, what I'm lookingmost forward to is honestly
probably senior service.
As funny as that sounds.
I'm gonna be volunteering at PCsfor people, which isn't like one
(24:19):
of the traditional seniorservice organizations, but I
actually threw uh a computerscience class with Ms.
Kelch, volunteered there andloved it.
And so a friend of mine, OwenDeConnik and I, are gonna be out
there during the month ofJanuary.
We'll be probably sortingcomputer parts, helping out in
the retail section with peoplewho need computers.
And actually, I guess I shouldexplain a little bit more about
(24:40):
what PCs for people is and whatthey do.
They're essentially so they'renational, actually.
They have multiple locations allover the place.
And their entire goal is to takein a bunch of old waste
technology from companies,churches, anywhere that's
updating their technology, theytake all this technology, they
sort it for them, they see whatcan be recycled, what can be
sold, what can go towards theirmission, and then they basically
(25:01):
just organize that and use thatcash flow from you know selling
servers off to other companiesor selling their higher-end
stuff that you know maybesomebody who just needs to read
emails, they don't need that.
And then using that to be ableto give computers to people in
need in the Kansas City area,there's still a huge digital
divide divide across the nation.
You know, I mean, most peopledon't really have access to the
internet unless it's through alibrary or other public service.
(25:24):
Very true.
And so PCs for people's entiregoal is to give access to the
internet and you know, all thegood it comes with to people who
didn't have that before.
And so I'm really excited towork with them.
I think that since I'm from atech background, it'll
definitely help a lot.
And it's gonna be a great, it'sgonna be a great place to do
senior service at.
So yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (25:42):
And do they so do you guys go straight to that
coming from break?
Coming from break.
SPEAKER_00 (25:46):
And so they'll be in their senior service for about
three weeks in January.
And there's two reflectionpoints, one about midway
through, and then one at theend, uh, where they share their
experience with underclassmen.
One thing I love about yourspecific choice is that you've
kind of found a way to marry allthe things that you really like.
So you've got your tech piecethat you're passionate about,
(26:09):
like that you are coming at itfrom a very, I would say,
ignition mindset of not onlycaring for our coming home, so
you upcycling things and youknow, looking at waste, but then
also accessibility and andgetting it technology in the
hands of people that need it butcan't afford it.
So I think that's uh kind of themost beautiful thing we can do
(26:30):
at Rockers is is find young mena path where they're passionate
about what they're doing, butthey're doing it with a mindset
of not just making money, right?
Because you know, I think incomputer science, you're gonna
do all right, Jeremy.
I'm not worried about you.
But also having that that tintof, okay, what what am I doing
to better the world outside ofjust making dollars and cents,
(26:53):
which is important.
I'm not gonna say it's notimportant, but it seems like
you're already figuring that outby suggesting this site.
And I hope it's a site that wecan continue to work with.
That's kind of the beauty, uh,Mr.
Redmond, of the service programis that how we find a lot of
those partners are through ourstudents.
So they will have volunteeredeither with their family or as
an individual or with a teacherlike you did, and kind of
(27:16):
discover these new new partnersand give, you know, other young
men the opportunity then to giveback to those organizations and
do something they really enjoydoing.
SPEAKER_01 (27:25):
Yeah, I love I love hearing it, man.
SPEAKER_03 (27:27):
I will say one thing.
I do love how pretty much everyuh Rockers graduate or even a
lot of the Rockers students thatI see and talk to have found
that great balance of having agreat personal life and also
contributing a lot to somethingthat they care about.
So I mean you look at like, youknow, like Max Kaniger, the
founder of Cambies Markets.
I mean, you know, like he founda way to, you know, do what he
(27:47):
loved and you know live a happy,healthy life while also running
a great organization thataddresses the food desert
problem in Kansas City.
And I think that that that's agreat skill that Rockhurst
teaches.
So yeah, just want to say that.
SPEAKER_00 (28:00):
And I will say that that's I think an exciting thing
about being at Rockhurst in thistime is that a lot of the people
like Max that are they're youngalumni, right?
So they're they're he was ourfirst emerging Hawklet
recipient, and they're out thereand they're doing these great
things, and they're barely outthere.
Our our most recent emergingHawklet graduated last year from
(28:21):
college.
I mean, he's fresh out ofcollege.
SPEAKER_03 (28:23):
I actually know him, Daniel Nugent.
Yeah, yeah, he's um actually agood friend of mine.
I met him my junior year doingsomething at KU.
SPEAKER_00 (28:29):
So and he still kind of acts as like a mentor to the
computer science program.
Yeah, so Daniel, you know, isliterally fresh out of college,
and so to think that they'realready making such an impact at
such a young age, you can onlyimagine what that can be, you
know, 20 years down the road.
SPEAKER_01 (28:44):
For sure.
Yeah, for sure, man.
Well it's been a pleasuretalking to you.
SPEAKER_00 (28:48):
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (28:49):
Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_01 (28:49):
We seriously, we always love, we always love it,
man.
You know, I said it on the lastepisode.
This is uh especially this timeof year, refreshing.
A little break in the day fromthe from the hustle and bustle,
and just being able to hear youand some of our other students
just be able to articulate whatyou're into, what you're
(29:09):
thinking about, how your year'sgoing is a blessing.
So thanks for being here.
I hope you have a blessedholiday.
SPEAKER_00 (29:16):
Yeah, make sure to tell your whole family Merry
Christmas from us, especiallyyour grandpa.
I don't want him to think I'mforgetting him.
SPEAKER_03 (29:22):
Well, yeah, of course.
Well, thanks for having me.
Seriously.
I mean, this is a great thing touh be running.
I mean, I didn't really know toomuch about it until I came on
here.
So yeah, I'll be looking out forthe next few episodes.
So yeah, thank you guys.
SPEAKER_00 (29:33):
You can uh listen on your walks.
They're perfect.
There you go.
SPEAKER_03 (29:36):
Yeah, there you go.
SPEAKER_01 (29:38):
Yeah, do it, brother.
All right.
Well, thank you for joining us.
This is Steve and Beth andJeremy.
We're gonna sign off of anotherepisode of Rock Talk, and we'll
talk soon.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.