What's Happening in Cougar Country

Walking the halls of Lake Catholic, it’s unfortunately tough to find a student whose family hasn’t suffered personal tragedy to family members, with alcohol at the root of the situation.

So, again, this Prom and graduation season, Dean of Students Matt Moran has been working with the Mentor Police Department to help the Lake Catholic students understand the dangers of drinking and driving, the effects of alcohol, and how one decision can change their lives forever.

Earlier this month, Moran, other administrators, and a group of students spent the day at the Spire Institute in Geneva, with 1,200 other students from schools in four different counties, for the inSpire to Drive Safely program. 

Then this week, officers and officials from 11 different police departments and health agencies were on campus for the annual Prom Blitz.

“Both events are definitely eye openers,” said junior Drew Zegela, who will be going to Prom for the first time this year. “The staged crash site was a tough reminder of what could actually happen.”

Senior Jimmy Meden agreed.

“This year it definitely hit harder,” said Meden, who will be attending Prom for the second time. “I don’t know if I was paying attention more or what, but the stories everyone was telling just really showed the truth and the dangers that are possible. During this time with Prom and graduation parties, those stories will sit with me and be constant reminders of what can happen.”

And that’s exactly what Moran and Dan Radigan, a 1993 Lake Catholic graduate and an officer in the Mentor Police Department's Crime Prevention Unit, were hoping for.

inSpire to Drive Safely

“The stories that we heard out at Spire were so powerful,” Moran said. “You could hear a pin drop it was so quiet while listening to what happened to these families.”
At the inSpire event, Brian Rosenberg, a former Jefferson Area High School student, shared his powerful personal story.

In 2014, when he was 22 years old and attending the University of Toledo, Rosenberg chose to drink and drive—which resulted in the death of a woman. He was convicted of aggravated vehicular homicide, served seven years in prison. He also lost his driver’s license for life.

Now a certified alcohol and drug abuse counselor, Rosenberg told everyone in attendance that it doesn’t matter how good of a student you are or whether you’ve ever been in trouble—one poor decision can change the lives of many people.

“When I took that drink after work that night, I had no idea what path it would take me down,” Rosenberg said.

He pointed out that people often assume tragedies like this happen to someone else.

“We see the commercials about tragic accidents, but we think, ‘This will never happen to me,’” he said. “Nobody ever stood in front of me and explained what happens after the crash—yes, someone may have been hurt or died, but what about the person who caused it? Unfortunately, my worst nightmare became my reality.”

Also, Dr. Brian Hoeflinger and his wife, Cindy, shared the heartbreaking story of their oldest son, also named Brian, who died at age 18 after driving under the influence.

“We had the perfect life—four kids, two boys and two girls. Our oldest, Brian, was very active in sports, did well academically, and life was just really great,” Cindy said.

But everything changed after one night of poor decisions following a school basketball game.

Cindy received a chilling phone call from one of Brian’s friend’s mother.

Eventually, they learned that Brian had driven alone, crashed into a tree, and the car caught fire, according to reports.

“Sometimes kids think, ‘I would never do anything that stupid,” Cindy said. “Well, my son had a 4.6 GPA from St. John’s Jesuit High School in Toledo, a 32 on his ACT, was a scratch golfer, very well-liked and respected—and he made three really bad decisions that night.”

The Hoeflingers urged students to think before driving or getting in the car with someone intoxicated.

“We’re not experts,” Dr. Hoeflinger said, “but we have experience with what pain a decision like that can cause—not just to the driver, but to a family and a community.”

Prom Blitz

The Blitz event, which also occurs before the Homecoming weekend, is put on during the lunch periods by several agencies. This year, the program was run by the cities of Mentor, Mentor-on-the-Lake, Kirtland, and Kirtland Hills police departments, the Ohio Department of Transportation, the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) Board of Lake County, the Lake Health Department, the UH Lake Health Community Outreach department, University Hospitals, the Ohio State Penitentiary, and the Ohio Traffic Safety Office. 

Students were able to answer questions related to public safety and safe driving habits, as well as participate in various activities – playing cornhole, walking a straight line, and even throwing a ball - while experiencing how impairment can affect their actions.

“The goal of events like this is to show the effects of alcohol,” Radigan said. “Those worst-case scenarios can happen to anyone. No one is immune. So when we come into the schools, if we can touch even just a handful of students with that message, we consider it a success.” 

Over the past year, Sean Fee (’12) has been focused on personal growth and pushing his limits—both mentally and physically.

Drawing on his professional background as a mental performance coach, he set out to challenge himself in a new way.

 So, he ran the Boston Marathon.  

“I have always leaned on exercise as being the foundation of my mental health, but when I was faced with the challenges that life has recently thrown at me, I needed something bigger,” Fee said. “I needed a goal that would fuel me to continue being the best version of myself and that would force some self-discovery along the way. So, when the thought came to me of running a marathon, I figured I might as well do the toughest, most famous one in the world.”

This past Monday, April 21, he started and finished the 129th Boston Marathon.

Fee, who was a wrestler during his time at Lake Catholic, has since become a Mental Performance Coach for athletes and coaches. He is currently the Director of Mental Performance for The Golf Room, working with athletes and coaches from all sports on topics such as stress and adrenaline management, growth mindset, acceptance, routine, visualization, goal-setting, body language, mental toughness, optimism, rewiring an anxious brain, postseason prep, and much more.

He's worked with both the Lake Catholic wrestling and swimming & diving teams over the past few years.

He’s also the host of The WellSport Podcast, which has reached the top 10% of all video podcasts as he’s interviewed Olympians, National Champions, Sport Psychologists, Major League Baseball Mental Performance Coaches, and even Michael Jordan’s Mental Coach - George Mumford.

All of this proved helpful while preparing for, and then finally running, the grueling 26.2 miles.

“I chose Boston for this very reason. It is the most mentally challenging sanctioned marathon that exists, and I wanted to put all my mental tools to the test - and they made all the difference,” he said. “What I think helped most was the ways I tested my mental game before the race by doing weekly challenges designed to purely test my mental resilience. So, I did things like running a half-marathon with a 20-pound weighted vest on, so when race day came, not having to deal with that was a luxury.”

Fee, who said prior to training for the marathon he would typically not run more than three miles at a time, said he trained heavily for about 6 months for the race, and although it was tough to train during the winter, he said it gave him a reason to get outside when he felt cooped up. 

“Those long runs all winter also made me appreciate the 60-degree and sunny race-day weather in Boston that much more,” he said.

Again, though, on race day, it was his mental preparation that had him more ready despite all the running he had been doing.

“There is a study I always cite in my mental performance work that I do where, if you accept the fact that you have a challenge ahead of you, you are more likely to overcome that challenge,” he said. “So that’s what I did. I knew it was going to be incredibly difficult, and it sure was. That said, I don't think anything besides running the actual course can truly prepare you for the rolling hills of the entire course.”

Fee said he didn’t have a specific goal time in mind, but he just wanted to run as hard as he could but ended up being very pleased with how he ran and his ultimate time. He averaged 9 ½-minute miles and finished in around 4 hours and 10 minutes.

“What I'll say is that Marathon Monday in Boston isn't actually about the competitiveness of the race. People cheer just as hard for the fastest runners in the world as they do for the people finishing in six hours. It is about the stories behind the people running and what they have gone through to get there. Most are running because they've dealt with some adversity, and the marathon is a way to heal. It is a beautiful thing to witness and something I encourage anyone, whether a fan of sports or not, to one day see in person.”