Rising Senior Named to Governor’s Student Safety Advisory Council
May 31, 2024
Caden Boyes (Lake Catholic Class of 2025) has been selected as one of 16 high school students from around the state for the 2024-2025 Ohio Student Safety Advisory Council.
The Ohio School Safety Center (OSSC) made the announcement on Thursday, May 30.
Boyes said he filled out the application for the position, which included several lengthy answers, more than a month ago. That led to a 30-minute virtual interview with OSSC members. He almost didn’t get the word that he was actually selected.
“They typed my email wrong, it was missing a letter,” he said. “So, I never got the email. Mr. (Tom) McKrill sent me the email he received.”
Although he said he believes he and his fellow students are safe at Lake Catholic and that they’re all taken good care of, nothing is perfect and there are always ways to improve.
“School safety has to be the No. 1 priority of our days,” he said. “So this is a big opportunity to learn more about it and bring ideas for upgrades, whether physical or procedural, back to Lake Catholic.”
Governor Mike DeWine created the council in 2022 to help OSSC leadership identify school safety concerns and develop innovative solutions to address them. Students from last year’s council will present their capstone projects at the 2024 School Safety Summit this summer, according to a press release.
“This year’s students took their capstone projects to new levels and got their peers more involved in the everyday safety activities at their schools,” said OSSC Executive Director Emily Torok. “Our alumni members quickly got the new council onboarded and they all supported each other in a student network to promote safety across the state. I encourage everyone to reach out to their local council members to learn about their projects and initiatives. They are very impressive.”
The Council will be invited to attend the in-person Ohio School Safety Summit on July 31-Aug. 1 at the Columbus Convention Center to network with their peers and attend initial informational sessions on violence prevention strategies and emotional safety.
Council members will develop strategies to encourage their peers to actively engage in maintaining a safe school environment and will be advocates for students’ overall well-being. Students will work directly with OSSC school safety liaisons to organize events, focus groups, and trainings to help highlight student success and safety best practices at various schools. These members will also act as a sounding board for the Ohio School Safety Working Group and OSSC on student marketing campaigns and other projects to ensure that student voices are represented.
Eight of the previous year’s Council members have agreed to return this upcoming year as mentors for the incoming council. They will continue to work on projects in their communities and act as force multipliers for school safety improvements.
Governor DeWine created the Ohio School Safety Center in 2019. It is housed within the Ohio Department of Public Safety and works to assist local schools, colleges and universities, and law enforcement agencies to prevent, prepare for, and respond to threats and acts of violence, including self-harm, through a holistic, solutions-based approach to improving school safety.
Lake Catholic Names Winner of its Most Prestigious Award
May 22, 2024
The end of the school year marks the time for many different awards and honors to be bestowed upon students within clubs and teams, departments, and even the greater school at large.
At Tuesday’s Baccalaureate Mass and Senior Awards, Lake Catholic awarded senior Gianna Rubino the school’s highest honor – The Christian Life Award.
The Lake Catholic High School Christian Life Award is the most prestigious recognition presented by our school community. With the inception of this award in 1972, a tradition was established to focus on the active expression of the Lake Catholic Mission Statement and Gospel values both within our school environment and in the greater community. Criteria for the Lake Catholic High School Christian Life Award are as follows:
- The student is an extraordinary witness to the Gospel message and the Spirit of Jesus.
- The student is a person of great integrity who dynamically lives his or her faith, both within the Lake Catholic Community and in the greater community at large.
- The student lives an exemplary life consistent with the Lake Catholic Mission Statement and Core Values.
- The student actively expresses a willingness to serve within the Lake Catholic Campus Ministry and Spiritual Life areas, Lake Catholic Community, Church Community, and our greater community at large.
Congratulations to Gianna for such a deserving honor.
Other senior award winners were:
- President’s Award for Educational Achievement - Kyan Harrold, Domonic Orlando, Anthony Reynoso, Taylor Scharf, Olivia Switalski, Daniel Tomic, and Charlie Trinetti
- President’s Award of Educational Excellence - Jonathan Bokausek, Caroline Brown, Haley Horen, Garrett Knisely, Stephen Parrish, Zoe Pesek, Joseph Powaski, Luke Richards, Kathryn Ridler, and Chloe Stossel
- Service Cord - Greg Bares, Mya Brannen, Kira Brennan, Makenna Bretz, Johnathan Bokausek, Caroline Brown, Kayla Calvey, Delaney Charlton, Juliana Conforte, Gianna Coreno, Parker DiCello, GiGi DiDomenico, Claire Duricky, Ryan Ginley, Kyan Harrold, Egypt Kamara, Tessa Koenig, Allison Komosa, Isabelle Langer, Theresa Lazanich, Joey Lonchar, Grace McCalligan, Katie Morgan, Cassie Nagy, Alexandra Newnes, Stephen Parrish, Andrew Pellecchia, Parker Pikor, Sutton Pikor, Meadow Pontius, Joseph Powaski, McKenzie Prosuch, Luke Richards, Kathryn Ridler, Gianna Rubino, Mia Schaefer, Taylor Scharf, Madeline Spies, Chloe Stossel, Josh Styles, Charlie Trinetti, Christopher Vanjo, Olivia Viskovic, and Kelly Ward
- Happy Moose / Monday’s With Malta Scholarship - Parker Pikor
- John Peyton Meritorious Award - Christina Lombardo
- OHSAA Scholar Athlete - Zoe Pesek and Greg Bares
- OHSAA Courageous Athlete Award - Mia Schaefer
- OHSAA Award of Excellence - Stephen Parrish
- OHSAA Archie Griffin Sportsmanship Award - Claire Duricky and Luke Snider
- Nick D’Angelo Award - Caroline Brown, Gianna Koenig, Josh Styles, Daniel Tomic, and Olivia Viskovic
- Willoughby Junior Women’s Club Award - Mia Schaefer and Charlie Trinetti
- Mentor Chamber of Commerce Foundation Scholarship - Mya Brannen and Madeline Spies
- Red Cross Scholarship - Emily Aliff and Davide Patriarca
- Cardinal Credit Union Scholarship - Joey Lonchar, Greg Bares, Charlie Trinetti, Chloe Stossel, Jonathan Bokausek, Meadow Pontius, Andrew Pellecchia, Parker Pikor, and Dominic Orlando
- P.E.O. Star Scholarship Award - Kayla Calvey
- Phi Beta Kappa Award - Zoe Pesek
- Academic Honors Diploma - Johnathan Bokausek, Caroline Brown, Kayla Calvey, Juliana Conforte, GiGi DiDomenico, Garrett Knisely, Tessa Koenig, Allison Komosa, Isabelle Langer, Theresa Lazanich, Grace McCalligan, Marko Odorcic, Domonic Orlando, Stephen Parrish, Zoe Pesek, Cooper Pikor, Parker Pikor, Joseph Powaski, Kate Powaski, Nicholas Powaski, Anthony Reynoso, Taylor Scharf, Chloe Stossel, Olivia Switalski, and Daniel Tomic
- Art Honors Diploma - Kathryn Ridler
- St. Thomas Aquinas Distinction - Ivan Blazevic, Caroline Brown, Juliana Conforte, Parker DiCello, Gigi DiDominico, Tyler Duricky, Ryan Ginley, Kyan Harrold, Tessa Koenig, Joey Lonchar, Dominic Orlando, Stephen Parrish, Hannah Pattie, Andrew Pellecchia, Zoe Pesek, Joe Powaski, Anthony Reynoso, Gianna Rubino, Jarred Smith, Josh Styles, Charlie Trinetti, Isaiah Tyree, Chloe Stossel, Oliva Switalski, Chris Vanjo, and Dani Villa
- Christian Leadership Recognition - Chloe Stossel and Dominic Orlando
More photos from the evening, including ones of all the winners, can be found on our Senior Awards page.
Recent Alumni Continue to Grow Annual Wiffle Ball Tournament
May 09, 2024
Many area boys grow up playing baseball in their local recreation leagues. But all boys grow up and eventually age out of those leagues.
Some continue on to high school baseball, but for most, their baseball careers end.
Four recent Lake Catholic graduates weren’t satisfied with their baseball days being over, so they decided to do something about it. Now, three years later, what they’ve started has become larger than they ever could have imagined.
On Saturday, July 27, Nick Regano, Nick Pellecchia, Andrew Zalar, and Jacob Minich, all from the class of 2023, will host The Third Annual Regano Wiffle Ball Tournament at Mentor Ridge Elementary School.
“We all played rec baseball together and we didn’t want it to end,” said Regano, a finance major at Kent State. “So, we got a bunch of kids together one day to play wiffle ball. More and more kids wanted to play, and we ended up turning it into a tournament. That was the first year. We really didn’t know what we were doing. It was a mess. And here we are now, about to start our third tournament.”
The tournament is no joke. Gone are the days of just getting a group of kids to play wiffle ball in an open field. This tournament takes nine months of planning, has a five-page rulebook, has a concession stand, draws in family and friends who come to watch, awards prize money to the winners and runners-up, and now, most importantly to the guys who run it, a charity component.
The first year they had 19 teams compete. Last year it grew to 32. They liked that number, so this year’s tournament is again capped at 32 teams. There are eight four-team divisions, with each team guaranteed to play three games. The top two teams in each division then advance to a single-elimination bracket to determine the champion.
The championship team wins $1,000. The runners-up get their money back (there is a $15 per person entry fee).
Last year, all the proceeds from the concession stand were donated to JBS Strong, a childhood cancer foundation in honor of the late Jack Sawyer, a student at Mentor High School.
“All the food and stuff are donated, so everything we make goes to the charity,” Regano said. “This year we reached out to Jack’s family to see if there was someone else, we could donate to. This year all our concession proceeds are going to Addie Strong.”
Addie is a young girl from Mentor who has been diagnosed with medulloblastoma.
“We’re really trying to make the charity an integral part of this,” said Zalar, a finance major at Ohio State. “We hopefully will have more than $1,000 to give to them this year. We know it’s not a good look if we’re giving $1,000 to the winning team, but not that much to the charity. So we’re going to really push our concessions this year and try to raise as much money as we can.”
They already have a $500 commitment from the tournament sponsor, Regano Financial Services Inc.
To this point, the tournament has only brought in male competitors, but the organizers said that’s just a coincidence, and they aren’t opposed to having females compete. The ages range from 12/13-year-olds to guys in their 50s and 60s. Although most of the teams are comprised of high school and college-aged kids from all over the area, including players from Mentor High School, Kirtland, and NDCL. Pellecchia, a criminal justice major at Dayton, said that about 50-60% of the players are either current Lake Catholic students or alumni.
To put it on, the four talk at least once a week the entire year just about wiffle ball, before ramping up in June and July. They have to build and repair their strike zones. They also have to work with Ridge Elementary School to reserve the field for three days – one to set up, one to play, and one to clean up.
“The fields take a long time to get set up,” Pellecchia said.
“We’ve learned a lot in two years,” Zalar said. “We have to turn our fields in a different direction. We were losing too many home run balls in the woods.”
“It’s to the point where I only ask for wiffle balls and other stuff for Christmas,” Regano said. “I’ll also go to Dick’s (Sporting Goods) in the winter to buy stuff because no one is playing wiffle ball then. So I know they’ll have a lot in stock.”
All the fences are just orange snow fences. Everyone must use the plain yellow bats provided. They use plenty of spray paint to draw the field and basepaths. They use real rubber bases and pitching rubber.
On game day, games are self-umpired, although they do look for volunteers to help ump the playoff games, especially since prize money is on the line.
“It’s a lot of fun, and it does get competitive, but nothing more than some trash-talking,” Pellecchia said. “We did think about last year being our last year doing it since we were all going off to college. We kind of used it as a last hurrah before we went off to college, but now it will serve as a reunion for a lot of us. So I’m glad that we decided to keep it going.”
Anyone looking for more information check out the tournament Instagram page at @reganowiffleballclassic. If you’re interested in signing up for this year’s tournament, you can do so by filling out this Google Form.
Photography Teacher Freelances at Women’s Final Four
April 09, 2024
First-year art teacher Carolina Kane keeps quite busy with her day job. But if that’s not enough, she also has her own photography business – Carolina Kane Photography.
A quick glance at her business’ website, you see senior and family portraits, weddings, fine art, editorial work, and much more. What you don’t see much of is sports.
That all changed this past weekend when she worked freelance for Cleveland Magazine and shot more than 2,000 pictures at the NCAA Women’s Division I Final Four at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. Her photos can be found on the Cleveland Magazine website.
“It was so intense and filled with anxiety,” Carolina said. “There were so many people there and so much media. But it was such a cool experience.”
She was there for all three games – the national semifinals on Friday night and the championship game on Sunday – and moved all over the fieldhouse getting as many shots as possible. She said she was there at 5p on Friday (the first game started at 7p) and didn’t leave until about 1a on Saturday.
“It was a long day,” she said. “Two games to shoot, and then I was in the media room editing until early Saturday morning. But then all day Saturday editing some more.”
She worked with the writer from Cleveland Magazine, getting shots to accompany his news stories. Not only were her photos used in his articles, but she would work between games and at halftimes to send images to her art director for more formal social media posts.
She had a floor pass for Saturday night’s second semifinal between Connecticut and Iowa, headlined by two of the sport’s biggest stars, Paige Bueckers and Caitlin Clark, and was positioned right on the baseline.
“It was intense,” she said. “There I was in between ESPN’s still photographer and the Associated Press. And, on top of that, it was a great game.
“My dad kept letting me know every time he saw me on TV.”
After that late-night Friday and all-day editing Saturday, it was time to go back on Sunday for the championship game between Iowa and South Carolina. South Carolina won the national championship, 87-75.
She moved around the fieldhouse until it was time for the Gamecocks' trophy presentation when she joined the rest of the media on the floor right in front of the quickly constructed stage.
“It was such a great experience,” Carolina said. “I sent (Cleveland Magazine) 634 edited photos. It was a long weekend, but so worth it.
“I was so proud to be photographing such a high-profile women’s game. It was incredible that so many people were there to support women in sports. The energy in the room was electric and every basket was met with a roar from the crowd. I felt proud to be a woman photographer, supporting other great women, and showcasing our great city.
“And it gave me some ‘street-cred’ with the kids. A lot of them have come in today already telling me how cool it was that I got to be there for it.”
photo courtesy of Cleveland Magazine
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