EVEREST COLLEGIATE HIGH SCHOOL & ACADEMY 2014—2015 EC Our Mission Committed to excellence in academic, character and spiritual formation through the Legionary of Christ model of Integral Formation, our education is centered on the person of Jesus Christ, devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and is faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. The Everest student is capable of success in a rigorous and balanced academic environment, and an Everest family is open to our Catholic mission, understanding the investment of time, talent, and treasure involved with the education of their children. OUR 5-POINT COMMITMENT INTEGRAL FORMATION CATHOLIC VALUES SAFE ENVIRONMENT ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE PERSONAL ATTENTION 2014-2015 | THE MOUNTAINEER | 1 EVEREST COLLEGIATE HIGH SCHOOL & ACADEMY WELCOME Celebrating Excellence This year, for the second straight time the Cardinal Newman Society named Everest Collegiate High School as a “School of Excellence.” Less than 5% of the Catholic high schools in the United States are recognized as such, for their integration of Catholic identity throughout all aspects of their programs in addition to excellence in academics. The education method we use to integrate our Catholic identity in all we do is called Integral Formation, which was developed by the Legion of Christ. We focus on forming the entire student: the intellect, the spiritual, the human character and the apostolic heart. Our excellence in Academy (Preschool-8th) academics is illustrated by the steady progress on our standardized test results for the esteemed Stanford 10 private school exam. In addition, our 8th graders once again did an outstanding job on the High School Placement Test with four of them scoring in the 90th percentile including a 99! A further example of excellence is that the twenty-two members of the EC Class of 2015 achieved an average ACT score of 26.4 and were awarded an average of over $209,000 in college scholarship! Everest Collegiate is the only high school in the Archdiocese of Detroit to offer a dual enrollment Calculus III course in partnership with the University of Detroit Mercy. Besides our strong focus on academics at Everest we believe that an apostolic heart is central to the development of a Catholic, Christian leader. We strive with excellence to form an apostolic heart in each one of our students. Like Mother Teresa said, “Do ordinary things with extraordinary love!” And that’s what we do. We have seven high school students heading to Haiti this summer to serve some of the most needy people in the world. It’s hard to measure the results of spiritual growth but we can measure our inputs. The students and faculty are offered the sacraments of Holy Eucharist (daily), Reconciliation (at least monthly) and once each month during the school day the students pray before the Blessed Sacrament. The daily presence on campus of our Legionary priests and consecrated laywomen of Regnum Christi allow the constant oversight of the faith formation programs for our students. Excellence can also be appreciated as our athletic teams continue to grow in numbers and accomplishments. This can be seen by the results of our Academy teams with seven of our teams winning league titles. Our high school teams continue to do well, with our competitive cheer team winning the Catholic League Championship. Our varsity boys golf team won the Catholic League Championship, District Championship and Regional championship. And finally, in their inaugural year our varsity boys baseball team won the District Championship. As we continue our mission of shaping Christian leaders to transform society according to the standards of the Gospel, we invite you to be a part of the Everest experience by visiting our website and blog at everest-clarkston.org. Sincerely yours in Christ, Michael J. Nalepa executive director 2 | THE MOUNTAINEER | 2014–2015 WELCOME Everest: Providing the Keys to Success In spending the summer preparing for another school year, and in looking back on the successes of 2014-2015, I have had that much-needed time that we all yearn for, to reflect. A consistent reflection that continues to help shape Everest Collegiate High School & Academy is that age-old idea of education as enculturation. Specifically, in our case, the main objective of Catholic education, beyond the obvious goal of helping our students to attain eternal salvation, is to immerse our youth in the beautiful and historically rich culture of Catholicism. We often take for granted what we have been given as Catholics, what we receive on a daily basis, being able to ascribe to a faith that has been handed down to us directly from Christ, through Peter. It is a faith that is a great gift, and it is a set of highly pragmatic principles that serve as the very basis for the way that we should interact, think, learn and ultimately the way we should live. In Christopher Dawson’s book The Crisis of Western Education he states that, “Culture is inseparable from education, since education in the widest sense of the word is what the anthropologists term “enculturation,” i.e., the process by which culture is handed on by the society and acquired by the individual.” Dawson further points to the Catholic Church as provid- ing the constant vision around which Western culture has shaped itself. It is our charge to continue to bring this rewarding and life-giving culture of the Church to our youth. Ultimately, it is through our Catholic, Christian experience that our successes will have impact, our lives will have fullness of meaning, and our families will have the opportunity to live in an imperfect world, fulfilled, until we attain that primary goal of eternal life. At Everest, we have the benefit of living in the world while ultimately reserving ourselves as citizens of the next. Our students—and each one of us individually—will all make mistakes that are induced by our immersion in this world. I am grateful, however, to reflect upon the many ways that Everest touches our students every day and passes on the tenets of the faith—intellectually, spiritually, humanly and apostolically. These four components of Integral Formation are equally important and are intertwined as aspects of a culture that we look to pass down through our school to our children. Let’s look to this 2015-2016 school year as an opportunity to participate more deeply with our children in a rich Catholic culture that allows us to stretch ourselves intellectually, spiritually, and humanly— ultimately affecting our contact with everyone we meet during this era of the New Evangelization. Have a blessed 2015-2016 school year. Gregory Reichert principal – middle & high school 2014–2015 | THE MOUNTAINEER | 3 EVEREST COLLEGIATE HIGH SCHOOL & ACADEMY WELCOME Official 2014–2016 School of Excellence EVEREST WELCOMES FR. As one of only 71 schools in the nation, Everest is proud to BENJAMIN O’LOUGHLIN be included as one of the Cardinal Newman Society’s 2014-16 In January, our new Director Schools of Excellence. This distinguished award has celebrated of the Boys Boarding Program, Catholic education across the country since 2004. This year’s Fr. Benjamin, held his first Mass acceptance marks Everest’s second consecutive distinction. with Everest students after his recent ordination in Rome. “I applaud our leadership, administration, Fr. Benjamin comes to us from Syracuse, NY where he attended students, parents, teachers and staff for high school at the Immaculate Conception Apostolic School and their hard work and commitment to founded the first ECYD (Experi- ences, Convictions and Your staying true to this mission,” remarks Decisions) Club in New York. Everest Principal Gregory Reichert. Of the greater Detroit region, the award was received by both the areas largest 26.4 Class of 2015 Catholic school and one of the smallest, ACT Average being Everest, proving that “faithfulness is more important than size,” comments Everest Executive Director, Mike Nalepa. Criteria for award includes institutional commitment, mission-centered individuals and a duty to protect the mission. 4 | THE MOUNTAINEER | 2014–2015 EVEREST COLLEGIATE EVEREST HIGH SCHOOL EC ACADEMY EA 2014 –2015 Review Academic, Athletic, Spiritual and Apostolic Highlights 2014–2015 | THE MOUNTAINEER | 5 EVEREST COLLEGIATE HIGH SCHOOL & ACADEMY EC ACADEMIC HIGHLIGHTS This year we celebrate Everest’s fourth graduating class. Congratulations EC 2015 Graduates! CONGRATULATIONS FORENSICS WINNERS! This year’s EC Forensic Finals included an exceptional exhibition of monologues, poems and speeches. Congratulations to this year’s winners and all of the finalists. Below are the top presenters: 1st Place Poetry Bridget Smith 1st Place Prose Anna Nguyen National Honor 1st Place Oratory Emma Dietz Society Inductions This year’s inductions to the Christ the King Chapter of the National Honor Society 1st Place Oratory Top row from left to right: Katherine Epsin, Tyler Roz- Kyle Smith wadowsk, Jorge Dominguez, Luke Allen, Emma Cross, 1st Place Poetry Carly Sutkiewicz, Paulina Czarnecki, Holly McGrath, Alex Legg (bottom row from left to right) Emma Taylor, Kathleen 1st Place Prose Balon, Claudia Mastromatteo, Rebecca Luttinen, Bren- Ben Essensa nan Dougherty and (not pictured) Courtney Kocenda. 6 | THE MOUNTAINEER | 2014–2015 ATHLETIC HIGHLIGHTS EC MHSAA SCHOLAR ATHLETE FINALIST Student athlete James Thibodeau was among 120 statewide finalists for the 2014-15 MHSAA Scholar Athlete Award. The award FOOTBALL honors 32 individuals PLAYERS who have at least a HONORED 3.50 GPA average, earned a varsity letter Quarterback Sal in at least one sport, Mastromatteo, submitted two letters running back Lucas of recommendation Neme and linebacker/ and completed a running back Ben mandatory 500 word Bellestri all received essay along with an All-County Honor- several short answer able Mention with MI questions. Prep Zone. DISTRICT COACHES OF THE YEAR Joe DeLisle - BOYS BASEBALL Dave Smith - BOYS GOLF Cheer Team Captures CHSL Championship For the second time, the Mountaineers cheer squad took home the CHSL Championship after an exciting comeback.