What’s Coming up?
The spring sports season is coming up. Bishop Noll Institute (BNI) has a team for baseball, softball, girls, and boys track and field, girls tennis, boys golf, and boys volleyball. The baseball team’s first home game is on March 30 against Marian Catholic. The girls softball team’s first home game is on April 6 against Griffith. The track and field team’s first home indoor meet is on March 6 against E.C Central and Morton. The Warriors are looking forward to a successful spring season.
What’s happened?
On February 11, the Catholic Diocese of Gary officially gained a new Bishop. Bishop Robert McClory is the newest Bishop of Gary. He is the 5th bishop of Gary after Bishop Donald Hying was appointed the Bishop of the Diocese of Madison, Wis. Three Bishop Noll students, Litzi Maldonado, Alejandro Magana and myself attended the ordination and installation mass. Freshmen Theology teacher, Mrs. Katie Fredericksen also attended the mass. In addition to attending the mass, they helped out with the reception, directing people where to go.
“My favorite part was definitely the engagement of all the people. It was obvious they all wanted to be there and the songs proved that. I loved how it sounded, very angelic,” said senior Litzi Maldonado.
This mass was truly a once in a lifetime experience to witness both ordination and installation of a Bishop.
Teacher spotlight
Mr. Ryan Julian is both a teacher and coach at Bishop Noll. He has been coaching at the school for five years but has been a teacher for nine years. He currently teaches DC US History, Economics, and AP Psychology. He previously has taught World History, US History, Psychology, and Government.
“The greatest aspect of teaching at BNI is the professional freedom given to the teachers by the administration and the private school setting. I get to connect social science topics to aspects of a teen's life they may have never considered before, and all of this is due to academic professional freedom,” said Julian.
Julian has been the head varsity coach at Noll for two years, but apart of the program for five years. Overall, he has coached baseball for nine years. With the Warriors, he has helped coach the team to two sectional championship titles.
“My favorite part about being the baseball coach is being around a group of men with a common goal to be successful in life and their sport. The relationships and comradery are the things in my coaching career that I remember vividly. It is not the scores, stats, records, etc. It's the young men and their personalities,” said Julian.
When Julian isn’t teaching or coaching, he likes to spend time with his family band friends, cook, travel, and golf. The Bishop Noll Community is so lucky to have Julian as both a dedicated teacher and coach.
Student Spotlight
Freshman Jacob Cardenas is making a name for himself at BNI. Recently, Cardenas qualified for regionals in wrestling. It has been several years since a boy on the wrestling team advanced past sectionals. He joined his teammate, freshman Bobby Gula, on being the only two to advance onto regionals. Along with wrestling, he is on both the soccer and football teams. He also plans to be on the track and baseball teams this spring.
“It’s a fun sport and it makes you better at every other sport. It is the hardest sport I’ve ever done because it is very physically and mentally demanding, but it’s worth it,” Cardenas said.
Besides taking sports seriously, he takes his classes seriously. He makes sure that school always comes first. Cardenas said that his favorite class that he is taking is biology. He said his teacher, Ms. Dostatni, explains the material in a simple and easy way to understand.
When Cardenas is not doing homework or at practice, he likes to spend time with his family and relax. He also says that he finds open gyms to continue working on his athletic abilities. The BNI Community is lucky to have Cardenas as a student because of his hard work in and out of school.
