Summer Edition
July, 2021
BK Alive
News and Information for BK Families
THIS NEWSLETTER CONTAINS A LOT OF INFORMATION, AND THE LENGTH OF THE NEWSLETTER CAUSES IT TO BE TRUNCATED.

LOOK FOR THE BLUE LINK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE EMAIL THAT SAYS "VIEW ENTIRE MESSAGE" TO EXPAND THE EMAIL, OR CLICK HERE TO SEE ARCHIVED COMMUNICATIONS FROM BK.
Upcoming

Monday, August 9th - New Student Academy for Incoming Freshmen with last names beginning with A-I, 8:00 AM – 1:00 PM.
Parents are invited to attend from 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM

Tuesday, August 10th – New Student Academy for Incoming Freshmen with last names beginning with J-Z, 8:00 AM – 1:00 PM.
Parents are invited to attend from 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM

Tuesday, August 10th – New Student Academy for ALL NEW BK Students in the 10th – 12th grades, 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM

Wednesday, August 11th - Virtual Town Hall Meeting for BK Families. 6:00 PM

Monday, August 16th – Orientation Day/1st Day for School for ALL Bishop Kelly Students
  • 8:00 AM – 11:00 AM – Seniors: Meet as a Class in the Carley Center (lunch on your own)
  • 8:00 AM – 11:30 AM – Juniors: Meet as a Class in the REG (lunch on your own)
  • 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM – Sophomores: Meet as a Class in the Cafeteria (lunch on your own)
  • 8:00 AM – 1:00 PM – Freshmen: Meet as a Class in the Cafeteria (lunch provided)

Tuesday, August 17th – First Day of Classes (Straight 7)

Wednesday, August 18th – Fall Sports Parent Meeting at 6:30 PM in the Carley Center

Wednesday, August 25th - Welcome Back BBQ for all BK Families

Friday, August 27th - Dedication and Blessing of Ysursa Field Guest Services Building and Dave and Patti Lachiondo Family Plaza prior to Eagle vs. BK Football game

Wednesday, September 1st - Back-to-School Night at 6:30 PM

Main Office Summer Hours
9:00 AM - 1:00 PM Monday - Friday


A Note from Rich and Mike
Dear Bishop Kelly Families,

We hope your summer has gone well so far. In this midsummer BK Alive, we wanted to share highlights of the Class of 2021’s graduation, provide an update on the many campus projects happening this summer, update you on enrollment along with our plans and objectives for the 2021-22 school year, announce a Virtual Parent Town Hall on August 11th, and end with acknowledging and thanking the BK Foundation for the impact they and their generous donors have had on our school and our students for this upcoming school year!

BK Class of 2021 Graduation
Click the photo for a slideshow of photos from
Baccalaureate and Graduation 2021
It was a beautiful evening on May 28th when we celebrated the 166 graduates of the BK Class of 2021. The speeches by Valedictorian Daniel Kim, Salutatorian Henry Neal and Faculty member, Ben Harris, were all warm, funny, touching and outstanding.

In addition to thriving (not just surviving) through a pandemic, this class certainly made a difference in our school and in our community. Some highlights of this class’s “achieving excellence in learning, service and life” are:  
  • They have given over 14,000 Community Service hours in their four years at BK
  • 96% are “going on” to 63 different colleges in 26 states and the District of Columbia.
  • They were offered a record $27+ million in merit-based scholarships
  • 64 of our 166 graduating seniors had a 4.0 GPA or greater and 31 graduated with greater than a 3.75 GPA
  • There are three National Merit finalists and four commended scholars in the Class of 2021
  • They led the way to four academic state championships in 2020-2021
  • They won a school (and 4A classification) record 11 state championships in sports and activities, including six just this spring
  • Our school won the IHSAA School of Excellence Award for the fourth year in a row, and the fifth out of last six years
Final Thoughts on the 2020 - 2021 School Year
We have much to be thankful for and many reasons to celebrate this past school year as a community. The feedback from you, our parents, from our students and our faculty/staff was overwhelmingly positive and heartwarming. This challenging and amazing year would not have been possible without the efforts of so many in our community:
  • Our faculty and staff - our teachers had to learn new methods of teaching, collaboration, and interacting with students in-person and remote, often simultaneously. Our maintenance team kept our facility spotless, safe and clean. Our counselors had to do their “normal” jobs plus help support students experiencing social and emotional issues during this pandemic. Our advancement team led our vital communication efforts, raised a record annual fund amount, and closed out a very successful $14.3 million BK2020 Vision campaign. Finally, our leadership team developed and executed a plan that enabled in person learning all year! 
  • Our students - they adhered to our safety protocols such as mask wearing, physical distancing, hand hygiene, and avoiding large crowds. They gave their very best efforts under trying circumstances in the classroom, on the fields and courts, on stage, and in competitions.
  • Our parents - your partnership with the school enabled us to move forward confidently with our instructional and operational plan. Your feedback along the way helped us shape and adjust our plans. Your physical presence in classrooms and in the faculty lounge overseeing “BK Daycare” helped us in many ways to execute our plan. Your commitment to reduce the spread of COVID-19 at home and on weekends by following the same protocols we had at BK kept positive cases to a minimum. And, the gifts of your time, talent, and treasure helped in so many ways throughout the school year.
  • BK Board of Governance - their engagement, questions, suggestions, and feedback made our plan better and helped us as we learned and adapted throughout the year. Their support and encouragement gave us the courage and confidence to proceed with our Instructional and Operational Plan to have in person instruction all year.
Exciting Summer Projects at BK
Thanks to our incredibly generous community and our hard working BK team and partners, we have several projects in process this summer. They are all making great progress and most all should be ready for the start of school in August. They are:
  • The new Ysursa Field Guest Services Building/Lachiondo Family Plaza project This $1.7 million project will transform our main outdoor gathering space and our venue for football, track, and graduation. Thanks to the support of our community and the efforts of Tommy Steiner and our development team, plus our volunteers, this project is 100% funded. The photos above give you a feel for what the finished project will look like. Construction is scheduled to be completed in time for our first home football game against Eagle High School on August 27th with a dedication, blessing and celebration scheduled for that evening. Thanks to Chad Blue, our Director of Buildings and Grounds, and our partners, ESI Construction and erstad Architects, for their work on this final BK2020 Vision project.
  • There are two major projects inside the school on their way to completion by late July. One is a new Counseling Services area in the 400 Hall to enhance the services for students in a central and easier to access location. The second is to add three new classrooms in the 100 Hall to help with the growth in enrollment we are experiencing. Thanks again to Chad Blue and our partners, CM and erstad Architects, for their work on these projects!
  • Finally, there are a number of enhancements to our athletic infrastructure happening this summer - a new full-size soccer practice field, along with expansion of lacrosse and football practice fields in the southeast corner of our campus; a new east entrance and walkway for fans of soccer/lacrosse/football visitors with restroom access (no more portable toilets); and, the movement of the shot put/discus to a beautifully designed space in the southwest corner of campus. The drawing below depicts these projects plus a few more in our plans for the coming year(s). 

Enrollment for the 2021 - 2022 School Year
We continue to be very grateful for the high level of interest in our school for the upcoming school year. We currently have 950 students enrolled, up from 870 this past school year, with the breakdown as follows:
  • Freshmen - 240
  • Sophomores - 243
  • Juniors - 230
  • Seniors - 237

The freshman class waitlist we had in June has been cleared. We currently still have a waitlist for our sophomore class. Should you know anyone who has interest in sending their child to BK, please encourage them to contact Kelly Shockey, our Director of Admissions, at (208)375-6010 or at [email protected]. We expect some movement as families make final decisions on coming to BK for the 2021-2022 school year.
Looking Ahead to 2021 - 2022
While we feel very proud of what we accomplished as a community this past year, there was also lots of feedback from our stakeholders on what did not go as well and areas we need to work on in the coming year. We have identified four areas of focus for our 2021-22 school year objectives based on feedback from parents, students and faculty/staff, our 2023 strategic plan, and learnings from the past year. They are:
  1. Strengthen a sense of belonging for each student
  2. Each student achieves personal academic excellence
  3. Strengthen the BK Way culture while managing enrollment growth
  4. Strengthen a sense of community, pride and school spirit

We are both optimistic and excited to be back to a closer state of “normal” next year. That includes masks being optional, lockers for students, assemblies and all school Masses in the Carley Center, full attendance at sporting events, holding community events, etc. Please keep in mind, however, that things could change as we get closer to the August 16th start of school and throughout the school year. We must remain adaptable, nimble and flexible in our decision making process as we were this past year and make the necessary decisions to keep everyone safe and to provide an exceptional learning experience for our students.

One thing each of us can all do to increase the likelihood of a normal and safe school year is to have your students (and you) get a COVID-19 vaccine. While we do not plan to make vaccines mandatory for either students or faculty/staff, we do hope you will strongly consider having your child(ren) vaccinated if they are not yet so. It has proven to be safe, reliable, effective and widely available - and it is free! 
August 11th Virtual Town Hall
We will be having a Virtual Town Hall for all BK parents on Wednesday, August 11th, from 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm on the BK YouTube channel. At this time we will discuss the start of the school year, our 2021-22 objectives, provide updates on our instructional plan for the school year, and answer any questions you may have. Please mark that date and time on your calendar.
BK Foundation Update
Thank you to the Bishop Kelly Foundation for their continued support of Bishop Kelly High School! The BK Foundation recently fulfilled their financial commitment to the school with their annual grant for the 2021-2022 school year. This subsidy is made up of two components: an operational grant and a scholarship grant. For the upcoming school year, the Foundation will provide the school with $552.2K to be used for school operations. The operational grant comes from two sources - the annual Winner’s Choice Auction and funds accrued from the Foundation’s endowment which now sits at over $15.3 million. These monies benefit all students and help keep our tuition amongst the lowest in the Pacific Northwest for similar Catholic schools.

In addition to the operational grant, a scholarship grant in the amount of $634.7K was also given to the school to be used as tuition assistance for the 2021-22 school year. This is the largest scholarship grant ever provided by the Foundation and is made up of a combination of funds from the 2020 Winner’s Choice Paddle Up for Scholars (where a record breaking $200K was raised), the endowment and private donations.  We are forever grateful to our BK community for their support in raising these critical funds for the school during a very challenging year. Undoubtedly, the Winner’s Choice auction is an important component of the Foundation’s fundraising efforts and planning is already underway for the 2021 Winner’s Choice Dinner and Auction. Stay tuned for more information in upcoming BK Alives about this exciting event!  


We are so looking forward to welcoming each of you and your children in August for the 2021-22 school year. We hope you make time to rest, relax and enjoy family and friends this summer. And thank you for your partnership in the educational experience of your children! Have a wonderful rest of the summer!

God bless,
Rich Raimondi
President
Mike Caldwell
Principal

Summer Just In Time Information
We have sent a handful of important Summer Communications to BK families this summer. You can find all of these archived in our Just In Time Blog on BK.org.

Here are the topics we have covered so far:
Important Links
Contact BK
  • Front Office: 375-6010
  • Fax: 375-3626
  • Business Office Manager: 947-1209
  • BK Development Office: 947-1325
  • BK Foundation Office: 323-4789

To add, remove, or change your email address, or to remove your name from our regular mailing lists, please contact Chrissy at [email protected].
Bishop Kelly High School | (208) 375-6010 | www.bk.org