The Crusader

Dear Families of Holy Name,

There are so many beautiful things happening all at once at Holy Name. Thank you to Home and School, specifically Jacqelyn Trask Rahn, for the fun, clever, and highly engaging mother/son “clue” event. Thank you to the High School Student Life Committee for the formal dance with a big shout out to Rachel Sierpien and everyone else involved in its organization. The students had a great and fun time and the decor was simply amazing.

Last night I had the privilege of attending the scholarship award ceremony for the Holy Name High School. The school recognized individuals for their academic excellence, personal growth, and their service to others in the Holy Name of Jesus. A special shout out to Chrysostom House for winning the White Horse Cup. The White Horse Cup is truly an honor and shows dedication to virtue and teamwork. Please check out the facebook page for pictures and more details.

Holy Name is so grateful for our donors who made the investments in our students. Almost $32,000 went to 5 students! That number will go up next year. Two of our students Patton Nyquist and Marcel Raische plan to study engineering at Michigan Tech and the University of Mary. Brooklyn Pendergraft plans to study radiology at Northern Michigan. Melody McBroom plans to learn welding at Bay, and Noah Pendergraft plans to get his CDL. Holy Name High School prepares you for life and now the opportunities abound in whatever field God calls you.

Our students competed in track and softball this spring. It is so great to see the individual personal records as well as how it helps the whole team. Our middle school girls won the track meet in Stephenson last night. The tee ball program is off to an incredible start. Families have a great opportunity to gather together and watch their children learn a game that has been a pastime for America for a long time. What a special way to carry on that tradition. Thank Mrs. Triest for all your help and hard work on that effort.

The faculty staffing plan is coming together for the 2025-26 school year. You will see some changes. I want to thank everyone who is leaving Holy Name and we wish them all the best in their next steps. I can share that some hard decisions had to be made and none of the decisions were made lightly. This is early in the process. To steal a baseball analogy, here is next year’s projected lineup.

The open positions will be found on our website. You may notice we are seeking a combined band/music teacher. We are pursuing a part time intervention teacher to help with our students who may have additional educational needs like an IEP or 504 plan. To update you, we are going through our hiring process for the headmaster position and we pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to guide us in that search. In full transparency, we have made a job offer and currently it is in a candidate’s corner. This is a process and as many of you know, it can take time. We need to trust that God will lead the right people at the right time. We also recognize that things can change based on our needs.

Please continue to pray for those staff leaving us. Pray for the continued success of our school so that we can serve both Jesus and our families. We pray for our parents’ discernment and we ask the Holy Spirit to guide them as they lead their families closer to the love of our Heavenly Father.

I hope to see everyone at the graduations this week.

Sincerely in Christ,

Nathan Vande Hey
Principal