| Lasallian Youth Ministry (LYM) is responsible for creating student events based on the three pillars of Faith, Service, and Community. Last year, LYM launched a new retreat program that focused on the four-year high school journey through the lens of those three pillars and the Five Lasallian Core Principles.
In freshman year, there are two retreats that serve as an introduction for the new students to the three pillars and the Five Lasallian Core Principles. While on retreat, students hear from upperclassmen on how the pillars have played a part in their lives, and build community through small group conversations with guided questions. Plus, there is plenty of time for fun and writing hopes for their future selves!
Sophomore year’s retreat theme is service and takes a closer look at our school motto, Enter to Learn, Leave to Serve. Students spend a morning in small groups on service projects, have a special lunch and games, and then discuss how they can better live out our school motto.
During junior year, students take a deeper dive into the Five Lasallian Core Principles. This retreat (Akwantu) is held in a camp setting over three days, with most activities taking place in small groups intentionally designed to create new connections. Many alums remember Akwantu as pivotal in their DLSNC experiences.
Senior year’s theme is revisiting. Seniors gather about a month before graduation to discuss how the three pillars and Five Lasallian Core Principles have helped shape them for the future. It is the last time they get to be together as a class in a retreat setting, so it is also a time to reminisce on their high school years.
The DLSNC retreat program offers the students time to build community, as well as time to pause and reflect. One key result of our retreat program is that when students graduate, they have at least one Lasallian Core Principle that has resonated with them in such a way that they will carry it beyond the halls of DLSNC. In addition, through four years of community building with peers and adult retreat leaders, they feel a permanent connection to DLSNC and know they can always have a home here at Knight Nation.
Alyssa Frangipani
Director of Lasallian Youth Ministry
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Akwantu Retreat at Camp Howard
Akwantu, which means journey, has been a beloved Knight Nation tradition since the school’s founding. This year’s Akwantu junior retreat took place April 10-12 at Camp Howard, where students had the opportunity to strengthen their relationships with peers and themselves, reflect on how they are shaped by community, and explore their faith. Twelve senior leaders started committee work in January to plan icebreakers, large group events, prayer services, and craft personal reflections relating to one of the Five Lasallian Core Principles. Seven adult chaperones teamed with the seniors to lead the coed small groups of 7-8 juniors. Highlights of the retreat were a guided meditation around the campfire, followed by an affirmation ritual, and a fun trivia game that revealed lots of quirky details about the chaperones. Plus plenty of free time for frisbee, capture the flag, board games, and crafts!
Achaia Garland ‘26 reflected on the retreat, “It was fun to get to know new things about people and to get to know ourselves better. Hearing about all the different experiences we’re going through and seeing the similarities we have in some of our situations made us come closer to each other. We’ve grown as a community, as the junior class.”
Theology Department Chair, Lawrence Kong-Ellison, who was brave to join the retreat in his first year in the community, had this to share, “Akwantu for me was a time of quiet reflection, group prayer, sharing meals, and having great conversation both in small and large groups with my Lasallian family.”
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The Knight’s Blog by Arturo Isais Perez ‘27“The idea is to celebrate, honor, and share students’ artwork and inventions along with sharing overall students' progress and growth,” Ms. Lacks, Director of STEAM Programming, answered when asked, “Why do we have STEAM Night?” Ms. Lacks shared that she wants STEAM Night to be a night when students, staff, alumni, families, and recently accepted Knights connect. STEAM Night is for student work to be celebrated, for attendees and volunteers to have fun, and to excite rising sophomores and juniors about what STEAM classes have to offer in their upcoming years.
When asked, “How do you see STEAM Night helping our community?” Ms. Cabrera, Interim Principal, said, ”STEAM Night helps our students and staff strengthen their relationships and gives students the opportunity to be the teachers, often teaching the staff or the staff's kids as well as other community members what they are working on in their classes and clubs. It is a great and fun experience for all involved.”
When asked, “How do you see your student benefiting from De La Salle's extracurricular events such as STEAM Night?” Seemab Hussaini, parent, responded, “The school invests in their success, and my sophomore is excited every day to come to school, whether it's the friends, the social environment, or the ability to participate and build her path.”
STEAM Night attendees had the opportunity to plant pots, watch chemistry and robotics demonstrations, dissect cows’ hearts, make bath bombs, view and purchase student art, print Legos, make buttons, create clay tiles, along with laser-engraving keychains, building microbots, and challenging themselves with math and puzzle games.
I talked with a couple of my classmates who attended STEAM Night, and here is what they had to say:
“My favorite thing was helping others make bristle bots. It was really rewarding helping others and making our community’s day a little better.” Anthony Canul ‘27
“It helps connect all of DLSNC, and it also helps feed and grow our community. My favorite thing was planting our own plants. We were able to color our own pots, then choose what type of plant we wanted to plant.” Jahzara Wheatt ‘27
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The author designing key chains at STEAM Night with Science Teacher, Mr. Gordon
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Conferring With Cristo Rey Colleagues in Columbus
Six DLSNC staff ( Ashleigh de Villiers, President; Ruth Richard, Vice President of Finance & Operations; Aiyana Ashley, Director of Corporate Work Study Operations; Kate Gobel, Donor Relations Manager; Cheri Krebs, Foundation Relations & Data Manager, and Noah Wagemann, Business Development Manager) traveled to Columbus, OH this month to participate in the annual meeting for the Cristo Rey Network (CRN). CRN is a national network that supports 40 Catholic schools around the country, all of which offer four years of rigorous college preparatory education combined with four years of professional work experience through Corporate Work Study.
Our Knight leaders were very busy in Columbus, participating in panels, learning best practices, connecting with colleagues from around the country, and touring Cristo Rey Columbus’s “Hogwartsian” building. The nearly 300 attendees found great value in conferring with other professionals who operate within the unique educational model that we all share.
Ms. Krebs, who is in her first year at DLSNC, had this to share about the meeting: “I loved meeting other CRN advancement people. As somebody new, I do have a lot of questions, and I was able to make connections who are willing to help with them. I came away with some actionable things we can do in our department that could provide some good results.” Mr. Wagemann chimed in, “I attended helpful breakout sessions, including one on using AI in Corporate Work Study, which will inform our summer training programming for first-year students. Another key highlight was getting to know my DLSNC colleagues better and meeting Lieutenant Colonel Mary Lea Bordelon ‘05. She’s on the CRN Board, a United States Air Force pilot, and a member of our school's first graduating class. I left the meeting inspired by her incredible story and example.”
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Junior Mekhi Gardner Addresses African American Youth Leadership Conference
On April 8, instead of taking the SAT with his fellow juniors, Mekhi Gardner ‘26 was at Oregon State University, where he gave a 20-minute keynote address to an audience of over 600 at the 19th African American Youth Leadership Conference. Designed to promote growth, development, and success among African American youth, the conference gathered middle school and high schoolers from all over Oregon as well as distinguished leaders in the Black community.
Mekhi’s speech, entitled "You Better Ask Somebody,” interwove the story of his grandfather, an OSU football star of the 1960s whose stand against systemic racism caused a campus-wide movement and resulted in changed policies, with his own story of a bumpy start to his football career. He encouraged his young audience to be proactive. “Ask more questions, talk to folks. One way I’ve learned to reach out to others is by sending cold emails. If I see someone doing something I’m interested in or want to get involved in, I’ll shoot them an email even if I’ve never met them. In fact, working on that habit is how I ended up speaking to y’all today.”
Mekhi’s confident delivery style of his well-written speech was inspirational. He certainly did Knight Nation proud to a statewide audience! To read Mekhi’s speech, click here.
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Selfie with a Supervisor!
The Corporate Work Study (CWS) program is what sets DLSNC apart from other schools in Oregon. For many people, it’s hard to wrap our heads around what that looks like. For supervisors, what benefits or challenges come from overseeing 14-18 year-olds? For students, what is it like to spend part of the school week with adults in a corporate setting? The supervisor/student team at Truebeck Construction recently shared their perspectives to give a peek into CWS.
We are so happy to welcome Truebeck to Knight Nation for its first year of CWS partnership. Project Coordinator Staci DeLorenzo supervises Sophomore Dontae Stidum on Tuesdays (plus one Monday per month).
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How have you grown as a supervisor to a DLSNC Student Associate?
I have never managed anyone before, but it’s been a great experience. It’s made me consider what are the most important takeaways for a first-time employee, particularly one so young. I’m working with Dontae in a lot of different ways—setting quarterly goals, establishing a structured schedule, and providing regular feedback, starting with what he does well and then what he needs to work on. And especially working on clear communication. He is shy and very reserved, but slowly, I do think he is coming out of his shell. Projects I’ve had him work on are preparing presentations for meetings, putting together a project closeout binder, managing data in Procore, and creating safety training spreadsheets. He’s getting a good sense of what we do at Truebeck. (Staci DeLorenzo)
How are you growing this year working as a Student Associate at Truebeck?
I’ve always liked construction, so it was pretty amazing to be selected for Truebeck in their first year for CWS. What I like the most is how Staci makes me get out of my comfort zone, talking to older individuals. She’s had me join different groups—the marketing team, precon, security—so I get to see the different stages of building new things. I’m learning accountability, time management, flexibility, work ethic—those are the big four right there. I’m not really allowed to say what projects I’m working on—they are all NDAs. (Dontae Stidum '27)
What’s the coolest thing about working with Dontae?
Dontae brings younger life into our Portland office of 25 or so employees. His outlook is so different, really fresh and young. We all know his love for sports, so we have a lot of good conversations about sports. Dontae always writes such positive comments in his time cards. Part of that may be his age, but it also says a lot about who he is, which I love.
(Staci DeLorenzo)
What’s the coolest part of your job at Truebeck?
When I first got there, they really had open arms. They help me know that I’m really lucky, knowing that what De La Salle offers in CWS is really crucial. Also, the building has a great view from its balcony and all the windows in it. That’s my favorite thing.
I'm going on a site visit next week. I think it’s going to be pretty amazing because I’ve seen the things being prebuilt on the computer in 3-D models. It will be cool to see in person everything I’ve been graphing on the computer.
I’ve been learning to drive recently, and driving around Portland, I see a lot of new buildings, and I think about who makes these ideas, who makes the plans, who is willing to buy it, how does everything work, how do you know if you’re going to mess up something and the whole building falls down. Little things like that. (Dontae Stidum '27)
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