|
Congrats to the Class of 2026!We are infinitely proud of the Class of 2026 and so excited to see how they shine as they launch into college. Their graduation ceremony on June 7 was a glorious celebration of all their achievements over the past four years, including 100% college acceptance and earning the highest amount of scholarship money in DLSNC history—$8.8 million! Knight Nation now has 1,197 alumni out in the world, maximizing their multifaceted Lasallian and Cristo Rey education. Click here to watch the ‘26ers big moment, crossing the stage on graduation day.
At graduation, Ashleigh de Villiers, President, shared her traditional welcome in the seven languages spoken by the 47 families of the graduates. Then our impressive valedictorian Mekhi Gardner ‘26 (our first graduate to head to Yale!) shared his thoughts on the village-like nature of DLSNC. He was followed by a thoughtful keynote speech from distinguished alumnus Michael Fantazia '06, celebrating 20 years since his own Knight Nation graduation. In addition, the following key awards were announced: The Faith Award: Brandon Troncoso
The Gerald Bitz Service Award: Brandon Troncoso
The Community Award: Brandon Troncoso
The St. Joseph the Worker Award: Adam Alvidrez
The De La Salle Award: Brandon Troncoso
Click here for more photos from Commencement 2026.
| |
|
Academic Honor Societies at DLSNC
The San Miguel Chapter of the National Honor Society (NHS) inducted 17 seniors for the graduating Class of 2026—more than a third of the class. These students met the rigorous chapter requirements, achieving a high academic standard (cumulative GPA of 3.5 or above) and demonstrating leadership and service throughout their high school experience. This year, NHS’s service projects were a community-wide Red Cross blood drive and making 150 lunches for Blanchet House and Bethanie's Room. NHS members were distinguished at graduation with gold and blue NHS honor cords. In addition, the Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica (SHH) inducted eight members of the Class of 2026. To become an SHH member, a student must meet a high academic standard, specifically in their Spanish classes, in addition to a high average in their combined classes, and complete a minimum of 10 hours of service that benefits the Spanish-speaking community. SHH students played a key role in organizing the schoolwide Hispanic Heritage assembly and collaborated with the Latine Student Union to host the annual Las Posadas celebration. They also coordinated a two-week handwoven bracelet sale supporting artisans in Guatemala and Nicaragua, and made multiple volunteer trips to the Oregon Food Bank, where they packed food for distribution to families in need. At graduation, the SHH inductees wore the Sociedad's gold and red honor cords. We are proud of the dedication, service, and leadership our honor society students have shown throughout the year! Click here for lists of the members of the Class of 2026 in the two honor societies.
| |
|
Pathway Programs' Highlights
At Senior Presentation this month, we celebrated our third year of honoring Pathway certificate awardees. The Pathway programs aim to help students focus their studies and activities and gain more knowledge and skills in the fields of healthcare and engineering, in which many of our students aspire to pursue careers. This year, 13 students earned the Health Science Pathway certificate and cord, while eight earned the Engineering certificate and cord. There are now 43 Knight alums with this special distinction, including five powerhouse students who earned both Pathway certificates
For extracurricular activities, the list of Pathway achievements includes summer programs through Duke, LSU, Johns Hopkins, and Yale, an independent project at OHSU’s Knight Cancer Institute, several health-related community service projects, Nurse Camp at the University of Portland, staffing mental health crisis lines at Youthline, volunteer and paid jobs in local hospitals, and the Kaiser summer shadowing program. In addition, the Pathway programs have benefited greatly this year from shadowing opportunities at the Multnomah County Health Department’s Fernhill Clinic across the street, as well as visits to University of Portland’s Shiley School of Engineering, plus many other opportunities for hands-on learning. There is, as they say, proof in the pudding with this program. Amongst this year’s Pathway students’ college major selections, six declared nursing, five declared engineering, one declared architecture, and many others declared in a variety of health-related subjects.
| |
|
|
Spring Sports Wrap-Up
Track & Field
Spring in Portland is famously unpredictable—blazing sun, hailstorms, high winds, or sudden rain showers, all in the same afternoon. This season, our track athletes embraced every condition, remained resilient, and reaped the fruits of their hard work and consistency. Every single student on the team set a new personal record in their respective event. That steady focus throughout the spring perfectly prepared us for the postseason.
For the women’s team, Jahzara Wheatt ‘27 led the charge by taking 1st place in the shot put, earning the title of District Champion and securing her spot at State. Naima Loftquist ‘29 delivered a stellar performance to finish 4th in both the 200m and 400m, setting new personal records and qualifying for State. In addition, the 4x400m relay team of Naima, Akuot Ajak ‘28, McKenzie Hendrickson ‘28, and Alexandria Spencer ‘29 made a strong 5th-place finish.
For the men’s team, Lex Pon ‘27 had a historic weekend, taking 2nd place in both the 110m and 300m hurdles, setting new school records and personal bests while punching his ticket to State. Jacory Jackson ‘28 also put on a great show in the 100m to take 3rd place, barely missing out on a State qualification.
Thus, three qualifiers traveled down to Hayward Field in Eugene to represent DLSNC at the OSAA 3A State Championships. They kept that same grit alive on the biggest stage in Oregon.
Lex excelled in the hurdles, battling the best of the best to capture 3rd place in the 110m hurdles and 4th place in the 300m hurdles. Jahzara also threw tough against top competition to place 10th overall in the shot put.
Thank you to the parents, fans, and community partners who stood in the bleachers, rain or shine, to support our Knights from the first track meet all the way to the State podium. We are incredibly proud of what this team cultivated this year!
Men's Volleyball
This was an exciting second season for the Men’s Volleyball Team. Men’s Volleyball is now an officially sanctioned sport in the state of Oregon. We are proud to be participating as pioneers as the sport begins to grow rapidly across the state, and are grateful to Les Schwab and Sankofa Counseling for their sponsorship of the team
Playing in a new league this year, our Knights stepped up and competed at an incredibly high level. Individual accolades followed our team's success, with Brandon Troncoso ‘26 earning Second-Team All-League honors and Zabe Marks ‘26 receiving an honorable mention.
It is bittersweet to see the season end, as we celebrate and send off seven seniors who made DLSNC history playing on our very first Men’s Volleyball team. A huge thank you and congratulations to Dagem Gitaw, Akeem McRae, Casper Parsons, Ivan Quintanilla, Andy Trinh, Brandon Troncoso, and Sesene Yohannes.
In addition, none of this would have been possible without the incredible guidance of Coach Callie Weber. Thank you, Coach Callie, for your dedication and for always supporting our student-athletes on and off the court!
--Demetrius Rhodes, Co-Athletic Director; Track & Field Head Coach
| |
|
The Knight’s Blog by Arturo Isais Perez ‘27
In planning for summer, Knights are motivated and supported by teachers and DLSNC staff to partake in skill-building programs and extracurriculars, many of which involve an application process.
My Summer Opportunities
This year, I won't be able to partake in any DLSNC summer extracurriculars because I will be participating in the Ted R. Lilley CURE Program through the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute. Focusing on the effect of dietary sugars on skin cancer tumor growth, I will work in a lab with a Knight Cancer Institute member and attend weekly seminars to establish a medical background as I pursue a pre-med track. My biology teacher, Mr. Gordon, introduced me to the program, encouraged me to apply, and helped me create and build my application. Which is one of the great things about attending DLSNC! Teachers and staff encourage students to continue building their skills and learning, even outside of the classroom.
Additionally, this summer I am spending a week on the University of California, Berkeley campus in partnership with Minds Matter. I will explore medical and health-related careers, develop a strong set of skills as a student, visit facilities such as UCB’s School of Optometry, and gain hands-on experiences to build confidence in pursuing a pre-med track in college.
Click here for more of the Knight's Blog.
| |
25 Fun Facts About Knight Nation
As our 25th anniversary year comes to a close, here’s the final installment of nuggets of knowledge from OG Knights as well as old-time pics that we’ve unearthed from the archives. This month’s offerings were compiled with the help of Tim Joy, Leslie Porter, Scott Reis, Polly Waibel, and Amanda Weingarten.
Who knew?
1) Sometime between 2001 and 2005, a selection of students from the combined DLSNC/Jefferson HS choir sang at the wedding of Pink Martini’s lead singer, China Forbes. If we only had photos!
2) A beloved tradition of the early days was the Beverage House Catastrophe (a play on coffeehouse, but no one can quite remember what the catastrophe was about). Here’s Mr. Reis’s recollection: “BHC was our open mic night where students could share a variety of talents: singing, piano, spoken word, rap battles, interpretive dance, and stand-up comedy. I always enjoyed participating and doing collaborations with students. I play guitar and sing, and I have fond memories of performing with Leandra Stanley ‘09, Ember White ‘08, and Tiffany Owen ‘08. Corey Evans ‘07 accompanied me on guitar for a Guns N' Roses song, Josh Rossman ‘05 played electric guitar while I sang a Smashing Pumpkins song, and there may have been an occasion or two where Mr. Reis (aka: "Slim Reis") attempted a rap song and changed the lyrics to make it nerdy or math-themed.”
3) We hosted Governor Ted Kulongowski in 2005 for a Q&A with seniors shortly before they became our first graduates.
4) The next year, we gained a bump of notoriety when Trailblazer starter, Theo Ratliff, donated $35,000 to our Corporate Work Study program, presenting a giant check to two lucky students.
5) In February 2010, as part of its educational outreach program, the Oregon Court of Appeals heard oral arguments for two different cases in the DLSNC auditorium. Students had the opportunity to observe and ask questions.
| |
|
Corporate Work Study Snippets
It was all hands on deck for our CWS team last→ month to modernize a previous model of hosting an appreciation luncheon on campus by bringing lunch to the partners. Over the course of a week, the team delivered box lunches to 68 companies to show our gratitude for their partnership and to help facilitate a year-end conversation between our students and their mentors. The 12 companies that weren’t able to participate received gift cards to host their on-site lunch. One partner shared this: "We had a really lovely meal and chat with our student. It was so nice to sit back and talk. It’s been such a great year!"
A group of our student associates working at Nike and Nike Jordan enjoyed an end-of-the-year treat with an in-depth tour of the LeBron building on Nike’s campus. Jacory Jackson ‘28, who works in the Nike Global Treasury department, enthused, “Having the opportunity to visit the LeBron building was an inspiring experience because it gave me a firsthand look at its resources, opportunities, and projects. What surprised me the most was seeing how much thought and effort went into creating an environment that helps athletes succeed.” Thank you, Nike, for this amazing opportunity!↓
| |
Superstar supervisor, Jordan Bowen, at Columbia Bank, nearly broke into tears when she ↑ learned that her summer intern is a DLSNC graduate. Arieanna Jumping Bull ‘23, a rising senior at Columbia University, hoped for a substantive summer work experience to complement her Environmental Science major. She’s working directly for Jordan on Columbia Bank’s sustainability strategies and innovations. Jordan had asked DLSNC to publicize the bank’s internship program to our recent alums, but Arieanna chose to apply only on her own merits, which are many. Thus, it was a real surprise when the two realized the connection after Arieanna was hired. We love stories of ongoing mentorship through the supportive web that our CWS partners offer both Knight Nation students and alums, and look forward to the outcome of this fruitful summertime collaboration!
| |
Selfie With a Supervisor
Get a peek into the Corporate Work Study (CWS), the unique program that sets DLSNC apart from other schools in Oregon by hearing the perspectives of individual supervisors and their student associates.
This month’s supervisor/student team is from International Wood Products (IWP), a large wholesale distributor for building materials that is in its second year of partnering with us. On Thursdays (plus one Monday per month), Director of Human Resources Gary Hampton supervises Junior Julian Martinez '27.
| |
What have you learned in supervising a DLSNC Student Associate like Julian?
We really looked forward to not only being able to teach and show but also to learn from the students. It’s been fun seeing both personal and professional growth in Julian, seeing him engage and participate and produce a successful final presentation. What Julian taught me was that he appreciated having more structure; he asked for help. So we created some real specifics—this much to be completed before lunch, this much to be completed after lunch, then preparing a summary in his final half hour. And as a team, we always wanted to mirror the expectations that the school has in place, particularly around cell phones.
How have you grown, working as a Student Associate at International Wood Products?
Last year I was in HR the whole time. This year, I spent a few months each in HR, Operations, and Product Management, and through each one, I learned different things. One important thing I learned in HR is you can be yourself and be professional too. And that communication is vitally important in everything. In Operations, I learned it’s quality over quantity, being accurate and having everything in the best possible condition for the customer. And in Product Management, it was all about research—the market and our competitors.
For my final presentation, I interviewed nine different people from nine different areas of the company–sales, marketing, operations, management, and others. I got to not only meet a lot of new people, which I really liked, but I was also able to understand how each department works on a fundamental standpoint. It was really interesting hearing people’s stories and how they got where they are today.
For my future, I want to be an astrophysicist, to work at NASA or SpaceX. Or an aeroengineer focusing on space. At IWP, I learned a lot about time management and adapting to change. Those are both things I could bring to an astrophysics career.
What’s been the coolest thing about working with a Student Associate?
Because he did all of those interviews, including with Taylor Hart, the COO, it really helped Julian understand what it means when we say there is a family feel for our company, from the top down. He really might not get that anywhere else.
His first year, once he was able to meet everybody and get the lay of the land, he learned that what human resources is about is supporting employees—benefits, programs, counselling, all the different facets of HR. When he came in, he thought HR was like the principal’s office, just disciplinary action. So we were pretty excited that that was his takeaway. He is a very respectful young man; he has that loyal family-type vibe to him. Julian is an outstanding individual for sure.
What’s the coolest part of your job at IWP?
I got work experience not only through CWS but also through the summer. The IWP HR department had this huge project they needed to get done, but no one there was able to set aside time to do it. It took about a month and a half, and I was working almost full-time last summer. My mom drove me there on the days she didn’t work. Then a woman in the HR department was nice enough to take me on the other days. So I took the bus to her house, and then I rode in with her. It felt amazing that these people, that I’d only met not even a year before, were willing to help me in this way, and it felt like it really strengthened our connection. I saved at least about half of the money I made for a trip to Mexico that’s coming up.
| |
| Ways to support
Fred Meyer Reward Cards + De La Salle North Catholic
By linking your Fred Meyer community rewards points to De La Salle North Catholic we will receive a quarterly donation from Fred Meyer. It only takes a moment to sign up:
| |
|
|
