| Have you considered the “why” behind interscholastic sports? Do you ever think about how athletics and academics complement each other so well? Research shows that sports provide an abundance of benefits for a student’s overall educational experience. The reasons why a student may join a sports team seem straightforward: to compete, have fun, make friends, and be a part of a supportive community that fosters growth. But the rich benefits that lie beneath the surface of participating in sports are just as meaningful.
Through the medium of athletics, students obtain indispensable life skills such as teamwork, problem-solving, self-discipline, perseverance, and strong communication. Studies show that student-athletes are more likely to stay on top of their schoolwork, and have a higher attendance rate and fewer disciplinary issues than their non-sports-playing peers.
Here at DLSNC, athletics are more than just extracurricular activities. Each practice and competition is an opportunity to empower a student. The field and court are classrooms in which the Lasallian Principal of “Quality Education” is very much at play. Win, lose, or draw, there is always a valuable lesson to be learned. Through athletics, we strive for excellence while always staying true to our mission and values.
Demetrius Rhodes
Athletics Director and Head Track & Field Coach
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Teamwork Key In Hosting Successful Blood Drive
Our National Honor Society reintroduced a significant community service project this winter by organizing a blood drive in conjunction with our local American Red Cross (ARC) chapter. NHS members, Mekhi Gardner ‘26 and Josh Hickcox ‘26 spearheaded the drive which took place on February 28. Both Mekhi and Josh aim to earn Health Careers Pathways certificates when they graduate next year, and taking on this community health project gets them one step closer to achieving that goal.
39 students, faculty, staff, and parents registered to donate, and, in total our community donated 22 units of blood. ARC always has an exceptionally high need for African American blood units and was thrilled with DLSNC’s outreach that resulted in one-third of our donations being in that category. Josh and Mekhi did significant promotion, raising awareness and enthusiasm through a clever video, an assembly presentation, and flyers throughout the school.
“Being close friends made organizing this a lot easier. We easily mirror each other in terms of getting everything done, even when dealing with our different sports schedules,” shared Josh recently. Mekhi chimed in, “It was really satisfying that we filled all of our appointment slots. And our drive came at a good time, a week after the snow storm which canceled a lot of other blood drives. So [ARC] was in the red (no pun intended), and De La Salle was able to make up some of their deficit.”
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Josh & Mekhi's blood drive (video version)
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The real American Red Cross blood drive in our gym
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The Knight’s Blog by Arturo Isais Perez ‘27On March 6th, I and six other Student Ambassadors, along with Mrs. Maher, Director of Mission and Sophomore Theology Teacher, had the honor to host three General Councilors: Brother Carlos Gabriel Gomez Restrepo, Brother Ricky Laguda, and Brother Chris Patino. General Councilors are leaders who oversee the Lasallian Christian Brothers' educational work worldwide, and they live in Rome.
Br. Carlos is from Colombia where he was a professor for 40+ years. Br. Ricky is from the Philippines and has been in service to the Lasallian educational mission there for more than 30 years. Br. Chris, who was on our Board of Trustees for multiple years, is from Los Angeles and worked for the San Francisco New Orleans Lasallian District that DLSNC is part of.
During the panel, when asked why they chose to come to DLSNC, Brother Chris responded “To meet the students, who are the heart and pulse of the Lasallian message.” Next, I asked the Brothers how they understood the Lasallian message. Br. Carlos replied, “Struggling for our dreams.” Coincidentally, Br. Carlos recognized one of the Student Ambassador’s last names, and it turned out he knew her cousin, an alum, who he said: “Helped shape, grow and spread the Lasallian message across nations.” Br. Ricky pointed out that we are all lucky to have all the opportunities that are presented by the staff here at DLSNC.
When asked how to successfully live out the Lasallian message, the Brothers all responded, “It is better to do than to say.” Mr. Kong-Ellison, the other Sophomore Theology teacher, has said in this season of Lent we should, “Do, don't say,” which means that doing and living the Lasallian message is better than just repeating it. The Brothers felt familiar and made it comforting to share our own perspectives. I felt valued to be asked by Mrs. Maher to participate with my fellow peers on this panel.
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Winter Sports Conclude
Basketball season has officially come to an end. Our Lady Knights, under the leadership of new Head Coach Kevin McElroy, finished fourth overall in the 3A Lewis & Clark League Tournament. The team showed substantial progress and continued to improve throughout the season. Olivia Jones '25 received First Team All-League. This award is more than deserved for Livi’s leadership and stellar level of play.
Our Men’s varsity team finished fourth overall in the Lewis & Clark League and fifth for the 3A OSAA State Championship Tournament. Senior Jaylen Hill received First Team All-League along with First Team All-State Tournament. As team captain, Jaylen displayed his dominance in the paint all season long and at All-State showed true leadership by sharing two of his three Game MVP awards with teammates whom he deemed to have played better than he did. In addition, team co-captain, Josh Hickcox '26, received Second Team All-League honors. We are very proud of both our basketball programs and want to give them a big Knight Nation congratulations on an excellent season.
--Demetrius Rhodes, Athletics Director and Head Track & Field Coach
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STEAM Night Is Coming Soon!
If you attended our inaugural STEAM Night last year, you know why we’re making it an annual event. SO MUCH FUN! So mark your calendars for April 15 from 5:00–7:00 pm, Knight Nation’s second STEAM Night!
STEAM Night is a community-wide, all-ages event showcasing and celebrating what’s happening on campus in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math. This is a great opportunity to interact with our amazing students and STEAM faculty and get a little taste of the learning and career prep that happens in our building every day!
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Please Help Us Train the Class of 2029 For Their Fall CWS Placements
There are many ways that local companies can be part of Knight Nation’s mission, the most substantive being hosting our students in the workplace through our Corporate Work Study (CWS) program. Bottom line, our school could not exist without our CWS partners!
However, there are several impactful, short-term opportunities for individual professionals as well as corporations to participate with us. A key opportunity is on the horizon—the CWS Summer Training (June 23—27) required for all incoming freshmen and transfer students. The purpose of the training is to guide students in understanding workplace expectations, connect with CWS staff, and learn vital job skills such as the power of first impressions, email etiquette, and communication in a business setting. At the end of the training, there is a field trip downtown to review security and office basics.
Thomas Smith of Hoffman Construction Company has participated as a mock interviewer during past CWS Summer Trainings and shared, “As a CWS supervisor for the past four years, I get a great deal of joy in participating in the Summer Training for incoming freshmen. The CWS program offered by De La Salle is a unique way to get their students prepared for the workforce as they become adults. I consider it an honor to volunteer for this event since I know that these students truly are our future, and I appreciate the opportunity to help them succeed.”
Interested in spending a few hours or a morning with us that week to prepare our new students as they launch into this special part of their DLSNC education? We welcome volunteers at any stage of their careers. Among the opportunities to participate are being a mock interviewer or teaching a class (for example, DEI, Intro to Microsoft Office, or Confidentiality & Ethics). We also welcome catering donations for the week (either food or financial contributions to cover food) and downtown field trip hosts. The CWS summer training is sponsored again this year by PwC Charitable Foundation to whom we are most grateful.
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Snippets from the CWS World←Habitat for Humanity launched a series of field trips for its two freshmen student associates who work in its HR department so as to showcase the variety of ways the organization serves its community. First up was a visit to Habitat’s ReStore e-commerce warehouse where the students learned with Canva how to create Facebook postings for sales items in this virtual-only thrift store. They did such a great job that they’ve been invited to come back to continue that effort on future work days. This spring the Habitat student supervisor, Melissa Magana, will also be touring them around a Habitat build site as well as its brand new Tigard ReStore to learn about a more traditional resale model.
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We’re grateful to supervisors from three CWS partners who have visited campus this month for Lunch & Learn presentations. Students love getting free pizza for lunch but are also genuinely curious about the presenters and rarely hesitate to ask questions. Many thanks to Betsy Bice from Truebeck Construction who shared about the ins and outs of construction careers; Jon Makler and Andrea Omojola from Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon who covered career exploration; and Katherine Backus and Cara Miller from Vista Capital who presented a useful Financial Literacy 101. Thank you, partners, for sharing your time and expertise with our whole school community!
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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 Brightworks Sustainability recently shared their perspectives to give a peek into CWS.
We are so happy to welcome Brightworks to Knight Nation for its first year of CWS partnership. Director of Human Resources Janell Eckes supervises Sophomore Angeli Lopez Hernandez on Tuesdays (plus one Monday per month).
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How have you grown as a supervisor to a DLSNC Student Associate?
It’s our first time hosting a high school intern, and it’s fun thinking about things from a different perspective. We took a suggestion from the materials provided by De La Salle and spun it to create a project that wouldn’t have been done without Angeli here. She’s doing “Spotlight” interviews, and she and I brainstormed to come up with questions that give a fresh set of eyes on Brightworks. There are a couple of areas—the “Spotlights” and then the staff safety packets—Angeli is running both of those on her own. I enjoy seeing her take ownership of her projects. She is extremely dependable. Even if I have to be working from home in the morning, she knows what she has to do and just gets right to it. (Janell Eckes)
How are you growing this year working as a Student Associate at Brightworks?
I’ve been able to learn and experience being in an office space because before I didn’t know what that was like. So a different perspective. Brightworks is a sustainability company—they’re consultants, and they recommend certain building materials that will not cause more damage to our world. I didn’t know what sustainability was before I worked there.
I would say I’m not really an open book, so learning to interact with everyone there is something important. I’m doing interviews—they’re called “Brightworks Spotlights”—and I get to interview lots of people in the company. At the end of the year, I’m going to do a PowerPoint presentation of the interviews for everyone. I ask questions about their careers, their college studies, why they chose to work at Brightworks. Everyone is really welcoming, and in the interviews, they’ve supported me which is helpful. I’m interested in business and psychology. Before I thought it would be one or the other, but during these interviews a lot of people have told me that I could do both because they are connected. So now I’m planning on doing both in college.
Also learning new technology. I’m used to Google, but now I’m using Microsoft for scheduling meetings and making monthly safety packets for all the employees. It’s good to know both.
(Angeli Lopez Hernandez '27)
What’s the coolest thing about working with Angeli?
What has been cool is to see that, even though everything in an office is brand new to her, she picks things up so quickly. Like with Microsoft, I had to step back, slow down, and explain everything from scratch. Now Angeli has learned everything about how to do calendaring—checking other people’s calendars for their availability, writing out the invitations, adding the attachments. And then she’s tracking everything for her interviews in a detailed Excel spreadsheet. For the video interviews, a lot of them she has to do with Microsoft Teams for the staff in our offices all over the country, and she’s already learned everything to set those up and them on her own.
One thing I loved was that we created the interview questions together and then she added her own fun question, “How would you describe a color to someone who can’t see.” Wow—so cute!
(Janell Eckes)
What’s the coolest part of your job at Brightworks?
We have a nice office; it’s really pretty and has a big terrace. In the fall before it got rainy, I would go out to the terrace to eat with co-workers. Once a month we do these team lunches for the whole PDX team. It’s fun setting up and cleaning up for those with Emily, who works with Janell and me. And it’s fun at the lunch too when everyone is there. We talk about what’s happened in our lives and what we’re interested in. The people there are really passionate about what they do and like to learn from each other. I like that. (Angeli Lopez Hernandez '27)
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