| May is the most exciting month in the college counseling world! We have a lot to be proud of with the Class of 2025. They worked tirelessly and submitted an average of 12 applications per student, achieving 100% college acceptance! Additionally, within our College Readiness course, we more than doubled our college representative visits this year, with 28 different institutions traveling to meet with our seniors, including schools as close as Willamette University and as far as New York University.
Being a part of Knight Nation has many benefits for our students and their families. One of the largest benefits is our special relationship with more than 70 colleges and universities nationwide through the Cristo Rey Network (CRN) University Partnerships program. These schools are committed to providing not only intentional programming and academic supports to CRN students, but also offer substantial financial support, averaging a minimum of 85% of a student’s demonstrated need, which makes college far more affordable. The added resources and supports for alums attending CRN University Partners lead to higher college completion rates, especially for first-generation students of color. This year, 17 graduating seniors will attend the following University Partners in the fall: Chapman University, Providence College, Santa Clara University, Seattle University, University of Portland, and Villanova University.
To the Class of 2025: I started working at DLSNC when you began your freshman year, and it has been an honor to watch you mature and live out our Lasallian core principles these past four years. The pride I have for each of you as you were accepted into your dream colleges and now prepare to continue your educational journeys with concrete career goals in mind is significant. I admire the resilience and camaraderie that you have with each other. Never lose that determination and care for others. I know you will be prime examples of our school’s motto, Enter to Learn and Leave to Serve.
Amanda Rodela Weingarten '05
College Counselor
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Annual Educator Award Goes to Ms. Ashley!
Since its founding, DLSNC has recognized one staff or faculty member as the Distinguished Lasallian Educator of the Year, honoring the individual who upholds the 12 virtues of a Lasallian educator. We are very proud to be not only a Lasallian school but also part of the Cristo Rey Network (CRN), founded by Fr. John Foley in Chicago. Fr. Foley wrote in his CRN Credo, “May we have faith in a dream so ambitious as to border on the delusional with a healthy disregard for conventional thinking. May our hope be so outrageously bold that we are afraid people will laugh at us if they knew what we hoped for!” So this year, our annual award represents both our Lasallian and CRN missions and has an exceptionally long name—the Outrageously Bold Distinguished Lasallian Educator of the Year Award.
We are hugely proud to congratulate Ms. Aiyana Ashley, Director of Corporate Work Study Operations, as the first recipient of this combined award. Chosen by an anonymous vote of all her peers, Ms. Ashley has impacted at least 756 alumni, including this year’s soon-to-be graduates. That’s 65% of all individuals who have attended DLSNC in our 24 years of existence. For 14 years, she has masterfully helped to meet both our students’ needs as well as those of our corporate partners. Her husband, kids, and mother surprised her at the award ceremony, held as part of our Founder’s Week mass. Congratulations, Ms. Ashley!
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Field Trips Galore for STEM Learning!
At De La Salle North Catholic, the Science Department values experiential and hands-on learning. Taking field trips to local sites is a great way to reinforce what students are learning in our classrooms, and this winter and spring, they were learning all over town!
BIOLOGY/ANATOMY
♦ All juniors visited the Oregon Museum of Science & Industry, where they were able to view the Exquisite Creatures exhibit, hold animals in the Earth Lab, examine fossils in the Paleontology Lab, and view a nature documentary in the Empirical Theater.
♦ The 25 seniors in the Anatomy & Physiology class visited the anatomy lab at the University of Western States Chiropractic College, where students were able to view and learn about eight human cadavers that had been dissected by the college faculty.
ENGINEERING/ROBOTICS
♦ Engineering 2 visited the Maseeh School of Engineering and Computer Science at Portland State University and got an exciting tour of a variety of the school’s labs, representing the many different fields of engineering that students can study there.
♦ Engineering 1 attended the Engineers Week conference, where students got to talk to professional engineers working in different types of careers and learn about college engineering opportunities. In the afternoon, students split up into smaller groups and visited a number of job sites, including a bridge construction site in West Linn, a Boeing manufacturing facility in Gresham, and the Daimler Truck plant and wind tunnel on Swan Island.
♦ Members of the Robotics team and the Engineering 1 class visited Microsystems in Lake Oswego, where they toured the manufacturing facilities that produce microchips and other components of medical equipment such as pacemakers.
♦ Engineering 1 went to MESA day at PSU, an end-of-the-year celebration and competition, where students showcased the inventions they designed for the Oregon Engineering Design Competition.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
♦ Students visited the Columbia Children’s Arboretum to plant native shrubs and groundcover and to help restore the park’s wildlife habitats.
♦ Students raised salmon fry in their classroom aquarium to learn about the salmon life cycle and the importance of salmon to NW ecosystems and indigenous peoples. Later, they went to Kelley Point Park to release the fish in the Columbia River.
♦ At Whitaker Ponds and the Columbia Slough, students tested the water quality before enjoying a canoe trip with guides from the Columbia Slough Watershed Council and Portland Parks & Recreation.
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The Knight’s Blog by Arturo Isais Perez ‘27Friday, May 9, concluded our annual Founders Week, and all students, faculty, and staff were given the opportunity to volunteer throughout the city. For their work, students earned three service hours, which contributes to the required 30 hours needed to graduate from DLSNC. DLSNC believes that volunteering is a great aspect of being Lasallian, as it honors three of our five core principles: Concern for the Poor and Social Justice, Respect for all Persons, and Inclusive Community. Helping others is what our school values the most, as our school motto is Enter to Learn, Leave to Serve. After volunteering, we had time to celebrate not only our hard work for that day but also our hard work and dedication throughout the whole year by enjoying a barbecue made by Mr. Mickola and Mr. Chance.
DLSNC makes sure to offer various places inside and outdoors for us to volunteer. This year we went to Gabriel Park, Kelley Point Park, Woodlawn Park, Clark Center, Holy Cross, Holy Redeemer, Portland Fruit Tree, Portland ReStore, River District, St. Ignatius, Willamette Center, and Walnut Park.
In my freshman year, I volunteered at Kelly Point Park, where we helped clean up around the park to ensure it was safe and clean for all to enjoy. This year, I volunteered at Portland Fruit Tree, pulling out weeds from the bottom of the trees and spreading mulch. Both places offered a time for me to get to know my fellow peers and allowed for spiritual, emotional, and mental growth. Regardless of where students volunteered, we were all given an immense feeling of selflessness from helping others.
What does Founder's Day mean to us?
Mrs. Maher, Director of Mission and Sophomore Theology Teacher, who volunteered with me at Portland Fruit Tree, responded, “To spend the day honoring Saint John Baptist de La Salle in service to the earth and others means so much! I love that we are all together giving back in a way that builds community while helping others. It's always so much fun with amazing food and lots of laughs.”
Ms. Brunning, Social Sciences Chair, who volunteered at Woodlawn, said, “My favorite part is spending time with students in a different setting and helping make others' lives easier through our service. It's a special day for the community to take a moment to breathe during the busyness of the end of the school year and spend time together doing good in the world.”
Kaden Vu '27, who volunteered at Kelly Point, said, “My favorite part of volunteering was being outside and enjoying the sunshine. Founders Day is important because it brings us Lasallians together as a community and helps us strengthen our bonds.
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The author (on left) doing tree maintenance at Portland Fruit Tree for Founder's Day
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Asian Pacific Islander Month at DLSNC
We celebrated Asian and Pacific Islander culture this month at our awesome final heritage assembly of the year. The lively event focused on the contributions to popular music that Asians and Pacific Islanders have made and featured some hilarious, homemade lip dub videos of songs like Gangnam Style. There were lots of opportunities to win generous gift baskets, culminating with a rousing mingle game inspired by Squid Game. In addition, throughout the month, there were beautiful, informative posters around the school and a popular scavenger hunt. Many thanks to the Asian Pacific Islander Student Union, Ms. Brunning, and Mr. Alex for such a well-organized, informative, and fun event!
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Snippets from the CWS WorldIn addition to their regular set work days, all six of our→ students at Nike and Nike Jordan gathered together for some special visits to the Nike campus recently. They were treated to a tour of the LeBron James Innovation Center and Nike Sport Research Lab for an immersive experience in the science of sports. They also got to participate in a digital customization session, designing their own t-shirts as part of a Jordan Wings 10th anniversary celebration. We appreciate all the folks who made these one-of-a-kind opportunities available!
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| ←The handiwork of our eight students at Microsoft was featured in a slide presentation to accompany Satya Nadella’s (Microsoft’s CEO) keynote speech at the huge Microsoft Build conference this month. The students labeled thousands of cables for one of Microsoft’s many new data centers. Thank you to Corey Luihn, who has been a very dedicated CWS supervisor since Microsoft signed on to work with us nearly five years ago. It’s not only great for students to be put to work on integral tech projects, but also to be made aware of the impact of their accomplishments!
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| ←Dontae Stidum and his Truebeck Construction supervisor, Staci DeLorenzo, (last month’s Selfie With a Supervisor duo), have made a couple of site visits this spring to take a look at Truebeck’s work at the Moda Center, the Multnomah Athletic Club’s sundeck pool, and a confidential client. Dontae’s observations were, “It gave me a better perspective about how the output of the work we do in the office transfers to the actual sites. I hope that I get this job next year so that I can keep gaining more perspective on construction. I loved the site visits a lot.”
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| Our Lunch & Learn program, which brings professionals→ on campus to share industry insights, concluded with two well-attended sessions. Michael Havlik, Academic Director of Portland State University’s Real Estate Program, shared about the many pathways available in real estate, including asset, property, or commercial management, as well as self-employment and personal real estate portfolio oversight. A few weeks later, Ayano Healy of CWS partner, Cascadia Partners, presented on urban planning and public health careers. In addition to consuming pizza (since January, we’ve served a total of 54 pizzas at these sessions), students ask astute questions, like, "How is the current economy impacting real estate in the Portland area?" Thank you to everyone who has taken time out of their busy schedules to share their expertise with our students!
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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-to18-year-olds? For students, what is it like to spend part of the school week with adults in a corporate setting? One of the many supervisor/student teams at OnPoint Community Credit recently shared their perspectives to give a peek into CWS.
OnPoint has been committed to our CWS program since 2001, when it was still Portland Teachers Credit Union. Over 24 years, that is a lot of students they have mentored! This year, senior Jaylen Hill is one of 12 students working at OnPoint. Director of Learning Development, Randy Smith, supervises Jaylen on Wednesdays (plus one Monday per month).
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How have you grown as a supervisor to a DLSNC Student Associate?
I’m kind of used to interacting with young people who don’t have a lot of job experience. Everyone runs through the teller and member services training in this building, and we hire a lot of college kids. I don’t think Jaylen is all that far away from that age group. It took a little bit of effort to get him to interact with the other people on the team—Jaylen is pretty reserved and quiet. To have him go figure things out with others, to talk to other people, that was probably his biggest learning curve. So I was intentional in to help him overcome that learning curve. I get it—being surrounded by a lot of new adults can be intimidating. (Randy Smith)
How are you growing this year working as a Student Associate at OnPoint?
One of my main projects is making binders for the bank tellers’ classes that are run in my building. I’ve also helped with hiring a couple of new people, reviewing resumes, and knowing how to look for certain qualities. At OnPoint, I’ve really learned how to be professional, how to be in a professional environment, how to talk to people, how to keep busy. I’m thinking about my demeanor and if I’m doing things with intent or not. Other skills I’ve learned are how to advocate for myself and how to look for what I want. (Jaylen Hill ‘25)
What’s the coolest thing about working with Jaylen?
It’s fun to have someone with a high school perspective in the office. Since our Lloyd building houses both a large branch as well as the training center, it was great that Jaylen got branch customer service experience at the front desk as well as learning development experience. And when we found out that he was going to play football at Oregon State, I ran out and got a bunch of SWAG, and we had a fun little celebration for him. The team loved having Jaylen, and we wish him all the luck. (Randy Smith)
What’s the coolest part of your job at OnPoint?
The connections I’ve made with people. I think if I needed to talk with someone, I could go there to get help. If something doesn’t work out with a football career or engineering, which is what I’m going to be majoring in at OSU, I’m sure my supervisors at OnPoint will help me out if they can. I think there is a good reason why OnPoint has been a great partner for us—they are really nice people and they help a lot in the community. (Jaylen Hill ‘25)
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