Rock Talk
Rock Talk is the official podcast of Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, Missouri — where we explore the voices, values, and vibrant life of our Jesuit, college-prep community. Hosted by the Admissions and Marketing team, each episode features conversations with students, faculty, alumni, and special guests as we share stories of academic excellence, faith formation, brotherhood, and service. Whether you're a prospective family, a proud alumnus, or simply curious about what makes Rockhurst unique — this is your inside look at life at The Rock.
Rock Talk
Inside Rockhurst: How Jesuit Education Forms Men With Purpose
What if the best measure of a school isn’t just where graduates go, but who they become? We sit down with President David Laughlin to unpack how Rockhurst High School forms young men who work hard, love well, and aim their gifts toward something bigger than themselves. Across four decades in Catholic education, David maps the Jesuit DNA that powers our culture: prayer that frames the day, retreats that reset priorities, service that tempers ambition, and a rigorous college prep program that treats study habits as spiritual habits.
You’ll hear how excellence at Rockhurst avoids the comparison game. We talk about confident humility—reaching for high standards not to outdo others, but to honor the Giver of the gift. From STEM labs and speech team to choir and athletics, faculty set clear expectations and coach students into them. The rumor that “it’s a lot of work” becomes a rhythm when you look left and right and see everyone leaning in. That shared effort builds joy and resilience, making early mornings, office hours, and rehearsals feel like a path, not a punishment.
We also travel with David through alumni stories that stretch from Kansas City to San Diego, New Orleans, and Houston. The thread is striking: graduates stay connected, lead with purpose, and carry Rockhurst habits into families, careers, and communities. As the metro’s only all-boys Jesuit high school, Rockhurst holds a distinctive place—shaped by history, energized by parents and Jesuits, and committed to forming men for others. If you’re weighing where your son can be known, challenged, and guided, this conversation offers a clear window into a school where faith, scholarship, brotherhood, and service come to life.
If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review to help more families discover Rockhurst.
Welcome to Rock Talk, the official podcast of Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, Missouri, where we explore the voices, values, and vibrant life of our Jesuit college prep community. Hosted by the admissions and marketing team, each episode features conversations with students, faculty, alumni, and special guests as we share stories of academic excellence, faith formation, brotherhood, and service. Whether you're a prospective family, a proud alumnus, or simply curious about what makes Rockhurst unique, this is your inside look at life at the Rock. And I'm your host, Steve Redman, one of the directors of Admissions and Marketing. And I am here today with the one, the only Mr. David Laughlin, who is our president of this great institution. Mr. Laughlin, if you would introduce yourself to the people, please.
SPEAKER_01:Sure, it's great to be with you today, Steve. Appreciate you with this innovation and the podcast. And I'm grateful to be serving as the president at Rockhurst. I'm in my eighth year as our president, but it's my 13th year overall. And as you well know, uh I served as principal here in the early 2000s when a younger Steve Redmond was running around the hallways.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And uh it's just been great to be back. And I've spent 36 years in Jesuit all boys' college prep schools and for two years at a Sacred Heart school. So I'm approaching 40 years in Catholic secondary ed.
SPEAKER_00:Man, and and and yes, uh, for those of you who don't know, Mr. Laughlin was my principal when I was here in 2000 to 2004, and we privately joke about how we were the reason he might have walked away for a time. Because we were No, no, that's not true.
SPEAKER_01:You guys had a powerful class, you were a little rambunctious.
SPEAKER_00:We uh I've seen a lot of classes over we we we had some some really good times, and truthfully, some of you I say some of your leadership, all of your leadership was very formative for for for me and I know a lot of my classmates when we look back on that time. So we appreciate your service and your leadership over the years. And I think that leads me to a question I'm curious about because this this this episode, folks, is gonna be a little bit different because, you know, with the amount of time you've spent in this game, Mr. Laughlin, I'm curious. Like what you said you're approaching 40 years in in Catholic education. What is like what goes on in a mind like that that keeps you in this for that amount of time?
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I can go all the way back to my own discernment in college about what it was I wanted to study and to do. You know, I came from a family with great love and great parents, but my parents didn't attend college, so in terms of giving us direction, they wanted us to go to college, but they didn't necessarily have a lot of advice to give out because they didn't have that experience. So yeah, I prayed and discerned a lot about what I wanted to do, and I I knew I wanted to go into education, and I don't I don't know for sure, but I think looking back on it, probably I had a really good experience. I had a lot of great teachers and coaches and mentors, and that struck something in me that I could I could choose to do as a vocation. Now, having made that choice obviously years and years ago at at Creighton University, I wouldn't have ever imagined my life's journey. I wouldn't have imagined leaving Omaha, Nebraska where I'm from. But I think part of the power of Jesuit education was making the spiritual exercises and then just being open to kind of discernment and God's call. And that's led me on quite a path. So really grateful to be at Rockhurst, but it all goes back to a kid in college trying to figure out what he was gonna do, and and uh, you know, it's been a lifetime evocation.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and and I mean that's interesting. Like part of what I enjoy about doing this podcast is just getting to know people more deeply. I was similar in a way, you know, my parents didn't go to college, and so when I got to college, I was figuring out a lot of stuff, but uh that's that's powerful.
SPEAKER_01:And you went to did you go to Creighton Prep and then go to Cray or where did you No, I my father was a graduate of Creighton Prep, but I went to uh Benedictine High School, Mount Michael, it's called, just outside of Omaha. It's a very small school. I had 28 uh young men in my graduating class. Wow, so it's a really small place. It was a boarding high school back then. It takes both now boarders and day students. And I would say I went there because it was the direction my parents gave me. I like I didn't know much about the place, they just said this would be a good idea. Um so my familiarity with the Jesuits really started at Creighton University.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, and then that leads me to this question because as I've been back, I have I I think I told a parent this the other day of the stuff that I wasn't paying attention to when I was in school, I am far more interested in now, and I'm amazed at the the Jesuit reach in education. And you know, the map that we have in our hallway, I'll stop when I give tours and show, like, hey, when we say the Jesuits are in the business of educating, it's worldwide. What is a what what are the parallels of a Jesuit university in um to like Rockhurst High School, for instance? Like what is what does that look like or a connection there?
SPEAKER_01:Well, it it can depend on the university or the high school. I mean, we're all Jesuit in that we're sponsored by the Society of Jesus, right? So the Jesuits are the Rockhurst High School is owned by the Jesuits, run by the Jesuits. It's the sponsoring religious order. Uh at university level, some of the governance of that around that can be a little bit different in terms of of what happens, but effectively you're trying to live out that that charism. And a high school is obviously a smaller place than a university. But they're effectively on the same mission, yeah. Just sometimes dealing with different operational matters, different structural matters. But you're on the same mission.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah. And speaking of mission, you know, we talk about this a lot here and it's a big mission, even at a high school. But what are some of the major factors that go into us at Rockhurst High School pressing into that mission? And if you would, let me back up. For those listeners who might not be super familiar with Rockhurst High School and the mission, can you explain the mission and how we go about executing on that mission on a daily basis?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean, I think I think the most immediate and direct way we serve our students is providing them a great college preparatory education. And so that's not just academic selections. It's uh it's it's hard work and study, study skills, study habits, how to ask for help, how to prepare them to go into higher education so that they're equipped not just to survive, but to excel. And and and the reason for that has to do with the vision that Ignatius had, which he called the multiplier effect. How do you take bright and capable students from a metropolitan area and provide them a rigorous education so that as they go on, they're gonna use that education to serve their families, their their neighborhoods, their cities, their communities, their churches in a way that makes the world a better place. I mean, so at a really fundamental level, the the nature of our curriculum and our formation program that is unique is is the core of the mission. Now, there's deeper language underneath all of that. So the we're a Catholic school, and the Catholic Church is certainly a worldwide entity, but as a Jesuit school, a religious order school like Rockhurst is living out a charism, a particular way the spirit works in the church. And for the Jesuits, that was in the founder of St. Ignatius, the spiritual exercises. And there's a lot of uh catchphrases that fall around that finding God in all things and Father Rupe's men for others talk. But I think at the end of the day, that that goal, the deeper spiritual goal of the school, is to help students come to know and love Jesus Christ and serve God with their talents. And those talents, because Jesuit spirituality is really fine truly finding God in all things. And if you think about the intellectual pursuits that I just talked about, that's not separate from retreats and service. Whether you're talking about the study of science or math or history or language and culture, whether you're talking about sports teams, theater, music, robotics, everything that we undertake at Rockhurst is part of creation. And everything in creation has the chance to lead us closer to God. It's all about our orientation. How do we how do we orient ourselves to recognize that it's all coming from God and to use it in a way that draws us closer to God and therefore our actions become actions that are reflective of the service of God.
SPEAKER_00:Right.
SPEAKER_01:So, like the Jesuit concept of trying to be excellent, right? I mean, I've I've joked, and it should be a joke, but it's a joke. Like, we teach many things well at Rockhurst, but two things we don't teach well is RSVPs and humility. So, like, there's this fine line between arrogance and confidence. Yeah. And to have somebody who's confidently humble, they don't mind pursuing excellence because in our tradition, in the charism, then the excellence isn't making myself better than somebody else. The excellence is a reflection of a service to God.
SPEAKER_00:Correct.
SPEAKER_01:And therefore, I get out of this kind of competitive plane of whether or not we're we're beating somebody else, and I live more into the question, am I living into my potential? So I think at a deeper level, that's a very long answer, Steve. I love it. At a deeper level, our core mission is helping people to understand do they recognize God's hand in their life? And are they responding to the abundance of the grace of whatever they are doing every day by responding ever more deeply and applying themselves in a way that is excellent and that gives glory to God?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I enjoy that answer a lot, and I think that's powerful because when I talk to our young men, and the more acclimated I am day to day and meeting new guys and going to talk to classes and all of those things, helping them digest that is a personal mission I have because when I was here, although I had you know my own set of trouble at home and different distractions, uh one thing that I appreciated about this place was the expectation of use your gifts to honor and glorify God. Whatever those are. And you could look around and you could see the the the studious academic, you could see the theater art guy, you could see the science guy, you could see the athlete, the whole and and what I tell our young man, you know, when I say I want you to press into the brotherhead sooner, I want you to see what this opportunity environment actually is. Because when you can look around and you can see a bunch of different guys all held to the same standard, and all of them are doing or are excelling and exceeding and or trying to, you are in an environment where you're naturally going to do this. You're going to rise, right? You're going to I didn't want to be the guy that came from here that didn't do something great. I'll be honest with you, I wrote a book with the with the thought. A lot of people don't know. And and part of it was my heart, my passion. It was, you know, I'm very big on helping, you know, God-fearing athletes navigate sport well. It's one of my things that I was doing before I was here. I still do it. But part of the thing was I want to do something to honor the Lord with my gifts of writing and communicating and whatever, but I also don't want to be the guy that didn't do something that came from this great place. And it's this interesting dynamic, but it starts with all of that in getting them to understand this is about you and the Lord and doing that.
SPEAKER_01:It's interesting when I talk to prospective families, and it's kind of been this way for a year, and certainly at Rockurst, but at any of my stops, there's this concern/slash question of, well, you know, kind of I hear it's a lot of work in order to do that, right? And I I like to talk about the self-fulfilling prophecy. I think one of the reasons that that pocklets rise is this nice combination of the expectations our faculty, our staff, our coaches, our moderators set. Like if you've heard our choir sing, you know Dr. Coker's setting a very high standard, and and guys get there because he's got talented guys, but he's gonna get them there, and he's not gonna let them not get there. And that's true across uh our curriculum in a number of ways. But the the self-fulfilling prophecy is students who say, Okay, if I'm gonna be successful there, I have to apply myself. And then they look to their left and they look to their right, and everybody else is applying themselves. And so suddenly what seemed like something that was gonna be hard to overcome, or a worry, if you will, on the part of somebody, gosh, I hear it's a lot of work there. Suddenly it just becomes the rhythm of school.
SPEAKER_00:Right.
SPEAKER_01:And you're and you're applying yourself in a way that is is escalating kind of what your potential is in a way that I think is the tradition of Jesuit education.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And I and I had a con I have this conversation often, especially that I get more out and about and continue to try to push, you know, the boundaries, if you will, of, you know, and you know, because you you hired me, like telling the real story about this place. And, you know, talking to folks about that and realizing, oh, you you don't know what goes on here. So I was talking to a parent, you know, not too long ago, and you know, we were on a tour, and our boys just you know, it was a longer tour than usual, and so the boys are moving around. And my wife also had the same experience, and she's looking and like she they almost like this astonishment of like watching our how well behaved our young men are and they're all working and they're all like you know, and there were boys that were playing basketball and doing this kind of stuff too, but like it's like yeah, like what do you think they they they're in an environment where they grow up and they realize, oh, I I you said it this way, I have to apply myself. Yeah, this you can't come in here and think you're gonna skate by. It's not the design of it. And what you find is our young men, they work, you they'll get here early and they'll work, they'll stay after they'll work, you know, they use their time to make sure that they meet that demand and they're better for it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and I think I think if you think about the human condition, like if I reflect in my own life, and I think if it's fair when people reflect on their lives, we we feel more fulfilled and purpose-driven when we are working up to our potential. So I I do see our guys work all the time too, and they appear to be quite happy and content doing it. So I think that that's gotta be that again, that rhythm of of the culture of the school in a way where you are moving in a way that that you're tapping into the potential God gave you. And I think when we human beings direct ourselves that way, we're we're happier. We're we understand the the sacrifice of why the hard work is there, and that happens in a in a culture, in a community of reflection, too. You know, we're praying three times a day, we're we're uh we're going on retreats periodically to take a pause and say, you know, what's been going on in my life. I had the same experience at Open House this year. One of my former students from Creighton Prep came through with his family. Oh wow. I'm kind of getting old, Steve. I got I got former I got former rocker students coming through with their kids. But but his wife said to me at the end of the tour, I said, you know, I hope you hadn't. And she said, I had no idea uh the breadth of what's offered at the school. She said, that the physical facility is amazing. I've never been inside the building. And and her husband said, Yeah, I I guess we just didn't know everything that was here. And I said, Is that because you heard about our sports teams in the in the media? And she laughed and goes, Exactly. And she said, But from fine arts to the STEM programs to kind of all these things, she just said, I just I just didn't know that about Yeah, yeah, and it and it's a big task.
SPEAKER_00:You know, we talk about it all the time of there's how do we get better at telling the story because there are so many great people, our faculty, our staff, our kids doing so much great stuff. It's not easy to uh put all of that out there to where people can know. And and you know, it's like, hey, we're working because again, the expectation, you know, today I was talking to somebody, the expectation is the same no matter who you are. Right? We're we will support you, we will we will make sure you have what you need to go glorify God with those gifts, and it's cool to see what that looks like on a day-to-day basis. So question for you You sit in a very unique seat, and not just through your experience, but you get to see a perspective of this place kind of from all angles. What are some of your favorite aspects of our community that drive this mission to raise up these young men to be you know who the Lord called them to be?
SPEAKER_01:Oh gosh. That's a that's a big question. Uh let's see. I I mean, yeah, I I do have a unique seat. I mean, I I I joke and speak pretty openly, in some ways, being the president of Rockhurst is the office of title and ignorance. I'm in charge of everything and I don't know anything. Because there's so many elements of every single school day, thousands and thousands of thousands of experiences and interactions and goals and achievements. So, broadly speaking, one of the things that I observe with kind of a humbleness of gratitude for just the abundance of it is I I say this, you know, I do a lot of public speaking on behalf of the school. I'm traveling to alumni in different cities or I'm talking to parents. And and one of the truths of Rockhurst High School for me in that role is I I don't have to spend a lot of time researching to prepare what I'm gonna say about what's happened lately at school. Like it's it's unbelievable on an every two-week basis. Yeah, the things I can name that our kids are achieving, that our teachers are being recognized for. Like it is just freaking unbelievable. Right. The the achievement that happens in our school. And so, in some ways, my talks write themselves.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Uh so I have that perspective because I am usually talking about everything from you know, a need for a benefactor to maybe support us to a mission-based program or working with the local church to connecting to a good not-for-profit or a business in the community to the actual core of what we're doing on a daily basis in the school. And so just the abundance of grace, broadly speaking, is there. And then individually, things I love about the school. I mean, we we have a fantastic faculty and staff. I think they're they're very talented. I think they're they're diverse. I think we have a great set of Jesuits who are incredibly dedicated and present and visible, and that's very fortunate. We have great parents. I mean, I I've not had the experience in my eight years here as the president when there wasn't a moment when the school needed help in some regard that if we ask for parent support, like it's just there.
SPEAKER_00:Right.
SPEAKER_01:And broadly speaking, we just have parents who who are incredibly supportive, like they've enrolled their son here and they want his success. And so, generally speaking, they're gonna they're gonna circle the wagons to try to help us help him. Um so gosh, there's there's a lot of things. And then in the alumni community here, you know, it's it's a it's a proud group, it's an involved group, and it's kind of the same thing that it's whether it's our alumni board of governors or individual people with their talents and skill sets, I just I've got lots of great stories about times you reached out to help a person in this situation or that situation and that network. Yeah. Is yeah, we're really fortunate. It's easy to activate because people are so good.
SPEAKER_00:And and I'm curious, this is, you know, as we're having this conversation, I'm I just get curious. So, like when you're on the road and and folks, he's on the road a lot, uh you know, talking to talk as he said, what kind of peer me back in uh behind that curtain of like our alumni that are far gone and far removed in some cases, right? I know you go meet with young ones and just kind of all over depending on where you're at, but what is their like temperament or or what's the word I'm looking for? Like, how do they respond or like how are they engaged with the community? Like when you show up and you're bringing them news, like what are they like, I guess? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:It's interesting as we travel city to city, and we like think last year we were in 16 cities, this year we've probably been in six or seven. And I'll do a combination of individual appointments, and then we try to have a gathering and pull off. And and to watch that kind of roll and grow. Sometimes the guys coming are new, and so they tend to be like interested in the high school, and times they've been disconnected and they're reconnecting because their lives are busy somewhere else. Other times they're the guys that stay very deeply connected. Uh and I would say, I would say that that our alumni continue to have a strong interest in the school in the day and age of social media and updates. Most of them are coming. And I if I am not careful in my talk, they've already read it all on social media because they are paying attention. Yeah. I think I've been most struck by the associations and the affiliations. And so I'll just give you an example. We were out in San Diego a couple weeks ago, and there was a man from the class of 1959 who came in. He hadn't really been to anything for a long time. Very, very strikingly, I just before Andy Hagedorn came to Rockhurst and taught for between 35 and 40 years, he taught in San Diego.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, wow.
SPEAKER_01:And this 1959 alumnus told me he taught his son. And so I said, Really? And I knew the story from Mr. Hagedorn that he had been in San Diego and then chose to come to Rockhurst. Anyway, that 1959 alumnus, I had a wonderful conversation with him. He hadn't really come out to anything before. And then I got an email a week later from a 1959 alumnus who was in New Orleans. And he emailed me because Father Kramer, our new principal, came from New Orleans and said, Tell Father Kramer, and I didn't know this alum in New Orleans, tell Father Kramer hi. I was in the parish that he served at in New Orleans. So I, of course, did that. And I said to the man in New Orleans, I said, Hey, by the way, two of your classmates, I just met this classmate out in San Diego. Oh man. And he said, and Steve Ryan is your classmate, and he taught science here for years and years. And I said, So it's been fun to connect the guys from the class in 1959. And I was shocked. This man from New Orleans emailed me back. He said, Actually, I'm on the road driving back. I just drove out to San Diego. I had lunch with my classmate in San Diego.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, wow.
SPEAKER_01:The day before you guys came for your event, he loved it. So, you know, the over the years and over the miles, it's just always remarkable to me how close groups of alums keep no matter where they are. Right.
SPEAKER_00:The connections are pretty amazing. And it and it's been it's been convicting for me because, you know, we've had other folks on the podcast that, you know, whether they're parents, some alums, and motivating me to be more connected. Because, you know, to your point, depending on how life goes after you leave, you know, I got married, I started having kids, and I'm zipping 100 miles an hour down parenthood and all of that. But you're always paying attention. And you're always like aware of what's going on, even if you're not there. And it's always cool for me to just see some of those folks that, dude, you've you've stayed connected for 50 years, this many years, and you know, kind of get my butt and gear on doing the same with my guys as well, especially now that I'm back here.
SPEAKER_01:So Yeah, and I again I think that's the natural rhythm of life. I think the guys who are have been disconnected, it's just because they've been busy doing other good things. And that's another thing I would say that's that's great to see. I mean, I know the impact Rockhurst alums have in Kansas City. I can feel that, you know. But it's great to go to other cities. I was in Houston recently and I met with an alum, and then you go do just a basic research on him. I mean, he's been the head of Catholic charities of Houston, which is an enormous city. Jeez. And he's done a lot of good down there. And and so sometimes when people aren't connected to the high school, it's part of why we're doing the visits, because it's not that they have anything but affinity for the high school. It's just they get busy in their lives doing good things, and they're always appreciative to reconnect to the school.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So on this piece, as we're heading towards a close of the podcast, but this segment, you know, on informally you've been a lot of places in your career. You've been here twice. Right? Yeah, if I if I remember correctly. What makes this place I guess I uh stand out the word I want to use compared to other places you've been? Like when you think about Rockhurst High School and you think about what we do and the young men that we produce, the alumni involvement, the teachers, the whole thing, like what are what are some things that make this place unique across the board from some of the other places you've been?
SPEAKER_01:Well, of course, I'm every alumni base thinks their school's the greatest. And I'm at I'm at the greatest school in the Jesuit network. So uh that's not hard to answer, even though I'm not an alum. You know, I mean, uh uh I'll get there. I was able I've been able to travel with the Jesuits all over the world, and I remember being at a 300-year-old Jesuit high school in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I had given a presentation to this group of Jesuits that meeting, and they took us to dinner, and like we would do, they had students and they had singers and musicians. But I was able to visit with some of the students, and the pride that they exuded in their school was it just reminded me of of talking to Rockhurst alums. And so, in some ways, I think that sense of excellence and exuberance is is consistent at at many, many schools. I I would say one of the things that I'm grateful for at Rockhurst, if you look at history, so we're a Catholic school in a city, and and in the United States, you're still, even though we've been around a long time, 116 years, I I my view on it is I see the history of how our country unfolded and how the expansion of the West unfolded in the character and the vibe and the feel of the schools that I've been at. And and what do I mean by that? Kansas City was an expansion city. The Catholic Church established its kind of second home outside of the Maryland area in St. Louis, and so people were sent west from here. And, you know, there's Kansas City is when it comes to like faith and religion, overall Catholicity historically had been relatively small in Kansas City. And so the the passion that I find for the church here, and I think the church is growing, and I think the church is expanding, and of course the Jesuits being ecumenical, our kids are coming from different faith backgrounds and different zip codes. But the core of the mission, in terms of the Catholicity of it, I find in our alumni base a zeal here that in my own mind, when you're talking about third and fourth generation families, it's a passion that kind of ties itself back to if it's going to be great, we're gonna be there to make sure it's great. And so there's an earnestness, and I'm this might all be kind of crazy psychology on history for me, but but there is something here that has uh a greater uh passion and zeal and earnestness of the alums, which I imagine in my mind's eye goes back a few generations to the roots and the and I'm gonna call it the survivability of uh a school new coming here and and going. So, you know, we're in the age of Jesuit schools, the two other schools that I've been at, one was founded in 1818 and the other was founded in 1878, and we're 1910, and that first class was 1914. So we can trace our history back just a little bit closer. And I I think that kind of passion Brockhurst alums have for the school, I think it is rooted in that sense of you know, on the one hand, we're old, on the other hand, we're not really that old.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So yeah, and uh, I mean, the moment you said a 300 year old. School in Brazil. I'm like, it even when I look at that map I mentioned earlier, I forget like, oh, there were some schools that have been around for a long time still doing this thing. And that's that's a good point.
SPEAKER_01:And another thing that's unique. I mean, this is the only Jesuit high school I've been at where you're the only all-boys school in the metropolitan area. We we we carry a very high profile in Kansas City. We're it. We're the only all-boys option. And that isn't true in the other cities that I've worked at, Jesuit schools.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. So when I'm looking at, and I'm and I'm trying to ask this, you know, because we ask this question every podcast, because I could have this conversation with you for probably five hours.
SPEAKER_01:But uh nobody wants to stay on that long.
SPEAKER_00:When you again going back to the seat that you sit in and the years of experience you've had, you've come and gone and back again, you know. We asked this question, you know, if you could tell a prospective family or someone who's thinking about sending their young man to Rockhurst, what the number one reason you would or they should, what would that be?
SPEAKER_01:I think if we're doing our job right, the number one reason is old language that St. Ignatius would have called the salvation of souls. You know, I I want our students to know their eternal purpose. I want them to understand that this life is is temporary and how you live it matters and how you use your gifts matters. But but if you asked me though if I had to say one thing, it's it's the reason they put bricks up here on State Line Road, is is this deeper purpose of the school. If you if you allowed me to have a 1A, yeah, go for it. I would say because I think the education is gonna serve you in a way, uh, both in the immediate and in the long term of your life, that's gonna lead you to the roots of success we we hope for. So the immediate is that college prep piece that everybody I just hear it over and over and over again from graduates, the the success they have in college or graduate school, the confidence that they went with them. And then from older graduates, they're they're not talking as much about their test average or their career, they're talking about a deeper set of values that they look back at their life and say, I I had a lot of those things given to me as a foundation at Rockhurst High School. So it really is an education for a lifetime into eternity. But I I think of those kind of three building blocks as most important.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And that's a well said, you know, I think the one thing that I've been chewing on as, you know, the the lion's share of my role is talking to prospective families and getting them information. Is we're also talking about all of that in a very important, impactful four formative years in these young men's lives. I know that was my experience. You know, no matter what was going on at home, I was showing up here and getting love, accountability, obviously educated, opportunity, all of these different things in a time where, you know, me and my wife who's in education talk about this a lot. You know, that's not universal, you know, uh in education. And so great answer. Love how you answered that and definitely appreciate your time. Guys, this is always a fun joy of my day. And you know, again, this is Steve, your host. This is Mr. Laughlin, the president of our university, and this is The Rock Talk. We're gonna close this episode out and we'll talk soon.
SPEAKER_01:Thanks for having me today. Go hawklets.
SPEAKER_00:Go hawklets.