Rock Talk

Thanksgiving Gratitude From The Rock

• Steve Redmond & Beth VanDyke

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Gratitude changes how a community breathes. On Thanksgiving, Steve Redmond, our Director of Admissions and Marketing, steps behind the mic to offer a heartfelt thank-you to the people who make Rockhurst High School’s mission real—faculty, staff, parents, and alumni. This special message trades the usual format for a reflective pause: a look back on the year, a recognition of unseen effort, and a call to carry the brotherhood forward with presence and love.

We spotlight the daily faithfulness of teachers and staff who show up when it’s hard, and the commitment of parents who trust us with their sons and shoulder the rhythms of high school life. Steve also turns to our alumni—celebrating who they have become and inviting them to reconnect with the next wave of Hawklets. Whether it’s dropping by campus, mentoring a student, or simply checking in, those touchpoints strengthen the Jesuit values that shape men for others.

There’s also space for the complexity of the holidays. Joy and bustle can sit beside grief and exhaustion, and Steve offers a word of comfort for anyone carrying a heavy season. The invitation is simple: hug your people, say the loving thing out loud, and notice the grace that’s already present. If someone in your life could use encouragement, share this message and help it find its way to a table that needs it.

If you find value in Rock Talk, subscribe, leave a review, and pass this episode along to a fellow Hawk or a friend who could use a lift. Your support helps the brotherhood grow stronger, one thank-you at a time.

SPEAKER_00:

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 am your host, or one of your hosts, Steve Redman, Director of Admissions and Marketing at Rockhurst High School. Beth is enjoying the holiday, and I wanted to come in and just send out a little bit of a message. This is a little off speed for what our typical episodes look like, but I thought it was important. It was kind of on my heart and my spirit to shoot this podcast on this wonderful Thanksgiving day. It's my favorite holiday, and it is a wonderful time typically for families to get together, friends to get together, enjoy some food and some fellowship, and give thanks for various things in their life, whether it's health, maybe it's wealth, maybe it's just friendship, who knows? But I was sitting thinking this week, and excuse me, I was moved this holiday season to just extend a show of gratitude and thanks for thankfulness. And that's all this is about. I think thank yous go a long way. I think showing gratitude goes a long way. It digs and hugs maybe the deeper parts of who we are as people. When you get a thank you, when you get a show of thankfulness and gratitude for anything, maybe it's a sacrifice you made, maybe it's, you know, investing time, maybe it's teaching somebody something. It could be a host of things. But as I was just reflecting on this, because this time of year is always reflection for me. I go into a deep state of reflection, usually starting in October, front end of October, getting prepared for a new year, just to reflect on my life, reflect on the year, the current year, the last several years, just for reflection, generally speaking. And this is what came up. So, you know, I just wanted to say thank you for me, from my office to the faculty and staff at Rockhurst High School for what you do every day when you show up and invest in our young men, what you've done historically, those, and I mean those who have come and gone, those or who are currently here, just thank you for showing up every day. When it's hard, when it's not easy, when it's, you know, uncomfortable, a lot of different things that come up, you know, a lot of things that we don't generally talk about. So thank you to the faculty and staff at Rockhurst for making this place what it is. Thank you to the parent community for believing in what we do at Rockhurst and trusting us with your sons and helping. You know, we've talked on previous episodes about the amount of service and help and support that goes into a place like Rockhurst High School. And uh parents, again, currently, who have sons in the fray of high school life, and past parents. Thank you so much for what you do to make this community what it is, to make this brotherhood what it is. It means the world to all of us that are involved in this process. And it can't happen without you. So if you've never heard that, which I know you have, but if you've missed that, we're very appreciative of what you do day in and day out to get your sons here, to shuttle them back and forth, to do all of this different stuff. We really appreciate that. To the alumni community, a deep, heartfelt gratitude for my fellow alums, those of you who I know, those of you who I don't know, you are a major part of what makes this place great. What you have done while you were here is your time as a student, and who you've grown to be over however many years you've been away. Thank you for making this place great. Thank you for continually working to build the brotherhood, continually supporting what we do here. It means a lot. It again could go unsaid, but this wouldn't be possible without you. And I would encourage you guys, as you're listening to this, and hopefully you're with your families or you have been with your families. If you're an alumni listening to this, come up, visit, call, get connected if you're disconnected, reconnect to this place because there's a current batch of young men, freshmen through seniors, that are about to step into the brotherhood. And you have a stake in their ability to go be great and help have an impact in the community and on their journey. That's what this is about. Is growing and strengthening this brotherhood and continuing to be God-fearing men that go out and have success in our families, in our careers, whatever it is. So that's just for me to you, alumni to alumni. Get connected if you if you haven't been connected. And this last piece is just a general note. Something that I always think about every year. My family has hosted Thanksgiving for the last, I don't know, 15, 16 years, maybe even longer than that. And like I said, it's my favorite holiday and something that was on my heart. Another thing was, you know, enjoy your family, hug each other, express the love that you have for each other. It matters. And, you know, if for whatever reason you're in a season of, you know, maybe the holidays aren't a super happy time for you. For whatever reason, I just pray that the Lord finds you and brings you some comfort. You know, holidays can be busy, they can be exhausting, but they can also be tough for folks. And uh, for whatever that's worth, just I pray that you find comfort from the Lord in this time, that you have some folks in your in your circle that you can lean on, and that you just make the most of what you have in front of you. So that was it. You know, I didn't have much of anything, just got prompted, and I didn't want y'all to go without an episode if we could avoid it. And so if you fall, if you fall in any one of those categories, or you know someone that falls in any one of those categories I mentioned, please send this episode to them. Maybe the words will, you know, lift their spirits. You know, that's what the holidays are about, is a time, at least on paper, you know, a time to celebrate and enjoy each other's company and feel great and, you know, be with people who love you is the hope. So, you know, seems random, but seemed meaningful to me. And anytime I get prompted, I usually try to act on it. And so that's all I have for you guys. You know, again, I hope your holiday season is blessed. I hope, you know, Thanksgiving is great. I hope that you, you know, power up and find some strength to finish the year strong. But either way, take those words for what they're worth. And I hope they're worth a lot to you. So this is Steve Redman. This is an episode of Rock Talk, and we'll talk soon.