Mission Week Live At Rockhurst

A live audience. Two student interns. A week where service, spirit, and storytelling collide. We hand the mic to Jack and Michael as they launch “Sup Boys,” our student-led podcast that captures life at Rockhurst from the inside: candid, energetic, and deeply rooted in Jesuit values.

Mission Week sets the stage. We break down how each class rallies behind a specific partner—from St. Peter Claver Parish in Belize to Red Cloud Indian School in South Dakota, a Sudanese education initiative, and the senior project in San Andrés, Guatemala. These aren’t faceless fundraisers; they’re relationships guided by faculty connections that turn generosity into encounter. You’ll hear the crowd’s favorite traditions, from dodgeball to the STA/Sion volleyball game, and how small moments can fuel big impact.

Jack and Michael share the real shift that happens when service becomes personal. Their time at L’Arche Heartland—celebrating a birthday dressed as Power Rangers—reveals how presence, joy, and humility can reframe what “helping” means. We pivot to winter sports with a milestone: basketball’s 19–0 start, the rivalry game at Municipal Auditorium, and the grit that defines Rockhurst athletics. Plus, a look ahead to a captains’ roundtable, expanded social presence on Instagram, and open invitations for student-suggested topics and dream guests.

Decision Day brings it home. The guys explain why they chose Rockhurst: hallways that feel like home, friendships that cross groups, and a culture that pushes you to grow through service, faith, and brotherhood. If you’re a prospective family or a future Hawklet, this conversation offers a true-to-life picture of what makes our community unique. Listen, subscribe, and share with someone who needs to hear what Mission Week—and student leadership—looks like when it comes alive. If you enjoyed this one, follow the show, leave a review, and tell us: which topic should “Sup Boys” tackle next?

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:30

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.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to our listeners.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

We're excited to be hosting our very first Rock Talk podcast in front of a live audience here during Mission Week. So thank you for all who came and are joining us in the audience today. Another fun fact and an important thing is as part of an initiative from Rockhurst to move towards more experiential learning opportunities and hands-on work experience for our students. The admissions and marketing team are taking part in our first ever Rockhurst intern program. So right now we have six Rockhurst interns, uh, ranging from sophomores to seniors working with us in two different areas, one in content creation, and then another group that is working in project management. And Mr. Redmond and I are super excited to work with them.

SPEAKER_02 2:01

Yeah, for sure. I think it'll be a great opportunity for these young guys to not only help Rockhurst better, you know, I say better represent itself, but I mean more actively, you know, represent itself and our guys in the community, but it'll give them some real life experience, like you said, into what it takes to do that well. The little nuances that come with, whether it's a social media post, whether it is, you know, content from video or you know, a podcast. So I'm really excited about getting with these guys and and uh moving the needle.

Student Interns Introduce “Sup Boys”

SPEAKER_01 2:36

So yeah, and shout out to Mr. Tyler Baker, our director of experiential learning here at Rockhurst. He's really the driving force behind making these opportunities available to our students and making sure they have the tools necessary to compete in that that world. So today we are welcoming two of our our interns who are in a very exciting turn of events taking on a content role, creating some new student content. But instead of me telling you all about it, I'm I'm gonna turn it over to them. So, first off, Jack, I'm gonna give you credit. He was the first one to join our Slack channel, which was number one thing we asked was done this week. So congratulations on completing that task.

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Good job, but step in the right direction, yep.

SPEAKER_06 3:24

All right, well, thank you for having us. Kind of kickstart our little podcast. Like you said, my name is Jack McShane, and my name is Michael Lassala. And turn students, you guys might recognize those names from your morning announcement videos. Due to the overwhelming success of those videos, we were invited to kind of have this opportunity, and you know, I couldn't be more excited about it.

SPEAKER_07 3:44

Yeah, absolutely. I agree. I think we've had a lot of fun in these morning announcements, and little did we know it did uh lead to Miss Van Dyke coming up to us and asking us to uh be their interns, which uh we were very excited to do.

SPEAKER_06 3:56

So I guess I just want to officially welcome all of our listeners in the crowd and online to SUP Boys, the student-led podcast where we cover everything our guys are up to on and off campus.

SPEAKER_07 4:11

From academics and athletics to service, faith and moments that make the rock unforgettable. This is an inside look at Life at the Rock, the Catholic Jesuit All Boys College Preparatory High School of Kansas City.

What Mission Week Means And Who It Supports

SPEAKER_06 4:25

Hosted by students, for students. This is Sup Boys. Let's get into it. Love it, man. So, first up on our agenda while filming this, this is coming out the Friday of Mission Week. Probably I would say my favorite week here at The Rock. We've got a lot of stuff going on today while we're filming this. You know, we've got sophomore dodgeball going on. Tomorrow, Wednesday, we've got the St. Teresa's Scion and Rockers volleyball game. So we're actually gonna go to our crowd members here and kind of just get a feel for what are some of their favorite moments about Mission Week.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

Awesome. And while they do that, for those of you who are not familiar with Mission Week and what it was originated as and designed to do, is it really came out of our service immersion work that we've done out in the community here for many, many years and a desire from our students to do more than just giving that one week of service, but how can we impact others? So while the boys are getting set up to go out into the crowd and hear a little bit from our crowd about what they like about Mission Week, I'm gonna kind of go over a little bit about the different organizations that our students are currently fundraising for. So our freshman group is currently fundraising for, and actually, I may, Brendan, do you wanna do you wanna take this one? I know you you've been doing it. We have in our audience our esteemed SGA president, Mr. Brendan Warballs. And you know, I could talk your ear off all day, but it sounds like he's he's ready to go with it. So can you just give him just a brief description of what each of the classes are fundraising for? So he's getting set up right now.

SPEAKER_02 5:59

Is that Mike on?

SPEAKER_00 6:00

Let's check that. Technical deal difficulties. Check it.

SPEAKER_02 6:04

Will you they might have turned it off?

SPEAKER_00 6:07

One second. Technical di difficulties on the back.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

This is what you get with a live show, people. Never know what's gonna happen. I think it's gonna go. And then as long as it's on on there, you should be good. Okay, now we're back in business. Whew.

SPEAKER_05 6:21

All right, guys. Much better show. Okay, yeah. So we got four different organizations that we are going to be fundraising for this week. The freshmen will be donor uh raising money for the St. Peter Claver parish in Puerto Rica Belize, which is very exciting. Father Kramer actually helped for the particular place to donate for, which is awesome. The sophomores then with help from Father Kramer as well. And one south is a good one. So they were learning a lot about how they can uh how their mission there was gonna be affected by the money that we raised, and then the premieres uh did the Red Cloud Indian School in Prime Red Reservation South Dakota. So Father Kramer had to die there once again, and he was able to help uh kind of bring our raising them to a new area because over the last two years we've got some doctors and some of the same three places, and all that kind of good, but then the seniors of our tradition chose to uh raise money for the carnival assessors of the Holy Family and the San Andreas and Abba Waterwallet, where they're around 70 to 80 seniors or go on their seniors or project down there for a week, and we get to have a really uh meaningful and incredible experience. So the money's gonna go down there to help, you know, the proper mission of, you know, laying concrete, building stoves, like giving them a better aspect of life. So that's gonna be really awesome. So those are the four uh four organizations that we're raising money for.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

So one of the things I love about that, you said Father Kramer had some connections to all of those different organizations. One thing I like hearing about is in my time at Rockhurst, you know, I I had the privilege of going down to Blease and getting to meet some of our Jesuit schools down there, mostly in Ble Belize City, but they talked a lot about the overwhelming need in Punta Gorda for more support down there and a real desire to try and build that relationship. But I was really fortunate to listen to Mr. Ryan Brennan of our counseling staff talk a couple of years ago about his time at Red Cloud and Indian School. So if you're ever looking for an expert on that school and and their needs, he's your guy. And then, of course, for our sophomore class, we have some students that are actually Sudanese refugees who, had they stayed in Sudan, could have had the opportunity to go to that school that we were talking about. So, all in all, we have all these great connections worldwide to all these different organizations, and I think it makes Mission Week all that more meaningful and memorable. So Jack's out there right now with the crowd, and why don't you uh take the lead in asking these guys what are some of their favorite things about Mission Week?

SPEAKER_06 8:51

So I'm here with the governor, Henry Coffinger now. Henry, you know, this is your fourth mission week. So I just wanted to know, you know, what are some of your favorite memories or things that you look back on a smile about Michael Week?

SPEAKER_03 9:02

I'd say annual just the board game's a lot of fun. Coming together as a school, just seeing that dice fly everywhere is fun, and all the different games we play is a lot of fun. But uh, I enjoyed the uh volleyball game, which is tomorrow night where we play S2 and Sion, and that's just a lot of fun going into them to school.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

Anybody else wanna chime in on their favorite part of Mission Week? Don't be shy, boys. Oh, there we go.

SPEAKER_06 9:31

You know, now coming into your second mission week. What are you excited for this year that you know that maybe you saw last year or something that you want to continue going forward?

SPEAKER_04 9:39

Uh yeah, I really enjoyed uh having the press down bracelets just like last year, but also this year, because uh it allows us to donate a lot more money, but also uh get to wear comfortable clothes at school and also have different themes to participate with uh each day.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

Yeah, I'm currently representing my grade school, uh St. Elizabeth School. I'm a little bit disappointed in my counterparts here, uh not repping their middle schools as the theme entitled. But don't worry, I I'm representing.

SPEAKER_06 10:09

I'm repping the uh St. Peter's Patriots in my actions every single day.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

Oh, there we go, there we go. Good recovery. All right, guys. Thank you so much from our audience for participating. First time trying that out. And I I think for the most part went pretty smoothly, Mr. Redmond.

How Service Transforms Students

SPEAKER_02 10:22

That's good. Yeah, I mean, everything you you start something new, you got to be prepared for some some bumps, but that was smooth for the most part. So all good and appreciate you boys uh participating in that. One thing I wanted to ask or bring up and audience, you can you can just kind of sit and and reflect on this, but rop service has always been a monstrous uh part of our culture. We were having that conversation before, whether it's mission week, the food drive week, all of the different things that we experience as Rockhurst alums or Rockhurst students over the years. What has been the biggest impact on you guys in terms of the service experiences? You know, that is part of what I think makes the Rockhurst man the Rockhurst man. And can you give me some insights into how that's impacted you from the freshman year to senior year on your way out?

SPEAKER_07 11:23

I mean, I think that obviously service is a huge part here at Rockhurst. Freshman year, you kind of get it easy where they set up days for you to do your service, but sophomore year kicks off where you're responsible for your own service of what you do. And I think I would say overall, me just being a high school kid, I kind of sophomore and junior year try to just do the easiest thing I could possibly do. I'm gonna be honest, but I would say this year for sure has been the most impactful for me. I went to Lars Heartland, so did Jack, and we got to spend a lot of time with adults that have mental disabilities. And kind of seeing, I guess some might see disadvantages they have and how they still motion like or go through their day-to-day, it's kind of amazing to me because you can tell that there are things they can't do, but they they don't really know, they don't ever, I guess, get frustrated, like maybe we might do when something doesn't go our way. They just always seem to still find a way to live life how everybody else does. They don't they don't sit in mellow in what they do, and I think seeing that being in a real world situation like that, which I think anybody that had any other senior service situation can say this, that you kind of just realize what others people what other people's life looks like um from just their perspective instead of your own. Right.

unknown 12:49

Cool.

SPEAKER_06 12:50

Yeah, I mean, Michael, you said it really well. Like obviously, specifically with mission week services at the core, you know, we like to have fun, but everything, everything we do, every event, you know, is raising money, school spirit, but ultimately for um our chosen organizations. And you know, freshman year coming in, having to not really have done any service in the past. Those uh freshman days of service, those are some of my best memories for my freshman year, especially the very first one, not really knowing anyone, getting on a bus the first the day before the first day of school, and really getting to know some some guys that I never really would have been able to really naturally meet, I guess, any other way. And then I had a really similar experience with Michael that sophomore and junior year, trying to find, you know, you know, how's the eas what's the easiest way I can get my hours, you know? Oh, can I, you know, cut my grandma's lawn and put down four hours? Um which is not how you're supposed to do it, by the way. But yeah, Michael said we went to Larsh, and that was really truly a life-changing experience for me. Just kind of getting to physically be with the people that my service was having an impact on was so different from anything that I'd ever done. And being able to see my impact on a day-to-day basis, you know, just this extra smile on someone's face. You know, me and Michael, I think probably my best memory from that, it was one of the members' birthdays. And he was a big Power Rangers fan. So me and Michael dressed up as Power Rangers and we went and we went in, you know, saying happy birthday to him. And he went on to us, he said, you know, this is the best birthday ever. And that's just that just kind of gets you right in the feels, warms your heart. And that's that's not what service is all about. So it's definitely about helping people, but you know, when you help others, like you're really helping yourself as well. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

I think, you know, I I'm gonna plug it for all of our underclassmen that are here. I think sophomore and junior year, that's everybody's kind of mode, like, how do I just get these hours done? And one thing I would encourage them to look at is our service immersion trips. I talk about them all the time about how much it's transformed me, even in adulthood. And I'm getting to go to St. Andreas at Zapa in Guatemala last year with our seniors and really seeing that transformation live in person, you know, kind of seeing our boys focus on things outside of the day-to-day. You know, people are worried about college decisions, they're worried about, you know, maybe their social life and things like that. And then they get to a place like San Andreas where people are living at a level of poverty that they probably have never encountered, and then seeing how joyful and happy those people are despite not having really anything like what they're used to, I think is a really transformational experience. And I encourage our underclassmen to really look at those opportunities because you can start going on service immersion trips as freshmen. And there's a lot of different places you can go and a lot of different people you can meet and interact with, and I think it's a great program.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

For sure, for sure. So, fellas, loop us back in. I want to know about the winter sports updates and all the stuff that y'all got for the audience.

SPEAKER_07 15:51

So, uh yeah, coming off a big week last week, we played uh Miage last Tuesday, which is obviously a big rivalry, been a big rivalry forever. Yep. And then probably the biggest, maybe the biggest sports game in rockers history, we had the East game last Friday. Yeah, man. Which was at municipal auditorium. So that was big, big change and uh really good turnout, I would say. But the fellows did get it done both times, so yeah. Yeah, for sure.

Winter Sports Headlines And Records

SPEAKER_02 16:17

And there's nothing wrong with uh close games this late in the season. Battle get get battle tested before we run into the playoffs and stuff. So it was good.

SPEAKER_07 16:25

And I think no matter what, if it's a rivalry game, it's gonna be close. Everybody finds a way to make it close. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

And I think they're trying to kind of make that a yearly thing, the state line showdown is what you're calling it, right? So tell us a little bit more about that basketball team. I heard they might be uh record breakers this year.

SPEAKER_06 16:39

So yeah, with that win over East, they moved to 19-0, which is the greatest start in rockers basketball history. And you know, it's just a common theme with rocker sports, you know, where there's a will, there's a way, and this team just keeps finding a way. Bunch of gritty guys get it done on the court, compete defensively, and I think that's just what rocker's all about, just you know, hard work and dedication. So this week they're going down to Columbia Friday to take on Rock Ridge High School. Oh, okay. As well as basketball, our wrestling team has taken on, has a duel against Miege on Wednesday, which is the last, I believe, the last regular season match of their season. So good luck to them as they go into the playoffs. And then uh hockey this Friday, they're playing the KC Stars at KCIC. Uh so hopefully the they can get a few wins can strung together as their season winds down.

SPEAKER_01 17:29

Great. So tell us a little bit more about what you guys have planned in the near future here on Sub Boys.

SPEAKER_06 17:37

So for the immediate future, our next episode, uh, we're proud to announce we are planning on having all our winter sports captains to kind of get an inner, closer look about how their seasons have gone so far, maybe some fun stories of the seasons, struggles, triumphs. Um, just kind of get a sense for where our athletic teams are at as they go into their playoff season.

SPEAKER_01 17:57

Okay, great. Um, and just so you guys know, stay tuned, right? I think you guys are gonna have some more social media presence. You want to talk about that?

SPEAKER_07 18:04

Yeah, I would say uh be on the lookout. We have uh our new Instagram coming out soon. Make sure to check out the SGA Instagram for more information.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

So yeah, and I I would encourage anybody listening, especially our our student body, to submit some some topics, some guests, some ideas. Guys, I know we were chatting about this beforehand. If you guys had a dream guest, you know, we were talking about manifesting our dream guest, who who would that be?

SPEAKER_07 18:27

I mean, I I think it's someone's birthday today.

SPEAKER_06 18:29

That's that's what I think. I think it's perfectly fitting that you ask us this question on February 3rd, which is, you know, the birthday of uh Jeb Ketting. Yes. One of the greatest to ever do it at The Rock. So, Jeb, if you're listening, please come on our podcast. It will be a joy and a pleasure to have you.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

So uh class of 2025 grad, and we'll see if we can get him on the line and and hopefully uh your dreams come true, much like Travis Kelsey's, you know.

SPEAKER_07 18:54

I really hope.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

Okay, great. So as far as what's going on with us, Steve, in our next kind of iteration, we as you know, we do kind of four thematic episodes per kind of unit. So our next one is Brother in Action. So we'll look at, you know, everything from, like you said, service, looking at alumni connections and and how people come together outside of their life at Rockurst, but also looking at actual brothers, right? Right, for sure. We have some dream guests for that as well.

SPEAKER_02 19:23

Yeah, we got some brothers that we would love to line up. I won't mention them, but there's some guys that jump out under my mind to try to get on the show and just talk about the brotherhood at large. Yeah. But also like the brotherhood, brotherhood of you know, what's it like to be a brother that went to Rockhurst with a brother type deal, which will be cool. And, you know, just keep pushing through. This last few weeks has been chaotic, as as as we can imagine. We have been pressing deep into the admission season where we're gonna have a new batch of hawklets rolling through here before long. And so that that took us a little off our normal schedule, but I'm excited to get back on the regular schedule and you know, get back rolling with our our plan that we have for the podcast.

Decision Day And Choosing Rockhurst

SPEAKER_01 20:11

So great. And speaking of that, guys, we are just we're releasing this on what is called decision day, right? So an important day for our incoming hawklets. They'll receive their admissions decision and decide if rockers where they want to spend the next four years. So looking back to that that time in your life, what made you choose the right the rock? I mean, what what were some of the factors that you were like, yeah, this is why this is the right place for me?

SPEAKER_06 20:36

I always loved answering this question because up until about October of my eighth grade year, I would have told you I was going to Bishop Miage. Boo. What are you doing? Yeah, you coming from two uh Miyage parents, that was always kind of the natural direction that I felt I would go. I think I've told the story a million times. I think I might have told it on the pod before. My first day shadowing at Rockers, I was hooked within the first class I was in. It just felt different. You know, people felt excited to be at school and be with each other. And there was like we always say it's so cliche that the brotherhood was just so strong, but it really was like you could it's something you can feel when you walk in the building, and I just wanted to be a part of that. So I felt Rockers was definitely the choice for me.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

Yeah. And I know you come from a long line of Rockers grads, but what what made you want to come here?

SPEAKER_07 21:22

So yeah, I have had a lot of family members come through Rockers, but I would just say first day of uh like Jack said, shadowing, it's just like you kind of notice something different than other schools. Like it's not saying that there's anything bad with other schools, but it's like it's just the connection between everybody. It's just the fact that everybody knows each other, everybody like is walking around talking to each other, talking to different groups of guys. It's not like there's a separate like this group, this group. It's like everybody here has like an actual relationship with each other, and that's what I think makes it so special. And I think just building on that, I think it's been a big, big part of my life in high school.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

So awesome. Great. And I will say, uh, maybe we could get some future Hocklets on Subboys that once they you know make sign on the dotted line at our ceremonial signing, which is gonna take place on Tuesday, February 10th, right before the Pembroke Hill game. So maybe we can get a couple of Hockelets to come come visit you, future Hocklets here. But so we're really excited to welcome them. I know Brendan and some of his his pals have been working. Working very hard on a nice little welcome video to welcome the new class on, like he had nothing else going on this week, Mr. Edmund, to add to his plate there. But we're really excited to welcome them. We're really excited to see some probably, you know, right now we're sending out two almost 275 decisions on this Friday, and that doesn't even encapsulate everybody else who is maybe not heard about The Rock but wants to come.

SPEAKER_02 22:52

I still I'm still getting phone calls about hey, is it and I mean when I say phone calls, I mean like they got two kids here already and they haven't started.

Welcoming Future Hawklets And Closing

SPEAKER_01 23:02

That happens sometimes. Oops. You know, as as a middle child myself, I'm still recovering from that and my parents' lack of memory around deadlines. But no, in general, I think we want families to know there is still time. Decision day does not mean uh end in day by any means. And so we want uh the more the merrier, right, boys? We want as many hotlits as possible. Yeah. All right. Well, thank you guys so much. Thank you to our audience members that uh got to witness our first ever live podcast, first ever podcast from our uh Setboys over here. Yeah. So all the different wonderful things here. So this is Beth and Steve, yeah, and Jack and Michael, and we're we're just really excited to have you guys join us on on our podcast here in the in the near future.

SPEAKER_02 23:49

Yeah, and we'll talk soon.

SPEAKER_06 23:51

Right. Yeah, thank you for having us. We'll see y'all boys later.