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
Three Brothers Share How Rockhurst Turns Passions Into Paths
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Lights down, crowd roaring, seniors rushing the freshmen section—that spark of brotherhood sets the stage for a conversation that travels from the track to the broadcast booth to the heart of what makes Rockhurst different. We sit with the Burns brothers—senior Ivan, sophomore Felix, and freshman Baron—as they share how a Jesuit college prep turns curiosity into opportunity and classmates into lifelong friends.
Ivan pulls back the curtain on student media: how an intro class led to newspaper, then to launching student-led sports broadcasts with coaches and mentors backing the vision. He explains why moving Prep News from print to digital unlocked richer storytelling with video interviews and faster coverage, and how recruiting younger students keeps the booth buzzing. Felix opens up about the grind and joy of sprinting—the 100, the 200, and relays—and how a once-hated race became his best. He connects that growth to the Human Dignity Club and a simple truth: love for the work beats chasing outcomes. Baron, eyeing the 400 and the jumps, talks about stepping in, meeting people, and embracing the brotherhood from day one.
We also explore the path from Visitation to Rockhurst, the power of showing up for pep rallies, Mass, and games, and the practical steps to find your lane—start the club, join the team, grab the mic. Then the lens shifts to life after graduation. Our host shares how alumni ties work in real life, why a call to a fellow Hawklet so often gets a yes, and how teachers and coaches paired high expectations with deep care during hard times. That mix—AMDG in action, shared language, and a network that stays warm—turns four fast years into a foundation that lasts.
If you’re a prospective family, a current student, or an alum looking for a reminder of why this place matters, you’ll hear it here: resources that meet initiative, mentorship that invites leadership, and a brotherhood that doesn’t fade. Listen, share with a friend, and tell us what moment lit your spark. Subscribe for more stories, leave a review to help others find us, and join the conversation—what passion are you ready to pursue next?
Welcome To Rock Talk
SPEAKER_01Welcome 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 want to welcome everybody back to the podcast. This is one of your co-hosts, Steve Redman, Director of Admissions here. I am solo today. We got Beth out of town, probably enjoying some lobster or something like that. Um on vacation, and we're running this episode. I got three brothers in front of me, all davonair and obviously intelligent because they're Rockers guys, but uh this segment we're talking about brotherhood and taking brotherhood to another level, which is why we have the brothers here. If you would, gentlemen, go ahead and introduce yourself to the community and you know, tell us what class you're in and uh go from there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so I'm Ivan Burns, senior here at Rockers class of 2026. And you know, thanks for having me. First of all, thanks for having us on the podcast. I'm just I'm involved with prep news, that's my main thing. So newspaper broadcasting, but you know, you can find me all over the school. I've done stuff with the entrepreneurship club in the past. You know, I've I'm on the tennis team, so just a lot of stuff in general.
SPEAKER_05Okay.
SPEAKER_03First off, thanks for having me. I'm Felix Burns. I'm a sophomore class of 28 here at Rockers, and I'm mainly involved with the track and field team right now and trying to get involved. I'm in the Human Dignity Club, and I'm planning to get involved in more clubs currently, but just embracing the community right now.
SPEAKER_01Okay, cool.
SPEAKER_04I'm Baron Burns, I'm class of 29, and I'm involved in the Human Dignity Club, and I'm planning on doing broadcasting, but I also think I might do track and field.
Track Sprints And Favorite Races
SPEAKER_01Okay, okay. I love it, man. I love the diversity amongst the group. Let me ask you this. I'm curious. I know we were talking a little bit about off-air about what you guys are into. I'll start with you, Felix. You said you you you run track. What do you run?
SPEAKER_03So I've always been a short distance guy, so 100 obviously, and 200, but also relays. And the funny story I have about the 200 that I always tell people when they ask me, it used to be my least favorite event. Okay. Um, I used to hate it so much. I would just I would never think of doing it. And I think as I got older and as I got longer legs, I think it became a lot easier. And now that's probably my favorite race.
Student Broadcasting Takes Off
SPEAKER_01Okay, I asked because I I ran track. That was one of my three sports growing up, and when I was here, and I was uh unfortunately a 400 guy. So I uh I never had the quicks to run the hundred well and then two hundred. I was like, okay, and then I made my bones in the four, and I hated every minute of it. So, you know, I got a lot of respect for our track athletes and anybody out there that is in the heat running just to run. So that's cool. Ivan, talk to me a little bit. You you are involved in a lot of stuff, and a lot of stuff that quite honestly is mystifying to me because it encompasses a lot of things. From you know, the prep news, which I'm going to assume has changed uh over 20 plus years. It has, it definitely has. So, Brock, I know I saw you broadcasting the game the other day, and I would love for you to explain if you would, kind of dive a little bit deeper for myself, but as well as the audience on kind of the inner workings of the stuff that you're involved with.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so to give a little context, I started off uh second semester of my sophomore year, so kind of Felix's age. I I was involved with some stuff, entrepreneurship club, but I took intro to broadcasting and I loved it. And so then I came back junior year, newspaper, and then senior year. Me and my dad were talking about, you know, hey, we've been watching the football games, basketball games, and they don't have a person on there broadcasting. Yes. And so I was like, well, you know, maybe I can get the opportunity to do that. And so me and Mr. Hoppke worked that out. Shout out to Coach Cruz, he really helped that out, and and he was a big fan of that. So yeah, that's kind of how it started, and it's a mix of different stuff. That's my second year on newspaper. I'm an editor on that staff, and so I have a lot of fun there with the print journalism, but also broadcasting being a little bit of a new thing this year. I took that, I took intro to broadcasting, like I said, my sophomore year, and then first semester this year, I took broadcasting too and was able to get in the booth for some football games. That's where I started, and then we just started basketball as well. We did a few of those, and so it's actually the first student-led broadcast we believe in Rockers history. So it's been a lot of fun, and and it's been something that I'm also trying to recruit some people in the future to do, but that's kind of the inner workings of that, yeah. He he keeps asking me for it, but me being the older brother, I'm yeah, he's gotta earn it.
From Print To Digital Prep News
SPEAKER_01So well, I'm looking forward to it because you know, there's some there's some stuff like I I play in the background, if you will. And excuse me, audience, this 70 degree weather in February has my allergies acting up. So, but playing in the background of that, because I remember, you know, when me and you first met at a football game or whatever, I was like, hey man, dude, if you're doing a broadcast and you need some help or some support, like let me know. Because, you know, part of what you know I was telling you guys off air is I'm so passionate about seeing young guys be successful, seeing young people generally be successful, but like especially here. So, like anything I can do to enhance or grow or help you all. One, that's a personal invitation to you three. Like, let me know because I'm working on some stuff that will hopefully provide a structure to us being able to have resources in terms of like like you say, you're recruiting guys. Yeah. So so it's not just the Ivan thing, it's like, no, we got a broadcast and we do this, and now Baron is coming up, and then whoever else is interested, because I think that's also important, is like having when it becomes a thing, now people look and say, Oh, I want to be a part of that.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And then you can, you know, the training and the learning and the growing is all just a part of anything. So that's cool. Let me let me ask this, and then Baron, I'm gonna I'm gonna circle back to you. So, how has uh like prep news and the newspaper changed? Because like I'm assuming y'all don't print because we do not print anymore.
SPEAKER_02We just had a conversation about that, me and Mr. Hockey, actually. We used to print, and it was pretty popular, and and I was able to get a few old newspapers out and look at them, but now we're online, and so that's really cool. I think that gives us some flexibility. We get to do some fun stuff. I was able to interview some kids for one of my stories and then use kind of the video of the interview I had and put that online. So I think there's a a lot of flexibility and fun stuff you can do online that you couldn't do when you printed. Then on on top of that, you know, it's it was expensive to print for prep news, and it was like if we can go online and kind of cut those costs and you know, put that towards something else, then that you know, that's something that's you know worthwhile and doing. So that's I would say the main thing with prep news, but yeah, I I I think it's just cool to seeing the overall progression and evolution of broadcasting and news just overall and how Rockers responds to it. I think technologically we're super advanced. You know, we have a big green room up there and a bunch of technology that we use, so it's really cool to see the new stuff that we get in every year. And so yeah, I I think it's just cool to see the evolution, like you said. There's there's a lot of prep news alumni. Uh Mr. Reedy's one. Yeah. So shout out to him. But there's a lot of prep news alumni that we see around, and so I think it's always really cool talking to them about that.
Choosing Activities And Finding A Lane
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's what's up. So so Baron, let me ask you this. Because you're you're interested in track and feel, you're interested in possibly broadcasts. Is is that because of your brothers, or is that like something that runs in the family, like somebody else in y'all's family does that stuff too?
SPEAKER_04Uh I'd say like we're pretty big, like sports family, like we like to watch sports, so like me and Ivan watch a lot of sports, so I'd say like just the love for sports once gets me to want to you know do broadcasting here. And then track and field, I don't know if I'm gonna do it, but I'm thinking about it. But yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, get you some of that track. Track is life-changing. It it was easily my most hated sport because you sit out in the heat all day, uh and this isn't a good sale for you, but I'm honest, okay? So you sit out there all day, you run your race, and then you sit there some more, and it is, man. It is a is a beast. But I did truthfully have some of my best memories at track. That was the first trip that I ever took on a plane. I was flying to a track meet when I was like 11 or 12, which was fun. And it's it's growth because anytime I think you're out in the heat doing something, it's it's gonna be character building. So I hope you I hope you do you know what you might be interested in running?
SPEAKER_04Uh like I ran track in like sixth grade. I did like long jump and like high jump. So Okay. And then I might like run like the 400.
Pep Rallies And Shared Moments
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah. Well, you call me when you are having a meltdown. When he's struggling. Yeah. It's the beast of a race. But okay, guys, so look, let's switch gears just a touch. I w one, I want to say I think this is super cool to have you all here as brothers within the brotherhood, you know. And like I have a brother who also went here, but I'm 10 years older than my brother. So I think this is really dope that y'all get to you're gonna get to experience a lot of life together. Yeah. Right? Like this gap actually isn't as big as it might seem um in life. Like I told you, my girls are in a similar situation. So do me a favor, answer this question. What is one of your favorite moments that you've had so far this year as an individual and as a collective of brothers?
Viz Roots And Picking Rockhurst
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think for me, the answer that pops into my head is is getting to start the broadcasting here at Rockhurst. I know that I just talked about that, but that's something that I've got a lot of support from just throughout Rockhurst and throughout my family. And that's not, you know, it's not only been because of the support, but it's been a lot of fun for me. It's been something that like I didn't expect to enjoy it that much. I was a little nervous my first time I did it, but when I got home from doing it that night, uh it was Rockers vs. Mi Age. Yeah. I got to be on the radio for that football game. Once I got home from it, I was like, whoa, that was really fulfilling. That was a lot of fun. Yep. And so that's been something for me is because you know, looking into college and looking at stuff that maybe I want to go into, being able to try that here at Rockurst and then kind of figure out, like, oh my gosh, I had a ton of fun doing that. Maybe I want to pursue that in college. That has been maybe one of my favorite moments. And I think as a group, uh just going back to the start of the year when Baron was a freshman, that that was a lot of cool just getting to like see them around and and get to be with them here at Rockhurst. I know it's something that my family's talked about since you know I I came here as Rockers as a freshman. Yeah. Was that hey, when you're a senior, and that felt like I'm you know a mile away. 100%. When you're a senior, you're gonna have two younger guys here, your brothers, they're both gonna be in the school, and so it it's a lot of fun. It's certainly a unique experience, but it's fun. I I see them sometimes talking with my friends after school or at at lunch or during activity period, just to get to see them talk to some of the guys that you know I'm friends with. Right. I never had that coming in, you know, because I didn't have any older brothers, and so you know, I imagine that that's something that's really cool for them. And and that's something that sometimes I saw in my friends is like, oh, they know these older kids. Kind of percent. Their older brothers were friends with them. So I think it's been cool to kind of see that connection between classes with them.
SPEAKER_00Cool.
SPEAKER_01Cool. What about you, Felix?
SPEAKER_03A huge moment for me would probably just be like, you know, when we gather as a school, like whether it's you know, going to mass or like, you know, like pep rallies or football games, like just to, you know, it's always something I've looked forward to, you know, just being part of Rockers, but being able to like look around and see all the guys just together as a community, you know, cheering each other on, encouraging each other. It's just yeah, it's just a huge thing for me. The brotherhood is just like that's what I focus on a lot. But I would say like a thing as a whole, you know, kind of what Ivan said, just kind of like to get into you know, be in the hallways together, you know, seeing each other, and like being part of that big collective, like brotherhood community, yeah, and then have you know your own brothers, you know, your your flesh and blood, you know, walking that journey with you is just a huge part for me.
SPEAKER_01So okay, cool. Close this out, bear.
SPEAKER_04My favorite moment as a freshman is probably like the the first pep rally was like really fun. I remember like they turned all the lights off and like a bunch of the seniors came and like ran into the freshman section and like he had a massive yeah, I got I got tackled by a a certain point guard that I know on the basketball team.
SPEAKER_02Oh, that's funny with the number zero. So shout out to him.
SPEAKER_01So okay, and then as a group with what uh for for the whole family, what do you think?
SPEAKER_04Probably like going to football games together, like them being there, like driving me, just like watching the football games, being in the student section, you know, and that's a pretty good experience.
Advice For Incoming And Current Students
SPEAKER_01Yeah, man. And and uh kid you not, guys, I'm an old dog now, of an old 40-year-old. Appreciate every moment y'all got, man. It's it's really cool to be able to experience a place like this with your actual brothers because you guys are gonna have so much common language with each other throughout the years. Like when I went to believe it or not, like my first homecoming was this year. And you know, because I got out, went and played football at Mizzou, got married like right after I graduated. I don't know what that is. That's some type of drum line. It was really the 70-degree weather, we had to open the door, we got some sound effects in the back, guys. Don't worry about that. But uh we life just took off for me. And so getting back, you got young kids, and it just wasn't and we didn't live here, we were in Columbia for a while. But seeing how tight guys were years later. Like 35 years, 40 years later, they're still hanging out, families know each other, all of this. So enjoy all of it, you know, because as he was talking about, like he was you at one point and you, and you gonna be him, and it's this whole thing. So are there any more of y'all? No.
SPEAKER_02Okay, just the three? Okay. Luckily for my mom, there's no for my parents, they uh they only have three, which sounds like it's not that much, but for them, it's it's way too many.
SPEAKER_01That's a beast. That's a beast, man. That was that was a lot of action in the house. So cool. Let me ask you guys this. And this is just I I like getting to meet folks, I like to understand folks. When you guys came, you were all visitation kids. Yep. And and Viz is shout out to Visitation. We get a lot of Viz guys all the time. There was a big batch of them here last week or two weeks ago. Was that something you always dreamed about coming to Rockhurst? Or were you looking at other schools? Like, how did that process work?
What The Alumni Network Really Feels Like
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so I know that it really started, you know, high school obviously is a little bit different than college. I mean, I wasn't looking at high school that intently. I think that at that age, too, being in in seventh and eighth grade, you're not thinking too far ahead compared to now uh you really are. But yeah, I mean, I knew that visitation always had a good group of kids that went to Rockhurst. I think it's evolved over the years. A lot of times it was kind of like half Mi Age, half Rockers, but it's starting to turn towards almost all Rockers. Yeah. And so my group, I remember in eighth grade, everybody kind of felt like pretty committed to Rockhurst, and then I I remember one of the memories we had was they've some kids went and visited Mi Age, and then the whole rumor was, oh my gosh, all these kids are gonna go to Mi Age now. But then everybody flipped back over and went to Rockhurst, and and so I I remember like I was just kind of like, you know, I want to go where my friends went, and I think that that was a main factor for me, but also at the same time, I was excited to see how Rockhurst included visitation. I knew a lot of Rockhurst kids would come back to Viz and almost recruit. They brought a big Rockers truck to Viz uh when I was in eighth grade. And so I didn't I don't know if it was necessarily like a main focus I had at that age, but I wanted to go where all my friends were going and and they went to Rockhurst. And and that's not to say that if I didn't have any friends go to Rockhurst, that you can't have a great experience. I mean, it's a it's an awesome experience regardless of you know how many kids you have come over here and from your school. So uh I I that was kind of the main factor, but yeah, I I know that Viz always has a really big batch and I'm I'm proud of I'm proud of my Viz kids here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, for sure. What about you too?
SPEAKER_03For me, it was kind of like the same thing, you know, that Ivan said, like I wasn't really like thinking about it too much, but like really kind of you know, as he went there and you know, he was saying it was a great experience, I kind of just decided to follow in his tracks and like you know, like he said, like it had kind of been you know half and half, but then it started to flip back to Rockers, and you know, I just wanted to follow in his footsteps, and you know, uh one of the best decisions I've ever made.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, I agree. And so for you, for me, like being the youngest, uh, were you just kind of washed up in it?
SPEAKER_02He had no choice. He had no choice. We were making him go to Rockhurst. Yeah. I and but I I do think it's a little different for them because at that point I was at Rockhurst, and um I'm sure that you know they got to hear through every you know, through me and just talking how Rockhurst was.
SPEAKER_05So um Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I thought like going to Rockhurst, like I already had two brothers here, so like I knew I was gonna come here, but I was I was really excited to come here just like hearing from Ivan and Felix how like great it was. So it was like a hundred percent for me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it was a it was a life-changing experience for me. I did a lot of moving around. I was a what were we? St. Francis Xavier Knights or Raiders way back when St. Francis Xavier used to be open, it's across the street from Rockhurst High School or Rockhurst. Oh, we're right next to the university.
SPEAKER_02We're we're really close to St. Francis Xavier.
Unexpected Ways Rockhurst Shows Up
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I went there for two years. Yeah, and then I moved out south and went to St. Regis for two years. I thought I was gonna go to O'Hara High School, which is no longer open because St. Michael's is like the place that everybody goes there. And so when I went to Rockhurst, I was surprised, but I kind of wasn't because one of my middle school teachers, like, this was the best place on earth. Her son went here and she couldn't talk enough about Rockhurst High School. And we it's so cool to see so many people in the community feel that way about this place. And so when I came here, it was just a little bumpy because we were beaten up on a lot of those kids uh in parochial league sports. So I was like, uh oh, I don't know if this is gonna go well, and it ended up being great, and we had a blast, and we won a lot of football games, did well in basketball, went to state and track a couple times, and I got friends now that I would have never imagined you know, before high school that I would say, Oh yeah, so and so that's my guy, and all of that. So it's cool to to hear that and kind of see how your guys' journey were to Rockers High School.
SPEAKER_00What would you say is some advice?
Coaching, Expectation, And Growth Mindset
SPEAKER_01Okay, some advice, and I'm gonna ask it this way that you would give someone younger than you, maybe not like super young, but like someone that's going to be a senior, someone that's going to be a sophomore, and then an eighth grader that's coming into maybe Rockhurst High School or thinking about it. How would you what what's one piece of advice you think will help them be successful?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I think for juniors, sophomores, just kind of people that are in that that middle stage for Rockhurst, one of the things that I really, really preach, and I preach it to Felix as well, is the materials and the resources at Rockhurst are different than other places in a sense of if you want to do something, you know, say you're into cars or say you're into for me, it was you know, broadcasting or journalism, say you're into sports, say you're into you know video games, there is a spot for you at Rockhurst where you can dive into that, you know, like like no place else. Right. Like no other high school, like prep news here, completely different than other schools. I've had so many opportunities, you know. I I couldn't ask for a better experience with that. You know, for cars, right? I always talked to Phil because he's a big car guy. You know, there's obviously an awesome automotive club, you know, Aiden Pointer. You're talking about him before. He's a big car guy. And so there's always these these really good connections and these really good opportunities to invest in something that you love and something that you enjoy. So that's my thing is. Find something that you love and enjoy because it's it's not super hard to do here at Rockers. There's a lot of opportunities. For sure. And then there's so many different, you know, we talk about co-curriculars here at Rockers being such a big thing. There's so many different specific things outside of just the classroom that allow students to really enjoy that and take that love to the next level. So that's my biggest thing is it can be anything, but just find something you love and enjoy and and really dive into it here in the Rockers community.
SPEAKER_00Oh, for sure.
SPEAKER_02Go here, Feeby.
Closing Thanks And Next Steps
SPEAKER_03One thing I would kind of like, you know, build off of what Ivan said is kind of like once you find something that you really love to do, and like, you know, if you're gonna do it at Rockers, like you have to embrace every moment here at Rockers because, like, for me, you know, as a sophomore, like we're pretty much halfway done, you know, with our team at Rockers, and it goes really fast. And so, like, you gotta embrace every moment or else it's just gonna fly by and you're gonna miss it. So, and you know, there's always really great moments at Rockers each and every day to grow and to learn and just to you know build off of with your with your brothers. So love it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, like what I'd say to like a incoming freshman, I'd just say like embrace the brotherhood. Like, you're gonna meet so many people here that you never knew that you never thought you'd know. And so, like, if you really embrace the brotherhood and want to meet new people, you're gonna meet a lot of new people.
SPEAKER_01Well, I want to say this that's pretty wise of all three of you. I'd say I have that conversation with a lot of guys. You know, I do a lot of tours with families with the incoming freshmen, you know, the eighth graders or whatever. And what you're talking about, Ivan, is exactly what I tell them. I'm like, there's a lot of places where you can people will say that stuff, you know, like, oh yeah, we do this for our students or we do that for our students. But it's like, dude, like you can you, okay, you want to start an automotive club, find an adult, and you can do that.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And the idea of, you know, that level of power in a way, of go out there and maximize this opportunity, is I think really impactful for a young man, especially in this day and age. Like I'm passionate about this thing. Yeah. And I want to see this come to life and be supported in that is critical. And I want to commend you all for understanding something. I hope you never forget in life. It's okay to just do something because you love it. You know, we live in such a results-oriented instant gratification society, it's pressing that direction more and more and more. You have to be doing something for a certain reason or a certain outcome. And the truth of the matter is, it's like the thing that you love to do is the thing that you're gonna be able to do the longest anyway.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Whether that's broadcast, whether that's running, whether that's you know, you know, whatever. And I commend you on that because I struggle with that like my whole life. I was everything was so performance-oriented. Like, I want to win, and I'm doing this for this, and I'm doing it for that. Not to say that that's not a part of life, but uh, it took me some time to settle into. Well, Steve, you're going to accomplish more if you're doing it out of the love of the thing, because when stuff gets hard, the love is what's going to keep you in it.
SPEAKER_05Exactly.
SPEAKER_01When stuff is fun, the love is what makes it more fun. And so don't lose don't lose that wisdom, man, because that's uh that's life-changing. That that's a good guide for you to have in what you invest your time in and how you go about doing stuff.
SPEAKER_00Excuse me.
SPEAKER_01Well, let me ask you this. We're gonna flip the script a little bit. So I tell all the guys' audience that they have a big brother or uncle they never knew they had in me as an alum and being back here. So I'm gonna give you guys an opportunity right now. What we got? What time is it? Okay, we still got a little bit of time.
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna put some pressure on you. You can ask me one question.
SPEAKER_01It can be about Rockhurst, it can be about life, it could be about college, it can be about anything. You each get one question, and then we'll wrap this thing up and get up out of here.
SPEAKER_02Okay. All right. I can go first. I'll give those I'll I'll give them a little bit of time to think of a question. But um for me, the thing that popped into my head, I've experienced almost everything that you can as a student being, you know, ha practically halfway through the second semester here of my senior year. But what I haven't experienced is as an alum, what is that experience like? And and what are those connections like? How does rockers, you know, keep the alums together? And and how do those groups and people stay together and and and talk together through college, but you know, also later on?
SPEAKER_01Well, I think first and foremost, that's an awesome question because that's where you're headed, right? And I want you to go back to what I said before about me being passionate about connecting you to the brotherhood sooner, right? That event that's gonna take place tomorrow. There's alums coming back because of our Rock Connect program, because of you know what Meredith Juarez is doing, constantly engaging our alums to be involved in some form or fashion. Yeah. And candidly, that Rockhurst Brotherhood is so strong, you can call another alum, generally speaking, and hey, this is Steve Redman, Rockhurst High School class of 04. The answer is yes before you even say whatever the thing is.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Because this place has been so impactful for so many guys. The standard of raising up good, strong, successful young men that go out into the world with the same language of, you know, AMDG. I'm gonna use my gifts to go glorify God. I'm gonna go set the world on fire. I don't know if they still say that or not anymore, but like we would yeah, you know, like we, you know, being on fire for the Lord, all of that. This experience is entirely different than anything else. So there's a lot of people who would suggest that, and I'll just say it that even another Catholic school parallels, or oh, uh what's it's it's a good school just like any other school, but when you live this, you know it's entirely different. You'll see it vividly like I did when you come to your first homecoming. You're gonna see guys that are still screaming for the football team and they left this building 50 years ago. Yeah. That's just what we do, and that's that spirit is what makes this place what it is. This willingness to help, this willingness to serve, this willingness, like I was telling you, to want to see Rockhurst guys be successful. Right? I go talk to the entrepreneur club, I go talk to the business classes. I want you to learn from me so you can be more successful. That's powerful and that carries. You see, a lot of guys do business with each other because of this experience, even more than the college experience. So it's it's strong. The more you can connect now, the more you can get. And and and even if it's just a hello, I'm Ivan.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You start to form the door or the door opens for you to be able to circle back at whatever point that might be, you know. And it's pretty deep, man. I'm glad to be back.
SPEAKER_00I'm glad to be a part of this great brotherhood.
SPEAKER_03For me, my question for you would be: what's like a way that you least expected Rockhurst would like, or what's something you would least expect Rockhurst ended up helping you with, or like your experience at Rockhurst ended up helping you with? Something that you least expected it would help you with?
SPEAKER_01You want the real answer or a politically correct answer?
SPEAKER_03Whatever you want.
SPEAKER_01So my life was really hard when I was here. It was kind of an interesting journey because I had a lot of stuff going on at home. Let's just call it chaos. And so while on the I don't know this for sure, but while a lot of people probably perceived me as a popular, charismatic athlete, you know, I was also in choir. I love uh shout out to Mr. Murphy. He was our architecture teacher. I was into all of that stuff. But like privately, when I would go home, I was I was struggling. And the amount of love that I got from folks just genuinely like whether it was someone asking or being concerned, whether it was someone knowing, you know, because you know, part of being a coach and a teacher is like having an awareness of your excuse me, an awareness of your kids, if you can, right and just the level that they supported me through a tough time and uh up and down time. Some of the stuff that they would do for me to help see me all the way through to play college football, to graduate was unbelievable. And that's kind of what I have the heart that I have is you know, when I say if y'all need something or when y'all need something, come find me because there were people that did that for me here, you know, and that is the thing that stuck with me more than anything. You two are athletes. You're an athlete too. I need one of them tennis jackets, by the way, man. You gotta hook me up, man. That that tennis jacket's fresh. But, you know, you're gonna win some, you're gonna lose some. You're gonna put a lot of work into a lot of stuff, you're gonna forget most of it, truthfully. But the thing that I carried with me was how much love they showed me, whether that was through actual like picking me up when I was down, accountability to make sure I kept moving forward. And I can't say enough about the teachers and the leaders in this building for carrying that with them even now. So that's that's the answer.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Uh my question is like you said you played football in college and like three sports here. So, like, what was like the most impactful factors that rockers like provided for you that helped you succeed in sport?
SPEAKER_01Well, great coaching, opportunity, and truthfully, expectation. That sounds cheesy. I'm also a coach. I I coach life, I haven't formally taken a coaching position here yet, but that man, like, yeah. And again, from me on this side of it to you guys, like that expectation is real. I don't care what you do, go be great. Go best the the best podcast, the best broadcast, the best tracking, whatever it is. And when you hear that so much over and over and over and over, it puts you in a position, and quite honestly, I think because of what was going on in my life, I could have been even better than I was, but I'm blessed in being able to get to where I got to, so I'm not tripping on it. But like, when you're in an environment where your coaches and your leaders will support your ambitions, I mean, it I don't want to say it's hard to fail, but like, no man, like go get it, go break the record, go win the championship, go, go do all of that. And and that was something that really set me free because excuse me, it's a rarity to be in an environment where you have that kind of I don't even know if this is appropriate to say, but almost like this hive mind towards the good stuff. Like, yeah, we're gonna glorify God with our gifts. You know, work hard, play hard, pray hard. We're gonna go out there and win. We're gonna go do our best, we're gonna go take a risk, we're gonna go serve, you know. I I've we're running out of time. I wanna we'll have to get you back on here because I want to know about the human dignity club, but like it's the same mentality across everything, and when you see that so much, it's hard for you to show up in anything you do any other way, if that makes sense.
SPEAKER_00So that's what I would say.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Well, gang, this has been almost too easy of a conversation. Yeah, um, which I which I enjoy, which I love. Burns Brothers, I appreciate you all being here. Um, it's a pleasure to talk to you. You know, we'll have to do it again. We got a student led podcast that's launching, so I might I might pivot y'all onto that one so we can continue this conversation. But audience, I thank you for tuning in and supporting the podcast. This is Steve, uh, your host. This is another episode of Rock Talk, and we'll talk soon.