Two Rockhurst Seniors On Brotherhood Service And What Comes Next

Graduation gets close, and suddenly every hallway, game, and late-night laugh feels louder. We sat down with two Rockhurst seniors who are stepping into their next chapters, and they told the truth about what they’ll actually miss and what they’ll carry forward. One is heading to Southwest Baptist to play college basketball, ready to compete and contribute. The other is bound for the University of Georgia with a plan to blend business with film and television production, chasing opportunity where the industry is growing.

Along the way, we dig into what makes a Jesuit education at Rockhurst High School feel different in real life: the brotherhood, the expectations, and the way service and faith formation aren’t side notes. The guys talk about their senior service project at Operation Breakthrough, what it’s like to help in classrooms all day, and why being present can matter more than having the perfect words.

We also unpack Kairos, the retreat experience so many students call life-changing, plus the pure fun of Rockhurst culture, from Yell Leading to massive rivalry crowds that bring alumni back into the building. The biggest takeaway is simple: decide who you want to be, put yourself in the places that grow that person, and then do what’s required when it gets hard.

If you know a student finishing the year strong or one who needs a reason to lean in, share this conversation with them. Subscribe to Rock Talk, leave a review, and tell us: what was the moment that made your high school years feel unforgettable?

Transcript

Welcome Back To Rock Talk

SPEAKER_00 0:02

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 one of your hosts, Steve Redman. I am a the co-director of the admissions office here at Rockhurst High School. And we're back. It's been a minute. We've had a busy, crazy admission season, but we wanted to take some time to get back on the ball because around this time we got uh a school year closing out, which means we got some seniors that are moving on. So we thought it would be a good idea to get some guys in here that have run the table, came in four years ago, now they're walking out the doors, and we just wanted

Meet The Senior Guests

SPEAKER_00 1:15

to chat about memories, what's next, how you feeling, and all that good stuff for our senior leaders that are stepping into the next phase of life. So I got two guests. I'm gonna let these boys introduce themselves.

SPEAKER_03 1:31

I'm SGA student body president, and I've been on this podcast a few times, so it's it's glad to be back.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

What's up, boys? Cohen Robinson here, senior basketball player. And I've been looking to begin on the podcast for a couple of months now. So yeah, definitely excited to be here.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Yeah, man, we're gonna kick it off with a bang, man. Like I said, we've been terribly busy, but in a good way, yeah, you know, for the school. And anytime the admissions office is busy, that's always good for job security. So uh glad to have you on finally, man. And let's just jump right into it, man. So you're you know, four years in and looking at the next window of your life. Where are you going to school?

SPEAKER_01 2:13

I'm gonna Southwest Baptist uh to continue my basketball and academic career.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

That's what's up. Where's Southwest at?

SPEAKER_01 2:20

I I know So it's Bolivar, Missouri, right outside of Springfield. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

You'll have a good time down there. Yeah, definitely. How's that team looking? Like you you gonna have opportunity out the gate or are you gonna

College Plans And Big Goals

SPEAKER_00 2:32

have to get your legs under a little bit?

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Um definitely, definitely think I'll have an opportunity. First year coach. So we're just filling out the um roster right now, dipping into the portal a little bit, but got some freshman coming. So yeah, I'm excited to come and contribute right away.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Yeah, that's what's up, man. We'll we'll keep our our eyes out for you. That's man, you know, just being able to watch from this seat, you know, 20 years. I don't know if I told you this, but you know, I went here way, way back. So being able to watch all the young guys come up and go through, it's uh it's an exciting time, man. I always love seeing guys live out that dream. So congrats on that and congrats on the great season.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

You know, that that was awesome to see the run that we had as a basketball team and a basketball program, and I'm excited to know that we still got quite a bit of talent in the stable because it was six of you leaving this year. Yes, seniors. Yeah, and then we still got some juniors in the fold, some sophomores coming up, and I heard we had a pretty solid freshman group. Yeah, really good, which is always encouraging. Good sign. Yeah, because we like winning. So that's what's up. And then Brendan, I've I've asked you, and I always get confused when I talk to you and your parents. Your sister's at Mizzou. Yes, and you are going to University of Georgia.

SPEAKER_03 3:51

Oh, down south. Go dogs, down south.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

How you feeling about that?

SPEAKER_03 3:55

Oh, I'm excited. Yeah, actually, I've got to sign up for orientation after school today. So I'm uh it's it's really becoming real at this point. Yeah, I'm uh I'm gonna major, I'm gonna double major. That's my plan in uh business and uh film and television productions like movie making. So yeah, no, it's uh that's one of the reasons why I'm going to UGA amongst a lot of other reasons.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

And they're legit in that?

SPEAKER_03 4:15

Yeah, they are. That's bizarre to me. I don't know why. It just if you watch a lot of movies or TV shows now, you'll see like the little Georgia, like like a peach or something like that in the credits. And that means like a lot of movies are done down there, like Stranger Things, Marvel movies, Hunger Games, like a lot of stuff's down there. So it's I'm kind of going in the direction where where the where the movies are at.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Yeah, that's cool, man. Well, that's exciting. I uh do you know what you want to study?

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Thinking business, marketing, one of those two. Okay. I gotta make a decision, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

Yeah. That's I I'm always like I go back, and I was one of the few in my family when I was leaving here that went to college. So like kudos to y'all for even having a thought. You know, like I was just I'm going to college. I'll figure it out later. So it's always really cool to see see how focused guys are, or at least they're thinking in that direction. Before we press forward into the future, let's talk about this. Let's talk about, you know, you you know senior year is special here. Um when you are the the big dogs, if you will, and you're obviously our guys are extremely involved in a lot of stuff, you know, if you're a senior. What is a memory from this year particularly? And if you don't have one from this year from your high school career that you know really sticks out and jumps out as you as an impactful moment or something meaningful to you?

SPEAKER_01 5:43

I would say our senior service project, me and Brennan, we're we're at the same place, Operation Breakthrough. Okay. So it's I think we're there three or four weeks. Yeah. And that's just just super impactful. We're we're going into a spot where where kids they're not, they may not be as blessed as us, but being able to just be there for a short amount of time but still impact little kids, but just so deeply is it's super special and something I'll always remember.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Yeah. What uh what were you guys doing down there?

SPEAKER_01 6:11

So we

Service At Operation Breakthrough

SPEAKER_01 6:12

were I was helping with I was helping with two preschool classrooms. Oh we're yeah, so it got hectic. We were exhausted by it. Yeah. Okay.

unknown 6:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

But we're honestly just doing whatever was needed. Yeah. I mean, in the morning we were with the kids, but then after afternoon they had nap time, so we would go do other projects, other tasks. I miss nap time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:35

Oh, I know. They'd be sleeping and we're over here like lifting all the things they couldn't lift when we weren't there. Yeah. It was like moving like planks of wood or like set up like clothing drives. And I was with a bit older, I was with the first graders. So when I was with them in the mornings, I was so jealous. They used to get to like color and play with blocks, and I'm like trying to teach kids how to add and subtract.

SPEAKER_00 6:56

And like, guys, this isn't as easy as you think. Yeah, for sure. That's cool. And and so you said three for three weeks y'all were down there. That's cool, man. That is, and and I'll you're right. It is amazing how impactful you are. You know, like you guys are both, you know, 17, 18, or whatever you are. And I had a moment like that when I was at Mizzou, you know, play football. And this is one of those things that uh maybe it's become more prevalent with the age of media and you know, so much content gets put out. But like back then, nobody really talked about the community service work you do on a college team.

SPEAKER_02 7:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

And we would go to like almost like this, it was a local like boys and girls club. So it wasn't boys and girls club, but it was like something like that. And I mean, you these these kids thought we were superheroes. You know, they would they just thought the world of us, and it is always, I think, important, no matter, you know, how big you get, quote unquote. Like you never lose sight of that impact that you have the ability to have just with your presence and and just with you know, particularly young people perceive you. So that's that's a good awareness that you have on that. Pull back a little bit more though. So you guys got more tenure here than anybody in the building. Is there something that you remember or that was super impactful from freshman year to now that still sticks out to you?

SPEAKER_03 8:22

I would probably say like there's been a lot of things, but I was just a Kairos leader a few weeks ago. And so I'm thinking back to my own Kairos when I went in February of my junior years at 2025. That was a really, really awesome experience. And I know I don't know how many times people talk about this, but I know if you ask people like, what's one of the most impactful things during your time at Rockers? A lot of guys say Kairos, just because it really brings you together and it kind of gives you that time to rest and just like realize like what you want and like who you are. And so Kairos is a really special time. And and for

Why Kairos Hits So Deep

SPEAKER_03 8:50

me, it was uh it was really great. Uh Coach Shaver was my uh director, and I've always had a lot of respect for him. He's uh been a soccer coach of mine. A uh he's been you know like a teacher, he's been he's just he's been a Yell leader. He was one of our Yell leader uh like adults, he was one of our moderators this year. So I had a I've had a lot of respect for him, and so him kind of leading me through like that whole experience was a really great, great time amongst all the other upperclassmen that led it. But yeah, I think Kairos was a big one for me, but and then going back last like three weeks ago was really fun because I got to like kind of give the underclassmen the experience that I I got to have, and so that was that was really cool for me. But yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:26

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

I mean, Kairos like you don't really talk about it because you want everyone to experience it for themselves. But I mean it definitely changed my life. I mean it's just those three days with you and your classmates, your teachers. I was actually on Father Jacobazzi, former former principal, his last kairos at Rockhurst, so that was kind of a little special moment. Yeah. But it's it's really insane how like vulnerable you can get on Kairos and like how how much of an impact it makes just in those three days. Yeah, it's just something that you have to experience for yourself. You can't really take someone else's word for it, but once you do experience it, you'll see what everyone's talking about.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

For sure. I I went on mine to that note. I went on my first one here this year, which was, and I mean it's it's really true. Like they did it different back then, so it wasn't a part of your you know, curriculum, if you will. Yeah. So like for me to be able to go on my first one as a leader and particularly as a you know, husband, a father, and somebody whose relationship has dramatically changed with the Lord and just give something back to the group was impactful for me. And, you know, got a lot of feedback from those guys of like, to your point, Cohen, like did you know, you really help me realize like some of these feelings and things that I'm navigating and processing, like God's not scared of that. You know, like He's not He's not sitting up there judging or trembling because I'm angry or something of that effect. He actually wants me to bring it straight to him so we can move past that. So, you know, just knowing that some of my experiences that had me in those spaces was beneficial to some guys that I hope, like, yeah, dude, just lay it at his feet and keep moving. You know, don't waste no time stuck somewhere because you not you don't understand who your father in heaven really is. So I would, if I I'm throwing that one in there in agreement with you because that it is a very impactful experience.

SPEAKER_03 11:33

We could talk about Kairos all day long. That's the crazy thing about it. Like once once that conversation starts, you're like, wait, I gotta pull back.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

That's uh that's a big one, but well, what's um let's let's uh you know let's talk about this because I'm you guys seem to have a lot of fun. You know, uh I know we we live by work hard, play hard, pray hard. What is one of the more fun moments that you can recall in your time here at Rock Earth?

SPEAKER_01 12:02

Oh uh you got a lot. I think it's gotta be this year at Municipal against the East. Yeah, okay. The most severe environment I've ever played in, definitely. I mean, probably one of the greatest environments for a high school basketball game across the country,

Loud Games And School Spirit

SPEAKER_01 12:19

maybe KC history. I think there's over 5,000, 6,000 people there.

SPEAKER_00 12:23

Oh, yeah, man.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

And I know like the buildup to it because it's always been at Easter Rockhurst. I know like when when we heard about it first, like before everyone else did, we were like, I'm not sure about this. I don't know because like breaking tradition, especially at a place like Rockhurst, is definitely it's definitely hard. But shout out to Cruz. I mean, he put together a special, special night. One that I won't forget, one that I wish I'm kind of jealous that the kids, the kids younger get the experience more than me, but it's and that shows I think that shows to the Rockers community. I mean that that was one of the biggest reasons they moved it. Was alumni wanted to get into the game and limited seats didn't allow that. So just showing, just seeing all the the history of Rockhurst coming back for that one night was super special, and I think it just like popped onto it. What a special year we had in basketball, too.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

Yeah, and I I mean you you're talking about because like when I played ball here, you yeah, we always knew that game was packed. But like when we were talking through some of those logistics, I and again, you know, you're 18, 17. However, you you're thinking about what you're thinking about, but I never it never crossed my mind like our alums couldn't come. Yeah, or East could only bring so many people because of just the capacity issues and all of that. So for those, both of those communities, but especially ours, to be able to create an environment where it's like I mean, we had people sitting at the top. Yeah, I don't know, I don't know. I mean, hopefully you wasn't overly focused on that. I was just there as a spectator, and I'm like, looking, I'm like, next year, we got because it, I mean, for it to be that successful year one was the thing that I was amazed by. Like, we just was like, all right, we're gonna see how this is gonna work. And that was that was pretty amazing, man. So could yeah, for sure, the shiny mission east game. What about you, Bernie?

SPEAKER_03 14:16

Ooh, there's just so many. I mean, I can't list one. I mean, in recent history, I think like we had the East lacrosse game. What was that last week? And I'm just thinking about that a lot recently because it was my last ever time getting to Yell Lead, pretty much on that. Because I don't know when the next time I'm gonna get to Yell Lead is because we graduate in less than two weeks, and we all it was the theme was Nantucket, and we're out here in like khaki shorts and like jackets and sunglasses and like sweater was like crossed over, like it was so funny. And I just I love that because it it just takes me back to like for me, I've always found the most fun. Like when we're at those basketball games, we're at those football games, and I can't really just like summarize into one. I think definitely those first couple freshman ones were like everything. Like, my my sister went to STA when she was a senior my freshman year, and so she had all of her friends who were at Rockhurst, and they all knew me. And so them being the Yell leaders and having like they were the ones like writing their players' names on paint on my back and like like putting numbers and just like and then like it was just there was so much exciting. Like, I always found that when we're all together cheering, like that's always one of my most electric, those are my most electric moments, and like I I have so much fun at those because it's like like I said, like when I was deciding between Georgia, there's like a lot of film schools, aren't like they're not always like big SEC schools or big like fun schools that have like everything. And so Rockers helped me realize that like no, I want to be able to still go to games, I still want to have that community, and so like kind of like being up growing up in this environment the last four years has really like taught me kind of what do I want in life? When do I feel the most like alive?

SPEAKER_00 15:48

That's cool. And I mean again, that I I can't tell you how impressive it is for me to talk to you guys. And I'm talking to you two, but you know, also just the the the rockers man generally is because you know the culture that we have in this building creates thoughtful young men, right? Like I I love the fact that you have an awareness of like, well, no, I want to go somewhere where I can also enjoy myself, you know. So like, yeah, I I promise you, good sports always makes things more fun when you're talking about like it's just a part of culture, it's a part of the experience, right? So like Georgia is gonna be crazy. I'll tell you a funny story because when I played at Mizzou, we were in the Big 12. Yeah, and then we stayed in Columbia, like me and my wife, she was a basketball player there. So we bought our first house there, first two kids were born there. So we were there on the front end when we moved to the SEC. And I had to, I had this unbelievably surreal moment with this family because they had, I don't know if this is private information, but they had to give us some money at at Mizzou because our stadium wasn't big enough. They're like, hey, you're in SEC now, like 50,000 seats ain't gonna cut it. Basically what it was. And I remember early, it was either I think it was the first year we were in SEC. When I'm talking about those fans travel, like they travel. So like on Tuesday, we don't play till Saturday, on Tuesday, you see a bunch of red just all over the city. And I mean when I say it, I mean like they're literally just exploring Columbia because down there, like that's like a they grow up in sport. It's in their blood, and it's in a completely different way. Like, and I mean that's just what it was. So I had this cool moment we were at the game, tailgating hanging out, and there was a family, it had to be nine or ten men, and they had their wives and spouses or whatever, but it was like the great, great, great grandfather, the brothers, the the whole ticket all the way down to the little next generation. And he's like, Every season, this is our family's thing. Like we we go to the like this is vacation for us. Yeah, and we've done it since you know, whatever his nickname was, Papa, Big Papa, I think is what it was.

SPEAKER_02 18:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

Like he grew up a Georgia fan going to the Georgia Games, and then he took his sons, and then his sons took his sons, and now they got the little ones that are going, and I'm just sitting there like, oh, that's different. But like it it points to like how deep that is in the community and how much it means. So to be able to go to a school where you're either involved in that experience from putting a jersey on or you just get to know, like, hey, we're gonna see some good football, we're gonna see some good whatever, it does. It changes the dynamic for sure, man. Yeah, and that's cool that you guys are gonna get to in your own ways experience that. So look, I don't want to chew up a bunch of your time, but I do want you guys to chew on this for a couple seconds and then give the people behind you and and understand this podcast, there's thousands of people that listen to this podcast. So you might be talking to a young man that you might not ever meet, that you might not might not ever come to Rockhurst, but can still be impacted by the wisdom.

Advice For Younger Rockhurst Students

SPEAKER_00 19:22

When you think about your journey through Rockhurst High School, freshman year to now, what's your last day? Thursday? Yeah, last day's Thursday. What is a piece of advice that you would give and I want you to pick it. Because you might have an experience that pops in your mind from sophomore year, you might have one that's junior year or freshman or whatever, right? You got a fr for a little brother that's a freshman. So I want you to think of a piece of advice that you want to give to somebody behind you that might help their experience be a little bit better or help their focus or whatever it might be.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

I mean, don't go to every football game, go to every even go to every play, go to every experience that you can here because I I didn't know growing up, like I didn't grow up like going to a Catholic grade school or anything. So this whole experience was new to me. But because I didn't I was unsure going in here, but I didn't know I could love a place as much as I do this. I mean, Rockers has been so special to me. Yeah. And it's it's not the biggest, it's not always the biggest experience that will change your school, like your thoughts on the school, but the smaller ones, just with your friends. I mean, it's all about the brotherhood. People people I don't think you know people don't really know what the brotherhood is until you experience it. Right. I mean, I don't think I don't think the culture is as strong at any other high school than it is rockers. So just experience it, have fun. It's it's gone by way too fast. Yeah. So you never you never really know like that you're in the good old days. Like people saying you're in the good old days, but Andrew Bernard. Yeah, this true, this truly is gonna be the best four years of your life, and just make the most of it.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_03 21:12

I'd say, and in like a different context, but kind of along the same things, I think that just like take a second and think about where do you want to see yourself because a lot of the times we get so caught up in like what other people want or like what is deemed cool or all that kind of stuff. And I think at Rockhurst, like the thing you need to do is just think of where do you want to be. Freshman year, sophomore year, if you haven't thought of it yet, junior year, think of it. But just think about where do you want to see yourself and then just put yourself in the places at this point at the school where you can see yourself becoming that because like one of the things we forget is we're so caught up in trying to be what other people want of us or like involved in activities that are where we just do because we're told to, but not because we actually want to. And I think the biggest thing is just think about what you want. What do you what what kind of person do you want to be? What kind of what do you want to be? Involved in what's your like dreams and what are your goals? Cause then when you think about that, then you're like, well, then I want to do this. And then I want to get involved in that. And I think one of the biggest things is this place is this place can do it. Like, I I joke, I'm like, I've gone into the dean's office several times. I'm like, okay, here's a packet. Here's what I want to change. Here's how the sorts rule we're going to fix. And it happened. Or like, hey, I want to see, like, hey, let's throw these morning videos out there. Or hey, let's like make even better pep rally videos than we've ever seen before because I want to take them to the next level. And so the thing about this place is I was like thinking, like, where do I want to see myself? Like, I thought, like, I want to be a yellow. I want to be involved. I want to have that, those friends. Like, I want to, so I I when I start thinking about the environment, the person I want to be, I just started surrounding myself with those people, those like teachers who were able to help me get there. And like just start putting myself out there. And so I think that my advice is figure out what you want and don't stop until you get.

SPEAKER_00 22:51

Yeah. And I again, you're folks, in case you're confused, you're listening to two 18-year-olds provide you with some wisdom that is good for all of us. The only thing I'll add, and this is like mine to you two, is you know, as you take those same things, getting involved, putting yourself in the right environment around the right people based on what you want to do, just always be willing to do what's required of you, right? Whatever that thing is. I don't know if you have any goals for your career beyond or rolling into basketball of Southwest, but like if it's to be an all-American, be willing to do what's required of an all-American. Be willing to do what's required of a I don't I don't know how they leverage a blockbuster movie producer. Right? Like that's the thing that I think I see us all get caught up with is we might even have that thought or that desire, but we don't do the stuff. Like we want it to be how we want it to be. Oh, yeah, I want to, I wanna be an all-American, but I don't want to, I don't actually want to work. I just want to be the all-American or whatever the thing might be. If you're willing to do that, man, that's gonna serve you really, really well in life. It's just like this is what's required of me. And then you want to go to another level, doing beyond that, right? And that's and that's powerful, man. So I'm excited for you boys. Con, I gotta make sure I get your number before you roll out because you know, that's the brotherhood, you know. Like I've I've told so many families this. Like, I promise you, well, I think I might have shared this before, but there was a gentleman I met at homecoming this year, right? I hadn't been to a homecoming. My life went really fast when I got out of there, got out of college. And he was talking about how, you know, he's just a big fan of the school. He's always kept up with the football teams. He was like class of 61, right? And his thorough knowledge of what was going on. He's asking me about the current team, and yeah, what about, you know, blah, blah, blah. And it's just like, that's the kind of environment you're in. You got a lot of guys that were so impacted by this place that they never aren't paying attention, even if they're across the country. And, you know, that's what I want y'all to know too, is it's so critical for you to just really continue to press in and really do the stuff that, you know, you just suggested everybody else do. Because when you get out into this game, it's like, yeah, you're gonna need as much backup as you can at some point. So, you know, make sure you're doing that. But I appreciate you boys being here. Um, it's always a pleasure to get to talk with the guys in the building. Like I said, we're doing a little senior series where we're trying to send these seniors off with a bang as best we can. And this is Steve, your host, co host of Rock Talk. We'll talk soon.