It’s no secret that Catholic schools rely heavily on support from local parishioners, parents and community partners to achieve their multi-faceted educational and evangelical mission.   While many philanthropists give for purely intrinsic reasons and expect no recognition in return, our community hopes to convey our gratitude in a meaningful, and tangible, way.  As such, we are introducing two new giving societies this spring and plan to host our first-ever “Tolton Tribute” event on April 9th.

Why two societies?  Each recognizes a different giving priority, both of which are equally important to our school’s viability – giving to our annual fund, and significant “lifetime” giving across any and all Tolton programs.

The Blazer Society recognizes those who contribute $1,000 or more in a given calendar year, specifically, to Tolton’s Trailblazer Fund.  The Trailblazer (Annual) Fund supports general operations at Tolton Catholic; this type of “unrestricted” giving is especially significant, and worthy of recognition, as it enables the administrative team to address high-priority and unexpected expenses across our pillar areas (spirit, heart, mind, and body) throughout the year to benefit all Tolton students.  Tolton’s annual appeal is released each summer and typically generates gifts throughout the end of each calendar year.   Annual qualifiers will receive a Blazer Society window decal, and be recognized in Tolton’s print magazine and at the spring Tolton Tribute recognition event.  (To proactively clarify, event sponsorships do not qualify toward this annual membership, as event proceeds are typically designated for specific purposes.) And obviously, individuals must re-qualify each calendar year, since recognition is evaluated annually.

The Tolton Catholic President’s Circle recognizes cumulative lifetime giving of $25,000 or more to the Tolton community.  This includes both unrestricted gifts and “designated” gifts that benefit specific giving areas and programs. (So, for example, gifts to the annual fund or capital campaigns, plus any giving to fine arts, athletics, or faith formation activities are considered holistically.)  Outright cash gifts, as well as donor-initiated corporate matching gifts and contributions through Donor Advised Funds, qualify toward these cumulative giving totals.  Qualifiers will be recognized in Tolton’s print magazine and participate in a “pinning” at the spring Tolton Tribute recognition event.  In light of the significant and/or sustained nature of their support, the names of President’s Circle members will also be displayed permanently on a plaque in the school building.

More information can be found on our website, or obtained from our Advancement Director, Jill McIntosh.

By Adriana Fuhlage,  Tolton Senior

This year, around 100,000 people gathered in Washington D.C. to march for life. Out of those 100,000 people were 39 students from Tolton Catholic. We voyaged 22 long hours to get to D.C., but it was all worth it for the experience, hope, and insight that the march brought us.

This was my third year going on the March for Life and I’ve looked forward to it every year. You don’t really understand the influence it can have on your perspective on the pro-life movement until you attend and march alongside those thousands of people who are all uniting for their love for life. Each person has their own story, their own reason for why they march. Some people even shared their stories with the whole crowd of people at the rally before the march. These people are full of passion and love, not hate and hopelessness and I think that also has a big impact on the feeling that you get when marching. It makes you feel empowered to be standing up for something bigger than yourself and to know in your heart that it is a good cause. Something that seems more clear to me every march is how God puts us in positions to touch others and be touched by others; each person has a beautiful life that God has planned for them and no one should be given the right to take that away.

This year, the march’s theme was “love saves lives” and I think that the love that filled D.C. for those few hours on January 19th really proved this can be true. It is not easy to protect the dignity of human lives at times, but it is worthwhile. The March for Life is a life-changing witness to God’s power to bring people together through love for the precious gift of life, and I plan to continue to protect this gift as much as I can as I head to Texas Christian University next year.

Faith-filled.  Visionary.  One of the “original trailblazers.”  There are many ways to describe Gene Drane.  Always one to lend his talents and treasure to the Catholic community, Gene was highly involved in the early planning that resulted in the Tolton Catholic High School we know today.

When Gene passed away in September, his daughter Colette approached the school – she wanted to “share her blessings” to support the school in a way that would “really make a difference”, and serve as a tribute to her dad’s legacy.  After some discussion with the advancement staff, Colette chose to establish the Drane Family Endowment. 

This gift is especially significant because the earnings from the investment are set up to provide unrestricted support to fund the school’s day to day operations.  Operations endowments represent the life-blood of most Catholic schools. Tuition doesn’t fully cover the cost of educating a student, and earnings from funds like these help schools cover the budget gap.  Tolton is blessed to have a number of scholarship endowments that provide tuition assistance for deserving students but, until the establishment of the Drane Family fund, Tolton had no such endowment to be used to support the school’s general activities.

It is Colette’s hope that her gift represents the “seed money” for what will grow into the school’s primary operations endowment.   She felt this fiscally-prudent effort would be especially meaningful to her dad – his vision for the school became a reality; he also knew it would take resources to see that reality sustained.

In future years, Colette intends to add to the fund as she is able, and hopes others will choose to support the effort as well.  If you would like to contribute to this new operations endowment, please contact the Tolton Catholic Advancement Office at 573.445.7700 (ex. 2109).

Tolton Catholic students headed to the ballot box this November to cast their votes for the 2017 Freshman Election. Due to the tightness of the race, a recount was conducted, overseen by the esteemed Fr. Mike Coleman. The recount confirmed the Dylan Seidt-Hanna Hulshof campaign beat out the Teague Travis-Jayden Berrey campaign by a single vote. Dylan Seidt is the third Freshman President in the school’s history.

While the Freshman President and Vice President will not have any actual powers or responsibilities, students did learn the ins and outs of what it takes to run a political campaign. The two-and-a-half-week project was part of Mr. Pat Kelly’s Freshman Government class. Students were broken out into groups of five, with roles including candidates for President or Vice President, campaign staff and general staff.

At the beginning of the campaign season, candidates sent polls out through the school in order to find out what issues the teachers and students cared most about. They then used that information to write a platform for the presidential candidate to campaign on. The staff would then help create a campaign slogan, positive and negative posters to be hung throughout the school, a website, and positive and negative campaign commercials.

As in the real world of politics, the advertising and promotional materials came at a cost. Groups were able to obtain “Kelly Dollars” to finance their campaigns by presenting their campaigns to Tolton teachers and administrators. Each club and sport at Tolton had a designated person who could hand out “endorsements” of a campaign, often based on promises from the candidates. The more money a campaign earned, the more posters they were able to hang up, and the more opportunities they were given to send out school emails, make PA announcements, and hand out buttons and flyers.

Of course, over the course of the campaign scandals break on the @ToltonWikiLeaks Twitter account.  Once a scandal broke, campaigns had 24 hours to issue an official press release.  Scandals this year included: not saying “God bless you” to Fr. Mike after he sneezed, being seen out of school dress code, being caught giving out cupcakes without frosting, as well as others.

One of the highlights of the project is the debate.  All candidates participate in the debate in which the entire school is invited to attend.  Debates this year had roughly 75 people in attendance. Candidates were grilled by a panel with questions about their platform as well as their scandals.

The official election was held on Thursday, November 9 with a record turnout of 200 votes cast by students and teachers. Votes were counted Thursday evening, with updates posted on Twitter as the results came in. The Seidt-Hulshof campaign received 26 votes compared to 25 votes for the Travis-Berrey campaign.

On Friday during class, the losing candidates delivered their concession speeches, and President-elect Dylan Seidt gave his victory speech.

The first day at a new school can be a challenge as students are faced with a multitude of changes, rules and expectations. Where are my classrooms located? How do I go through the lunch line? What’s the proper way to wear my uniform? What happens if I’m late to class? How do I access the Wi-fi and my student email?  What is expected of me during school Mass? It can be overwhelming.

In order to help prepare our 75 incoming freshman for the school year, Tolton Catholic hosted Freshmen 101 this week. During the two-day orientation, faculty, staff and student leaders covered the answers to many of those questions and much more.

“I think Freshman 101 is really important because we introduce our young people to our mission — spirt, heart, mind and body,” said President and Principal Mr. Bernard Naumann.

Students were given opportunities to meet their new classmates and teachers, walk through their schedules in a simulated school day, understand Tolton policies and procedures and learn about opportunities to get involved in clubs and service. Tolton students even put on a fashion show to demonstrate the dos and don’ts of the school uniform.

“I hope they walk away with a sense of comfort and peace with themselves, because they’re all deer in the headlights right now,” Mr. Naumann said. “I hope they’ve made some friends and feel comfortable at school so that when they start here on Tuesday they feel at home with us, at home with themselves and at home with their peers.”

Mr. Naumann hoped that the students gained an understanding of the primary goals of Tolton Catholic including serving the Lord and entering a relationship with Him, serving the community and enhancing relationships with each other, academics, and how the body plays an integral role in the community and relationships with each other.

The orientation was also beneficial to new faculty members, such as Campus Minister Ms. Chelsea Schuster.

“It was really helpful for me to get to know some of the students in a more relaxed setting before classes begin and really to see from students’ perspective what the norms are at Tolton,” Ms. Schuster said.

Tolton Catholic would like to especially thank the stellar student leaders who helped make Freshman 101 a fun, positive and educational experience for the students.

“I was so impressed with those upperclassmen who were presenting to the freshmen,” Ms. Schuster said. “They got up there very confidently and told their stories and gave witness. They were speaking from the heart and I hope from that the freshmen gained a sense of community at Tolton and realized they are part of this family now. We already accept them and love them and want them to be plugged into the community here.”

Welcome to Tolton Catholic freshmen! We are thrilled to have you here and cannot wait to watch you grow and blaze your own trail over your four years.

– By Joe Bradley, Coordinator of Strategic Communications