Yesterday evening, our community gathered at Immaculate Conception Church for our annual Scholastic Honors Night. It is an evening steeped in tradition: the procession of faculty in academic robes, the quiet glow of candlelight during the National Honor Society induction, and the recognition of students who have pursued excellence with discipline and purpose.
There was much to celebrate.
We recognized the General Excellence Award, presented to the student in each class who achieved the highest overall academic average, a distinction that reflects not only ability, but sustained discipline over time. This year’s recipients were Emma Hill, Madison Zogg, Andrew Sullivan, and Maria Vo. We also recognized, as next in merit, Rowan Doyle, Abigail Sturgen, Jaleel Barnwell, and Austin Lyons, whose achievements likewise reflect exceptional dedication.
We honored Deacon Joe Assaf as our Lasallian Educator of the Year for 36 years of faithfully “touching hearts,” and we celebrated Mr. Greg Jewett for a quarter century of dedicated service to this community and our mission. These moments matter. They reflect years of commitment, sacrifice, and growth.
And yet, as I looked out across the assembly during the Select Chorus’s rendition of the Alma Mater, I was struck by something not printed in the program.
Recently, I attended an event outside of CBA. As I stood to speak, I looked out at a room of nearly 150 people and saw a sea of open laptops, screens up, eyes down. It was efficient, perhaps, but it felt transactional. It was a reminder of how easy it is to occupy the same space without ever truly encountering one another.
At Honors Night, I witnessed something quite different.
I saw a community that is quietly counter-cultural. In the attentiveness of our students, the presence of our families, and the engagement of our faculty, there was a shared understanding that formation cannot be multitasked. Excellence cannot be half-attended to. Growth cannot be emailed.
It requires something more.
St. John Baptist de La Salle began each day with a simple yet profound reminder: to be aware that we are in the holy presence of God. At Christian Brothers Academy, we are called to live that awareness not only in prayer but also in relationship, recognizing that we are, in a very real way, in the presence of one another.
That is where true formation takes place.
The students we recognized, from our National Merit honorees to our newest members of the National Honor Society, did not arrive here through achievement alone, but through relationships.
They arrived through teachers who saw them, challenged them, and believed in them; through families who supported them; and through their own decision to be fully present to their own growth.
This is the deeper truth of a Lasallian education: we are called to develop a mind that can know and a heart that can love. When formed together, education becomes more than achievement; it becomes transformation. It shapes not only what a student accomplishes, but how they live, lead, and serve.
To our honorees, congratulations. Your achievements are significant and hard-earned, but even more, they reflect the way you have chosen to engage with your studies, your teachers, and one another.
To our faculty, staff, and families: thank you. In a world increasingly defined by distraction, the ability to be truly present is no small thing. It is, in fact, a gift. It may be the most important thing we form in our students, because through that presence, they come to recognize the dignity of others, the responsibility that comes with their gifts, and ultimately, the presence of God in the world around them.
That is the power of presence.
Mr. Matthew Keough
President, Christian Brothers Academy
