Alumni Profiles: Where are they now?

Keira Jia Zhuang’14 wasn’t even 15 years old when she traveled across the world from Shanghai, China to St. Bede Academy. She was young, but charged with ambition and desire to experience an American education. 

She enrolled at St. Bede as a sophomore and moved into the girls boarding house on campus, where she got acquainted with her house parents. They helped acclimate her to the American culture and become accustomed to life in the United States. She found comfort in sharing the boarding house with other female students from China who spoke her language, came from the same sort of background and were an easy shoulder to lean on during the tough moments of adjusting to a new country. 

At the Academy, Keira exceled in her classes and found she had a knack for math and science. So much, in fact, she blew through all the math honor courses offered at St. Bede and was encouraged to enroll in courses at the local community college, which were offered through a partnership with St. Bede Academy.  Looking back on this, Keira calls that opportunity “very precious” as it gave her a taste of college curriculum before she had even graduated high school.  

Keira’s English-speaking skills improved overtime through the rigorous literature and English classes, which prepared her well for the reading, writing and mythology studies she would take in college. 

Outside of academics, St. Bede’s small, close-knit community embraced Keira and all she had to teach them about her own culture and nationality. 

“Everyone at St. Bede was so nice and open-minded about foreign students joining their classes and becoming friends with us,” she says. “It wasn’t something that would have happened in China, because the schools are so much larger.” 

Keira’s community encouraged her to try athletics and extracurriculars outside of her comfort zone. She ran track and field, played tennis for a semester, was in the band, participated in the WYSE competitions and even ran for student government. 

“Even if I wasn’t good at most of the things I was doing, it was OK. If I wanted to try it out and learn, people were always so welcoming to let me learn and try different things. That was probably one of the most valuable things I got from St. Bede – be brave and try it out,” she says. 

Keira also took part in school traditions, such as Spirit Day, Homecoming, student masses and Prom, which deepen her understanding of the St. Bede culture. 

During her second year at the Academy, Keira yearned to experience a home stay with an American family. She was invited to live with Tim’86 and Eve’84 Postula, who took her in along with their three children and treated her as one of their own.  

That interaction and bond built with the Postulas was an unforgettable, comforting experience, which Keira says gave her “a huge emotional bump.” While living at the Postula home, Keira even let down her guard for house pets – something that terrified her when she moved to the states. She laughs as she reflects back and shares, she’s a proud cat owner today.   

In her third year at St. Bede, Keira moved back to the boarding house and took on a big sister role to the younger boarding students moving in that year. She supported them academically and emotionally as they underwent the cultural transition she had experienced.  

The academic preparation, supportive cultural transition and extracurricular exploration at St. Bede built a solid foundation for Keira when she went on to study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She graduated from St. Bede in 2014 feeling confident, responsible and emotionally strong. At UW-Madison, Keira double majored in electrical engineering and computer science, earning her degrees within three years. 

After Wisconsin, she enrolled in the Ph.D. program at Standford University – her focal study being in electronics and circuit design. 

She spent five years working towards her doctorate. As a Ph.D. student, Keira heavily researched and master areas that only one or two people had ever researched before her. This extraordinary process allowed her to break boundaries, create innovation and leave a footprint for future research. Part of her research was done on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines, which she worked to improve the technology and workflow to better the experience for both radiology staff and patients.  

In 2023, with a doctoral degree in hand, Keira was hired as an electrical engineer at a start-up company in New York City that provides power solutions for industrial applications, such as automotive and robotics. She currently designs and tests wireless charging systems for electric cars, and has found an appreciation for the freedoms in research exploration a start-up company allows. 

Although worlds away from St. Bede Academy, Keira attributes her life successes to the invaluable education and unforgettable experiences she received at St. Bede. 

Her advice to current Bruins and boarding students is to never stop exploring outside their comfort zone. 

“You might find something you have a passion for, something totally different you had no idea was there. It allows you to develop a more mature view on the world around you,” she says.

Alumni Profiles: Where are they now?

When we think of the world of healthcare and hospitals, we think of the doctors, the nurses, the physical therapists – those who are treating and caring for patients. What we don’t think about are the people behind the scenes maintaining the health of business and operations inside the hospital. 

Within this realm at the University of Chicago Medicine Center sits Blake Dobrich ’12, who holds the position of Senior Operations Manager. Dobrich joined UChicago Medicine in 2018 on an administrative fellowship and has been building a successful career in healthcare administration. 

While immersed in the life of urban healthcare today, Dobrich embodies all that a St. Bede education can provide when its opportunities are utilized and translated into life after high school.  

Many of the lessons and experiences gained during his four years at the Academy he has used in his career to work hard, never stop learning, respect others and strive to continuously improve the world around him. 

After graduating from St. Bede Academy, Dobrich went on to Marquette University where he earned an undergraduate degree in political science. While gaining interest in healthcare policy, he decided to further his studies at Rush University, earning a Master’s Degree in health systems management. This opportunity opened his eyes to the business and operation functions within a hospital. 

From Rush University, Dobrich pursued an administrative fellowship at UChicago Medicine, a two-year program, that allowed him to gain a deeper knowledge of the various departments within the hospital before being placed at Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey, IL where he dove into the workings of a community hospital and supported the executive team as business manager. 

He was at Ingalls at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, where he became in charge of deploying employees around the region – upwards of 100 staff per-day. Then when vaccines became available, he transitioned to setting up and running the vaccine clinics. 

When the pandemic slowed, Dobrich landed a spot on the operations excellence team back at the main campus of UChicago Medicine, where he’s been for the last three years. In this position, he leads a team of 10 individuals who work strategically to support the functions of the hospital and develop improvement plans for patient experience and inspections. A significant project the team is currently working on is fine-tuning processes and procedures to ensure they translate over to the new $800 million cancer center UChicago Medicine plans to open in 2027. 

While an impressive career built on a strong passion for healthcare, Dobrich wouldn’t be where he is today without his education at St. Bede. Coming from the small, rural town of DePue, Dobrich didn’t know a lot of faces the first day he stepped foot on campus, but he used that as an opportunity to make new, meaningful friendships – many he still has today. 

He took advantage of the dual credit college classes, which set him ahead at Marquette University when he went on to further his education. He was a member of the golf team, involved in student government and was selected to be student ambassador, which were all opportunities that taught him how to interact with people of diverse backgrounds and views on life. He attributes these skills to being able to navigate the complexities of corporate life in the hospital setting. 

It’s also at St. Bede he gained a sense of curiosity and drive to want to learn new ideas and skills. 

“You learn quickly there’s still a lot to know when you’re in high school. The monks teach you that. They are living their life dedicated to God, to St. Bede, to each other. You learn a lot from them in terms of how they contemplate things and think through challenges and translate it into educating students,” he said. 

The rules of St. Benedict, such as Stability, Hospitality and Balance, which he learned from religion teacher Fr. Dominic Garramone, OSB and student chaplain, Fr. Ronald Margherio, OSB ’68, have stayed him as he continues to interpret their meanings in his everyday life to better friendships and work relationships. 

While 12 years out of St. Bede, Dobrich is still a proud Bruin and an active member of the St. Bede community. He supports the annual auction, makes a point to attend sporting events when he’s home from Chicago, stays connected with the Alumni Association and has yet to miss a Homecoming celebration. 

“Homecoming, to me, encapsulates what St. Bede is all about in one day,” he said. 

His advice to current Bruins is to never hesitate going after what they’re interested in and to not be afraid to reach out to people who are already doing it. With St. Bede having such a large community, it presents a great opportunity for students to start having those conversations with someone within the St. Bede family. 

“People want to help, especially someone from their own St. Bede community. There’s already a connection between one another – we’ve all gone through those halls, seen it, done it, been a part of the traditions … they will do what they can to help you out,” he said.

A Level Above: Academic Excellence

In 1890, the Benedictine Monks of St. Bede Abbey set out on a mission to establish an institution that would prepare students for further education and their future role in the world and church. 

Even 133 years later, while education has undergone drastic changes our founding monks could have never imagined, St. Bede’s mission has never lost sight of its emphasis to prepare students for college and beyond. 

With its rigorous academic programming, individualized advising and mentoring, hands-on learning experiences and professional preparation, St. Bede continues to challenge students and meet their needs in preparing them for the next level. Today, 100% of seniors are admitted to top colleges and universities. 

At an enrollment of 275 students, St. Bede is able to offer a three-tiered academic program that tailors to the needs of each student to ensure they are achieving at their greatest potential. Within this programing, St. Bede offers an abundance of honor and AP courses through a partnership with the local community college that can set students ahead in their general studies when they land at college. 

Math Teacher Colleen Cox has had more than one of her former students reach out to her over the years to tell her how easy their first college math course was thanks to her honor courses.

“They talk about how they could learn things faster than everybody else in the class, because we had them so well-prepared,” she says. 

St. Bede also offers more than 30 special interest clubs that allow students to further explore their passions, develop new skills or introduce new ideas as they gain knowledge and leadership qualities while building character. 

In addition, every student who graduates from St. Bede is required to clock 100 community service hours through its Christian Service Program. Service learning is a teaching strategy that integrates community service with instruction and reflection to enrich learning experiences, teach civic responsibility and strengthen communities. Service learning opens student eyes to the concerns, needs and hopes of their communities.

Chemistry Teacher Bill Olsen, while one of the newest educators on staff, came to the Academy this year as a veteran Chemistry teacher with years of lessons under his belt. What has stood out to him in his first year of teaching at St. Bede is the character of the students. From his first week on campus, he’s been impressed with their dedication, drive to want to learn and their respect for fellow students and teachers. He stresses that when students want to be at school and learn the material – it makes all the difference. 

“They are doing well and they are getting the best out of my classes, especially my honor students,” he says. “The students here are just excellent kids, excellent students.” 

Globally-diverse population 

Aside from its academics and array of courses offered at the Academy, a unique aspect to the school culture is its variety of international and domestic boarding students who have come to the United States for an American education. St. Bede is home to 39 students from eight countries, including China, Vietnam, Korea, Ukraine, Turkey, Japan, Mexico and the U.S. 

Not only are these students being immersed in an American education at St. Bede, but they expose day students to different cultures and backgrounds allowing them to gain a greater understanding of diversities before leaving the Illinois Valley. 

Student success starts with the educator 

At St. Bede, the administration prioritizes finding highly-qualified teachers who bring passion and enthusiasm to the classroom and dedicate time getting to know students outside of school. 

You’ll find many of the teachers cheering their students on along the sidelines of athletic competitions, chairing a student club or taking part in extracurricular events. Each teacher is driven to cultivate a positive school culture and make themselves available for their students. 

They are also encouraged to share their knowledge about the hobbies or interests they’re enthusiastic about. For example, Science Teacher Dan Fitzpatrick has a love for the outdoors and you’ll find him leading his classes around campus turning the outdoors into a learning stage. Whether he’s showing students how to tap trees for maple syrup, collecting acorns to make pancakes or forging for weeds and greenery – Students leave Fitzpatrick’s class having gained a whole new appreciation for the outdoor life around them.  

The teachers at St. Bede also play a key role in the school improvement plan, which examines shortcomings and sets strategic plans in place in the areas where the Academy can grow. 

Most recently, the rebranding of Academic Achievement, which is now known as the Bruin Learning Center, was an idea that came out of these planning sessions. The Bruin Learning Center is a multi-tiered system of support open to any student in need of extra educational support, whether it be organization or one-on-one tutoring in a certain subject. 

The Bruin Learning Center is a way to identify students in need of extra help and provide those extra resources to succeed. 

St. Bede is also at the forefront in identifying a need for behavioral support among students. Megan Theisinger ’09 was hired at the start of the 2023-24 academic year as St. Bede’s first-ever social worker. Her  role is to be an advocate for all students, but especially those with social-emotional needs impacting learning – a trend most schools across the country have experienced during this post-pandemic timeframe. 

“Really, we’re trying to make sure we’re educating the whole person. We are really hitting the spiritual-side of things, but also the academic-side and trying to make sure our students are learning the most they can and be as successful as they can,” says St. Bede Principal Nick McLaughlin. 

Truly a place where you belong

Inherent to any student’s success is their feeling, from the beginning, that they belong on campus. You’ll find McLaughlin telling prospective parents at the annual Open House that St. Bede is large enough to offer a variety of different activities and academic courses, but small enough that every teacher and administrator is going to know a student by their name. 

“We’re going to sit down and talk to them, get to know them, greet them at athletic events. The one thing we really push is being able to know and identify students in our community. When you’re in a larger institution, students have a greater potential of slipping through the cracks and we don’t let that happen at St. Bede,” he said.  

Before landing her first teaching gig at St. Bede, English Teacher Aurora Staggs student-taught at a high school where the enrollment was in the thousands and she can attest to how easy it is for high school students to fall behind in larger class-size settings that prevent teachers from truly getting to know students.

 At St. Bede, where the average class size is less than 20 students – it’s harder for students to hide. It allows for several one-on-one opportunities with the teachers and fosters a place where students truly feel they are seen and heard. Staggs describes St. Bede as being “a very community-based school.” 

“It’s really a place where students can feel like they belong, which is really important for teenagers,” she says. 

Religion Teacher Eric Davy adds that once students feel that safety and comfort, they can just rest and focus on the learning. 

“It helps take the sting out of learning,” he says.  

Academy renovations are a key in success

Since 2014, St. Bede Academy has been focused on improving its educational facilities to meet the needs of student learning. It’s been a 10-year, $14 million Capital Campaign – entirely funded by alumni and friends of St. Bede – that is set to be finished Summer 2024.  

It started with the addition of the Perino Science Center and has progressed to completely renovating the first and second floors of the academy building to fit the needs of a 21st Century learning space, yet maintain the character and integrity of the historic structure.  

“Education changes all the time. If you’re doing the same thing you were doing 10 or 15 years ago, students are not growing, they are not being challenged,” said McLaughlin. “The same thing goes for our educational facilities.” 

Every teacher has technology and HVAC upgrades within their classroom, every space is tailored to the subject being taught there and every room has flexible furnishing to facilitate engagement and collaboration among students. 

Last year, Davy was teaching in an antiquated classroom on the third floor of the academy while the renovations on the second floor were taking place. He moved into a newly-renovated classroom at the start of the spring semester in 2023. 

“I feel like I went from a Ford Pinto to a Cadillac Escalade. This room is beautiful. I love the view. I love the fresh drywall. I think students are even more proud to be here … If the students sense what’s going on here – people putting their money back into this place and saying it’s going to be here for another 100 years – that’s important,” he says. 

Cox laughs when she tells about no longer needing to arrive early at school to open the windows of a 90-degree room due to antiquated heating efficiencies. She’s now able to wear long-sleeve shirts to school during the winter and the students are no longer distracted by the temperature of her room. 

Faith at the forefront

As education and facilities continue to evolve, the core educational standards and Benedictine teachings will always remain intertwined in the lessons. Faith is at the forefront of learning at St. Bede, whether it’s through daily prayer, mass and prayer services led by the school chaplain – these opportunities will continue to reinforce the way of accepting all through Christ. 

These teachings not only set examples, but empower students to see a larger picture of the world around them. A great example of that being Davy, who preaches the bible verse: 1 Timothy 4:12, "Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity."

In this he urges students that St. Bede is more than just an education, it’s a mission. He tells students that they have authority to be a leader or missionary disciple just like anybody else who has experienced St. Bede. 

“You guys are here at St. Bede, you’re St. Bede Bruins, and you’re a part of this mission and you will carry on the mission when you leave that lane for the last time,” he urges his students. 

St. Bede Academy celebrates 41st Annual Auction event

St. Bede Academy’s 41st annual auction event, held Saturday, June 15, is being recorded as the second most successful auction event since its inception in 1984.

The auction was held in the Perino Science Center and welcomed 165 guests. The guests comprised of St. Bede’s top supporters, parents of current students, faculty and staff, the J.A. Happ Family Foundation and alumni from 34 classes spanning several decades.

The live auction event included 15 premiere packages featuring a variety of travel, entertainment and sports experiences that were up for bid that evening only. Those packages brought in a total of $98,892.

A silent auction also took place through a mobile bidding website. This capability allowed supporters to bid on items from anywhere around the world. The silent auction opened a week before the live auction event, which kick-started bidding of items. The silent auction brought in a total of $45,594.  

A highlight of the evening included a special recognition to Julia Baggesen-Yaklich, who served St. Bede as Director of Mission Advancement and Major Gifts before her retirement this past April. Julia’s successful 10-year career in the Development Department is highlighted with fundraising for the much-needed Academy renovations. To honor her legacy at St. Bede, she was gifted with a rendering of a tile that will be placed on St. Bede’s future donor wall recognizing all those who contributed to the renovations. Julia’s tile recognizes her gift of building lasting relationships with alumni and friends, contributing to the success of the Legacy Campaign.

Another highlight was that St. Bede exceeded its $177,000 Fund-A-Need goal to build ADA compliant restrooms in the Abbot Vincent Gymnasium. Two major gifts for the Fund-A-Need helped jump-start the funding of the project, including a $20,000 gift made by The Bedan Club and a $15,000 gift by Miller Group Charitable Trust. The crowd was led in singing the St. Bede fight song, which built excitement in the room before paddles were raised in support of the project. Levels of giving included $15,000, $10,000, $5,000, $2,500, $1,000, $500, $250 and $100. St. Bede spirit flags were given out to anyone who gave a gift of $500 or more to the Fund-A-Need. Construction of the restrooms are slated for this fall, which will allow the restroom project to be completed by basketball season.

At the auction, winners of three raffles were also announced. The Mega Raffle gave away $19,050 to four lucky winners. Won Kim was the first-place winner of $10,000; Mark & Lori Dudek were the second-place winners of $5,000 and Celeste Inman was the third-place winner of $2,000. $350 was given to each seller of the three winning tickets, as well. Anyone who sold or purchased five or more Mega Raffle tickets were also put in a separate seller’s drawing, for $1,000. That winner was Dr. James Vaiana.

The Golden Ticket raffle winner was Fr. Stephan Charles Page. The winner of the Golden Ticket gets to choose from 10 luxurious prizes. Dr. Ted Struck was the winner of the 52-Card Draw, which raffled off a weekend stay and golf experience at Rich Harvest Farms, generously donated by the Rich Harvest Foundation. The 52-card raffle brought in $17,500, which was generously matched by the Rich Harvest Foundation.

The annual auction is St. Bede’s largest fundraising event of the year. All the proceeds help balance the difference between tuition and the cost of education ensuring a Catholic education in the Benedictine tradition remains an option here in the Illinois Valley. Over its 41-year history, the auction has raised more than $7 million for the academy.

St. Bede Academy announces fourth quarter honor roll

Mr. Nick McLaughlin, principal of St. Bede Academy in Peru, has announced St. Bede’s honor roll for the fourth quarter of the 2023-2024 school year. 

Seniors: Aubree Acuncius, Alex Ankiewicz, Yigit Arslan, Johnna Bogatitus, Bella Boggio, Ali Bosnich, Macklin Brady, Maximus Bray, Ella Burris, Madelyne Dalton, Rubi De La Torre, Erin Dove, Tessa Dugosh, Ella Englehaupt, Evan Englehaupt, Aleah Espel, Daliayah Farris, Seth Ferrari, Milana Gayan, Molly Gonzales,  Isabella Hagenbuch, Gavin Hahn, Makenzie Hanson, Katelyn Harth, Mariella Hermes, Teagan Hewitt, Kylie Hill, Nathan Husser, Henry Mertel, Ariella Mudge, Ava Mueller, Kyra Newman, Khue Nguyen, Isabella Pinter,  Zachary Popurella, Logan Potthoff, Matteo Pullara, Anna Rudenko, Kaelyn Schwemlein, Sierah Shaver, Casey Shearer, Aubrey Siebert, Ryan Slingsby, Madison Stanbary, Reagan Stoudt, Amie Tomaszewski, Vy Tran, Luke Tunnell, Amanda Wojcik and Katherine Zeller.

Juniors: Teer Ao, Haiden Ator, Andrea Brandner,  Adriana Buchanan, Qiyu Chen, Ziheng Chen,  Garrett Connelly, Jordan Coventry, Trayger Davis, Alondra Delao, Lorelei Denny,  Madalyn Dittmar, Ashley Ehm, Bailey Engels, Yibo Fan, Grady Gillan, Phillip Gray, Mirella Haskell, Halden Hueneburg, Elizabeth Huffaker, Tyler Jordan, Yuno Kawai, Maci Kelly, Sadie Koehler, Jaxon Kozak, Lin Le, Violet Lopez, Haohongze Ma, Haiqing Mao, Greyson Marincic, Gavin Marquez, Jack Maschmann, Quinn McClain, Victoria Mendez, Jake Migliorini, Grace Millington, Adeline Mitchell,  Aidan Mullane, Kaden Nauman, Ryan Nawa, Kaden Newman, Huy Nguyen, Alivia Payne, Andre Pineda, Marco Rizzi,  Mason Ross, Emma Smudzinski, Zixuan Song, Alan Spencer, Nhi Ton, Mina Trandinh, Arthur van den Berg, Jazmin Vazquez-Barreras, Samantha Wagner, Tyler Walsh, Abraham Wiesbrock, Kefei Wu, Solomon Zhang and Jinhao Zhao.

Sophomores: Margaret Arkins, Ava Balestri, Genavyve Barnes, Landon Boggio, Lily Bosnich,  Noah Buck, August Burr, Drew Carboni, Chuanyang Chen, Anna Cyrocki, Emerald De La Torre, Jose De La Torre, Simona Desai, Haoxuan Du, Madeline Fabish, Gino Ferrari, Harrison Fess, Ashton Gonzales, Mae Hagenbuch, Brody Hahn, Weston Heersink, Aiden Hermes, Zachary Husser, Shuyu Jiang, Isaac Kang,  Breanna Martinez, Lili McClain, Ella Mudge, Phat Thanh Nguyen, Sophia Ni, Jillian Pinter, Trajan Raffety,  Xiangyi Ren, Carson Riva, Chipper Rossi, Sara Ruiz,  Alyssa Savitch, Emma Slingsby, Lillian Soliman, Ryan Soliman, Shujie Song, Devin Steil, Khoa Tran, Peiwen Wu, Xindi Wu, Yannis Yong, Kian Zeller, Sora Zepeda, Ruihan Zhang and Yijing Zhang.

Freshmen: Faith Ankiewicz, Yesenia Avila, Caleb Barto, Chloe Brandt, Sean Brayton, Brody Burris, Calen Cass, Geno Dinges, Maegan du Preez, Kate Duncan, Kyra Finley, Grace Gahan, Eden Galvan, Daniel Garcia, Cecilia Giacalone, Gavin Gillan, Raudel Hermosillo Jr., Brennen Hirst, Emma Huffaker, Yejun Jang, Lila Koehler, Ella Lamboley, Chenxuan Lin,  Landon Marquez, Lucy Maus, Emma Mavity, Stuart McGunnigal, Stephanie Ni, Niko Pappas-Anniballi, Chase Riva, Olivia Ross,  Ranbir Saini, Alaina Schulz, Nancy Shi, Ishvir Singh, Macy Strauch, Bryce Stuepfert, Lex Tillman, Judith Torres, Ariana Villava and Kerstin Williams.