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Mrs. Jennifer Healy's letter
Dear Alumni, Friends and Benefactors,
On June 3rd, thirteen La Salle students graduated at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen with a collective total of over $2.824 million in college scholarships making them our most successful class to date! As the summer heat broils, we have begun preparations for the twenty new students who will be joining us in the fall, including two more young men whose fathers are La Salle Program graduates. We are excited to welcome these new students to the Brotherhood!
This past school year was notable for several reasons. First, we welcomed three very experienced “new” teachers to La Salle. Mrs. Lydia Manni joined us in April after the birth of Mrs. Lindsay Rogers’ daughter, Sydney. While Mrs. Rogers began her stint as a new stay-at-home mom, her students transitioned seamlessly to Mrs. Manni, who joined us from Kennedy Krieger where she and Mrs. Rogers worked together previously! Last fall, we welcomed Mrs. Eileen Bilo, formerly a special educator at BCPS, and Mr. Jeff Strapec (aka “the guy”), formerly a Jemicy Upper School teacher. Our students benefitted greatly from the vast experience, wit and congeniality these teachers brought to the LS department. Our department meetings have become full of shared ideas, materials and techniques as well as lots of laughter!
Secondly, the past year was notable because for the first time (at least since the Program began in 1985!), first semester exams occurred before Christmas. While there was some understandable angst from the upperclassmen about the change, in January students almost unanimously preferred the change. I’m sure having a Christmas break where they didn’t have to study and follow their La Salle exam prep calendar had a lot to do with their positive feedback!
As most of you know, I relish hearing from graduates about what they’re doing, their education, careers, and families. Recently, I heard from the mom of Drew Landgren ’10, BA Roanoke, MA Salisbury. Drew now works in Washington, DC as a “Clinical Specialist in Cardiac Rhythm Management” for Abbott, working mostly with cardiologists and electrophysiologists, and is in the OR most days assisting with the installation of various cardiac devices; he’s also engaged to be married in September. Kudos, Drew! I also ran into Will McLennan’s (’09) mom this week. Will’s an engineer in the area and is happily married with two daughters (may God help him!). It was wonderful to hear how well these guys are doing. If you haven’t reached out recently to let me know what you’re up to, please do! While I may not recognize you at first (you guys have really aged ha ha!), I will definitely remember your name and some stories about you.
In closing, I want to give a shout out and thank you to the many alumni who have donated to the La Salle endowment, most recently Russ White, Bill and Mary Keiser and Scott Lavin. Generosity like theirs and many others will enable us to try to keep the Program in reach of families who otherwise couldn’t afford it.
With love,
Jennifer (Cruz) Healy
