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In a school year that called for resilience above all else, the Class of 2021 rose to the challenge and excelled. They moved gracefully from digital learning to hybrid learning and finally rejoiced together with the return of all-day classes, athletics, and activities. Their year culminated in the much-welcomed in-person Baccalaureate Mass and Graduation on the turf of Bullpup Stadium.
READ ON FOR SOME OF THE CROWNING ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE CLASS OF 2021:
A literal crowning moment came at the end of March when senior JULIA MCINTYRE was selected 2021 Lilac Queen after a rigorous process for an organization that shares the same commitment to community and service as does Gonzaga Prep.
ANDREW NORDHAGEN, the class's valedictorian sought the magis in academics AND creativity. The National Merit winner and Spokane Scholar—who also aced the ACT—happens to be the designer of the 2021 Bloomsday t-shirt.
Nordhagen was one of six Spokane Scholars. His for math ($2,000), along with ISABELLA DONAHOE in English; ELIZABETH SABATA in Fine Arts; SHOBHIN LOGANI in Science ($2,000); JOSEPH ELLINGSON in Social Studies ($1,000); and CASSIDY VOELKER in world languages.
Graduates navigated a world of virtual college visits in the fall that led to acceptance to top tier schools including Notre Dame, Clemson, Villanova, Stanford, and Howard University. More than two dozen will further their education at seven different Jesuit institutions including Marquette, Fordham, Boston College, and Gonzaga.
JONAH BROWN accepted an appointment to the Air Force Academy where he will also play Division I soccer for the falcons.
Seven other senior student-athletes showed resilience in action during the topsy-turvy sports seasons and will compete at the collegiate level in the fall: JACYN BAMIS will play volleyball for Clemson, DAVID CORNWELL will run track for Belmont Abbey College, MADDIE DAVIES will play volleyball for the University of Northern Colorado, THOMAS KIMMEL will golf for UNLV, LYDIA MYERS will play soccer for Texas A&M University, Commerce; ALAINA O'CONNELL will play soccer for Cal State, Bernardino; CALLAH PRETI will play tennis for St. Mary's University in San Antonio.
SHOBHIN LOGANI and CARTER DOMINGUEZ showed command of the language, competing in nationals for debate. ANDREW NORDHAGEN and ALICE GROFFMAN demonstrated command of another language, earning gold medals in the National Latin Exam.
Seniors SHARMANDA JEAN-FRANCOIS, ANNA SHORTELL, and ZACHARY ROUND led the Food Drive Committee who delivered a check for nearly $20K to Second Harvest—bounty from the generosity of the Fall Food Drive.
And finally, in family matters, the Class of 2021 graduated five cousins in the broad branches of the DeCaro family tree: LUCIA DECARO, ADALGISA DE CARO, KATE SCELFO, JOSEPH DAVIDSON and VINCENT DECKER.
This school year will long be remembered because it fell squarely within the pandemic, but the Class of 2021 will be remembered for so much more.
AIR FORCE ACADEMY
Jonah Brown
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
Christian Hilburn
Harrison Wells
BAYLOR UNIVERSITY
McKenzie Kalua
BELMONT ABBEY COLLEGE
David Cornwell
BOISE STATE UNIVERSITY
Samantha Allbery
Liam Butte
Antonio De Felice
Vincent Decker
Jack Doerschlag
Cole Emery-Murphy
Mason McGregor
Grace Nollette
Anna Shortell
Avery Tee
BOSTON COLLEGE
Joey Davidson
BOSTON UNIVERSITY
Kate Lelewski
BUTLER UNIVERSITY
Drew Schmidt
CALIFORNIA STATE, SAN BERNARDINO
Alaina O'Connell
CARROLL COLLEGE
Timmy Craven
John Paul Robertson
CENTRAL WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
William Brasch
Madeleine Fridenmaker
Adam Herzog
CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY
Jayne Bamis
CLEMSON UNIVERSITY
Jacyn Bamis
COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY
Evan Duchesne
EASTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
Melvyn Chery
Christopher Croft
Parker Hatzke
Jonathan Juarez
Sergio McEvers
Zaynie Mellgren
Erika Mortvedt
Joe Smith
Cassidy Voelker
Johnny Wieber
FORDHAM UNIVERSITY
Aedon Benson
GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
Caitlin Martin
GONZAGA UNIVERSITY
Isabella Amador
Olivia Berube
Charissa Birdtail
Olivia Bruce
Duncan Cooper
Steven Deibert
Isabella Donohoe
Aiden Dougherty
Erin Dougherty
Joe Few
Olivia Kaiel
Kaylene Kristofferson
Hailey Landkammer
Nicolas Lopez
Kate Scelfo
Caiden Sundin
Kaitlyn Toland
GRAND CANYON UNIVERSITY
Ayla James
Colin Kelly
Brendan O'Rourk
Ryanne Saccomanno
HAWAII PACIFIC UNIVERSITY
Shannon Kinney
Maddi Murphy
HOWARD UNIVERSITY
Sharmanda Jean-Francois
LEWIS & CLARK COLLEGE
Vanessa Miranda
LINK YEAR
Caden Rubright
LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY
Siri-Amélie Birrer
Ben Conner
Sydney Dombrowik
Joseph Ellingson
MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY
Grace Batkoff
Owen Manfred
MILWAUKEE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
Jack Ou
Owen Zwyer
MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY
Liam Arnold
Grace Ducharme
Jonathon Hughes
Cameron Owens
Lily Semerad
NORTH IDAHO COLLEGE
Jackson Smith
NORTHERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
Julian Temple
OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
Adalgisa De Caro
Mitchell Torre
PACIFIC UNIVERSITY OREGON
Bradi Hester
PALO ALTO COLLEGE
Kristyn Simpson
PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY
Jacob Sun
SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY
Claire Eckhardt
SEATTLE UNIVERSITY
Alice Groffman
Ciara Hagan
Natalie Perrier
SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY
Lily Anderson
SPOKANE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Jacob Guerrero
Colin Hogan
Rex Kibbe
Blake Lempka
Carissa Managhan
Jillian Rose
SPOKANE FALLS COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Joshua Centenari
Andrew Garcia
Tyler Gates
Garrett Gores
Aidan Green
Connor Reagan
Payton Strait
Ben Tafoya
Callah Preti
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Andrew Nordhagen
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY, COMMERCE
Lydia Myers
TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
Jacob McIntyre
TRADE SCHOOL
Spencer Appel
UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
Shannon McGuire
UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Aine Hurley
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA
Brandon Vue
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
Shobhin Logani
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA
Summer Ambute
UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO
Rebekah Boyd
Curtis Niblock
Meghan Nulf
Elizabeth Sabata
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Patrick Husband
UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA
Jordan Bunning
Kaya Guerrero
UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAVEN
Emma Henderson
UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN COLORADO
Maddie Davies
UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME
Grace Keyes
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
Mariah Cloke
Adam Feryn
Mason Ruiz
UNIVERSITY OF PORTLAND
Avery Barnett
Kaitlyn Dugger
Nick Frazier
Julia McIntyre
Zachary Round
UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO
Adelyn Derzay
Olivia Sestero
UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO
Ana Lillie
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
Naly Cao
Andrew Chan
Maeve Collins
Holly Harget
Daniel Hughes
Lisa Huynh
Joseph Jarrard
Natalie Miller
Rebekah Moran
Bridget Murphy
Luke Nave
Tamara Njagi
Hope Patterson
Teresa Pham
Kellen Sanders
Jack van Loben Sels
Garrick Watkins
Braeden Welsh
Allia Wing
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN
Campbell Seibold
UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, LAS VEGAS
Tommy Kimmel
VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY
Sarah Schlegel
WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY
Talia Bergman
Jayden Blewett
Lucia DeCaro
Christina Flynn
James Franz
Grace Groshoff
Jackson Hult
Hannah Meany
Aliah Orellana
Jordan Robideaux
Thomas Shields
Tim Thompson
Enrico Torres
Anthony Turner
WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
Makaylah Albrecht
Soleil Jeffery
Matthew Kuester
Avery Martin
Mason Morris
Kaitlyn Olson
WHITMAN COLLEGE
Aidan von Buchwaldt
WHITWORTH UNIVERSITY
Katelyn Bumbeck
Cole Deac
Zachary Denker
Daniel McKeirnan
August Nelson
Caitlynn Rathbun
YAKIMA VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Brock Molenda
GAP YEAR
Ryan Cobb
Carter Dominguez
Crysta Finnigan
Christopher Hafer
James Holman
Skyler Jordan
Kyah Le
Alex Neyman
Lukas Overbeck
WORKING
David Siwinski
MILITARY
Tyler Bassuer
Owen Benson
Joseph Warren
UNDECIDED
Julian Arias
Cora Ball
Hodges Flemming
Brendan Kelly
Kimberly Orellana
Jaden Ortega
Luke Perko
Janessa Riordan
Miles Watson
VALEDICTORIAN REFLECTION: BE LIKE WATER
Water is one of the most essential things to life on earth. It is simultaneously nurturing, flexible, and strong—qualities that the class of 2021 has come to exemplify. In spite of the social, mental, and emotional toll that the pandemic inflicted, a defining trait of the class of 2021 was the grace and poise with which we navigated a less-than-ordinary senior year.
As Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said, “Water is the softest thing, yet it can penetrate mountains and earth.” Like a river carving its way through solid rock, our graduates flowed and adapted, carving their way through even the most unyielding obstacles.
That being said, I would be remiss to ignore the shortcomings we've experienced this year, from bigotry around the world to racism in our own halls. The division and polarization that have been pervasive in our country worked their way into our school, and efforts toward change were met with resistance and apprehension. And that's a pretty big rock, so to speak, in our collective river.
But that struggle and division leads to movement—movement motivated by love and justice—and this year, I strongly believe that we've taken more steps forward than back. The BIPOC coalition of students and alumni sparked a fire in the Prep community that had been a long time coming, challenging the school to take deliberate steps toward a more loving and inclusive community. Through the Christian Service office, student leaders and faculty have collaborated to provide resources for us to have the conversations necessary to facilitate real change. This fight for justice is far from over, and it's something that I, alongside those leaders, urge current students and faculty to continue here at Gonzaga Prep and something that I hope we, as a class, will take with us to college and beyond.
Now, I'm not sure there's anything I could say to the graduating class of 2021 that would possibly compare to the lessons we've learned this year just by living through it, so I'll borrow from Bruce Lee: BE LIKE WATER.
Graduates: as we step out into the world, be flexible enough to adapt to challenging circumstances, but remain strong enough to break down any obstacle you face. Most of all, though, be nourishing—strive for justice, and foster love and growth wherever your path takes you.
EXCERPT FROM GRADUATION ADDRESS: ONCE A BULLPUP, ALWAYS BULLPUP
About three weeks ago, I had the opportunity to have lunch with the
Provincial Assistant for Education of Jesuits West and a few other seniors.
He asked us what a Jesuit education means to us. Mason McGregor had the
best answer to this question: What makes Gonzaga Prep special and what makes
Prep Jesuit is the fact that ALUMNI KEEP COMING BACK. It's the “Once a Bullpup,
always a Bullpup” mentality.
Ever since freshman year, we were taught the Profile of the Graduate: Open to
Growth, Intellectually Engaged, Religiously Alive, Loving, and Committed to Doing
Justice. We were taught the ideals of the Jesuits and had those ideals ingrained
into us from day one. As we walk out into the world, we take these ideals with us.
The ideals that make us loving, open, caring, intellectual, religious—good and empathetic people. That's why people come back. That's why alumni choose to send their kids to Prep.
Because Gonzaga Prep graduates BULLPUPS.
A Bullpup isn't just a mascot or a logo on a t-shirt. A Bullpup is a person who is good and will go and set the world on fire. We will all go our separate ways next year, and we will mature into real adults, eventually. As we do this, don't ever forget that you are a Bullpup, backed by thousands of Bullpups before you. “ONCE A BULLPUP, ALWAYS A BULLPUP!”
CLASS OF 2021 ACHIEVEMENTS & AWARDS
LEADERSHIP, ACADEMICS & SERVICE
CLASS OF 2021 VALEDICTORIAN
Andrew Nordhagen
CLASS OF 2021 SALUTATORIANS
Duncan Cooper, Joseph Ellingson, Shobhin Logani, Tamara Njagi
NATIONAL MERIT STUDENTS
Joseph Ellingson and Andrew Nordhagen
NATIONAL MERIT COMMENDED STUDENTS
Evan Duchesne and Shobhin Logani
SENIOR CLASS LEADERSHIP AWARD
Owen Manfred and Zachary Round
OUTSTANDING SENIOR SCIENCE STUDENT AWARD
Joseph Ellingson and Adalgisa De Caro
BARTHLEMESS MATHEMATICS STUDENT AWARD
Shobhin Logani
OUTSTANDING ENGLISH STUDENT AWARD
Andrew Nordhagen
OUTSTANDING WORLD LANGUAGE STUDENT AWARD
French: Kaitlyn Toland
Spanish: Meghan Nulf
Latin: Alice Groffman and David Cornwell
OUTSTANDING PHYSICAL EDUCATION STUDENT AWARD
Jayden Blewett and Shannon McGuire
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY APPOINTMENT
Jonah Brown
PRESIDENT'S VOLUNTEER SERVICE AWARD
Tamara Njagi and Zachary Round
Sharmanda Jean-Francois and Jayne Bamis
COMMENDED TUTOR
Nicolas Lopez
CATHOLIC COMMUNITY SCHOLARSHIP
Owen Manfred and Julia McIntyre
PETERSEN SCHOLARSHIP
Joseph Ellingson, Jayne Bamis, David Cornwell
Anna Shortell
2021 ANCILLA
Samantha Allbery
Summer Ambute
Siri-Amélie Birrer
Katelyn Bumbeck
Adalgisa De Caro
Adelyn Derzay
Erin Dougherty
Claire Eckhardt
Aine Hurley
Shannon McGuire
Julia McIntyre
Rebekah Moran
Bridget Murphy
Tamara Njagi
Alaina O'Connell
Kaitlyn Olson
Natalie Perrier
Teresa Pham
Callah Preti
Sarah Schlegel
Anna Shortell
Kaitlyn Toland
Cassidy Voelker
Allia Wing
2021 KNIGHTS
Duncan Cooper
Joseph Davidson
Antonio De Felice
Aiden Dougherty
Evan Duchesne
Joseph Ellingson
Nicholas Frazier
Joseph Jarrard
Thomas Kimmel
Owen Manfred
Jacob McIntyre
Luke Nave
Andrew Nordhagen
Brendan O'Rourk
Zachary Round
Kellen Sanders
Andrew Schmidt
Thomas Shields
Jackson Smith
Aidan von Buchwaldt
Braeden Welsh
2021 EAGLE SCOUT
William Brasch
SPOKANE SCHOLARS
ENGLISH: Isabella Donahoe
FINE ARTS: Elizabeth Sabata
MATH: Andrew Nordhagen $2000 awarded
SCIENCE: Shobhin Logani $2000 awarded
SOCIAL STUDIES: Joseph Ellingson $1000 awarded
WORLD LANGUAGES: Cassidy Voelker
SPOKANE LILAC ASSOCIATION QUEEN
Julia McIntyre
FOOD DRIVE
Zachary Round, Anna Shortell, Tamara Njagi, Sharmanda Jean-Francois
NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY OFFICERS
Siri-Amélie Birrer, Tamara Njagi, Adalgisa De Caro, Alaina O'Connell, Kaitlyn Toland
ASB CO-PRESIDENTS
Owen Manfred and Zachary Round
SENIOR VICE-PRESIDENTS
Jayne Bamis, David Cornwell, Claire Eckhardt, Soleil Jeffery, Ana Lillie, Julia McIntyre
SENIOR CLASS COUNCIL
Bridget Murphy, Harrison Wells, Rebekah Boyd, Joseph Ellingson, Kristyn Simpson, Mason McGregor, Daniel McKeirnan, Grace Groshoff, Avery Tee
FINE ARTS
CHRIS BABCOCK MEMORIAL DEBATE AWARD
Carter Dominguez and Shobhin Logani
NATIONAL SCHOOL CHORAL AWARD
Elizabeth Sabata
JOHN PHILIP SOUSA BAND AWARD
Thomas Shields
LUIGIAN AWARD
Kaitlyn Dugger and Allia Wing
DRAMA SPOTLIGHT AWARD
Rebekah Boyd
VISUAL ART AWARD
Hailey Landkammer
OMNIA ART SHOWCASE
BLACK AND WHITE 2-D
Gold: “Prom 2020” Hailey Landkammer
Silver: “Olivia Captures” August Nelson
COLOR 2-D
Silver: “Kitchen Sink” Kate Lelewski
Bronze: “X” Antonio De Felice
PHOTOGRAPHY
Gold: “Neowise” Andrew Nordhagen
Silver: “Portrait in History” Alice Groffman
MULTIMEDIA AND 3-D
Gold: “Ugborough” / Erin Dougherty
Silver: “Trefoil Knot” / Daniel Hughes
Bronze: “Venus” / Madeleine Fridenmaker
ATHLETICS & ACTIVITIES
BOBBY ETTEN AWARD
Summer Ambute and Owen Manfred
DAVE MACHTOLF AWARD
Garrett Gores and Brock Molenda
DENISE SCHLEPP LEADERSHIP IN WOMEN'S ATHLETICS AWARD
Adalgisa De Caro
JOE KEOGH AWARD
Julian Arias
GSL SCHOLAR ATHLETES
Claire Eckhardt and
Evan Duchesne
NECA/IBEW SCHOLAR ATHLETES
Kyah Le and James Franz
VARSITY KNOWLEDGE BOWL
Andrew Nordhagen, Shobhin Logani, Duncan Cooper, Joseph Ellingson, David Cornwell, Aiden Dougherty, Alice Groffman, Aine Hurley
HISTORY BOWL TEAM
Duncan Cooper and Alice Groffman
STEAM/DESTINATION IMAGINATION TEAM
2nd place at the Virtual State Competition
Daniel Hughes and Blake Lempka
NATIONAL LATIN EXAM AWARDS
GOLD MEDAL: Summa Cum Laude
Andrew Nordhagen and Alice Groffman