Family Spotlight

Dan Schoenfelder and his wife Karen moved to the area about 13 years ago. When they moved here they had two small children and decided to enroll Chris and Amanda at Holy Family. Chris graduated with the Class of 2001 and Amanda graduated with the Class of 2002. Dan recently gave this speech to our 5th and 6th grade parent breakfast as well as 3rd and 4th parent breakfast. He and his family are beloved by many in the Holy Family community.

Good morning, my name is Dan Schoenfelder, my wife Karen and I moved to the area 13 years ago, and chose to continue educating our two children in Catholic school at Holy Family. Chris graduated from Holy Family in 2001 and Amanda graduated in 2004. When I look back at what benefits they received by coming to Holy Family, I can see 5 clear areas:

Faith Formation
Academics
Sports
Community
Possibilities.

In the area of faith formation, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is that our kids have the opportunity to receive the Holy Eucharist twice every week at Mass. The Grace they receive from that sacrament can get them through any problem they experience that day or years later. The habit of receiving the Eucharist frequently will give them a strong foundation that will make it more natural for them to continue this later in life even if they stop going to church for awhile. The confidence that they develop by making a presentation in public, whether that comes from reciting an offertory prayer, a reading, or singing the responsorial prayers is a gift they will use for the rest of their life.

In academics, you have probably already heard for years, HF students always perform either at the top of the ISTEP scores for all Southern Indiana private and public schools or right next to the top, but did you know:

Last Fall, Holy Family alum made up less than 5 % of the incoming freshman population at Floyd Central High School, but made up over 30% of the freshman on the All A Honor Roll.
Last Spring, as students at New Albany High School graduated, Holy Family alums Tyler Hirsch, Jensen Ricke, and Julia Lipps, were in the top 1 % of their class academically. Not top ten percent, not top five percent, but in the top one percent!
In five of the last six years, Holy Family alum were either the Valedictorians or Salutatorians or as in two years ago, both positions of honor at Providence High School Graduations.

Holy Family doesn’t only prepare our kids to succeed at the next level, they are prepared to excel. It is not a coincidence.

In sports, I could only hope that your son had a chance to play for Pete Corrao where your son may have started the season saying “Mom” or “Dad” but by the end was saying “yes mam” or “yes sir”. Or you may have a son currently playing 5th and 6th Grade Floyd County Catholic football for Coach Hublar that comes home from practice grabbing a Bible because he needs to be prepared to tell what a bible verse means to him by tomorrow’s practice. Up to the 6th grade, we do not cut from our sports team. Any child wanting to play, does play. In the 7th to 8 grade, we try creative solutions every year to try to not have to cut. We have the best volleyball coaches in the area, and not just because they performed well all season and brought home championship trophies in three of the four deanery leagues tournaments last Sunday. We have outstanding basketball coaches, fantastic soccer coaches, and having a daughter participate in both high school and college track, you will not find a better and more committed track coach than Steve Hirsch. At Open House in the spring, please come to the athletics board table, to review the list of Holy Family alum that played sports in college and marvel at the high number of academic all conference players we have from our pictures of our graduates in the hallway. It is not a coincidence.

As far as our Community, on July 30th this year, I was involved in an automobile collision requiring me to spend one week in University Hospital and three and one half weeks in Frazier Rehab hospital. I received a bushel basket of get well cards. Special gifts included homemade and painted crosses from the Hornungs, a homemade ceramic from the Andrew sisters, a genuine four leaf clover from Emily Koetter. The staff at Frazier’s rehab had a fit about the number of cards and letters I received, threatening to take some cards from my two walls of cards to other’s rooms that had less. And the prayers were countless. I was finally released on a Tuesday and had to come to Mass on Wednesday to offer up my thanksgiving for my recovery to date. While some of you may be aware of my collision, you may not be aware that my vehicle was struck by a car that, according to the Indiana State Highway Patrol, was traveling around 97 MPH. I shouldn’t be alive today. And I stand here telling you that after my surgery, my surgeon believed that there was only a 5% chance that I would ever walk again. You will never convince me that my recovery to date has been a coincidence or good luck.

In closing, I want to tell you one last story about what we do here in preparing our kids for the possibilities of the future. Since my daughter Amanda never played volleyball, I remember years ago as a new board member attending my first Holy Family grade school volleyball game. One of my favorite people, Fred Williams, was coaching the 5th/6th grade B team and one of his players, Megan Carpenter, was begging Mr. Fred before the game to not make her serve. Mr. Fred calmly told Megan that everyone was going to serve, “to not worry, just do what we have been doing during practice”. Mr. Fred continued to reassure Megan several more times before the start of the match. During the first game, Megan’s turn to serve came up. As she hit the ball, I swear it went straight up in the air. Megan was embarrassed, but Mr. Fred just kept reassuring her that the next serve would be better. Megan’s team won the first game. During the second game, Megan’s next serve hit one of her own team mates to which Mr. Fred commented “That’s better Megan, we are going in the right direction now!” Megan’s next serve went into the net. Again Mr. Fred gave Megan words of encouragement “That’s better Megan, the next one is going over!” Megan’s team lost the second game. Wouldn’t you know it, the third and deciding match was very close. Then Holy Family got the opportunity to serve for match point and guess whose turn to was to serve? Megan took the ball and looked at the bench, but all she got was encouragement from Mr. Fred. As Megan prepared to serve, I could see her lips move in prayer. Looking into the stands, I could see her dad, Chuck, was also busy praying. Megan’s serve cleared the net and the other team could not return the volley, so Holy Family won the match. You would have sworn that Megan just won an Olympic Gold medal, she was so happy! Mr. Fred prepared Megan for what was possible. Several years later during the summer prior to her eighth grade year, I remember seeing Megan practicing free throws in the school parking lot with her uncle, Barrett Briscoe. They were in the summer heat because Megan could not rely on just being the tallest girl in school and a first cousin of the head coach – she knew she had to be prepared for what might be possible. Earlier in this school year, I read in the Tribune where Megan was the editor of the New Albany High School Year Book this year. What a huge responsibility! By the way, her Holy Family classmate Abigail Kost, is co-editor of the Floyd Central High School yearbook. It is not a coincidence that our youth are prepared for many possibilities.

For every positive story I mentioned, some of you may be able to share a disappointment or two about your experience at Holy Family. We are not perfect. But our Good Lord does not demand perfection, he only requires that we keep trying, and we will. Thank you and God Bless.