January 2025 Update from President Joe Therber
January 31, 2025
Dear Scecina Community,
In the main hallway, near the chapel, you will find a vibrant bulletin board featuring the words from Scripture, “I have called you by name, you are mine.” (Isaiah 43:1), surrounded by our students’ unique signatures.
This powerful artwork reminds us that God knows and calls each of us with a unique purpose for our lives. School receptionist Cheryl Hentz created this initiative, which is a wonderful reminder to walk by daily!
This week, Dr. Dispenzieri, a group of our students, and I had the privilege of attending Archbishop Thompson’s annual Catholic Schools Week Mass at Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral with more than 600 students and school leaders throughout the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. I drove our group on a Scecina bus and could not help but overhear our students’ conversations about many topics relating to faith and culture. It was a very memorable and uplifting moment!
As a school, during Catholic Schools Week, we also gathered for Mass led by Fr. Jim Farrell as we were joined by Office of Catholic Schools leaders to honor veteran Scecina faculty member Chad Tuley for being one of five finalists, from more than 2,000 candidates, for the annual archdiocesan Saint Mother Theodora Guerin Excellence in Education Award. Chad’s 15 years of dedicated service as our student media productions teacher have inspired countless students to excel in journalism, media, video production, and photography. Chad is a faith-filled, loyal, dedicated, trustworthy, and student-centered teacher, and we are fortunate that he continues to teach and serve at Scecina.
Our administration continually adapts Scecina’s offerings to meet students’ needs for college preparation rigor and workforce preparation. During the upcoming 2025 – 26 year, we will offer the Indiana College Core curriculum through which students can earn 30 college credits at any Indiana in-state public institution of higher learning. This opportunity will be an excellent opportunity for our students both educationally and financially in our world of ever-increasing college debt concerns.
In addition, we have developed an impressive menu of workforce preparation and certification opportunities for next year, with more to come. We will partner with local career centers and certification partners to provide opportunities in healthcare, information technology and cybersecurity, construction trades, and more. Our initial partners include the Walker Career Center, J. Everett Light Career Center, KLR, and Lionfish Cyber Security. Walker Career Center representatives recently visited Scecina to make presentations and allow students to explore new industry preparation opportunities during high school for life beyond.
Thank you for your continued support of Scecina Memorial High School. Together, we remain committed to nurturing each student’s God-given potential and talents, ensuring they can impact our world through the love of Christ and the leaven of Catholic values.
Go Crusaders!
Joe Therber
President
jtherber@scecina.org
