Sometimes life comes down to a friend who notices, who cares and who acts. During his time in high school, 18-year-old Luke Hopkins saw that one of his friends was struggling with life in a way that made Luke worry.

Jennifer DesJean knew what the huge crowd in the basketball gym wanted. And the more she thought about it, the more excited she became too. “I’m going to do it,” the head coach of the girls’ varsity basketball team of Cardinal Ritter Jr./Sr. High School in Indianapolis told her assistant coach sitting next to her. “I’m going to do it!”

When Tami Clouse received the invitation from the Indiana Board of Education to share the remarkable story of what happened at Central Catholic School in Indianapolis, she became emotional, viewing the honor as a celebration of “a beautiful community.”

In his journey to helping advocate for all the Catholic schools and other non-public schools in Indiana, James McNeany traces his path back to a moment of doubt, when he listened to the one voice he couldn’t ignore.

Father Thomas Scecina Memorial High School on the east side of Indianapolis has about 450 students and 70 faculty and staff members. While a decent-sized school, it’s still just a small part of the Church in central and southern Indiana.

Liam Matta wanted to get to know people at his high school better. He also wanted to explore his faith and his relationship with God on a deeper level—and invite his fellow students to do the same.

When Elle Howe started as a freshman at Roncalli High School in the fall of 2022, she was quiet, shy and very anxious. “I was so nervous, I said to my mom, ‘What if I just drop out of high school?’ And she said, ‘I don’t think we’re going to do that,’ ” says Elle, now a senior at the archdiocese’s Indianapolis South Deanery high school.

Sometimes a different perspective opens our eyes to the gifts we have in life and the other people who share them. As one of 19 seniors at Seton Catholic High School in Richmond, Makayla Minor had that awakening moment before the annual Mass that Archbishop Charles C. Thompson celebrates for the Catholic high school seniors from across the archdiocese.

Kent Clady views his approach and accomplishments as principal of Our Lady of the Greenwood School (OLG) in Greenwood as nothing special. “I just do what I do because it needs to be done,” he told The Criterion.

After learning the great news, the students and staff of Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Indianapolis cheered. The community of St. Mary School in North Vernon was also thrilled to receive their exciting recognition.

Driving from her home in southern Indiana to her work in Kentucky, Maggie Banet had the growing feeling that she needed to make a dramatic change in her life.

After leading St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Bloomington for nearly 15 years, Father Thomas Kovatch knows well where to go for a pick-me-up. “If I’m having a bad day, all I have to do is walk into the school and visit the kids,” he said.

Our 2026 theme for Catholic Schools Week, “Catholic Schools: United in Faith and Community,” makes clear that formation and education involve more than a solitary endeavor.

To understand the impact that Mary Claire McCarthy tries to have on other people’s lives, you have to know the essential belief about God she has learned to embrace:

Happy Catholic Schools Week! We are blessed to have 69 Catholic schools serving more than 23,000 students throughout the archdiocese. As we honor the gift of Catholic education, we renew our mission focused on the whole person, the power of community and the promise of hope in every student’s journey.

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