HUNTERSVILLE — Brendan Keane has stepped down as principal at Christ the King High School, and Assistant Principal Michael Smith has been named interim principal for the remainder of this academic year.
Keane had served as principal of the Huntersville school since June 2014.
Citing the desire to spend more time with his family, Keane left to start a new job Jan. 23 as co-director of the Eagle Impact Rugby Academy in North Carolina. He had already worked with EIRA as a regional coach for the Carolinas since 2013, and as an U16s head coach in 2015 and as an U17s head coach in 2016.
"After much thought and prayer, and with regret, I have decided to step down as the principal of Christ the King Catholic High School at the end of the first semester," Keane told parents in a Jan. 10 letter.
"The past few years serving the community at CTK have been the highlight of my career in education. The parents, students, faculty, staff, and supporters of Christ the King are second to none in your endeavor to create a community pursuing an excellent and holistic educational experience for everyone involved. The willingness of each of you to try something new and step out on the edge to create not only a school, but also athletic teams, clubs, support organizations, plays, musicals and a myriad of other programs is inspiring and humbling. So too is the generosity with which members of the community give their time, talents, and treasure to support the school in its mission and growth. I will never be able to thank you enough for giving me the opportunity to get to know you, to see your passions, and to be part of the amazing work going on at CTK," he wrote.
Christ the King High School has about 230 students, making it the smallest of the Diocese of Charlotte's three high schools. It opened in a temporary location in Mooresville in 2011 and moved to its current 100-acre location just outside Huntersville in 2013 to serve the growing Catholic population north of Charlotte. The school graduated its first senior class in 2015.
The Diocese of Charlotte schools office aims to appoint a new principal before the start of the next academic year, Dr. Janice Ritter, superintendent, said.
"I am confident we will find a leader who can build on the great foundation which has been laid these past few years," Ritter wrote in a letter to parents. "I know Mr. Keane takes with him the good wishes of the CTK stakeholders, and likewise Mr. Smith will have the support of those same stakeholders. I am confident the students, staff and parents of CTK will continue to be the strong community it has shown itself to be and will work together during this transition."
— Catholic News Herald
1,000-plus students perform days of service
1,000-plus students perform days of serviceCHARLOTTE — More than 1,000 Charlotte Catholic High School students shared the spirit of the Christmas season through “Cougar Caritas,” a new charity initiative that placed them throughout the Charlotte community for two days of service just before the Christmas break.
On Dec. 17 and 19, students took part in a variety of projects throughout the city, including preparing and delivering meals, bringing Christmas cheer and music to nursing home residents, making care packages for wounded veterans, assisting special-needs children with horseback riding therapy, sorting and wrapping Christmas gifts for underprivileged children, caring for animals at the Humane Society shelters, cleaning signs and painting fences on the greenway, organizing food pantry donations, and many other charitable works. Sixty-two different projects were planned and carried out over the two days, resulting in more than 5,000 total service hours spread across Charlotte. Forty-one different agencies, from Huntersville to Rock Hill, were served by the high school students.
One project, which took place in the high school cafeteria, involved more than 100 students preparing meals for Servants with a Heart, a Waxhaw organization that distributes the meals to hungry families in Haiti, through a partnership with Samaritans International. In addition, Servants with a Heart distributes a percentage of the meals locally. Charlotte Catholic students prepared and packaged an amazing 51,000 meals, which then were packed in boxes that the students decorated with messages of Christmas cheer.
Other projects completed were:
- Preparing and organizing 1,280 donated books for underprivileged schools, assisting Promising Pages
- Making blankets and preparing toiletry kits for the homeless, assisting Urban Ministry
- Making dog beds and dog toys for animal shelters, assisting the Humane Society, Project 2 Heal, and Hollyz Hope
- Making bouquets of flowers for nursing homes, spreading Christmas cheer to Elmcroft and Hillcrest
- Making sensory games for Alzheimer’s residents, assisting Suzanne’s Cottage
- Improving trails at the visitor’s center, assisting the Raptor Center
- Making tote bags for homeless children, each of which contained a stuffed animal and a story written by CCHS students about the stuffed animal, assisting A Child’s Place
- Making coloring books and games for children in hospitals, assisting Levine Children’s Hospital and Ronald McDonald House
“Caritas,” a Latin word meaning charity and Christian love of humankind, was an easy choice for the all-encompassing theme of the day of service, said Mary Jayne Dawson, director of Campus Ministry and organizer of the initiative. “With such a wide variety of service projects occurring in a single day, it was important to give this event a name that embodies all that we do, and the spirit in which we serve,” she said.
Charlotte Catholic’s current school year has been named a Year of Virtues, focusing on nine particular virtues: acceptance and humility, responsibility and justice, gratitude, hope and peace, compassion and kindness, forgiveness, courage and grace, faith and joy, and charity. December was the month that CCHS students focused on charity.
The purpose of the Year of Virtues is to encourage the desire to practice good deeds and positive behaviors at school, at home, and in the community. Focusing on one virtue each month encourages school-wide conversations and actions to demonstrate each virtue, and allows the students to celebrate with a common language throughout the school year.
“Cougar Caritas is our response to the conflict, hurt, and confusion so evident in our city, our state and our nation these last few months,” said Jeremy Kuhn, co-chair of the English Department. “It is Charlotte Catholic’s Christmas present to the city, a day of school-wide service projects on and off campus to honor the Reason for the Season.
“Every meal made, every gift bag stuffed, every present delivered, every therapy animal groomed, every residence cleaned, every greenway trail cleared is time, talent, and treasure joyfully given. Every visit with a veteran, every story to a kindergartner, every Christmas card for a stranger, every carol to the elderly is simply one more kept promise to imitate Jesus Christ’s own loving sacrifice.”
Principal Kurt Telford added, “I am grateful to the faculty – led by Mary Jayne Dawson and Jeremy Kuhn – for providing leadership to Cougar Caritas and, of course, to our students, for carrying this out so well.”
Also, the traditional Charlotte Catholic High Christmas Child Campaign – a 30-year partnership between Diocese of Charlotte Catholic Charities and the high school – was another success this past December. Under the direction of Dr. Lincoln Sigwald and the student council, students and their families donated more than $14,000 in toys and money to purchase items for needy families. Because of their generosity, 71 children received Christmas gifts this year.
— Carolyn Kramer Tillman, Special to the Catholic News Herald